judicious Divine of ours did mean that the Church of England would rather encourage than forbid Persons so qualified to read and Examine the Books of our Adversaries as well as our own to me seems evident from that reason which he subjoyns as the only end of an impartial Examination namely this That they may see the difference between Truth and Error Reason and Sophistry with their own Eyes This Expression doth plainly import the Persons fit to Read Books of Controversie in matters of Religion are only such as have Eyes of their own i. e. clear Heads enlightned Understandings able to discern Truth from Falshood And verily could the Books of our Socinians be confined within the Libraries of learned and judicious Men whether of the Clergy or of the Laity could they be surely kept from purblind Eyes and weak Judgments that unlimited liberty of the Press which this Author doth so earnestly contend for were the more allowable But since this can never be since Heretical Books are and ever will be exposed to common Sale though the Church of Rome doth ill in restraining their Laity from the use of good Books yet the Church of England would do very well in restraining the Press from putting ill ones into the Hands of unskilful Men where they would be more dangerous than edge-Tools in the Hand of a Child who knoweth not how to use them And so much in answer to this Objection SECT XIV 10. THIS Author begins his Tenth Allegation thus I cannot see how they that are for tying Men to that Interpretation of Scripture which a Licenser shall approve and therefore put it in his power to hinder all others from being published can with any Justice condemn the Popish Clergy for not Licensing the Bible it self for the Laity to Read I answer Here are two Suppositions both which are either impertinent to us or false in themselves if the Church of England be not the Persons here charged the Charge is impertinent but if they be it is false For 1. The Church of England doth tie none of her Members to that Interpretation of Scripture which such or such a Licenser of hers shall approve 'T is well known that we have many Interpretations of the Scripture which never were under the Inspection of any English Licenser the Expositions of the Fathers Schoolmen and many other Divines are brought us from beyond the Seas and the free choice and use of them is allowed us by our Church And if such Books chance to be Reprinted here in England the care of the Edition is committed not to the Licenser of Books to judg of their matters but to the Composer and Corrector of the Press to see to their Forms Character and exact truth of Printing Now if this be so as indeed it is if we are allowed to consult various Interpreters of our Bibles if we may take our Choice of such or such Expositors and use what Editions we please why should this undeserved imputation be cast upon the Church of England as if she tied all her Sons to such Interpretations of the Holy Scripture as her own Licensers shall Authorise 2. The Church of England doth not give her Licensers a Despotick Arbitrary and Absolute Power to reject every Book every Interpretation of Scripture which doth not please them 'T is certain that our Licensers do not act by any immediate and independent Power of their own but as Delegates and Substitutes by an Authority derived from their Superiors and if any of them shall either allow any Book which tends to mischief or suppress any Book which tends to common good they do abuse their Power exceed their Commission and must answer for it But is the miscarriage of some few Licensers an Argument that they should all be laid aside Some Kings have proved cruel Tyrants Some Judges have been corrupted and must we therefore have neither King nor Judg Sure I am that in this Age of ours we do sufficiently need a discreet and able Judg of Books and the Test and Censure of such a Judg no Man need fear more than our Socinian Writers for they being no great Friends to the Scripture are very odd Interpreters of it not through Ignorance but design I will not say through Rancor and Malice but I will say through Partiality and Prejudice For because the beginning of St. John's Gospel and several Expressions in St. Paul's Epistles being rightly understood and in the sense of the Catholick Church do totally overthrow their dangerous Hypothesis they fix upon those Texts such Interpretations as are childish absurd and even ridiculous such as none of the Fathers Schoolmen or Criticks so far as I can find did even think of And what an ill Cause do these Men manage who endeavour with handfuls of dirt to stop the Mouths of those Witnesses who being permitted to speak their own sense do so loudly proclaim their united Testimonies against them And methinks this one Consideration were there no more is enough to justifie our Church in appointing some fit Persons to be the Judges of Books and the Interpretations of Scripture offered to the Press and the rather because if any Licenser should out of