The Knights Templar.

presented his companions to Pope Honorius II ., entertained him with their zeal for the protection of pilgrims , ancl begged his permission to form a religious and military Order , in imitation of that of the Hospitallers . The" sovereign Pontiff referred them to the fathers of the council , which was then sitting at Troyes in Champagne . Hugh and his companions went thitherand their

, prolocutor represented to the council their vocation ancl project for the defence bf pilgrims , and of the Holy Land . The enterpi-ise was approved , and tho fathers appointed St . Bernard , who was present at the council to prescribe n rule and form of habit for this infant Order .

St . Bernard ordered them instead of offices , to repeat every day the Lord ' s prayer a certain number of times , & c . He forbade gold , silver , and every other superfluous ornament in their equipage ; he ordered them a white habit , with a cloak of the same colour ; and as a mark of their profession , Pope Eugenius II . afterwards added a red cross , to be placed opposite the heart . Hugh ancl his companions having received the approbation of the council ,

returned to Rome to get the rule ancl the Order established by the Pope ' s authority , which being obtained , they prepared to return to the Holy land ; but before their departure , a great number of gentlemen of the best families in France , Germany , and Italy , presented themselves , offering to enter the Order . Hugh being Chief of the Order , received them and immediately gave them the habit , and with this fine body of youth he arrived at Palestine . In a short time their militia increased considerably . Princes of sovereign houses , and lords of the most illustrious houses in Christendom , testified a desire of combatting under the habit ancl banner of the Templars . Outof afalse nicety and

punctilio winch scarcely ever leaves great men , even at their devotions , this Order , which was altogether military , was often preferred by them to tho troublesome and humble services which the Hospitallers , though soldiers , rendered to the poor sick . The princes and lords who entered the Order , brought with them immense riches ; besides , the fame of their exploits procured them great donations and benefactions . This society , this daughter of the house of St . John , soon eclipsed the parent so much that it seemed she would soon bury

her in obscurity . Such was the celebrity and power of those two Orders , that Baldwin , king of Jerusalem , and his successors , never undertook any enterprise of importance , without their council ancl support ; so that to give the history of that monarchy is little more than giving the history of both Orders . The donations they received were so frequent at that time , that it will not be surprising , when it is considered the admirable use they were applied to by those friars militant . Out of all their revenues they had but a very frugal subsistence . They were chiefly dedicated to the maintenance of the poor or sick , or in carrying on war against the infidels .

I hose warriors , so renowned for their prowess , and so terrible in the day of battle , were quite another kind of men when they returned to their convents . Scarcely had they laid asido their arms , but they resumed with the regular habit , all the exercises of their first profession . Some applied themselves to the service of the sick , others were occupied in entertaining pilgrims , some in cleaning their arms , or repairing the equipage of their horses ; ancl all in thenrespective employments kept a religions silenceand seemed as reserved ancl

, pensive ns if they had been hermits ancl anchorets ; a new manner of life littlo known till then , wherein , without , being entirely confined to the cloister , or engaged in the world , they practised successively all the virtues of two such opposite conditions as that of friar and soldier . This we learn from St . Bernard , a cotemporary writer , who in the description which he has left us of the Templars' manner of lifehas drawn a sort of living icture of those

, p claustral militants . " They live together , " says that holy abbot , " in an agreeable but frugal manner , without wives or children , or having any thing in property to themselves , even so much as their own will . They are never idle , nor rambling