The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 43

.... Nor does your cruelty ... avail you.” It was but a stronger
invitation to bring others to their persuasion. “The oftener we are mown
down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is
seed.”—Tertullian, Apology, paragraph 50.
Thousands were imprisoned and slain, but others sprang up to fill
their places. And those who were martyred for their faith were secured
to Christ and accounted of Him as conquerors. They had fought the
good fight, and they were to receive the crown of glory when Christ
should come. The sufferings which they endured brought Christians
nearer to one another and to their Redeemer. Their living example and
dying testimony were a constant witness for the truth; and where least
expected, the subjects of Satan were leaving his service and enlisting
under the banner of Christ.
Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully against the
government of God by planting his banner in the Christian church. If
the followers of Christ could be deceived and led to displease God, then
their strength, fortitude, and firmness would fail, and they would fall an
easy prey.
The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he
had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its stead
were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and
worldly honor. Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith,
while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus
as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they
had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of
heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians
should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief
in Christ.
Now the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, and sword
were blessings in comparison with this. Some of the Christians stood
firm, declaring that they could make no

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