" The
power of the theologic bias, when properly stimulated with
ecclesiastical preferment, could hardly be more perfectly
exemplified than in such a captivity of such a man as Bentley.
Yet here two important exceptions should be noted. In
England, Prideaux, whose biblical studies gave him much
authority, opposed the dominant opinion; and in America, Cotton
Mather, who in taking his Master's degree at Harvard had
supported the doctrine that the Hebrew vowel points were of divine
origin, bravely recanted and declared for the better view.[[187]]
But even this dissent produced little immediate effect, and
at the beginning of the eighteenth century this sacred doctrine,
based upon explicit statements of Scripture, seemed forever
settled. As we have seen, strong fortresses had been built for it
in every Christian land: nothing seemed more unlikely than that
the little groups of scholars scattered through these various
countries could ever prevail against them. These strongholds were
built so firmly, and had behind them so vast an army of
religionists of every creed, that to conquer them seemed
impossible.
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