The Knights Templars.

-vast numbers of the Saracens . The rest of the . . galleys of Saladin , escaping from the hands of the Christians , fled to the army of the Saracens ; on which , by his command , being drawn on shore , sSaladin , with his own hand , had them reduced to

shes and embers ; and moved with excessive grief , after cutting off the ears and tail of his liorse , rode upon it in the sight of all through the -whole army . Farewell . " Tyre was defended valiantly till the winter rains

set in , when Saladin , despairing of success , raised the siege and burning his military engines , repaired to Damascus . He now set at liberty the 'king and the Grand Master of the Templars . Guy was released on swearing to abdicate the throne

aud depart from the kingdom ; but having done this by coercion , the bishops absolved him from 'his oath . Thereupon he repaired to Tyre , but 'Conrad refused him admittance , declaring that , as the people had made him their leader , and he had

preserved the town from the attacks of Saladin , it belonged of right to him . Guy then repaired to Antioch , whither the Christians resorted to concert plans for renewing the war with Saladin .

At liberty , and surrounded by the gallant spirits -of the Temple , Gerard resolved to strike once more valiantly in the cause of the Cross . He -sent off expresses to Europe , commanding the ¦ preceptors there to forward him money and

Knights , and likewise to those castles which the Order still held in the Holy Land , urging the defenders to hold out to the last , and promising to send them assistance . His example fired with fresh enthusiasm the hearts of tha Templars , and

raised up obstacles to the complete capture of the Holy Laud by Saladin . Taking with him a chosen loand of Templars , the Grand Master departed to watch the doings of the Sultan .

Chapter Xii.

CHAPTER XII .

GEAND MASTES —GERARD DE EIDEFORT . Hffcct upon the Europeans by the tidings of the successes of the Mussulmen . —The Pone orders a new Crusade—Arming for the Crusade . —Saladin renews his attacks . — Heroism of the Templars—Attack of Safet . —Saladin ¦ repulsed at Tortosa by Gerard da Eidefort . —2 Y _ A . es

several important towns . —Surrender of Safet . —The Christians attack A' : re . — -Pitch-id battle on the plain . — Haul of the Mussulmen . —Saladin rallies the fleers and , resumes the fight—Death of Gerard de R ' uhfort . —* .. !> . 1187-89 . The news brought by the Christians from Palestine of the capture of the Holy Cross and the citv

Chapter Xii.

of Jerusalem by the Mussulmen , spread consternation and awe among all the nations of Europe . Urban III ., the reigning pontiff , died of grief at the terrible tidings . Kings forgot the evils which hung over their own territories , to bewail , the

desolation of Canaan . Even private grief for the dead was lost in the public lamentation . Then arose from the wicked clergy , nobility , and people , doleful cries to Heaven for mercy . Princes smote their breasts , exclaiming , that their sins

had brought destruction upon the land of God . The heads of the church looked upon these evils as the offspring of their own vile conduct and character . Luxury was thrown aside , injuries pardoned , and alms bestowed . The rich slept

amid ashes , the dainty clothed themselves in sackcloth , and the sinning expiated their disorderly lives bv fasting and humiliation . The clergy set

the example of reformation . Tne morals of the cloister were purified , and cardinals condemning themselves to a life-long poverty , promised to repair to the Holy Laud , trusting to the charity of the pious for assistance on the way . That the

supernatural might not be wanting to excite the Christians to penitence , several crucifixes and images of the saints shed tears of blood in presence of the faithful ; and priests carried from city to city images representing Jerusalem trampled

under foot by the Sai-acens . A seven years ' truce was entered into by the sovereigns of Europe , under the pain of excommunication . Money was ordered to be collected to defray the expenses of a new Crusade . The money was

collected in each parish , in the presence of the priest , the rural dean , one Templar , and two or three other parties specially appointed for that purpose .

Gregory the fill ., the successor of Urban , issued instructions for the preaching of the new Crusade , and in a bull he described the disastrous condition of the Holy Land , the valiant deeds of the Templars , and their butchery by Saladin . The

man who was the principal preacher of the new Crusade was William , Archbishop of Tyre . His success in raising the angry spirit of the faithful , and of despatching armies to the east to die in a ruined cause , was no less brilliant than were those

of the Hermit iu the first , and St . Bernard in the second , Crusade . William , who had served the last offices of the church to the valiant Knights who fell at Kedron , and who had seen his bishopric overrun and destroyed by the Mussulmen , filled