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Article THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. ← Page 7 of 7
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The Knights Templar.
undertook their defence he would do well seriously to reflect upon what he was ; that he ought especially to remember the confession he himself had made at Chinon , not only of his own crimes but of those of the Order . Then the confession was read over to him . Never was astonishment equal to that of the Grand Master . When he heard it
read he made the sign of the cross , and cried out , and if the three Cardinals before whom he had appeared at Chinon , and who had subscribed to his examination , were of any other quality he knew what he should say . Hereupon the commissioners pressed him to explain himself more clearly . Being no longer able to repress his resentment , and
yielding to the impulse of violated nature , he exclaimed , " They deserve the same punishment that the Saracens and Tartars inflict upon liars and impostors , whose bellies , " continued he , " they rip up , and strike off their heads . "
Without explaining himself any further upon this subject , he thought proper only to urge , that the Pope had reserved to himself the cognizance of what related to him and the other chiefs of the Order , and insisted upon being sent to him . He added , that with respect to the Order of the Templars , he should say only three things in its favour : First : That excepting- Cathedral Churches , there was not one in all Christendom where divine service w as solemnized with more
devotion , or where there was a greater number of relics or richer ornaments . Secondly : That in all their commanderies they gave alms thrice a week . Thirdly : That there was not any Order or nation where Knights and gentlemen exposed their lives more freely for the defence of
Christianity than the Templars had always done . The commissioners told him that all that was to no purpose without faith . He replied that the Templars believed implicitly all that the Catholic Church believed and taught ; and that it was to maintain this hol y
belief such numbers of those Templars had shed their blood fighting against Saracens , Turks and Moors . ( To be continued ?)
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Knights Templar.
undertook their defence he would do well seriously to reflect upon what he was ; that he ought especially to remember the confession he himself had made at Chinon , not only of his own crimes but of those of the Order . Then the confession was read over to him . Never was astonishment equal to that of the Grand Master . When he heard it
read he made the sign of the cross , and cried out , and if the three Cardinals before whom he had appeared at Chinon , and who had subscribed to his examination , were of any other quality he knew what he should say . Hereupon the commissioners pressed him to explain himself more clearly . Being no longer able to repress his resentment , and
yielding to the impulse of violated nature , he exclaimed , " They deserve the same punishment that the Saracens and Tartars inflict upon liars and impostors , whose bellies , " continued he , " they rip up , and strike off their heads . "
Without explaining himself any further upon this subject , he thought proper only to urge , that the Pope had reserved to himself the cognizance of what related to him and the other chiefs of the Order , and insisted upon being sent to him . He added , that with respect to the Order of the Templars , he should say only three things in its favour : First : That excepting- Cathedral Churches , there was not one in all Christendom where divine service w as solemnized with more
devotion , or where there was a greater number of relics or richer ornaments . Secondly : That in all their commanderies they gave alms thrice a week . Thirdly : That there was not any Order or nation where Knights and gentlemen exposed their lives more freely for the defence of
Christianity than the Templars had always done . The commissioners told him that all that was to no purpose without faith . He replied that the Templars believed implicitly all that the Catholic Church believed and taught ; and that it was to maintain this hol y
belief such numbers of those Templars had shed their blood fighting against Saracens , Turks and Moors . ( To be continued ?)