are bound to exercise consideration toward those whom we have conquered by force, so those should be received into our protection who throw themselves upon the honour of our general, and lay down their arms, even though the battering rams should have struck their walls." 1

1 Cicero, De officiis, i. 11.

CHAPTER XV

HOMICIDE IN GENERAL (continued)

CHRISTIANITY introduced into Europe a higher regard for human life than was felt anywhere in pagan society. The early Christians condemned homicide of any kind as a heinous sin. And in this, as in all other questions of moral concern, the distinction of nationality or race was utterly ignored by them.

The sanctity which they attached to the life of every human being led to a total condemnation of warfare, sharply contrasting with the prevailing sentiment in the Roman Empire. In accordance with the general spirit of their religion, as also with special passages in the Bible, they considered war unlawful under all circumstances. Justin Martyr quotes the prophesy of Isaiah, that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, " and proceeds to say that the instruction in the word of God which was given by the twelve Apostles "had so good effect that we, who heretofore were continually devouring each other, will not now so much as lift up our hand against our enemies." Lactantius asserts that "to engage in war cannot be lawful for the righteous man, whose warfare is that of righteousness itself." 4 Tertullian asks, "Can it be lawful to

2

Christianis, 39 (Migne, Patrologia cursus, Ser. Graeca, vi. 387 sq.). Lactantius, Divine institutiones, vi. (De vero cultu') 20 (Migne, op. cit. vi. 708).

2

handle the sword, when the Lord Himself has declared that he who uses the sword shall perish by it?" And in another passage he states that "the Lord by his disarming of Peter disarmed every soldier from that time forward." Origen calls the Christians the children of peace, who, for the sake of Jesus, never take up the sword against any nation; who fight for their monarch by praying for him, but who take no part in his wars, even though he urge them. It is true that, even in early times, Christian soldiers were not unknown; Tertullian alludes to Christians who were engaged in military pursuits together with their heathen countrymen. But the number of Christians enrolled in the army seems not to have been very considerable before the era of Constantine," and, though they were not cut off from the Church, their profession was looked upon as hardly compatible with their religion. St. Basil says that soldiers, after their term of military service has expired, are to be excluded from the sacrament of the communion for three whole years." And according to one of the canons of the Council of Nice, those Christians who, having abandoned the profession of arms, afterwards returned to it, "as dogs to their vomit," were for some years to occupy in the Church the place of penitents.7

A divine law which prohibited all resistance to enemies could certainly not be accepted by the State, especially at a time when the Empire was seriously threatened by foreign invaders. Christianity could therefore never become a State-religion unless it gave up its attitude towards war. And it gave it up. Already in 314 a Council condemned soldiers who, from religious motives,

1 Tertullian, De corona, 11 (Migne, op. cit. ii. 92).

2 Tertullian, De idolatria, 19 (Migne, op. cit. i. 691).

3 Origen, Contra Celsum, v. 33; viii. 73 (Migne, op. cit. Ser. Graeca, xi. 1231 sq., 1627 sq.).

Tertullian, Apologeticus, 42 (Migne, op. cit. i. 491).

5 Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, i. 84 sqq.

6 St. Basil, Epistola CLXXXVIII., ad Amphilochium, can. 13 (Migne, op. cit. Ser. Graeca, xxxii. 681 sq.).

7 Concilium Nicænum, A. D. 325, can. 12 (Labbe-Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum collectio, ii. 674).

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deserted their colours. The Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries did not altogether disapprove of war. Chrysostom and Ambrose, though seeing the difficulty of reconciling it with the theory of Christian life which they found in the New Testament, perceived that the use of the sword was necessary to preserve the State." St. Augustine went much farther. He tried to prove that the practice of war was quite compatible with the teachings of Christ. The soldiers mentioned in the New Testament, who were seeking for a knowledge of salvation, were not directed by our Lord to throw aside their arms and renounce their profession, but were advised by him to be content with their wages.3 St. Peter baptised Cornelius, the centurion, in the name of Christ, without exhorting him to give up the military life, and St. Paul himself took care to have a strong guard of soldiers for his defence. And was not the history of David, the "man after God's own heart," an evidence of those being wrong who say that "no one who wages war can please God"? When Christ declared that "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," He referred to such persons only as arm themselves to shed the blood of others without either command or permission of any superior or lawful authority. A great deal depends on the causes for which men undertake war, and on the authority they have for doing so. Those wars are just which are waged with a view to obtaining redress for wrongs, or to chastising the undue arrogance of another State. The monarch has the power of making war when he thinks it advisable, and, even if he be a sacrilegious

