“In 1743, the Kadosh degree was invented at Lyons (so writes Thory, at least), and “it represents the revenge of the Templars.” And here we find Findel saying that “the Order of Knights Templars had been abolished in 1311, and to that epoch they were obliged to have recourse when, after the banishment of several Knights from Malta, in 1740, because they were Freemasons, it was no longer possible to keep up a connection with the Order of St. John, or Knights of Malta, then in the plenitude of their power under the sovereignty of the Pope.”
Turning to Clavel, one of the best Masonic authorities, we read: “It is clear that the erection of the French Order of the Knight Templars is not more ancient than the year 1804, and that it cannot lay any legitimate claim to being the continuation of the so-called society of ‘la petite Resurrection des Templiers’, nor this latter, either extend back to the ancient Order of the Knights Templars.” Therefore, we see these pseudo-Templars, under the guidance of the worthy Father Jesuits, forging in Paris, 1806, the famous charter of Larmenius.
Twenty years later, this nefast and subterranean body, guiding the hand of assassins, directed it toward one of the best and greatest princes in Europe, whose mysterious death, unfortunately for the interest of truth and justice, has never been – for political reasons – investigated and proclaimed to the world as it ought to have been. It is this prince, a Freemason himself, who was the last depository of the secrets of the true Knights Templar. For long centuries these had remained unknown and unsuspected.
Holding their meetings once every thirteen years, at Malta, and their Grand Master advising the European brothers of the place of rendezvous but a few hours in advance, these representatives of the once mightiest and most glorious body of Knights assembled on the fixed day, from various points of the earth. Thirteen in number, in commemoration of the year of the death of Jacques Molay (1313), the now Eastern brothers, among whom were crowned heads, planned together the future religious and political fate of the nations; while the Popish Knights, their murderous and bastard successors, slept soundly in their beds without a dream disturbing their guilty consciences.
“And yet”, says Rebold, “notwithstanding the confusion they had created (1736-72), the Jesuits had accomplished but one of their designs, viz., denaturalizing and bringing into disrepute the Masonic Institution. Having succeeded, as they believed, in destroying it in one form, they were determined to use it in another. With this determination, they arranged the systems styled ‘Clerkship of the Templars’, an amalgamation of the different histories, events, and characteristics of the crusades mixed with the reveries of the alchemist. In this combination Catholicism governed all, and the whole fabrication moved upon wheels, representing the great object for which the Society of Jesus was organized.” Hence, the rites and symbols of Masonry which though “Pagan” in origin, are all applied to and all flavor of Christianity.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 