Zwemer - Raymund Lull

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RAYMUND LULLFirst Missionary to the Moslems

BySAlIIUEL M. ZWEMER. D.D.. F. R. G. S.

AlITHOlt Oll'U Arabia, The Cradle of Islam," uTop.y_Turvy Land," etc.

.(r w)\ . __ r .

1UNK 5: WAGNAllS COliJPJJIYNew York and London

1902


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~ T : \ T l ; E OF l{..\Y:\IU;'\"J) LU LL Xl' F: \L: \L\ , !\1.-\]ORCA.


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Copyright. 19')3,by

rUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANYkeglltered at Stationers' Hall. London, England

Contents

INTllODUCTION BY ROBERT E, SPEltllPREPACK,

PAGEill:

. xxi[Pri1Ct#d in flu U,u'tea States ofA ",",caJPublilhed November J 1903

CHAPTERI. Europe and t he Sar acens i n the Thir teenthCentury, 1

II . Raymund Lull 's Birthplace and Early Life, 19III. The Vision and Call to Service, 32IV. Preparation for the Conflict, . 47V, At Montpellier, Paris, and Rome, 63

VI. His First Missionary Journey to Tunis, 80VII. Other Missionary]ourneys, . 97VIII. Raymund Lull as Philosopher and Author, 113

IX. His Last Missionary Journey and H is Mar-trrdom, 132X. .. Who being Dead yet Speaketh," . 147

BIBLIOGRAPHY;A. Books written by Raymund Lull,E. Books about Raymund Lull,

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List of Illustrations

Statue of Raymund Lull at Palma, Majorca,FrontispieceFACING PAGEA Tenth-Century Map of the World. (The Cottonor Anglo-Saxon Map Restored), 6

General View of Palma, Majorca, 20Church of San Francisco, Palma, Majorca, 24Cloisters of the Church of San Francisco. 40Facsimile of Page from Lull's Latin Works. 60The Old Canal between Golet ta and Tunis, 88A Venet ian Galley o f t he Th irt ee nth Century.(From an Old Print), . 98The Harbor of Bugia, 10 4The Town and Tower of Bugia , 112The Prologue of John's Gospel in Catalan, II .The Old Gateway of Bugia (Eleventh Century), 140Tomb of Raymund Lul l in Church of San Francis-co, Palma, Majorca, . J44

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INTRODUCTION

IT would be difficult to find another socompetent as Dr. Zwemer to write a life ofthe first great missionary to the Mohammedans. For twelve years he has beenworking with his associates of the ArabianMission of the Reformed Church on theeastern coast of the Arabian peninsulaand in the Turkish region northwest of thePersian Gulf. To an almost perfect com-mand of Arabic, an accurate knowledge ofthe Koran, untiring zeal and indomitablecourage, he has added an absorbing lovefor the Mohammedans, and a desire tomake known to them in truth that Saviorwhom in their belief their prophet annulsand supersedes.

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l n t r o ~ u c t t o nAs I passed down the Persian Gulf in

the spring of 1897, the captains of th esteamers, without qualification, spoke ou tin praise of th e " lion-hearted" missionary,as they called him, who would sit on thehatches with the Arab travelers an d confound them ou t of their own scriptures.In the interval of itinerating journeys intoth e interior of EI Hasa and Oman Dr.Zwemer has found time to produce a vol-ume on Arabia (published in 1900), whichis the standard authority on th e peninsula,and one of the best books available onthe quest ions of interest to all Christiansspringing from the rise an d extension ofIslam. Loving the Mohammedans an dknowing their religion thoroughly, an dworking constantly for an enlargement ofthe missionary force attempting the evangelization of the Moslem world, Dr . Zwe-rner has qualifications for understanding the life of Raymund Lull, an d for

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1 n t r o ~ u c t t o ndescribing it sympathetically, which fewpossess in the same measure.

An d there has been great need t ha t a nadequate life of Raymund Lull should bewritten for English readers of this modernday. He was th e greatest missionary whohas ever gone ou t to the Moslem world.He was one of th e outstanding figures ofthe Catholic Church in the thirteenth century. H e was a Christian of the modernspiri t of Catholicity-neither Roman norProtestant-a ma n of spiritual judgment, ofdivine love. He saw the futility of authority in matters of religion at the time thatother me n were busy with the most devilish expression of belief in authori ty everconceived-the Inquisition. H e lovedChrist with a passionate love, and saw thatthe only true missionary method was th emethod of love. To leave his life in obscurity would involve an incalculable lossto the Church of ou r time. We need to

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1ntrotlucttonrevive the memory of it, to relearn its se-crets, and to confirm the highest Christiantendencies of our day by the recollectionof their noble illustration in the life ofLull. Of all the men of his century ofwhom we know, Raymund Lull was mostpossessed by the love and life of Christ,and most eager, accordingly, to share hispossession with the world. The worldsadly needed it ; the Church scarcely less.It sets forth the greatness of Lull's charac-ter the more strikingly to see how sharplyhe rose above the world and Church of hisday, anticipating by many centuries moralstandards, intellectual conceptions, and mis-sionary ambitions, to which we have grownonly slowly since the Reformation.The movement of our thought, theo-logical and philosophical, is now stronglytoward biological conceptions. It is a gainthat it should be so. We see that life isthe supreme thing, and that we must state

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Introtlucttonour notions in its terms. The missionarywork will gain greatly by this new modeof thinking. Its purpose is to give life.Its method is to do by the contact of life.Raymund Lull proved this. He went outto give a divine life which he already pos-sessed in his own soul. Somerville, in"St. Paul's Conception of Christ," pointsout that it was "in the consciousness ofwhat the glorified Christ was to Paul in hispersonal life that we are to look for thegenesis of his theology." It was in hisinner experience of the glorified Christ thatwe are to look for the secret and source ofRaymund Lull's doctrine and life: what hethought, what he was, what he suffered.And this must be true of all true mission-aries. They do not go out to Asia andAfrica to say, " This is the doctrine of theChristian Church," or "Your science isbad. Look through this microscope andsee for yourselves and abandon such error,"

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1rntrol:lucttonor "Compare your condition with that ofAmerica and see how much more sociallybeneficial Christianity is than Hinduism,or Confucianism, or fetichism, or Islam."Doubtless all this has its place: the argument from the coherence of Christianitywith the facts of the universe, the argument from fruit. But it is also all secondary. The primary thing is personal testimony. "This I have felt. This Christ hasdone for me. I preach whom I know.That which was from the beginning, thatwhich I have heard, that which I have seenwith my eyes, that which I beheld and myhands handled, concerning the Word of life(and the life was manifested, and I haveseen, and bear witness, and declare untoyou the life, the eternal life, which waswith the Father and was manifested untome), tha t which I have seen and heard declare I unto you also, that ye also may havefellowship with me; yea, and my fellowship

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fntrol:lucttonis with the Father and with His Son, JesusChrist." Theman who can not say this maybe able to change the opinions of those towhom he goes, to improve their social condition, to free them from many foolisherrors and enslaving superstitions, but after all this, the one thing which, if done,would of itself have attended to thesethings and a thousand others, may be stillunaccomplished-namely, the gift of life.The missionary who would do Paul's workor Lull's must be able to preach a livingChrist, tested in experience, saved from allpantheistic error by the Incarnation andthe roots thus sunk in history, and by theResurrection and the personality thus preserved in God above, but a Christ here andknown, lived and ready to be given by lifeto death, that death may become life.

I t would be easy to draw other parallelsthan this between Paul and Lull: theirconversions, their subsequent times of sep-

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I n t t o ~ u c t t o naration, their -visions, their untmng toil,their passion lo r Christ, their sufferingsand shipwrecks, their intellectual activityand power, their martyrdoms, the rule ofChrist supreme tllUs in death, supremealso in life, its tbought, its purpose, itstaste, its use, its friends, its sacrifice. Butthe essence of all such comparison-thereal essence of all true missionary character-is the possession by the life ofChrist as life, ~ n the ability thus to give,not a new d o c t r i n ~ only, not a new truthto men, but a new life. The work of missions is just this: the going out from theChurch over the world of a body of menand women knowing Christ, and, therefore,having life in themselves; their quiet residence among the dead peoples; and theresurrection hom among these peoples offirst one, then a few, then more and more,who feel the life and receive it and live.

Lull sought in every way to fit himselfxvi

l n t t o ~ u e t t o nfor contact with men so that he mightreach them in the deepest intimacies oftheir life, and be able thus to plant theseed of the divine life which he bore.Therefore he learned Arabic, became amaster of the Moslem philosophy, studiedgeography and the heart of man. And,therefore, he became also a student of comparative religion, as we would call him today. There was a great difference betweenhis view, however, and that of a largeschool of modern students of comparativereligion. Lull had no idea that Christianity was not a complete and sufficient religion. He did not study other religionswith the purpose of providing from themideals which Christianity was supposed tolack. Nor did he propose to reduce out ofall religions a common fund of general principles more or less to be found in all andregard these as the ultimate religion. Hestudied other religions to find out how bet-

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1ntrot>ucttonter to reach the hearts of their adherentswith the Gospel, itself perfect and com-plete, lacking nothing, needing nothingfrom any other doctrine. With him therewas a difference between Christianity andother religions, not in degree only, but inkind. It possesses what they lack, whichis desirable. It lacks what they possess,which is unworthy. It alone satisfies. Italone is life. They are systems of societyor politics, religions of books, methods,organizations. It and it alone is life,eternal life. Lull studied other religions,not to discover what they have to give toChristianity, for they have nothing, but tofind how he might give to those who followthem the true life, which is life, and whichno man shall ever find until he finds it inChrist.Blessed as the influence of Lull should

be upon the Christian life and experienceof all who feel it in reading this sketch, it

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Introt>uctionwill fall short of its full purpose if they arenot led to desire to make amends for theneglect of the centuries. It is six centuriessince Lull fell at Bugia. Is that martyr-dom never to have its fruitage? Shall wenot now at last wake from the sleep of thegenerations and give the Savior His placeabove the Prophet, and the crescent itsplace beneath the cross?

