1 Yet so loose were the ideas of the times respecting the conduct of the clergy, whether secular or regular, that the Prior Aymer maintained a fair character in the neighbourhood of his abbey.
2 He stated that his discourses to people were to be sometimes secular, and sometimes religious, but never dogmatic; and that his texts would be taken from all kinds of books.
Return of the Native By Thomas HardyContext Highlight In BOOK 6: 4 Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His 3 However, as your present mood seems to be one peculiarly secular, I will return to the church at once.
4 It has mingled, though with regret, the secular grandeurs of the monarchy with the new grandeurs of the nation.
Les Misérables 3 By Victor HugoContext Highlight In BOOK 3: CHAPTER III—REQUIESCANT 5 Midway an elm, shadowy and high, spreads her boughs and secular arms, where, one saith, idle Dreams dwell clustering, and cling under every leaf.