ISSUE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. 215 the spiritual life, and commit themselves to his directions, in the monastery of Clairvaux. But here Bernard showed his prudence and knowledge of mankind; he did not allow all to become monks who wished to do so. Many he rejected because he perceived they were not fitted for the quiet of the contemplative life, but needed to be disciplined by the conflicts and cares of a life of action.* But we here have occasion to repeat the same remark which we made in speaking of the first crusade. As contemporaries themselves acknowledge, these first impressions in the case of many who went to the crusades, were of no permanent duration, and their old nature broke forth again the more strongly under the manifold temptations to which they were exposed, in proportion to the facility with which, through the confidence they reposed in a plenary indulgence, without really laying to heart. the condition upon which it was bestowed, they could flatter themselves with security in their sins. Gerhoh of Reichersberg, in describing the blessed effects of that awakening which accompanied the preaching of the crusader, yet says, "We doubt not that among so vast a multitude, some became in the true sense and in all sincerity soldiers of Christ. Some, however, were led to embark in the enterprise by various other occasions, concerning whom it does not belong to us to judge, but only to Him who alone knows the hearts of those who marched to the contest either in the right or not in the right spirit. Yet this we do confidently affirm, that to this crusade many were called, but few were chosen."+ And it was said * The monk Cesarius, of the monastery of Heisterbach, near Cologne, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, relates this in his dialogues, which, amidst much that is fabulous, contains a rich store of facts relating to the history of Christian life in this period, I. c. vi. for instance, concerning the effects of the preaching of the crusades in Liege. When Bernard preached a crusading sermon at Costnitz, his words made such an impression on Henry, a very wealthy and powerful knight, the owner of several castles, that he wished to become a monk, and he was encouraged in this by Bernard. He at once became the latter's companion, and, as he understood both the French and the German languages, acted as his interpreter. But when one of the soldiers in the service of the said knight proposed also to become a monk, Bernard declined to receive him, and exhorted him rather to take part in the crusade. L. c. Et quidem non dubitamus in tanta multitudine quosdam vere a sincere Christo militare, quosdam vero per occasiones varias, quos dijudicare non est nostrum, sed ipsius, qui solus novit corda hominum sive 216 ISSUE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. that many returned from this expedition not better but worse than they went.* Therefore the monk Cesarius of Heisterbach, who states this, adds: "All depends on bearing the yoke of Christ not one year or two years, but daily,—if a man is really intent on doing it in truth, and in that sense in which our Lord requires it to be done, and as it must be done, in order to follow him." When it turned out, however, that the event did not answer the expectations excited by Bernard's enthusiastic confidence, but the crusade came to that unfortunate issue which was brought about especially by the treachery of the princes and nobles of the Christian kingdom in Syria, this was a source of great chagrin to Bernard, who had been so active in setting it in motion, and who had inspired such confident hopes by his promises. He appeared now in the light of a bad prophet, and he was reproached by many with having incited men to engage in an enterprise which had cost so much blood to no purpose;† but Bernard's friends alleged, in his defence, that he had not excited such a popular movement single-handed, but as the organ of the pope, in whose name he acted; and they appealed to the facts by which his preaching of the cross was proved to be a work of God,-to the wonders which attended it. Or they ascribed the failure of the undertaking to the bad conduct of the crusaders themselves, to the unchristian mode of life which many of them led, as one of these friends maintained, in a consoling letter to Bernard himself,§ adding, "God, however, has turned it into good. Numbers who, if they had returned recte sive non recte militantium. Hoc tamen constanter affirmamus, quod multi ad hanc militiam vocati, pauci vero electi sunt. L. c. f. 793. *Multi post peregrinationes deteriores fiunt et pristinis vitiis amplius se involvunt. Cesar. Heisterb. I. c. 6. + Gottfried, in his life of Bernard, says (c. 4): Nec tacendum, quod ex prædicatione itineris Hierosolymitani grave contra eum quorundam hominum vel simplicitas vel malignitas scandalum sumsit, cum tristior sequeretur effectus. Evidenter enim verbum hoc prædicavit, Domino cooperante et sermonem confirmante sequentibus signis; so says the biographer mentioned in the preceding note. § See ep. 386. The abbot, who was the writer of this letter, relates that many who had returned from Palestine stated, quod vidissent multos ibi morientes, qui libenter se mori dicebant neque velle reverti, ne amplius in peccatis reciderent. EUGENE'S RETURN TO ROME. 217 home, would have continued to live a life of crime, disciplined and purified by many sufferings, have passed into the life eternal." But Bernard himself could not be staggered in his faith by this event. In writing to pope Eugene on this subject, he refers to the incomprehensibleness of the divine ways and judgments; to the example of Moses, who, although his work carried on its face incontestable evidence of being a work of God, yet was not permitted himself to conduct the Jews into the promised land. As this was owing to the fault of the Jews themselves, so too the crusaders had none to blame but themselves for the failure of the divine work ;† "But," says he, "it will be said, perhaps, How do we know that this work came from the Lord? What miracle dost thou work that we should believe thee? To this question I need not give an answer; it is a point on which my modesty asks to be excused from speaking. Do you answer, says he to the pope, "for me and for yourself, according to that which you have seen and heard;" so firmly was Bernard convinced that God had sustained his labours by miracles. Eugene was at length enabled, in the year 1149, after having for a long time excited against himself the indignation of the cardinals by his dependence on the French abbot, with the assistance of Roger king of the Sicilies, to return to Rome; where, however, he still had to maintain a struggle with the party of Arnold. The provost Gerhoh finds something to complain of, in the fact that the church of St. Peter wore so warlike an aspect that men beheld the tomb of the apostle surrounded with bastions and the implements of war!