Through the centuries there were those who longed to hear God’s truths once again heralded forth; and those whose conscience had been awakened to the need of deliverance from sin began to pave the way for that great Spiritual Awakening which was to come.

At the beginning of the 15th century the world was still pretty well smothered in spiritual darkness; and it was at this time, that Savonarola of Italy made his denunciation of sin; taught the way of finding pardon through faith in Christ; and upheld that important doctrine of restitution, the making right, as much as possible, the wrongs the convert had committed.

In France, Switzerland, Germany, and elsewhere were men who, more or less secretly, had kindled the flame that finally burst openly in the Reformation of the 16th century under the leadership of Martin Luther, one who dared to proclaim that marvelous truth: “The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11).