Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met with one that had ever heard of them before The Observances prescribed in those Books are
body and drinketh my blood shall be with me Paul likewise speaketh to the same purpose when he saith the unbelieving husband is justified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband otherwise your children would be unclean whereas now they are holy Now if the Children of an Unbelieving Mother are notwithstanding that Sanctified by the Faith of their Father how much more holy must they be whose Father and Mother are both Believers For which reason it is much more pious to call such Infants before they are Baptized Half-Christians than Pagans The Apostles in their Book of Synods do likewise affirm That all who had Faith though they were not Baptized may be called Half-Christians in which Books it is said that if a Jew or Gentile or Mahometan do embrace the Faith he shall not be received presently but must first come to the door of the Church there to hear Sermons and the words of our Saviour Christ and that being disposed to Believe he may understand what Christ's yoke is after which he may be called an Half-Christian even before he is admitted to Baptism which is also according to the Gospel which saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned It is also the custom among us for Women when they are with Child to Confess their Sins and receive the Lord's Body before they are Delivered and they who neglect to do this are looked upon as Wicked and Impious Christians as are also their Husbands for not having obliged them to it Confirmation and Extream Unction are not reckoned Sacraments among us Confirmation and Extream Unction no Sacraments neither are they in use in our Church as I see they are in the Roman We do surthermore reckon it contrary to the Law of Moses and the Institutions of the Apostles to eat unclean Meats from all which we do abstain merely in Obedience to the Law and the Scriptures which with us consists of Eighty one Books that is to say the Old Testament consists of Forty one Books The Scripture the perfect Rule of Faith and the New of Thirty five which Canon or Number of Books we have expresly delivered to us by the Apostles themselves and to which it is not lawful for us to Add or Diminish any thing no not though an Angel from Heaven should persuade us to it and we do look upon him as Accursed that shall offer to do any such thing so that neither our Patriarch nor our Bishop do reckon that they can either by themselves or in a Council make any Laws That People are under an Obligation of a Mortal Sin to observe In the Books of our Synods it is ordained by the Holy Apostles That we must confess our selves before we can receive Penance from a Confessor according to the greatness of our Sin They teach us likewise how we ought to Pray and Fast and how to exercise Charity Confession is much in use among us for we have no sooner committed a Sin than we run and throw our selves at the feet of a Confessor this is the constant practice of all Men and Women of whatsoever Quality or Condition and whenever we Confess we do receive the Body of our Lord under both Species They all receive the Sacrament in both Elements It is not kept in their Churches and in Wheaten and Unleavened Bread so that if we Confess our selves daily we do daily receive the Sacrament as well Layicks as Ecclesiasticks The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not kept in our Churches as it is here in Europe neither is it at any time Administred to the Sick until after they are recovered All among us Layicks as well as Clerks do receive the Sacrament at least Three times a Week which is never received any where but in the Church It is never received but in the Church no not by the Patriarch or Precious John himself We do always make use of the same Confessor and do never go to any other but when our own is absent to whom when he returns we are bound to repair The Confessors do in the Name of the Church absolve from all Sins there being no cases no not the most heinous reserved to the Bishop or Patriarch Presbyters are not allowed to Confess themselves to those that they Confess and among us all Presbyters and Monks and all Officers of the Church do live by their own Labour for the Church hath no Tythes it has Lands which are Cultivated by the Priests and Monks either in Person or by their servants and as for Alms they receive none but those that are offered in the Church for the Burial of the dead and other Holy Offices it not being lawful for any of them to beg about the streets or to extort Alms from the common people Furthermore The Sacrament is never administred above once a day in a Church It is not shewed to the People No Masses are said for the Dead in our Churches there is never but one Mass a day which we do reckon to be a Sacrifice neither is it lawful for us according to ancient Custom to Celebrate more for which Mass we never receive any Money the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not