invisible. To be known as true to Christ imperiled life. Not many had
the courage to publish their convictions. Yet there were some who arose
in the majesty of redeemed manhood and confessed Jesus, testifying to
His truth in defiance of the powers of darkness. To them truth was
sweeter than life.

John Resby is on record as one among the first witnesses, who heralded a
glorious reformation for Scotland. He was a voice crying in the
wilderness, proclaiming the sovereignty of Christ over the Church and
denouncing the pope who claimed to be the representative of the Lord
Jesus. He was quickly silenced by death at the stake. This occurred in
1407 The spirit of religious liberty was thereby crushed and
disappeared for twenty-five years.

Paul Craw was the next to be lifted into prominence by the power of the
Gospel, and thrust into publicity by the courage of his convictions. The
Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. His love for the truth of the
Gospel filled him with abhorrence of Roman errors; his pity for souls
carried him into the fight for their freedom. He testified boldly
against Papal idolatry, prayer to saints, and the confessional. For this
he was sentenced to suffer in the flames. His martyrdom took place in
1432.

Patrick Hamilton was another distinguished hero in this age of darkness.
Nearly a century had passed between the last mentioned martyr and this.
Doubtless lesser lights had appeared, for the record cannot possibly be
complete. Winter snows and summer showers often fell on smoking embers,
where the charred bones and precious names of martyrs are now forgotten,
and the annual sward of green conceals the sacred grounds from the
knowledge of man. Hamilton was a young man of education and refinement