Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

106 ST. DUNSTAN
tive idea inherited from the old German system.
Peace, order, and the rights of the subject are the
undercurrent of Edgar's secular ordinances concerning
the remedial jurisdiction of the king,
the regular holding of the popular courts, the
general system of security for appearance in the
gemotes, and the uniformity of coins and measures.
The claims of the individual English citizen
are fairly and clearly recognised in these early
ordinances: "I will that every man be worthy of
folk-right, as well poor as rich, and that righteous
dooms be judged to him ". And again in the Supplement
HHI three points are insisted upon which v are of
fundamental importance to the prosperity of the
State: first and foremost come duties towards God
and religion; secondty, the proper balancing of
power between the sovereign and his thanes; and,
thirdly, the legal freedom of the Danes. The
development of these early principles points to the
religious mind of the English even amidst the errings
of heresy, the independent English monarchy, the
free and generous nature of English hospitality towards
strangers. Edgar's words, in one instance at
least, mark the guidance of Duiistan. He says : " I
and the archbishop command that ye anger not God ".
TJie ecclesiastical laws enacted may be divided into
two classes: the first are called the sixty-seven
canons of Edgar, and concern religious observances
and the guidance of the clergy. Dunstaii's hand is
apparent in some of the number. For instance :