bon rather than that of M Guizot.--M]

[Footnote 107a: It is with good reason that this massacre has been
called a persecution, for it lasted during the whole reign of Maximin,
as may be seen in Eusebius. (l. vi. c. 28.) Rufinus expressly confirms
it: Tribus annis a Maximino persecutione commota, in quibus finem et
persecutionis fecit et vitas Hist. l. vi. c. 19.--G.]

Notwithstanding the cruel disposition of Maximin, the effects of his
resentment against the Christians were of a very local and temporary
nature, and the pious Origen, who had been proscribed as a devoted
victim, was still reserved to convey the truths of the gospel to the ear
of monarchs. [118] He addressed several edifying letters to the emperor
Philip, to his wife, and to his mother; and as soon as that prince,
who was born in the neighborhood of Palestine, had usurped the Imperial
sceptre, the Christians acquired a friend and a protector. The public
and even partial favor of Philip towards the sectaries of the new
religion, and his constant reverence for the ministers of the church,
gave some color to the suspicion, which prevailed in his own times,
that the emperor himself was become a convert to the faith; [119] and
afforded some grounds for a fable which was afterwards invented, that he
had been purified by confession and penance from the guilt contracted
by the murder of his innocent predecessor. [120] The fall of Philip
introduced, with the change of masters, a new system of government, so
oppressive to the Christians, that their former condition, ever since
the time of Domitian, was represented as a state of perfect freedom and
security, if compared with the rigorous treatment which they experienced
under the short reign of Decius. [121] The virtues of that prince will
scarcely allow us to suspect that he was actuated by a mean resentment
against the favorites of his predecessor; and it is more reasonable to
believe, that in the prosecution of his general design to restore the
purity of Roman manners, he was desirous of delivering the empire from
what he condemned as a recent and criminal superstition. The bishops
of the most considerable cities were removed by exile or death: the
vigilance of the magistrates prevented the clergy of Rome during sixteen
months from proceeding to a new election; and it was the opinion of the
Christians, that the emperor would more patiently endure a competitor
for the purple, than a bishop in the capital. [122] We