any by respect or for any sinister end Stifle any Papers which deserve to see the light the injured Authors may appeal from the Licenser to the Vice-Chancellors in either of our Universities or to the Lord Bishop of London or to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury so that the fate of Books doth not ultimately depend upon the pleasure or sole Judgment of a Licenser Now Those two forenamed Suppositions upon which this Author bottoms this Tenth Allegation proving false the Superstructure which he builds upon them falls to the Ground and there I leave it SECT XV. 11. THE next Allegation against the Restraint of the Press this Author thrusts into the Mouths of other Men and makes them say what perhaps he himself doth not think namely this 'T is no small presumption that the Clergy themselves are Conscious of the falseness of their Religion How the Clergy what the whole Clergy Are ten thousand of us at once presumed to be Hypocrites Juglers and gross Dissemblers with God and Man We who teach Men that a false Religion leads towards Hell do we know our own to be false and yet embrace it still The Martyrs of England in Queen Mary's days died for the same Religion which we now profess and were they also Conscious that this Religion is false and yet in the defence of it shed their blood Certainly this Presumption is not small but very strange 't is a great breach as well of Charity as of Truth for if the Scriptures be true and who dares suspect them We are abundantly convinced that our Religion cannot be false and why then should any Man presume that we have indeed other thoughts concerning it The Reason here given is this Because the Clergy dare not suffer their Religion to undergo a
is this There is no medium between Men's judging for themselves and giving up their Judgments to others We grant it but what then His Inference is this If the first be their Duty the Press ought not to be restrained But why not His Reason is again the same because it debars Men from seeing those Allegations by which they are to inform their Judgments That 's his Argument to which I answer thus We must distinguish betwixt Man and Man betwixt such as can judge for themselves and such as cannot where the Scripture is express the Words plain and the Sense easie every Man who hath a competent use of Reason and can read his Bible may judge for himself But when several Interpretations are given of any Texts when Doubts are raised when Arguments are produced to defend both Parts of a Contradiction there is a vast number of Men who are no more able to judge which is true and which is false than a blind Man is to distinguish betwixt a good Colour and a bad one 'T is the great unhappiness of such Persons that in matters of Controversy they cannot rely upon their own weak Reason but must either suspend their Judgments or else give it up to the Conduct of some other Person and who is so fit to be trusted with it as their own Ministers provided they be as every Minister should be Men of Piety and Parts able to satisfie Doubts remove Scruples and convince Gainsayers But if Men give up their Reason to the Clergy this Author who vilifieth our Clergy as much as possible he can gives our People an intimation that by so doing they make us the Lords of their Faith But how doth that follow suppose two Persons are engaged in a doubtful Controversie about an Estate claimed by both these Persons being of themselves unable to determine the Case appeal to the King's Judges but do they thereby make those Judges the Lords of that Estate which is contended for surely no the Judge doth no more than according to Evidence and Law declare to which Person that Estate doth justly belong So it is in our present Case several Parties of Men lay Claim to Truth as theirs and produce Evidences for it Now a Man unable to satisfie himself which side Truth is to be found consults his Minister who by Evidence of Scripture which in this case is the only Law assures his Neighbour the Truth lieth here or there And indeed that the Minister is the most proper Judge in Controversies relating to Religion we cannot doubt if we dare believe the Prophet who saith The Priest's lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts This Text doth not constitute us nor do we pretend to be Lords of our People's Faith but as the Apostle speaks Helpers to the Truth We do not require any weak Believer's assent to any one Article of Faith whereunto God requires it not though the Church of Rome doth so And how unjustly then without Modesty or Truth doth this Man stigmatize us as Lords of our People's Faith But beside those weak Christians who in controverted Points cannot judge for themselves there are some other of clearer Heads and more improved Understandings that can and for their sakes this Author saith that the Press ought not to be restrained and his Reason is this Because the Restraint of the Press debars them from seeing those Allegations by which they are to confirm their Judgments