William Stearns Davis

God Wills It!: a Tale of the First Crusade William Stearns Davis

"From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears, namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God, a generation forsooth which has not directed its heart and has not entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire; it has led away a part of the captives into its own country, and a part it has destroyed by cruel tortures; it has either entirely destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of its own religion ... Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. Jerusalem is the navel of the world ? This royal city, therefore, situated at the centre of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens ?" ~~~ Pope Urban II, Address to the Council of Clermont, 1095. When Pope Urban had said these things in his urbane discourse, he so influenced all who were present, that they cried out, "It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven he gave thanks to God and, with his hand commanding silence, said: "Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.' Unless the Lord God had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have uttered the same cry. For, although the cry issued from numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you. Let this then be your war-cry in combats, because this word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" God Wills It! This is a tale of the First Crusade, a Quest issued by the Pope which gave birth to a new morning in the Holy Land and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, when a victorious Christian army raised the Cross of Christ once again in the City of David. This culminating event ushered in the end of the Dark Ages, and the founding of a bright shining city on a hill. ~~~ Hal Moroz, from the Introduction, and author of the bestseller "Living a Godly Life" by Hal Moroz