Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
to a small island in the Seine , close to his palace , where they were burnt to death . " They persisted to the last in asserting their innocence , " Dr . Smith adds , " and suffered with a
constancy which moved the admiration of all beholders . " The author of "The Student ' s France" names Ferretti of Vicenza as the historian who
mentions the incident already adverted to of the Grand Alaster summoning the Pope and Philip to appear before the throne of God to answer for their heinous crime .
I have before alluded to Wilcke ' s attack on the Templars , quoted with such unction by Bro . Findel , whose bete noir is the Order of the Temple , I believe .
\* Let us see what a great author of our own says , and what his estimate is of Wilcke ' s book . In Milman ' s Latin Christianity , * thc learned Dean says , "Wilcke asserts ( page . 342 ) , that
Aloldenhauers publication ol the proceedings against the Templars ( now more accurately antl fully edited by M . Michelet ) , was brought up Indie Freemasons as injurious to the fame ofthe
Templars . If this were so the Freemasons committed an error ; my doubts of their guilt art strongl y confirmed by the process . Wilcke makos three regular gradations of initiation .
First , the denial ol Christ ; second , the kisses ; thiid , the worship of the idol . This is contrary to all tlie evidence ; the two first are always described as simultaneous . Wilcke has supposed
that , so long as the Order consisted only of Kn ghts , it was orthodox . Thc Clerks introduced "into the Order , chiefly Friar Minorites ,
brought in learning and the wild speculative opinions . But for this he alleges not the least proof . "
Wilcke , in his history ofthe Knights Templar , reviews the accusations made ayainst them on
their suppression , but repudiates the claims of the modern Templars to be their successors . He supposes that the secret form of worshi p amongst them was introduced abont i 2--: o-i 27 o .
He speaks of them as Gnostics , and says that following the bent of their age , they reverenced astrology and alchemy . The heresy of the Templars , he says , was
displayed at first only as a private opinion . "What previously had only been the belief of a few , now became general doctrine , " says Findel in the appendix to his History of Freemasonry ,
who quotes Wilcke as his authority , " their customs were turned into a ritual , their simple unassuming chapter was formed into a lodge , a secret teaching in dogma and ceremonial was
inculcated , which mosf probably originated with the clergy . " The secret doctrine of the Order has been a matter of perpetual strife , and has awakened
much speculation . In the last century , says Findel , when FYeemasonry erroneousl y supposed herself to be a daughter of Templarism , great pains were taken
to regard the Order of Kni ghts Templars as innocent and free from all taint of mysticism . "Several centuries ago , " he adds , "the
Freemasons , in their eagerness to obtain historical facts , permitted false statements to be palmed upon them . "
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
It would appear , then , according to his own statement , that this tradition of the connection of the Templars with Alasonry was several centuries old .
Bro . Findel ( or Wilcke , for we hardly know whether the author is quoting Wilcke , or only giving a digest of his views ) , alluding to the report in the eig hteenth century , that the Knights
Templar were still in existence , denies the possibility of such being the case , because when thc Order was abolished , its power was annihilated , and " it was impossible to wake it from the
dead . He continues , — "Besides those members who werc executed , many were in prison , and many had taken to flight and perished ; some of
the Knights , after the abolition of their Order , were set at liberty , and either entered other Orders , or werc provided for by different convents , and not a few wandered ' about in an abject
state of want and poverty . The fugitive Knights could not of themselves re-establish the Order ( Why not Bro . Findel r ) and still less those who have recognised and obeyed the superior powers ;
neither could they affect anything in their own favour in the Order of the Knights of St . John , or in the building fraternities , for it is probable many joined these communities , and the new
confederacies which were sought to be instituted , never boasted of any vitality , and soon fell into oblivion . If the Order had continued to exist until the year 14 -JO , it would most surely have
incorporated itself with the new Order ot Chivalry , which the Pope endeavoured to establish on the island of Lemnos , as no better opportunity could have been offered it of becoming
known . If it had still existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , it would have been discovered and betrayed by the Jesuits . It could not have remained even a score of years concealed , still less centuries . "
For a violent opponent of the Alasonic Knights Templar , it is rather an important admission to make the probable absorption ofthe Knights into the Order of Hospitallers , and amongst the
Alasons ; but does Bro . F'indel think for one moment that the Hospitallers would have admitted them , had they been guilty ofthe dreadful crimes imputed to them ?
It is true , I dare say , that , as Findel elsewhere says " Not the Templars alone , but many other spiritual Orders of Knighthood were suspected of being addicted to heresy" ; but if the truth
were known it would simply come to this , that the Templars , like the Freemasons , were , in consequence of their long connection with the East , less bigoted in their religious views than quite
suited the fancy ofhet IJI tramontanes of that day , that they were more tolerant of the opinions of others , and in fact were liberal Catholics , or , more properly speaking , what we should now call Latitudinarians .
We all know the old lawyers' advice— "If you have a weak case , abuse the plaintiff " s attorney . " Findel must have a very weak case against the
Templars of to-day , when hc rakes up against them all the foul calumnies which impartial historians have long ago consigned to the dust of oblivion . Is it likely , we ask , that a bod y which had been so wrsecuted , which was under the ban of
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
excommunication when excommunication meant something more than it does now , should seek to incorporate itself with a new Papal Order of Chivalry ?
