Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	judge_n	judge_v	king_n	3,732	5	4.5671	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48197	A letter to a member of Parliament, shewing, that a restraint on the press is inconsistent with the Protestant religion, and dangerous to the liberties of the nation	Tindal, Matthew, 1653?-1733.; Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1698 (1698)	Wing L1680; ESTC R10914	22,249	32

nor the King so that Profaneness and Immorality cannot be destroy'd but by all Sects doing as they would be done unto which must establish an entire and universal Liberty since they have all the same right to judg for themselves and are equally oblig'd to act according to that Judgment and to communicate to others what they judg to be true which perhaps was the reason that the House of Commons so unanimously threw out the Bill for restraining the Press immediately before their addressing the King against Profaneness and Immorality But to return If it be once thought unlawful to have nothing printed but of the side of the Church in fashion the same reason will at least as strongly hold against any thing being preached but of that side because if any thing is printed against that Church there are ten thousand Clergy whom one would think a sufficient Guard for Truth to expose its Folly and Weakness but 't is not so easy for them to know and consequently to apply an Antidote to what is preached against them wherefore they who are not for destroying that just and righteous Law that allows Liberty of Conscience ought to be very careful of the Freedom of the Press as the only means to guard and defend the other and both being built on the same foundation cannot as has been already proved be destroyed but by striking at the foundation of the Protestant Religion And Therefore it cannot be suppos'd that the chief Support of it the Honourable House of Commons will ever consent to the one or the other especially considering how much the Popish Interest increaseth and what Advantage of late it has got in France Germany and Savoy And if the Popish Princes as 't is suppos'd have enter'd into a Confederacy among themselves to extirpate the Protestant Cause ought not all Protestants and all that are not for a blind Obedience deserve that Name that being the essential difference between it and Popery instead of using restraint on one another unite against the common Enemy Besides let it be consider'd 't is not certain we shall be always blest with the Government of a Prince so entirely a Protestant as our Great and Glorious Deliverer And if the Papists should pervert one and by that means get the publishing their Doctrines without contradiction they might by degrees confound the Protestant Religion so much weakned already by its Professors acting so inconsistently with their own Principles But were that Scandal removed by allowing as entire a Liberty as the Protestant Principles require there could be no danger of the prevailing of the Popish or any other Superstition And 't is remarkable that nothing has been writ in behalf of Popery since the Expiration of the Act for Regulating the Press so little is Liberty a Friend to that Superstition 14. But if after all there must be some appointed to determine the Fate of Religious Books the Clergy of all Men ought not to be trusted with this Employ because they not content with the Right they have from the Society of exercising the Ecclesiastical Function do claim Power and Government distinct and independent of it which they pretend is founded in Scripture and consequently they have no way as Clergy of gaining any Dominion Power or Riches more than what the Society will give them but by wresting the Holy Writ And if besides the Pulpits where they may preach what gainful Doctrines they please without contradiction they do so far engross the Press as to hinder any thing from being printed but what favours their Designs What may not such a body of Men well vers'd in all the Arts of Perswasion by their frequent Opportunities to display them impose on the too credulous People especially when all the ways to disabuse them are stopt up And if the Clergy in the more early and primitive times perhaps ever since they were forbid to lord it over the Heritage of God have made it their business to pervert Religion to advance their own Power what reason is there to imagine that they would not do the same in these later and degenerate Ages How I pray did the Clergy who at first subsisted by the Charity of the People arrive to such immense Grandeur and prodigious Riches but by a constant Confederacy from time to time carried on at the Expence of Religion which as their own Historians shew was proportionably corrupted as they encreased in Power and Riches the one being made a step to the other and 't is as evident where they are now most potent there Religion is most perverted and the People most enslaved The chief way they effected this was by perswading the People to a blind Obedience the consequence of which was that they must take the Clergy's own Word for all the Powers they thought