Even life itself should not be purchased with the price of falsehood. By a word or a nod the martyrs might have denied the truth and saved their lives. By consenting to cast a single grain of incense upon the idol altar they might have been saved from the rack, the scaffold, or the cross. But they refused to be false in word or deed, though life was the boon they would receive by so doing. Imprisonment, torture, and death, with a clear conscience, were welcomed by them, rather than deliverance on condition of deception, falsehood, and apostasy. By fidelity and faith in Christ they earned spotless robes and jeweled crowns. Their lives were ennobled and elevated in the sight of God because they stood firmly for the truth under the most aggravated circumstances. {4T 336.2}

[Ikke engang livet selv må købes på bekostning af sandhed. Ved et ord eller et nik kunne martyrerne have fornægtet sandheden og reddet deres liv. Ved at gå med på at kaste et eneste korn røgelse på afgudsalteret kunne de være sparet for pinebænken, skafottet eller korset. Men de værgede sig ved at vise falskhed i ord eller i handling, selv om livet var den gave, de ville få ved at gøre det. Fængsel, tortur og død med en ren samvittighed bød de velkommen frem for udfrielse på betingelse af bedrag, usandhed og frafald. Ved sandfærdighed og tro på Kristus fortjente de uplettede kjortler og juvelbesatte kroner. I Guds øjne var deres liv ædelt og ophøjet fordi de holdt fast ved sandheden under de sværeste forhold. Vejl f menigh bd. 2 side 60]