but Bossuet proved implacable. Although unable
to suppress all of Simon's works, he was able to drive him from the
Oratory, and to bring him into disrepute among the very men who ought to
have been proud of him as Frenchmen and thankful to him as Christians.

But other scholars of eminence were now working in this field, and chief
among them Le Clerc. Virtually driven out of Geneva, he took refuge
at Amsterdam, and there published a series of works upon the Hebrew
language, the interpretation of Scripture, and the like. In these
he combated the prevalent idea that Hebrew was the primitive tongue,
expressed the opinion that in the plural form of the word used in
Genesis for God, "Elohim," there is a trace of Chaldean polytheism, and,
in his discussion on the serpent who tempted Eve, curiously anticipated
modern geological and zoological ideas by quietly confessing his
inability to see how depriving the serpent of feet and compelling him to
go on his belly could be punishment--since all this was natural to the
animal. He also ventured quasi-scientific explanations of the confusion
of tongues at Babel, the destruction of Sodom, the conversion of Lot's
wife into a pillar of salt, and the dividing of the Red Sea. As to
the Pentateuch in general, he completely rejected the idea that it was
written by Moses. But his most permanent gift to the thinking world was
his answer to those who insisted upon the reference by Christ and his
apostles to Moses as the author of the Pentateuch. The answer became a
formula which has proved effective from his day to ours: "Our Lord and
his apostles did not come into this world to teach criticism to the
Jews, and hence spoke according to the common opinion."

Against all these scholars came a theological storm, but it raged most
pitilessly against Le Clerc. Such renowned theologians as Carpzov in
Germany, Witsius in Holland, and Huet in France berated him unmercifully
and overwhelmed him with assertions which still fill us with wonder.
That of Huet, attributing the origin of pagan as well as Christian
theology to Moses, we have already seen; but Carpzov showed that
Protestantism could not be outdone by Catholicism when he declared, in
the face of all modern knowledge, that not only the matter but the exact
form and words of the Bible had been divinely transmitted to the modern
world free from all error.

At this Le Clerc stood aghast, and finally stammered out a sort of half
recantation.(475)