382 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. " We and our brethren will take care to submit this important affair to serious deliberation, supported by the most High who strengthens his servants ; we will execute, as far as in us lies, what God shall inspire ; and when the favourable season shall arrive for crossing the sea, we will take care to give you notice, by our letters or our messengers, that you may be ready to accomplish what your magnificence has promised. But do you turn yourselves in faith and good works to- wards Christ, who is ' the way, the truth, and the life : ' to serve Him, is to reign. Persevere firmly in your laudable resolution respecting that sacred land ; endeavour, by that and other means, to acquire, in this life, the approbation of Christ the Redeemer, that you may deserve to obtain from Him an ample portion of blessedness in the heavens and of glory in this world. We, and the apostolic see, shall rejoice in your honours and your success." * It was difficult, at that time, to determine the kings of Europe to undertake a crusade, since they now took little interest in the deliverance of the Holy Land, less, perhaps, than did the Tartars, who, intent upon the abasement of the Sultan of Egypt, were always en- deavouring to win to their policy the princes of the West. In 1312 Kharbende began, alone, his expedition against the Saracens ; but as the co-operation of the Westerns, which he had solicited, failed him at the mo- ment of action, the war went on languidly, and pro- duced no important events. Kharbende was then called, by other wars, into the
- Raynald, t. 15. Ann. 1306, No. 30. p. 39.
