Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
contempt at the indignity put upon him , and , elevating his Voice , " It is but rig ht , " said he , " that in this terrible day , and in the last moments of my life , I should expose falsehood to shame , and vindicate the cause of truth . I therefore solemnly declare , in the presence of God and man , that I have been guilty of the greatest of crimes , but it has been in acknowleding the charges so wickedly and falsely
g brought against my order , of which it is totally innocent . My confession was the consequence , only of the horrid agonies of the rack ; but this view of a dreadful death cannot make me . confirm my transgression by the repetition of a lie . —If this is the condition of life I cheerfully renounce it ; death is preferable to dishonour , and I look to it as an asylum from persecution and calumny . "
lie was then forcibly dragged from the scaffold and conveyed to , prison , but the royal mandate came to dispatch him instantly . The place of suffering was a little island in the Seine , near the royal gardens . His conduct was uniform in the bitterness of death . He vindicated his order with heroic zeal , and expired in die flames with the courageof a christian kniht . This tragedy was acted March it ,
, g 1314 . It is stated , and that too by a writer of eminence , that this gallant commander just before his death cited the Pope to the tribunal of God within forty days , and the king within a year . Those persecutors went to receive their reward at the hands of divine justice exactly within those periods ; but whether the other part of the story is true I shall neither observe nor enquire .
It is certain that the miserable instruments of this persecution died unnatural deaths ; and so far the interposition of Providence is clear and consistent . After this dismal tragfedy most of the European states followed the dictate of the Pope , and suppressed the order in their respective dominions . In England the estates of the Templars were given to . the Hospitallerswho were then settled in the isle of Rhodesfrom
, , whence tbey went . ts Malta , of which they have now the possession . But though the order was publicly suppressed , and its property alienated , great numbers of its members continued , and secretly held chapters in various parts of Europe , where they kept up their oeconomy under the name of Jesuits . They were even sanctioned by succeeding Popes and temporal princes in this character , and many
eminent personages entered among them . - , '• That the Knights Templars . were Freemasons will not admit of a doubt ; their government was the same , their signs , obligations , and , above all , the charitable characteristics of the order , prove it . Writers who have been adverse to both societies , have charged this upon , them as an additional article . With respect to the Masonic revival
of the institution under the patronage of his Royal Highness Prince Edward , it would not become tne to make any observations . It is . certainly a very sublime point in the Masonic system . Without it a considerable portion of the science is involved in an impenetrable obscurity . This throws a strong light upon the whole ,-and connects all the parts in a beautiful unison .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
contempt at the indignity put upon him , and , elevating his Voice , " It is but rig ht , " said he , " that in this terrible day , and in the last moments of my life , I should expose falsehood to shame , and vindicate the cause of truth . I therefore solemnly declare , in the presence of God and man , that I have been guilty of the greatest of crimes , but it has been in acknowleding the charges so wickedly and falsely
g brought against my order , of which it is totally innocent . My confession was the consequence , only of the horrid agonies of the rack ; but this view of a dreadful death cannot make me . confirm my transgression by the repetition of a lie . —If this is the condition of life I cheerfully renounce it ; death is preferable to dishonour , and I look to it as an asylum from persecution and calumny . "
lie was then forcibly dragged from the scaffold and conveyed to , prison , but the royal mandate came to dispatch him instantly . The place of suffering was a little island in the Seine , near the royal gardens . His conduct was uniform in the bitterness of death . He vindicated his order with heroic zeal , and expired in die flames with the courageof a christian kniht . This tragedy was acted March it ,
, g 1314 . It is stated , and that too by a writer of eminence , that this gallant commander just before his death cited the Pope to the tribunal of God within forty days , and the king within a year . Those persecutors went to receive their reward at the hands of divine justice exactly within those periods ; but whether the other part of the story is true I shall neither observe nor enquire .
It is certain that the miserable instruments of this persecution died unnatural deaths ; and so far the interposition of Providence is clear and consistent . After this dismal tragfedy most of the European states followed the dictate of the Pope , and suppressed the order in their respective dominions . In England the estates of the Templars were given to . the Hospitallerswho were then settled in the isle of Rhodesfrom
, , whence tbey went . ts Malta , of which they have now the possession . But though the order was publicly suppressed , and its property alienated , great numbers of its members continued , and secretly held chapters in various parts of Europe , where they kept up their oeconomy under the name of Jesuits . They were even sanctioned by succeeding Popes and temporal princes in this character , and many
eminent personages entered among them . - , '• That the Knights Templars . were Freemasons will not admit of a doubt ; their government was the same , their signs , obligations , and , above all , the charitable characteristics of the order , prove it . Writers who have been adverse to both societies , have charged this upon , them as an additional article . With respect to the Masonic revival
of the institution under the patronage of his Royal Highness Prince Edward , it would not become tne to make any observations . It is . certainly a very sublime point in the Masonic system . Without it a considerable portion of the science is involved in an impenetrable obscurity . This throws a strong light upon the whole ,-and connects all the parts in a beautiful unison .