5

1 Concilium Arelatense 1., A.D. 314, can. 3 (Labbe-Mansi, op. cit. ii. 471). Cf. Le Blant, op. cit. i. p. lxxxii.

2 Gibb, Christian Church and War,' in British Quarterly Review, lxxiii. 83.

3 St. Augustine, Epist. CXXXVIII., ad Marcellinum, 15 (Migne, op. cit. xxxiii. 531 sq.).

St. Augustine, Epist. CLXXXIX., ad Bonifacium, 4 (Migne, ob. cit. xxxiii.

5 St. Augustine Epistola XLVII., ad Publicolam, 5 (Migne, op. cit. xxxiii. 187).

"St. Augustine, Epist. CLXXXIX., ad Bonifacium, 4 (Migne, op. cit. xxxiii. 855).

St. Matthew, xxvi. 52.

8 St. Augustine, Contra Faustum Manichæum, xxii. 70 (Migne, op. cit. xlii. 444).

king, a Christian may fight under him, provided that what is enjoined upon the soldier personally is not contrary to the precept of God. In short, though peace is our final good, though in the City of God there is peace in eternity, war may sometimes be a necessity in this sinful world.

2

By the writings of St. Augustine the theoretical attitude. of the Church towards war was definitely settled, and later theologians only reproduced or further elaborated his views. Yet it was not with a perfectly safe conscience that Christianity thus sanctioned the practice of war.

There was a feeling that a soldier scarcely could make a good Christian. In the middle of the fifth century, Leo the Pope declared it to be contrary to the rules of the Church that persons after the action of penance-that is, persons then considered to be pre-eminently bound to obey the law of Christ should revert to the profession of arms. Various Councils forbade the clergy to engage in warfare,* and certain canons excluded from ordination all who had served in an army after baptism.5 Penance was prescribed for those who had shed blood on the battle-field. Thus

3 Leo Magnus, Epistola XC., ad Rusticum, inquis. 12 (Migne, op. cit. liv. 1206 sq.).

One of the Apostolic Canons requires that any bishop, priest, or deacon who devotes himself to military service shall be degraded from his ecclesiastical rank (Canones ecclesiastici qui dicuntur Apostolorum, 83 [74] [Bunsen, Analecta Ante-Nicæna, ii. 31]). The Councils of Toulouse, in 633 (ch. 45, in LabbeMansi, op. cit. x. 630), and of Meaux, in 845 (can. 37, ibid. xiv. 827), condemned to a similar punishment those of the clergy who ventured to take up arms. Gratian says (Decretum, ii. 23. 8. 4) that the Church refuses to pray for the soul of a priest who died on the battle-field. Notwithstanding the canons of Councils and the decrees of popes,

ecclesiastics frequently participated in battles (Nicolaus I. Epistola et Decreta, 83 [Migne, op. cit. cxix. 922]. Robertson, History of the Reign of Charles V. i. 330, 385. Ward, Foundation and History of the Law of Nations, i. 365 sq. Buckle, History of Civilisation in England, i. 204; ii. 464. Bethune-Baker, Influence of Christianity on War, p. 52. Dümmler, Geschichte des Ostfränkischen Reichs, ii. 637).

5 Grotius, De jure belli et pacis, i. 2. 10. IO. Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, iv. 4. 1 (Works, ii.

55)

6 Panitentiale Bigotianum, iv. I. 4 (Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche, p. 453). Panit. Vigilanum, 27 (ibid. p. 529). Panit. Pseudo- Theodori, xxi. 15 (ibid. p. 587 sq.). Cf. Mort de Garin le Loherain, p. 213: "Ainz se repent et se claime cheti; Ses pechiés plore au soir et au matin, De ce qu'il a tans homes mors et pris."