Wicliffe and His Times - James Aitken Wylie

again were kings and suppliant princes waiting at
her gates; again were her highways crowded with
ambassadors and suitors from every quarter of
Christendom; from the most distant regions came
the pilgrim and the devotee to pray at her holy
shrines; night and day, without intermission, there
flowed from her gates a spiritual stream to refresh
the world; crosiers and palls, priestly offices and
mystic virtues, pardons and dispensations, relics
and amulets, benedictions and anathemas; and, in
return for this, the tribute of all the earth was being
carried into her treasuries. On these pleasurable
subjects, doubtless, rested the thoughts of Innocent
as Francis of Assisi drew near.
The eye of the Pontiff lights upon the strange
figure. Innocent halts to survey more closely the
man. His dress is that of a beggar, his looks are
haggard, his eye is wild, yet despite these untoward
appearances there is something about him that
seems to say, "I come with a mission, and therefore
do I venture into this presence. I am here not to
beg, but to give alms to the Popedom;" and few
kings have had it in their power to lay greater gifts
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