CHRISTIANITY AND WAR. 225 



seem to imply acquiescence in heathen ceremonies, 

 Christians in large numbers fought in the Roman 

 army, as Tertullian himself admits, and no dis- 

 ciplinary canons forbade it. The stories of the 

 Thundering Legion and of the Theban Legion 

 a century later, whatever be their literal truth, 

 are sufficient to prove that Christians fought under 

 Marcus Aurelius and Diocletian, and that the pro- 

 fession of the soldier was not like that of the gla- 

 diator, the actor, the idolmaker, and the astrologer 

 forbidden to the baptized. The words, "I may 

 not fight, for I am a Christian," were uttered by 

 the martyr Maximilian (295 A.D.), at the very time 

 when large numbers of his brethren were doing 

 what he felt impossible. 



When I turn to St. Augustine as representing 

 the post-Nicene Fathers, and to St. Thomas 

 Aquinas as representing the schoolmen, I find the 

 same teaching. It is taken for granted that the 

 case of the faithful centurion in the Gospel, and 

 of Cornelius in the Acts, justified a Christian in 

 bearing arms. If the soldier is the enemy of 

 Christ, it is not his position but his disposition 

 makes him so (jion militia sed malitia.) St. 

 Augustine even advises Count Boniface not to 

 enter a monastery, but to do his duty as a Christian 

 general. But under Christian Emperors a wider 

 question is raised, viz. Is war ever lawful for a 

 Christian power? And the answer is, The 



Q 



