The Hand of Providence

The sun had set, and night fell upon the contending hosts. Christian warriors, as they lay under the starry canopy of heaven, cast off the sterner half of man, and let their softer natures free: and loving thoughts of sisters, mothers, wives went winding through the air, to meet in last embrace.

And now the solemn calm before the storm drew near, and all was hushed and still. Constantine did not sleep. He knew that his hour was at hand. With a few chosen knights, he retired to the great church of St. Sophia, and there uncovered stood before the cross. To-morrow the great Byzantine empire would pass away with him! His tears fell thickly at the thought; and he prayed that he might die as became a Christian knight. Then for the last time he partook of the sacrament, and, turning to those around, he said, "I pray forgiveness if I have injured any one in thought, or word, or deed."

He stepped to the portal of the church, where stood his impatient steed, placed his helmet on his noble head, and mounting into the saddle, the humble penitent rode off as warrior Christian king, to battle and to die. He was afterwards found among a heap of the slain.

The banner of the crescent waved over the waters of the Bosphorus, and what was then the richest capital and finest country in Europe. Four hundred and thirty years have rolled by since then. It is still in their possession.

The appearance of Constantinople at the present time is very peculiar. The city is embosomed in gardens, orchards and vineyards. The houses are for the most part built in the form of a hollow square, with flat roofs and the windows facing inward. This gives to the compact parts of the city a rather dingy appearance. The streets, especially in the ancient portions, are extremely narrow, and frequently filthy. It is therefore pleasant to turn from these crowded thoroughfares, and in a few moments' walk, find yourself surrounded with shady trees, singing birds, fountains and flowers.

Here, in the limits of a single city, may be found representatives of almost every race and clime. The fair-haired natives of northern Europe, the swarthy inhabitants of Tartary, tall fierce-looking Circassians, and flat-nosed, woolly-headed negroes from central Africa; all mingling with the more polished inhabitants of western Europe, each dressed in his own peculiar garb, and presenting a living picture no less striking than strange. In this great hive of humanity may be heard at least fifty different languages making a complete Babel of sounds. Here, also, may be seen in striking contrast, the different manners, customs and usages of oriental and western nations.

The different methods used in the transportation of merchandise are no less peculiar; for while on the eastern side of the city, may be seen approaching long caravans of camels laden with the rich products of the East, on the western side may be heard the shriek of the locomotive, announcing the arrival of a train, bringing passengers, merchandise and latest intelligence from western nations.

But the most significant custom is that five times a day the muezzins, or Mahometan priests, ascend to the top of the mosques (as places of worship are called) and which are thickly scattered through the city, and in a loud wailing voice exclaim, "God is great! There is one God! Mahomet is His prophet! Come to prayer!" This is repeated four times facing the east, south, west and north, and has a penetrating effect on the mind of the hearer, much more than the sound of the church-bell of the Christians, or the trumpet of the Jews.

Most European historians have lamented the seizure of Constantinople by the Turks as a terrible disaster. To the unprejudiced student of history there seems to be but little reason for regret. For eleven hundred years Constantinople had greatly influenced the destinies of the world; but during all that time her power had tended more to the degradation than to the elevation of mankind. Her citizens possessed all the classical writings and works of art of the great authors of antiquity; yet in a thousand years they never produced one original, never advanced one step in philosophy or science, or made a single practical discovery. What was it that produced this barrenness, this intellectual degradation in Constantinople? It was the tyranny of priestcraft over thought. For a thousand years Constantinople had been not merely the leading commercial city, but also the leading city in debauchery and crime. In this respect it has vastly improved under Turkish rule. At the present time, especially in the Mahometan portions of the city, it is the least licentious of all the great capitals of modern Europe.

CHAPTER VI

RELIC-WORSHIP, PILGRIMAGES AND CRUSADES

GROWTH OF RELIC-WORSHIP—SCHEMES OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS—MANUFACTURE OF RELICS—THEIR GREAT VARIETY—VALUE OF RELICS—INSULTS OFFERED TO PILGRIMS—PETER THE HERMIT—CRUSADES—DISORDERLY RABBLE—TERRIBLE SUFFERING—CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM—TERRIBLE MASSACRE—CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE—CRUSADES OF THE CHILDREN—RESULT OF THE CRUSADES—REVIVAL OF LEARNING.

