46 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION. 



The good results of the persecutions were nume- 

 rous. Among them may be named, first, the con- 

 viction which grew in the world that the religion 

 which could make men so courageous, and for 

 which they were willing to suffer the loss of all 

 things, must be from God. Second, attention was 

 thus publicly called to the principles of the Christian 

 faith, and the confession of trust in Christ which the 

 martyrs made, became familiar to all classes. Third, 

 the Church was maintained in comparative purity. 

 Worldly principles were kept out, and the simpli- 

 citv of the truth as it is in Jesus was preserved. If 

 we are to look at the Church in its purest stages we 

 will find such to be the days when it was in sorrow 

 by reason of persecution. There was but little 

 inducement to join one's self to its company, except 

 a man were convinced that in it he could learn the 

 truth, and save his soul. And yet during all these 

 years of fiery trial, the number of believers steadily 

 increased. Missionary zeal continued, and wher- 

 ever the Christians made their home they became 

 noted for their charity and good deeds to their pa- 

 gan neighbors. The earnest preaching of the truth, 

 and the holy lives of those who held it, were the 

 agencies for commending it to the consciences of 

 men, so that some would come out and receive 

 Christian baptism, although they knew that before 

 the night of the same day they might be put to 

 death for confessing Christ. 



