'Tis owing to Writing, that we enjoy the purest Religion in the World,
and exclusive of it, there would have been no possibility of
transmitting down entirely those valuable Maxims of _Solomon_, and the
Sufferings of the Righteous _Job_, in the old Testament; which are so
extensive to all Parts and Stations of Life, that as they are
infinitely preferable to all other Writings of the Kind, so they
afford the greatest Comfort and Repose in the Vicisitudes incident to
Humane Nature.

How far Theology is improv'd from those inestimable Writings, I need
not to enlarge, since it is highly conspicuous that they are the
Foundation of all Divine Literature; and how ignorant and imperfect we
should have been without them, is no great difficulty to explain; and
who can sufficiently admire the Psalter of _David_, which fills the
Soul with Rapture, and gives an Anticipation of sublimest Joys.

Besides the Advantages of Sacred Writings in the Cause of Religion;
'tis chiefly owing to Writing, that we have our most valuable
Liberties preserv'd; and 'tis observable, that the Liberty of the
Press is no where restrain'd but in Roman Catholick Countries, or
Kingdoms, or States Exercising an Absolute Power.

In the Kingdom of _France_ Writings relating to the Church and State
are prohibited upon the severest Penalties, and the Consequences of
those Laws are very Obvious to all Persons of Discernment here; they
serve to secure the Subject in the utmost Obscurity, and as it were
Effect an entire Ignorance, whereby an exorbitant Power is chearfully
submitted to, and a perfect Obedience paid to Tyranny; and the
Ignorance and Superstition of these People so powerfully prevail, that
the greatest Oppressor is commonly the most entirely Belov'd, which I