upon these occasions.  But Tertullian, in his Discourse to Scapula, tells us, that no Christians were to be found in these armies.  And yet these armies were extensive.  Crassus was master of all Syria, with its four legions, Niger of the Asiatic and Egyptian legions, and Albinus of those of Britain, which legions together contained between a third and an half of the standing legions of Rome.  And the fact, that no Christians were to be found in these, is the more remarkable, because, according to the same Tertullian, Christianity had reached all the places, in which these armies were.

A second species of evidence, as far as it goes, may be collected from expressions and declarations in the works of certain authors of those times.  Justin the Martyr, and Tatian, make distinctions between soldiers and Christians; and the latter says, that the Christians declined even military commands.  Clemens of Alexandria, gives the Christians, who were cotemporary with him, the appellation of “peaceable, or of the followers of peace,” thus distinguishing them from the soldiers of his age.  And he says expressly, that “those, 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.