§ As Bernard was no longer sufficiently near the pope to exert on him the same immediate personal influence as in times past, he addressed to him a voice of admonition and warning, such *Considerat. L. II. in the beginning. + Quod si illi (Judæi) ceciderunt et perierunt propter iniquitatem suam, miramur istos eadem facientes eadem passos? Responde tu pro me et pro te ipso, secundum ea quæ audisti et vidisti. § Non immerito dolemus, quod adhuc in domo b. Petri desolationis abominationem stare videmus, positis etiam propugnaculis et aliis bellorum instrumentis in altitudine sanctuarii supra corpus b. Petri. Quod licet non audeamus judicare malum esse tamen sine dubio judicamus esse a malo, eorum videlicet, qui suæ rebellionis malitia cogunt fieri talia. In Ps. lxiv. f. 1181. 218 BERNARD'S VIEWS OF THE POPE'S SITUATION. 66 as the mighty of the earth seldom enjoy the privilege of hearing. With the frankness of a love, which, as he himself expresses it, knew not the master, but recognized the son, even under the pontifical robes,* he set before him, in his four books † “On Meditation" (De Consideratione), which he sent to him singly at different times, the duties of his office, and the faults against which, in order to fulfil these duties, he needed especially to guard. Bernard was penetrated with a conviction that to the pope, as St. Peter's successor, was committed by God a sovereign power of church-government over all, and responsible to no other tribunal; that to this church theocracy, guided by the pope, the administration even of the secular power, though independent within its own peculiar sphere, should be subjected, for the service of the kingdom of God; but he also perceived, with the deepest pain, how very far the papacy was from corresponding to this its idea and destination; what prodigious corruption had sprung and continued to spring from the abuse of papal authority; he perceived already, with prophetic eye, that this very abuse of arbitrary will must eventually bring about the destruction of this power. He desired that the pope should disentangle himself from the secular part of his office, and reduce that office within the purely spiritual domain; and that, above all, he should learn to govern and restrict himself. From neither poison nor sword," wrote he to him, "do I so much dread danger to thee, as from the love of rule." He reminded him of the shameful, spiritdepressing slavery which he endured from all quarters under the show of rule, he must be servant, not of an individual, but of all. Nor could he rightly appeal to that saying of the apostle Paul, that he made himself the servant of all men, while the ambitious, the seekers of gain, the practisers of simony, the incontinent, and such like monsters, from the whole world, flocked to the pope, seeking to acquire or to preserve, by his apostolical authority, the places of honour in the church. That apostle, to whom to live was Christ, and to die was gain, made himself a servant to men, in order that *His words in the prologue to the work: De consideratione: Amor Dominum nescit, agnoscit filium et in infulis. Of the fifth, we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Nullum tibi venenum, nullum gladium plus formido, quam libidinem dominandi. Lib. III. c. 1. BERNARD'S ADMONITIONS TO EUGENE THE THIRD. 219 he might win more souls to Christ, not in order to increase the emoluments of cupidity. Much rather should he ponder that saying of the same apostle: Ye are bought with a price, be not the servants of men. "What is more a servitude, what is more unworthy a pope, than that thou shouldst busy thyself almost every hour with such things and for the advantage of such men? Finally, when is there time for prayer, to instruct the congregation, to edify the church, to meditate on the divine law? And yet we must admit that the laws do daily make themselves to be heard in the papal palace; but what laws? the laws of Justinian, not those of the Lord." Gladly would he invite him, according to 2 Timothy ii. 4, to put far from him all these secular affairs, so alien from his spiritual office, but he is very sensible that the times were not capable of receiving such truths. "Believest thou that these times would bear it, if thou shouldst repel those people who are contending about an earthly inheritance, and seek a decision from thee, with the words of thy Master: Man, who has made me a judge over you? How instantly would they accuse thee of dishonouring thy primacy, and surrendering somewhat of the apostolical dignity; and yet it is my opinion, that those who so speak cannot mention the place where any one of the apostles ever held a trial, decided disputes about boundaries, or portioned out lands. I read, indeed, that the apostles stood before judgment-seats, but not that they sat upon them." This, he said, was not belittling the papal dignity or authority; on the contrary, he held it to be so exalted as to be able to dispense with managing such worldly affairs. "Your authority has reference to sins, not to earthly possessions. On account of the former, not the latter, have you received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with power to exclude men from it on account of their sins, not on account of their possessions. These earthly things have also their judges, the kings and princes of the world. Why intrude into another's province ?"* He laments that the pope's appearance, mode of living, and occupations, so little comported with the office of spiritual shepherd. He laments the arrogance and superior airs affected *Habent hæc infima et terrena judices suos, reges et principes terræ. Quid fines alienos invaditis? Quid falcem vestram in alienam messem extenditis? |