By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 75 



bandit and tbe outlaw, whom none but he could dare approach, 

 seeking to allure the wild people by his preaching and example to 

 heavenly employments. In the Bishop's missionary residence a strict 

 frugality was observed. The missionaries only required a few 

 houses, besides the church, and in the church, when the houses 

 were full from an unexpected return of the missionaries they would 

 direct the straw to be strewn for their beds. They were frequently 

 visited by the wealthy, but only shared with them their simple 

 fare, and made no extra provision for their entertainment ; and 

 if the great men of the world, on departing, left them donations 

 in money, it was spent in making provision for the poor. 



But all the clergy were not engaged in missionary labour. From 

 the migratory character of their courts, the princes were accustomed 

 to select certain of the clergy to accompany them for the perform- 

 ance of the services of the church ; and the thanes soon followed 

 their examples, and appointed their private chaplains. On this 

 foundation Theodore erected his parochial system. He perceived 

 that Christianity, if it were to be rooted in the land, required more 

 than the occasional delivery of a sermon and the administration of 

 Sacraments : — he recognised the superintending duties of a pastor 

 who should gather the sheep in one fold. He persuaded the thanes 

 and landed proprietors to place a church in the centre of their 

 estates, and so to secure a constant intercourse between the minister 

 of the Gospel, the inmates of the castle, and the serfs. By degrees 

 he laid the foundation of what we now call the parochial system ; 

 and converted what had before been but a missionary station into 

 a permanently established Church. The Saxon Chronicle notices 

 his death under the year 690, with this brief but significant remark. 

 ' Before this, the Bishops had been Romans ; from this time they 

 were English,' — in fact a native church, henceforth supplied by a 

 native ministry, had become a part of the constitution of the 

 countrj'." ^ 



Berhtwald became Archbishop of Canterbury in 692. He was 

 of royal lineage, being related to Ethelred the Mercian King. The 

 accession of the first native Archbishop was followed by marked 

 1 Lives of tlie Archbishops of Canterbury i., 152. 



