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Substance of Lectures Delivered in the Churches
Substance of Lectures Delivered in the Churches Author:Henry Drummond Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LECTURE III. ON THE STATE OF THE LAITY IN ANTI-EPISCOPALIAN COMMUNITIES. From the many acts of parliament which were passed at the period of the Reformatio... more »n to naturalise the children of Roman Catholic priests, particularly in Scotland ; from the mass of landed property belonging to the Church which the bishops, deans, and other dignitaries made over in perpetuity to their natural children; from the chronicles and histories of the time; from the continued attacks which were made upon their immoralities, deplored by the good and ridiculed by the witty; from the repeated regulations made by the ecclesiastical rulers respecting the concubines of the clergy; and from the decrees against their bastards, particularly that of the Council of Trent expelling them from holy office, it is undeniable that a large proportion of the persons who had claimed, in centuries past, to have the exclusive right to guidethe people in religion and morality, was entirely devoid of both: and under such rule as that of Julius III., the morals of the clergy could not have heen different. Nothing is more difficult than to estimate the comparative amount of vice existing at any two periods in the same country: it is probable that its real amount in kind remains the same, whilst the grossness and nature of it varies considerably. In a country where the inhabitants are brought under obedience to laws, so that open violence is restrained, crimes of that description will be less frequent. Seductions will take the place of rapes : malice and revenge will find the means of gratification through litigation more than by the assassin's dagger : but power will still oppress the defenceless in every ramification of human society. It must be obvious to all, and every day's experience affords example, that men fe...« less