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,[1] they considered war unlawful under all circumstances. Justin Martyr quotes the prophecy of Isaiah, that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,"[2] 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."[3] 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 {346} handle the sword, when the Lord Himself has declared that he who uses the sword shall perish by it?"[5] And in another passage he states that "the Lord by his disarming of Peter disarmed every soldier from that time forward."[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] But the number of Christians enrolled in the army seems not to have been very considerable before the era of Constantine,[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] [Footnote 1: _St. Matthew_, v. 9, 39, 44. _Romans_, xii. 17. _Ephesians_, vi. 12.] [Footnote 2: _Isaiah_, ii. 4.] [Footnote 3: Justin Martyr, _Apologia I. pro Christianis_, 39 (Migne, _Patrologiæ cursus_, Ser. Graeca, vi. 387 _sq._).] [Footnote 4: Lactantius, _Divinæ institutiones_, vi. ('De vero cultu') 20 (Migne, _op. cit._ vi. 708).] [Footnote 5: Tertullian, _De corona_, 11 (Migne, _op. cit._ ii. 92).] [Footnote 6: Tertullian, _De idolatria_, 19 (Migne, _op. cit._ i. 691).] [Footnote 7: Origen, _Contra Celsum_, v. 33; viii. 73 (Migne, _op. cit._ Ser. Graeca, xi. 1231 _sq._, 1627 _sq._).] [Footnote 8: Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 42 (Migne, _op. cit._ i. 491).] [Footnote 9: Le Blant, _Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule_, i. 84 _sqq._]