A story for every day...
Emperor Constantius and his Christian officers
During a stay in Trier, Constantius Chlorus, the father of the great Constantine, wanted to put his Christian officers to the test. He gathered the people of his court and ordered them to sacrifice to the gods, under penalty of dismissal for those who disobeyed. His Christian officers vigorously refused, with the exception of one, who took part in the sacrifices, thinking by this to gain the emperor’s favor. He was strangely mistaken, for the emperor said to him: “You are an unfaithful servant of your God. Now, if the Sovereign of heaven cannot rely on you, how much more is your earthly sovereign justified in distrusting you.” Then Constantius drove him out, while he praised and rewarded the officers who had shown character.
The world itself despises those who betray their religion.
A jurist in search of a place.
A young lawyer from a good Catholic family in Amsterdam had conceived the idea of entering the service of the state. So he asked for an audience with Minister Moddermann (+1904), a deeply religious Protestant, and asked for a position. The minister asked him, among other things, what religion he was. “I am a Catholic,” replied the young man, “but,” he added, thinking to flatter the minister, “I don’t care. – If it is so,” replied the minister, “I have no position to give you, for a man who does not hold to his religion cannot be a devoted servant of the state.”
The young man had, by his cowardice broken his career; for men of character despise those who are Judases to their religion.
