Simple and unassuming as they doubtless were in the earliest days Of Christianity in England, episcopal and monastic institutions gradually acquired vast landed possessions in proportion as their moral influence, teaching, and example made themselves felt and respected. It was but natural, after all, that to the Church, to which, as to a central point of light, religion, science, literature, education, sanctuary, hospital, and many other humanising elements naturally and necessarily gravitated, a gradual control over the lands in the vicinity of her precincts should accrue, whether as the result of gratitude for spiritual ministrations and moral elevation, and for services growing out of the superior opportunities they possessed (which none but the Church could so aptly confer on those who sought her assistance), or as the result of a dread and awful veneration of the unseen power which she claimed to wield at will.
