Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	authority_n	church_n	holy_a	1,913	5	5.0202	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37430	A Letter to a member of Parliament, shewing the necessity of regulating the press chiefly from the necessity of publick establishments in religion, from the rights and immunities of a national church, and the trust reposed in the Christian magistrate to protect and defend them : with a particular answer to the objections that of late have been advanced against it.	Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1699 (1699)	Wing D837; ESTC R4998	24,778	72

Empty Name but carries very momentous Offices and Duties in it it implies a Zeal for the Honour of GOD and the True Religion and consequently it engages the Magistrate to study such wholesom Provisions as will advance the Ends and Interests of it to the utmost Boundaries of his Dominions and those that thus wait for CHRIST shall not be ashamed Isai. 49. v. 23. And now Sir I hope I have prepared You for the main Argument You proposed by informing You how the Magistrate is determined for the Interests of Religion and particularly those of this National Church SECT VI. I shall proceed to consider Whether the Restraint of the PRESS is not a Necessary Provision not only to advance the Interests of the True Religion but to preserve and maintain the Ends aud Designs of it as profess'd in a National Church And this will appear from the Necessity of a publick Establishment in Religion and the Pernicious Influences which the Liberty of the Press has upon it It 's already concluded that GOD has instituted a Governing Power in the Christian Church and the accommodating it to the Districts of the State and the Constituting the Civil Magistrate a Guardian and Protector of the Church of CHRIST is at least a sufficient Warrant of the Lawfulness of a publick Establishment if not an Indication of its Necessity Indeed since there are Governing Powers in the Church of CHRIST we must conclude that GOD foresaw a great many Difficulties and Miscarriages under the great Revolutions and Emergencies of Human Affairs which he has Authorized them to adjust correct and remove and this will justly infer the Necessity of publick Decrees Articles or Canons and that too in Matters of Faith Worship and Practice It cannot be denied but Scripture it self has established the Authority of such Powers and Injunctions and consequently it 's an indisputable Argument of their Necessity since GOD never imparts special Powers or Functions but he infallibly discerns the Necessity and Usefulness of 'em Thus we have General Rules directed to particular Churches in the business of Publick Worship That things be prescribed and done according to the Laws of Decency Order and Edification And no doubt St. Paul points at the same thing when he reminds Titus why he placed him over the Church of Crete That thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting Tit. 1. 5. So that we may justly conclude there 's a Power given to prescribe such Laws and Rules and make such Publick Declarations as manifestly tend to the Edifying the Body of Christ or as are requisite to maintain the Catholick Laws of Unity or the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace But to descend to particulars And first as to matters of Faith Indeed it will be easily granted That the Holy Scriptures are a compleat Rule of Faith and consequently they seem to be a competent Standard for the Governours of particular Churches to try the Faith of Christians by But yet we are assured that they contain a Great many things hard to be understood which the ignorant and unlearned wrest to their own destruction and consequently things of the greatest moment and importance Again we are assured that Heresies will come that there will arise False Christs and False Prophets and Men of corrupt Minds who have not only erred but are reprobate concerning the Faith In a word it 's impossible but Controversies and Divisions as well as Offences will come this is the case of every Tribe or Colony of Christians And is there no Judgment to be made in these Circumstances Are these Persons to be suffered to proceed in their Errors and pervert the Faith of others If this must be so for what End has the Blessed AUTHOR of our Religion placed Governours and Pastors in his Church and enforced their Authority by the Discipline of special Censure They cannot remonstrate against them without making a Judgment whether the Doctrine be of GOD or is consonant to the Canon of Faith And yet 't is their Duty to declare the whole Counsel of GOD in these Cases And certainly if Private Pastors are Authorized to expound the Sence of Scripture and make a Judgment in these Matters and expect the Directions of the Holy Spirit to wait on their pious Labours and Endeavours much more may an Assembly or Council of Church-Governours interpose state the Sence of Scripture and deliver a Definitive Sentence in express Articles and Decrees and expect the Influences of the same Spirit in the whole performance Certainly where two or three or more are for these Ends gathered together it may justly be presumed GOD will be in the midst of ' em These are Proceedings warranted by the Practice of the College of Apostles and of all particular Churches from their Days to this very Hour Such Errors Divisions and Miscarriages concerning the Faith authorized and gave birth to the Confessions of Faith in all Particular Churches They were the only Barriers against Heresie and Error and indispensibly necessary to preserve the Unity of the Faith and the Church of CHRIST from Distraction and Ruine To affirm that Scripture in these Cases is a sufficient Rule and reject all Interposals or Determinations pursuant to it is to mistake or perplex the Argument For tho' Scripture is an adequate Rule of Faith and Manners yet GOD has constituted Guardians and Trustees to assert the Sence of Scripture and enforce a Faith and Practice conformable to it and to deny this is in effect to discard the necessity of any Visible Ministry since Scripture with the help of private Reason is as much an adequate Rule in this respect as the other and consequently there could be no necessity of a standing Ministry It 's true these Publick Determinations these Confessions of Faith are not established upon a Spirit of Infallibility but they are not to be rejected or less necessary because not Infallible GOD has not thought fit to impart a Spirit of Infallibility in the Exercise of the Power of Excommunication yet Scripture establishes it as a Standing Ordinance in his Church A Spirit of Infallibility does not accompany the Ministerial Function and yet GOD has made it absolutely necessary In a word then in as much as they are Decisions grounded on Scripture supported by Reason and confirm'd by the joynt Authority and Suffrage of the Church of GOD in the earliest Ages and of Saints Confessors and Martyrs they are the most apposite Moral Instruments under GOD and the use of Reason to determine the Judgment and satisfie the Conscience or at least to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers as far as concerns the outward Peace of the Church In this Case they become indispensibly necessary there must be some External Umpire and Decision where Matters must at last terminate that the publick Peace and Unity things in the judgment of our Blessed Saviour of the greatest value and importance may not be sacrificed to the Dissentions Heats and Animosities of

