eir opponents attached great
value to the translation, and sometimes called it "inspired." The former
delayed not to appropriate the fruits of the latest researches in
science and criticism, in certain cases laying aside fragments of the
text in favor of the suggestions of the most recent editions of
Cocceius. To the Voetians this conduct was not much better than atheism.
They hurled all the curses and plagues of the Bible against every one
who whispered that there could be a mistake in the transcription of a
word or even of a Hebrew vowel-point. The Cocceian brought all his
questions into the pulpit, where he preached them in a manner more
adapted to addle the heads of his hearers than to edify their hearts.
Hebrew grammars were published for the laity. Even women,--among whom
was Anna Maria Schurmann, the adherent and friend of Voetius,--were able
to read the Bible in the original tongues. Nor did they hesitate to take
part in the angry disputes of theologians. The Cocceians ran wild with
their principles of fanciful interpretation. Every prophecy was, in
their view, a treasury of allegorical facts yet to come to pass, and to
be heartily endorsed. The Voetians prided themselves on their
literalism, and named Hugo Grotius as their master. Yet they held that
they never could swallow his abominable Arminianism.

The history of hermeneutics in all times shows that there is but one
step from the literal to the allegorical. So with the Voetians. They
indicated a disposition to yield, and at length became more fanciful and
allegorical than their adversaries had been. They sought the interior
sense of the text, but would be limited by no rules. They spiritualized
the entire contents of the Bible. He who could draw most profit and
instruction from a word was the best teacher, for a scribe must bring
forth from his "heart" both new things and old. Not reason, nor logic,
but experience and feeling must explain every word of God. The Bible
literally became all things to all men. The "inner light" was its great
interpreter. Many people despised scientific students of the truths of
revelation, calling them "slaves of the letter,"--a term which,
singularly enough, is still in common use among the uneducated members
of the church of Holland. The Bible, taken in its real character, was
banished and an artificial volume placed in its stead. Practical
mysticism was now fairly inaugurated. Even conventicles spread
throughout the country,