In natural religion, once we clearly conceive the ideas of a finite, dependent, intelligent being and an eternal, omnipotent, perfectly wise and good Being on whom it depends, we can as certainly know that man is obliged to honour, fear, and obey God as we can know simple arithmetical truths or that the sun is shining when we see it; nonetheless, such moral and religious truths can remain unknown to those who never take the pains to employ their faculties on them.

By John Locke, from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Key Arguments

  • Locke sets up the relevant ideas: 'the idea of an intelligent, but frail and weak being, made by and depending on another, who is eternal, omnipotent, perfectly wise and good', contrasting finite man and infinite God.
  • He asserts that someone who has 'but the ideas of two such beings in his mind, and will turn his thoughts that way, and consider them, he will as certainly find that the inferior, finite, and dependent is under an obligation to obey the supreme and infinite, as he is certain to find that three, four, and seven are less than fifteen; if he will consider and compute those numbers.'
  • He reinforces the analogy with sensory certainty: such a person 'will as certainly know that man is to honour, fear, and obey God, as that the sun shines when he sees it,' and 'nor can he be surer in a clear morning that the sun is risen; if he will but open his eyes and turn them that way.'
  • Yet Locke ends by noting the voluntary aspect: 'But yet these truths, being ever so certain, ever so clear, he may be ignorant of either, or all of them, who will never take the pains to employ his faculties,' underscoring that neglect of reflection can leave even demonstrably certain moral and religious truths unknown.
  • This example parallels his mathematical case: given the right ideas and actual consideration, moral obligation is necessarily seen; without such application, even the clearest truths remain unperceived.

Source Quotes

Instance in natural religion. He also that hath the idea of an intelligent, but frail and weak being, made by and depending on another, who is eternal, omnipotent, perfectly wise and good, will as certainly know that man is to honour, fear, and obey God, as that the sun shines when he sees it. For if he hath but the ideas of two such beings in his mind, and will turn his thoughts that way, and consider them, he will as certainly find that the inferior, finite, and dependent is under an obligation to obey the supreme and infinite, as he is certain to find that three, four, and seven are less than fifteen; if he will consider and compute those numbers: nor can he be surer in a clear morning that the sun is risen; if he will but open his eyes and turn them that way.
He also that hath the idea of an intelligent, but frail and weak being, made by and depending on another, who is eternal, omnipotent, perfectly wise and good, will as certainly know that man is to honour, fear, and obey God, as that the sun shines when he sees it. For if he hath but the ideas of two such beings in his mind, and will turn his thoughts that way, and consider them, he will as certainly find that the inferior, finite, and dependent is under an obligation to obey the supreme and infinite, as he is certain to find that three, four, and seven are less than fifteen; if he will consider and compute those numbers: nor can he be surer in a clear morning that the sun is risen; if he will but open his eyes and turn them that way. But yet these truths, being ever so certain, ever so clear, he may be ignorant of either, or all of them, who will never take the pains to employ his faculties,
For if he hath but the ideas of two such beings in his mind, and will turn his thoughts that way, and consider them, he will as certainly find that the inferior, finite, and dependent is under an obligation to obey the supreme and infinite, as he is certain to find that three, four, and seven are less than fifteen; if he will consider and compute those numbers: nor can he be surer in a clear morning that the sun is risen; if he will but open his eyes and turn them that way. But yet these truths, being ever so certain, ever so clear, he may be ignorant of either, or all of them, who will never take the pains to employ his faculties,

Key Concepts

  • He also that hath the idea of an intelligent, but frail and weak being, made by and depending on another, who is eternal, omnipotent, perfectly wise and good, will as certainly know that man is to honour, fear, and obey God, as that the sun shines when he sees it.
  • For if he hath but the ideas of two such beings in his mind, and will turn his thoughts that way, and consider them, he will as certainly find that the inferior, finite, and dependent is under an obligation to obey the supreme and infinite, as he is certain to find that three, four, and seven are less than fifteen; if he will consider and compute those numbers:
  • nor can he be surer in a clear morning that the sun is risen; if he will but open his eyes and turn them that way.
  • But yet these truths, being ever so certain, ever so clear, he may be ignorant of either, or all of them, who will never take the pains to employ his faculties,

Context

Book IV, Chapter XIII, §4, where Locke applies his account of knowledge’s partial necessity and voluntariness to 'natural religion', arguing that moral obligation to God is demonstrably knowable from our ideas of God and man, yet often remains unknown through lack of application.