Templar

“ At the expiration of the year, if he be truly penitent, the Master and the brethren restore to him the military girdle and his pristine habit and cross, and receive him again into the fellowship and community of the brethren. The Templars do indeed practise the observance of a stern religion, living in humble obedience to their Master, without property, and spending nearly all the days of their lives under tents in the open fields.” [86] Such is the picture [Pg 74] of the Templars drawn by one of the leading dignitaries of the Latin kingdom. ”

“ Often they stayed to look on the church, the church of the Knight Templars, those terrible and mysterious knights who, with crossed legs for sign of mission, and with long swords and kite-shaped shields, lie upon the pavement of the church. ”

“ The Templars were now destined to meet with a more formidable opponent than any they had hitherto encountered in the field, one who was again to cause the crescent to triumph over the CROSS, and to plant the standard of the prophet upon the walls of the holy city. ”

“ Know that the Templars will sooner tear the white mantle from their shoulders, and sell all that they possess, than remain any longer quiet spectators of the injury and disgrace that have been brought upon the christian arms. ”

“ The greatest zeal and energy have been displayed by them in that praiseworthy undertaking, and no expense has been spared to repair the ravages of time, and to bring back the structure to what it was in the time of the Templars. ”

“ Origin of the Templars—The pilgrimages to Jerusalem—The dangers to which pilgrims were exposed—The formation of the brotherhood of the poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ to protect them—Their location in the Temple—A description of the Temple—Origin of the name Templars—Hugh de Payens chosen Master of the Temple—Is sent to Europe by King Baldwin—Is introduced to the Pope—The assembling of the Council of Troyes—The formation of a rule for the government of the Templars. ”

“ 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.... ”

“ At this distant day, when the times and scenes in which the Templars acted are changed, and the deep religious fervour and warm fresh feelings of bygone ages have given way to a cold and calculating philosophy, we may doubt the sincerity of the military friars, exclaim against their credulity, and deride their zeal ”

“ The trumpets sounded, and the knights charged each other in full career. The wearied horse of Ivanhoe, and its no less exhausted rider, went down, as all had expected, before the well-aimed lance and vigorous steed of the Templar. This issue of the combat all had foreseen; but although the spear of Ivanhoe did but, in comparison, touch the shield of Bois-Guilbert, that champion, to the astonishment of all who beheld it reeled in his saddle, lost his stirrups, and fell in the lists. ”

“ The Templars claimed for their own this mountain, where they reserved an abundance of game to satisfy their needs and contribute to their pleasures; the nobles determined to organize a great hunt within the bounds notwithstanding the rigorous prohibitions of the clergy with spurs, as their enemies called them. ”

“ They professed to devote themselves to the service of God, and actually set about punishing robbers and thieves who troubled the Christians who went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem. They increased in numbers, and had apartments assigned them near Solomon’s Temple, whence they were called Templars. After a time, the Templars were numerous in Europe, where they grew very rich and powerful. ”

“ Antiquities in the Temple—The history of the place subsequent to the dissolution of the order of the Knights Templars—The establishment of a society of lawyers in the Temple—The antiquity of this society—Its connexion with the antient society of the Knights Templars—An order of knights and serving brethren established in the law—The degree of frere serjen, or frater serviens, borrowed from the antient Templars—The modern Templars divide themselves into the two societies of the Inner and Middle Temple. ”

“ For we see no more, save in the light of imagination, either the mail-clad figures of the Templars in their white cloaks stamped with the red cross, or the Serjeants in their white lawn coifs and parti-coloured gowns, wending their way from the Temple Hall to the shrine of St. ”

“ We can never believe that, as a body, the early Templars were not worthy of their white garments. A bishop of Acre, who frequently accompanied them on their military expeditions, said of them: “Lions they are in war, gentle in the convent, fierce soldiers in the field, hermits and monks in religion ”

“ If thou wert born of woman---if thou hast but a touch of human charity in thee ---if thy heart be not hard as thy breastplate---save my aged father---save this wounded knight!"
"A knight," answered the Templar, with his characteristic calmness, "a knight, Rebecca, must encounter his fate, whether it meet him in the shape of sword or flame---and who recks how or where a Jew meets with his?"
"Savage warrior," said Rebecca, "rather will I perish in the flames than accept safety from thee!" ”

“ Born during the first fervour of the Crusaders, the Templars were flattered and aggrandized as long as their great military [Pg ii] power and religious fanaticism could be made available for the support of the Eastern church and the retention of the Holy Land ”

“ They seem to have furnished much of the information contained in an article on the Templars published in the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge." Many of them appear to be of later date than the rule of St. ”

“ Templars the dream of sects of Gnostics or Illuminati, 815-l. Templars' trowel has triangular plates arranged in the form of a cross, 816-m. Templars united with Rose Croix Adepts and formed a Mystic Sect, 821-m. Templars, when rich, became insolent and overbearing, 820-u. Temple an abridged image of the world, furniture, symbolism, 410. Temple built by Wisdom has at its portal Jachin and Boaz, 860-m. Temple built painfully slowly, destroyed very quickly, 320-m. Temple gates opened but once a year for ceremonies of initiation, 421-u. Temple of Jerusalem a symbol, 241-u. ”

“ Is it early? Is it late? Fairy-clock! O tell me true,
As I blow you down the wind, out upon a road of blue!
THE TEMPLE Enter the temple beautiful! The house not made with hands!
Rain-washed and green, wind-swept and clean,
Beneath the blue it stands,
And no cathedral anywhere
Seemeth so holy or so fair.
It hath no heavy gabled roof, no door with lock and key;
No window-bars shut out the stars,
The aisles are wide and free;—
Here through the night each altar-light
Is but a moon-beam, silver-white. ”

