The wisdom of God is beyond our
understanding."
The King shrugged his shoulders. "This is an easy answer, my Lord
Bishop. You are a prince of the Church. It would fare ill with
an earthly prince who could give no better answer to the affairs
which concerned his realm."
"There are other considerations which might be urged, most
gracious sire. It is true that the Crusades were a holy
enterprise which might well expect the immediate blessing of God;
but the Crusaders--is it certain that they deserved such a
blessing? Have I not heard that their camp was the most dissolute
ever seen?"
"Camps are camps all the world over, and you cannot in a moment
change a bowman into a saint. But the holy Louis was a crusader
after your own heart. Yet his men perished at Mansurah and he
himself at Tunis."
"Bethink you also that this world is but the antechamber of the
next," said the prelate. "By suffering and tribulation the soul
is cleansed, and the true victor may be he who by the patient
endurance of misfortune merits the happiness to come."
"If that be the true meaning of the Church's blessing, then I hope
that it will be long before it rests upon our banners in France,"
said the King. "But methinks that when one is out with a brave
horse and a good hawk one might find some other subject than
theology. Back to the birds, Bishop, or Raoul the falconer will
come to interrupt thee in thy cathedral.
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