The Knights Templars.

selected the Virgin Mary— " La doce Mere de Dieu" ( the sweet Mother of God ); ancl their resolution , so much akin to the religious and chivalrous feelings of the age , obtained for them the approbation and the warm support of Baldwin

IL , King of Jerusalem , and Guarimond , the Patriarch of the Holy City . In the presence of the latter , and between his hands , they took the three monastic vows of poverty , chastity , and obedience ; while , in their military character , they added a

fourth , to defend pilgrims , and keep the sword for ever unsheathed against the infidels in protection of the Holy Land . For their rule they adopted that of St . Augustine . Considerable doubt exists as to the precise date

when they formed their company , but the probability is that it was immediately after the capture of Jerusalem . Wendover and others set it down

as 1118 , but this is erroneous . They must have been formed long before that year , and the mistake is easily understood when it is remembered that , in 1118 , they received the gift of certain lands in Jerusalem from King Baldwin for their good

services in the cause of the Cross . " As they had no fixed residence , the ' Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon' gave them a habitation in his palace on the south side of the Lords' Temple , and the canons of the Temple gave up to them the open

space which belongs to them round the palace to build offices upon" ( Wendover , A . D . 1118 ) . In these offices the company kept their annour and equipments , and , from their proximity to the Temple , they styled themselves "The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ . " * The Patriarch , the

King , the nobles , and the prelates gave them large donations to find them in arms , dress , and food . The Temple , from Avhich the Order derived its name , ivas the old church of the Virgin , erected ,

by the Emperor Justinian , on the extreme edge of Mount Moriah , south of the site of the Mosque of Omar { i . e . tbe Temple of the Lord ) against the modern walls of Jerusalem . The Musselmen , on capturing the Holy City , converted it into a mosque ,

which they called D'janie al Aesa . -j- When the Holy City became the conquest of the Crusaders , it fell to the King of Jerusalem , and is called by William of Tyre " the Royal House to the south of the Temple of the Lord , commonly called the Temple of Solomon . " The Temple of Solomon ,

according to the Ordnance Survey , has been built on vaults , to bring up a level surface for it . Procopius * has given a most astonishing description , or the building , which ivould not appear to have been in the slightest exaggerated- ) - . To obtain a

level for the building , a wall of Masonry was raised from the valley below on the east and south sides of the hills , and a vast foundation , consisting partly of solid stone and partly of arches and pillars , was constructed . The stones used Avere of

such a size , that each block required to be transported upon a truck drawn by forty of the Emperor ' s strongest oxen ; and to admit of the passage of these trucks it was necessary to ivideii the roads leading to Jerusalem . The forests of Lebanon yielded their choicest cedars for the

timbers of the roof , and a quarry of variegated marble in the adjoining mountains furnished the edifice with superb marble columns . . Addison says that the interior of this interesting structure , ivhich still remains at Jerusalem , after a lapse of

more than thirteen centuries , in an excellent state of preservation , is adorned with six roAvs of columns , from whence spring arches supportingthe cedar beams and timbers of the roof , and at the end of the building is a round tower

surmounted-by a dome . The vast stones , the walls of masonry , and the subterranean colonnade raised to support the south-east angle of the platform . Avhereon the church is erected , are truly wonderful , and may still be seen by penetrating through a small door , and descending several flights of steps at the south-east corner of the enclosure .

The first profession of the Templars was , for the remission of their sins , to clear of robbers the roads through which the pilgrims had to pass on their way to Jerusalem , J but having now obtained a footing as a poAver , a house to live m ,

a church to worship in , and a certain revenue , th © Knights gradually extended the sphere of their operations . A few of the flowers of Christian chivalry ivere received among them , but numbers were not thought of then , nor had the idea of

forming a great military and religious Order been conceived . The lives of the members were now in constant danger . Ever ready at a moment ' s notice to depart to the succour and assistance of pilgrims , they succeeded in banding the attacks of , and finally exterminating , the marauders who ,