[49] Vossius apud Niceron, xxxvii. 111. Dionysius Petavius permaulta post Scaligerum optime observavit. Sed nolim judicium interponere inter eos, quorum uterque præclare adeo de chronologia meritus est, ut nullis plus hæc scientia debeat.... Qui sine affectu ac partium studio conferre volet quæ de temporibus scripsere, conspiciet esse ubi Scaligero major laus debeatur, comperiet quoque ubi longe Petavio malit assentiri; erit etiam ubi ampliandum videatur; imo ubi nec facile veritas à quoquam possit indagari. The chronology of Petavius was animadverted upon by Salmasius with much rudeness, and by several other contemporaries engaged in the same controversy. If we were to believe Baillet, Petavius was not only the most learned of the order of Jesuits, but surpassed Salmasius himself _de plusieurs coudées_. Jugemens des Sçavans, n. 513. But to judge between giants we should be a little taller ourselves than most are. Baillet, indeed, quotes Henry Valois for this preference of Petavius to any other of his age, which, in other words, is much the same as to call him the most learned man that ever lived; and Valois was a very competent judge. The words, however, are found in a funeral panegyric. [50] Bibl. Choisie, ii. 186. A short abstract of the Petavian scheme of chronology will be found in this volume of Le Clerc. [51] Biogr. Univ. art. Petavius. CHAPTER XIX. HISTORY OF THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE IN EUROPE, FROM 1600 TO 1650. _Claim of Popes to temporal Power--Father Paul Sarpi--Gradual Decline of papal Power--Unpopularity of Jesuits--Controversy of Catholics and Protestants--Deference of some of the latter to Antiquity-- Wavering in Casaubon--Still more in Grotius--Calixtus--An opposite School of Theologians--Daillé--Chillingworth--Hales--Rise of the Arminian Controversy--Episcopius--Socinians--Question as to Rights of Magistrates in Religion--Writings of Grotius on this Subject-- Question of Religious Toleration--Taylor’s Liberty of Prophesying-- Theological Critics and Commentators--Sermons on Donne--and Taylor--Deistical Writers--English Translation of the Bible._ |Temporal supremacy of Rome.|