THE KNIGHTS TEMFLAUS. we are the Lord's. How gloriously do tbe victors return from the fight, bow happy do the martyrs die in battle ! Rejoice, valiant champion, if thou livest and conquerest in the Lord, but rejoice rather and glory if thou shonldest die and be joined unto the Lord. . . . If those are happy who die in the Lord, how much more so are those who diefor the Lord ! . . . Precious in the sight of God will be the death of his holy soldiers." " The sword," says the prophet Mahomet, on the other hand, " is the key of heaven and of hell ; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of lasting and of prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven him at the day of judgment. Hie wounds will be resplendent as vermilion, jind "odoriferous as musk, and the loss of limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and of clierubims." Thus writes the famous Caliph Abubcker, the successor of Mahomet, to the Arabian tribes : " In the name of the most merciful GOD , Abdullah Athick Ib'n Ahi Kohapha, to the rest of the true believers." " This is to acquaint you, that I intend to send the true believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels, and I would have you to know, that the fghiing for religion is an act of obedience to GOD." " Remember," said the same successor of the prophet and commander of the faithful, to the holy warriors who had assembled in obedience to his mandate, " that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of paradise. ... . When yon fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, and turn not your backs." The prowess and warlike daring of the Templars iu the field are thus described by St. Bernard. " W'hen the conflict has begnn, then at length they throw aside their former meekness and gentleness, exclaiming, Do not J