Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-31

| Kra1a anu SiiN
| IH MNVll Pope Urban II fired the
llE e heart of Christian Europe
lM E<S9| with the desire to rescue the
! IN ElE3I holy sepuicher from the pos
asz1x9Al sion of the infidel Mohamme-
/ dams so that Christian pilgrims to that
| holy shrine might not be subjected 10
| indignities and extortions. The result
of their preaching was the Crusades'
! All modern history and civilization In
! the oecident have their beginning In
| this most marvellous movement.
Never has there been such pecu-
| liar compound of psychological virtue
| and physical vice as was exhibited by
/ the Crusaders They were spurred to
action by religious zeal; and Tor inc
| sake of Christ they left their homes
and their families to engage in most
dangerous travel and most perilous
| fighting Those who took the Gloss
/ literally gave up everything TO tolloW
/ their Master But never did pretend
| ed emulator of the life OF Chflst 50
| completely outrage and disgrace their
/ professions as did these same Crusad-
ers.
They left in their wake, In Chrlstlan
as we'll as in pagan lands, a tram OF
ruined cities, devastated nelus, out-
ragged women and murdered chlloreh'
The climax of the first great move
ment was reached one day in June OF
! the year 1893, when the victorious hu-
ropeans, under the leadership OF Iho
| knights of Jerusalem Delivered,
burst through the walls OF the MY
city. once inside, forgetting every
teaching OF the lowly Jesus, they gave
| themselves over to murder and raplde'
Every man. woman and child IN lne
| citv who did not proclaim belleI III
| christianity was slaughtered Anu
! then the knights rode with their horses
| iFnee deem in human blood to the
! church of the Holy Sepulcher, wherein
they spent the entire night on thei,
knees in prayer, praising GOD thae a.
last the tomb of the Lord was sale III
! Christian hands.
As.or o,obtv-nine years the Chris
tlans again lost Jerusalem TO the
isnightlv Saladin, but they still helo
nortion of the holy land. ana more
than once regained and relost Jetusa
iarn If was at Eastertide In the year
1909 that the knights Templar entered
Jerusalem for the last time unuer tne
wing of a mighty Chinese prince VIZ mno
then reigned over Persia. But the l,les
| Iighted nv Peter the Hermit ana Ufpah
TT had died and Europe would not come
to their assistance They ceieprateu
Easter at the holy sepulcher ana apah-
doned Jerusalem to the Mohammedans'
who have held it ever since.
From June, 1929. to May, 1299' was
9o0 wears. the measure of the day OF
| the Crusaders in Palestine. But tue
| last expedition was more ChlIiese-
Persian victory than Chrlstlah III
| vasion The actual possession OF
! sfrongholds in the holy land by the
| crnsaders lasted 1872 years and the
| Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, SUN
existing in the fictitious title OF more
| than one European prince, came 10 an
actual end in 1921.
| II Is difficult for us moderns TO rear
ize that the Crusaders occupied anu
governed, in whole or in part, the hoIy
land for so long a time as tWU arina vS
turies. If one will contrast America
| in 1909 with America in 1909 he VIII
have some notion of what two centuries
| means in history. But even the I'VE
| liest imagination, given food by CID
bon, Michaud, Hallam and Guizot, ana
given drink by Tasso and Sir waiter
| Scott. cannot feel the spirit or the
| Crusades and know the temper OF lhat
| golden age of romance unless ne shall
| tourney across the plain of Sharon TO
| the rocky promontory at the foot or
| Mount Carmel where stands the ruins
| of the castle Athlit-the CRUSADERS
"Casttellum Peregrinorum."
For this was the scene Of the last
stand of the forces OF the Christian
king of Jerusalem; the last bit of the
holy soil of Palestine over which waved
the banner of the cross; the last place
| where the noble Knights Templar oD-
served in the land of the Lord the rites
devised for them by Saint Bernard or
| Clairvaux. The waning influence of
the Christian kingdom under the deca-
dent dynasty of Guy de Lusignan had
been somewhat revived by Saint Louis
and that Prince Edward of England
who afterward reigned in London as
Edward l. But the spirit of the Cru
sades had been broken and after the
death of Louis and the return OF Ed
ward to England the Christians OF Pal
estine held only the seacoast city of
Acre and a few miles OF neighboring
| territory about the foot OF Mount Car
mel.
This had been, a hundred years be-
fore, the scene of the mighty exploits
of the two great kings. Philip Augustus