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A50867 An account of Mr. Lock's religion, out of his own writings, and in his own words together with some observations upon it, and a twofold appendix : I. a specimen of Mr. Lock's way of answering authors ..., II. a brief enquiry whether Socinianism be justly charged upon Mr. Lock. Milner, John, 1628-1702.; Locke, John, 1632-1704. Selections. 1700. 1700 (1700) Wing M2075; ESTC R548 126,235 194

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much Certainty as our Knowledge in self because otherwhere Mr. Lock denies all Certainty of Faith CHAP. XVIII Of Mysteries or Things above Reason I Wish I could say there were no Mysteries in the Holy Scripture I acknowledge there are to me and I fear always will be Mr. Lock in his First Letter p. 226 227. Things are distinguish'd into those that are according to above and contrary to Reason 1. According to Reason are such Propositions whose Truth we can discover by examining and tracing those Ideas we have from Sensation and Reflexion and by natural Deduction find to be true or probable 2. Above Reason are such Propositions whose Truth or Probability we cannot by Reason derive from those Principles 3. Contrary to Reason are such Propositions as are inconsistent with or irreconcilable to our clear and distinct Ideas Thus the Existence of one God is according to Reason the Existence of more than one God contrary to Reason the Resurrection of the Body after Death above Reason Above Reason also may be taken in a double Sense viz. above Probability and above Certainty and in that large Sense also contrary to Reason is I suppose sometimes taken Essay l. 4. c. 17. § 23. There being many things wherein we have very imperfect Notions or none at all and other things of whose past present or future Existence by the natural Use of our Faculties we can have no Knowledge at all these are beyond the Discovery of our natural Faculties and above Reason and Reason hath directly nothing to do with them Thus that part of the Angels rebelled against God and therefore lost their first happy Estate and that the Bodies of Men shall rise and live again these and the like are beyond the Discoveries of Reason Ibid. c. 18. § 7. OBSERVATIONS Mr. Lock in his Second Letter complains that he is join'd with Unitarians and the Author of Christianity not mysterious p. 7. and that therefore the World would be apt to think that he is the Person who argues against the Trinity and denies Mysteries p. 24. Wherefore that he might clear himself from this latter Imputation of denying Mysteries he says That there are Mysteries in Holy Scripture to him and he fears that there always will be But if hereby he only means that there are some things in Scripture hard to be understood and which he fears he shall never understand I know not but that the Author of Christianity not mysterious may say the same However he distinguisheth very well of things according to above and contrary to Reason but when in his Essay l. 4. c. 18. § 7. he had reckon'd this that the Bodies of Men shall rise and live again among things above Reason in his Third Letter p. 210. he tells us that in the next Edition of his Essay he shall change these words The Bodies of Men shall rise into these The dead shall rise But I shall take farther notice of this when I reflect upon his Doctrine of the Resurrection CHAP. XIX Of the Law of Works and the Law of Faith also of Justification THE Law of Works is that Law which requires perfect Obedience without any Remission or Abatement so that by that Law a Man cannot be just or justified without an exact performance of every tittle The Language of this Law is Do this and live Transgress and die no Dispensation no Atonement Under the Law of Works is comprehended also the Law of Nature as well as the Law given by Moses Nay whatever God requires any where to be done without making any allowance for Faith that is a part of the Law of Works So the forbidding Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge was part of the Law of Works The Civil and Ritual part of the Law delivered by Moses was to the Jews a part of the Law of Works but the moral part of Moses's Law or the Moral Law obliges all Men every where and is to all Men the standing Law of Works But Christian Believers have the Privilege to be under the Law of Faith too which is that Law whereby God justifies a Man for believing though by his Works he be not just and righteous i. e. though he come short of perfect Obedience to the Law of Works God alone does or can justifie or make just those who by their Works are not so which he doth by counting their Faith for Righteousness i. e. for a complete Performance of the Law The Difference between the Law of Works and the Law of Faith is only this that the Law of Works makes no allowance for failing on any occasion Those that obey are righteous those that in any part disobey are unrighteous and must not expect Life the reward of