ROBERT E. SPEER.

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~ r e f l t c erescue the memory of the pIOneer fromoblivion.

His philosophical speculations and hismany books have vanished away, for heknew only in part. But his self-sacrificinglove never faileth and its memory can notperish. His biography emphasizes his ownmotto:

" He who lves by the Life can not de."It is this part of Lull's life that has a message for us to-day, and calls us to winback the Mohammedan world to Christ.

SAMUEL M. ZWEMER.BAHREIN, ARABIA, March, 1902.

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35iogtapbp of !\apmunb I..ullCHAPTER I

EUROPE AND THE SARACENS INTHE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

(A.D. 1200-1300). .Altho the history of an age is going on al l at once, I t can

not be written all at once. Missionaries are proceeding' ontheir errands of love, theologians are constructing their systems, persecutors are slaying the believers, prelates are seeking the supremacy , k ings are checking the advance of thechurchman-all this and an infinitude of detail Is going onin the very same period of time." -Sk 'dd 's .. Histqry 11/D ( J ( t r i n ~ . II

WE can not understand a man unless weknow his environment. Biography is athread, but history is a web in which timeis broad as well as long. To unravel the

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:l3tograpb12 or 1 R a 1 2 m u n ~ 1ullthread without breaking it we must loosenthe web. To understand Raymund Lull,we must put ourselves back seven hundredyears and see Europe and the Saracens asthey were before the dawn of the Renais-sance and the daybreak of the Reformation.Altho the shadow of the dark ages still fellheavily upon it, the thirteenth century wasan eventful epoch, at least for Europe. Thecolossal power of the empire was waning,and separate states were springing up inItalyand Germany. The growth of civilliberty, altho only in its infancy, was alreadybringing fruit in the enlargement of ideasand the founding of universities. In Eng-land, Norman and Saxon were at last onepeople; the Magna Charta was signed, andthe first Parliament summoned. Aboutthe time when Lull was born, the Tatarsinvaded Russia and sacked Moscow; Sara-cens and Christians were disputing not onlythe possession of the Holy Land, but the

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Europe a n tbe Saracensrulership of the world. Altho in the Eastthe long struggle for the Holy City hadended in the discomfiture of the Christians,the spirit of the Crusades lived on. Thesame century that saw the fall of Acre alsowitnessed the fall of Bagdadand the extinc-tion of the califate. In Spain, Ferdi-nand of Castile was winning city after cityfrom the Moors, who were entrenchingtheir last stronghold, Granada. The year1240 marks the rise of the Ottoman Turks;Lull was then five years old. Before hewas twenty, Louis IX. had failed in hiscrusade and been taken prisoner by theSultan of Egypt; emperors had deposedpopes and popes emperors; and the Inqui-sition had begun in Spain to torture Jewsand heretics. At Cologne the foundationsof the great cathedral were being laid, andat Paris men were experimenting with thenew giant, gunpowder.

All Europe was heated with the strong3


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:J8iograpb)2 of 1 R a ) 2 m u n ~ $ullwine of political change and social expectations. In the same century sudden andsubversive revolutions were taking place inAsia. The Mongolian hordes under Genghis Khan poured out, like long-pent wa-ters, overall the countries of the East. Thecalifate of Bagdad fell forever before thefurious onslaught of Hulaku Khan. TheSeljuk empire soon advanced its Moslemrule into the mountain ranges of Anatolia,and Turks were disputing with Mongolsthe sovereignty of " the roof of the world."The beneficial effects of the Crusadeswere already being felt in the breaking upof those two colossal fabrics of the MiddleAges, the Church and the Empire, which

ruled both as ideas and as realities. Thefeudal system was disappearing. The in-vention and application of paper, the mariner's compass, and gunpowder heraldedthe eras of printing, exploration, and conquest in the century that followed. It was

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16urope a n tbe Saracensnot dark as midnight, altho not yet dawn.The cocks were crowing. In 1249 the University of Oxford was founded. In 1265Dante was born at Florence. The pursuitof truth by philosophers was still a gameof wordy dialectics, but Thomas Aquinasand Bonaventura and Albertus Magnusleft a legacy of thought as well. The twoformer died the same year that RaymundLull wrote his "Ars Demonstrava." Itwas in the thirteenth century that physicalscience struggled into feeble life in the cellsof Gerbert and Roger Bacon. But thesemen were accounted magicians by the vulgar and heretics by the clergy, and were re-warded with the dungeon. Marco Polo theVenetian, the most famous of all travelers,belongs to the thirteenth century, and didfor Asia what Columbus did for America.His work was a link in the providentialchain which at last dragged the NewWorldto light. But both Marco Polo and Roger5


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:l3tograpbl? of 1 R a l ? m u n ~ 1ulIBacon lived ahead of their age. Gibbonsays with truth that, " I f the ninth and tenthcenturies were the times of darkness, thethirteenth and fourteenth were the age ofabsurdity and fable." Thought was stillin terror through dread of the doom de-clared on heretics and rebels.The maps of the thirteenth century

show no appreciation of Marco Polo'sdiscoveries. The world as Raymund Lullknew it was the world of medieval legendand classic lore. The earth's surface wasrepresented as a circular disk surrounded bythe ocean. The central point was the HolyLand or Jerusalem, according to the proph-ecy of Ezekiel. Paradise occupied the ex-treme east and Gog and Magog were onthe north. The pillars of Hercules markedthe boundary of farthest west, and thenomenclature of even Southern Europe wasloose and scanty. I t is interesting to notethat the first great improvement of these6

A TENTH-CENTURY MAP OF TIlE WORLD.A r es to red copy o f th e Cot ton o r Anglo-Saxon map.

current in th e tin1C of Rayllll111(l Lldl.


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:Europe a n tbe Saracensmaps took place in Catalonia, the provinceof Spainwhere Lull's ancestors lived. Theremarkable Catalan map of 1375 in theParis Library is the first world-map thatthrows aside all pseudo-theological theoriesand incorporates India and China as partof the world. Nearly all the maps of theMiddle Ages are inferior to those in ourillustration. Clever artists concealed theirignorance and gave life to the disk of theworld by pictures of turreted towns, walledcities, and roaringlions in imaginary forests.Swift has satirized their modern descendants as -

" Geographers who in AErie's mapsWith savage pictures fill their gaps;And o'er unhabitable downsPlace elephants for want of towns."Regarding the general attitude of the

masses toward intellectual progress, awriter'" justly remarks: "There were by no* J. A. Symonds: . . The Renaissance," Encyc. Brit. n .

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.:lBtograpb)] of lRa)]munt! $u11means lacking elements of native vigorready to burst forth. But the courage thatis born of knowledge, the calm strength begotten by a positive att itude of mind, faceto face with the dominant overshadowingsphinx of theology, were lacking. Wemay fairly say that natural and untaughtpeople had more of the just intuition thatwas needed than learned folk trained inthe schools. Man and the actual universekept on reasserting their rights and claimsin one way or another; but they were al-ways being thrust back again into Cimmerian regions of abstractions, fictions,visions, spectral hopes and fears, in themidst of which the intellect somnambulistically moved upon an unknown way."The morality of the Middle Ages pre

sents startling contrasts. Over against eachother, and not only in the same land bu toften in the same individual, we witnesssublime faith and degrading superstition,8

l6ufope ant! tbe Saracensangelic purity and signs of gross sensuality,I t was an age of self-denying charity to suffering Christians, and of barbarous crueltyto infidels, Jews, and heretics. The wealthypaid immense sums to redeem Christianslaves captured by the Saracens; and theChurch took immense sums to persecutethose who erred from the faith. When theCrusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon (whorefused to wear a crown of gold where hisSavior had worn a crown of thorns) camein sight of Jerusalem, they kissed the earthand advanced on their knees in penitentialprayer; but after the capture of the citythey massacred seventy thousand Moslems,burned the Jews in their synagogs, andwaded in blood to the Holy Sepulcher tooffer up thanks I The general state ofmorals even among popes and the clergywas low. Gregory VII. and Innocent III.were great popes and mighty reformers ofa corrupt priesthood, but they were excep'

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:stograpbp of 1Rapmuntl 1ulltions in the long list. One of the popeswas deposed on charges of incest, perjury,murder, and blasphemy. Many were inpower through simony. Concubinage andunnatural vices were rife in Rome amongthe clergy. Innocent IV., who becamepope the very year Lull was born, was anoutrageous tyrant. Nicholas III. and Martin IV., who were popes toward the closeof the thirteenth century, rivaled each otherin infamy. The pontificate of the formerwas so marked by rapacity and nepotismthat he was consigned by Dante to his Inferno. The latter was the murderous instigator of the terrible" Sicilian Vespers."

