IN CHURCH HISTORY. IOI 



Possibly none knew exactly what was coming, nor 

 what they wished might come. Here and there, 

 there was a cry for reform, and now and then some 

 blind, impulsive movement towards the light. The 

 pen of some writer, like a keen sword, would tear 

 open the hypocrisy of the monkish orders, and men 

 would hold their breath in terror. Some one would 

 secure a copy of the Word of God, and venture to 

 read its almost new stories to his neighbors. In 

 some lonely places a few would be bold enough to 

 talk together about the evils of the times, and to 

 deplore the weight of the iron hand that pressed 

 them down so heavily. Then the darkness would 

 grow darker, but it was the dark hour before the 

 dawn ; and the dawn was nearer than some of them 

 thought 



