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the ground, so that not one stone of it was left upon another; and this disaster happened on account of the wickedness of the people of that land, and for their infidelity in their predicted Messiah; for they crucified the Lord of glory who came down from heaven to save them from their sins. Upon the utter excision of that revolting nation from among the nations of the earth, thence arose the sun of Christian righteousness with healing in his wings; then the olive branch of God's peace was extended to all the nations of the earth, and to all has the sound of the blessed Gospel been proclaimed,— "Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace, good will towards men." This good news, for such the word Gospel means, on being published by men "appointed" by our Lord so to do (Luke x.), quickly made a multitude of proselytes to the Christian faith, who assembled in congregations each returning Lord's day, and joined together in solemn acts of thanksgiving, prayer, and praise. They met sometimes in secret chambers on account of persecution; aud at other times congregated even on the sea shore, in "a place where prayer was wont to be made." Such was the humble beginning of Christian congregations in the infancy of our Christian religion, until the time arrived that the Christian faith was made a public, a common, and a national concern, when kings became its nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers, even as foretold by the prophet.

(To be continued.)

THE MILITARY ORDERS:-THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AND

HOSPITALLERS.

As an introduction to a brief description of the Temple Church, London, which has recently been repaired and restored, we prefix a brief account of those celebrated military Christian orders, one of which had its principal seat in London at the Temple, the other at Clerkenwell. The annexed account we have copied from the late Rev. J. B. S. Carwithen's History of the Church of England, a valuable but now scarce work. Those who desire a fuller account of the Templars may consult The History of the Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple, recently published by C. G. Addison, Esq., from whence we have principally compiled our description of the Temple Church, to illustrate the engraving, which our artist was kindly permitted to take, to accompany this number. We have also before us an elegant, masonically illustrated work, Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars, by James Burnes, L.L.D., F. R. S., principally compiled from Mr. Keightley's valuable article on the subject, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 8, August, 1829, in a review of Wilcke's and other German, &c., histories. Dr. Burnes's work is curious, as also giving a history of the continuation of the order to the present time, of which it seems that Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, the hero of Acre, was grand master. A full account of the Knights Hospitallers will be found in an elegant and scientific work, by William Wallen, F. S. A., Architect, The History and Antiquities of the Round Church at Little Maplestead, Essex, formerly belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, of Jerusalem.

The name of Templars was derived from the temple of Solomon; because Baldwin the Second, the crusader king of Jerusalem, granted them a place within the sacred inclosure of the temple on Mount Moriah, amid those holy and magnificent structures, which had then been partly erected by the Christian Emperor Justinian, and the Mahometan Caliph Omar. Hence those who at first called themselves the Poor Fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ came thenceforth to be known by the name of The Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon.

"In the classification of the monastic orders, the first grand division is into military and religious. The religious orders had no connexion with the duties

and obligations of a military life; but the military orders were founded on religious principles, and were bound by religious ties. In the ecclesiastical history of a country, where religious chivalry once flourished, a short description of its institutions cannot be deemed superfluous or uninteresting.

"Of the three famous military orders, which had their origin during the wars between the Christians and Mohammedans for the recovery of Palestine, that of the Teutonic knights was confined to Germany, but the other two orders, of Templars and Hospitallers, enrolled among their members the flower of the European nobility.

"The Knights Templars derived their appellation from a palace adjoining the Temple at Jerusalem, appropriated to their use; but from their habit of a white mantle with a red cross, they were better known by the title of the red cross knights. The design of their institution was to defend the common cause of Christianity, to inspect the public roads, and to protect the pilgrims who visited the holy city from the insults and barbarity of the Moslems. The twelfth century is mentioned as the date of their institution, but they did not acquire stability till the thirteenth century, when the order of templars was solemnly confirmed by a council at Troyes, and subjected to a rule of discipline framed by St. Bernard. By the valour of its knights the order gradually acquired immense riches, and a military renown greater even than its wealth. In England, no religious community was so highly esteemed as that of the templars its monarchs deposited much of their treasure in the Temple at London, while the knights were in possession of that house. Henry the Second and his queen Eleanor desired to be interred there, and it was there that Henry the Third received his education ↑.

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"But the martial fame and chivalrous exploits of the templars could not secure the permanence of the order, while its wealth invited envy and rapacity. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, the knights were publicly accused as enemies and deriders of Christianity, and the accusation was entertained, though its author was one whose testimony should have been received with caution. The charge was preferred by Philip the Fair, the monster of his age ." He addressed his complaints to Clement the Fifth, himself an avaricious, turbulent, and vindictive pontiff. But even Clement could see that the charges against the templars were either groundless or exaggerated, and was unwilling to proceed against them, until wearied by the importunities of the French king.