And as to to the statement that it could not have remained concealed for any length of time , because of the Jesuits , why , by parity of reasoning , it might as well have been said that
Freemasonry itself could not so exist , and with equal show of logic and common sense . No truths are so dangerous as half truths . One ofthe charges brought against thc Templars was
that they were Gnostics , heretics in fact , just as the old Catholics of to-day will , no doubt , be termed , because they do not believe in the infallibility of the Pope . Well , it- is not impossible
that there was a shade of truth in this , that in fact they believed in the Creeds , that is in the form of belief which the Church of England , for instance , accepts for true . See Jacques de Malay ' s
confession , quoted in a previous article . He confessed all that thc Catholic Church holds lo be true , though not enough , perhaps for the Church of Rome . If the Templars were
the depositaries of Alasonic lore , as Laurie suggests , the Hospitallers , from their intimate connection with them , could scarcely avoid the contamination , as their enemies would have said .
The Templars , as men of world , would hardly be bigoted Catholics , and would be naturally disposed towards the reception of " Light . "
I have already drawn attention to the probable initiation of the Templars into our mysteries , taught and practised as they were by the Syriac fraternities . Wh y may not the Templars have
got their Alasonry through the Saracens ? It has been objected that if we admit this , we admit the charges brought against them . But this I emphatically deny . We all know that to
be a good Alason , one must be a good man , and I am yet to be informed that it was otherwise in "the days of old . " Bro . Haye , in his History of the Knights
Templar , * says " It was stated b y De Clifton that when the arrest of the English Templars was known in Scotland , John de Husflete , Preceptor of Blancradoch , and the others , threw off their
habits , fled , and dispersed themselves " propter scandalum exortum contra ordinem , " and we are told by a learned French author that , having
deserted the Temple , they ranged themselves under the banner of Robert Bruce , and fought with him at Bannockburn .
Reynouard excuses himself from speculating on the fate of the Scottish Kni ghts in these words : — " Que devinrent ils ? Ce n ' est pas a
moi de soulcier le voile mysterieux de ces in fortunes ; l'histoire publique se tait ; mon devoie est de me fa ire comme elles . "
Legend states that after the decisive battle of Bannockburn , when Scotland drove the usurping English from her soil , Bruce , in return for their
eminent services , formed these Templars into a new body , } with rules based on those ofthe ori ginal Order . " ( To le continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
to a small island in the Seine , close to his palace , where they were burnt to death . " They persisted to the last in asserting their innocence , " Dr . Smith adds , " and suffered with a
constancy which moved the admiration of all beholders . " The author of "The Student ' s France" names Ferretti of Vicenza as the historian who
mentions the incident already adverted to of the Grand Alaster summoning the Pope and Philip to appear before the throne of God to answer for their heinous crime .
I have before alluded to Wilcke ' s attack on the Templars , quoted with such unction by Bro . Findel , whose bete noir is the Order of the Temple , I believe .
\* Let us see what a great author of our own says , and what his estimate is of Wilcke ' s book . In Milman ' s Latin Christianity , * thc learned Dean says , "Wilcke asserts ( page . 342 ) , that
Aloldenhauers publication ol the proceedings against the Templars ( now more accurately antl fully edited by M . Michelet ) , was brought up Indie Freemasons as injurious to the fame ofthe
Templars . If this were so the Freemasons committed an error ; my doubts of their guilt art strongl y confirmed by the process . Wilcke makos three regular gradations of initiation .
First , the denial ol Christ ; second , the kisses ; thiid , the worship of the idol . This is contrary to all tlie evidence ; the two first are always described as simultaneous . Wilcke has supposed
that , so long as the Order consisted only of Kn ghts , it was orthodox . Thc Clerks introduced "into the Order , chiefly Friar Minorites ,
brought in learning and the wild speculative opinions . But for this he alleges not the least proof . "
Wilcke , in his history ofthe Knights Templar , reviews the accusations made ayainst them on
their suppression , but repudiates the claims of the modern Templars to be their successors . He supposes that the secret form of worshi p amongst them was introduced abont i 2--: o-i 27 o .
He speaks of them as Gnostics , and says that following the bent of their age , they reverenced astrology and alchemy . The heresy of the Templars , he says , was
displayed at first only as a private opinion . "What previously had only been the belief of a few , now became general doctrine , " says Findel in the appendix to his History of Freemasonry ,
who quotes Wilcke as his authority , " their customs were turned into a ritual , their simple unassuming chapter was formed into a lodge , a secret teaching in dogma and ceremonial was
inculcated , which mosf probably originated with the clergy . " The secret doctrine of the Order has been a matter of perpetual strife , and has awakened
much speculation . In the last century , says Findel , when FYeemasonry erroneousl y supposed herself to be a daughter of Templarism , great pains were taken
to regard the Order of Kni ghts Templars as innocent and free from all taint of mysticism . "Several centuries ago , " he adds , "the
Freemasons , in their eagerness to obtain historical facts , permitted false statements to be palmed upon them . "
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
It would appear , then , according to his own statement , that this tradition of the connection of the Templars with Alasonry was several centuries old .
