The autograph notes of his
sermons, still preserved in his cell at San Marco, show this
abundantly. Thus we find him attaching to the creation of grasses
and plants on the third day an allegorical connection with the
"multitude of the elect" and with the "sound doctrines of the
Church," and to the creation of land animals on the sixth day a
similar relation to "the Jewish people" and to "Christians given up
to things earthly."[[303]]
The revival of learning in the fifteenth century seemed likely to
undermine this older structure.
Then it was that Lorenzo Valla brought to bear on biblical
research, for the first time, the spirit of modern criticism. By
truly scientific methods he proved the famous "Letter of Christ to
Abgarus" a forgery; the "Donation of Constantine," one of the great
foundations of the ecclesiastical power in temporal things, a
fraud; and the "Apostles' Creed" a creation which post-dated the
apostles by several centuries. Of even more permanent influence was
his work upon the New Testament, in which he initiated the modern
method of comparing manuscripts to find what the sacred text really
is.
Pages:
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251