COR. V. 11. 37. 176 Grounds against serving in armies under Heathen Emperors. DE But we have interposed this distinction of the difference between things reasonable and things unreasonable, to meet those who by occasion of some particular instances maintain a communion in all. With a view therefore to this part of our subject, it remaineth that the causes for wearing crowns be now themselves examined, that, whilst we shew that they are foreign, yea, contrary to true Religion, we may prove that not one of them is so supported by the voice of Reason, that any dress of this kind can be claimed for the use of all; although there be some whose examples are objected to us. ل XI. For to begin with the cause of the military crown itself, I think we must first enquire whether military service. generally be meet for Christians. Otherwise what availeth to treat of incidental circumstances, when there is a fault in first principles? Do we believe that a human sacrament may supersede a Divine one, and that a man may pledge his faith to another lord after Christ? and renounce father and mother and all that are nearest to him, whom the Law teacheth should be honoured and loved next to God, whom the Gospel also hath in like manner honoured, only not Mat. 10, valuing them more than Christ? Shall it be lawful for him to deal with the sword, when the Lord declareth that he that Mat. 26, useth the sword shall perish by the sword? And shall the 1 Cor. 6, son of peace act in battle, whom it will not befit even to go to law? Shall he administer bonds and imprisonment, and tortures, and punishments, who may not avenge even his own injuries'. Again, shall he keep his station either for any others rather than for Christ, or on the Lord's Day, when he doth it not even for Christ"? And shall he keep watch before those temples which he hath renounced? And 1 Cor. 8, shall he sit at meat where the Apostle would not have him? And shall he defend by night those, whom in the day-time he hath put to flight by his exorcisms *, leaning and resting 52. 7. Rom. 12, 19. 10. b See Note E.end of this Treatise,p.184. d Suetonius Calig. c. 15. has the their pay, swear to prefer the safety f Soldiers being also executioners. Converts may remain in military service, keeping from its sins. 177 upon a spear, wherewith the side of Christ was pierced? shall he also carry the standard, the rival of Christ? and shall he ask a sign from his general, who hath already received one from God? Shall he also when dead be disturbed by the trumpet of the trumpeter, who waiteth to be awakened by the trump of the Angel? and shall the Christian be burned, according to the rules of the camp, to whom it was not lawful to burn any thing? to whom Christ hath give remission of the fire which he hath deserved? How many other things may we see around us, among those committed in the service of the camp, which must needs be construed as sin! The very transferring his enrolment from the army of light to the army of darkness is sin. Clearly if their after-conversion to the Faith findeth any preoccupied in military service, their case is a different one, as was that of those whom John admitted to baptism, as was that of those most true believers the Centurions, him whom Christ approved, and him whom Peter instructed: though notwithstanding, when the Faith hath been embraced and sealed, a man must either straightway quit the service, as hath been done by many, or must in every way demur to doing any thing against God, which things are not allowed, no, not on the ground of military service, or finally he must suffer for God's sake, to which also the faith of one who is not a soldier hath pledged him. For the service of war will not promise him either impunity in sinning or immunity from martyrdoms. A Christian is no where any thing but a Christian. The Gospel is one, and Jesus is the Same; Who will deny every one that denieth God, and will confess every Mat. 10, one that confesseth Him: and Who will save that life, 32. 33. which hath been lost for His Name's sake; but on the other Mat. 16, hand will destroy that, which hath been gained against His 25. Name. In His sight, the believer who is no soldier is as much a soldier, as the unbeliever who is a soldier is no soldier. A state of faith alloweth no pleas of necessity. I The Cross in Baptism. Incense to idols, de Res. Carnis beg. Martial, x. 35. In matutina nuper spectatus arenâ, &c. A Fides pagana, as below, fidelis paganus, i. e. there is one faith, whether soldier or citizen. Others" his fealty N as a heathen," i. e. he is bound to COR. 178 Necessity no plea in any case; else, in all sin. V. 12. necessity of not sinning. DE They have no necessity for sinning who are under the single For a man is urged by the necessity imposed by tortures or penalties, both to sacrifice and directly to deny his faith. But our Religion doth not even wink at this necessity; because the necessity of fearing to deny the faith, and of undergoing martyrdom, is stronger than that of escaping suffering and fulfilling the required task. But an excuse of this sort overthroweth the whole substance of our sacramental vow in loosening the check even upon wilful sins. For even the will may be maintained to be necessity, in that it admitteth of being compelled". I might, as a first step, set up this very necessity in bar of all other reasons for crowns of office, in which the plea of necessity is most common. Since there is a necessity that the offices be shunned for this reason, that we fall not into sins, or else that martyrdoms be endured that we may break through the offices. On the first head of the question, whether even military service in itself be not unlawful, I shall say no more, in order that the second may be brought forward: lest, if, using my whole strength, I put military service out of the question, I should then be uselessly challenging a dispute touching the military crown. Suppose then that military service is lawful even to the point of its being the cause for wearing the crown. XII. But let us first speak of the crown itself. This laurel is sacred to Apollo or to Bacchus: to the one as the God of arrows, to the other as the God of triumphs. So teacheth Claudius, when he saith that soldiers are wont to be crowned with the myrtle also: for that the myrtle belongeth to Venus the mother of the race of Æneas, the mistress also of Mars, who, through Ilia and the twin Romuli, is of Roman kin. But I do not believe that Venus is, like Mars, attached to Rome, through the quarter in which her grievance as his mistress lieth P. Since the soldiery are crowned with the olive also, this is idolatry to Minerva, who is equally the goddess of arms, but crowned with this tree for the peace also which she made with Neptune. In these respects the Iubique superstition of the military wreath will be every where 1 "Want of will is the cause; want ap. Lac. of power is pleaded." Senec. Ep. 116. P Ilia. restored ronatis Crown, part of heathen rites, involves wearer in the rest; and blood. 