volume one

HISTOET OF THE CKUSADES. H
the sword of the Machabees, go and merit an eternal re^^^^d.
If you triumph over your enemies, the kingdoms of the
East ^Yill be your heritage ; if you are conquered, you vrill
have the glory of dying in the yery same place as Jwsus
Christ, and Grod will not forget that he shall have found you
iu his holy ranks. This is the moment to prove that you
lire animated by a true courage ; this is the moment in which
you may expiate so many ^^olences committed in the bosom
of peace, so many victories purchased at the expense of
justice and humanity. If you must have blood, bathe your
hands in the blood of the inhdels. I speak to you with harshness,
because my ministry obliges me to do so: soldiers or
HELL, BECOME SOLDIERS OF THE LIVIKG GOd! When JcsUS
Christ summons you to his defence, let no base affections
detain you in your homes ;
the evils of the Christians ;
see nothing but the shame and
listen to nothing but the groans
of Jerusalem, and remember well what the Lord has said to
' you : He tvho loves Ida father and his mother more than me,
is not worthy of me ; whoever will abandon his house, or his
father, or his mother, or his w'ife, or his children, or his
inheritance, for the sake of my name, shall he recompensed a
hundredfold, and possess life eternal.'' "
At these words the auditors of Urban displayed an
enthusiasm that human eloquence had never before inspired.
The assembly arose in one mass as one man, and answered
him with a unanimous cry,—
" It is the will of God ! It is
the ivill of God !''* " Yes, without doubt, it is the will of
" you to-day see the
God," continued the eloquent Urban ;
accomplishment of the word of our Saviour, who promised
to be in the midst of the faithful, when assembled in his
name ; it is He who has dictated to you the words that I
have heard. Let them be jour war-cry, and let them
announce everywhere the presence of the God of armies."
On finishing these words, the pontiff exhibited to the assembled
Christians, the sign of their redemption. " It is Christ
himself," said he to them, "who issues from his tomb, and
presents to you his cross : it will be the sign raised among
the nations, which is to gather together again the dispersed
* Dieu le veut was pronounced in the language of the times Dieu li
volt, or Diex le volt.