Sturgeon had reported, before he claimed that Russell asked for a Roman toga, that he could not understand what Russell was saying, and he also reported that Russell was trying to find some way to keep warm; Russell indicated that he wanted two sheets, one on the front and one on the back, fastened together over his shoulders. Sturgeon claimed that Russell had asked for a "Roman Toga"; in view of the earlier reported efforts of Russell trying to find a way to keep warm, I believe that either Sturgeon may have misunderstood Russell, or that if Russell did ask for a Roman toga, he was simply asking for some way to keep his body warm. I highly doubt that he was trying to make some kind of statement by asking for Roman toga.
As far as the Knights Templar are concerned, they claim that they are not actually connected to the earlier "Knights Templar".
At any rate, the way it has been explained to me by several different Masons is that one can be a member of the Freemasons without joining the Knights Templar; one can be a member of the Freemasons without professing to be a Christian, but one does have to profess to believe in God, defined as the Supreme Being. Thus, at least theorectically, one could be a Jew or Muslim, or even a deist, and become a member of the Freemasons. An atheist, however, cannot join the Freemasons. Nevertheless, to join the Knights Templar (as it is today, not the old Knights Templar of several centuries ago), one has be a member of the Freemasons, and additionally one has to profess to be Christian, and a believer in the trinity. Thus, a Jew or a Muslim cannot join the Knights Templar, even though he may be a member of the Freemasons, except that he should become a Christian. Several of the Knights Templar I have spoken with have claimed that they, being Christian, had simply adopted the cross and crown symbolism from the traditional churches.
Russell, in his writings, seemed to confuse the Knights Templar and the Freemasons as being one and the same thing; however, I have come across many people who seem to think the same thing.