179 defiled and defiling; and so the whole will be directly defiled in the very source. Behold now! what think ye of the yearly recitation of vows, first in the head-quarters, secondly in the Capitoline temples? Next to the 'places,' hear what are the words' used: Then have we vowed, O Jupiter, that an offering shall be made to thee with an ox having his horns crowned with gold.' What do the words import? surely decoa denial of the Faith. Although in such a case the Christian be silent with the mouth, yet by wearing the crown on his head he hath responded. The same laurel, in the distribution of the bounty-money, is denounced as idolatry, certainly not without hire, since it selleth Christ for certain pieces of gold, as Judas did for pieces of silver. Shall this be the meaning of, Ye cannot serve God and Mammon, to give the hand to Mat. 6, Mammon and to forsake God? Shall this be the meaning of 24. Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto Mat. 22, God the things that are God's, not to render the man to God, 21. and to take the penny from Cæsar? Is the triumphal laurel crown strewed with leaves, or with corpses? Is it adorned with plates of metal, or with tombs? Is it bedewed with ointments, or with the tears of wives and mothers? perhaps even of some Christians, for Christ is among barbarians also. Hath not he, who weareth on his head the cause of all this, himself also assailed them? There is also another kind of soldiery in the royal households; they are called also' of the camp,' being moreover themselves bound to do service at the imperial solemnities. But thou also art henceforth the soldier and the servant of another: and if of two, of God and of Cæsar, thou art surely not Cæsar's at the time when thou owest thyself to God, the greater Master of the two, methinks, even in things not sacred. nis, ut XIII. There are also state-occasions for crowning orders of the state with laurel, and magistrates moreover with golden crowns, as at Athens, as at Rome 2. Above even these are 2ut Atheplaced the Tuscan: this is the name of those crowns, which, Roma distinguished by jewels and oak-leaves of gold, in honour of restored Jupiter, they use, together with striped cloaks, in accompanying the procession of the cars. There are also provincial crowns of gold which now require the larger heads of statues 4 See on S. Aug. Conf. viii. 6. COR. 10. 1s. 11, 1. 180 Crowns relate to honours, pomps, joys of world, not the Christian's. Da and not of men'. But thy order, and thy magistracies, and V. 13. the very name of thy court, is the Church of Christ. His thou art, being enrolled in the books of life. There is thy purple, the Blood of the Lord, and thy broad' clavus" in His Mat. 3, Cross: there is the axe, laid unto the root of the tree,—there are the rods, out of the root of Jesse. No matter also for the public horses with their crowns. Thy Lord, when He would enter Jerusalem according to the Scriptures, had not even an Ps.20,7. ass of His own. These in chariots, and these in horses, but we will call on the name of the Lord our God. In the Revelation c. 18, 4. of John we are withheld even from dwelling in this Babylon; much more from her pomp. The common people also are crowned, sometimes out of joy for the prosperity of their princes, sometimes according to the special custom of the solemnities of their cities: and extravagance layeth hold of Heb. 11, all public rejoicing. But thou art a stranger in this world, a citizen of Jerusalem which is above. Our citizenship, saith he, is in Heaven. Thou hast thine own enrol20. Eph. ment, thine own solemn days. Thou hast no concern with 2, 19. the rejoicings of the world, yea thou oughtest to do the John16, contrary; for the world shall rejoice, and ye shall lament. And methinks He saith, Blessed are they that mourn, not 4. they that are crowned.' Marriage also crowneth the betrothed: wherefore let us not marry with heathens, lest they bring us even to idolatry, with which marriage among Gen.24, them beginneth. Thou hast a law even from the Patriarchs: 2. 28, 1. 13. Gal. 4, 26 Phil. 3, 20. Mat. 5, A sort of tax or fine on the conquered or those who needed Roman aid; at first," of slight weight," Liv. 3, 57. afterwards they weighed 100, (ib. 36, 25.) 246, (ib. 32, 27.) 900, or even 1000 lb. Lips. de Rom. Magn. c. 9. 124 crowns were borne in one triumph over Spain. Liv. 40, 43. It was afterwards called aurum coronarium. The laticlave, as the Heathen's badge of honour; and the "nails" of the Cross, as the Christian's. The latus clavus had some reference to the form of the "nail," but, whether as studded, or otherwise, is uncertain. See Hoffm. Facciol. Adopted by Christians, as a symbol of previous chastity. S. Chrys. ap. Bingh. 22. 4, 6. hence it was properly confined to the first marriage. Allusions to the same rite occur in S. Greg. Nyss. Hom. 1. de Orat. Dom. t. 1. p. 724, 5. Basil Seleuc. Vit. S. Thecla. [1. 1. p. 250. ed. Par. but this may be Heathen.] Palladius Hist. Lans. c. 7. (ol. 8.) Bibl. Patr. t. 7. p. 1534. (ap. P. Sherlog. Cantic. Vestig. 27. §. 16.) and a prayer on the imposition of the Crown by the priest enters into the Greek Ritual, (Selden Uxor. Ebr. ii. 24. p. 172. at length.) In the Greek Church, it is still continued, (see Bingham 22. 4. 6.) In the Latin Church, a trace of it occurs about 430, (Sidonius Apollin. 1. 1. Ep. 5. and ad Anthem. ii. 503. ap. Bingham 1. c.) and the blessing of the Crown occurs in the Latin liturgies, (Selden ii. 25. p. 182.) The rite occurs later (A.D. 860.) in the answer of Nicolas I. to the Bulgarians, (Seld. p. 179 sqq.) and among the Swiss in the 16th century, when it |