They are also to warn all parents and heads of families, whom they fear to be negligent in these matters, of their obligation to instruct their children and servants in their religion, or at least to see that they are so instructed by others.1

After affirming the strict obligation of the existing laws as to clerical celibacy, and pointing out that, by the legislation of the late general council, persistence in offences against continence would entail suspension and deprivation, the constitution passes on to treat of the duty of charity, imposed upon the clergy by their high calling. All priests and beneficed ecclesiastics are "bound, according to the measure of their revenues and resources, to dispense charity and not to manifest avarice where the poor are concerned." This law, Bishop Marsh reminds his clergy, is the more binding on monks and religious generally, in as much as by their profession they are bound to a stricter form of life, and this clause in the constitution concludes with a solemn warning about this duty. "Those who abuse the patrimony of the Crucified, either by living a life of luxury, or by not practising the virtue of charity," it says, " shall be punished according to the canons, when we shall have information of such people."

Then follow some minute instructions as to the sacraments; their number, meaning, effects and due administration, are treated of systematically. In regard to baptism, for instance, after a careful explanation of the effects and intention of the sacrament, etc., the clergy are prohibited from exacting or taking any fees for its administration. Out of reverence, too, the font is to be kept locked, and the holy oils, necessary for the due performance of the rites, are to be preserved in a safe place in a proper baptistery, 1 Wilkins, i. 573.

which is never to be used for any other purpose. When, in case of need, baptism has to be administered in a private house, the vessel made use of for the purpose is not again to serve for any profane purpose, but is either to be destroyed or given to the Church. The priest is charged to ask lay people constantly whether they are acquainted with the form of the Sacrament, in either Latin, French, or English, which they may have to use in case of need.

After baptism, children should be confirmed by the bishop, and if through the negligence of their parents they have not received that sacrament before the age of seven years, the father and mother are to be prohibited from coming into their parish church until the child has been taken to the bishop.'

If priests are negligent in this matter, they are to be punished with like severity, and if, when any adult comes in Lent to confession he is found to be unconfirmed-and upon this point the priest is warned to inquire-he is to be sent at once to the bishop to receive this sacrament at his hands. In the same thorough and careful way these Durham constitutions of 1222 treat of the other sacraments, and they together form a complete manual of teaching on the theology of the Church's sacramental system, and on the practical administration of the sacred rites.

At Easter, in the year 1222, which fell upon April 3rd, a few months after his return from Rome, Archbishop Langton held a provincial synod at Oxford. In this assembly the bishops published a joint constitution in fifty chapters or sections. As a preamble to this they proclaimed an excommunication against several classes of disturbers of the rights of the Church and of the king. Amongst these were included those, for example, who in1 Wilkins, i. 576.

fringe upon the liberties of the Church, or seek to deprive it of its privileges; those who disturb the peace of the king or endeavour to detain property that of right is his; those who give false witness, or cause it to be given; those who make false charges, or seek to deprive patrons of their right of presentation to benefices, etc.

The body of the constitution deals with the life and duties of all classes of society. Bishops, for example, are warned to be charitable to all in need; to be ever ready to hear and decide causes submitted to them; to hear confessions personally at times; to reside at their cathedral churches and to be present at the public services during Lent and sometimes on Saints' days. Twice a year they are to read, or have read to them, the promises made by them at the time of their consecration to the episcopal office, and to consider with themselves whether they have acted in accordance with their solemn vows. The clergy generally are strictly enjoined in accordance with the commands of the General Council to feed the flock committed to them "with the food of God's word lest they should deservedly be adjudged to be dumb dogs," and they are bidden. to remember the Scripture promise that in the last judgement day "those who have visited the sick will be rewarded in the eternal kingdom," and for this, if for no other reason, they ought to "hasten with joy to the sick whensoever they are called."1

In this code of ecclesiastical laws minute regulations are also made about the care of the churches with their ornaments and books, all of which have to be examined periodically by the archdeacons. Vicars are not to be appointed or approved, unless they promise to reside in the cures committed to them; and the bishop is charged to see that Wilkins, i. 586.

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a proper provision is always made for their support, that they may not be tempted to beg, or look to obtaining anything for their spiritual ministrations. In their dress the clergy are to show themselves to be ecclesiastics, avoiding display and worldly pomp, and in their lives they are to be free from every stain of incontinence.

Besides these general directions for the good ordering of English clerical life, special statutes are incorporated into these constitutions dealing with religious and monastic observance. The sacraments are also treated of with minute care, and great stress laid upon the importance of confirmation and the necessity of not delaying its reception. Adults, who have not been confirmed, are to be urged not to wait till the bishop might come to the place where they reside; but after having made their confessions they were urged to go to any church where the sacrament was to be administered.

To the foregoing provisions of the Oxford synod, by which Archbishop Langton and his suffragans hoped to secure adequate religious teaching and uniformity of clerical life, the diocesan decrees attributed to Bishop Poore, of Salisbury, do not add very much. Several points, however, are emphasised, and one or two of the provisions made somewhat more stringent. In regard to preaching, the Sarum constitutions refer to the order of the Lateran Council, which commands all bishops who were themselves unable to preach in their dioceses, to provide fitting substitutes, so that this plain duty be not in any way neglected. The clergy of the diocese are charged to allow these substitutes to preach freely to the people and to give them every help, temporal and spiritual, in this work. In regard to teaching generally, Bishop Poore's statutes direct that "a proper support be found for the master who in

structs poor scholars gratuitously in grammar, that by such means the necessities of the teacher be relieved and the path of the learner be made easy for him.""

About this time the presence in England of a number of papal officials, collectors and beneficed clerks, led to the abuse of papal letters, and to the circulation of forged briefs of protection and privilege. The genuine documents were numerous enough, and it would seem to be not improbable that, in some instances at least, the holders of the false Roman letters were not aware that they were forgeries, and produced them in all innocence. Two cases at this period in the diocese of Worcester will serve to illustrate this matter. The first had to do with the cathedral monastery itself, and is related in the annals of that house. It is well to note that, although the writer of the Worcester story would no doubt put the best side forward, the main lines of his account are confirmed by other documents. In 1221 the convent received a letter of privilege from the pope, or rather a document that purported to have emanated from the Curia, and which, so far as any evidence goes, the monks believed to be genuine, and with reason, as it was obtained through a papal cursor. By this document it was declared that neither the prior of Worcester nor his successors were to be removable by the bishop at will, and that they could only be deposed from their office after a trial presided over by judges appointed by the pope. The bishop refused to recognise these letters and, declaring them to be spurious, appealed to the Holy See. The prior set out for Rome on 23rd November, 1221, to plead his cause in person, taking with him from the convent letters of credit for four hundred marks, over and above the forty marks he had in his purse for current expenses. Whilst he 1 Wilkins, i. 600. Annales Mon., iv. 414 seq.

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