fit to say the Scripture had given them and to submit to whatever they would determine in their own Cause and for their own Interest And there never was a Synod whether Orthodox or not but were for imposing on the Laity not only by Excommunicating Anathematizing and Damning but by making the Magistrate use Violence on all that would not contrary to their Consciences comply with their Determinations by which means they at last arrived to such an excess of Power over the Magistrate as well as the People that one was no better than their Hangman and the other than their Slaves And have not the Protestant Clergy from whom one ought to expect better things taken the same method to make People blindly submit to their Determinations Nay have they not outdone the Popish Clergy in wresting the Holy Writ to destroy the English Constitution and enslave the Nation and in preaching up the Doctrine of Absolute Obedience than which nothing can be more inconsistent with the goodness of God and the happiness of Humane Societies as knowing the only way to secure Tyranny in the Church was to get it establish'd in the State So that if the Protestant Clergy do not keep the People in as vile a Subjection as the Popish do 't is not owing to their good will and therefore none that have any value for Religion or any kindness for their Liberties will trust those that lie under such Temptation to pervert the Scripture with the sole licensing Books of Religion As we pray not to be led into Temptation so we should avoid leading others into it especially such as in all probability they cannot withstand 15. The Discovery of Printing seems to have been design'd by Providence to free Men from that Tyranny of the Clergy they then groan'd under And shall that which was intended by divine Goodness to deliver all from Sacerdotal Slavery be made the means of bringing it on again And if our Ancestors could not defend themselves from more than Egyptian Bondage which the Pulpits brought on them without the assistance of the Press it 's scarce possible that we should be able to secure our Liberties against both when

when they are left to themselves without any Clergy at all are more likely not only to judg for themselves but to make a truer and a more impartial Judgment than when they are permitted to know the Sentiments of the Clergy but of one Sect who then may impose on them what ever out of Interest they think fit 5. One Reason why God hath so formed Mankind that each alone without the help of others cannot well subsist is to oblige them to mutual love and kindness and to contribute to one anothers happiness And they want each others assistance for things of the Mind as well as of the Body For a Man would be in a miserable state of Darkness and Ignorance were it not for the Light that others afford him and therefore they are obliged to increase as much as they can each others Knowledg especially in Religion which they can no otherwise do than by communicating to one another what they think is the Truth and the Reason by which they endeavour to prove it To oblige Men to do this God has not only implanted in them a strong desire to find out Religious Truth but as great an inclination to teach others what they apprehend to be so and there is no Man who believes a Doctrine to be true but would be very glad to get it owned by others Whosoever therefore endeavours to hinder Men from communicating their Thoughts as they notoriously do that are for restraining the Press invade the natural Rights of Mankind and destroy the common Ties of Humanity If we must early and late according to the Wise Man's direction seek after Wisdom as after a hidden Treasure I cannot see how it will become the Wisdom of a Nation to endeavour by a Law to hinder us from knowing more than the scanty Measure a Party-Licencer will afford us Not only the Light of Nature but the written Word Levit 19. 17. 1 Thess. 5. 14. Heb. 3. 13. obliges every one Lay as well as Clergy to exhort warn rebuke and use all means possible to bring his mistaken Brother into the right way which he can no otherwise do than by first judging himself what is right and wrong and then by using Arguments to perswade him whom he judges in the wrong to desist from it And if as the Scripture supposeth no Man can neglect to do this without hating his Brother every one has a right to print his Sentiments as the best if not the only way to exhort rebuke reprove Myriads of Brethren at the same time In short in all Ages the greater Mens Zeal hath been towards God and the more inflamed their Love to their Neighbours the more they have thought it their Duty tho with the hazard of their Lives to communicate to others what they judged to be the Truth And all Sects how different so ever in all other things do agree in thinking themselves bound thereto as to the greatest Act of Charity and consequently there is no Sect that hinders others from publishing what they believe to be Truth but sins against the natural and revealed Law and breaks that golden Rule the Foundation of all Morality of doing as they would be done unto For tho they look upon