The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 116

yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his countenance lighted
up with joy and peace. His gaze was fixed upon Christ, and to him
death had lost its terrors. When the executioner, about to kindle the
pile, stepped behind him, the martyr exclaimed: “Come forward boldly;
apply the fire before my face. Had I been afraid, I should not be here.”
His last words, uttered as the flames rose about him, were a
prayer. “Lord, Almighty Father,” he cried, “have pity on me, and
pardon me my sins; for Thou knowest that I have always loved Thy
truth.”—Bonnechose, vol. 2, p. 168. His voice ceased, but his lips
continued to move in prayer. When the fire had done its work, the ashes
of the martyr, with the earth upon which they rested, were gathered up,
and like those of Huss, were thrown into the Rhine.
So perished God’s faithful light bearers. But the light of the truths
which they proclaimed—the light of their heroic example—could not
be extinguished. As well might men attempt to turn back the sun in
its course as to prevent the dawning of that day which was even then
breaking upon the world.
The execution of Huss had kindled a flame of indignation and horror
in Bohemia. It was felt by the whole nation that he had fallen a prey
to the malice of the priests and the treachery of the emperor. He was
declared to have been a faithful teacher of the truth, and the council that
decreed his death was charged with the guilt of murder. His doctrines
now attracted greater attention than ever before. By the papal edicts the
writings of Wycliffe had been condemned to the flames. But those that
had escaped destruction were now brought out from their hiding places
and studied in connection with the Bible, or such parts of it as the people
could obtain, and many were thus led to accept the reformed faith.
The murderers of Huss did not stand quietly by and witness the
triumph of his cause. The pope and the emperor united to crush out
the movement, and the armies of Sigismund were hurled upon Bohemia.

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