Such was the confession of an unbeliever; and we know that such must be the moral condition of every man who is approaching the grave without the Christian’s hope. How different from this was the testimony of Paul the Christian as he drew near the close of his noble life, even with the pains of martyrdom opening before him! He writes to Timothy,―― “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” I will simply say in conclusion, in reference to my unhappy friend, whom I could not but love, that though he would admit that there was a _Power_, which he called _Nature_, which had introduced him to this world, and would ere long remove him from it, no persuasions of mine could induce him to pray to that Power for light and guidance; though he would, apparently with profoundest reverence, fall upon his knees at my side, and listen to my prayers to the Creator. Circumstances soon removed me several hundred miles from his dwelling. Whether he be living as I now write these lines with a tearful eye, I know not. A few years ago, after two years of absence, I met him. Sorrow had left unmistakable traces upon his marked features. As I took his hand, he admitted that there were still no rays of light to gild the gloom of his pathway to the grave. CHAPTER XIII. SIN AND MISERY. Maximin the Goth.――Brutal Assassination of Alexander.――Merciless Proscription.――Revolt of the Army on the Danube.――Rage of Maximin.――His March upon Rome.――Consternation in the Capital. ――Assassination of Maximin.――Successors to the Throne.――Popular Suffrage unavailing.――Persecution under Decius.――Individual Cases.――Extent of the Roman Empire.――Extent of the Persecution. ――Heroism of the Christians. THE last chapter closed with the reign of Alexander Severus, in the year of our Lord 235. His mother being a Christian, her son, though still, for popularity’s sake, supporting idolatry, was induced, out of respect to his mother, to ingraft upon the errors of paganism many of the noble teachings of Christianity. His death is associated with one of the most wild and wondrous of the tales of ancient times. Alexander Severus, or the Severe, as he was called, from his puritanic severity of morals, was returning with his army from a war expedition to the East. On the plains of Thrace he stopped to celebrate the birth of a son. In commemoration of the joyful event, there was a display of all the military pageants and gymnastic games then in vogue.