Obedient to this law there now began to
arise, both within the Church and without it, a new body of
scholars--not so much theologians as searchers for truth by
scientific methods. Some, like Cusa, were ecclesiastics; some, like
Valla, Erasmus, and the Scaligers, were not such in any real sense;
but whether in holy orders, really, nominally, or not at all, they
were, first of all, literary and scientific investigators.
During the sixteenth century a strong impulse was given to more
thorough research by several very remarkable triumphs of the
critical method as developed by this new class of men, and two of
these ought here to receive attention on account of their influence
upon the whole after course of human thought.
For many centuries the Decretals bearing the great name of Isidore
had been cherished as among the most valued muniments of the
Church. They contained what claimed to be a mass of canons, letters
of popes, decrees of councils, and the like, from the days of the
apostles down to the eighth century--all supporting at important
points the doctrine, the discipline, the ceremonial, and various
high claims of the Church and its hierarchy.
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