“ Why," he continued, bitterly, "why hast thou come to break my peace--to poison my happiness in the very temple which I have erected to the Deity? Mean and polluted it may be, but still it hath been raised to his honour."
"Is God then enthroned in this temple?" replied Truth. "It cannot be, or the presence of divine purity would have purified even it. Self-deceiver! thou standest now in the centre of the temple--thou standest at the foot of the shrine; lift up thine eyes and behold the object of thy worship--behold the Idol which thou hast adored all thy days!" ”

“ How like he is to your Lord! Is he not, like your Christ, a Saviour, and risen from the dead? The Temple or the Church—both are the sanctuaries of the Deity. By the ivy-wreathed altar of the weeping goddess, at the foot of the tall cypresses which cast their mysterious shadows on the snowy whiteness of the marble steps on which lies the bier of the god, you will feel the sacred awe which falls upon every pure soul when it is conscious of the presence of the Deity—call Him what you will. ”

“ That is the canon of church building as ordained by God himself—make the church as grand an offering as you can, but keep the ritual pure—fill the temple with all the emblems of his glory, but remember that it is he only who is to be worshipped. Such is the teaching of revelation; and now we turn to nature, that boundless temple which God has built up to himself with his own hands. ”

“ Is it possible that you, who, since you are divine, do not condescend to consort with human beings, have done this in the greatest temple built to God, upon the highest altar raised to Christ, in the most sacred chapel upon earth, where the mighty hinges of the Church, the venerable priests of our religion, the Vicar of Christ, with solemn ceremonies and holy prayers, confess, contemplate, and adore his body, his blood, and his flesh? ”

“ Most Worshipful Provost says, rising and facing the east, at the same time raising his mark in his right hand, "Most Illustrious Prefect, it is now the first hour of the day, the time when our Lord suffered and the veil of the temple was rent asunder, when darkness and consternation was spread over the earth, when the confusion of the old covenant was made light in the new in the temple of the cross. ”

“ My continual prayer and desire are, that we may live to see a Temple built to the name of the Most High God. I feel myself honored of God and my brethren, in having the opportunity of standing here to-day, in speaking, and realizing what I have, since I came on the Temple ground. ”

“ The near approach of the date for the dedication of the Temple of our God moves us to express with some degree of fulness our feelings to our brethren, the officers of the Church, who with us bear the Priesthood of the Son of God, and to the Latter-day Saints generally; to the end that in entering that holy building we may all be found acceptable ourselves, with our households, and that the building which we shall dedicate may also be acceptable unto the Lord. ”

“ Outside all, the by turns straggling and crowded town lay, bathed in the most glorious flood of moonlight, poured down, happily, alike upon Papist and Protestant, lighting up the grey cathedral with its Gothic arches, and the heathen temple with its fluted columns, and surely preaching by the universal-blessing ray that sermon—so continuous in its delivery, yet so little heeded by the congregation of the world—the sermon which enjoins charity and forbearance, and love and peace, among all men. ”

“ And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.—Revelation, xxi. 2, 22.
Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eyes!
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks, on every side arise,
Discarding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend. ”

“ A cathedral's history is but a record of humanity's march through the centuries, through superstition, blood, and contest, onward and upward to advanced and yet advancing conditions, till finally—if there be truth in divine writ or the aspirations of humanity—"the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." ”

“ And there are churches everywhere, from the huge cathedral towering like a forest of carven stone to the humble village chapel or wayside shrine, their spires all pointing up to heaven in token of the change that has come upon the life and spirit of the world. ”

“ And thus we wander on, the sights and sounds of God’s world without attract us no longer, we see nothing but the sacred representations which encompass us so closely, feel only the solemnity of the temple in which we stand. And the consecrated walls embrace us ever more and more closely, until at last we reach the lonely, resonant chamber occupied by the divinity himself, and entered by no human being save his priest. ”

“ By killing all that will not worship him and his Image, the first Temple, illuminated by the lamps of the seven Churches, is demolished, and a new Temple built for them who will not worship him; and the outward court of this new Temple, or outward form of a Church, is given to the Gentiles, who worship the Beast and his Image: while they who will not worship him, are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads, and retire into the inward court of this new Temple. ”

“ The Cathedral was the symbol of the soul, and every act and prayer of the ceremonial depicted for our fore-fathers—so well instructed in the truths we first take for granted and then forget—the processes by which God confers on us the gift of immortality. ”

“ I could imagine the long procession of priests and people, in somber and gorgeous robes, coming out from the city, between the great statues and down the long avenue, dragging with them, perhaps, an unhappy prisoner to sacrifice to their god in this, his temple. ”

“ To draw them, there is a gorgeous temple with an imposing altar, a tabernacle, a covenant, a shekinah lighted from heaven, a priesthood clad in the splendid garments, and all the superb apparatus of a magnificent ritual. Even the daily habits, materials of common dress, qualities of food and kinds of flesh, are all to be regulated in detail by specific statutes. ”

“ Ay, they do say so, the hirelings that foul with their feet the water whence the flock should drink: ‘we are the people, and wisdom shall die with us!’ ‘The Temple of the Lord are we!’ But the Temple of the Lord is larger, and wider, and higher, than their poor narrow souls. ”

“ It is enough. The Cathedrals are haunted by the Old Faith, and by Rome, whose they are: but the village churches are our own. Nor though we be of the Old Faith let us be too proud to salute their humility. ”