Pretty sure it’s Adam Smith
The correct answer is “They believed the emphasis on the scientific method would bring Europe out of darkness”
The Enlightenment was a period of the rule of the scientific method, it was a moment when the Church lost influence over the academia and the importance of philosophers such as Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Rousseau, Adam Smith, and others.
During this period science was ruling, this way there was a creation of scientific methods, the secularization of learning, religious tolerance - in contrast of the power the Church had before - and separation between Church and State.
There was a thought that rational thought would improve humanity because it did not involve personal interests and beliefs.
I would say trade is beneficial towards the development of new markets. Foreign trade sets up customers on an international level and thus sets up a relationship with the traders and that enhances the mobility of the good.
