[Footnote 10: St. Basil, _Epistola CLXXXVIII._, _ad Amphilochium_, can. 13 (Migne, _op. cit._ Ser. Graeca, xxxii. 681 _sq._).] [Footnote 11: _Concilium Nicænum_, A.D. 325, can. 12 (Labbe-Mansi, _Sacrorum Conciliorum collectio_, ii. 674).] 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, {347} deserted their colours.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] St. Peter baptised Cornelius, the centurion, in the name of Christ, without exhorting him to give up the military life,[15] and St. Paul himself took care to have a strong guard of soldiers for his defence.[16] 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"?[17] When Christ declared that "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,"[18] 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.[19] 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 {348} king, a Christian may fight under him, provided that what is enjoined upon the soldier personally is not contrary to the precept of God.[20] In short, though peace is our final good, though in the City of God there is peace in eternity,[21] war may sometimes be a necessity in this sinful world. [Footnote 12: _Concilium Arelatense I._ A.D. 314, can. 3 (Labbe-Mansi, _op. cit._ ii. 471). _Cf._ Le Blant, _op. cit._ i. p. lxxxii.] [Footnote 13: Gibb, 'Christian Church and War,' in _British Quarterly Review_, lxxiii. 83.] [Footnote 14: St. Augustine, _Epist. CXXXVIII._, _ad Marcellinum_, 15 (Migne, _op. cit._ xxxiii. 531 _sq._).]