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How the Reformation Happened, p35
Much worse was the condition of the wealthy laity, and more particularly, as I have said, in the point of avarice. The whole story of that whole class throughout Europe in this time of active discovery, expansion and glory, was a story of avarice. There was nothing men would not do for the violent and rapid acquisition of wealth. They had not, of course, the doctrinal disease of our time; they did not regard their vices as virtues, nor call the rapid grasping of a fortune heroic, as we do. The knowledge of right and wrong in this matter was still sound - but the practice was in ruins.
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