It is their intellect which, being unsanctified, has led them astray.
I check the cost of one and vow to remain unsanctified.
I would guess that what Eliot is thinking about here is her own unsanctified union with G. H. Lewes.
When a plague outbreak became really severe it was sometimes necessary to bury the dead in unsanctified ground.
My friend, Mr. Webster puts it this way: Profane1: Not being concerned with religion or religious purposes, secular 2: Not Holy because unconsecrated, impure, or unsanctified 3: Serving to defile what is Holy.
For a moment, I thought that ordinary, unsanctified citizens might be able to take a look at the decision-making processes of the Godly!