, 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.

The result was that new services were compiled in English out of the
old Latin books, which the people had been unable to understand; and
much that was superstitious was omitted. But the changes were
introduced gradually, and as the people were prepared to accept the