rostitution of women by priests through the confessional so
widespread and universal that they more often gave up the attempt through
fear of scandal and contempt for the Church itself.

Lecky, in his "History of European Morals," records the case of "the
abbot-elect of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, who in 1171 was found on
investigation to have _seventeen illegitimate children in a single
village_; or, an abbot of St. Pelayo, in Spain, who in 1130 was proved to
have kept no less than seventy concubines; or Henry III, Bishop of Liege,
who was deposed in 1274 for having sixty-five illegitimate children."
(History of European Morals. P. 350.)

If the reader remarks that "this is ancient history," he should remember
that a celibate priesthood to-day have the same opportunity, through the
secrecy and power of the Confessional, as ever.

I have barely touched on this disgusting but all-important question on the
general thesis of Jacolliot, viz.: "The first result of the baneful
domination of priests in India was the abasement and moral degradation of
woman."

Rome, who derived her religious code from paganized Egypt, added celibacy
to the opportunities and inducements for the degradation of woman. Rome
never attained the heights from which the Brahman priesthood plunged into
debauchery. Even to-day in the festivals in the Brahman temples wholesale
orgies of prostitution are sometimes found, as witnessed and recorded by
Jacolliot. From the first, Brahman priests have married and reared
families. Their degradation and debauchery, therefore, cannot be charged
to their original "Divine Revelation," but to their corruption of it.

I have given a few brief quotations among hundreds recorded by Jacolliot
as to the respect and veneration accorded to woman in early Vedic times,
and in the Laws of Manu.

"The Brahman may not approach the altar of sacrifice _but with a soul
pure, in a body undefiled_.

"Spirituous liquors beget drunkenness, neglect of duty, and they profane
prayer.

"The antiquity of India stands forth to establish its priority of
religious legislation in prohibiting to priests the use of spirituous
liquors, and especially in forbidding the pleasures of love when they are
about to offer sacrifice.

"The woman whose words and thoughts and person are pure is a celestial
balm.

"Happy shall he be whose choice is approved by all the good.

"It is ordained that a devotee shall choose a wife from his own class.