Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-05-16

l Sss>sO eAAN F0DoOA away 0k6Iu ouu
William the Norman, bastard, par.
celled ont England among his bar.
ons, and still the saplipp grew.
and the dews and the rains
fed it's leaves, and the birds builded their
nests among its branches for many gen.
erations. And still the years came and
went, and the Indian hunter slept in the
shade of the small saplinR and Richsrd,
OF the Lion Heart, fought ct Acre and al
Ascalon, and Johns bold barons wrested
from him the great charter, and loi the
saplinR bad become tree; and still II
grew and thrust its great arms wider
abroad, and lifts it's head still higher
toward the heavens; strong.rooted, and
defiant OF the storms that roared and
eddied through its branches; and when
Columbus ploughed with his keels the
unknown waters OF the Western Atlantic.
and Cortes and Pizsro bathed the cross
IN blood; and the Puritan and the
Hnguenot, the Cavalier and the follower
OF Fem, sought refuge and resting
place beyond the ocean, the great oak
still stood, firm-rooted, vigorous, stately,
haughtlly domineering over all the
forest, needless of all the centuries that
had hurried past since the Wild Indian
planted the little acorn in the forest:
and stout and bale old tree, with wide
circumference shading many road of
ground, and fit to furnish timbers for q
ship to carry the thunders of the great
republics guns around the world. So
has our order grown with every pruning
death, new and grander life, striking its
roots deeper and broader and surer in
response to every storm of persecution
hurled against 1t by popes and kings.
Probably few OF you need to be told Of
the small beginning made in the year
lll8, when nine of the Knights Cru
saders in the east, among whom were
Hugh De Payens and Geoffrey de Saint
Omer, consecrated themselves to re-
llgion, taking their VOWS between the
hands of the holy patriarch, of Constan-
tlnople, then as now, the recognized
heao of the Eastern or Greek church.
1t is often supposed that the Knights
Templars are the Successors of the Cru
saders simply and only. but this is far
from the truth. The vast armies who
went forth to rescue the holy city from
the hands of the Saracens had broken
themselves and fallen back in scattered
tragments, when this religious order was
tlrst instituted; nor was 1t organized un.
der the protecting power of the papacy; /;
but, though it was an order within the
church, it has received from the popes,
with perhaps single exception, moth.
ing but the most intense hatred and per-
secution to the bitter death. Both in
its inception and its objects it was an.
tagonistic to the papacy. Rome claimed
to be the capital of the christian world,
and the source of all the sacerdotaI roy.
alties. Constantinople made almost
similar claims for itself, though less ex-
elusive, but the templars had still a
third idea, namely: The rebuilding of
the temple at Jerusalem and making the
holy city for the christian world what it
had been to Judaism. 1t was q secret
order, with rough habit and simple diet
like many other orders both in the east.
ern and western branches of the church
In order not to seem to antagonize
Rome they avowed their object to be to
protect tho Uhxieti~e. ~. mo 60 .:.:4
the holy places; and probably this pro.
iession Was quite true as one of their OBJ.
jects. But the very name of the order-as
we'll Mssons as Templars suggests then
ulterier purpose. They took for theil
models in the bible, the warrior Masont
of Zerubabel, and they created degrees
or grades, by means of which they
might reveal more or less of their PLAN
and purposes, as seemed best and mos
conducive to the general object of the
order; though whether the Templart
themselves created some of the lower
degrees, or whether finching them
among regularly organized bodies o
men already existing and associatinl
themselves Herewith, it seems impossi
BILE to determine. But you will asl
what has this to do with the subject il
hand-Life out of Death? 1t has thi
to do with it; that afterwards the orde
was prescribed and apparently destroy
ed from the face of the earth-that no
satisfied with seeing jacques de Molay
the grand master, with hundreds of hi
faithful followers consigned to tn
flames, the property of the Templar
confscated, and themselves hunted lik
beasts of prey throughout Europe-nc
satisfied with this, the pope would fo
low them into the abodes of the dea
and consign their souls to everlastin
burnlngs. So it was written in the q
i locution Of Clement V-Let me quot
! from friend of Rome and an enemy {
the Tempiars, who shall tell us in fe,
i words the story OF the downfall of thi
+ magnificent order. "The seeds of deca
we're Gown IN the order of the temple 6
its origin. 1t had conceived gres
!. work which it was incapable of execu
n ing, because it knew neither humilit
r nor personal abnegation, becaui
Rome was then invincible an
i because the later chiefs of the order di
= not comprehend its mission. Moreove
d the Templars we're IN general uneducate
4 and capable of only welding the swort
r with no qualifications for governing, {
I at need enchanting, that queen of Il
]. world called opinion. Hugh de Payer
h himself had not that keen and far sightt
I intellect nor that grandeur OF purpof
which afterward distinguished the mil
J. tary founder of another soldiery tn,
n became formidable to kings. II
: Templars we're unintellieent and ther
= fore unsuccessful Jesuits. Their watc
word was, to become wealthy, in order
buy the world. They became 80, and
1872 they possessed in Europe alol
more than nine thousand seigniorie
Riches were the goal on which they we
wrecked. They became insolent and a
wisely showed their contempt for Il
religious and social institutions viii,
they aimed to overthrow. Their ami
tion was fatal to them. Their proiec
we're OWNED and prevented. POI
Clement V. and King Phillip le Bel ga
the signal to Europe and the Templal
taken as it were in an immense net, We
It arrested, disarmed and cast into prise
Never was coup d'esfot accomplish
l. with more formidable concert of actio
9 The whole world was struck with stup
J. and eagerly waited for the stran
L revelations OF process that =
], to echo through 60 ma
{, aRea. The end of the drama ia =,