But our interest naturally attaches itself chiefly to our own country, and to the records we possess of the Church of England. The Roman troops were withdrawn from Britain about the end of the fourth century; and in the course of the next two hundred years, the various tribes of heathen Saxons who invaded our shores overcame the resistance of the Britons and settled in England; and, by their victorious advance, the few that survived of the British Christians were driven to take refuge in the mountains of Wales and the western counties. Toward the close of the sixth century the attention of Gregory the Great, the good and zealous Bishop or Pope of Rome, was called to the heathen condition of Saxon England; and A.D. 597 Augustine was sent over with a band of clergy to convert the Saxons. He landed in Kent, converted Ethelbert the king, and became first Archbishop of Canterbury[27]. Shortly afterwards Celtic missionaries--Aidan, Chad, and others--pushed southwards, converting Northumbria and the Midlands; others landed in the southern counties; and the English people grew into power as a Christian nation. As years passed on, the Bishops, or Popes, of Rome usurped to themselves an ever-increasing authority, which was the cause of many contests between them and successive kings of England; and at the same time many abuses grew up and superstitious practices were mingled with the simple belief of purer ages, and a gradual decay of true spiritual religion set in. At length in the sixteenth century the English Church asserted its right to reform abuses under its own Archbishops and Bishops. Then the Reformation period began. The Pope of Rome endeavoured to resist the movement, and to maintain his authority; and upon the people of England refusing to submit to his unreasonable and unbearable claims, the rupture between the Church of Rome and the Church of England resulted. The position thus taken by the Church of England must be clearly understood. During the Middle Ages the various Churches of the west of Europe were gradually brought to acknowledge the supremacy of the Popes or Bishops of Rome. So that the Pope was able to exercise an authority over all these Churches. Hitherto learning had been confined to a very few. But now, through the invention of printing, the knowledge of Holy Scripture was rapidly extending; and people were finding not only that the claims of the Pope were without foundation, but also that many of the ceremonies and practices, to which they were accustomed, were superstitious and wrong. This then was the work of the Reformation--to free the Church of England from the unreasonable claims of the Papal Supremacy; and to bring back the faith and worship of the people into harmony with the writings of the ancient Fathers of the Church.