Dialogue Against the Marcionites, Exhortation to Martyrdom (Wettstein 1674)

4. To these must be added the singular observation of Orosius and Freculfus: that the Emperor, even though he celebrated the thousandth year of the City with solemn games, is nonetheless read nowhere to have ascended the Capitol or to have offered sacrifices according to custom. Hence, the ancients collected that he already cherished Christianity in his heart even then.

5. I shall add, if I am not mistaken, a conjecture of no little weight, bringing some light to the truth of the matter. The coins of Emperor Philip seem to contribute to this, on which neither Adolf Occo of Augsburg, in his most ample treasury, nor the most celebrated and most skilled man in antiquarian matters, Carolus Patinus (whose friendship I rightly value highly), have observed anything in their works that would savor of paganism. Rather, almost all the coins are marked with the figures of beasts exhibited at public games. Nay, rather, the most learned Patinus presents to us in his most elegant Treasury of Rare Numismatics, p. 87, a coin with the inscription: SPES FELICITATIS ORBIS The Hope of the Happiness of the World, and adds: "Nothing is more worthy of a Christian Prince." He seems to have reached his goal with another coin on which is written: FELICITAS ORBIS Happiness of the World.

However, a scruple is raised here by the observation of the most learned Ezechiel Spanheim, Dissertation 9 on the Use of Numismatics, p. 853. Under the Philips, he says, there occurs among other coins of similar fame an index, on which likewise secular sacred rites appear: seven figures performing sacred rites before an altar with the inscription: SÆCULUM NOVUM New Age. Hence, the learned man concludes, against the illustrious Huet (with whom we have agreed thus far), that the story handed down about Philip's Christianity is a fable.

Truly, so that we may defend the authority of the Christian historians, the following things can be replied just as probably: First, the vast number of coins on which nothing of the sort appears fights for us. Next, it must be studiously inquired: is this coin genuine, or was it made in imitation of others, in memory of the secular games...