Martensen says that" the ethics of thisperiod often exhibit a mixture of the moralsof Christianity with those of Aristotle."And this is natural if we remember thatThomas Aquinas represents the height ofmedieval morals as well as of dogmatics.Sins were divided into carnal and spiritual,

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lSurope antl tbe Saracensvenial and mortal. The way to perfectionwas through the monastic vows of poverty,celibacy, and obedience.The poetry of the period reflects the

same startling contrast between piety andsensuality, composed as it was of the tenderest hymns of devotion and bacchanalianrevels. The seven great hymns of themedieval Church have challenged and de-fied the skill of the best translators andimitators. The wonderful pathos of the"Stabat Mater Dolorosa" and the terriblepower of "Dies Irce" appear even in theirpoorest translations. In spite of its objectionable doctrinal features, what Protestantcan read Dr. Cole's admirable translationof the" Stabat Mater" without beingdeeplyaffected?

Yet the same age had its "CarminaBurana," written by Goliardi and others,in which Venus and Bacchus go hand-inhand and the sensual element predominates.

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J13tograpbp of lRapmuntl $u11" We do not need to be reminded thatBeatrice's adorer had a wife and children,or that Laura's poet owned a son anddaughter by a concubine." Nor wereDante and Petrarch exceptions among me-dieval poets in this respect. I t was a darkworld.The thirteenth century was also an age

of superstition, an age of ghosts and visionsand miracles and fanaticism. The" Flagellants" wandered from city to city callingon the people to repent. Girded withropes, in scant clothing or entirely naked,they scourged themselves in the openstreets. The sect spread like contagionfrom Italy to Poland, propagating extravagant doctrines and often causing seditionand murder. Catherine of Sienna andFrancis of Assisi in the fervor of their lovesaw visions. The latter bore the stgmataand died of the wounds of Christ, whichare said to have impressed themselves on

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lSurope a n tbe Saracenshis hands and side through an imaginationdrunk with the contemplation and love ofthe crucified Redeemer. The author ofthe two most beautiful hymns of the medieval period went to fanatical extremes inself-sought torture to atone for his own sinsand for the good of others. Peter No-lasco in 1228 saw a vision of the VirginMary, and devoted all his property fromthat day to the purchasing of freedomfor Christian captives from their Moorishmasters. He founded the order of theMercedarians, whose members even gavethemselves into slavery to save a fellowChristian from becoming an apostate toIslam. During the twelfth and thirteenthcenturies the monastic orders increased innumbers and influence. They formed thestanding army of the papacy and were generally promoters of learning, science, andart. The Franciscans were one of thestrongest orders, altho one of the latest.13


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:l3fograpbl1 of 1Ral1munt> 1ullIn 1264 this order had eight thousandcloisters and two hundred thousand monks.Some of these monks were saints, somescientists, and some sensualists; alongsideof unmeasured superstition and ignorancein the mass of the priesthood we meet withgenius of intellect and wonderful displaysof self-forgetting love in the few.Yet the most sacred solemnities were

parodied. On" Fools' Festival," whichwas held in France on New Year's day,mock popes, bishops, and abbots were introduced and all their holy actions mimicked in a blasphemous manner.

Practical mysticism, which concerneditself not with philosophy but with personal salvation, was common in the thirteenth century, especially among thewomen of the Rhine provinces. St. Hildegard, Mechthild, and Gertrude the Greatare striking examples. There were also attempts at a reformation of the Church and

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15urope ant> tbe Saracensthe abuses of the clergy. The Albigensesand the Waldenses were in many waysforerunners of Protestantism. Numerousother sects less pure in doctrine and moralsarose at this time and spread everywherefrom Eastern Spain to Northern Germany.All of themwere agreed in opposing ecclesi.astical authority, and often that of the state.

Such was the political, intellectual, moral,and religious condition of Europe in thedays of Raymund Lull.The Mohammedan world was also in a

state of ferment. The Crusades taughtthe Saracen at once the strength and theweakness of medieval Christianity. Thebattle-field of Tolosa, strewed with twohundred thousand slain Moslems, was thedeath-knell of Islam in Spain. Saracenrule and culture at Granada were only theafter-glow of a sunset, glorious but transient. What dominions the Saracens lostin the west they regained in Syria and the15


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JUograpbp of 'lRapmunb 1ullEast. In 1250 the Mameluke sultans be-gan to reign in Egypt, and under BeybarsI. Moslem Egypt reached the zenith of itsfame. Islam was a power in the thirteenthcentury not so much by its conquests withthe sword as by its conquests with thepen. Moslem philosophy, as interpretedby Alkindi, Alfarabi, Avicenna, and AI-gazel, but most of all the philosophy ofAverroes, was taught in all the universities. Aristotle spoke Arabic before he wasretranslated into the languages of Europe."The Saracens," says Myers, "were duringthe Middle Ages almost the sole repositories of the scientific knowledge of theworld. While the Western nations weretoo ignorant to know the value of thetreasures of antiquity, the Saracens preserved them by translating into Arabic thescientific works of the Greeks." Part of thislearning came to Europe through the Crusaders, but it came earlier and more largely16

Europe anb tbe Saracensthrough the Arabian schools of Spain. Noother country in Europe was in such closetouch with Islam for good and il l as thekingdoms of Castile, Navarre, and Aragonin the north of what we now call Spain.There the conflict was one of mind as wenas of the sword. There for three centurieswaged a crusade for truth as well as a canflict on the battle-field between Christianand Moslem. In this conflict RaymundLull's ancestors played their part. Duringall the years of Lull's life the Moslem pow-er held out at Granada against the unitedSpanish kingdoms. Not until 1492 was theSaracen expelled from Southern Europe.Regarding missions in the thirteenthcentury, little can be said. There were afew choice souls whom the Spirit of Godenlightened to see the spiritual needs ofthe Saracen and Mongol and to preach tothem the Gospel. In 1256 William de Rubruquis was sent by Louis IX., partly as a

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3Bfograpbp of 1Rapmunl:l ~ u diplomat, partly as a missionary, to theGreat Khan. In 1219 Francis of Assisiwith mad courage went into the Sul tan'spresence at Damietta and proclaimed th eway of salvation, offering to undergo theordeal of fire to prove the truth of th eGospel. Th e Dominican general Raimundde Pennaforti, who died in 1273, also de-voted himself to missions for the Saracens,bu t with no success.Th e only missionary spirit of the twelfthand thirteenth centuries was that of the Cru-saders. They took up the sword and per-ished by th e sword. B ut " Raymund Lullwas raised up as if to prove in one startlingcase, to which the eyes of all Christendomwere turned for many a day, what the Cru-sades might have become and might havedone for the world, had they been fought forthecross with the weapons of Hi mwhose lastwords from it were forgiveness and peace.""

*George Smith: .. A Short History of Missions."18

C H A P T E R IIRAVMUND LULL'S BIRTHPLACEAND EARLV LIFE

(iL.D. 1235-1265). .1 think that I better understand the proud, hardy, fruplSpaniard and his nlanly defiance of hardships since I haveseen the country he inhabits. . . The country, the habits,the very looks of the people, have something of the Arabiancharacter."-Wasllingtan Irving's" TM Alham6,4."RAYMUND LULL was born of an illustri-

ous family at Palma in the island of Majorcaof the Balearic group in 1235.'" Hi s fatherhad been born at Barcelona and belongedto a distinguished Catalonian family.When th e island of Majorca was takenfrom the Saracens by James I., king of'" Some authorities give the date U34, and ODe 1236, ou tmost agree on the year 1235. See Bari1lfGould: ..Lives oftbe Saints," vol. vi., p. 489,


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:6fograpb)] of lRa)]munb $uUAragon, Lull's father served in the army ofconquest. For his distinguished serviceshe was rewarded with a gift of land in theconquered territory, and the estates grewin value under the new government.Southern Europe between the Atlantic

and the Adriatic is almost a duplicate inclimate and scenery of Northern Africa.When the Moors crossed over into Spainand occupied the islands of the WesternMediterranean they felt at home. Not onlyin the names of rivers and mountains andon the architecture of Spain did they leavethe impress of their conquest, but on themanners of the people, their literature, andtheir social life.Catalonia, the eastern province of Spain,

which was the home of Lull's ancestorsand for a time of Lull himself, is aboutone hundred and thirty miles broad andone hundred and eighty-five miles long,with a coast of two hundred and forty

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J3trtbplace a n l6arIl] 1tfemiles. It has mountain ranges on thenorth, three considerable rivers, and wood-land as well as meadow. The c l i m a t ~ ishealthy in spite of frequent mists and rains,sudden changes of temperature, and greatmidday heat. Mountains and climate andhistory have left their impress on its peo-ple. The Catalonians are distinct in originfrom the other inhabitants of Spain, anddiffer from them to this day in dialect,dress, and character. About 470 A.D., thispart of the peninsula was occupied by theGoths, whence it was called Gothalonia, andlater Catalonia. I t was taken possessionof by the Berbers in 712, who in turn weredispossessed by the Spaniards and thetroops of Charlemagne. In 1137 Cataloniawas annexed to Aragon. The Cataloniansare therefore a mixed race. They have al-ways been distinguished for frugality, wit,and industry; they have much nationalpride and a strong revolutionary spirit.

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:lI3tograpbog of 1RaogmunO 1ullThe Catalan language and its large literature are quite distinct from that of theother Spanish provinces. The poeticalworks of Lull are among the oldest ex-amples of Catalan extant.

The Balearic Islands have always be-longed to the province of Catalonia as re-gards their people and their language. Ona clear day the islands are plainly visiblefrom the monastery of Monserrat, and bysea from Barcelona it is only one hundredand forty miles to Palma. Between thesetwo harbors there has always been and isnow a busy traffic. Majorca has an area offourteen hundred and thirty square miles,a delightful climate, beautiful scenery, anda splendid harbor-Palma. Some of itsvalleys, such as Valdemosa and Soller,are celebrated for picturesque luxuriance.The northern mountain slopes are terraced; the olive, the vine, and the almondtree are plenteous everywhere in the plains.

