learned that here and there were "isolated confessors of the truth, a few
in this city and a few in that, the object, like themselves, of
persecution; and that amid the mountains of the Alps was an ancient
church, resting on the foundations of Scripture, and protesting against
the idolatrous corruptions of Rome."(156) This intelligence was received
with great joy, and a correspondence was opened with the Waldensian
Christians.

Steadfast to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the night of their
persecution; in the darkest hour still turning their eyes toward the
horizon like men who watch for the morning. "Their lot was cast in evil
days, but ... they remembered the words first uttered by Huss, and
repeated by Jerome, that a century must revolve before the day should
break. These were to the Taborites [Hussites] what the words of Joseph
were to the tribes in the house of bondage: 'I die, and God will surely
visit you, and bring you out.' "(157) "The closing period of the fifteenth
century witnessed the slow but sure increase of the churches of the
Brethren. Although far from being unmolested, they yet enjoyed comparative
rest. At the commencement of the sixteenth century, their churches
numbered two hundred in Bohemia and Moravia."(158) "So goodly was the
remnant which, escaping the destructive fury of fire and sword, was
permitted to see the dawning of that day which Huss had foretold."

7. LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME.

[Illustration: Chapter header.]

Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness
of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous,
ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and
acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures,
Luther was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished a great
work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world.

Like the first heralds of the gospel, Luther sprung from the ranks of
poverty. His early years were spent in the humble home of a German
peasant. By daily toil as a miner, his father earned the means for his
education. He intended him for a lawyer; but God purposed to make him a
builder in the great temple that was rising so slowly through the
centuries. Hardship, privation, and severe discipline were the school in
which Infinite Wisdom prepared Luther for the important mission of his
life.

Luther's fath