This Argument in effect hath already been offered once and again and hath as often been replied to but for the greater satisfaction of my Reader I shall again consider and enlarge my Answer to it and this it is Not knowing and intelligent Christian who is well able to judge for himself can want any new Allegations from the Press to confirm his Judgments in any disputed Points of Faith or Worship because we have already sufficient Rules to judge by For 1. We have the Scripture preached in our publick Churches and if we please we may read and consider them in our private Families and Closets And here I do again affirm that all matters of revealed Religion must be examined proved and determined by the written Word of God This is the only sure balance to weigh and touch stone to try all Matters of Faith and Worship To this our Lord sent his hearers Search the Scriptures and again How readest thou And which is remarkable the ignorance of Scripture did he make the only occasion and ground of Error in Points of Faith so he told the Sadducees Ye err but why not knowing the Scriptures by which our Lord himself proved that great Doctrine of the Resurrection which they denied And when our Lord would prove himself to be a greater Person than David he did it by that Text The Lord said unto my Lord c. This course took our blessed Saviour and so did his Apostles too and so must we we must take the Scripture for our Guide in Matters of Religion for that is the only and infallible Rule and unalterable Standard to measure all the Doctrines and Practices which such or such a Church doth teach recommend or require from us But if it shall be again demanded who must be the Judg whether amongst different Interpretations of Holy Writ this or that be the true one whether in controverted Points such or such a Text do certainly warrant such or such a Doctrine as is grounded thereon I answer again 2. We have the united Judgment and Decrees of several Councils those I mean that were convened in the first and purest times before the Superstitions and Idolatries of Rome had crept in by degrees thro' carelesness vice and ignorance and over-spread the Church The grand Controversie now on foot amongst us concerns the Divinity of Christ the Personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost that Christ in the most strict and proper Sense of that Notion is truly God that the Holy Ghost is a Person and a Divine Person we affirm but our Socinians who are the spawn of old Arius make bold to deny To justifie our Doctrine we cite such and such Texts and to establish their Opinions as well as they can they do the same thing as for the Scripture which we produce to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity because humane Reason cannot comprehend it they do either question the Authority of such Texts or else they wrest them to such an intolerable Sense as every sober Man's Reason may justly abhor Now the Question is Who must judge betwixt us and them Who must determine whether the Scripture be on their side or ours I answer That Heterodox Opinion now much contended for which we call Socinian did appear under some other Names very early in the Christian Church In the first Age the Godhead of Christ was denied by the Jews and particularly by Ebion in the Third Century by
convinced as well he may be by such Texts of Scripture as cannot with any tolerable Sense be otherwise interpeted that our Blessed Saviour is truly God and truly Man What need such a Person to see the Opinions and weigh the Arguments of Arians and Socinians against this fundamental Point of our Christian Faith To him whose Belief is already grounded upon the infallible Word of God being rightly understood the sight of different Opinions and the Arguments for them signifieth nothing such a Man doth not need the confutation of heretical Cavils to confirm that Faith of his which is already bottomed upon a Rock which is immoveable And as the sight of different Opinions and the examination of Arguments pleaded for them is not needful to confirm a strong and well grounded Faith so it is dangerous and tends to impair and shake a weak one For well meaning Christians bred up in the true Religion being of too easie Belief of slender Judgments and not well acquainted with the Word of God may probably be perverted by heretical Books as being unable to discern the Fallacies contained in them and to cite such Texts as might confute them But here it may be demanded Who must judge whether such or such an Opinion be justified or condemned by such or such a Text I answer where Texts are plain and obvious every discreet and intelligent Person may judge for himself but when Texts are somewhat abstruse and difficult when knotty Questions and Controversies are raised about them then the Judge must be no single Person no nor any small Party of Men who are byassed prejudiced and wedded to their own Opinion but the Judge must be the Catholick Church I mean its Representative in the four