The first case I propose to mention shall be, where there was an objection to entering into the military service upon this principle.  And here, I apprehend none can be more in point than that of Maximilian, as preserved in the acts of Ruinart.

Maximilian, having been brought before the tribunal, in order to be enrolled as a soldier, Dion, the proconsul, asked him his name.  Maximilian, turning to him, replied, “Why wouldst thou know my name?  I am a Christian, and cannot fight.”

Then Dion ordered him to be enrolled, and when he was enrolled, it was recited out of the register, that he was five feet ten inches high.  Immediately after this, Dion bade the officer mark him.  But Maximilian refused to be marked, still asserting that he was a Christian.  Upon which Dion instantly replied, “Bear arms, or thou shalt die.”

To this Maximilian answered, “I cannot fight, if I die.  I am not a soldier of this world, but a soldier of God.”  Dion then said, “Who has persuaded thee to behave thus?” Maximilian answered, “My own mind, and he who called me.”  Dion then spoke to his father, and bade him persuade his son.  But his father observed, that his son knew his own mind, and what it was best for him to do.

After this had passed, Dion addressed Maximilian again in these words, “Take thy arms, and receive the mark.”  “I can receive, says Maximilian, no such mark.  I have already the mark of Christ.”  Upon which Dion said, “I will send thee quickly to thy Christ.”  “Thou mayest do so, said Maximilian, but the glory will be mine.”

Dion then bade the officer mark him.  But Maximilian still persisted in refusing, and spoke thus:  “I cannot receive the mark of this world, and if thou shouldst give me the mark, I will destroy it.  It will avail nothing.  I am a Christian, and it is not lawful for me to wear such a mark about my neck, when I have received the saving mark of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, whom thou, knowest not, who died to give us life, and whom God gave for our sins.  Him all we Christians obey.  Him we follow as the restorer of our life, and the author of our salvation.”

Dion instantly replied to this, “Take thy arms, and receive the mark, or thou shalt suffer a miserable death.”—­“But I shall not perish, said Maximilian.  My name is already enrolled with Christ.  I cannot fight.”

Dion said, “Consider then thy youth, and bear arms.  The profession of arms becomes a young man.”  Maximilian replied, “My arms are with the Lord.  I cannot fight for any earthly consideration.  I am now a Christian.”

Dion the proconsul, said, “Among the life-guards of our masters Dioclesian and Maximian, and Constantius and Maximus, there are Christian soldiers, and they fight.”  Maximilian answered, “They know best what is expedient for them, but I am a Christian, and it is unlawful to do evil.”

Dion said, “Take thy arms.  Despise not the profession of a soldier, lest thou perish miserably.”—­“But I shall not perish, says Maximilian; and if I should leave this world, my soul will live with Christ the Lord.”