"It may surprise the reader to find this honour claimed for the Inventor of Logarithms, who has hitherto been regarded only on his throne of science, and that by the limited number capable of appreciating his genius. The celebrated historian and philosopher [David Hume] who pronounced him to be the greatest man his country ever produced, founded, probably, none of that estimate upon his theological merits; and more recent authors, ranking high among the historians of Christianity and theological learning in Scotland, have omitted to illustrate their subject with the most efficient example they could have found."