Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	england_n	religion_n	1,637	5	5.7823	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88029	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?-1633.; Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing L1681; ESTC R230390	22,164	47

but has ever since gone back both in esteem and interest and at least 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 further spreading of the Reformation but was the cause that where it did prevail it was no more perfect For tho the Reformers deserve just Condemnation 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 further 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 disingenuous 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 Comforming 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 Countrey 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 caufe 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 Licenser shall approve

against both when by the help of the latter the Clergy have got better Abilities as well as Opportunities to impose on the Understanding of the People And when Men are once enslaved in their Understanding which of all things ought to be most free it 's scarce possible to preserve any other Liberty The trusting not only the Pulpits but the Press in the hands of the Clergy is causing the Blind to lead the blind because the generality of them are more likely to be guilty of a blind Obedience than the Laity since they are obliged as they value their Subsistence right or wrong to assert those Religious Tenets they find establish'd by Law the truth of which they cannot any more be presum'd to have impartially examin'd than a mercenary Soldier the Justice of the Cause he is engag'd in being sent by their Friends to the Universities not to try the establish'd Religion whether 't is right or wrong but to prosess it as a Trade they are to earn their bread by and lest they should examine it they are even before they are capable shackled with early Oaths and Subscriptions Which is the reason that the Priests are wondrous hot in every Countrey for the Opinions to which their Preferments are annexed in one place fierce Calvinists in another violent Lutherans in a third bigotted Papists which could not so universally happen did they in the least examine those Opinions they are engag'd to profess And therefore there can be no reason to trust the Press in hands of men so biass'd and prejudic'd who cannot but be highly affronted to see the Laity do what they durst not judge for themselves and not be blindly guided by them who poor men are not trusted to guide themselves Yet for all this extraordinary precaution to keep the Clergy right and tight and the great disproportion of numbers between the Laity and them 't is evident that almost all the Errors and wrong Notions in Religion have had their rise and chief Support from them So that upon the whole if the Press should be trusted with any it ought to be with Lay-men who have no Powers Prerogatives or Priviledges to gain by perverting the Scripture since they pretend to none but what they receive from the Society Tho I cannot but presume that our Legislators were there no other reason yet out of respect to the Clergy would not enact such a Law as supposeth the greatest and most learned of them not fit to be trusted with the printing but a Half-sheet in Religion without consent of a Lay Licenser who is to have an arbitrary Power over their Works And there 's no doubt but the Clergy would highly resent such a Law tho I cannot see but the appointing Licensers whether of the Laity or Clergy equally reflects on their Body because it equally supposeth they are unfit to be trusted But if they are content with that Disgrace it must be because either they cannot defend themselves against their Adversaries or that they have a mind to give themselves up to Laziness and Idleness and not trouble themselves with the laborious work of controversial Divinity But I shall say no more on this Point having already sufficiently shewed how destructive the restraining the Press is to Religion which it cannot be without being in general prejudicial to Civil Societies for whose good it was instituted but especially when it is perverted on purpose to enslave them and there never was a Nation which lost their religious Rights that could long maintain their civil ones for Priestcraft and Slavery go hand in hand Therefore I shall be the shorter on what I have to say on a civil account especially considering that most of those Reasons that shew how destructive a Restraint of the Press is to Religious will equally prove it to be so in Civil Affairs 16. The greatest Enjoyment that rational and sociable Creatures are capable of is to employ their Thoughts on what Subjects they please and to communicate them to one another as freely as they think them and herein consists the Dignity and Freedom of humane Nature without which no other Liberty can be secure for what is it that enables a few Tyrants to keep almost all Mankind in Slavery but their narrow and wrong Notions about Government which is owing to the Discouragement they lie under of mutually communicating and consequently of employing their Thoughts on political matters which did they do 't is impossible that the bulk of Mankind should have suffered themselves to be enslaved from Generation to Generation But the Arts of State in most Countries being to enslave the People or to keep them in Slavery it became a Crime to talk much more to write about political Matters and ever since Printing has been invented there have been in most places State-Licensers to hinder men from freely writing about Government for which there can be no other Reason but to prevent the Defects of either the Government or the Management of it from being discovered and amended 17. Fame Reputation and Honour as they are the greatest Incentives to all good and vertuous Actions so they as much terrify Men from committing base and unworthy ones And it cannot be reasonably presumed considering the general Corruption of Mankind but that the rich and powerful would frequently oppress those beneath them were they not afraid of losing their Reputation and exposing themselves either to the Contempt or Hatred of the People for this Law of Reputation if I may so call it influences Men more than all other Laws whatever But if there were a Licenser of the Press he might be prevailed on not only to hinder the injured from appealing to the People by publishing their Grievances but to license such Stories only as mercenary Scriblers would write to justify the Oppressors and to condemn the Opprest which as it would be the greatest Encouragement for those Men that are above the ordinary Remedies of Law to crush whom they please so it would be the highest Injustice to deny the injured the last satisfaction of justifying their innocence to the World which would be sure to pass a just Censure on the Oppressors and this they would the more dread because if once they lose their Credit with the People they will be very unfit Instruments for a Court to use Therefore 't is no wonder if all that make an ill use of their Power especially those who have cheated the Government as well as abused the People do endeavour with all their might to have the Press regulated lest their Crimes being exposed in Print may not only render them odious to the People but to the Government In a word All sorts of Men whose Interest it is not to have their Actions exposed to the Publick which I am afraid are no small number will be for restraining the Press and perhaps will add Iniquity to Iniquity by pretending they do it out of Conscience to suppress Immorality and Profaneness 18.