e christians from that
province.

The principal persons who perished under this reign were Pontianus,
bishop of Rome; Anteros, a Grecian, his successor, who gave offence to
the government, by collecting the acts of the martyrs, Pammachius and
Quiritus, Roman senators, with all their families, and many other
christians; Simplicius, senator; Calepodius, a christian minister,
thrown into the Tyber; Martina, a noble and beautiful virgin; and
Hippolitus, a christian prelate, tied to a wild horse, and dragged till
he expired.

During this persecution, raised by Maximinus, numberless christians were
slain without trial, and buried indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes
fifty or sixty being cast into a pit together, without the least
decency.

The tyrant Maximinus dying, A. D. 238, was succeeded by Gordian, during
whose reign, and that of his successor Philip, the church was free from
persecution for the space of more than ten years; but A. D. 249, a
violent persecution broke out in Alexandria, at the instigation of a
pagan priest, without the knowledge of the emperor.

_The Seventh Persecution, under Decius A. D. 249._

This was occasioned partly by the hatred he bore to his predecessor
Philip, who was deemed a christian, and partly to his jealousy
concerning the amazing increase of christianity; for the heathen temples
began to be forsaken, and the christian churches thronged.

These reasons stimulated Decius to attempt the very extirpation of the
name of christian; and it was unfortunate for the gospel, that many
errors had, about this time, crept into the church: the christians were
at variance with each other; self-interest divided those whom social
love ought to have united; and the virulence of pride occasioned a
variety of factions.

The heathens in general were ambitious to enforce the imperial decrees
upon this occasion, and looked upon the murder of a christian as a merit
to themselves. The martyrs, upon this occasion, were innumerable; but
the principal we shall give some account of.

Fabian, the bishop of Rome, was the first person of eminence who felt
the severity of this persecution. The deceased emperor, Philip, had, on
account of his integrity, committed his treasure to the care of this
good man. But Decius, not finding as much as his avarice made him
expect, determined to wreak his vengeance on the good prelate. He was
accordingly seized; and on the 20th of January, A. D. 250, he suffered
decapitati