it as impious and tyrannical for any to hinder them from imparting to others those Doctrines they judg to be true yet they themselves would hinder all others who have as much right to judg for themselves and are as much obliged to communicate to others what they judg to be a Religious Truth What can be more inhumane as well as ungrateful than to punish that Person who out of love to Truth and charity to the Souls of his Brethren bestows his Time perhaps to the detriment of his Health and Fortune in publishing what he judges to be for their eternal Good If this be a just Reward for such an Undertaking I cannot see how the Clergy can deserve such Riches and Honours for doing but the same thing that is for instructing others in that they judg to be true Nothing can be more unbecoming the Dignity of a rational Nature than to bar up the way to religious Knowledg and Wisdom which Men have no way to propagate but by offering one another Reasons and Arguments And there can be no Pretence to hinder Men from doing this by restraining the Press but what will as strongly forbid them doing it any other way In a word Men have the same right to communicate their Thoughts as to think themselves and where the one is denied the other is seldom used or to little purpose For Men as they are more or less hindred from communicating their Thoughts are more or less stupid and ignorant and their Religion more or less corrupted And this is not only true with relation to Mahometans and Pagans who suffer no Printing at all except the Chinese whose Knowledg above other Eastern Nations seems to be owing to that Art tho among them wonderfully rude and imperfect but with respect to Christians amongst whom one would think it almost impossible considering what Light and Knowledg the Gospel brought into the World that any should be so grosly ignorant and superstitious as the Papists are or that the Christian Religion should be so much depraved as it is amongst them and what is this owing to but the denying the People the Liberty of the Press and all other ways of freely debating matters of Religion And had it not been for this Invention whereby men had such an easy way of communicating their Thoughts nothing but a second Revelation could have freed them from that mass of Ignorance and Superstition the Christian World lay under and which was every day increasing and does still remain in a very high degree in those Countries that groan under Restraint as Portugal Spain Italy which last sutably to the Freedom once it enjoyed abounded with Men eminent in all Learning and Knowledg as well as Vertue and Bravery and that it is so much degenerated now the Climate and the make of their Bodies being still the same is owing to nothing but that Priest-craft which forbids all Freedom contrary to the practice of antient Rome where to think on what one had a mind to and to speak ones thoughts as freely as to think them was looked on as one of the chief Blessings of a Free Government It 's not only in Popish but in Protestant Countries too that according to the Restraint Men lay under Ignorance Superstition and Bigotry does more or less abound Denmark Sweden and several other Countries are undeniable Instances of this and it cannot be otherwise for there is little difference between having no Reason and not exercising it And it 's evident that the Clergy themselves are not only more knowing and reason much better but are much more sober careful and exemplary where liberty of Debating is allowed than where denied From what has been urged I think I may safely conclude that Men if they

regard the employing their rational Faculties as God requires and the Consequence of it the discovery of Truth in Religion and their being influenced by it as they ought to be are obliged to allow one another an entire liberty in communicating their Thoughts which was never forbidden but where Interest supplanted Religion 6. There 's no medium between Mens judging for themselves and giving up their Judgments to others If the first be their Duty the Press ought not to be restrained because it debars them from seeing those Allegations by which they are to inform their Judgments All the Arguments that are or can be urged for the regulating the Press have no other Foundation than that of People's being liable to mistake and subject to be imposed on by fallacious Arguments and specious Pretences which instead of proving what they design only shows the greater Necessity for the freedom of the Press for the more apt Men are to mistake and to be deceiv'd the less reason there is for their relying on any one Party but the more to examine with all care and diligence the Reasons on all sides and consequently for the Press being open to all Parties one as well as the other So that those that are for allowing Men the liberty of judging for themselves if any such can be for regulating the Press are very unhappy in their Arguments because they all make against themselves and out of their own Mouths they are condemned But if Men are to give up their Reason to the Clergy of whatsoever Denomination there 's nothing I