"[priests are] the pretenders to power and dominion, and to a superior sanctity of character, distinct from virtue and good morals."

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So far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction into the earth at successive geological periods of life,-sensation,-instinct,-the intelligence of the higher mammalia bordering on reason,-and lastly the improvable reason of Man himself, presents us with a picture of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.

— Charles Lyell