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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	good_a	read_v	write_v	2,874	5	5.1956	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

since gone back both in esteem and interest and at last if Men do not change their conduct will be quite lost For how can it be otherwise since that method Protestantism and Popery being so opposite that preserves the one must necessarily destroy the other The taking a contrary method not only hinder'd the farther spreading of the Reformation but was the cause that where it did prevail it was no more perfect for tho the Reformers deserve just Commendation for what they did yet being bred up in so much Ignorance and Superstition they could not remove those vast loads of Corruptions which had been so long a gathering But if those that succeeded them had taken the same liberty in examining theirs as they did their Predecessors Opinions it 's impossible but that time must have discover'd the Truth and made them agree at least in all matters of moment But instead of this they became as guilty of a blind Obedience as the Papists and it was a sufficient proof of any thing amongst the different Sects if Luther Calvin Church of England said so nothing more common than that I submit all to Mother Church and such like Phrases which that Men should effectually do there were Penal Laws enacted to force them and no Printing or Preaching allow'd to those that durst see farther than the first Reformers whose Eyes at the best were but half open tho they saw very well for those times of Darkness and in respect of the Papists who may justly be reckon'd to be quite blind the consequence of which was that the Differences between the several Sects were widened and they all run daily farther and farther into Uncharitableness Ignorance Superstition and Fanaticism 9. Whosoever observes with what Zeal our Divines condemn the Popish Clergy for not suffering their Laity to read Protestant Authors would hardly think it possible for them to be so difingenuous as to appoint some spiritual Dragons to watch the Press lest any thing should steal from thence that 's not for their turn Let us hear only for they all write after the same manner the learned Dr. Clegget who in his Persuasive to an ingenuous Trial p. 28. tells us They that have a good Cause will not fright Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them nor forbid them to read their Books but rather encourage them so to do that they may see the difference between Truth and Error Reason and Sophistry with their own eyes This is the effect of a well-grounded confidence in Truth and there 's this sign of a good Cause apparently discernable in the Application of the Clergy of this Church of England both to their Friends and Enemies they desire the one and the other to consider impartially what is said for us as well as against us And whatsoever Guides of a Party do otherwise they give just cause to those that follow them to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully by how much they are unwilling to have them examined It 's a bad sign when Men are loth to have their Opinions seen in the day but love Darkness more than Light If the Church of England will own this to be a just Character of them they ought to be so far from endeavouring to obtain a Law to restrain the Press that they are obliged did they apprehend any such design to oppose it to their utmost and to encourage their Adversaries to print their Sentiments and the People to read them that they may see the difference between Truth and Error Reason and Sophistry Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy Dissenting and Conforming with their own eyes Taking a contrary method only affords a new Argument for the Liberty of the Press because they give their Followers a just Cause to examine their Doctrines so much the more carefully by how much more unwilling they are to have them examined It 's a bad sign c. In a word did the Protestant Guides act as such instead of frighting Men from considering what their Adversaries say by denouncing Damnation against them they would tell their Auditors the great sin of being biass'd by them in the choice of their Opinions and that the more important any Controversy is the more Reason there is for the Liberty of the Press that they may examine with all the diligence imaginable the Tenets of their Adversaries as well as of their Guides and that the more they heard the one Party the more they should read the other and that if they should fall into any Error by so doing they would not be accountable for it For tho there is not as the Papists vainly imagine such a Guide as would infallibly lead every Man into every Truth yet that every ones Reason as a Guide is infallible because God that designs that all Men if it be not their own fault should be for ever happy has given them no other Guide but their Reason to bring them to that Happiness and therefore as sure as God himself is infallible the following that Guide must bring them to that happy state God designed the following it should bring them to And on the contrary that God who is the Rewarder of those only that diligently seek him would condemn them as unprofitable Servants who instead of using their Talents to find out his Will did abandon themselves to the uncertain chance of Education and the Religion in fashion which varies with every Age and every Country As thus they ought to preach to the People so they should as little scruple to tell the Magistrate that by permitting an entire Liberty he did nothing but his Duty but by a Restraint of the Press he did not only shew himself guilty of a blind Obedience but did endeavour to make a whole Nation so and was to answer not only for all the Errors and other ill Consequences himself caused by a Restraint but likewise of abetting all other Magistrates that think themselves in the right in doing the like and that tho he should chance to be in the right himself yet he could not know how many he was the cause of being all their Lives in the wrong who might be so only because not having liberty to publish the Reasons they had to embrace such Opinions they could not meet with any that could give them Satisfaction and in truth writing against any Opinion where Men have not the liberty to shew the Reasons why they hold it is but writing at random because Mens Reasons cannot be confuted till they are known Such Arguments as these a Protestant Clergy that 's true to their own Principles ought to use both to the Prince and People and not prevaricate with God and Man and talk backward and forward just as it serves their turns If Baal be God serve him if not serve the Lord. 10. I can see no reason why they that are for tying Men to that Interpretation of Scripture a Licencer shall approve and therefore put it

