continued to distract the nation . Those who remained faithful to the gospel were subjected to a bloody persecution .
As their former brethren , entering into compact with Rome , imbibed her errors , those who adhered to the ancient faith had formed themselves into a distinct church , taking the name of “ United Brethren .” This act drew upon them maledictions from all classes . Yet their firmness was unshaken . Forced to find refuge in the woods and caves , they still assembled to read God ’ s word and unite in His worship .
Through messengers secretly sent out into different countries , they 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 .”— Wylie , b . 3 , ch . 19 . 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 .”’— Ibid ., b . 3 , ch . 19 . “ 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 .”— Ezra Hall Gillett , Life and Times of John Huss , vol . 2 , p . 570 . “ 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 .”— Wylie , b . 3 , ch . 19 .
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