of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance
they render to his end, which is supremacy. And on the other hand, as a
lord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place
when they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy as
his end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes
other things in their place when they are not subservient to his end,
which is supremacy.

From this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end,
holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to
the end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are
subservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is
supremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the
man's own (proprium); and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing but
evil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that
they may be as one. In this kind of profanation are all those who are
in sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of
the church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the
salvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A.E., n. 1053.)

Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than
adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus
pervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with
the end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divine
things that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the
means may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths
into falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an
increasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased.

That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day,