As a sample, however, of what is popularly believed on this subject at the present day, it is well to take the opinion of by no means an extreme party writer, Bishop Hobhouse. “Preaching,” he says, “was not a regular part of the Sunday observances as now. It was rare, but we must not conclude from the silence of our MSS. (_i.e._ churchwardens’ accounts) that it was never practised.” In another place he states, upon what he thinks sufficient evidence, “that there was a total absence of any system of clerical training, and that the cultivation of the conscience as the directing power of man’s soul, and the implanting of holy affections in the heart seem to have been no part of the Church’s system of guidance.” That this is certainly not a correct view as to the way in which the pastors of the parochial churches in pre-Reformation days discharged--or rather neglected--their duties, in view of the facts, appears to be certain. The grounds for this opinion are the following: for practical purposes we may divide the religious teaching, given by the clergy, into the two classes of _sermons_ and _instructions_. The distinction is obvious. By the first are meant those set discourses to prove some definite theme, or expound some definite passage of Holy Scripture, or deduce the lessons to be learnt from the life of some saint. In other words, putting aside the controversial aspect, which, of course, was rare in those days, a sermon in mediæval times was much what a sermon is to-day. There was this difference, however, that in pre-Reformation days the sermon was not probably so frequent as in these modern times. Now, whatever instruction is given to the people at large is conveyed to them almost entirely in the form of set sermons, which, however admirable in themselves, seldom convey to their hearers consecutive and systematic, dogmatic and moral teaching. Mediæval methods of imparting religious knowledge were different. For the most part the priest fulfilled the duty of instructing his flock by plain, unadorned, and familiar instructions upon matters of faith and practice. These must have much more resembled our present catechetical instructions than our modern pulpit discourses. To the subject of set sermons I shall have occasion to return presently, but as vastly more important, at any rate in the opinion of our Catholic forefathers, let us first consider the question of familiar instructions. For the sake of clearness we will confine our attention to the two centuries (the fourteenth and fifteenth) previous to the great religious revolution under Henry VIII. Before the close of the thirteenth century, namely, in A.D. 1281, Archbishop Peckham issued the celebrated Constitutions of the Synod of Oxford which are called by his name. There we find the instruction of the people legislated for minutely.