In previous chapters has been traced the apostasy of the early church, also the career of Mahomet, and the conquests and achievements of the Saracens. While these events were transpiring, other causes were at work which led eventually to the elevation of mankind, the history of which plainly indicates the workings of an All-wise Providence.

At this period there were no printed books, and the only means of religious instruction to which the masses had access, were the pictures and images to be found in the churches, together with the explanations of them given by the priests. By means of these practical object-lessons much useful information was imparted. The principal events in the life of our Savior were thus depicted, and, though the people did not fully understand the grandeur of His mission, they at least learned something of His history, their duties to each other and their own future destiny.

Thus there came to be associated in their minds a reverence for the picture or image itself, and this idea extended until it included the localities where the great events of the Savior's life, death and resurrection transpired.

With the growth of devotion to the person of Christ, grew the feeling of reverence for every place which He had visited and every memorial which He had left behind Him. The impulse once given, soon became irresistible. Every incident of the gospel narratives was associated with some particular spot, and millions believed that the sight of these places brought them nearer to heaven. The cave or excavation in which it was said the Redeemer was born, and where the wise men of the East laid before Him their royal gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the mount from which He uttered His blessings on the meek, the merciful and the pure in heart, in short, every spot connected with his life, death and resurrection called forth emotions of passionate veneration. These feelings were greatly intensified by the alleged discovery of the cross on which the Savior died, together with the two crosses on which the thieves were crucified.

The splendid churches raised by the Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena over the supposed spot of our Savior's birth at Bethlehem, and His sepulchre at Jerusalem, became for the Christian of that day what the tomb of the prophet at Medina became afterwards to the followers of Mahomet.

The remission of sins and eternal rewards in the world to come were the blessings promised to the weary pilgrim when he should tread the classic soil of Judea, bathe in the river Jordan, chant his quiet anthem of praise in the cave at Bethlehem, walk in the quiet shades of Gethsemane and kneel in reverence at the Savior's tomb.

No wonder then that a hundred thousand pilgrims might have been seen each year wending their way across the plains of Asia Minor, destined for Jerusalem.

The Roman pontiffs, owing to the ignorance of the times, had already built up a wide-spread system of superstition.

They held almost imperial sway over the countless hordes of central and northern Europe. Even kings and emperors paid tribute, and sovereigns dared not disobey their commands. As an instance, might be mentioned Henry IV., of Germany, who having displeased Pope Gregory VII., was obliged, under penalty of losing his kingdom, to stand as a penitent at the pope's castle gate during three dreary winter days, seeking pardon and reconciliation of the inexorable pontiff.

It is not surprising that the popes, who had long trafficked in human credulity, saw, in the growth of relic-worship, an opportunity to increase their own power and the revenues of the church of Rome. Accordingly an understanding was made with the monks of Palestine and relics were manufactured in untold numbers.

An amusing and instructive chapter might be written on this subject: amusing because of its absurdity, and instructive as it shows to what extremes of folly men will go when left without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The crimes and corruptions of the papacy had destroyed public confidence. The devout instinctively turned with reverence towards every object that recalled the memories of the pure and good who once lived upon the earth.

No sooner had the wild rage for relics fairly set in than each monastery in the vicinity of Jerusalem made a specialty of some particular relic. The monks at Bethlehem sold thousands of pounds of half rotten rags, each fragment purporting to be a portion of the swaddling cloths of the infant Savior. The monks who guarded the supposed sepulchre of Christ, sold hundreds of thousands of little chips of stone said to have been broken off from the very walls of the tomb where the body of Jesus had lain. It does not seem to have shaken the credulity of the pilgrims in the least, that the tomb still remained in as good repair as ever, and showed no marks of demolition.

The monks who inhabited the monasteries on the banks of the Jordan could point to at least twenty places where it was said the Savior had been baptized, and each monastery possessed numerous pebbles which the monks claimed had been touched by His feet. No less than seven monasteries claimed to have the true cross in their possession, and thousands of pieces, of wood amounting to many tons in weight, were sold to devout pilgrims. Each of these pieces, it was claimed, was a part of the true cross.

But it would require a long and tedious list to even enumerate the various articles comprised in this relic-worship. In order to get some faint idea of their extent and variety, the relics which the Abbot Martin obtained for his monastery in Alsace might be mentioned. These, among other things, included "a piece of the true cross, a fragment of the infant Savior's swaddling cloths, some pebbles from the river Jordan which the Savior's feet had touched, a branch of the tree under which He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, a piece of the Savior's robe, for which the Roman soldiers cast lots," (see Matthew, 27th chapter), "a tooth of St. Mark, seven hairs of the martyr, Stephen, a thigh bone of the animal which Jesus rode into Jerusalem," (see Luke, 19th chapter), and (I hesitate to write such blasphemy) "a bottle of the milk of the mother of God."

