in the Church,
equal to that of the worst Sectaries in the World, had not the Use of
Waiting been early attain'd and practis'd, I appeal to the Breast of
every unprejudic'd Reader; and if so, how infinitely happy are we by
the Use of our Sacred Writings, which clear up the Cloud of Ignorance
and Error, and give a Sanction to our Religion, besides the
Satisfaction we of the Church of _England_ have in this felicitous
Contemplation, that our Religion, since the Reformation, strictly
observ'd, is the nearest that of our Saviour and his Apostles of any
Profession of Faith upon Earth.

'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
take to be sufficiently ently Illustrated in the late _Lewis_ the
Fourteenth, whose Arbitrary Government was so far