in church edifices and lands. It is always a sign
of growing power when large ownership of property is obtained. The
favors of Constantine, the gifts of Pepin and Charlemagne, and the
large number of private gifts of property brought the church into the
Middle Ages with large feudal possessions. This gave it prestige and
power, which it could not otherwise have held, and hastened the
development of a system of government which was powerful in many ways.

{276}

_Development of the Hierarchy_.--The clergy finally assumed powers of
control of the church separate from the laity. Consequently there was
a gradual decline in the power of lay members to have a voice in the
affairs of the church. While the early church appeared as a simple
democratic association, the organization had developed into a formal
system or hierarchy, which extended from pope to simple lay members.
The power of control falling into the hands of high officials, there
soon became a distinction between the ordinary membership and the
machinery of government. Moreover, the clergy were exempt from
taxation and any control or discipline similar to that imposed on
ordinary lay members.

These conditions soon led to the exercise of undue authority of the
hierarchy over the lay membership. This dominating principle became
dogmatic, until the members of the church became slaves to an arbitrary
government. The only saving quality in this was the fact that the
members of the clergy were chosen from the laity, which kept up the
connection between the higher and lower members of the church. The
separation of the governors from the governed proceeded slowly but
surely until the higher officers were appointed from the central
authority of the church, and all, even to the clergy, were directly
under the imperial control of the papacy. Moreover, the clergy assumed
legal powers and attempted to regulate the conduct of the laymen.
There finally grew up a great body of canon law, according to which the
clergy ruled the entire church and, to a certain extent, civil life.

But the church, under the canon law, must add a penalty to its
enforcement and must assume the punishment of offenders within its own
jurisdiction. This led to the assumption that all crime is sin, and as
its particular function was to punish sin, the church claimed
jurisdiction over all sinners and the right to apprehend and sentence
criminals; but the actual punishment of the more grievou