-
Articles/Ads
Article GHIVA.LET, ← Page 11 of 12 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ghiva.Let,
Upon , this Ghazan sent an embassy to the Pope and the sovereigns of Europe , soliciting the return of the Christian army to Palestine , offering to give them possession of the country . However , save some kind words from Boniface , there was no reply to the application . Ghazan was therefore compelled to return to Persia , leaving 20 , 000 men under the command of the Templars , with which force they were enabled to drive the Saracens into Egypt .
The Mussulmans of Syria , however , rose against the combined force of Templars and Persians , when it was compelled to retreat . The Templars subsequently retired to the small Island of Aradus , in the Mediterranean , which they fortified ; the Moslems soon attacked their position with a most powerful fleet and army , and though they
made a gallant defence , all the Knights and their troops , save about one hundred and twenty , were killed or made prisoners . This small remnant , which had taken refuge in a strong tower , offered to surrender if they were permitted to depart to Cyprus in safety . The emir eommanding the besiegers agreed to this proposal , but no sooner were the Templars in his power than he put them in chains
and sent them to Egypt . The final abandonment of the Holy Land , on the failure of this last attempt of the Templars , induces us to essay a sketch of a country necessarily of great interest to every Mason . The Promised Land , properly so called , was bounded on the east by the Jordan ,
on the west by the Mediterranean , on the south by the river Nile and the desert , and on the north by the mountains of Lebanon ; and the whole country so described w as the battle-field of the Crusaders . Of its fertility , at a distance of thirty-six centuries , we have
the testimony of the emissaries sent by Moses " to spy out the land , " that " in the valley of Eschol they cut down one bunch of grapes , and bare it on a staff between two ( men ); " and further they said , " we came unto the land whither thou sentest us , and surely it floweth with milk and honey . " However extraordinary this may appear , nevertheless , even under the comparative neglect of the vine
in Palestine , it is allowed that clusters of grapes of a most extraordinary size are common ; and the district in which the brook Eschol is situate , and particularly the valley through which it flows , is still noted for the superiority . of its grapes . The description—in Deuteronomy viii . 7 , 8 , 9 , of its being " a good land , " " land of wheat , barley , & c , " and of its being also a land where the favoured people should " eat bread without any scarceness , " and " not lack
anything in it , "—still , to a great extent , holds good . In the most glorious time of the Israelites , we find that Solomon was to pay the King of Tyre , for building the Temple , 20 , 000 measures of wheat for his household , besides an equal number of measures of barley for the hewers of wood in the forests of Lebanon . At the present day , inefficient as is all cultivation of the soil , when the rain does not fail , the product of grain richly repays the husbandman . The figs and pomegranates are very large and fine . Mr . Came says , " All the fruits are excellent in their kind , and although there is no
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ghiva.Let,
Upon , this Ghazan sent an embassy to the Pope and the sovereigns of Europe , soliciting the return of the Christian army to Palestine , offering to give them possession of the country . However , save some kind words from Boniface , there was no reply to the application . Ghazan was therefore compelled to return to Persia , leaving 20 , 000 men under the command of the Templars , with which force they were enabled to drive the Saracens into Egypt .
The Mussulmans of Syria , however , rose against the combined force of Templars and Persians , when it was compelled to retreat . The Templars subsequently retired to the small Island of Aradus , in the Mediterranean , which they fortified ; the Moslems soon attacked their position with a most powerful fleet and army , and though they
made a gallant defence , all the Knights and their troops , save about one hundred and twenty , were killed or made prisoners . This small remnant , which had taken refuge in a strong tower , offered to surrender if they were permitted to depart to Cyprus in safety . The emir eommanding the besiegers agreed to this proposal , but no sooner were the Templars in his power than he put them in chains
and sent them to Egypt . The final abandonment of the Holy Land , on the failure of this last attempt of the Templars , induces us to essay a sketch of a country necessarily of great interest to every Mason . The Promised Land , properly so called , was bounded on the east by the Jordan ,
on the west by the Mediterranean , on the south by the river Nile and the desert , and on the north by the mountains of Lebanon ; and the whole country so described w as the battle-field of the Crusaders . Of its fertility , at a distance of thirty-six centuries , we have
the testimony of the emissaries sent by Moses " to spy out the land , " that " in the valley of Eschol they cut down one bunch of grapes , and bare it on a staff between two ( men ); " and further they said , " we came unto the land whither thou sentest us , and surely it floweth with milk and honey . " However extraordinary this may appear , nevertheless , even under the comparative neglect of the vine
in Palestine , it is allowed that clusters of grapes of a most extraordinary size are common ; and the district in which the brook Eschol is situate , and particularly the valley through which it flows , is still noted for the superiority . of its grapes . The description—in Deuteronomy viii . 7 , 8 , 9 , of its being " a good land , " " land of wheat , barley , & c , " and of its being also a land where the favoured people should " eat bread without any scarceness , " and " not lack
anything in it , "—still , to a great extent , holds good . In the most glorious time of the Israelites , we find that Solomon was to pay the King of Tyre , for building the Temple , 20 , 000 measures of wheat for his household , besides an equal number of measures of barley for the hewers of wood in the forests of Lebanon . At the present day , inefficient as is all cultivation of the soil , when the rain does not fail , the product of grain richly repays the husbandman . The figs and pomegranates are very large and fine . Mr . Came says , " All the fruits are excellent in their kind , and although there is no