:u

:lBtrtbplace ant) lSarlog 1tfeAccording to the description of moderntravelers it is an earthly paradise. Duringthe summer there is scarcity of water, but,following a system handed down from theArabs, the autumn rains are collected inlarge reservoirs. On the payment of acertain rate each landholder has his fieldsflooded.Palma, Lull's birthplace and burial-place,

is a pretty town with narrow streets and asort of medieval look except where modern trade has crowded out "the old-world,Moorish character of the buildings:'The cathedral is still a conspicuous

building, and was commenced in 1230 anddedicated to the Virgin by the same KingJames who gave Lull's father estates nearPalma. Portions of the original buildingstill remain, and the visitor can enter theroyal chapel (built in 1232) with assurancethat if Lull did not worship here he at leastsaw the outside of the building frequently.

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JBfograpbl? of lRal?munt> $ul[Palma probably owes its name and harborto Metellus Balearicus, who in 123 B.C.settled three thousand Roman and Spanishcolonists on the island, and whose expedition is symbolized on the Roman coins bya palm branch. He also gave his name tothe island group, and the Balearic slingersare famous in Cresar's " Commentaries."

Palma is to-day a busy little port, anddirect commerce is carried on with Valencia, Barcelona, Marseilles, Cuba, PortoRico, and even South American ports.The present population is about sixtythousand. Formerly, Palma was a greatcenter for shipbuilding, and there is littledoubt that in Lull's t ime this industry alsogave importance to the town. As early asthe fourteenth century a mole, to a lengthof three hundred and eighty-seven yards,was constructed to improve the harbor ofPalma. This picturesque town was thebirthplace of our hero, and to-day its in-

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J3trtbplace a n Earll? 1ttehabitants are still proud to lead you to thechurch of San Francisco where he liesburied. As late as 1886 a new edition ofLull's works was printed and published atPalma by Rossel6.The significance or the derivation of

Lull's family name is lost in obscurity.His personal name Raymund (in SpanishRamon or Raymundo) is Teutonic and signifies " wise protection" or" pure in speech."It was borne by two distinguished counts ofToulouse: one of them, Raymund IV., wasaCrusader (1045-1 105), and the other (11561222) befriended the Albigenses against thePope. It is possible that Lull received hisfirst name from one of these martial heroeswhose exploits were well known in Catalonia.Of Lull's infancy and early youth nothing is known for certain. He was accustomed to medieval luxury from his birth,as his parents had a large estate and his25


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:lBfograpbl! of 1 R a l ! m u n ~ 1uIlfather was distinguished for military services. Lull married at an early age, and,being fond of the pleasures of court life,left Palma and passed over with his brideto Spain, where he was made seneschal atthe court of King James II . of Aragon.Thus his early manhood was spent ingaiety and even profligacy. All the enthusiasm and warmth of his character foundexercise only in the pleasures of the court,and, by his own testimony, he lived a lifeof utter immorality in this corrupt age.Wine, women, and songwere then, as oftensince, the chief pleasures of kings andprinces. Notwithstanding his marriageand the blessing of children, Lull soughtthe reputation of a gallant and was mixedup in more than one intrigue. For thissort of life his office gave him every temptation and plenty of opportunity.A seneschal (literally, an old servant)*From Latin u n + sca!cuJ, or Gothic JiMigJ + .RaIN.26

:l3frtbplace a n l6arll! 1tfewas the chief official in the household of amedieval prince or noble and had the superintendenceoffeasts and ceremonies. Thesemust have been frequent and luxurious atthe court of James II., for Aragon, previous to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,enjoyed the most liberal government ofEurope. According to one authority, "thegenius and maxims of the court were purely republican." The kings were elective,while the real exercise of power was in thehands of the Cortes, an assembly consisting of the nobility, the equestrian order, therepresentatives of cities, and the clergy. Asuccession of twenty sovereigns reignedfrom the year 1035 to 1516. At such acourt and amid such an assemblage, probably in the capital town of Zaragoza (Saragossa), Lull spent several years of his life.He was early addicted to music and playedthe cithern with skill. But he was yetmore celebrated as a court poet. Accord-27


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Jl3tograpb12 of 1Ra12munb 1ullCatalonian poetry is acknowledged in suchterms of praise bystudents of Spanish literature that he might be called the founder ofthe Catalonian school of poets. The philological importance of Lull's Catalonianwritings, especially his poems, was shownby Adolph Helfferich in his book on " Lulland the Origin of Catalan Literature." Inthis volume specimens of his poetry andproverbs are given. A writer in the" Encyclopedia Britannica" speaksof one of hispoems, "Lo Desconort" (Despair) as eminently fine and composite in its diction.This poem, if it was written before hisconversion, as is probable, would alreadyshow that Lull himself was dissatisfied atheart with his life of worldly pleasure. Already, perhaps, there arose within him amighty struggle between the spirit and theflesh. Sensual pleasures never satisfy, andhis lower and higher natures strove onewith the other.

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Jl3trtbplace anb Earll? 1tfeIt seems that at about his thirty-second

year he returned to Palma, altho there islittle certainty of date among his biographers. At any rate it was at the place of hisbirth that Lull was born again. It was inthe Franciscan church, and not at the courtof Aragon, that he received his final calland made his decision to forsake all andbecome a preacher of righteousness. Theprodigal son came to himself amid theswine, and his feet were already towardhome when he saw his Father, and hisFather ran out to meet him. The story ofSt. Augustine under the fig-tree at Milanwas reenacted at Palma.

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CHAPTER I I ITHE VISION AND CALL TO

SERVICE(A.D. 1266-1267)

" I will pour out my spiri t upon all flesh... and youryoung men shall see visions."-.Joel ii . z8 .

WHEN St. Paul told King Agrippa thestory of his life, the key of it lay in thewords, "I was not disobedient to theheavenly vision." The angel had come tohim and called him straight away from hiscareer as arch-persecutor. All that he haddone or meant to do was now of the past.He arose from the ground and took up hislife again as one who could not be dis-obedient to his vision. It was a vision ofChrist that made Paul a missionary. Andhis was not the last instance of the ful

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1 3 t o g r a p b ~ of 1 R a ~ m u n ~ 1u11atry and angel-worship and imitation ofsaints, it was not such a vision that arrestedLull, but a vision of Jesus Himself. Thestory, as told in a Life" written with hisconsent during his lifetime, is as follows:

One evening the seneschal was sittingon a couch, with his cithern on his knees,composing a song in praise of a noble married lady who had fascinated him but whowas insensible to his passion. Suddenly,in the midst of the erotic song, he saw onhis right hand the Savior hanging on Hiscross, the blood trickling from His handsand feet and brow, look reproachfullyat him. Raymund, conscience - struck,started up; he could sing no more; he laidaside his cithern and, deeply moved, retiredto bed. Eight days after, he again attempted to finish the song and again took

"S. Baring-Gould: .. Lives o f the Saints." vol. vi. , p . 489.Maclear: "History of Chris tian Missions in the MiddleAg. . . . . pp. 355. 356. 34

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Eiograpb)] of 1 R a 1 ? m u n ~ 1u((thought that this was a special message forhimself to conquer his lower passions andto devote himself entirely to Christ's servoice. He felt engraved on his heart, as itwere, the great spectacle of divine Selfsacrifice. Henceforth he had only onepassion, to love and serve Christ. Butthere arose the doubt, How can I, defiledwith impurity, rise and enter on a holierlife? Night after night, we are told, helay awake, a prey to despondency anddoubt. He wept like Mary Magdalen,remembering how much and how deeplyhe had sinned. At length the thought oc-curred: Christ is meek and full of compas-sion; He invites all to come to Him; Hewill not cast me out. With that thoughtcameconsolation. Because hewas forgivenso much he loved the more, and concludedthat he would forsake the world and giveup all for his Savior. How he was con-firmed in this resolve we shall see shortly.

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'ttbe 01910n a n (tall to Setl'1ceBy way of parenthesis it is necessary to

give another account of Lull's conversionwhich the author of "Acta Sanctorum" re-lates, and says he deems" improbable butnot impossible." According to this storyLull was one day passing the window ofthe house of Signora Ambrosia, the mar-ried lady whose love he vainly sought togain. He caught a glimpse of her ivorythroat and bosom. On the spot he composed and sang a song to her beauty. Thelady sent for him and showed him thebosom he so much admired, eaten withhideous cancers! She then besought himto lead a better life. On his return homeChrist appeared to him and said, "Ray-mund, follow Me." He gave up his courtposition, sold all his property, and withdrewto the retirement of a cell on Mount Roda.This was about the year 1266. When hehad spent nine years in retirement hecame to the conclusion that he was called

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:IBiograpb}1 of lRa}1munt) 1u11of God to preach the Gospel to the Mo-hammedans."

Some biographers know nothing of thisnine years' retirement in a cell at MountRoda near Barcelona, altho all of themagree that his conversion took place inJuly, 1266. The visions and spiritual con-flicts and experiences at Mount Rodagained for Lull the title of .. Doctor Illu-minatus," the scholar enlightened fromheaven. And if we look at the life thatwas the result of these visions, we can notdeny that, in this dark age, heaven did in-deed enlighten Lull to know the love ofGod and to do the will of God as no otherin his day and generation.

Let us go back to the story of his con-version as told by Lull himself in that work,"On Divine Contemplation," which may. . See article by Rev. Edwin 'Wallace, of Oxford Univer-

sity, in the Encyclopedia Bri tannica, where Mount Roda iswrongly spelled Randa.

