se, who were
the followers of peace, used none of the instruments of war."

A third species of evidence, which is of the highest importance in this
case, is the belief which the writers of these times had, that the
prophecy of Isaiah, which stated, that men should turn their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, was then in the act
of completion.

Irenaeus, who flourished about the year 180, affirms, that this famous
prophecy had been completed in his time; "for the Christians, says he,
have changed their swords and their lances into instruments of peace,
and they know not how to fight," Justin Martyr, who was cotemporary with
Irenaeus, asserted the same thing, which he could not have done if the
Christians in his time had engaged in war. "That the prophecy, says he,
is fulfilled, you have good reason to believe, for we, who in times past
killed one another, do not now fight with our enemies." And here it is
observable, that the word "fight" does not mean to strike, or to beat,
or to give a blow, but to fight as in war; and the word "enemy" does
not mean a common adversary, or one who has injured us, but an enemy of
the state; and the sentence, which follows that which has been given,
puts the matter again out of all doubt. Tertullian, who lived after
these, speaks in those remarkable words: "Deny that these (meaning the
turning of swords into ploughshares) are the things prophesied of, when
you see what you see, or that they are the things fulfilled, when you
read what you read; but if you deny neither of these positions, then you
must confess, that the prophecy has been accomplished, as far as the
practice of every individual is concerned, to whom it is applicable." I
might go from Tertullian even as far as Theoderet, if it were necessary,
to shew, that the prophecy in question was considered as in the act of
completion in those times.

The fourth and last proof will be found in the assertions of Celsus, and
in the reply of Origen to that writer. Celsus, who lived at the end of
the second century, attacked the Christian religion. He made it one of
his charges against the Christians, that they refused in his time to
bear arms for the emperor, even in the case of necessity, and when their
services would have been accepted. He told them farther, that if the
rest of the empire were of their opinion, it would soon be overrun by
the Barbarians. Now Celsus dared not have brought this charge against