The Order Of The Temple.

The Order of the Temple .

TO the conquest of Jerusalem by Omar in 6 37 may be indirectly ascribed the birth of that Order which is to be the subject of this present article , and , although the historical connection of the speculative and Masonic Order of to-day with the famous knights of old has been

. again and again disputed , yet tradition has it that a real and continuous connection did and does exist . After all , tradition goes far to make history , and if the tales of the past which have been handed down to us are to be ruthlessly torn from our memory , and hard and proved fact alone is to be

provender for our minds , then , once for all , must go the poetic side of thought and the illuminated story which unites us with the days of yore .

In 6 37 , therefore , Omar the Caliph , after a siege of four months , deigned to discuss terms with his conquered foe . The safety of their persons and of their goods were guaranteed to the defeated Christians , and they were permitted to continue the exercise of the rites appertaining

to their creed ; but on conditions—and such conditions ! The Mohammedans were to be guaranteed free access to the Christian churches at all hours ; the Cross , the sacred symbol of their belief , was on no account to be exposed on the exterior of any building ; they were to wear a distinguishing dress ; and , lastly , they were to rise to their feet on the approach of a " true believer . "

However , for the next four hundred years , until 1010 , the pilgrims and merchants came and went , prayed and fasted , bartered and sold , with little or no let nor hindrance ; then came the attack made by the mad Fatimite , Caliph Hakem , whose fanatic purpose was no other than the total . and absolute destruction of the sanctuary itself .

His purpose , however , failed in the endeavour , and the only practical result was a virulent persecution of the Jews and the imposition of an enhanced tax for the long-suffering Christian . The eleventh century was closing its days in rapine and murder ; Toncush , the Seljukian , had thrown

down the gates of the Holy City , and extortion , insult , and massacre were the order of the day . Urban II . had left Piacenza ( 1095 ) in high dudgeon at the ill-success he had ¦ obtained , and had retired weary and disgusted to his Abbey of Chin }' , when whispers of a new movement carried him to

Clermont in the Auvergne . No longer was there an } - need for his self-imposed reticence . Peter the Hermit was passing like a fire-brand through province after province , and the lurid glare of hate and war was consuming the hearts of the people .

The heart of Urban rose to the occasion ; the assembled multitude drank greedily of his words , as with blazing eye and uplift' hand he urged them to revenge . "Go then , " he cried , " Go then on your errand of love , which will put out of sight all the ties that bind you to the spots which you

have called your homes . " Thus spake Pope Urban , and as he concluded came these fiery words bursting from his lips : —

" It is the will of God ; it is the will of God ; it is indeed His will , and let these words be your battle-cry when you find yourselves in the presence of the foe . " The giant cross which shivered on the shoulders of Peter the Hermit became the . symbol of ( he fight , and the

peroration of the Pope the war-cry of the hosts ; the first crusade was started on its gory path , and the Order of the Temple was born .

Of the three great military orders which came into existence in the twelfth century , the most famous , without doubt , is that of the Temple ( panpercs comiitilitones Christi lempliqne Salonionici ) , although its existence came to an end long before that of its rivals . Whilst the Hospitallers and

Teutonic orders started their careers more as guardians of the sick , the Knights of the Temple from their inception ranked as true militant defenders of the unarmed pilgrim .

Hugh de Paganis , with eight fellow Knights , bound themselves ( n 18 ) to guard the roads , live as canons , and fight for the King of Heaven , while Baldwin II . granted them quarters on Mount Moriah . In addition to this , they maintained settlements in divers parts of Europe , and at

various dates , since 1129 finds them settled in Castile , and Rochelle held a home for them in 1131 ; in 1136 they have quarters in Languedoc , and they are discovered in Brittany in 1141 . Their recruiting as a fighting force had therefore proceeded with rapidity , and many of them arrived at

distinguished positions , not only in their own body , but in the government of the Sacred City , for we find in 1131 Fulk of Anjou , one of the original followers of Hugh de Paganis , had assumed the crown of Jerusalem .

And now , for one hundred and forty years , the history of the Order may be read side by side and at one with the history of the Crusades . Their ways , however , were not all strewed with roses , nor were their manners and discipline always to be approved , seeing that in 1166 Ave have record that twelve of them were hanged for treason , desertion , and cowardice .

To pass in review the long list of names famous in their deeds which history has handed down to us , or to illustrate and enlarge on the battles they fought , the sieges they took part in , and—gently be it spoken—the atrocities of which they have been , by some , held guilty , were to fill a volume of

no mean proportion ; let us , thereto ! e , pass on quickly to the story of those days of adversity which were to fall upon them .

Philip IV . of France and Pope Clement V . between them compassed their destruction as an organised body , an act on the part of Clement as cowardly as it was ungrateful , seeing that his predecessor , Boniface , had thwarted Philip ' s will only by the timely assistance they had afforded . But

Philip was angry , Philip was greedy ; the vast hoards and broad meads , the stately castles , and the well-stocked granaries of the Order lay to hand—and so the end came . A dastardly plot was the outcome of Philip ' s sly union with the Pontiff , and fire and torture decimated the Knightly ranks of

the Order . James De Molay , the Grand Master , with three of his chief subordinates , ended their lives at the stake , whilst every Knight in France on whom this precious pair could lay hand was in turn accused of idolatory and punished with all the cruelty and brutality of the age .

The murder of De Molay took place on the 13 th day of October , 1307 , and the end soon came . In his admirable history of the earlier clays of the Order , Bro . Ross Robertson thus concludes his paragraph on this event : — " The cruel martyrdom and rank injustice attending its

dissolution glorify it in proportion as posterity condemns the infamy of the King and Pope that laid impious hands upon the noble Knights of the Temple . " Poor , broken , and disgraced , the exiled Knights spread themselves over the continent of Europe , some of them