The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 250

The grand principle maintained by these Reformers—the same that
had been held by the Waldenses, by Wycliffe, by John Huss, by Luther,
Zwingli, and those who united with them—was the infallible authority
of the Holy Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice. They denied the
right of popes, councils, Fathers, and kings, to control the conscience in
matters of religion. The Bible was their authority, and by its teaching
they tested all doctrines and all claims. Faith in God and His 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.”—Works of
Hugh Latimer, vol. 1, p. xiii.
In Scotland the seeds of truth scattered by Columba and his
colaborers had never been wholly destroyed. 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 here, and in no country did it exercise a more
absolute sway. Nowhere was the darkness deeper. Still there came
rays of light to pierce the gloom and give promise of the coming day.
The Lollards, coming from England with the Bible and the teachings of
Wycliffe, did much to preserve the knowledge of the gospel, and every
century had its witnesses and martyrs.
With the opening of the Great Reformation came the writings of
Luther, and then Tyndale’s English New Testament. Unnoticed by
the hierarchy, these messengers silently traversed the mountains and
valleys, kindling into new life the torch of truth so nearly extinguished
in Scotland, and undoing the work which Rome for four centuries of
oppression had done.
Then the blood of martyrs gave fresh impetus to the movement. The
papist leaders, suddenly awakening to the danger that threatened their
cause, brought to the stake some of the

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