confess more inconsistent with that blind Obedience than the Liberty of the Press because it gives them an opportunity to see what can be said against that or any other Darling Notion of the Priests and then it 's a great odds but that rational Creatures will be governed by their own Reason and no longer endure the Clergy to be Lords of their Faith 7. In fine if it be unlawful to let the Press continue free lest it furnish Men with the Reasons of one Party as well as the other it must be as unlawful to examine those Reasons for if the last be a Duty the first cannot be unlawful because it 's only a Means to the last in providing those Reasons which Men are bound to try and examine except an implicit Belief be a Duty which must necessarily bring Men back again to Popery For if it be now unlawful to examine the Reasons on all sides for fear of having other Sentiments than those the Clergy approves it was no less unlawful at the time of the Reformation which was wholly built upon this freedom of examining the Opinions of the Priests and rejecting them if they judged them false This the brave Luther did singly and by himself in defiance of the whole Church and this any Man now hath the same right to do So that it 's evident the Freedom or Restraint of the Press depends on this single Question Whether we ought to be free or Slaves in our Understandings or in other words Protestants or Papists If the first there cannot be the least colour for leaving the Conduct of Religion so wholly to a few Priests that nothing shall be published about it but what they think fit than which nothing can favour more of a Popish slavish and prostitute Compliance What Sir could be more surprizing to that Honourable House whereof you are a most worthy Member than a Motion to this purpose That because making of Laws is a thing of great Consequence and Country Gentlemen are subject to mistake that therefore the House ought to be regulated by appointing a Licenser to judg what should be spoke in it As ridiculous as such a Motion would be I would willingly know why 't is not as unaccountable to hinder a whole Nation the freedom of debating Matters of Religion which since they are not able like their Representatives to assemble in one Room cannot well be done but by letting the Press be open to every one to publish his Reasons which ought not to be denied as long as every one in the Nation has as much a right not only to judg for himself in religious as any Legislators can have to judg for him in Civil Matters but is as much obliged to use all possible means to inform his Judgment and consequently there is as little reason to deny Liberty of debating in one Case as the other 8. The Reformation is wholly owing to the Press For tho there were several able Men who before Printing was known most vigorously opposed the growing Errors of the Western Church yet all they could do was to little or no purpose because they had no easy and ready way to communicate their thoughts to any great number but no sooner was the Invention of Printing made useful but a poor Monk who discovered at least the grosser Cheats of the Priesthood was made capable of imparting those Notions which drew almost a Moiety from the Romish Superstition which lost ground every where as the Press was either more or less free Therefore it was not strange that the Popish Clergy since they could not confound the Art of Printing should endeavour to turn it to their own Advantage not only by hindring any new Book from being printed but by expunging out of old ones whatever did not serve their turn and herein they acted consistent with their Principles which allows no Liberty of examining and consequently denies all Freedom of the Press which of all things does engage Men the most to do it But what Pretence can the Protestants have for restraining it who as they owe their Religion to its Liberty so they cannot hinder it without destroying that Religion which has no other Foundation than that of every ones having a Right to examine those Reasons that are for or against any Opinion in order to make a true and impartial Judgment which can never be justified if it be unlawful to permit the Press to be open for all Men to propose their Reasons to one another in order to their examining them And it cannot be denied but that the Protestant Clergy who are as ambitious for the most part as the Papists themselves to impose on the Consciences of the People have by Persecution Restraint of the Press and other such methods given the Papists who have scarce any thing to plead for themselves but the Practice of their Adversaries too just an occasion to insult them who are they say no other than a pack of Hypocrites in doing the very same things they so loudly condemn and that it 's little less than a Demonstration that the Principles by which they pretend to justify their Separation are very absurd since they are forced to act contrary to them in every point And what was it in truth but these shameful Practices that put a stop to the Reformation which at first like a mighty Torrent overwhelmed all that oppos'd it but has ever