“Be joyful, O Jerusalem,” says he, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “and know that the time of thy visitation hath arrived. Arise now, shake thyself from the dust, O virgin captive, daughter of Zion; arise, I say, and stand forth amongst the mighty, and see the pleasantness that cometh unto thee from thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate.... Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. This is the assistance sent unto thee from on High. Now, now, indeed, through these is that ancient promise made to thee thoroughly to be performed. ‘I will make thee an eternal joy, a glory from generation to generation.’
“Hail, therefore, O holy city, hallowed by the tabernacle of the Most High! Hail, city of the great King, wherein so many wonderful and welcome miracles have been perpetually displayed. Hail, mistress of the nations, princess of provinces, possession of patriarchs, mother of the prophets and apostles, initiatress of the faith, glory of the christian people, whom God hath on that account always from the beginning permitted to be visited with affliction, that thou mightest thus be the occasion of virtue as well as of salvation to brave men. Hail, land of promise, which, formerly flowing only with milk and honey for thy possessors, now stretchest forth the food of life, and the means of salvation to the entire world. Most excellent and happy land, I say, which receiving the celestial grain from the recess of the paternal heart in that most fruitful bosom of thine, hast produced such rich harvests of martyrs from the heavenly seed, and whose fertile soil hast no less manifoldly engendered fruit a thirtieth, sixtieth, and a hundredfold in the remaining race of all the faithful throughout the entire world. Whence most agreeably satiated, and most abundantly crammed with the great store of thy pleasantness, those who have seen thee diffuse around them (eructant) in every place the remembrance of thy abundant sweetness, and tell of the magnificence of thy glory to the very end of the earth to those who have not seen thee, and relate the wonderful things that are done in thee.”
“Glorious things are spoken concerning thee, city of God!”
CHAPTER III.
Hugh de Payens returns to Palestine—His death—Robert de Craon made Master—Success of the Infidels—The second Crusade—The Templars assume the Red Cross—Their gallant actions and high discipline—Lands, manors, and churches granted them in England—Bernard de Tremelay made Master—He is slain by the Infidels—Bertrand de Blanquefort made Master—He is taken prisoner, and sent in chains to Aleppo—The Pope writes letters in praise of the Templars—Their religious and military enthusiasm—Their war banner called Beauseant—The rise of the rival religio-military order of the Hospital of St. John.
| “We heard the tecbir, so the Arabs call Their shouts of onset, when with loud appeal They challenge heaven, as if demanding conquest.” |
Hugh de Payens.
A. D. 1129.