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4. ENDOWMENTS. REVENUES. PETER S-PENCE. 99
the object of the Church to free the clergy from the juris
diction of secular courts, and to put them as decisively as
possible under spiritual discipline; to prevent them from
entering into obligations of service to secular lords, to
prohibit the inheritance of benefices, and particularly to
attach to their calling the obligation of celibacy. On the
other hand it was the business of the community, based
upon the teaching of Scripture, to give them an assured
income in the way of tithes and offerings, and certain pos
sessions of houses and land free of taxes, otherwise pay
able to the crown and the community.
4. ENDOWMENTS. REVENUES. PETER S-PENCE. CRUS
ADING TITHES. ANNATES, ETC.
Further, since wealth was a means of acquiring power,
and power is needed for the Church s spiritual ends, men
and women were to be encouraged as much as possible to
make the Church their heir, and to build and endow
churches and monasteries. Such gifts they were taught
were well-pleasing to God, and made atonement for an ill-
spent life, or were the crown of a good one. Many a noble
man or high-born lady genuinely looked forward to the
quiet retirement of a convent at the close of life, or desired
to perpetuate their names by charity to such an institution
and to have the benefit of the prayers of its inmates after
death. Hence it became a great point of papal policy to
secure freedom to testators to make the Church their heir,
while it was a natural counter-policy of statesmen to dis
courage and check such benefactions, which tended to en
croach upon the disposable property of a nation, and to
force the burden of taxes upon a smaller area of the
country.
Such endowments might suffice for local needs ;
but be
sides them the central government naturally required the
support of the faithful. In addition to casual fees for legal
documents, dispensations, indulgences, promotions, and
the like, it was necessary to have a regular income. This
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