The mandarin, seeing that threats would be of no avail, tried to move Francis by a display of kindness. "If you do as I command," he said, "you will be great in my esteem and you will receive many favors and great riches." Father Francis simply replied simply: "I should prefer to lose a thousand lives if I had them, rather than to abandon even for an instant my God, Who is my only good, my happiness and my delight."