The Knights Templars.

of the religious brethren , if they were to be mixed up with a crowd of secular persons , and be brought into the company of women on the occasion of their going to church . " The tythes , which , by the advice , and with the consent of the bishops , they

might be able by their zeal to draw out of the hands of the Clergy or Laity , and those with which consent ofthe bishops they might acquire from their own Clergy , were confirmed to the Templars byapostolic authority .

The Bull proceeds further to provide , in various Avays , for the temporal and spiritual benefit of tha Templars , and expressly extends the favours indulgences , and apostolic blessings to the Serving Brethren , as well as the Knights . Ifc also conferred

upon the Order the important privilege of causing the churches of towns and villages lying under interdict to be opened once a year , and divine service to be celebrated Avithin them .

As may well be supposed , the publication of this Bull , containing * privileges of such a nature , caused no little jealousy iu the minds of the clergy , who were not backward in taking advantage of every nonobservance of its terms , to lodge

complaints against the Templars Avith the Pope . We find the Order in 1179 reprimanded by a general council of the Church , held at Borne , and called the Third of Lateran . The assembled fathers , among whom Avere the Archbishop of Caesarea ,

William , Archbishop of Tyre , the enemy of the Order , and several Rishops of Palestine , in no measured terms denounced their conduct as irreligious . They found , by the frequent complaints of the bishops , their colleagues , that the Templars

and Hospitallers abused the privileges granted them by the Holy See . Their chaplains and priests caused parochial churches to be conveyed over to themselves Avithout the ordinaries' consent ; administerino' the sacraments to excommunicated

persons , and burying them Avith all the usual ceremonies of the Church . They likeAvise abused the permission granted them of having divine service said once a year in places lying under interdict , and admitted seculars into their fraternity ,

pretending thereby to give them the same right to their privileges as if they had been really professed . To remedy these abuses the council decreed , that the military orders should in future receive

no conveyance of church or tythe without the ordinary ' s consent . With regard to the churches not founded by themselves , nor served by the

chaplains of the Order , they should present the priests they designed for the cure of them to the bishop of the diocese , and reserve nothing to themselves but the cognizance of the temporals Avhich belonged to them . In regard to places

lying under interdict , mass Avas forbidden to be celebrated more than once a year , and no person Avas to be buried therein ; and none of the brethren or associates ( affiliates ) Avere to be alloAved to partake of their privileges unless regularlyprofessed . *

The Templars , powerful and rich , paid little attention to their commands , and set the bishop ' s authority at defiance , holding their Master to be their bishop .

KNIGHTHOOD . The Templars Avere divided into three great classes — Knights , Chaplains , and Serving Brethren . These three classes will be considered in their proper places , but meanwhile let us

consider Knighthood as a feature of the Middle Ages . A man required to be of noble parentage , and to have served the necessary probation in the preparatory grades of page and esquire previous to claiming the honour of Knighthood . He

required , furthermore , to be tAventy-one years of age , although he might attain it earlier , by the performance of some gallant action . It may not be amiss here to refer to the Avorks of Brantome , St . Palaye , Mill , James , and other historians for

a perfect detail of Knighthood , as our purpose is simply to sketch the ceremonial , as a fitting portion of the sketch ofthe life of a Knight Templar . Such a work as this is , and treating it in the manner in Avhich the author is doing , precludes the admission of matter Avhich hoAvever pertinent can scarcely be viewed as essential .

The night preceding the conferring of the accolade , Avas spent in prayer by the aspirant before some altar , upon Avhich was piled his armour . On the morroAV he took a bath , Avhich represented the purifying of the soul , and thereafter he lay down

on a couch , called the Bed of Rest . These typified that when the Battle of Life Avas over , and the conquest of self achieved , the aspirant would enjoy the pleasures of Paradise Avith a purified soul , and a body free from the Aveariness of earth .

Knights and nobles in their splendid armour , churchmen in their gorgeous robes , and ladies attired in their gayest dresses attended the