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Truth Advances in Britain
143
Barnes and Frith, Ridley and Cranmer, leaders in the English
Reformation, were men of learning, highly esteemed for zeal or
piety in the Romish communion. Their opposition to the papacy was
the result of their knowledge of the errors of the “holy see.”
Infallible Authority of Scripture
The grand principle maintained by these Reformers—the same
held by the Waldenses, Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Zwingli, and those
with them—was the infallible authority of Scripture. By its teach-
ing they tested all doctrines and all claims. Faith in God’s Word
sustained these holy men as they yielded up their lives at the stake.
“Be of good comfort,” exclaimed Latimer to his fellow martyr as the
flames were about to silence their voices, “we shall this day light
such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be
put out.
For hundreds of years after the churches of England submitted
to Rome, those of Scotland maintained their freedom. In the twelfth
century, however, popery became established, and in no country was
the darkness deeper. Still rays of light came to pierce the gloom.
The Lollards, coming from England with the Bible and the teachings
of Wycliffe, did much to preserve the knowledge of the gospel.
With the opening of the Reformation came the writings of Luther
and Tyndale’s English New Testament. These messengers silently
traversed the mountains and valleys, kindling into new life the torch
of truth so nearly extinguished and undoing the work which four
centuries of oppression had done.
Then the papist leaders, suddenly awakening to danger, brought
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to the stake some of the noblest of the sons of Scotland. These dying
witnesses throughout the land thrilled the souls of the people with
an undying purpose to cast off the shackles of Rome.
John Knox
Hamilton and Wishart, with a long line of humbler disciples,
yielded up their lives at the stake. But from the burning pile of
6
Works of Hugh Latimer, vol. 1, p. xiii.