having fairest worldly prospects. However, the Lord showed him "the way,
the truth, and the life," and his soul was fired with the love of God.
He counted all things but "loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ." His enthusiasm carried him boldly into controversy with the
enemies of his Lord, and won for him the honors of a noble martyr. As
the flames leaped around him at the stake, his voice rose calm and clear
on the crisp winter air, exclaiming, "How long, O Lord, shall darkness
cover this realm? How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of man?" This
man was sacrificed in 1528.

The light was rising; spring-time was coming, the early rain of God's
grace was falling upon Scotland. Godly lives now sprang up thick as
flowers in the meadow. They must be uprooted in bunches, thought the
Romanists, or the people, gaining light, will cast off the Papal
religion and be free to worship God according to His Word. During the
next few years many were condemned and executed for their faith.

Helen Stark deserves honorable mention. She and her husband were
sentenced to death for their fidelity to Jesus. She begged for the poor
consolation of dying with her husband, pleading that the flames that
would consume his flesh might also consume hers. The privilege was
denied. She stood by him while the fire did its work, and the chariot of
flame bore his soul to heaven. She encouraged him to endure bravely and
glorify God. When life had departed from his quivering body, she was
pushed aside and hastened to a pond of deep water. Withdrawing a babe
from her warm breast where it would never again rest, she gave it to a
woman near by, resigning it to the loving Father of orphans. She was
then plunged into the water where death quickly ended her sorrows. This
martyrdom was in 1543.