refused wearing it, he replied, that[13] he had become
a Christian. He was immediately punished before the army, and sent into
prison. What became of him afterwards is not related. But it must be
clear, if he lived and cherished his Christian feelings, that, when the
day of the renewal of his oath, or of the worshipping of the standards,
or of any sacrifice in the camp, should arrive, he would have refused
these services, or abandoned his profession.

[Footnote 13: The priests wore the garland, when they sacrificed to the
Heathen gods.]

But though unquestionably the idolatrous services, required of the
soldiers of those times, hindered Christians from entering into the
armies, and compelled those, who were converted in them, to leave them,
nothing is more true, than that the belief, that it was unlawful for
Christians to fight, occasioned an equal abhorrence of a military life.
One of the first effects, which Christianity seems to have produced upon
its first converts, when it was pure and unadulterated, and unmixed
with the interpretations of political men, was a persuasion, that it
became them, in obedience to the divine commands, to abstain from all
manner of violence, and to become distinguishable as the followers of
peace. We find accordingly from Athenagoras, and other early writers,
that the Christians of his time, abstained, when they were struck, from
striking again, and that they carried their principles so far, as even
to refuse to go to law with those who injured them. We find also, from
the same Athenagoras, and from Theophilus Antiochenus, Tatian, Minucius
Felix, and others, that they kept away from the shews of the gladiators.
This they did, not only because these shews were cruel; but because, as
Theophilus says, "lest we should become partakers of the murders
committed there." A similar reason is also given by Athenagoras on this
occasion: "Who is there, says he, that does not prize the shews of the
gladiators, which your emperors make for the people? But we, thinking
that there is very little difference whether a man be the author or
spectator of murder, keep away from all such sights." And here it may be
observed, that the gladiators themselves were, generally prisoners of
war, or reputed enemies, and that the murder of these was by public
authority, and sanctioned; as in war, by the state. Now what conclusion
are we to draw from these premises? Can we think it possible, that
those, who refused to s