Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/26

 unorthodox ideas upon original sin, and they were embroiled in controversy in consequence.

All this shows the life of Christianity in our land at those early times. We know that in these early days the British or the Celtic Church had erected many Churches, and held Councils for considering ecclesiastical affairs. Although we see that the Gospel has a good footing in Britain now, we cannot hold out the hope that it continued to spread and flourish. The Christian movement was very often hidden behind black clouds. We must now refer to a storm which arose and almost swept it away.

You must remember that up to this time Britain was under the government of the Roman Empire. This Empire was now beginning to decline in power. The German nation was rising into fame. The Goths invaded the Roman State, and it was necessary for the Roman Empire to concentrate all its forces at Rome to save itself from destruction. So the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain and the British were thrown upon their own resources. Being deprived of the protection of the Romans, the Britains were open to attacks from other foreign powers. The Picts and Scots invaded Britain. What were the British people to do? In the year 449 they invited the German nation to help them to drive out these new invaders. This was a very unfortunate step for the progress of the Gospel in Britain. The Germans were heathens, who worshipped a different God every day in the week. They were very desirous of territory and covetous of power. From being allies of the Britons against the Picts and Scots they became the conquerors of our country. They peopled our land with their own tribes. They drove