402 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



for a Christian to bear arms; justice is his armor. The divine com- 

 mand 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 hus- 

 bandry, 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. L\, 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,' XXXIIL, 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 brother- 

 hood of man, not even these are free from evil." (' Patrologia Grseca,' 

 LXXVIIL, 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 Lom- 

 bards, ' 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 



