volume one

20 HISTORY OF THE CETJSADES.
mucli increased tlie veneratioii of tlie people for the holy
places. The Christians of the AVest arrived in crowds at
Jerusalem, with the design of d}'ing there, or there awaiting
the coming of the sovereign judge. The monk Grlaber
informs us, that the affluence 'of pilgrims surpassed all
that could be expected from the devotion of these remote
times. Eirst were seen on the holy march the poor and the
lower classes, then counts, barons, and princes, all reckoning
as nothing the grandeurs of the earth.
The inconstancy of Hakim had, in a degree, mitigated the
misfortunes of Jerusalem, and he had just granted liberty to
the Christians to rebuild their churches, when he died by
the hand of the assassin. His successor, guided by a wiser
policy, tolerated both pilgrimages and the exercise of the
Christian religion. The chrn-ch of the Holy Sepulchre was
not entirely rebuilt till thu^ty years after its destruction
but the spectacle of its ruins still inflamed the zeal and the
devotion of the Christians,
In the eleventh century the Latin Church allowed pilgrimages
to suffice instead of canonical penitences ; sinners
were condemned to quit their country' for a time, and to lead
a wandering Hfe, after the example of Cain. This mode of
performing penance agreed better ^-ith the active and restless
character of the people of the "West. It ought to be added,
that the devotion of pilgrimages, whatever may be the
opinion of an enlightened philosophy, has been received,
and even encouraged, in all religions. It belongs, too, to a
sentiment natural to man. If the sight of a land once
inhabited by heroes and sages awakens in us touching and
noble remembrances ; if the soul of the philosopher finds
itself ajntated at the sifrht of the ruins of Palmvra, Babvlon,
or Athens; what lively emotions must not the Christians have
felt on beholding places which God had sanctified by his
presence and his blessings ?
The Christians of the "West, almost all unhappy in their
own coimtries, and who often lost the sense of their evils in
long voyages, appeared to be only employed in seeking upon
earth the traces of a consoling and helpful di^inity, or of
some holy personage. There existed no province without
its mart}T or its apostle, whose support they went to
implore ; there was no citj^ or secluded spot which did not
;