In the second century they brought a Christian before a king, who wanted him to recant and give up Christ and Christianity, but the man spurned the proposition. But the king said,— “If you don’t do it, I will banish you.” The man smiled and answered, “You can’t banish me from Christ, for He says He will never leave me nor forsake me.” The king got angry, and said, “Well, I will confiscate your property and take it all from you.” And the man replied, “My treasures are laid up on high; you can not get them.” The king became still more angry, and said, “I will kill you.” “Why,” the man answered, “I have been dead forty years; I have been dead with Christ, dead to the world, and my life is hid with Christ in God, and you can not touch it.” “What are you going to do with such a fanatic?” the king said.—Selected.