of the great leaders of the Crusades suffered the bitterest disappointment, in being unable to aggrandize themselves by the acquirement of princely possessions in the east. Many were chiefly influenced by the love of glory, and what they considered to be the cause of religion. But others were in part, or wholly, mercenary in their calculations. They sold their estates in Europe, in the hope of obtaining dominions in Asia; and hence, in the expedition in which Richard of England so highly signalized his name, the Crusaders were seen contending among themselves for the throne of Jerusalem, even before the city was taken, their very dissensions eventually causing their defeat. So far, therefore, as the Crusades were a mercenary enterprise, their failure was an all-sufficient reason for their abandonment.

3. But the mere failure of the Crusades was by no means the only cause of their cessation. When the crusading period commenced, there must have been an extraordinary amount of unemployed energy—or, at least, of energy for the employment of which Europe afforded too contracted a sphere, or for the full exercise of which the times did not allow a sufficient scope. If the active powers of Christendom had been well occupied at home, it is impossible to conceive of whole nations of its great community going out in quest of foreign adventures. But, towards the close of the crusading period, the times were changed. Commerce had extended itself; literature had begun to

revive; the towns had grown into considerable importance, and governments had begun to assume a more orderly form. A great change had taken place in ideas, sentiments, and social conditions. There were no longer the same wants and desires. The same things were no longer sought or wished. There was a general awakening, and the life-extensive and variedwhich the Crusaders had sought in foreign expeditions, they now began to find in Europe itself. "It was at this epoch the career of political aggrandizement opened itself to kings. Wherefore seek kingdoms in Asia, when they had them to conquer at their own doors? Philip Augustus went to the Crusades against his will. What could be more natural? He had to make himself king of France. It was the same with the people. The career of riches opened before their eyes. They renounced adventure for work. For the sovereigns, the place of adventure was supplied by policy; for the people, a work on a great scale." With the revival of activity in Europe, the Crusades began to decline.

4. By this time, moreover, a considerable relaxation had taken place in men's religious opinions. They were not changed, but they were loosened. They had not by any means ceased to influence them, but they had lost that exclusive domination over them which they had previously held. The people would not be ripe for the Reformation for two hundred years,

* Guizot's History of Civilization, vol. 1. p. 159.

but even now the lofty pretensions of the papacy, the institution of the Inquisition, and the grasping spirit of the clergy, began to excite suspicion, and in some cases disgust. The vices of the Crusaders also tended to bring the practice of pilgrimage itself into disrepute, and to cause a journey to the Holy Land to be considered not so entirely an act of self-denial and sanctity as it had been wont to be. In this altered state of Christendom, it was impossible but that the Crusades should come to an end.

CHAPTER IX.

GENERAL REVIEW-continued.

THE influence of the Crusades is a subject on which great diversity of opinion has prevailed. On the one hand, it has been maintained, that they were positively injurious, and productive of no benefits. On the other, their evils have been totally overlooked, and good, and only good, has been recognised. In order to form an accurate judgment, amidst these conflicting sentiments, two or three important principles need to be steadily kept in view.

It must be borne in mind, in the first place, that, in the records of human history, nothing is unmixed in its character. In history, if it be true and faithful, we read human nature. History is just what human nature is. The one is the type of the other. We find in every living soul the elementary principles which give rise to all human actions-vicious or virtuous, mean or great, dastardly or heroic-with which the historic page is crowded. And, as in the same breast all these elementary principles exist, commingled with each other, so it is in the events of history. Hence, M. Guizot remarks,

"There is in all things a mixture of good and evil, so profound and invincible, that wherever you penetrate, when you descend into the most hidden elements of society, you find there two orders of existent facts developing themselves side by side."* To expect it to be otherwise, therefore, in the Crusades, either in their progress or effects, would be plainly contrary to reason.

It should also be observed, that the immediate effects and the ultimate results of any series of events, do not always correspond with each other. A principle laid down in sacred Scripture, in relation to the trials of the individual Christian, is of universal application in history. The present may be grievous-the future may be joyous. In what is now transpiring, evil, unmixed with good, may alone be apparent; but, nevertheless, fruits may here after be reaped, on account of which there may be the most abundant occasion for gratulation and thankfulness.

And hence it is to be remarked, yet further, that the ultimate influence of great events in history is not always to be judged by the events themselves. It is the glorious prerogative of the blessed God, to bring good out of evil; and the history of His providence, in relation to our world, is only the record of its exercise. The Crusades were a scourge to Asia, and a drain upon European wealth and population; but it will be seen that, to Europe * Guizot, vol. i. p. 97.