Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/406

402 for a Christian to bear arms; justice is his armor. The divine command admits no exceptions; man is sacred and it is always a crime to take his life." ('Div. Inst.,' VI., 20.) Thus does he declaim against men-slayers: "This, then, is your road to immortality. To destroy cities, devastate territories, exterminate or enslave free peoples! The more you have ruined, robbed, and murdered men, the more you think yourselves noble and illustrious." ('Div. Inst.,' I., 48.)

Athanasius, 296-373 A. D., states that when people "hear the teaching of Christ, straightway instead of fighting they turn to husbandry, and instead of arming their hands with weapons they raise them in prayer." ('Incarnation of the Word,' section 52.)

St. Gregory of Nyssa, 335-395 A. D., preaches that "He who promises you profit, if you abstain from the ills of war, bestows on you two gifts—one the remission from the train of evils attendant on the strife, the other the strife itself." (' Patrologia Grseca,' XLIV., p. 1282.)

St. Augustine, 354-430 A. D., declares that 'Not to keep peace is to spurn Christ.' ('Migne's Patrologia Latina,' XXXIII, p. 186.) He holds that 'defensive wars are the only just and lawful ones; it is in these alone that the soldier may be allowed to kill, when he can not otherwise protect his city and his brethren.' (Letter 47.)

Isidore of Pelusium, 370-450 A. D., is no less outspoken: "I say, although the slaughter of enemies in war may seem legitimate, although the columns to the victors are erected, telling of their illustrious crimes, yet if account be taken of the undeniable and supreme brotherhood of man, not even these are free from evil." ('Patrologia Græca,' LXXVIII, p. 1287.)

We have also the undisputed historical record of Maximilian, the centurion, who, having embraced Christianity, resigned his position and refused to fight. For this he was put to death.

Celsus, the great opponent of Christianity, who wrote about 176 A. D., reproaches the christians for refusing to bear arms, and states that in one part of the Roman army, including one-third of the whole, 'Not a Christian could be found.'

Martin replied to Julian, the apostate, 'I am a Christian, and I can not fight.'

If we turn to the Popes, who were then supreme:

St. Gregory the Great, 540-604 A. D., writes the King of the Lombards, 'By choosing peace you have shown yourself a lover of God who is its author.'

Pope Innocent III., to the King of France, in protest against the wars between Philip Augustus and Richard of England, writes, "At the moment when Jesus Christ is about to complete the mystery of redemption, he gives peace as a heritage to his disciples; he wills that