first general Councils which consisted of Men not over-aw'd by Authority nor tempted by Interest but Men as Religious as they were Learned as well Versed in Holy Writ as able Interpreters of Scripture as any sort of Men born since those early days And this I think to be the greatest human Authority to warrant the Sense of such and such Texts and prove the Doctrins grounded on them Now Since we of the Church of England are blest with the free use of our Bibles and favoured with the judgment of the best Expositors about the sense of those Texts which tend most to determine those Disputes which have arose betwixt Protestants and Papists betwixt Trinitarians and Anti-Trinitarians we can have no need of any search for Truth to consult the printed Papers of this Age many of which do tend to promote Error much rather than discover Truth And verily when the Licenser of Books doth reject and suppress Heretical Papers he doth good service both to God and Men and if such Papers chance to Steal the Press they ought to be treated like other Thieves who to prevent their doing any future mischiefs are Apprehended Condemned and Executed And so I quit this Argument and proceed to the next SECT V. 3. THIS Authors third Allegation against the restraint of the Press runs thus The Restraint of the Press hinders Truth from having any great influence on the minds of Men which is owing chiefly to examination because that which doth not convince the Understanding will have but little or no effect upon the Will I answer thus What this Author doth here assert in relation to the influence of the Understanding upon the Will and Affections is true in general nor can it be justly denied that a strict examination of Religion is the proper means to convince the Understanding of its Truth But although the subject matter of this Allegation be true in the general yet here it is misapplied and very impertinent to the Case now in hand For this Argument as the former did doth proceed upon a false Hypothesis for it supposeth that if the Press should chance to be restrained for time to come Men would be deprived of all sufficient means for the due examination of their Religion 'T is St. Paul's Command Prove all things 'T is St. John's Command Try the Spirits whether they are of God These Commands must needs suppose that in those days there was a certain Rule by which Religions might be tried and the same Rule in its full force and vertue is standing still Tell me then are our Bibles out of Print or taken from us Have we no Catechisms no Systems of Divinity left amongst us Nay are there not Books of Controversies exposed to Sale in our Cities greater Towns and both our Universities Nay more are there not Popish and Socinian Catechisms to be had in England Do not these Books already Extant contain the strongest Arguments which the most learned Men of all Parties were able to urge in favour of their respective Opinions And may not Men by weighing these Reasons which are already made publick give a judgment which Religion is true and which is false as well as by any new Papers yet to be printed But although there be a great variety of Books which may help to guide us in our searching after Truth yet I must still mind my Reader that the Scripture is the only Adequate and Authentick Rule whereby the Truth or falshood of any Religion must be determined And certain it is that those Convictions of Man's Understanding which arise from the Immediate word of God are like to have a more powerful influence upon the Will and Affections than any other Convictions arising from any such Arguments as are no more than the Dictates and Collections of humane Reason which is fallible and may deceive us whereas the word of God well understood cannot do so And this I think is a sufficient answer to this Authors third Allegation SECT VI. 4. THE Fourth is this The Restraint of the Press is that which tends to make Men hold the Truth if they chance to light on any Guilty and the Reason which he gives is this Because that will not be accepted if it be not the effect of an impartial Examination To which I answer thus I cannot pass by this without observing that this Author hath hitherto much harped upon the same thing and hath hitherto bottomed all his Arguments upon the same Ground and a very slippery one too he hath proposed his Allegations as distinct in their Number but in their Proof there is little or no difference to be found For he tells First That the Restraint of the Press tends to make Men blindly submit to the Religion they chance to be educated in Secondly That it deprives Men of the most proper and best means to discover Truth Thirdly That it hinders Truth from having any great influence upon the minds of Men. Fourthly That it tends to make Men hold the Truth if they chance to light on any guiltily These indeed are very considerable Objections against the Restraint of the Press were they true But how doth our Author prove them so to be To prove them all he hath yet made use