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Wicliffe and His Times - James Aitken Wylie

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ival. It built for itself gorgeous temples, it enlisted<br />

in its service a powerful hierarchy, it added year by<br />

year to the number <strong>and</strong> magnificence of its<br />

ceremonies, it expressed itself in canons <strong>and</strong><br />

constitutions; <strong>and</strong>, seduced by this imposing show,<br />

nations bowed down before it, <strong>and</strong> puissant kings<br />

lent their swords for its defense <strong>and</strong> propagation.<br />

Far otherwise was it with its rival. Withdrawing<br />

into the spiritual sphere, it appeared to have<br />

ab<strong>and</strong>oned the field to its antagonist. Not so,<br />

however. If it had hidden itself from the eyes of<br />

men, it was that it might build up from the very<br />

foundation, piling truth upon truth, <strong>and</strong> prepare in<br />

silence those mighty spiritual forces by which it<br />

was in due time to emancipate the world. Its<br />

progress was consequently less marked, but was far<br />

more real than that of its antagonist. Every error<br />

which the one pressed into its service was a cause<br />

of weakness; every truth which the other added to<br />

its creed was a source of strength. The uninstructed<br />

<strong>and</strong> superstitious hordes which the one received<br />

into its communion were dangerous allies. They<br />

might follow it in the day of its prosperity, but they<br />

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