"At length all the templars, who were dispersed throughout the different countries of Europe were seized and imprisoned, without any warning or apprehension of their approaching danger, and the order was extirpated by a decree of the council of Vienne. Some of the knights, while under the actual infliction or the prospective dread of torture, confessed their guilt; but James de Molai, the grand master, with his dying breath asserted that his greatest crime had been that of charging the templars with disbelief of Christianity through fear of the rack. William de la Moore, the English grand prior, was the only man whom no terror could induce to retract his first avowal of the innocence of his order. He was requested to make a general confession; but he replied that he was not guilty of heresy, and would not abjure crimes which he had never committed §.

"The wealth of the templars might of itself have been a sufficient motive with Philip the Fair to seek their ruin: but he had a stronger motive in his personal resentment against their grand master, and in his hatred of the whole order. The templars had espoused the cause of Boniface the Eighth, when that Pontiff and Philip were engaged in a quarrel: their conduct was remembered by Philip, and repaid by their destruction.

The founders of the order were Hugo des Payens, Geoffry of St. Aldemar, or St. Omer, and seven other persons. Helyot, Hist. des Ordres, tom. iii.

Mill's History of the Crusades, vol. ii. c. 7.

Ibid.

§ Ibid.

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"The possessions of the red cross knights were decreed by the council of Vienne to be transferred to a rival order of still greater wealth than the templars-the order of hospitallers. The hospitallers, or the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, were so called from an hospital in that city, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, in which certain pious and charitable brethren were employed in relieving the sick and indigent pilgrims. When Jerusalem became the metropolis of a new kingdom, the revenues of the hospital were so greatly augmented by the liberality of Christian princes, as far to exceed the purposes for which the order was founded. Hence, Raymond de Puy, the superior of this charitable foundation, offered to make war on the Moslems at his own expense, and his offer was seconded by his brethren. The proposal was accepted by Baldwin the Second, then king of Jerusalem; and thus a fraternity of ascetic monks was transformed into a band of hardy warriors.*

"The order of the hospitallers differed from that of the templars in this respect, that it was divided into three classes. The first contained the knights or soldiers of illustrious birth; the second consisted of the priests, who officiated in the churches belonging to the order; and the third comprehended the serving brethren, or soldiers of a low condition. The habit of the order was a black mantle with a white cross: on the last of these accounts they were called white knights, and from the circumstance that black was the usual monastic colour, they were sometimes called military friars.

"Though, by the decree of the council of Vienne, the possessions of the dissolved templars were given to the knights of Saint John, and though this decree had been in England confirmed by parliament, yet private avarice counteracted the law. The hospitallers were obliged to purchase of the king, and even of individuals, the confiscated estates of the red cross knights. The Earls of Lancaster and Pembroke, and the younger Spencer, had successive grants of the Temple in London; but in consequence of death or attainder, it reverted to the crown. The hospitallers did not gain possession of the house till the reign of Edward the Third; they soon demised it to the common lawyers, and the lawyers held it as tenants to the hospitallers till the dissolution of the order.

"When the knights of Saint John were compelled to leave their possessions in Palestine, they soon acquired an equivalent in Europe, and, dependent only on their grand master, enjoyed the sovereignty first of Rhodes, and afterwards of Malta. Though their estates in England were moderate, yet the knights were of the highest quality. They were under the government of their grand prior, and at the time when the abbots enjoyed the rank and privileges of other prelates, and when monachism as well as episcopacy exalted its mitred front in courts and parliaments,' the prior of Saint John of Jerusalem was honoured by the title of the first lay baron of England."

THE TEMPLE CHURCH, LONDON.

THE Temple Church is entered by a beautiful semi-circular arched doorway, an exquisite specimen of the Norman style of architecture, deeply recessed and ornamented on either side with columns bearing foliated capitals, from whence spring a series of arched mouldings, richly carved and decorated. This doorway leads into that portion of the church called by the old writers THE ROUND, built between A.D. 1162 and 1185. On the 10th of February, in this latter year, it was consecrated in honour of the blessed Mary, by Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, on his visiting England with the master of the hos pitallers (the grand master of the Temple having died at Verona, on his journey from Palestine), to obtain from Henry the Second aid against Saladin. In the month of March he also consecrated the Church of the Knights Hospitallers

* Vertot's History of the Knights of Malta.

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