* “One cause of the downfall of the German Church lay in her enormous riches, the unhealthy growth of which aroused on the one side the envy and hatred of the laity, and on the other had a most deleterious effect on the ministers of the Church themselves.”—Pastor (C), History of the Popes, VII, 293.

† In any society the majority of abilities is contained in a minority of men; therefore, sooner or later, the majority of goods, privileges, and powers will be possessed by a minority of men. Wealth became concentrated in the Church in the Middle Ages because she served vital functions and was herself served by the ablest men. The Reformation, in one aspect, was a redistribution of this naturally concentrated wealth by the secular appropriation of ecclesiastical property or revenues.