from John Milton's Aeropagitica,  1644

    I.      Like people, books have life in them.

a.      Books preserve the thinking of those who wrote them

b.      Books can do harm like people

c.      The destruction of a book can cause the permanent loss of its truths

   II.      Destroying a book may be as bad or worse than destroying a person

a.      Destroying a book may destroy reason itself

b.      Destroying a book may destroy something immortal

  III.      Censorship was invented by evil people

a.      Wise nations avoid censorship

b.      Censorship was used against the Reformation

IV.      Virtue becomes stronger when it must compete against vice

 V.      Censorship advocates worry about three things:  more blasphemy, the spread of heresy, and the increase of non-English ideas

a.      But these evils are often found in books that aren’t licensed because they are printed in other countries.

b.      People are not corrupted by books but by teachers.

VI.      Censorship inhibits learning and undermines the ability to argue wisely

a.      Therefore it cannot stop the growth of evil.

b.      It’s like trying to fence in crows

c.      And if censors read the corrupting books, how will they remain pure

VII.      Some books may be corrupting to some people but valuable to others

a.      If we believe controlling printing will help, shouldn’t we also control all other recreations?

b.      Resisting evil strengthens the good in us.

c.      God prefers doing good to repressing evil

d.      The Christian faith was once thought to be heresy but it eventually was able to be spread

VIII.      The job of censorship is so gigantic that, in practice, it becomes impossible.

a.      No human is really competent to be a censor.

b.      Twenty printers who act as censors do not hold all the wisdom of the world (that they need).

IX.      We would be acting like Roman Catholics is we restrict what people can read.

 X.       It insults English clergy to suggest that a pamphlet can undermine their teachings.