'ttbe \1)i13ion ant) (tall to $er"icebe put side by side with Bunyan's" GraceAbounding" and Augustine's "Confes-sions" as the biography of a penitent soul.After the visions he came to the conclu-sion that he could devote his energies tono higher work than that of proclaimingthe Message of the Cross to the Saracens.His thoughts would naturally take thisdirection. The islands of Majorca andMinorca had only recently been in thehands of the Saracens. His father hadwielded the sword of the king of Aragonagainst these enemies of the Gospel; whyshould not the son now take up the swordof the Spiri t against them? I f the carnalweapons of the crusading knights hadfailed to conquer Jerusalem, was it nottime to sound the bugle for a spiritual cru-sade for the conversion of the Saracen?Such were the thoughts that filled hismind. But then, he says, a difficulty arose.How could he, a layman, in an age when39


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the Church and the clergy were supreme,enter on such a work? Thereupon it occurred to him that at least a beginningmight be made by composing a volumewhich should demonstrate the truth ofChristianity and convince the warriors ofthe Crescent of their errors. This book,however, would not be understood by themunless it were in Arabic, and of this lan-guage he was ignorant; other difficultiespresented themselves and almost drovehim to despair. Full of such thoughts, heone day repaired to a neighboring churchand poured forth his whole soul to God,beseeching Him if He did inspire thesethoughts to enable him to carry them out.*This was in the month of July. But, al-

'* ..Vit a P rima, " p, 662, .. Dominum Jesum Christum de-vote, fleus largiter exoravit, quatenus hrec prredicta tua qureipse misericorditer inspiraverat cordi suo, ad effectum sibiplacitum perducere dignaretur," Several authorities pu t aper iod of short backsliding berween his convers ion and theaccount of the sermon by the friar that follows i n our text.

4 THE CLO ISTERS OF TilE CIlUl,CIl OJ!' SANFRANCISCO,


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ttbe \1)1510n anb


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: E t o g r a p b ~ of 1 R a ~ m u n ~ 1uIlnessed for Christ before the Sultan, declaring, "I am not sent of man, but of God,to show thee the way of salvation."- The words of the preacher rekindled thefires of love half-smothered in the heart ofLull. He nowmade up his mind once andforever. He sold all his property, whichwas considerable, gave the money to thepoor, and reserved only a scanty allowancefor his wife and children. This was thevow of his consecration in his own words:"To Thee, Lord God, do I now offer myselfand my wife and my children and all that Ipossess; and since I approach Thee humblywith this gift and sacrifice, may it pleaseThee to condescend to accept all what Igive and offer up now for Thee, that I andmy wife and my children may beThy humble slaves."- It was a covenant of complete surrender, and the repeated referenceto his wife and children shows that Ray-

* " Liber Contemplationis in Deo," xci., 27.42

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J81ograpbl? of 1 R a l ? m u n ~ 1ullEymeric, a Catalonian Dominican in 1334and the inquisitor of Aragon after 1356,expressly states that Lull was a lay mer-chant and a heretic. In 1371 the same Ey-meric pointed out five hundred heresies inLull's works, and in consequence GregoryXI. forbade some of the books. TheFranciscans, Antonio Wadding and others,aftenvard warmly defended Lull and hiswritings, but the Jesuits have always beenhostile to his memory. Therefore theRoman Catholic Church long hesitatedwhether to condemn Lull as a heretic or torecognize him as a martyr and a saint.He was never canonized by any pope, butin Spain and Majorca all good Catholicsregard him as a saintly Franciscan. In aletter I have received from the presentbishop of Majorca he speaks of RaymundLull as "an extraordinary man with apos-tolic virtues, and worthy of all admiration."Frederic Perry Noble, in speaking of

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ltbe "'1s10n a n (tall to Ser,,1ceLull's conversion, says: "His new birth,be it noted, sprang from a passion forJesus. Lull's faith was not sacramental,but personal and vital, more Catholic thanRoman." Even as the Catalonians firstarose in protest and revolution against thetyranny of the state in the Middle Ages,so their countryman is distinguished fordaring to act apart from the tyranny of theChurch and to inaugurate the rights of lay-men. The inner life of Lull finds its keyin the story of his conversion. IncarnateLove overcame carnal love, and all of thepassion and the poetry of Lull's geniusbowed in submission to the cross. Thevision of his youth explains the motto ofhis old age: "He who loves not lives not;he who lives by the Life can not die."The image of the suffering Savior remainedfor fifty years the mainspring of his being.Love for thepersonal Christ filled his heart,molded his mind, inspired his pen, and

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:JStograpbl? of lRal?munb 1uUmade his soul long for the crown of martyrdom. Long years afterward, when hesought for a reasonable proof of that greatest mystery of revelation and the greateststumbling-block for Moslems-the doctrineof the Trinity-he once more recalled theVISIOn. His proof for the Trinity was thelove of God in Christ as revealed to us bythe Holy Spirit .

CHAPTER IVPREPARATION FOR THE CON

FLICT(A.D. 1267-1274)

.. Sive ergo Mahometicus error hreretico nominedeturpetur;cive gentili aut pagano infametur; agendum contra eum est,scrihendum est,"-Petrus Venerabilis. t IIS7.

J' Aggred ior vas, non u t nostri srepe faciunt, armis , sedverbis, non vi sed ratione, non odio sed amore, "-Ibid.

By his bolddecision to attack Islam withthe weapons of Christian philosophy, andin his lifelong conflict with this giganticheresy, Lull proved himself the Athanasiusof the thirteenth century. The Mohammedan missionary problem at the dawn ofthe twentieth century is not greater thanit was then. True, Islam was not so extensive, but it was equally aggressive, and,

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JBtograpb'g of lRa'gmunD 1ullif possible, more arrogant. The Mohammedan world was more of a unit, and fromBagdad to Morocco Moslems felt that theCrusades had been a defeat for Christendom. One-half of Spain was under Mos-lem rule. In all Northern Africa Saracenpower was in the ascendant. Many conversions to Islam took place in Georgia,and thousands of the Christian Copts inEgypt were saying farewell to the religionof their fathers and embracing the faith ofthe Mameluke conquerors. It was justat this time that Islam began to spreadamong the Mongols. In India, Moslempreachers were extending the faith inAjmir and the Punjab. The Malayarchipelago first heard of Mohammedabout the time when Lullwas born.'" Bey-bars I., the first and greatest of the Mameluke Sultans, sat on the throne of Egypt.

'" Arnold: "Preaching of Islam," synchronological table,p. 389, 1896.

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: 6 t o g r a V b ~ of ~ a ~ m u n t ) 1u11rary of Lull, wrote: "Marvel not that theSaracens hate the Christians; for the ac-cursed law which Mohammed gave themcommands them to do all the mischiefin their power to all other descriptionsof people, and especially to Christians;to strip such of their goods and do themall manner of evil. In such fashion theSaracens act throughout the world." litDante voices the common opinion of this

age when he puts Mohammed in the deep-est hell of his Inferno and describes his fatein such dreadful language as offends politeears. But even worse things were said ofthe Arabian prophet in prose by other ofLull's contemporaries. Gross ignoranceand great hatred were joined in nearly allwho made any attempt to describe Moham-medanism.

II Marco Polo's TraveIs t " Colonel Yule's edition, vol. i.,p.69t .. Hell," canto xxviii., 20-39, in Dante's II Vision," Cary'.edition.

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first distinguished the true and the falsein the teaching of Mohammed, and withkeen judgment pointed out the pagan andChristian elements in Islam.'" PetrusVenerabilis took up the pen of controversyand approached the Moslem, as he says,"Not with arms but with words, not byforce but by reason, not in hatred but inlove"; and in so far he was the first tobreathe the true missionary spirit towardthe Saracens. But he did not go out tothem. It was reserved for the Spanishknight to take up the challenge and go outsingle-handed against the Saracens, "notby force but by reason, not in hatred butin love." I t was Raymund Lull whowrote: " I see many knights going to theHoly Land beYOJzd the seas and thinkingthat they can acquire it by force of arms;but in the end al l are destroyed before they* A. Keller's Geisteskampf des Christentums gegen den

Islam bis zur Zeit der KreuzzUge," pp. 41,43, Leipsic. 1896.5z

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: J I 3 t o g r a p b ~ of 1 R a ~ m u n ~ 1u11battle-field felt that the Saracens wereworthy foemen. The educated seneschalknew that the Arabian schools of Cordovawere the center of European learning, andthat it was not so easy to convince a Saracen as a barbarian of Northern Europe.At one time, we read, Lull thought of

repairing to Paris, and there by close anddiligent scientific study to train himself forcontroversy with Moslems. At Paris inthe thirteenth century was the most famousuniversity of Christendom. And under St.Louis, Robert de Sorbon, a common priest,founded in 1253 an unpretending theological college which afterward becamethe celebrated faculty of the Sorbonnewith authority wellnigh as great as that ofRome.But the advice of his kinsman, the Dominican Raymund de Pennaforte, dissuaded him, and he decided to remain atMajorca and pursue his studies and prepa-54

~ r e p a r a t t o n for tbe e:tontltctration privately. First he laid plans for athorough mastery of the Arabic language.To secure a teacher was not an easy matter, as Majorca had years ago passed fromSaracen into Christian hands, and as noearnest Moslem would teach the Koranlanguage to one whose professed purposewas to assail Islam with the weapons ofphilosophy.

