Humanism as a movement was too deep and profound iu character and too widespread in ex tent not to have its influence within the Catholic as well as the Protestant Church, and this influ ence had its bearing too directly upon the study of the Scriptures not to affect significantly the course of this Church's exegesis. The evidence of this is manifest in the period of the Counter Reformation, and especially at its beginning. C'ajetan (1469-1534), on the threshold of the period, was liberal as a commentator. He treated most of the New Testament hooks, includ ing the Apocalypse, and did not hesitate to differ in his interpretations from schoolmen and fa thers alike; while lie wholly abandoned their allegorizing manner of work. With hint stood Sodaletus (died 1547), whose scholarly method in his commentary on Romans (1535) brought Min to such vigorous views of doctrinal truth as were possible with 'loyalty to the Church, and Slaldonatus(diecl 15S3), one of the most brilliant lecturers on exegesis since Abaird's day, whose commentary on the Four Gospels (first published in 1596) shows not only a large freedom from the fathers, but a marked ability in the ex planation of Scripture's literal sense. To these might he added, even in the later years of the period, Estius (died 1613), Mariana (died 1624), and Slenoehius (died 1655). As the period progressed, however, the doctrinal definitions and elucidations of the Council of Trent led to strict er methods. This is seen particularly in the Jesuit scholars Bellarmine(died 1621), who after approved scholastic manner made the Scriptures an arsenal for the defense of the Catholic faith; and Cornelius it Lapide (died 1637), who turned to the fathers for his materials; while it evidences itself more or less in Tirin ((lied 1636), and even in the earlier writers, Emmanuel de Sa (died 1596) and Salmeron (died 1591). Against this dogmatic position the Quietistie movement, first formally introduced by a Spanish priest, Molinos (died 1696), was practically a protest, though its spirit in handling the Scriptures tended rather to vitiate than to vitalize the sounder methods of interpretation. This is marked in the later developments of the move ment, as seen in Quesnel's (died 1719) Moral Reflections on, the New Testament (1687), the exegesis of which disclosed an ascetic spirit, and :Madame Guyon's (died 1717) explications of the Holy Bible (Paris, 1715), which ran riot in mystical extravaganzas.
A development somewhat similar to this in the Catholic Church took place also in the Protestant Church. At the beginning of the Reformation the supreme interest in the Scriptures brought them into a place of high regard. As: the period pro gressed, however, this regard grew and inten sified ontil it became at last a reverence that placed the Scriptures in a position of supreme authority for the life and faith of the Chu•eh. In the same way the spiritual value given to the Scriptures at the first brought them into a place of 'traction] ministry to the Church's faith and life. But with the progress of the period this life and faith grew in doctrinal importance, until the ministry which the Scriptures rendered came to be one of support and proof for the Chnreh's dogmatic position. The return to al legorizing methods, was in reality the threshold of this doctrinal development: but the full stage of the development is seen in the scholastic exegesis of the seventeenth century, especially among the Lutherans. Gerhard (died 1637), in his most im portant work, Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospel History of the Passion, Resurrection, uad .isrension of ('heist (Jena, 1617). to which he added a completion of the Chemnitz-Leyscr har mony, shows almost a pie) istic spirit and evi dences remarkable patristic learning, yet treats Scripture as throughout the canonically author itative source for dogma : while Salmno Glass (died 1656), in spite of comprehensive knowledge and grammatical method, burdens his Philologia Sacra (Jena, 1623-3(1) with casuistry and alle gorism ; and Calovins (died 1636) conceived his chief exegetical work, Biblia Illustrata (Frank fort. 1672-76), in the bitterness of a dogmatic
polemic, dragging Scripture down to a mere col lection of proof texts for Lutheran orthodoxy. Against this dogmatism arose the same protest as in the latter stage of the Counter-Reformation. The first intimation of it appeared in Calixtus (died 1656), who took an irenic position between Lutherans and Reformed, a position based on a lower estimate of Scripture than was current in his day, in which the almost idolatrous reverence for the book was laid aside. This protest came to its full issue in the pietistic school of Spener (died 1705), who in his Misused Bible Passages (1693) subordinated the interpreting of Scrip ture for the sake of the creeds to the study of Scripture for the sake of the religious life. This principle was carried forward and developed by his pupils, Francke (died 1727) in his exegetical lectures at Leipzig (1689) and his various her meneutical writings and Anton (died 1730) in his Bible lectures at Halle (from 1695 on). and his occasional writings in the field of the de votional and practical life. In addition to these, Rambach (died 1735) produced in his Institute of Sacred Hermeneutics (Halle, 1724) and allied writings the first comprehensive presentation of the bermeneutical discipline, in which, however, the science of the study was endangered by the author's overpressure of the idea of inspiration. Midway between this confessional freedom of the and the symbol-worship of the Lutherans stood Bengel (died 1752)„ whose G/101/10n of the Yew Testament (Tubingen, 1742) is the best exegetical product of the period. He had no extravagant ideas of inspiration, and yet was imbued with a profound sense of the religions value of the revelation contained in the words of Scripture: he was conscientious in the details of scholarship and yet comprehensive in the grasp of truth; he was finished in style and yet full of spiritual power.
This dogmatic development and reaction did not show itself so conspicuously among the Reformed exegetes, whether in Germany, Switzerland, or France. The New Testament work done by Parreus (died 1622), J. Capell (died 1624). Pis eator (died 1625), Raphel (died 1715), Lampe (died 1729), and De Beausobre (died 1738), while burdened more or less with theological dis cussion and characterized by theological analysis, is nevertheless devoid of confessional motive and is remarkably true in method. Even in Holland, where the controversy between Armiuians and Calvinists was bitter in the extreme. Bible inter pretation was not distorted in the interests of party positions. This is evident on the Calvin ist side in the exegetical work of Coeceins ((lied 1669) pistles, oh n's Gospel and Apocalypse, and in the New Testament printed in his Opera (Am sterdam, 1676-7S), which was directed against the dry scholasticism of Lutheranism, and rein stated in a measure the early Reformation meth ods, though its excessive typology opened anew the way to the old error of allegorism. It was also evident in the work of his pupils Van '1'il (died 1713) and Vitringa (died 1722). On the Arminian side it was Nually evident in the great interpretative production of Grotius (died 1645), Annotations on the Old and New T•sta ment, printed in Opera ( Amsterdam, 1679), which in its method was free from the control of dogmatic prepossessions. the author's aim be ing to get at the plain historical sense of Scrip ture. The further fact that, among Reformed scholars generally, there was produced a class of books called Observations which, while con tributing to various phases of Bible study, such as philology, chronology, geography, and natural history, did so along exegetical lines, is clear proof of how scholarly their method was and how free it stood from the slavery of symbolism. Work in this latter field were Sealiger (died 1609), Ca saubon ( d ied 1614). Drusius ( died 1616), Bocha rt (died 1(167), and Elsner (died 1750), to whom should be added Wetstein (died 1754), whose critical edition of the New Testament (1751.52) was one of the greatest contributions to biblical scholarship in the century.