Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/565

Rh desire should be to carry info full effect that of which we bear the name.”

In accordance with the views thus laid down, the earlier chiefs of the fraternity spared no pains and no expense to render themselves entitled to the name they had assumed. Even in the midst of the bloody wars in which the Order found itself constantly involved, and at times when its reverses had almost threatened its utter annihilation, the doors of the convent were ever open for the reception of the worn and weary wanderer, and the pilgrim found there a ready welcome. Should his health have given way under the hardships and toil to which he had been exposed, he received within the walls of this charitable institution every care and attention that Christian benevolence could suggest. The knight returned from his deeds of daring on the battle-field, and regardless of the renown which he and his brethren had there gained, doffed his harness, laid aside his trusty sword, and assuming the peaceful black mantle of his Order, proceeded to devote himself to those acts of charity which were ever being carried on within his convent walls.

As long as the brethren remained in Palestine did this state of things continue. During that period they had amassed from the donations and bequests of the pious enormous and ever-increasing wealth. This had undoubtedly brought in its train many evils and much degeneracy. It had made them many bitter enemies, and rendered indifferent many of their warmest friends; still, we never hear among the numerous crimes laid to their charge, even by the most rancorous of their foes, that of negligence in the fundamental obligation of their profession. After their expulsion from Palestine, no doubt, a change took place; established in the island of Rhodes, the great demand which had once existed for this charity and hospitality fell off. There were no longer sick and weary pilgrims to cheer on their way; the requirements of their hospital in the island home they had adopted soon became only what the slender population in the midst of which they were living demanded. Thus we find the noble establishment, which in previous ages had called forth the enthusiastic admiration of all Christians in the Holy Land, dwarfed down to a very limited charity. Members of the