Readings in the History of Education | Page 9

85. That the hour of the Lord's resurrection is uncertain, et contra.
116. That the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, et contra.
122. That everybody should be allowed to marry, et contra.
141. That works of sanctity do not justify a man, et contra.
144. That at times we all sin against our will, et contra.
150. That sins are not remitted without confession, et contra.
153. That a lie is never permissible, et contra.
154. That a man may destroy himself for some reasons, _et contra._
155. That Christians may not for any reason kill a man, et contra.
156. That it is lawful to kill a man, et non.
How he brought out the conflict of opinions is shown by the following
example:
THAT IT IS LAWFUL TO KILL A MAN, AND THE OPPOSITE
THESIS.
_Jerome on Isaiah, Bk. V._ He who cuts the throat of a man of blood, is
not a man of blood.
_Idem, On the Epistle to the Galatians:_ He who smites the wicked
because they are wicked and whose reason for the murder is that he
may slay the base, is a servant of the Lord.

_Idem, on Jeremiah:_ For the punishment of homicides, impious
persons and poisoners is not bloodshed, but serving the law.
_Cyprian, in the Ninth Kind of Abuse:_ The King ought to restrain
theft, punish deeds of adultery, cause the wicked to perish from off the
face of the earth, refuse to allow parricides and perjurers to live.
_Augustine:_ Although it is manslaughter to slaughter a man, a person
may sometimes be slain without sin. For both a soldier in the case of an
enemy and a judge or his official in the case of a criminal, and the man
from whose hand, perhaps without his will or knowledge, a weapon has
flown, do not seem to me to sin, but merely to kill a man.
_Likewise:_ The soldier is ordered by law to kill the enemy, and if he
shall prove to have refrained from such slaughter, he pays the penalty at
the hands of his commander. Shall we not go so far as to call these laws
unjust or rather no laws at all? For that which was not just does not
seem to me to be a law.
_Idem, on Exodus ch. xxvii:_ The Israelites committed no theft in
spoiling the Egyptians, but rendered a service to God at his bidding,
just as when the servant of a judge kills a man whom the law hath
ordered to be killed; certainly if he does it of his own volition he is a
homicide, even though he knows that the man whom he executes ought
to be executed by the judge.
_Idem, on Leviticus ch. lxxv:_ When a man is justly put to death, the
law puts him to death, not thou.
_Idem, Bk. I of the "City of God":_ Thou shall not kill, except in the
case of those whose death God orders, or else when a law hath been
passed to suit the needs of the time and express command hath been
laid upon a person. But he does not kill who owes service to the person
who gives him his orders, for he is as it were a mere sword for the
person who employs his assistance.
_Likewise:_ When a soldier, in obedience to the power under which he
is legitimately placed, kills a man, by no law of the state is he accused

of murder; nay if he has not done it, he is accused of desertion and
insubordination. But if he had acted under his own initiative and of his
own will, he would have incurred the charge of shedding human blood.
And so he is punished if he does not do when ordered that for which he
would receive punishment if he did it without orders.
_Idem, to Publicola:_ Counsel concerning the slaying of men pleaseth
me not, that none may be slain by them, unless perhaps a man is a
soldier or in a public office, so that he does the deed not in his own
behalf, but for others and for the state, accepting power legitimately
conferred, if it is consonant with the task imposed on him.
_Likewise:_ It has been said: let us not resist the evil man, let not the
vengeance delight us which feeds the mind on others' ill, let us not
neglect the reproofs of men.
_Idem, to Marcella:_ If that earthly commonwealth of thine keep to the
teachings of Christ, even wars will not be waged without goodwill, for
with pitying heart even wars if possible will be waged by the good, so
that the lusts of desire may be subdued and those faults destroyed
which ought under just rule to be