Concert" is ingeniously striving to keep them undisturbed to-day,_ and to
rescue a little handful of Christians counted by units, where now they
call to us by thousands!

And is this what 700 years of civilization has done for us?

It may have been a madness, a wild and fruitless expenditure of life,
treasure, and happiness. But I think it must have been a sight which
gladdened the angels in heaven, to see such a mighty outpouring of
generous sacrifice, without one selfish end in view.

People of all ranks, rich and poor alike, gave out of their abundance or
their poverty; abandoned homes, happiness, everything, and flocked to the
standards of the Cross.

The sufferings of this impetuous host may be imagined, but never
described. No railroads, no telegraphs, no skilled commissariat with
careful provision for sustenance.

Thousands perished by the way. Thousands more by the sword. And although
for a brief time the Cross floated over Jerusalem, it was only a fleeting
vision.

The Saracens recovered what they had lost, and the Crescent waved
triumphant above the Holy Land,--_and does so still._

At this time there was a wandering, warlike people living far beyond in
Asia called Turks. They had not settled homes, and had for centuries been
straying into the lands by the Mediterranean, which were held by an
Asiatic race remotely connected with them.