Nor were other new truths presented by Erasmus better received. His
statement that "some of the epistles ascribed to St. Paul are
certainly not his," which is to-day universally acknowledged as a
truism, also aroused a storm. For generations, then, his work
seemed vain.
On the coming in of the Reformation the great structure of belief
in the literal and historical correctness of every statement in the
Scriptures, in the profound allegorical meanings of the simplest
texts, and even in the divine origin of the vowel punctuation,
towered more loftily and grew more rapidly than ever before. The
Reformers, having cast off the authority of the Pope and of the
universal Church, fell back all the more upon the infallibility of
the sacred books. The attitude of Luther toward this great subject
was characteristic. As a rule, he adhered tenaciously to the
literal interpretation of the Scriptures; his argument against
Copernicus is a fair example of his reasoning in this respect; but,
with the strong good sense which characterized him, he from time to
time broke away from the received belief.
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