shewed to the People among us as I observe it is here and all Priests Deacons and Subdeacons and all People whatsoever that are present at the Celebration are obliged to Communicate We say no Masses for the remission of Souls but our Dead are Buried in a Consecrated Place with Prayers and Crosses over whom among other things we recite the beginning of St. John's Gospel and do offer Alms for them the day after they are Buried and at certain other times when we have Funeral Feasts This is what I have to say of our Faith and Religion But whereas since my coming to Portugal I have had several Debates with some Doctors namely with Didacus Ortis Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dean of the King's Chappel and Pedro Magalho concerning the distinction of Meats it will not be improper for me to say something of it in this place It is to be observed that it is in obedience to the Old Testament that we observe a distinction of meats which distinction is ordained by the Word of God who was afterwards born of the Virgin Mary and walked and conversed with his Apostles which Living Word of God had always an entire and irrevocable Speech or Word and who did no where in his Gospel say that such things might be eat as were before prohibited as unclean For as to those words in the Gospel That whatsoever entreth into the mouth doth not defile the man but that which cometh forth of the mouth Christ's intent therein was not to dissolve the Law he had formerly enacted but only to confute the Superstition of the Jews who blamed the Apostles for having eat Bread with unwashen hands neither did the Apostles
young a man to have attained to so great a stock of Learning I was told likewise that he read my Treatise over and that after he had once read it it was seldom out of his Hand and that he was still shewing it to his Mother and Brothers and the Grandees of the Court and that upon the Abuna's having denounced an Excommunication against all that should read it the King had sent to him for leave to read it again and was put into such a Passion by the Abuna's having deny'd it to him that he called him Mahometan and Heretick saying He would read the Alcoran of Mahomet himself and at the same time not give him leave to read a godly Book commanding him thereupon since he was their Abuna to answer a Book that was written by a poor Clerk who had no Dignity To which the Abuna's answer was That he did not come into Ethiopia to dispute but to confer holy Orders The Court however being divided about this Affair some seeming to favour the Roman but most and especially the Queen-Mother and all her Creatures stickling for the Alexandrian Faith the King resolved to call together some of the most Learned among his Monks to have their Opinion in the matter and in order thereunto he commanded my Treatise to be Translated into Habassin leaving out those Passages he was displeased with when he first looked into it namely that where I spoke of the Pope St. Leo and of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria whom they reckon a Saint as they do Leo to be Excommunicated and Accursed and for whom they have such a detestation that they cannot endure so much as to have him named rejecting the Council of Calcedon and its Decrees which they say erred in the Faith in condemning St. Dioscorus as they unjustly Stile him Since which time they have always been separated from the Roman Church having now for 1067 years been involved in the Heresy of Sergius Paulus and Pyrhus who were all condemned in the Sixth Council of Constantinople and in that of Eutyches likewise which holds that there is but one nature in Christ The time being come when I was to receive the King's Answer I sent to know when I should wait upon him he sent me back word his Father's Embassador waited Ten years in Portugal before he could be dispatched I understood by this the King was for entertaining me with delays on purpose to keep me from returning with the Fleet which waited for us for fear least we might discover the weakness of his Empire to them and so when I went to have my Conge from him in order to my returning to Debora he commanded one to tell me That so great a man as I was and who had come so far was not to be dismissed quickly Besides that I could go no where where I could do so much good as where I was in confessing the Portugueses nevertheless if I was resolved not to remain in Ethiopia he would then desire me only to wait a month longer for his Answer and if I did not receive it then I might look upon my self as dismissed Presently after this he removed his Camp to a place that was two days journey from the place where it was we followed the Camp and being in the Field on Saturday and Sunday we set up an Altar whereon we said Mass on both those days where I was visited by three Monks who desired to have some Discourse with me about Matters of Religion One of them who was a Scholar told me That all that we did appeared well to him excepting that of our not observing Saturday and that of our cating Hare and