Irenaeus of Lyons
Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyons)
(130-202)
“But the law of liberty, that is, the word of God, preached by the
apostles (who went forth from Jerusalem) throughout all the earth, caused
such a change in the state of things, that these [nations] did form the
swords and war-lances into ploughshares, and changed them into pruning-hooks
for reaping the corn, [that is], into instruments used for peaceful
purposes, and that they are now unaccustomed to fighting, but when smitten,
offer also the other cheek.”
(The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, reprinted 1977, p. 512)