Men to be forward in promoting the cause of God and Religion. [ 1223]
FAmous is the Story of one Terentius, a Captain in the Emperour Valens his Army,* 1.1 who returning from Armenia with a great Victory, the Emperour bade him ask what he would; He onely desired as a Recompence for all his service, That there might be granted a Church to the Orthodox in Antioch, (where, to the honour of the place, Christ did, as it were, at first spread his glorious ban∣ner, Act. 11. 26.) that they might freely meet there, and publiquely joyn together in the service of their God; The motion, he could not but know, must be exceed∣ingly unwelcome to the Emperor,* 1.2 because he was an Arrian;* 1.3 and so it proved: For the Emperor tore his Petition, and bade him ask something else; but Te∣rentius gathered up the torn pieces of the paper, and said; Hoc tantum desidero, &c. This I ask as a reward of my service, and I will ask nothing else: Here was a ••ree sp••rited Man, a true Christian Souldier, that sum'd up all his service for the publique, in an humble Petition for the Churche's good, Dic mihi Musa virum, S••ow me such another: Do men improve their Interest in great ones, and make such use of opportunities as may conduce to the good of Gods cause and Religion? They do not; It is too too apparent, that Men are too much byas∣sed, too much 〈◊〉〈◊〉-ended, seeking, quae sua non quae Christi, their own things, not