The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-01-28
MAJOR HILLS LECTURE.
DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNI
vERsITY CLUB LAST NIGHT.
on the Ancient knights Templar
Listened to with Close Attention.

Il
Major H. c. Hill read an interesting
paper on 1.-THE Ancient Knights Tenn
plar" before the University club last
evening.
"a knowledge of the subject Ancient
knights Templar,' - said the speaker.
must be sought in the history of the
Holy Land and of the Crusaders. There
was something about the order that
invited fancy, an air of romance per-
vading it's entire history. 1t had its
inception in religious enthusiasm upon
which it grew, by which it was fos-
tered, and by which ii was destroyed.
The knights were neither scholars or
clerks and seem to have kept scant re-
cord of themselves. At the time in which
they lived and fought and died few in
any class could either read or write.
The Templars hardly had time for Wri-
ting. To ride the horse, thrust the
lance and strike home with the sword
were his cares. Singular, indeed that
an order which had TOR its motto Our
der the cross, should at last lie perse-
cuted and destroyed by priests of the
church. Upon the death of Christ,
Palestine became a holy land, and as
the christian faith grew, pilgrimages
were made thither by converts, and
about 800 years A. D., the Empress Hell
ena, mother of Constantine the emperor,
visited in person every place connected
with the birth, life and death of Him
who died upon the cross. She it is to
whom christendom is indebted for the
discovery of the holy sepulchre, over
which site she and her son caused to
be erected e magnificent Church of
the Resurrection, now known as the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Tr1 Oft
struggles, the Turcomans from beyond
the Caspian sea conquered the holy
land and the mild sway of the caliphs
Iof Egypt was exchanged for that of
those fierce northern strangers, under
the command of Emir Ortch, the ief
of the savage pastoral tribe, under
whose rule the Christians were fear
fully, brutally and inhumanly OPP
pressed. So much so that Christians
Throughout the world were horror
stricken at the recitals of returning
pilgrims and at once arose the wild
enthusiasm of the crusades, augment
ed by the preachings of the pope and
the preachings of Peter the hermit.
To alleviate the dangers and dis
tresses to which these pious enthusi-
aStS were exposed, to guard the honor
of the sanity virgins and matrons,
nine noble knights, headed by Hugh
de Payens, formed themselves into a
brotherhood of arms, binding them
selves by a solemn compact to aid and
succor each other, in clearing the high
ways Of robbers and infidels and in
protecting the pilgrims through the
passes and defileS of the mountains on
their way to the holy city These
Knights called themselves at first the
Poor F'elloW-Soldiers of Christ"
They We're warriors, not re-
cluses, fighters not preachers.
They rendered such great and accept
able service to the Christians that in
the year LIS, Baldwin II, then king
| of Jerusalem, gave to them the use
Of the church of the Holy SepuIchre
and granted them Information on
Mount Moriah within the sacred en-
closure of the Temple, and amid those
holy and magnificent structures partly
erected by the Christian emperor Jus
tinian and partly by the CaIiph Omar,
| which were then exhibited by the
priests and monks of Jerusalem as the
Temple of Solomon; and so those
Poor fellow soldiers of Christ came
thenceforward to be known as the
knights of the Temple of Solomon"
Thus is the origin and title of the orga-
nization of Knights Templar traced
Those knights were a religious order
subject to the pope and were soldiers
! of the church. The business of the
business was to fight Nine young gen
tlemen Of France whose sole object
in life was to escort pious souls to the
scene of Christ's sufferings and resur-
rection founded the order. Their life
was spent in fighting. The only trouble
with the order of knights Templar
was that they were too few in num-
Der. Grand Master Hugh de Payens
died in 1,1S6 and was succeeded by Lord
Robert of Caron. The first great con-
clave of the Templars was held in
Paris just afterward, and was attend
| ed by the pope, the king of France
prelates, princes and mobiles from ali
parts of Christendom. Thenceforth the
order rapidly increased. Then the sec
ond crusade started for Palestine I'M
der Louis, king of France. The sue
ceeding years of the organization were
full of bloody conflict and desperate
endeavor. Their history is traced
through blood and crime and war to
their downfall and destruction.