Swine's Flesh Nevertheless after this he disgorged several Errors in Faith namely That the Souls when they leave the Body cannot presently behold the Divine Essence but are placed in a Terrestrial Paradise That the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son but from the Father only That the Son as to his Humanity was equal to the Father That none but Mahometans and Infidels were damned eternally in Hell I returned answers to all these Errors and declared the contrary Truths to him both from Scripture and Reason with which he was so fully satisfied that whispering me in the Ear that the two other Monks who were illiterate might not hear him he said What I had told him was the truth and that he believed it to be so in his heart The Month being expired I went to wait upon the King for his Answer and for leave to return home he bid me go in a good hour and as for the Fathers the King of Portugal designed to send to him he said He had appointed one to wait at Matrua to receive them when they landed being desirous to hear what they had to say to him With this I took my leave of him and passing thorough the Countries where divers of the Portugueses lived I confessed them and their Families and Married several of them to their Concubines having first reduced them to our holy Faith There was one among them who was nearly related to the King And whereas the Churches of that Countrey besides that they belong to Schismaticks have no Altars accommodated to our Service whereever we went we carried an Altar with us to celebrate on While I was in one of these places I received a Complement from a Prelate of a great Monastery of Monks of the Order of St. Anthony and one likewise from the Prelate of a Nunnery which were two Leagues off This Monastery of Monks is one of the biggest in Ethiopia it is called Debra Libanus and is of such Credit that all the Faith of Ethiopia depends upon it in a manner for which reason the Prelate thereof is in high Esteem I went to give him a Visit being attended by all the Portugueses of the place but he happened to be from home we nevertheless took a view of the Monastery which is no ways like ours neither as to Building nor as to their way of living every Monk having his distinct Dwelling-House and Land belonging to it which he cultivates with his own Hands so that the Habassin Monasteries look like Villages the Monks having their Houses on one side of the Street and the Nuns theirs on the other but not being kept asunder the Nuns are frequently troubled with Great Bellies These Monks are neither of the Order of St. Francis No mention of Rodriguez having seen the old Patriarch tho his chief business in Ethiopia was to fetch him from thence if he found him alive nor St. Austin but were founded by one Tecla Haymanot that is The Plant of the Faith who was of the Order of St. Anthony This Haymanot is a great Saint among them and is said to have killed a prodigious Serpent that was worshipped by the Heathens as a God whom he converted by that means to the Faith that is still taught in Ethiopia Thus much of Rodriguez's Relation the Jesuits have thought
privilege and primacy to his Successors in the Chair of Rome where it has continued and will continue to the end of the world so that it shall neither be in the power of Moors nor Turks nor of any other Creature to destroy it those words of our Lord Jesus the Gates of all shall not pervail against it being its sure defence So when a Controversy arose in the Church the first Council of Nice which consisted of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops threw Arius out of the Church for affirming the Son of God to be a Creature as the second Council consisting of One hundred and fifteen Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Constantinople did Macedonius for asserting the Holy Ghost to be a Creature and the third Council consisting of Three hundred Bishops did Nestorius for dividing Christ into Two Persons the Divine and Human and the fourth consisting of Six hundred and thirty Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Calcedon Excommunicated the Rebellious Dioscorus for joyning in Infidelity with Eutyches in mixing the Humanity with the Divinity so as to make One only Nature whereas it is most certain That there are Two Natures in Christ the Divine and Human on the account of which Divine Nature it was that the said Three hundred and eigheeen Fathers did put the following words into the Creed We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Father and who was with him before the World was Created as on the account of his Human Nature the following words were added And was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary with the Consent of the Father and the Son and of the said Holy Ghost Three Persons and One only God the Father and the Son not being named on that occasion being no argument of those Father 's not believing they did not Co-operate therein with the Holy Spirit but it was done on purpose to teach us That in the Most Blessed Trinity besides