we turn our eyes towards Europe, we fix our regards upon the islands of the sea, and lift our hands to Heaven and pray that the lion-hearted monarch, with his valiant knights, would once more ' come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty.' May God and his saints incline your heart to the divine undertaking, and may the counsels of the Lord prevail. Amen. "Written from Palestine A.D. 1195." ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF CELESTEN III. " To the most Potent Sovereigns of Europe, to the princes, nobles, and barons, who by the favor of God, hold author-ity over the dominions and vassals of our Lord and Saviour —to the cardinals, bishops, prelates, and other clergy that rule the Church of God, Pope Celestin IH. called to be the vicar of Christ, and in virtue of his office heir to the Apos-tolic See, sendeth greeting. " My brethren, it hath been shown to us that Jerusalem, the city of the Saviour's life and passion, still lieth in the hands of the Moslems, that the Infidels mock the rites of our holy religion even in the land where the sacred myste-ries were first instituted, and that the Christians of Syria cry unto the brethren of the west for aid. Wherefore we command you all to spread again the crimson standard of the cross, and march against the persecutors of the faith. By the authority of the blessed St. Peter, from whom we hold the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, whereby we open and no man can shut ; we shut, and no man can open ; we ordain that all those who in heart and truth obey this, our holy mandate, shall have claim to those indulgences needful for the flesh, in this toilsome warfare ; absolution from those sins which they have heretofore committed, or shall hereaf-ter fall into :—and we set before them an abundance.of the honors of this life, and in the life to come life everlasting. " Given at Borne, under our hand and seal, this tenth day after Epiphany, in the Year of Grace 1196." 270 HEROINES OP THE CRUSADES.