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CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ. The history of the Knights Templars, Temple Church, and the Temple

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CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ.
The history of the Knights Templars, Temple Church, and the Temple
page 63



Bnnum οι hate them, Ο Lord, that hate thee, and am I not grieved with those e VP affainst t!,ee ? Tlle rusn in u n lneir B A^«? Hi6\T' w*° n' î yP o adversaries, they scatter them like sheep, in nowise fearing, though few in number, the fierce barbarism or the immense multitude of the enemy. They hare learned indeed to rely, not on their own strength, but to count on victory through the aid of the Lord God Sabaoth, to whom they believe it easy enough, according to the words of Maccabees, to make an end of many by the hands of a few, for victory in battle dependeth not on the multitude of the army, but on the strength given from on high, which, indeed, they have very frequently experienced, since one of them will pursue a thousand, and two will put to flight ten thousand. Yea, and lastly, in a wonderful and remarkable manner, they are observed to be both more gentle than lambs, and more fierce than lions, so that I almost doubt which I had better determine to call them, monks forsooth, or soldiers, unless perhaps, as more fitting, I should name them both the one and the other." At a later period, Cardinal de Vitry, Bishop of Acre, the frequent companion of the Knights Templars on their military expeditions, thus describes the religious and military enthusiasm of the Templars : " When summoned to arms they never demand the number of the enemy, but where are they Î Lions they arc in war, gentle lambs in the convent; fierce soldiers in the field, hermits and monks in religion ; to the enemies of Christ ferocious and inexorable, but to Christians kind and gracious. They carry before them," says he, " to battle, a banner, half black and white, which they call Beau-seant, that is to say, in the Gallic tongue, Bien-seant, because they are fair and favourable to the friends of Christ, but black and terrible to his enemies."* * Vexilhim bipartitimi ex Albo et Nigra quod nominant Beau-teant id est Gallica lingua Wen-aeaat ; co quod Christi aruicis candidi sunt et benigni, irtimicis vero terribiles atque nigri, JOB, de Vìtr. IlUi. nitroso!, apud Vetta liei, cap. Ιχτ, The idea is quite


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