Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Commodianus/The Instructions of Commodianus/Chapter 53

LII.&#8212;Deserters.

For deserters are not called so as all of one kind.&#160; One is wicked, another partially withdraws; but yet true judgments are decreed for both.&#160; So Christ is fought against, even as C&#230;sar is obeyed.&#160; Seek the refuge of the king, if thou hast been a delinquent.&#160; Do thou implore of Him; do thou prostrate confess to Him:&#160; He will grant all things whose also are all our things.&#160; The camp being replaced, beware of sinning further; do not wander long as a soldier through caves of the wild beasts.&#160; Let it be sin to thee to cease from unmeasured doing.