Now, part of God's plan was that Martin should be given the chance of
_conquering himself_, and, with the addition of a lot of God's grace, be
made strong and able to bear bravely the terrible dangers and hardships
that were bound to go with a high position in the Church of Christ in
those days of persecution. This story I am going to tell you is the
story of all the hard things and disappointments and adventures God sent
to the boy Martin, in order to prepare him well, and bring him, at last,
to the position he was to fill in the Church.

Well, the first thing that happened was that the Holy Spirit put into
the little boy's heart the idea of praying to a wonderful, unknown
being, Whom he called "the God of the Christians." You see, his father
was a pagan, and Martin had never been taught anything about God, and
must have picked up this idea all on his own. He had no church to go to,
or anything, so he set to and built himself a little chapel on the top
of a hill near his home, and there he often ran off and prayed to the
God he knew so little about, but Who, he felt sure, was a kind and
loving friend of little boys.

Well, God was pleased to see that Martin had answered so well to the
idea He had sent into his heart, so He rewarded him by making something
happen, which was the next bit of His plan, so to speak.

Martin's father was a soldier, and had risen from the ranks to the
position of Colonel in the Roman Army. To repay him for his good
services he was given a farm in Italy. And so, when Martin was ten years
old, his father and mother moved to this farm, and Martin found himself
living in a country where the Christian Faith was openly practised and
people loved and served "the God of the Christians," Whom Martin had so
much longed to know more about.

You can imagine how pleased the boy was; and before long he had
discovered the house of the priests who taught young pagans all about
the Christian faith, and had begun to go to them regularly to learn. His
father did not take much notice of this, and thought his small son would
soon forget all about it when he got old enough to enter the life his
father had decided he should follow--the exciting life of a soldier.

But Martin was not dreaming of battles and the adventures of a soldier's
life, for he had discovered that among Christians there was such a thing
as specially giving yourself to God, and bravely breaking away from all
the things you love by nature--l