He therefore decided to purchase a Saracen slave, and with this teacher his biographers tell us that Lull was occupied inArabic study for a period of more thannine years. Could anything prove moredearly that Lull was the greatest as well asthe first missionary to Moslems?After this long, and we may believe suc

cessful, apprenticeship with the Saracenslave, a tragic incident interrupted hisstudies. Lull had learned the language ofthe Moslem, but the Moslem slave had notyet learned the love of Christ; nor had his

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pupil. In the midst of their studies, onone occasion the Saracen blasphemedChrist. How, we are not told; but thosewho work among Moslems know whatcruel, vulgar words can come from Moslemlips against the Son of God. When Lullheard the blasphemy, he struck his slaveviolently on the face in his strong indignation. The Moslem, stung to the quick,drew a weapon, attempted Lull's life, andwounded him severely. He was seized andimprisoned. Perhaps fearing the deathpenalty for attempted murder, the Saracenslave committed suicide. It was a sad beginning for Lull in his work of preparation.Patience had not yet had its perfect work.Lull felt more than ever before, "He thatloves not lives not." The vision of thethorn-crowned Head came back to him;he could not forget his covenant.Altho he retired for eight days to a

mountain to engage in prayer and medita56

~ r e p a r a t t o n for tbe a:ontltcttion, he did not falter, but persevered inhis resolution. Even as in the case ofHenry Martyn with his moonshee, Sabat,who made life a burden to him, so Lull'sexperience with his Saracen slave was aschool of faith and patience.Besides his Arabic studies, Lull spent

these nine years in spiritual meditation, inwhat he calls contemplating God.

" The awakened gazeTurned wholly from the earth, on things of heavenHe dwelt both day and night. The thougbt of GodFilled him with infinite joy; his craving soulDwelt on Him as a feast; as did the soulOf rapt Francesco in his holy cellIn blest Assisi ; and he knew the pain,The deep despondence of the saint, the doubt,The consciousness of dark offense. the joyOf full assurance last, when heaven itselfStands open to the ecstasy of faith."

While thus employed the idea occurredto him of composing a work which shouldcontain a strict and formal demonstrationof all the Christian doctrines, of such co-

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:l3tograpb'Q of 1 R a ' Q m u n ~ 1uUgency that the Moslems could not fail toacknowledge its logic and in consequenceembrace the truth. Perhaps the idea wassuggested to him by Raymund de Pennaforte, for he it was who, a few years previous, had persuaded Thomas Aquinas tocompose his work in four volumes, "Onthe Catholic Faith, or Summary againstthe Gentiles."In Lull's introduction to his" Necessaria

Demonstratio Articulorum Fidei" he re-fers to the time when the idea of a controversial book for Moslems first took possession of him, and asks" the clergy and thewise men of the laity to examine his arguments against the Saracens in commendingthe Christian faith." He pleads earnestlythat any weak points in his attempt to convince the Moslem be pointed out to himbefore the book is sent on its errand.*Mac1ear: .. History of Missions," p. 358, where authori

ties are cited.

~ r e p a r a t t o n for tbe (t"nlltctWith such power did this one idea take

possession of his mind that at last he re-garded it in the light of a divine revelation,and, having traced the outline of such awork, he called it the "Ars Major siveGeneralis." This universal system of logicand philosophy was to be the weapon ofGod against all error, and more especiallyagainst the errors of Islam.

Lull was now in his forty-first year. Allhis intellectual powers were matured. Heretired to the spot near Palma where theidea had first burst upon him, and remainedthere for four months, writing the bookand praying for divine blessing on its arguments. According to one biographer, itwas at this time that Lull held interviewswith a certain mysterious shepherd, " quemipse nunquam viderat alias, neque de ipsoaudiverat quenquam loqui." Is i t possiblethat this refers only to the Great Shepherd

* H Vita Prima, IJ in " Acta Sanctorum," 663.59


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J3tograpbl? of 1 R a l ] m u n ~ 1uUand to Lull's spiritual experiences, far awayfrom his friends and family, in some lonelyspot near Palma?

The" Ars Major" was finally completedin the year 1275. Lull had an interviewwith the king of Majorca, and under hispatronage the first book of his new" Method" was published. Lull also be-gan to lecture upon it in public. This re-markable treatise, while in one sense in-tended for the special work of convincingMoslems, was to include "a universal artof acquisition, demonstration, confutation,"and was meant" to cover the whole field ofknowledge and to supersede the inadequatemethods of previous schoolmen." For themethod of Lull's philosophy we will waituntil we reach the chapter specially de-voted to an account of his teaching and hisbooks. A few words, however, regardingthe purpose of the Lullian method are inplace. 60

FACSIMILE OF PAGE F]Un l LULL'S LATIN WORKS,


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:lBtograpb12 of lRa12munt) 1uULull goes far beyond the ideas and the as-pirations of the century in which he lived." In judging the character of Lull's method

and his long period of preparation, onething must not be forgotten. The strengthof Islam in the age of scholasticism was itsphilosophy. Having thoroughly enteredinto the spirit of Arabian philosophicalwritings and seen its errors, there was nothing left for a man of Lull's intellect but tomeet these Saracen philosophers on theirown ground. A vicenna, Algazel, andAverroes sat on the throne of Moslemlearningand ruled Moslem thought. Lull 'sobject was to undermine their influenceand so reach the Moslem heart with themessage of salvation. For such a conflictand in such an age his weapons were wellchosen.

* " Encyclopedia Britannica," vol. xv., p. 64.

CHAPTER VAT MONTPELLIER, PARIS, AND

ROME(A.D. 1275-1298)

" I have but one passion and it is He - He only."-Zinzendorf." In his assert ion of the funct ion of reason in religion andhis demand that a rational Christianity be placed before Islam,this Don Quixote of his times belongs to our day."-FrederiePerry Noble.

IT is difficult to follow the story of Lull'slife in exact chronological order becausethe sources at our disposal do not alwaysagree in their dates. However, by grouping the events of his life, order comes outof confusion. Lull's lifework was threefold; he devised a philosophical or educational system for persuading non-Christiansof the truth of Christianity; he established

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l3tograpb)] of 1 R a ) ] l 1 t u n ~ 1u11missionary colleges; and he himself wentand preached to the Moslems, sealing hiswitness with martyrdom. The story of hislife is best told and best remembered if wefollow this due to its many years of lovingservice. Lull himself, when he was aboutsixty years old, reviews his life in thesewords: "I had a wife and children; I wastolerably rich; I led a secular life. Allthese things I cheerfully resigned for thesake of promoting the common good anddiffusing abroad the holy faith. I learnedArabic. I have several times gone abroadto preach the Gospel to the Saracens. Ihave for the sake of the faith been cast intoprison and scourged. I have laboredforty-five years to gazlz over the shejJlzerds of thechurch and the princes of Europe to thecommon good o f Christendom. Now I amold and poor, but still I am intent on thesame object. I will persevere in it tilldeath, if the Lord permits it."64

at ~ o n t p e l l t e r . ]Darts, a n '!RomeThe sentence italicized is the subject

of this chapter: the story of Lull's effortto found missionary schools and to per-suade popes and princes that the true Cru-sade was to be with the pen and not withthe sword. It was a grand idea, and itwas startlingly novel in the age of Lull. Itwas an idea that, next to his favorite schemeof philosophy, possessed his whole soul.Both ideas were thoroughly missionary andthey interacted the one on the other.

No sooner had Lull completed his" ArsMajor," and lectured on it in public, thanhe set to work to persuade the king, JamesIL, who had heard of his zeal, to found andendow a monastery in Majorca whereFranciscan monks should be instructed inthe Arabic language and trained to be-come able disputants among the Moslems.The king welcomed the idea, and in theyear 1276 such a monastery was openedand thirteen monks began to study Lull's6S


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:JBfograpbl1 of l R a l 1 m U n ~ 1ullmethod and imbibe Lull's spirit. Heaimed not at a mere school of theology orphilosophy: his ideal training for the for-eign field was ahead of many theologicalcolleges of our century. I t included in itscurriculum the geography of missions andthe language of the Saracens! " Knowledge of the regions of the world," he wrote,"is strongly necessary for the republic ofbelievers and the conversion of unbelievers,and for withstanding infidels and Antichrist. The man unacquainted with geography is not only ignorant where he walks,but whither he leads. Whether he attempts the conversion of infidels or worksfor other interests of the Church, it is indispensable that he know the religions andthe environments of all nations." This ishigh-water mark for the dark ages! Thepioneer for Africa, six centuries beforeLivingstone, felt what the latter expressedmore concisely but not more forcibly:

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Bt tIDontpelUer, ~ a r f g , a n lRome"The end of the geographical feat is thebeginning of the missionary enterprise."Authorities disagree whether this mis

sionary training-school of Lull was openedunder the patronage of the king, at Palma,or at Montpellier. From the fact that in1297 Lull received letters at Montpellierfrom the general of the Franciscans recommending him to the superiors of all Franciscan houses, it seems that he must haveformed connections with the brotherhoodthere at an early period.Montpellier, now a town of considerable

importance in the south of France nearthe Gulf of Lyons, dates its prosperity fromthe beginning of the twelfth century. In1204 it became a dependency of the houseof Aragon through marriage, and remainedso until 1350. Several Church councilswere held there during the thirteenth century, and in 1292 Pope Nicholas IV., probably at the suggestion of Lull, founded a67


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13iograpb'g of 1 R a ) ] m u n ~ 1ulluniversity at Montpellier. Its medicalschool was famous in the Middle Ages, andhad in its faculty learned Jews who wereeducated in the Moorish schools of Spain.At Montpellier Lull spent three or four

years in study and in teaching. Here,most probably, he wrote his medical works,and some of his books appealing for helpto open other missionary schools. In oneplace he thus pleads with words of fire forconsecration to this cause: "I find scarcelyanyone, 0 Lord, who out of love to Theeis ready to suffer martyrdom as Thou hastsuffered for us. It appears to me agreeable to reason, if an ordinance to that effectcould be obtained, that the monks shouldlearn various languages that they might beable to go out and surrender their lives inlove to Thee. . . . 0 Lord of glory, if thatblessed day should ever be in which Imight see Thy holy monks so influencedby zeal to glorify Thee as to go to foreign68

Bt montpelUer, tlaris, a n '!Romelands in order to testify of Thy holy ministry, of Thy blessed incarnation, and ofThy bitter sufferings, that would be aglorious day, a day in which that glow ofdevotion would return with which the holyapostles met death for their Lord JesusChrist."

