The Templars style themselves "The Avengers of Jesus Christ," and the "instruments and ministers of God for the punishment of infidels," and the Pope and the holy fathers of the church proclaim that it is specially entrusted to them "to blot out from the earth all unbelievers," and they hold out the joys of paradise as the glorious reward for the dangers and difficulties of the task.[57] "In fighting for Christ," declares St. Bernard, in his address to the Templars, "the kingdom of Christ is acquired.... Go forth, therefore, O soldiers, in nowise mistrusting, and with a fearless spirit cast down the enemies of the cross of Christ, in the certain assurance that neither in life nor in death can ye be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, repeating to yourselves in every danger, whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's. How gloriously do the victors return from the fight, how happy do the martyrs die in battle! Rejoice, valiant champion, if thou livest and conquerest in the Lord, but rejoice rather and glory if thou shouldest die and be joined unto the Lord.... If those are happy who die _in_ the Lord, how much more so are those who die _for_ the Lord!... Precious in the sight of God will be the death of his holy soldiers." "The _sword_," says the prophet Mahomet, on the other hand, "is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and of prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven him at the day of judgment. His wounds will be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk, and the loss of limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and of cherubims." Thus writes the famous Caliph Abubeker, the successor of Mahomet, to the Arabian tribes: "In the name of the most merciful GOD, _Abdollah Athich Ib'n Abi Kohapha_, to the rest of the true believers."... "This is to acquaint you, that I intend to send the true believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels, and I would have you to know, that _the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to_ GOD." "Remember," said the same successor of the prophet and commander of the faithful, to the holy warriors who had assembled in obedience to his mandate, "that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of paradise.... When you fight _the battles of the Lord_, acquit yourselves like men, and turn not your backs." The prowess and warlike daring of the Templars in the field are thus described by St. Bernard.