In connection with this relic-worship, an amusing anecdote is related: It so happened that about thirty pilgrims were traveling homeward from Palestine together. Being somewhat weary, they concluded to rest and refresh themselves. Having partaken of some wine too freely they commenced to boast of the various relics which each had in his possession. One claimed that he had actually the identical piece of money which Peter took out of the fish's mouth (see Matthew, 17th chapter, 27th verse). But, to their mutual surprise, they soon found that each had made a similar purchase. It was plain that at least twenty-nine of them had been defrauded. But they reasoned that if it was not wrong for the monks to defraud them, it would not be wrong for them to defraud others. So they quietly sold the pieces of money as soon as possible.

No doubt one reason why relic-worship became so extensive, was the encouragement given to it by the Roman pontiffs. It was boldly asserted that the possession of a relic was a specific against evil spirits, accidents, disease, and, in short, nearly every evil to which humanity is heir. Hence the great demand for relics by the ignorant and superstitious, and the vast sums of money which were thus poured into the treasury of the church of Rome.

For example, a tooth of an apostle was valued at a sum equal commercially to one hundred dollars of our money, and a thousand dollars would scarcely buy a piece of the true cross as large as a common friction match. Of course these prices varied according to the wealth and the credulity of the purchaser.

When, in A. D. 637, Jerusalem was captured by the Saracens, the Christians and pilgrims were treated with much consideration. They were not only to be safe in their persons, but undisturbed in the exercise of their religion and in the use of their churches.

The yearly influx of at least one hundred thousand pilgrims, however, aroused suspicion among the great mass of Mahometans, who failed to comprehend the purport of their extraordinary journey, but perceived the necessity of putting some restraint on this annual rush of such countless multitudes. The consequence was that wrongs were inflicted and retaliated until the mere journey to Jerusalem involved dangers from which even the bravest might shrink. Insults offered to the pilgrims were accompanied by insults offered to the holy places and to those who ministered in them.

Still the pilgrims went forth by thousands, and occasionally hundreds and frequently only tens returned to recount the miseries and wanton cruelties they had undergone.

Throughout the length and breadth of Christendom a fierce indignation was stirring the hearts of men, and their rage, like pent up waters, needed only an opportunity to rush forth as a flood over the lands under the control of the Mahometans. That opportunity was not long wanting. Peter, the hermit, who had witnessed the barbarities to which the pilgrims were exposed, roused Europe to a frantic state by his preaching.

Dwarfish in stature and mean in person, he was yet filled with a zeal that knew no bounds. The horrors which fired his soul were those which would most surely stir the conscience and arouse the wrath of his hearers. His fiery appeals carried everything before him. Wherever he went, the rich and the poor, the aged and the young, the nobles and the peasants thronged in thousands around the emaciated stranger. He traveled with his head and feet bare, calling on all classes to deliver from the unbeliever the land which was the cradle of their faith.

The vehemence which choked his own utterance became contagious. His sobs and groans called forth the tears and cries of the vast crowds who hung upon his words and greedily devoured the harrowing accounts of the pilgrims, whom Peter brought forward as witnesses of the truth of his picture. The excitement and frenzy of the moment threw, no doubt, a specious coloring over an enterprise of doubtful morality, and which eventually pandered to the basest passion of humanity.

These wars are known in history by the name of Crusades, from the Latin term crux, a cross, which emblem was painted on the breasts or shoulders of all who engaged in them.

When the masses were thoroughly excited, Pope Urban gave the enterprise his sanction, and promised to all who would enlist a full remission of their sins. This encouraged innumerable desperadoes to assume the badge of the cross. Fanaticism and hypocrisy, lust and avarice strangely urged their several votaries to pursue one path, and all under the sacred and now woefully profaned name of Christian zeal!

Yet the hand of Providence was in all this. Even the rage of men worked out His purpose, and, as the sequel will show, produced results which, under the controlling hand of God led to the elevation of the race.

