On the whole, the preponderating preference has always been in favour of so-called extemporaneous, or free prayer; and the Westminster Directory of Public Worship has to a large extent stereotyped the form and order of the service in most Presbyterian churches.
But these two sections of Protestantism, in their common exile and in presence of the preponderating Roman Catholicism of the country, seemed at first inclined to draw closer together than had been thought possible in Great Britain.
The Arctic voyages of Barents were quickly followed by the establishment of p u a Dutch East India Company; and the Dutch, ousting the Portuguese, not only established factories on the mainland of India and in Japan, but acquired a preponderating influence throughout the Malay Archipelago.
It was owing to the want of this that the Cretans scarcely figure in Greek history as a people, though the island, as observed by Aristotle, would seem from its natural position calculated to exercise a preponderating influence over Greek affairs.
From this point of view Pierre d'Ailly, together with his compatriot Cardinal Fillastre, took the preponderating part during the first.