He went to Africa, but it was not God's will that he should labor there. A violent fever reduced him to such a degree of weakness that he had to leave the country. He set sail, meaning to return to his native land and get restored in body, but a storm drove the vessel on to the coast of Italy. He preached there for a time and then went on to the Portiuncula, where Francis was presiding over a gathering of the brethren. There God showed him that Africa and a martyr's crown were not for him, and cheerfully accepting the work that God meant for him, he became the father of thousands of souls. Oh, what, if we are Christ's, Is earthly shame or loss? Bright shall the crown of glory be, When we have borne the cross. Keen was the trial once, Bitter the cup of woe, When martyred saints, baptized in blood, Christ's sufferings shared below. Bright is their glory now, Boundless their joy above, Where, on the bosom of their God, They rest in perfect love. Lord! may that grace be ours, Like them in faith to bear All that of sorrow, grief, or pain, May be our portion here! CHAPTER XIV. FIRST FOREIGN MISSIONS. "They are gone where Love is frozen, and Faith grown calm and cold, Where the world is all triumphant, and the sheep have left the fold, Where His children scorn His blessings, and His sacred shrine despise." It was about the time of the first chapter that Francis began to feel drawn to foreign fields. The Franciscans had now spread all over Italy, and there was a general desire shown by the brethren to extend their ministrations outside that country. It would appear that at its close, a small number of the brethren were sent out to evangelize the various countries of Europe, Portugal, Hungary, Germany, etc. For himself Francis had a larger and more daring scheme. It was the time of the Crusades. All Christian Europe was bending its energies to wrest the tomb of our Saviour out of the hands of the Saracens. Band after band of Crusaders had marched into the Sultan's territory--to suffer defeat and death. Francis was too much of a soldier and knight not be stirred by the tales of bravery and daring which were rife everywhere. But he had his own opinions. "Is there not," he asked himself, "a more beautiful way of gaining the desired end? Why all this bloodshed? why this wholesale hurrying of men to perdition? why all this strife between the children of one Father? Why has no one ever tried to gain these infidels over on Christ's side? How many lives might be spared, and what an increase there would be for His Church if they succeeded!"