The Knights Templars,

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS ,

By ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE . CHAPTER I . —( Continued . ) Causes xvhich led to the foundation of the Order . —Pilgrimages . —Frolmond . —Fulh de Nerva . —State of Jernsaleni and Palestine during the end of the eleventh century . —Ill-treatment of Pilgrims to the Ilohj Land , and consequent rage of Europeans thereat . — The first Crusade .

( Continued from page 148 . ) Yiewing these perils as the visible mark of God ' s anger upon him for his crimes , Fulk's repentance and remorse became deeper and more fervent . However , after great danger and difficulty , he

reached the Holy City in safety , and proceeded with all expedition to work out his redemption . While one servant led him by a rope placed round his neck to the Holy Sepulchre , the other stripped and whipped * him through the streets , something

in the same manner as his more celebrated descendant , Henry II ., was flagellated by the Monks -of Canterbury after the murder of A'Beckett . He roamed about Jerusalem , attended by his servants , repeating the prayers of the penitent , and the

islurnbers of the inhabitants were broken at midnight by the sound of his servants beating him with rods , as he went from shrine to shrine , uttering doleful cries for pardon , and exclaiming , "Lord , have mercy on a faithless and perjured

¦ Christian , on a sinner wandering far from his home ! " He gave , at the same time , abundant alms to the poor and rich gifts to the various altars and shrines . Indeed , if his piety had been measured by his liberalitj' ' , few saints in the Roman Calendar could have equalled his sanctity . Yet the following anecdote shows that the old leaven

was not completely gone , and that , though he might live in peace and harmony with his fellow Christians , he did not hold himself bound to do so with the infidels . Indeed , it appears to have been in those days not only a meritorious action , but the means of gaining a few steps advance on the

ladder of salvation , to murder and plunder as many of the heathen as possible . While visiting the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem the Saracens attempted to inveigle him into defiling the shrine . * Fulk evaded this by a pious fraud ,

and in revenge for their malignity , as he lay prostrate before the sacred tomb , he succeeded in eluding their vigilance , and stole from it a precious jewel , which he carried back to Europe with him . Having spent some time in the Holy Land , he

returned to ^ Europe , bringing with him a portion of the True Cross , and the stone upon which he knelt while he prayed before the tomb of our Lord . Desirous of having ever before him something by which to recall the places which he had visited in

the Holy Land , he built , at his castle of Loches , in Anjou , a church after the model of the Chapel of the Resurrection at Jerusalem . Before the high altar of this church he spent much time in prayer , and endeavoured , by continued alms and good

works , to propitiate heaven and obtain forgiveness for his sins ; but , surrounded as he was with scenes crimsoned by the blood of his innocent victims , he could find no peace . Every step he took recalled to his recollection some dark deed of infamy , and the murdered ones once more flocked around his

bed . In the dead of nig ht his castle rang with his shrieks of anguish and horror , and his terrified domestics found him in the morning lying senseless-before a crucifix in his chamber . His groans resembled more the howlings of the wild beasts of the forest than the cries of a mortal man . Thus ,

finding no rest from the pangs of conscience while he remained at the scenes of his former atrocities , Fulk once more departed for the Holy Land , where he edified and delighted the pious by the severity of his penances . Again he returned to Europe ,

and , passing through Italy , he delivered the Sovereign Pontiff from a brigand who made war upon all pilgrims and merchants , and who was then ravafiino- the States of the Church . His Holiness , in gratitude for this deliverance , bestowed upon him full absolution for his sins , aud permitted him to bear about with him the relics of two saints .

When he left Rome , he was accompanied to the gates in triumph by the clergy and people , who proclaimed him their Liberator . But even the Pope could give him no relief—no absolution had effect to quell the anguish of a guilty conscience ; so that , after vainly attempting to drive away the memory of past days by building towns and