ADAM SMITH. 105 



should not have reached us, the MS. having been de- 

 stroyed a short time before his death. He first unfolded 

 the sublime and important truths of Natural Theology, 

 and the faculties and principles of the mind on which 

 it rests, by far the most elevated of all human specula- 

 tions, and one, as Archbishop Tillotson* has most soundly 

 declared, which so far from being worthy of jealousy on 

 their part who maintain the doctrines of Revelation, is 

 of necessity the very foundation essential to support its 

 fabric. Whether we regard the hopes of man as built 

 upon his unassisted reason, or as confirmed by the light 

 of religion, no study can match that of Natural Theology 

 in the loftiness of its nature, and the importance of 

 its tendency. "Neque cum homines ad Deos ulla re 

 proprius accedunt quam salutum hominibus dando." 

 (Cic. 'Pro Lig/) He next explained the doctrines of 

 Ethics, or the rules and principles by which men judge of 

 the qualities in point of wisdom and goodness, of human 



* " All religion is founded upon right notions of God and his perfec- 

 tion, insomuch that divine revelation itself does suppose those for its 

 foundations, and can signify (disclose or reveal) nothing to us unless 

 they be first known and believed. For unless we be first firmly per- 

 suaded of the providence of God and of his superintendence over man- 

 kind, why should we suppose that he makes any revelation of his will 

 to us? Unless it be first actually known that God is a God of truth, 

 what ground is there for believing his word 1 So that the principles 

 of natural religion are the foundations of that which is revealed." 

 (Serm. xli.) This sermon was preached before the King and Queen 

 27th October, 1692, at the thanksgiving for the naval victory, and 

 contains even a more searching exposure of the errors of Romanism 

 than the celebrated sermon (xl.) on the Church of Rome. The 

 sermon on " Steadfastness in Religion," seems to me his Grace's other 

 great masterpiece in contending with Rome. It is a demonstration 

 of the great practical doctrine of the right of private judgment, and 

 it tallies in spirit with the above passage in the 41st. 



