truth was to be found
in each of the current systems of religion; and who undertook to analyse
them, and extract the spiritual treasure. The Emperor Maximin was less
friendly to the Church; and yet his enmity was confined chiefly to those
Christian ministers who had been favourites with his predecessor; so
that he cannot be said to have promoted any general persecution. Under
Gordian the disciples were free from molestation; and his successor,
Philip the Arabian, was so well affected to their cause that he has been
sometimes, though erroneously, represented as the first Christian
Emperor. [300:1] The death of this monarch in A.D. 249 was, however,
soon followed by the fiercest and the most extensive persecution under
which the faithful had yet groaned. The more zealous of the pagans, who
had been long witnessing with impatience the growth of Christianity, had
become convinced that, if the old religion were to be upheld, a mighty
effort must very soon be made to strangle its rival. Various expedients
were meanwhile employed to prejudice the multitude against the gospel.
Every disaster which occurred throughout the Empire was attributed to
its evil influence; the defeat of a general, the failure of a harvest,
the overflowing of the Tiber, the desolations of a hurricane, and the
appearance of a pestilence, were all ascribed to its most inauspicious
advancement. The public mind was thus gradually prepared for measures of
extreme severity; and Decius, who now became emperor, aimed at the utter
extirpation of Christianity. All persons suspected of attachment to the
gospel were summoned before the civil authorities; and if, regardless of
intimidation, they refused to sacrifice, attempts were made to overcome
their constancy by torture, by imprisonment, and by starvation. When all
such expedients failed, the punishment of death was inflicted. Those who
fled before the day appointed for their appearance in presence of the
magistrates, forfeited their property; and were forbidden, under the
penalty of death, to return to the district. The Church in many places
had now enjoyed peace for thirty years, and meanwhile the tone of
Christian principle had been considerably lowered. It was not strange,
therefore, that, in these perilous days, many apostatised. [301:1] The
conduct of not a few of the more opulent Christians of Alexandria has
been graphically described by a contemporary. "As they were severally
called by name, they approache