You have now in the field armies sufficient to repel the whole force of your enemies and their base and mercenary auxiliaries.  The hearts of your soldiers beat high with the spirit of freedom; they are animated with the justice of their cause, and while they grasp their swords can look up to Heaven for assistance.  Your adversaries are composed of wretches who laugh at the rights of humanity, who turn religion into derision, and would, for higher wages, direct their swords against their leaders or their country.  Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confidence of it in the future.  For my own part, I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the common danger and common glory.  If I have a wish dearer to my soul than that my ashes may be mingled with those of a Warren and Montgomery, it is that these American States may never cease to be free and independent.

AELRED

(1109-1166)

Saint Aelred, Ealred, or Ethelred. was abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx, Yorkshire, in the twelfth century.  Thirty-two of his sermons, collected and published by Richard Gibbon, remain as examples of the pulpit eloquence of his age; but not very much is remembered of Aelred himself except that he was virtuous enough to be canonized, and was held in high estimation as a preacher during the Middle Ages.  He died in 1166.

His command of language is extraordinary, and he is remarkable for the cumulative power with which he adds clause to clause and sentence to sentence, in working towards a climax.

A FAREWELL

It is time that I should begin the journey to which the law of our order compels me, desire incites me, and affection calls me.  But how, even for so short a time, can I be separated from my beloved ones?  Separated, I say, in body, and not in spirit; and I know that in affection and spirit I shall be so much the more present by how much in body I am the more absent.  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of my flesh; my wish is, that I may lay down among you the tabernacle of my flesh, that I may breathe forth my spirit in your hands, that ye may close the eyes of your father, and that all my bones should be buried in your sight!  Pray, therefore, O my beloved ones, that the Lord may grant me the desire of my soul.  Call to mind, dearest brethren, that it is written of the Lord Jesus, when he was about to remove his presence from his Disciples, that he, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem.  Following, therefore, his example, since, after our sweet banquet, we have now risen from the table, I, who in a little while am about to go away, command you, beseech you, warn you, not to depart from Jerusalem.  For Jerusalem signifies peace.  Therefore, we commend peace to you, we