pronounce the Liberty of the Press to have advanced some Degrees beyond this For the Fact with its Preliminaries is now not only levelled against the Authority of Law and consequently that Blasphemy and Reproach that is due to it is renewed and heightened but a manifest Blasphemy and Reproach is entailed on the very Cause of Religion Such Allowances as these must cause the Enemies of GOD to Blaspheme and tell us that we either Worship we know not what or that our Worship is a Solemn piece of Mockery or at least a piece of Lip-Devotion or rather that the whole of Religion is Cheat and Imposture For if these things be reconcilable there can be no Truth nor Reality in Religion and this or that Profession is no longer a piece of Religion than it runs with the Tide and Bent of a Community But now when things discover such a fatal Tendency as this is if there be any such thing as a Guardian of the Church of CHRIST and if the Magistrate by Divine Designation is invested with the Character it must be an Indispensible Duty to exert with Vigour and Resolution The whole Case will turn upon a short Issue if upon a Due and Regular Examination these Religious Offices are Materially Evil and Unwarrantable let 'em be set aside and abolished that GOD may be no longer trifled with and blasphemed nor His Pastors loaded with Hatred and Contempt by being bound up to the Observance of things that are not Warrantable But if notwithstanding the utmost Efforts of Malice and Declamation they appear to be a Pious and a Just Institution the Magistrate if ever must be obliged to endeavour a speedy Redress and since these Mischiefs apparently derive from the Liberty of the Press certainly the Trust of a Guardian can never be discharged without destroying the Evil in its Cause and consequently without laying a Powerful Restraint on it When a Mischief is thus dangerous and destructive it becomes the proper subject of a Law and is to be suppressed with all the Ensigns of Authority and Power And now Sir I hope I have in some measure answered Your Demands and discovered the Necessity of Regulating the PRESS and that too with Regard to the Ecclesiastical Establishment of this Nation and therefore I 'm inclined to perswade my self the Argument will have its just Weight and Influence on Your Zeal and Affection for the Publick Good as well as Judgment But that nothing may intervene to cause a Miscarriage I shall endeavour a short return to the most Considerable Objections that have been advanced against it SECT X. And first It may be objected That the Mischiefs of the PRESS may be effectually obviated by Particular Laws and that a Restraint of the PRESS from the Experience of former Times has not prevented ' em Now it must be confessed That the Law produced in the last Parliament may serve as a Bridle to the Deist Atheist and Anti-Trinitarian but this can by no means obviate the Mischiefs of a Licentious Press For there are other Truths and Doctrines set forth in the Christian Religion and this Established Church which if publickly oppugned must prove highly Injurious to the Main Design of the Christian Religion as well as the Peace of the Present Establishment such as the Doctrine of CHRIST'S Satisfaction by the Sacrifice of Himself the Doctrine of Grance or Divine Assistance How these have of late suffered the Publick has been too lately made a Witness if not a Judge But certainly the Mischiefs of the Press can never be fully obviated unless by the Restraint of it or at least by such a Law as makes it highly Penal to publish any thing in Writing that is level'd against any Branch of the Established Religion for since National Establishments appear to be absolutely Necessary for the Carrying on the Ends and Designs of the Gospel that which is amiss is to be regularly corrected and after this is done nothing is to be suffered that any-wise invades the Peace of such an Establishment But after all Penal Laws of this Nature are not so apt Instruments to prevent the Mischiefs that usually spring from the Press as an absolute Restraint of it when the Authority of a License or Imprimatur is wanting Such a Restraint destroys the Mischiefs in its Seeds and Principles it stops the Contagion in the very Spring or Fountain whereas such Laws take place at a Distance it may be when the Infection is propagated to a considerable Degree There is a solemn Process and a great many Formalities and Steps to be made which may serve as so many Advantages or Chances to escape the Force of the Law The Author is not only to be discovered but an Information given in and received too according to the Genius and Temper of the Magistrate and consequently the Undertaker must have Courage enough to bear the Title of Informer an Office which as the World goes neither the Justice nor Merits of the Cause can secure from Ignominy and Contempt Again there must be a Prosecution by course of Law and the Case examined and tried whether it falls within the Penalty of the Law and all this perhaps without the least Recompence to the Prosecutor for Expences or Attendance In a word a Verbal Recantation after the Labour and Difficulties of Conviction may render the Author Rectum in Curia and after this he may under Disguise go afresh to work at the small hazard of the least of Punishments I wish some Provisions of this Nature had not been wanting in the late Act against Profaneness and Immorality whereby a Pious Design may become Insignificant and Useless For upon this bottom while the Press is open I 'm afraid the Enemies of our Establishment will publish their Notions with the Satisfaction of secret Smiles and Triumphs But now if the Press were shut till an Imprimatur is obtained the mere want of one is a Competent Evidence for Conviction and tho' some may be so daring to expose their Notions at the hazard of their Safety yet such a Restraint of the Press gives this considerable Advantage That whatever comes forth without Authority carries its own Mark in the Title-page and consequently gives an Alarm to the incautious READER of Infection and Mischief SECT XI But Secondly it is objected That such a Restraint of the PRESS is a giving up the Consciences and Judgments of Mankind to a Party and a condemning them to an Implicit Faith and is a direct Method to involve the World in Ignorance and Error As for the First part of the Objection If an Orthodox National Church is the Party intended I may safely affirm That as it is the Duty of every Person within her Communion to conform to her Faith Worship and Government so I hope it already appears that it 's a standing Duty in the Magistrate as well as Church Governours not only to enforce all Gospel Means to bring every Soul into the Pale of it but