His common sense and uncomplicated tolerance could not satisfy the committed seeker for truth. The conflict raged. While this great duel did not resolve the thorny question of the freedom of the will, it did illustrate the basic views on the nature of man and God held by most contemporaries in the West at that time. These views reached into the past and were to rise to great importance with the coming of the national, industrial, democratic state. Their relevance today contributes to the Erasmian