swell their ranks with the best and bravest of the European chivalry,
St. Bernard, at the request of Hugh de Payens, took up his powerful pen
in their behalf. In a famous discourse, _In Praise of the New Chivalry_,
the holy abbot sets forth, in eloquent and enthusiastic terms, the
spiritual advantages and blessings enjoyed by the military friars of the
temple over all other warriors. He draws a curious picture of the
relative situations and circumstances of the _secular_ soldiery and the
soldiery of _Christ_, and shows how different in the sight of God are
the bloodshed and slaughter of the one from that committed by the other.

This extraordinary discourse is written with great spirit; it is
addressed "To Hugh, Knight of Christ, and Master of the Knighthood of
Christ," is divided into fourteen parts or chapters, and commences with
a short prologue. It is curiously illustrative of the spirit of the
times, and some of its most striking passages will be read with
interest.

The holy abbot thus pursues his comparison between the soldier of the
world and the soldier of Christ--the _secular_ and the _religious_
warrior: "As often as thou who wagest a secular warfare marchest forth
to battle, it is greatly to be feared lest when thou slayest thine enemy
in the body, he should destroy thee in the spirit, or lest peradventure
thou shouldst be at once slain by him both in body and soul. From the
disposition of the heart, indeed, not by the event of the fight, is to
be estimated either the jeopardy or the victory of the Christian. If,
fighting with the desire of killing another, thou shouldst chance to get
killed thyself, thou diest a manslayer; if, on the other hand, thou
prevailest, and through a desire of conquest or revenge killest a man,
thou livest a manslayer.... O unfortunate victory! when in overcoming
thine adversary thou fallest into sin, and, anger or pride having the
mastery over thee, in vain thou gloriest over the vanquished....

"What, therefore, is the fruit of this secular, I will not say
_militia_, but _malitia_, if the slayer committeth a deadly sin, and the
slain perisheth eternally? Verily, to use the words of the apostle, he
that plougheth should plough in hope, and he that thresheth should be
partaker of his hope. Whence, therefore, O soldiers, cometh this so
stupendous error? What insufferable madness is this--to wage war with so
great cost and labor, but with no pay except either death or crime? Ye
cov