Lull longed with all his soul for a newPentecost and for world-wide missions.Montpellier was too small to be his parish,altho he was but a layman. His ambitionwas, in his own words, "to gain over theshepherds of the Church and the princes ofEurope" to become missionary enthusiastslike himself. Where should he place hisfulcrum to exert leverage to this end saveat the very center of Christendom? Popeshad inaugurated and promoted the crusadesof blood; they held the keys of spiritualand temporal power; their command inthe Middle Ages was as a voice from* .. Liber Contemplationis in Deo," ex., 28. Tom. I",., 246-

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:lBtograpbl2 of 1Ral2munl) 1uUheaven; their favor was the dew of blessing. Moreover, Lull's success with theking of Aragon led him to hope that thechief shepherd of Christendom mightevince a similar interest in his plans.

He therefore undertook a journey toRome in 1286, hoping to obtain from Honorius IV. the approbation of his treatiseand aid in founding missionary schools invarious parts of Europe. Honorius wasdistinguished during his brief pontificatefor zeal and love of learning. He clearedthe Papal States of bands of robbers, andattempted, in favor of learning, to founda school of Oriental languages at Paris.Had he lived it is possible that Lull wouldhave succeeded in his quest. Honoriusdied April 3, 1287.Raymund Lull came to Rome, but foundthe papal chair vacant and all men busywith one thing, the election of a successor.He waited for calmer times, but impedi-

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! it tIOontpellter, /Parts, anl) 'Romements were always thrown in his way. Hisplansmet with some ridicule and with littleencouragement. The cardinals cared fortheir own ambitions more than for the conversion of the world.

Nicholas IV. succeeded to the papalthrone, and his character was such thatwe do not wonder that Lull gave up theidea of persuading him to become a missionary. He was a man without faith; andhis monstrous disregard of treaties andoaths in the controversy with the king ofAragon, Alphonso, struck at the root of allhonor. He believed in fighting the Saracens with the sword only, and sought ac-tively but vainly to organize another Crusade. Not until ten years after did Lullagain venture to appeal to a pope.Disappointed at Rome, Lull repaired toParis, and there lectured in the universityon his "Ars Generalis," composing other

*Milman: .. History of Latin Christianity," vi .. 175.]I


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JBiograpby of lRa)]munl) 1uUworks on various sciences, but most of allpreparing his works of controversy andseeking to propagate his ideas of worldconquest. In one of his books he praysfervently that "monks 0./ Iwly Ives andgreat wz"sdom should ./orm z"nstitutz"ons z"norder to leant varz"ous languages and to beable to preach to unbelievers." The timeswere not ripe.At length, tired of seeking aid for his

plans in which no one took interest, hedetermined to test the power of example.Altho in his fifty-sixth year, he determinedto set out alone and single-handed andpteach Christ in North Africa. Of thisfitst missionary voyage our next chaptercontains an account.

On his return from Tunis, 1292, Lullfound his way to Naples. Here a new in-fluence was brought to bear on his character. He made the acquaintance of thealchemist and pious nobleman, Arnaud72

at montpellter. ~ a r i s . anI) 'Romede Villeneuve. Whether Lull actuallyacquired skill in transmuting metals andwrote some of the many works on alchemythat are attributed to him, will perhapsnever be decided. I rather think this partof the story is medieval legend. But surelya man of Lull's affections imbibed a greatdeal of that spirit which brought down onArnold of ViIIeneuve the censure of theChurch for holding tha t "medicine andcharity were more pleasing to God thanreligious services." Arnold taught that themonks had corrupted the doctrine of Christ,and that saying masses is useless; andthat the papacy is a work of man. Hiswritings were condemned by the Inquisition, as were also the works of Lull. Perhaps these brothers in heresy were reallyProtestants at heart, and their friendshipwas like that of the friends of God.For the next few years the scene of

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J3iogtapb)2 of lRa)2munl:l 1ullwent back to Paris, resumed his teachingthere, and wrote his" Tabula Generalis"and "Ars Expositiva." In 1298 he succeeded in establishing at Paris, under theprotection of King Louis Philippe Ie Bel, acollege where his method was taught. Butall France was in a ferment at this timebecause of the war against the KnightsTemplars and the struggle with Pope Boniface VIII. There was little leisure tostudy philosophy and no inclination to be-come propagandists among the Saracens.Lull's thoughts again turned to Rome.

But, alas! Rome in the thirteenth centurywas the last place of all Europe in whichto find the spirit of self-sacrifice or the spiritof Christian missions. About the year1274 the cessation of Church miracles wasurged by an upholder of the crusade spiritas compelling the Church to resort to arms.Pope Clement IV. (1265-68) advised fighting Islam by force of arms. As a rule, the

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at montpelltet, ~ a t t ! , anD 'Romepopes clung to the crusade idea as the idealof missions.Lull visited Rome the second time be-

tween 1294 and 1296. He had heard ofthe elevation of Celestine V. to the papalchair, and with some reason hoped that thisPope would favor his cause. Celestine wasa man of austerity, the founder of an orderof friars, and zealous for the faith. On thefifteenth of July, 1294, he was elected, but,compelled by the machinations of his successor, resigned his office on December13 of the same year. He was cruelly im-prisoned by the new Pope, Boniface VIII.,and died two years later. Boniface wasbold, avaricious, and domineering. Hisambitions centered in himself. He carriedhis schemes for self-aggrandizement to theverge of frenzy, and afterward became in-sane. Lull found neither sympathy norassistance in this quarter.From 1299 to 1306, when he made his

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:l3tograpbp of ' ! R a p m u n ~ 1uUsecond great journey to North Africa, Lullpreached and taught in various places, aswe shall see later.In 1310 the veteran hero, now seventy

five years old, attempted once more to in-fluence the heart of Christendom and topersuade the pope to make the Churchtrue to its great mission.Full of his old ardor, since he himself

was unable to attempt the great plans ofspiritual conquest that consumed his veryheart, he conceived the idea of foundingan order of spiritual knights who should beready to preach to the Saracens and sorecover the tomb of Christ by a crusade oflove. Pious noblemen and ladies of rankat Genoa offered to contribute for this ob-ject the sum of thirty thousand guilders.Much encouraged by this proof of interest, Not, as wrongly s ta ted in some art ic les about Lull, a proposal to use force of arms, Cf. Noble, p. I I6 , and Madear,

p . 366, with foo tnote in lat te r from .. Liber Contemplationisin Deo," exii. I 11 .

Bt .montpellter, ~ a r t s , a n '!RomeLull set out for Avignon to lay his schemebefore the pope, Clement V. He wasthe first pope who fixed his residenceat Avignon, thus beginning the so-called"Babylonian Captivity" of the papacy.Contemporaneous writers accuse him oflicentiousness, nepotism, simony, and av-arice. It is no wonder that, with such aman holding the keys of authority, Lullagain knocked at the door of "the vicarof Chri st" all in vain.Once more Lull returned to Paris, and,strong in mind altho feeble in frame, attacked the Arabian philosophyof Averroesand wrote in defense of the faith and thedoctrines of revelation.'" At Paris heheard that a general conference was to be* See the bibliography and consult Renan' s . . Averrhoes et

I'Averrhoisme" for particulars of his method and success.The Averroists from the thirteenth century onward opposedreason to fa ith. Lul l' s great task was to show that they werenot irreconcilable, but mutually related and in harmony. I twas, in fact, the battle of faith against agnosticism.

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summoned at Vienne, three hundred milesaway in the south of France, on October16, 1311. A general council might favorwhat popes had scarcely deigned to notice.So he retraced the long journey he hadjust taken. Nearly three hundred prelateswere present at the council. The combatof heresies, the abrogation of the order ofTemplars, proposals for new crusades, anddiscussions as to the legitimacy of BonifaceVIII. occupied the most attention. Never-theless the council gave heed to at leastone of Lull's proposals, and passed a de-cree that professorships of the Oriental lan-guages should be endowed in the universi-ties of Paris, Salamanca, and Oxford, andin all cities where the papal court resided.

Thus, at last, he had lived to see oneportion of his lifelong pleadings broughtto fruition. Who is able to follow out theresult for missions of these first Orientallanguage chairs in European universities78

even as far as saintly Martyn and Ion KeithFalconer, Arabic professor at Cambridge?For this great idea of missionary prepara-tion in the schools Lull fought single-handed from early manhood to old age,until he stood on the threshold of success.He anticipated Loyola, Zinzendorf, andDuff in linking schools to missions; andhis fire of passion for this object equaled,if not surpassed their zeal.