Bro . Findel ( or Wilcke , for we hardly know whether the author is quoting Wilcke , or only giving a digest of his views ) , alluding to the report in the eig hteenth century , that the Knights
Templar were still in existence , denies the possibility of such being the case , because when thc Order was abolished , its power was annihilated , and " it was impossible to wake it from the
dead . He continues , — "Besides those members who werc executed , many were in prison , and many had taken to flight and perished ; some of
the Knights , after the abolition of their Order , were set at liberty , and either entered other Orders , or werc provided for by different convents , and not a few wandered ' about in an abject
state of want and poverty . The fugitive Knights could not of themselves re-establish the Order ( Why not Bro . Findel r ) and still less those who have recognised and obeyed the superior powers ;
neither could they affect anything in their own favour in the Order of the Knights of St . John , or in the building fraternities , for it is probable many joined these communities , and the new
confederacies which were sought to be instituted , never boasted of any vitality , and soon fell into oblivion . If the Order had continued to exist until the year 14 -JO , it would most surely have
incorporated itself with the new Order ot Chivalry , which the Pope endeavoured to establish on the island of Lemnos , as no better opportunity could have been offered it of becoming
known . If it had still existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , it would have been discovered and betrayed by the Jesuits . It could not have remained even a score of years concealed , still less centuries . "
For a violent opponent of the Alasonic Knights Templar , it is rather an important admission to make the probable absorption ofthe Knights into the Order of Hospitallers , and amongst the
Alasons ; but does Bro . F'indel think for one moment that the Hospitallers would have admitted them , had they been guilty ofthe dreadful crimes imputed to them ?
It is true , I dare say , that , as Findel elsewhere says " Not the Templars alone , but many other spiritual Orders of Knighthood were suspected of being addicted to heresy" ; but if the truth
were known it would simply come to this , that the Templars , like the Freemasons , were , in consequence of their long connection with the East , less bigoted in their religious views than quite
suited the fancy ofhet IJI tramontanes of that day , that they were more tolerant of the opinions of others , and in fact were liberal Catholics , or , more properly speaking , what we should now call Latitudinarians .
We all know the old lawyers' advice— "If you have a weak case , abuse the plaintiff " s attorney . " Findel must have a very weak case against the
Templars of to-day , when hc rakes up against them all the foul calumnies which impartial historians have long ago consigned to the dust of oblivion . Is it likely , we ask , that a bod y which had been so wrsecuted , which was under the ban of
Notes On The "United Orders Of The Temple And Hospital."
excommunication when excommunication meant something more than it does now , should seek to incorporate itself with a new Papal Order of Chivalry ?
And as to to the statement that it could not have remained concealed for any length of time , because of the Jesuits , why , by parity of reasoning , it might as well have been said that
Freemasonry itself could not so exist , and with equal show of logic and common sense . No truths are so dangerous as half truths . One ofthe charges brought against thc Templars was
that they were Gnostics , heretics in fact , just as the old Catholics of to-day will , no doubt , be termed , because they do not believe in the infallibility of the Pope . Well , it- is not impossible
that there was a shade of truth in this , that in fact they believed in the Creeds , that is in the form of belief which the Church of England , for instance , accepts for true . See Jacques de Malay ' s
confession , quoted in a previous article . He confessed all that thc Catholic Church holds lo be true , though not enough , perhaps for the Church of Rome . If the Templars were
the depositaries of Alasonic lore , as Laurie suggests , the Hospitallers , from their intimate connection with them , could scarcely avoid the contamination , as their enemies would have said .
The Templars , as men of world , would hardly be bigoted Catholics , and would be naturally disposed towards the reception of " Light . "
I have already drawn attention to the probable initiation of the Templars into our mysteries , taught and practised as they were by the Syriac fraternities . Wh y may not the Templars have
got their Alasonry through the Saracens ? It has been objected that if we admit this , we admit the charges brought against them . But this I emphatically deny . We all know that to
be a good Alason , one must be a good man , and I am yet to be informed that it was otherwise in "the days of old . " Bro . Haye , in his History of the Knights
Templar , * says " It was stated b y De Clifton that when the arrest of the English Templars was known in Scotland , John de Husflete , Preceptor of Blancradoch , and the others , threw off their
habits , fled , and dispersed themselves " propter scandalum exortum contra ordinem , " and we are told by a learned French author that , having
deserted the Temple , they ranged themselves under the banner of Robert Bruce , and fought with him at Bannockburn .
Reynouard excuses himself from speculating on the fate of the Scottish Kni ghts in these words : — " Que devinrent ils ? Ce n ' est pas a
moi de soulcier le voile mysterieux de ces in fortunes ; l'histoire publique se tait ; mon devoie est de me fa ire comme elles . "
Legend states that after the decisive battle of Bannockburn , when Scotland drove the usurping English from her soil , Bruce , in return for their
eminent services , formed these Templars into a new body , } with rules based on those ofthe ori ginal Order . " ( To le continued . )