One reason for the decline is thus stated by Painter: “In their efforts to give Christian doctrine a scientific form [that is, to formulate it], _they lost its spirit_. _LOSING ITS EARLY FREEDOM AND LIFE, Protestantism degenerated in a large measure into what has been called ‘DEAD ORTHODOXY._’ ... _Christian life_ counted for little, and the Protestant world broke up into opposing factions. Says Kurtz, who is disposed to apologize for this period as far as possible: ‘Like medieval scholasticism, in its concern for logic, theology almost lost vitality. Orthodoxy degenerated into orthodoxism; _externally_, not only discerning essential diversities, but disregarding the broad basis of a common faith, and running into odious and unrestrained controversy; _internally, holding to the form_ of pure doctrine, but neglecting cordially to embrace it and to live consistently with it.’”[130] [Sidenote: Scholasticism killed Protestant schools] How narrow the line between truth and error! How easy for those who had been given to eat of the tree of life to turn to the tree of knowledge of good and evil! What a pity that Protestant educators could not remain true to their trust! When on the eve of success, they turned to the old paths, and “called into existence a dialectic scholasticism which was in no way inferior to that of the most flourishing period of the Middle Ages.”[131] Papal principles are papal, whether advocated by Catholics or Protestants; having left the fountain of the pure waters of faith, they turned to the only other accessible source of knowledge—the pagan world. That system of education introduced by Luther and Melancthon, founded upon the _Holy Scriptures_, and through them viewing the sciences, mathematics, and literature, using the latter only as a means of illustrating God’s Word, was replaced by the _scholasticism of the Middle Ages_. One involuntarily asks, “How many times, O Israel, wilt thou return into Egypt?” [Sidenote: Form took the place of life] This decline is described in the following quotations taken from Painter, and they need no comment: “During the period extending from the middle of the sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century, three leading tendencies are apparent in education. These may be characterized as the theological, the humanistic, and the practical.... A large share of the intellectual strength of the age was turned to theology. Every phase of religious truth, particularly in its doctrinal and speculative aspects, was brought under investigation. Theology was elevated to a science, and doctrinal systems were developed with logical precision, and _extended to trifling subtilities_.”[132] In the figure of the Bible they strained for gnats, meanwhile swallowing the camel. The life was thus lost in the pulpit and in the theological schools. It was again the “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” [Sidenote: Further return to papal methods]