the operations ad Intra there are operations ad Extra according to the holy Fathers of those ad Extra the Works of Power are attributed to the Father those of Wisdom to the Son and those of Love to the Holy Ghost Wherefore since the Incarnation of the Son of God was for the sake of the Sons of Men and for that reason was a Work of Love The Three hundred and eighteen Fathers did attribute it to the Holy Spirit Though in Virtue and Power and the Creation of things the Father Son and Holy Ghost are One only True God The Virgin Mary was mentioned by them upon account of the Human Nature which in an instant united it self to the Eternal Person of the Son who is equal in Divinity to the Father and that in our Lord Jesus Christ being only One Person there are Two Natures is written in divers Books of the Holy Spirit St. Matthew in the beginning of it calleth his Gospel The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham which was said on the account of his Human Nature as it was on the account of his Divine Nature that St. John saith In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word the Divine Nature having neither Beginning nor End whereas the Human Nature had a Beginning All which Writings notwithstanding Eutyches the Master of Mischief did affirm That there was only One Nature in Christ and so mixed the Humanity with the Divinity now this Rebel was followed by Dioscorus who assisted him both in word and deed and having procured the Murther of Flavianius Patriarch of Constantinople for having Excommunicated Eutyches and some other obstinate Hereticks that were before him namely Arius Macedonius Nestorius and Sabellius all which matters having been submitted to the Holy Roman Church the Head of all other Churches on the account of the Empire and Primacy that it hath by inheriting the Power of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles It is certain the Patriarchs who succeeded Dioscorus in the See of Alexandria have not Preached the true Faith in having taught that there is only One Nature in Christ and so being destitute of the true Faith they have wandered out of the paths of Patriarchs Bishops and Priests in having had Wives and Children and Grand-Children and have been intangled in divers things not fit to be named they have also taken Money for Holy Orders and having Consecrated Salt Stones for Altar Stones have afterwards sold them having likewise tyrannized cruelly over those they Ordained obliging several of them to serve them a Year or Six Months at least in sawing Wood or Stone for their Palaces before they would Ordain them for which Practice they were Excommunicated by the Apostle who said He that buyeth or selleth Orders is excommunicated and has his portion with Simon Magus and Judas The Abuna Mark was Convicted by the Emperor Malec Saged of several carnal Crimes which are not fit to be heard or Uttered they being of that kind for which God rained down fire from Heaven and being Deposed for having been guilty of them he was Banished into the Island of Dek where he dyed a strange death his Belly swelling as hard as a Drum The Abuna Christos Dula kept several Concubines contrary to the custom of Patriarchs as was well known by all his Contemporaries and by some that are still alive His Successor Peter kept a Malaquis Wife and having been convicted of Adultery he did Penance for it as may be testified by several living Witnesses namely one Joseph and one Marino who are both Strangers and not Habassins and who adding sin to sin did Excommunicate the Emperor Jacob after he had Reigned Seven Years as he did all the People of Ethiopia likewise in case they did not Depose him and Banish him to the Kingdom of Narea and having placed Za Danguil in the Throne he afterwards excited his Subjects to Murther him by Excommunicating them if they did not do it and as if all this had not been enough he took the Field with the Emperor Jacob against us and was killed with him in the Fight The Abuna Simon was guilty likewise of divers enormous Grimes who besides his having taken one Mali an Egyptian 's Wife from him and dishonoured several Virgins he kept divers Concubines and happening to have a Child by one who was not able to maintain it to conceal his shame he ordered it to be thrown to the Wolves by whom it was devoured this every body knows to be true namely the Azages and who when Julius Rebelled instead of labouring according to the custom of Patriarchs and Monks to make Peace joyned with him in his Rebellion and having called his Soldiers together told them on the day before the Battel That he forgave them all Young and Old their Sins notwithstanding they had broke all the Commandmendments upon condition they would put all to the Sword