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CHAPTER VIHIS FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY

TO TUNIS(A.D. 1291-1292)

.. In that bright sunny landAcross the tideless sea, where long agoProud Carthage reared its walls. beauteous and fair,And large Phenician galleys laden deepWith richest stores, sailed bravely to and froWhere Gospel light in measure not unmixedWith superstitions vain, burned for a time,And spread her peaceful conquests far and wide,And gave her mar tyrs to the scorching f ireThere dwells to-day a darkness to be felt;Each ray of that once rising, growing lightFaded and gone." -Anon.WHEN Raymund Lull met with disappointment on his first visit to Rome, he re-

turned for a short time to Paris, as we haveseen, and then determined to set out as amissionary indeed to propagate the faith80

among the Moslems of Africa. Lull wasat this time fifty-six years old, and travel inthose days was full of hardship by land andby sea. The very year in which Lull setout, news reached Europe of the fall ofAcre and the end of Christian power inPalestine. All Northern Africa was in thehands of the Saracens, and they were atonce elated at the capture of Acre anddriven to the height of fanaticism by thepersecution of the Moors in Spain. It wasa bold step that Lull undertook. But hecounted not his life dear in the project,and was ready, so he thought, to ventureall on the issue. He expected to win bylove and persuasion; at least, in his ownwords, he would "experiment whether hehimself could not persuade some of themby conference with their wise men and bymanifesting to them, according to thedivinely given Method, the Incarnationof the Son of God and the three Persons81

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of the Blessed Trini ty in the Divine Unityof Essence." '* Lull proposed a parliamentof religions, and desired to meet the baldmonotheism of Islam face to face with therevelation of the Father, the Son, and theHoly Spirit.

Lull left Paris for Genoa, which was thenthe rival of Venice and contended withher for the supremacy of the Mediterranean. In the thirteenth century Genoawas at the height of its prosperity, and thesuperb palaces of that date still witness tothe genius of her artists and the wealth ofher merchant princes.At Genoa the story of Lull 's life was not

unknown. Men had heard with wonder ofthe miraculous conversion of the gay anddissolute seneschal; and now it was whispered that he had devised a new and certain method for converting the "infidel"and was setting out all alone for the shores

*" Vita Prima," in 'I Acta Sanctorum," p. 633.82

of Africa. The expectations of the peoplewere raised to a high pitch. A vessel wasfound ready to sail for Africa and Lull'spassage was engaged. The ship was lyingin the harbor; the missionary's books,even, had been conveyed on board. Allwas ready for the voyage and the venture.

But at this juncture a change came overhim. Lull says that he was" overwhelmedwith terror at the thought of what mightbefall him in the country whither he wasgoing. The idea of enduring torture orlifelong imprisonment presented itself withsuch force that he could not control hisemotions." '* Such a strong reaction afterhis act of faith in leaving Paris must notsurprise us. Similar experiences are notrare in the lives of missionaries. HenryMartyn wrote in his journal as the shoresof Cornwall were disappearing: "Would Igo back? Oh, no. But how can I be sup-

... U Vita Prima," in " Acta Sanctorum," p. 664.83

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ported? My faith fails. I find, by experi-ence, I am as weak as water. 0 my dearfriends in England, when we spoke withexaltation of the missions to the heathen,what an imperfect idea did we form of thesufferings by which it must be accom-plished!" Lull had to face a darker andmore uncertain future than did Martyn.His faith failed. His books were takenback on shore and the ship sailed withouthim.However, no sooner did he receive ti-dings of the vessel's departure than he wasseized with bitter remorse. His passionatelove for Christ could not bear the thoughtthat he had proved a traitor to the cause forwhich God had specially fitted and calledhim. He felt that he had given opportu-nity for those who scoff at Christ's religionto mock Him and His great mission. Sokeen was his sorrow that he was throwninto a violent fever. While yet suffering

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from weakness of body and prostration ofmind, he heard that another ship was readyin the harbor and loaded to sail for theport of Tunis. Weak tho he was, hebegged his friends to put his books onboard and asked them to permit him to at-tempt the voyage. He was taken to theship, but his friends, convinced that he couldnot outlive the voyage, insisted on his beingagain landed. Lull returned to his bed,but did not find rest or recuperation. Hisold passion consumed him; he felt thecontrition of Jonah and cried with Paul," W 0 is me if I preach not." Anothership offering fit opportunity, he determinedat all risks to be put on board.

I t is heroic reading to follow Lull in hisautobiography as he tells how" from thismoment he was a new man." The vesselhadhardly lost sight of land before all feverleft him; his conscience no more rebukedhim for cowardice, peace of mind returned,

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and he seemed to have regained perfecthealth. Lull reached Tunis at the end ofthe year 1291 or early in 1292.*Why did the philosophic missionary

choose Tunis as his first point of attack onthe citadel of Islam? The answer is notfar to seek.Tunis, the present capital of the country

of the same name, was founded by theCarthaginians, but first rose to importanceunder theArab conquerors of North Africa,who gave it its present name; this comesfrom an Arabic root which signifies II toenjoy oneself." t Tunis was the usualport for those going from Kairwan (thatMecca of all North Africa) to Spain. In1236, when the Hafsites displaced the AI-mohade dynasty, Abu Zakariyah made ithis capital. When the fall of Bagdad left* I' Vita Prima," in II Acta Sanctorum," p. 664. Neander's

" Memorials." p. 527. and Maclear, p. 361.t A I Nuklalaf. February number. 1901, p. 79.86

Islam without a titular head (1258) theHafsites assumed the title of Prince ofthe Faithful and extended their rule fromTlemcen to Tripoli. The dignity of theTunisian rulers was acknowledged even inCairo and Mecca, and so strong were theyin their government that, unaided, theyheld their own against repeated Frankishinvasions. The Seventh Crusade endeddisastrously before Tunis. Tunis was infact the western center of the Moslemworld in the thirteenth century. WhereSt. Louis failed as a king with his greatarmy, Raymund Lull ventured on hisspiritual crusade single-handed.Tunis is on an isthmus between two salt

lakes and is connected with the port ofGoletta by an ancient canal. Two buildings still remain from the days of Lull: themosque of Abu Zakariyah in the citadel,and the great Mosque of the Olive Treein the center of the town. The ruins of

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Carthage, famous center of early LatinChristianity, lie a few miles north of Go-letta. Even now Tunis has a populationof more than 125,000; it was much largerat the period of which we write.Lull must have arrived at Goletta and

thence proceeded to Tunis. His first stepwas to invite the Moslem ulema or literatito a conference, just as did Ziegenbalg inSouth India and John Wilson at Bombay.He announced that he had studied thearguments on both sides of the questionand was willing to submit the evidencesfor Christianity and for Islam to a faircomparison. He even promised that, if hewas convinced, he would embrace Islam.The Moslem leaders willingly responded tothe challenge, and coming in great numbersto the conferenceset forth with much showof learning the miracle of the Koran andthe doctrine of God's unity. After long,tho fruitless discussion, Lull advanced the88

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following propositions, which are well calculated to strike the two weak points ofMohammedan monotheism: lack o f love nthe beng o f A llah, and lack ofharmony nHz's attrbutes. "Every wise man mustacknowledge that to be the true religion,which ascribed the greatest perfection tothe Supreme Being, and not onlyconveyedthe worthiest conception of all His attributes, His goodness, power, wisdom, andglory, but demonstrated the harmony andequalityexisting between them. Now therreligion was defective in acknowledgingonly two active principles in the Deity,His will and His wisdom, while i t left Hisgoodness and greatness inoperative as thothey were indolent qualities and not calledforth into active exercise. But the Christian faith could not be charged with this

See them in full iu .. Vita Prima," p. 66S, and .. LiberContemplationis in Deo," \iv. , 25-28, etc, Maclear gives thesummary as quoted above. pp. 362, 363,

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defect. In its doctrine of the Trinity itconveys the highest conception of theDeity, as the Father, the Son, and theHoly Spiri t in one simple essence and na-ture. I n the I ncarnation of the Son itevinces the harmony that exists betweenGod's goodness and His greatness; and inthe person of Christdisplays the true unionof the Creator and the creature; while inHis Passion which He underwent out ofHis great love for man, it sets forth thedivine harmony of infinite goodness andcondescension, even the condescension ofHim who for us men, and our salvation,and restitution to our primeval state ofperfection, underwent those sufferings andlived and died for man."This style of argument, whatever elsemay be thought of it, is orthodox and

evangelical to the core. It surprises onecontinually to see how little medieval theol-ogy and how very few Romish ideas there

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are in Lull's writings. The office of thecross is met everywhere in Lull's argu-ment with Moslems. He never built arickety bridge out of planks of compro-mise. His early Parliament of Religionswas not built on the Chicago platform.The result proved it when persecution fol-lowed. There were some who acceptedthe truth'* and others who turned fanatics.One Imam pointed out to the Sultan thedanger likely to beset the law of Moham-med if such a zealous teacher were allowedfreely to expose the errors of Islam, andsuggested that Lull be imprisoned and putto death. He was cast into a dungeon,and was only saved from a worse fate bythe intercession of a less prejudiced leader.This man praised his intellectual abilityand reminded the ruler that a Moslem who* "Disposuerat viros famosre reputationis et alios quam-plurimos ad baptismum quos toto animo affectabat deducere

ad perfectum lumen fidei orthodoxre."-" Vita S. Lulli,"91

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imitated the sel-devotion of the prisonerin preaching Islam would be highly honored. The spectacle of a learned and agedChristian philosopher freely disputing thetruth of the Koran in the midst of Tuniswas indeed a striking example of moralcourage in the dark ages. "This," saysDr. Smith, "was no careless Crusadercheered by martial glory or worldly pleasure. His was not even such a task as thatwhich had called forth all the courage ofthe men who first won over Goth andFrank, Saxon and Slav. Raymund Lullpreached Christ to a people with whomapostasy is death and who had made Christendom feel their prowess for centuries."Even his enemies wer

Zwemer - Raymund Lull

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