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Most
beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I, Urban, by the permission
of God chief bishop and prelate over the whole world, have come into
these parts as an ambassador with a divine admonition to you, the
servants of God. I hoped to find you as faithful and as zealous in
the service of God as I had supposed you to be. But if there is in
you any deformity or crookedness contrary to God's law, with divine
help I will do my best to remove it. For God has put you as stewards
over his family to minister to it. Happy indeed will you be if he
finds you faithful in your stewardship. You are called shepherds;
see that you do not act as hirelings. But be true shepherds, with
your crooks always in your hands. Do not go to sleep, but guard on
all sides the flock committed to you. For if through your carelessness
or negligence a wolf carries away one of your sheep, you will surely
lose the reward laid up for you with God. And after you have been
bitterly scourged with remorse for your faults-, you will be fiercely
overwhelmed in hell, the abode of death. For according to the gospel
you are the salt of the earth [Matt. 5:13]. But if you fall short
in your duty, how, it may be asked, can it be salted? O how great
the need of salting! It is indeed necessary for you to correct with
the salt of wisdom this foolish people which is so devoted to the
pleasures of this -world, lest the Lord, when He may wish to speak
to them, find them putrefied by their sins unsalted and stinking.
For if He, shall find worms, that is, sins, In them, because you have
been negligent in your duty, He will command them as worthless to
be thrown into the abyss of unclean things. And because you cannot
restore to Him His great loss, He will surely condemn you and drive
you from His loving presence. But the man who applies this salt should
be prudent, provident, modest, learned, peaceable, watchful, pious,
just, equitable, and pure. For how can the ignorant teach others?
How can the licentious make others modest? And how can the impure
make others pure? If anyone hates peace, how can he make others peaceable
? Or if anyone has soiled his hands with baseness, how can he cleanse
the impurities of another? We read also that if the blind lead the
blind, both will fall into the ditch [Matt. 15:14]. But first correct
yourselves, in order that, free from blame , you may be able to correct
those who are subject to you. If you wish to be the friends of God,
gladly do the things which you know will please Him. You must especially
let all matters that pertain to the church be controlled by the law
of the church. And be careful that simony does not take root among
you, lest both those who buy and those who sell [church offices] be
beaten with the scourges of the Lord through narrow streets and driven
into the place of destruction and confusion. Keep the church and the
clergy in all its grades entirely free from the secular power. See
that the tithes that belong to God are faithfully paid from all the
produce of the land; let them not be sold or withheld. If anyone seizes
a bishop let him be treated as an outlaw. If anyone seizes or robs
monks, or clergymen, or nuns, or their servants, or pilgrims, or merchants,
let him be anathema [that is, cursed]. Let robbers and incendiaries
and all their accomplices be expelled from the church and anthematized.
If a man who does not give a part of his goods as alms is punished
with the damnation of hell, how should he be punished who robs another
of his goods? For thus it happened to the rich man in the gospel [Luke
16:19]; he was not punished because he had stolen the goods of another,
but because he had not used well the things which were his.
"You have
seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these
crimes. It is so bad in some of your provinces, I am told, and you
are so weak in the administration of justice, that one can hardly
go along the road by day or night without being attacked by robbers;
and whether at home or abroad one is in danger of being despoiled
either by force or fraud. Therefore it is necessary to reenact the
truce, as it is commonly called, which was proclaimed a long time
ago by our holy fathers. I exhort and demand that you, each, try
hard to have the truce kept in your diocese. And if anyone shall
be led by his cupidity or arrogance to break this truce, by the
authority of God and with the sanction of this council he shall
be anathematized."
After these
and various other matters had been attended to, all who were present,
clergy and people, gave thanks to God and agreed to the pope's proposition.
They all faithfully promised to keep the decrees. Then the pope
said that in another part of the world Christianity was suffering
from a state of affairs that was worse than the one just mentioned.
He continued:
"Although,
O sons of God, you have promised more firmly than ever to keep the
peace among yourselves and to preserve the rights of the church,
there remains still an important work for you to do. Freshly quickened
by the divine correction, you must apply the strength of your righteousness
to another matter which concerns you as well as God. For your brethren
who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must
hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised them.
For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked
them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire]
as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont,
which is called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and
more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in
seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed
the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue
thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much
more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord,
beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to
persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights,
poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to
destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this
to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent.
Moreover, Christ commands it.
"All who die
by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the
pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them
through the power of God with which I am invested. O what a disgrace
if such a despised and base race, which worships demons, should
conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made
glorious with the name of Christ! With what reproaches will the
Lord overwhelm us if you do not aid those who, with us, profess
the Christian religion! Let those who have been accustomed unjustly
to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against the
infidels and end with victory this war which should have been begun
long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now
become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers
and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians.
Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now
obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves
out in both body and soul now work for a double honor. Behold! on
this side will be the sorrowful and poor, on that, the rich; on
this side, the enemies of the Lord, on that, his friends. Let those
who go not put off the journey, but rent their lands and collect
money for their expenses; and as soon as winter is over and spring
comes, let hem eagerly set out on the way with God as their guide."
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