Righteousness But by the Law of Faith Faith is allowed to supply the defect of full Obedience and so the Believers are admitted to Life and Immortality as if they were righteous Were there no Law of Works there could be no Law of Faith For there could be no need of Faith which should be counted to Men for Righteousness if there were no Law to be the Rule and Measure of Righteousness which Men fail'd in their obedience to Mr. Lock Reasonab of Christian. p. 16 18 19 20 21 22. The Rule therefore of the Covenant of Works was never abolished tho' the rigour were abated The Duties enjoyn'd in it were Duties still Their Obligations never ceased Ibid. p. 225. The Law of Faith is for every one to believe what God requires him to believe as a Condition of the Covenant he makes with him and not to doubt of the Performance of his Promise Ibid. p. 24 25. Righteousness or an exact Obedience to the Law seems by the Scripture to have a Claim of Right to Eternal Life Ibid. p. 11. OBSERVATIONS Mr. Lock who thinks it our Duty as far as we deliver any thing for Revelation to keep close to the Words of the Scripture see his third Letter p. 210. doth not observe his own Rule when he says that God justifies a Man for believing this not being the Scripture-Language as far as I remember We are often said to be justified by Faith and if he will also just by Faith as Faith is oft said to be impated to Men for Righteousness and God is stil'd the justifier of him that believes but I do not find that the Scripture useth these Words that he is the justifier of any Man for believing Having said that exact Obedience to the Law seems to have a Claim of Right to eternal Life Mr. Lock alledges for it Rom. 4. 4. and Revel 22. 14. see his Reasonab of Christian. p. 11. In Rom. 4. 4. 't is said To him that worketh the reward is not reckon'd of grace but of debt In Rev. 22. 14. the Words in our Translation are Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of Life Mr. Lock adds in the same Character Which is in the Paradise of
should lose his Life but that he should be kept alive in perpetual exquisite Torments But the cases are not parallel for they that expound the Words Thou shalt surely die of a double Death say that he should both lose or depart out of this present Life and also after his Departure suffer those perpetual exquisite Torments Besides an earthly Lawgiver who can only kill the body when he says Thou shalt die cannot be supposed to mean that the Person should suffer such Torments but it cannot be inferr'd hence that when the heavenly Lawgiver who after he hath kill'd is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell says Thou shall die he may not fitly be suppos'd to threaten Eternal Death as well as Temporal But that which gives greatest Offence is still behind and that is that he describes that which we call a natural or temporal Death not only by losing all actions of Lise and Sense but also by ceasing to be His words are these By Death here I can understand nothing but ceasing to be the losing of all actions of Life and Sense see Reasonab of Christian. p. 6. And so again p. 15. This being the case that whoever is guilty of any Sin should certainly die and cease to be That when Men die their Bodies lose all actions of Life and Sense we need not be told but ceasing to be is a quite different thing and according to the known sense of the words can signify nothing but the being annihilated It will therefore concern Mr. Lock to find out some other Sense of the Words which we know not of for it seems very strange that he should make Death an Annihilation When Mr. Lock says that none are truly punished but for their own deeds Reasonab of Christian. p. 9. we may gather from that which immediately follows that his Meaning is that there will be no Condemnation to any one at the great Judgment but for his own Deeds but that Persons have suffer'd otherwise for the Sins of others there are sundry Instances in Holy Writ and Mr. Lock here alledges the Words of the Apostle affirming that in Adam all die CHAP. XVI Of the Law of Nature and of Moses's Law THe Law of Nature is a Law knowable by the Light of Nature i. e. without the help of positive Revelation It is something that we may attain to the knowledge of by our natural Faculties from natural Principles Mr. Lock Essay l. 1. c. 3. § 13. The existence of God is so many ways manifest and the Obedience we owe him so congruous to the Light of Reason that a great part of Mankind give Testimony to the Law of Nature Ibid. § 6. Every Christian both as a Deist and as a Christian is obliged to study both the Law of Nature and the revealed Law that in them he may know the Will of God and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Second Vindication p. 77. The Civil and Ritual part of the Law delivered by Moses obliges not Christians tho' to the Jews it were a part of the Law of Works it being a part of the Law of Nature that Man ought to obey every positive Law of God