The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARa goose. These ridiculous creatures were actuallyset forward as the divinely constituted agents bywhich the host was to be led to victory over theinfidel Turks of Asia. The result was as revoltingas the beginning was abominable. The superstitiousherd fell upon the Jewish colonists in the cities ofthe Rhine and the Moselle, and began to rob andmurder. The rabble pretended to see in the Jewsonly the enemies of Christ. In spite of the protestsof the Romish Church, under whose call the Crusadehad been begun, the Jews were massacred by thousands.When the ruffian hosts could find no furthermaterial to slaughter, the march was resumed fromthe Rhine to the Danube. The whole route was ascene of barbarous lust and licentiousness. The dayof judgment, however, at last arrived.At the Danubethe Hungarian army was drawn up to disputethe progress of the invaders. The immense rabblewas hemmed in and beaten back against the river.The tide of the Danube was red with the blood of therobbers. Very few escaped the vengeance of theHungarians and the engulfing river. Thus perishedthe fourth and last of those fanatic multitudes thatarose at the call of Peter the Hermit. Alreadymore than a 'quarter of a million of human beingshad been swallowed from sight before a regulararmy could be equipped and started in the wakeof the popular tumult. Not a Christian soldierhad thus far penetrated beyond the plain of Nice.Walter the Penniless was dead. The fame of Peterthe Hermit was also at a discount, but the feverof Europe was in nowise cooled. Tt still remainedfor her soldiery to undertake by regular expedition