of the World Peace be with your Sons who are as flourishing Lillies in a Spring-Garden and are as a Table furnished with Meat Peace be with your Daughters whose Attire adorns them as Tapistry does a Palace Peace be with all your Kindred who are procreated out of the Seed of the Saints as the holy Scripture saith The Sons of the Holy are blessed and are great both at home and abroad Peace be with your Councellors Officers Magistrates and Judges Peace be with the Governors of your Castles and Frontiers and of all your strong Places Peace be with all Nations People and Cities and all their Inhabitants excepting Mahometans and Jews Peace be with all Parishes and with all that are faithful to Christ and you Amen O Lord King and my Father I am informed That when the fame of my Name first reached your ears by the Voice of my Ambassador Matthew that you forthwith assembled all your Archbishops Bishops and Prelates to return thanks to God for so good News and that you did also receive Matthew with great kindness and respect When I came to hear of this I was overjoy'd likewise and did return thanks to God for it as did also all my People I was much troubled at Matthew 's Death who dyed in the Monastery of Basayn within my Dominions as he was returning home he was not sent by me for I was then but a Boy of 11 years of Age and had not taken the Government upon me after my Father's death but by Queen Helena whom I reverenced as my Mother and who at that time administred the Affairs of the Empire Matthew was by Profession a Merchant and his true name was Abraham which he changed that he might travel thorow the Turkish Dominions with the more security But having notwithstanding his Disguise been discovered to be a Christian at Dabul he was cast into Prison where he lay till he was taken out by some of your stout Soldiers upon his having acquainted them with his Confinement and his being our Ambassador The General of your Army after he had rescued him out of the hands of the Enemy took care to convey him to your Court at which as Matthew was punctual in acquainting you with all that he had in Commission to say so he was the same in sending me word how honourably he was entertained by you and how you had loaded him with Gifts all which was confirmed by your Ambassadors who were conveyed hither by Didacus Lopez de Segueiea the Admiral of your Fleet and by the Letters which were to have been delivered to me by Edward Golvam who died in the Island of Camera and were delivered by the surviving Ambassadors I rejoyced exceedingly at the sight of your Letters and did return thanks to God for them I was overjoy'd likewise to see your Ambassadors have Crosses on their breasts and did enquire of them concerning the Rites of the Christian Faith being desirous to know which are the True But the thing that affected me with the most devotion was the Story your Ambassadors told me of Ethiopia having been first discovered to your Fleet by a Miracle Which after it had given over all hopes of finding it was conducted to one of our Ports by a Red Cross that appeared one morning in the Heavens as this appears to me to have been a Miracle so undoubtedly the Admiral of your Fleet who had such an extraordinary honour done to him must be exceedingly beloved of God This mutual Embassy of ours was foretold by the Prophet in the Book of Life and in the Passion of St. Victor and in the Writings of the Holy Fathers which do all testify That a great Christian King should conclude a Peace with the Emperor of Ethiopia But little did I expect that this prophecy would have been fulfilled in my days But God knew it certainly praised be his Name who first brought Ambassadors from you to me that I might likewise send Ambassadors to you My Father in Christ and Friend it is my desire that we should be of the same Religion I never had an Embassy sent to me before by any Christian King neither was I certain that there was a Christian King any where besides my self having been always encompassed with Moors the Sons of Mahomet and with Heathens and Slaves who do not acknowledge God and with some who worship Wood and Fire and with others that worship Serpents as Gods with whom I have never lived well because though the Faith has been preached to them they refuse to come to the Truth I am now at ease God having given me rest from all your and my own Enemies against whom when I march with my Armies they turn their backs toward us my Captains are also every-where victorious over them So that God is not angry with me but as the Psalmist has it He hath fulfilled the desire of Kings who desire nothing but what is righteous For which no praise is due to us but all thanks ought to be returned to God for it is he that hath given us the World and the Land of the Gentiles for ever and all the Countries from your own Borders to those of Ethiopia For which I do give great thanks to God and do proclaim his mighty Power hoping the Sons of the Gentiles will be brought under the Yoke and to the knowledge of the true Faith for I do not in the least doubt but that your Sons and you and I shall abundantly rejoice in our Victories and you must never give over praying to God until he has put you in Possession of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem which at present is in the hands of the Enemies of Christ that is of Mahometans Heathens and