The new secular knowledge clashed at a thousand points, alike in letter and in spirit, with the old sacred lore.

Even where it did not clash, its vitality of interest and attraction drove the older lore into neglected shade.

To stir men's vivid curiosity and hope about the earth was to make their care much less absorbing about the kingdom of heaven.

To awaken in them the spirit of social improvement was ruin to the most scandalous and crying social abuse then existing.

The old spiritual power had lost its instinct, once so keen and effective, of wise direction.