whenever he shall please to make any such Addition to the Law of his Nature But the moral part of Moses's Law or the moral Law which is every where the same the eternal Rule of Right obliges Christians and all Men every where and is to all Men the standing Law of Works Reasonab of Christian. p. 21 22. No one Precept or Rule of the eternal Law of Right which is holy just and good is abrogated or repeal'd nor indeed can be whilst God is an holy just and righteous God and Man a rational Creature The duties of that Law arising from the Constitution of his very Nature are of eternal obligation and it cannot be taken away or dispens'd with without changing the nature of things and overturning the Measures of Right and Wrong Ibid. p. 214. Thus Mr. Lock OBSERVATIONS It is known to be Mr. Lock 's darling Notion That there are no innate Ideas and no innate Law and consequently according to him the Law of Nature is not innate but he tells us that the knowledge of it is attain'd by the light of Nature or by our natural Faculties from natural Principles But I would ask him Whence we have these natural Principles from which by our natural Faculties we attain to the Knowledge of the Law of Nature for he denies all innate Principles Will he say then that we owe them to the Superstition of a Nurse or the Authority of an Old Woman or our Educations for these he mentions Essay l. 1. c. 3. § 22. and 26. where he is giving an account how Men commonly come by their Principles If he say this I would know why he calls those which are taught us by Old Women or our Nurses Parents and School-Masters natural Principles If Mr. Lock please to satisfie us as to these Queries I may possibly farther consider his Description of the Law of Nature Farther I believe that there have been many that have not made use of the Light of Reason and the natural Faculties which God hath given them as they should have done and withal have not had the advantage of any Revelation or of being taught who yet have had some Knowledge of the Duties and Dictates of the Law of Nature and have assented to them as just and good as soon as they were proposed to them CHAP. XVII Of Natural and Revealed Religion or of the Light of Reason and that of Revelation IT is not to be wonder'd that the Will of God when cloath'd in words should be liable to that Doubt and Uncertainty which unavoidably attends that sort of Conveyance And we ought to magnifie his Goodness that he hath spread before all the World such legible Characters of his Works and Providence and given all Mankind so sufficient a light of Reason that they to whom this written Word never came could not whenever they set themselves to search either doubt of the being of a God or of the Obedience due to him Since then the Precepts of Natural Religion are plain and very intelligible to all Mankind and seldom come to be controverted and other reveal'd Truths which are convey'd to us by Books and Languages are liable to the common and natural Obscurities incident to Words methinks it would become us to be more careful and diligent in observing the former and less magisterial positive and imperious in imposing our own Sense and Interpretations of the latter Mr. Lock Essay l. 3. c. 9. § 23. Whatsoever Truth we come to the discovery of from the Knowledge and Contemplation of our own clear Ideas will always be certainer to us than those which are convey'd to us by Traditional Revelation for the Knowledge we have that this Revelation came from God can never be so sure as the Knowledge that we have from our own clear and
v. 4. But to wave this Whereas Mr. Lock so often saith that by examining what the Apostles preach'd all through their History he had found that the Word preach'd by them was nothing but this that Jesus was the Messiah I have just now shew'd that it is easie for any one to find the contrary by examining only that part of the History of the Apostles which we have Acts 10. from v. 34. to v. 44. and Acts 13. from v. 23. to v. 42. where by Mr. Lock 's own Confession they treated of the Miracles Death Resurrection and Dominion of our Saviour and of his coming to judge the World as also of Remission of Sins by him See him in Reasonab of Christian p. 41. and Second Vindication p. 307. In his Reasonab of Christian. p. 194. Mr. Lock says Above threescore Years after our Saviour's Passion St. John knew nothing else required to be believ'd for the attaining of Life but that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God But will he hold to this that St. John knew nothing else requir'd to be believ'd and admit of no Limitation or Exception Did he not know that it was necessary to believe One Only True God St. John 17. 3. Did he not know that it was necessary to believe that God rais'd the Lord Jesus from the dead But what shall we say to the Words of St. John 20. 