Letters486 Letter CDLXXXVI (A. D. 1147. Boczek. From the same MS. as the preceding)

He invites all to the Expedition to the Holy Land, and commends the charge of the matter to a Bishop of Moravia, To the Duke Ladislaus, the Nobles, and the whole People of Bohemia, Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wishes health in Christ.

I have to discourse to you on a matter belonging to the service of Christ, in whom alone is true salvation. Let the consideration which the Lord (Pope) has among you be my excuse for venturing to address you, and for the humble station of him who now writes to you; let me be excused because I am actuated by a motive of kindness, towards you, and because my doing so may be to your benefit. I am indeed little in rank, but I desire you all not a little in the bowels of Jesus Christ. This zeal urges me to write to you, what I would more willingly labour to impress upon your heart by word of mouth, if the will to do so, which is not wanting to me, could supply me with the power so to do. For the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The corruptible body is not able to comply with the earnest desire of the soul, nor, earthly mass that it is, can it keep pace with the rapidity of the spirit. But may the ailments which I thus lament as my lot, be far from you: and my heart, I assure you, is enlarged so as to extend even to you, although the great distance detains my weighty body. Listen therefore, all of you, to the good news I have to speak; listen to the word of salvation; and let the liberal indulgence proffered to you be embraced with, as it were, the faithful and devoted arms of the soul. Nor is this time like those ages which have passed away, until now: for a new fulness of Divine mercy has come from heaven; blessed are those who are now living, and to whom has come the acceptable year of the Lord; the year of remission, yea, of jubilee! I say to you, that for no previous generation has the Lord done so greatly, nor have the gifts of His grace been poured forth so liberally upon our fathers. See what skill and care is employed to bring about your salvation; consider, O sinners, the abyss of the Divine goodness, and stand amazed: it creates, or it supposes, a necessity for its coming out of heaven to the help of your necessities: and that this enterprise is not from man, but from the heart of the Divine goodness. The earth trembled and quaked, when the Lord suffered His own Land to be lost. His own Land, I call it, in which he was beheld as a man for more than thirty years, and went to and fro among men. His own Land, which He honoured with His nativity, enlightened with His Miracles, dedicated with His Blood, consecrated with His burial; His own Land in which the voice of the turtle was heard, when He who was Son of a Virgin commended the zeal for chastity; His own, in which appeared the first blossom of His Resurrection. This land of the renewed Promise the wicked have begun to occupy; and if there had not been some to resist, the sanctuary itself of our religion would lie open to them; and the Sepulchre, in which He who was our Life, slept in death for our sakes, they would set about to defile; yea, to profane those Holy Places, which were purpled with the Blood of the immaculate Lamb. Furthermore, listen to a fact which ought to stir the heart of every Christian man, however hard it be. Our King is accused of treason: they say of Him that He is not God, that He falsely claimed to be what He was not. He among you who is His Lord’s faithful servant, let him arise, let him defend his Lord against the infamy of this accusation; let him enter upon a conflict which is secure and safe, in which it is both glory to conquer, and gain to die. Servants of the Cross, to whom is wanting neither bodily strength nor wordly means; why do you delay? why do you hesitate? Take upon you the sign of the Cross; and the supreme- Pontiff, the Vicar of him to whom it was said: Whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, he offers you a plenary indulgence for all sin, of which you shall have made confession with contrite heart. Accept then the gift which is offered you, and let each of you hasten to outstrip others in availing himself of this inestimable opportunity for indulgence, which is not likely to recur. I exhort and advise you, not to allow any affairs of your own to be preferred to the affairs of Christ; nor on account of those occupations, which have been attended to, or can be attended to, at other times, lose the opportunity for that which can never be afterwards obtained.

And in order that you may know when, in what manner, and by what road you are to set out, listen to a few more words. The army of the Lord will set out next Easter, and a considerable part of it, as it is determined, will pass through Hungary. It has also been ordained that no one in it should wear garments particoloured or trimmed with costly fur or even made of silk: and that no trappings of gold or silver should be set upon the harness of the horses, but only upon the shields and the wood of the saddles which they use: though as the war 1 Grisiis = “Vair.” See Du Cange, Glossary, in voc. Griseum; and S. Bernard. Ep. ii. c. n. (E.)

goes on and battles take place, it will be permitted to those who will, to make use of gold and silver in that manner, that they may be resplendent in the beams of the sun; and by the terror of them, the courage of the heathen may be dissipated. It would be needful to enlarge on these matters more fully, if you had not among you the lord Bishop of Moravia, a man holy and learned, to whom I suggest that you should apply with the request that according to the wisdom which has been bestowed upon him by God, he should endeavour to instruct and exhort you all upon this subject. I have sent you also a copy of the letter of the Lord Pope, whose admonition you should listen to with attentive ear, and observe the directions he has given. Farewell.