THE men, the women and the youths, who suffered martyrdom for their faith under the persecuting policy of Mary Tudor must never be forgotten. Their lives reflect in a wonderful manner how, the light of God's truth broke in upon the masses of the British people. It all came about as the result of the great efforts of Wickliffe and Tyndale to make accessible to the people the Scriptures in their own language.
The eyes of the people being turned to the Scriptures, they saw that the Christian faith was no priestly one at all, that heaven's throne was approachable direct without earthly mediation, that the work of Christ on Calvary was in itself finished and perfect. Thus the mass with its supposed sacrifice, and the confessional with its priestly claim of pardoning, were entirely erroneous. The superstitions of the middle ages whereby priestly power had been buttressed, became repellent. Images came under the hammer of God's commandments, and were broken down. Purgatory ran entirely contrary to the glorious provision of the gift of Eternal Life through Jesus Christ, so that with Paul men became certain that to be "absent from the body was at once to be at home with the Lord.”
All these truths embraced by the heart strengthened every one of the Martyrs to endure the flames and, as Green, the historian, put it, "The terror of death was powerless against men like these.”