the more probable this may happen so hereafter since even at present such a Law has but an untoward Aspect upon most Parties for one Party tho he is pleased with it in religious yet dislikes it in civil Matters another thinks the contrary to be his Interest a third is satisfied with having such or such Sects restrained from Printing but would be glad that others had that Liberty a fourth who cares not how all the Sectaries are dealt with is yet afraid that if the Press be in the hands of moderate Church-men none will be suffered to write any more Letters to a Convocation-man or a Manicipium Ecclesiasticum or such like Books a fifth is afraid lest this Power should get into the hands of the rigid ones for then the others will be run down as Trimmers Latitudinarians and what not The same may be said with respect to other Religious Opinions about which Men of the same Church are divided and the like may be as well observed in civil Matters but I leave every one to make that Remark for himself so that if all Parties cast up their accounts there are very few of them but will find a Restraint of the Press to be against even their present Interest 22. I might add a great number of other Reasons because as many things as are worth knowing so many Arguments there are for the Liberty of the Press what can be more useful than History and the Knowledg of our Ancestors Actions A faithful account of which can scarce be expected in a Reign that has a design to disguise Truth and to keep us in ignorance of those noble and generous Notions our Ancestors had of Liberty and how they asserted theirs upon all occasions As for what concerns the present time I shall only say that for my own part I should be glad especially when at a distance from London and I suppose other Country Gentlemen may be of the same mind to divert my self with some other News-papers besides the Gazette which would hardly be permitted if the Press were regulated As for Books of Philosophy and of other Arts and Sciences I can see no reason why there should be any Restraint on them or why the licensing them should be intrusted with the Clergy as by the late Act except it be to hinder such Books from being printed as tend most to inform Mens Judgment and make them reason clearly things very dangerous to a blind implicit Obedience Besides an excellent Discovery in Nature may be hindred from being publish'd on pretence that 't is inconsistent with Religion for the time has been when asserting the Antipodes has been no less than Heresie and the Motion of the Earth a Crime worthy the Inquisition and with as little Reason not to mention Dr. Burnet's ingenious Tracts has the most useful Book that was ever written in Philosophy the Essay of humane Understanding been condemned as inconsistent with the Articles of the Christian Religion As for Physick tho the licensing Books therein were wholly trusted with some of the College the most useful Piece in that Science either because the Licensers were engaged in another Method of Practice or because it may take from their Advantage by prescribing a cheaper and easier way of Cure or out of Envy or a thousand other Reasons might be hindred from seeing the Light to the no small detriment not only of the present but future Ages As to Law I shall only say If there are any Abuses crept into it the likeliest way to have them reformed is not by restraining the Press 23. Were Licensers unbiast uncorrupt and infallible there might be good Reason to trust them with an Arbitrary Power to pass what Sentences they pleas'd on Books but if we are to judg of the future by the past they are almost as likely to be one as the other Men of Sense and others ought not to be trusted with it without being resolved to make the most of it will not care to be condemned to the drudgery of reading all the Trash that comes to be printed nothing but necessity will make such Persons submit to it and that necessity will make them less able to withstand Temptation So that the appointing Licensers will be as bad as laying a Tax on Learning since by delaying to look over Books especially those that require haste to be printed and by other tricks for there are Mysteries in all Trades they may make People pay what they please for their Allowance 24. But this is not the worst it will be a great hindrance to the promoting of Knowledg and Truth by discouraging the ablest Men from writing for such Persons especially after having once had the liberty of publishing their own Thoughts will not be content to have their Works lie at the Mercy of an ignorant or at the best of an unleisured Licenser who upon a cursory view may either condemn the whole to perpetual Darkness or strike out what he pleaseth perhaps the most material things And tho a living Author may subject himself to this yet none will be content that the Labours of a deceased Friend should be so served so that the Works of such a Person tho never so famous in his Life-time shall be lost to all Posterity Besides is it not intolerable that every time a Man has a mind to make any Alteration or Addition between the licensing of the Copy and the printing it off that he must as often hunt after the same Licenser to obtain his leave for the Printer could not go beyond his licensed Copy when in the mean time the Press to his no small damage must stand still In short tho there might seem to be some reason to condemn a Person that upon a fair Trial had been found guilty of writing immoral things or against the Government to the Punishment of never writing again but under the Authority of an Examiner yet what reason can there be that those that never offended nay that the whole Commonwealth of Learning should be subject to so severe Usage which too is the way to have none but Fools and Blockheads plague the World with their Impertinence and make an Imprimatur as it did formerly signify no more than that such a Book is foolish enough to be printed ' This objected that without Licensers any one may reflect on whom he has a mind to so as that most People shall be sensible whom he means tho he mention but two Letters of his Name or useth some other Description by which means he is out of the reach of the Law This may be an Argument for the forbidding all Printing but none for appointing Licensers for 't is much more reasonable for all to have the Liberty to vindicate themselves the same way they chance to be aspersed than to let the Licenser's Party abuse all others and the Press not open for them to justify themselves But if any one reflects upon another after this manner let him make appear whom it is he means or else let him be esteemed in Law to intend that Person that takes it to himself This I think is all that can be objected as to Civil Matters except what relates to Sedition and Treason for an Answer to which I refer the Reader to § 13. I have no more to add but that my greatest Ambition next to serving the Publick which here I have endeavoured to do without so much as once thinking how it may affect me in my own private Concerns is to approve my self to be SIR Your most faithful and devoted humble Servant Lately Published THE Militia Reform'd or an easy Scheme of furnishing England with a constant Land-Force capable to prevent or to subdue any Forein Power and to maintain perpetual Quiet at home without endangering the Publick Liberty Sold by Andrew Bell in Cornhill

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