31. which Mr. Lock alledges Ibid. p. 193. and from which he inferrs this These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing ye may have Life in his Name I answer That it may be said 1. That here it is as much required that we believe Jesus to be the Son of God as 't is to believe him to be the Messiah 2. That these that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is the Son of God are two principal Articles and therefore mention'd by St. John but he does not say These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and only this neither does he say And that believing this alone ye may have Life But And that believing in general i. e. believing all that the Holy Ghost makes necessary to be believ'd If thou believe in thine Heart that God rais'd the Lord Jesus from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 9. Because in these Words our Lord's Resurrection is solely insisted on Mr. Lock will not conclude that St. Paul knew nothing else requir'd to be believed for attaining Life but that And then why should he conclude concerning St. John that he knew nothing else requir'd to be believ'd but these two Articles that Jesus is the Messiah and that he is the Son of God because St. John 20. 31. he mentions only these I know that Mr. Lock does not allow us to call them two Articles but I am so little moved with his saying and not proving that Messiah and the Son of God are two Expressions signifying one and the same thing that I make bold to do it without his License Mr. Lock perhaps will think that I neglect him if I do not take notice of his Chronology He says That above threescore Years after our Saviour's Passion St. John knew nothing else required to be believ'd His Reason is Because St. John's Gospel was written so long after as says he both Epiphanius and St. Jerom assure us I shall grant that St. John's Gospel might perhaps be writ so long after our Lord's Crucifixion for St. Hierom in Catalogo and in Lib. 1. con Jovinian says That Ecclesiastical History makes St. John to have liv'd threescore and eight Years after the Lord's Passion But I cannot but take notice of Mr. Lock 's Caution some may call it his Prudence in not referring us to the Places where Epiphanius and St. Hierom assure us that it was writ so late As to Epiphanius it is true that in Haeres 51. he says that St. John writ his Gospel after the ninetieth Year of his Age and if he had also told us how old St. John was at the time when our Saviour was crucified we might have known whether according to Epiphanius St. John writ his Gospel above threescore Years after our Lord's Passion but I do not remember that Epiphanius hath any where told us St. John's Age at the time of our Saviour's Suffering And as to St. Hierom I have not found that he doth acquaint us either in what Year of his own Age or how long after his Lord's Passion it was that St. John writ his Gospel CHAP. XXIII Of Saving Faith and Vnbelief THey that believe Jesus to be the Messiah their King but will not obey his Laws and will not have him to rule over them they are but greater Rebels and God will not justifie them for a Faith which doth but increase their Guilt and oppose diametrically the Kingdom and Design of the Messiah who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. And therefore St. Paul tells the Galatians That that which availeth is Faith but Faith working by Love and that Faith without Works i. e. the Works of sincere Obedience to the Law and Will of Christ is not sufficient for our Justification St. James shews at large Chap. 2. Only those who believe Jesus to be the Messiah and take him to be their King with a sincere Endeavour after Righteousness in obeying his Law shall have their past Sins not imputed to them and shall have that Faith taken instead of Obedience Mr. Lock 's Reasonab of Christian. p. 213 214 215. None are sentenced or punish'd for Unbelief but only for their Misdeeds They are Workers of Iniquity on whom the Sentence is pronounced Every where the Sentence follows doing or not doing without any mention of believing or not believing Not that any to whom the Gospel hath been preach'd shall be sav'd without believing Jesus to be the Messiah for all being Sinners and Transgressors of the Law and so unjust are all liable to Condemnation unless they believe and so through Grace are justified by God for this Faith which shall be accounted to them for Righteousness But the rest wanting this Cover this Allowance for their Transgressions must answer for all their Actions and being found Transgressors of the Law shall by the Letter and Sanction of the Law be condemned for not having paid a full Obedience to that Law and not for want of Faith That is not the Guilt on which the Punishment is laid tho' it be the want of Faith which lays open their Guilt uncover'd and exposes them to the Sentence of the Law against all that are unrighteous Ibid. p. 243 245 246. Thus Mr. Lock OBSERVATIONS Of the Expression Justified for Faith whereas the Scripture-Language is Justified by Faith I took notice before Chap. 19. and 21. Here I cannot but observe how apt Men are