To give a detailed description of the Crusades would alone require a volume. It is enough to say that the first Crusade failed, not only disastrously, but hideously, so far as the ignorant rabbles under Peter, the hermit, and Walter, the penniless, were concerned. The long and ghastly line of bones whitening the roadside all the way from Hungary to Judea, showed how different a thing it was for a peaceable and solitary pilgrim with his staff and wallet and scallop-shell to beg his way, and the disorderly rabble of thousands upon thousands to rush forward without any organization, and gathering their daily supplies by robbing and killing the helpless peasants on their route. This, in their ignorance or blasphemy, they called "trusting in the providence of God."

The van of the Crusades consisted of two hundred and seventy-five thousand men. Behind these came a rabble of two hundred thousand men, women and children, preceded by a goat and a goose, into which some blasphemous lunatic had told them that the Holy Ghost had entered. When at length these animals died, a representation of them was painted on their banner.

In this vile horde no pretense was kept up of order or of decency. Driven to madness by disappointment and famine, and expecting, in their ignorance, that every town they came to must be Jerusalem, they laid hands on whatever they could in their extremity. Their track was marked by robbery, fire and bloodshed. In the first Crusade alone, more than five hundred thousand human beings perished. However, a better organized expedition soon followed, commanded by Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine. By him Jerusalem was captured July 15th, A. D. 1099. As might be expected, its siege and capture were attended by the perpetration of cruelties almost surpassing belief.

What a contrast to the conduct of the Arabs, when the Caliph Omar took Jerusalem, A. D. 637! He rode into the city by the side of the patriarch, Saphronius, conversing with him on its antiquities. When the time of evening prayer arrived, he declined to pay his devotions in the church of Constantine, fearing that his followers might wish to imitate his example, and thus render it practically useless to the Christians; but he knelt outside in the yard near the entrance gate. What a supreme act of religious toleration! When will free-born Americans learn to act thus nobly?

But in the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders the brains of young children were dashed out against the walls, infants were thrown over the battlements, men and women were tortured that they might be compelled to disclose hidden wealth, the Jews were driven into their synagogue and there burnt. A massacre of seventy thousand persons took place, and the pope's especial ambassador was seen "partaking in the triumph."

Such were the exploits of the first Crusade. The second was barren of results except the inhuman butchery of thousands of unoffending Jews. The third produced no permanent effects, but a halo of false glory is shed around it, from the exploits of Richard the Lion-heart, king of England, who was connected with it, and whose adventures have stirred to enthusiasm even the dullest of historians. With great difficulty, Pope Innocent III., succeeded in preparing the fourth Crusade, A. D. 1202. The government of Venice agreed to furnish ships to carry them to Palestine, but, actuated by a love of plunder, and a desire to gratify the bitter feeling which existed between the popes of Rome and the bishops of Constantinople, they turned aside to vent their rage on their fellow-Christians. Constantinople was taken by storm A. D. 1204. On the night of its capture more houses were burned than could be found in any three of the largest cities of France. The treasures of the churches were carried away, and even the tombs of the ancient emperors were rifled in the mad search for relics.

Thus, Crusade followed Crusade for more than one hundred and fifty years, until nine armies, comprising more than three millions of men, laid their bodies down to decay and their bones to whiten on the plains and hill-sides of the East.

Among all the enterprises, none were more wild and wicked than those which are called the "Crusades of the children." Emissaries from Rome went throughout Western Europe, preaching and declaring that God would only give the Holy Land into the hands of innocent children. Pope Innocent III. applauded their wild enthusiasm. "These children," said he, "are a reproach to us of riper age. While they hurry to Palestine, we are asleep."

A few words will suffice to tell the story how twenty thousand children, under the boy Stephen, encamped around Vendome. In less than a month ten thousand of them had perished or strayed away. When they reached Marseilles, they lingered near the shore, expecting the Mediterranean to divide, and, like the Red Sea in ancient times, give them a dry passage to Palestine. At length two merchants offered to convey them there in ships, without charge; but at the end of their journey they found themselves, not in Palestine, but in the slave markets of Alexandria and Algiers.

A sequel to this "o'er true tale" is found in the sufferings of another rabble of thirty thousand boys and girls, who, under the peasant lad, Nicholas, in crossing the Alps lost nearly half their number. Five thousand reached Genoa, and, being invited by the senate, concluded to settle there. The rest marched to Brindisi, and, setting sail for Palestine, were never heard of more.

Worthless in themselves and wholly useless as a means for founding any permanent dominion in Palestine or elsewhere, these enterprises were a means in the overruling hand of God of effecting the nations of Europe in a way which the promoters never dreamed of.