The Knights Templars.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .

By ANTHOJTY OXEAL HAVE . ( Continued from yafjc , 386 . ) CHAPTER YIII . —[ Continued . ) In the year 1185 occurs one of those blots

upon the escutcheon of the Order , ivhich drew doAvn upon the Templars the anger and hatred of the Christians . It Avas a rare thing for a Templar to renounce his faith , abandon the white mantle and ruddy cross of the Order , ancl under the

banners of the Moslem , to take up arms against his Christian brethren . Various reasons conspired to prevent him ; the holiness of the cause in which lie fought , and -which from his earliest days lie had been trained to regard as the most pleasing

in the sight of God , and in fact a direct passport to the joys of heaven : a sense of the honour conferred upon hiu : by the . Order receiving him into liis ranks , and . a feeling of pride that made him view the Mussulmen as an . inferior race , to be

trampled upon and slain , but never to be made companions of . Robert de Saint Albans , a brother of the Order of the Temj . le , an Englishman by birth , ancl Avho had been received in the preceptory at London , enraged at some punishment

which had been inflicted on him , as well as beingdisappointed in obtaining- a certain office in the Order , flung-off the dress of the Templars , denied the faith of his baptism , turned Mahometan , ancl joined the Saracens under Saladin . He promised

the Sultan to deliver up to him the city of Jerusalem , or failing that , to lay it in ashes . Saladin was delighted with his new ally , and gave him his niece in marriage , and a considerable body of troops . lie soon after put the renegade in

command of his army , and made him his general . Robert , upon this appointment , went forth Avith his army to the plains of Saint George , and dividing it into three divisions , sent two to lay the adjacent territory Avaste . His instructions Avere

strictly obeyed , ancl the Saracens ravaged the whole country from Mont Royal to Naplous , ancl destroyed Jericho , Sebaste , and other important cities , besides putting every one to the sword who resisted , and reduced the survivors to slavery .

Robert , at the head of the third division , marched against the city of Jerusalem , on Avhich the Templars , wroth at the treachery of their former brother , assembled the few inhabitants and marched forth against the renegade . The Avood

of the Holy Cross ivas carried before the littlearmy as a standard , and encouraged by its presence in their ranks the Christians boldly attacked , the Infidel and pat them to flight . Robert- - escaped ivith great difficulty from the defenders- ,

of that standard under whose folds , in former times , he had proved himself a valiant champion , of the Cross , from those AVIIO had once called hi-ia . " brother , " bub ivho were now the bitterest of his foes . So enraged were the Templars at the das- ¦

tardly conduct of St . Albans , that they dashed ... furiously at the spot where he commanded , and . the recreant only escaped by the sacrifice of Mssoldiers , AVIIO threw themselves between him an _ d . the Knights . Had they succeeded in capturingr

him , his death would have been one , of signal . justice . We have been unable to discover thefate of the recreant , but likely he fell in someof the subsequent battles . This treachery on ., the part of St . Albans brought much

discredit upon the Order to which he belonged ,, and caused great repining and sorrow among the-. Christians .

De vertot mentions another instance of Mehsy ,.. an apostate Templar , Avho was made king © J" . Armenia , and joined his forces ivith Saladin ' s , batin an engagement with the Christians ivas forced .-to retire to the mountains , where he was imiyderes ..

by his own grandees . There are only two other instances recorded of Templars becoming Mahometans , one at the siege of Damietta , and feh & other at the capture of Safet , to which we -will , refer in their proper places . We must

remember-that the Templars Avere not the only ones -whogive instances of apostacy . Among the othev .-religious orders and the general body of Christians ,. , there were many renegades , and , as Ave will showm .

a future chapter , Eaymond , Count of Tripoli- the regent of the kingdom , ivas openly accused o . ? . having become a convert to Mahometanism .. The only Avon der is that there are not mw & - instances of apostacy among the Templars , and it

disproves , in a signal manner , the iniquitousaspersion that has often been flung upon the Order by their writers , of their being secretly in alliance . ' ivith the Infidels . Moreover , the case of Eobertde St . Albans , is the only well authenticated one-..

The others are given by authorities whose statements Ave must treat with great caution , as oJie-Avas the bitterest enemy of the Order , another- i __ 5 . eulogist of the Hospitallers , the Templars' rivals ,., ; and the third an Arabian historian .