Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/51

 in the laws of Ina, king of Wessex, about 690 A.D., and of Wehtraed, king of Kent, in 696. The Church in time was freed from many civil burdens. Bishops were given a social position next to the kings and nobility. The people were the means of building many new Churches in the land. Kings gave money for this purpose from their private purses. So did many Bishops and nobles. At the time of the Norman Conquest there were probably more than two thousand Parishes in England. The clergy were provided for by the free-will offerings of the people, and by tithes given by rich landowners who left their property to their successors subject to the condition that they continued to pay the same tithes.

The general duty of the clergy in those days was much the same as it is at present. They had to provide for the Church services, and administer the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Baptism. They heard the confessions of the people and visited the sick and needy, and performed the offices of marriage and burial. They were to see that the Church fabric, the books and vestments and ecclesiastical vessels were kept in good repair. The state of their parishes had to be reported by the clergy to the Synod held every year. They instructed the youths in the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles' Creed.

As we draw nearer to the time of the middle ages, the Church of England began to decline in power and purity. The Monasteries, of which there were many in England, gradually became defiled, and the clergy were given over to licentious living. The monastic clergy, who were called the regular clergy, and the parish priests, who were called