Hereticks which work if you could perform your hand will be full of praise Of the Ambassadors you sent unto me with Matthew Three died by the way the Admiral of your Fleet after having had a Conference at Matrua with the King of Bernagays who is our Vassal dispatched the surviving Ambassadors with great Gifts to our Court Your Gifts were acceptable to me but your Name is more precious to me than all Jewels and Treasures But let us pass over these things and begin to Treat how we may Invade and Conquer the Countries of the Infidels I for my part will Contribute a Hundred thousand Drachms of Gold and as many Thousand Armed Men and moreover Timber and Iron and Copper towards the Building and Equipping of a Fleet with abundance of Provisions of all sorts let us therefore joyn together And whereas it is not our Custom nor agreeable to our Dignity to send Ambassadors to any Prince to sue for Peace you did therefore first send Ambassadors to desire a Peace with me wherein you verified the Words of Christ for it is written Blessed are the feet which bring peace for which I am also prepared after the manner of the Apostles who were unanimous and of one Heart O King and my Father
the Roman Pontiff in the Year 1524. In the name of God the Father Almghty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God who was the same with him from the beginning of the World and who is Light of Light and very God of very God and in the name of God the Holy Ghost who is true God and proceedeth from the Father I The King at whose Name the Lyons do tremble who am by the Grace of God called Achami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin the Son of King David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh and by Grace the Son of St. Peter and St. Paul do send these Letters Peace be with you O Just Lord and holy powerful pure and sacred Father who art the head of all Bishops and fearest no-body because there is none that hath power to curse thee who art the most watchful Curate of all Souls and the Friend of Pilgrims and the sacred Master and Preacher of the Faith and the Enemy of every thing that offends the Conscience and the lover of all good Manners and a holy Person whom all do bless and praise O happy and holy Father I do obey you with reverence because you are the peace of all and do deserve whatsoever is good so that it is but just that according to the divine Commands of the Apostles all should yield obedience to you This belongs to you but they have likewise commanded us to reverence all Bishops Archbishops and Prelates and to love you as a Father and to reverence you as a King and to believe in you as a God For which cause I do humbly with bended knees and with a sincere heart tell you holy Father That you are my Father and I am your Son Holy and most mighty Father Why have you never sent any Nuncio's to us to be informed of our health for since you are our Pastor and we are your Sheep you ought not to have been unmindful of us nor ought you to have reckoned us to have been too remote from your Territories for your Nuncio's to have visited us seeing from the most remote Kingdom of the Earth that is Portugal your Son King Emanuel has commodiously sent his Ambassadors to us so that if God had deferred calling him to Heaven the things he and I were treating about had undoubtedly had a happy Issue before this time I should be glad to hear healthful things from you by certain Nuncio's having never had a word from your Holiness nor heard of you by any other way but by some of our vowed Pilgrims who neither carried Letters from us to you nor brought any from you to us and who therefore when we enquired of them could only tell us That going from Jerusalem after they had performed their Vows there to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles at Rome they had seen you giving us a general Account of your Affairs I took great pleasure in their Relations beholding in them the Image of your holy Countenance which appeared to me to be like that of an Angel and I must own that I do love and reverence you Nevertheless it would be much more grateful to me devoutly to contemplate your Words and Letters I must therefore beg it of you that you would send a Nuncio to me to exhilerate my heart with your Blessing for since we agree in Faith and Religion that is the thing of the World that I desire most and that my Friendship may be as the Ring you wear on your Finger or as the Gold Chain that is about your Neck that so I may be always in your heart and memory Friendship being much increased by greateful Words and Letters when holy Peace from which all human Joy doth flow naturally embraceth them For as one that is very thirsty is extreamly desirous of cold water as the Scripture has it so Nuncio's and Letters coming to me from remote parts either from your Holiness or any Christian King will fill my heart with extraordinary Pleasures such as theirs are filled with who after a Victory come to gather rich Spoils All this may be done with great ease now the King of Portugal has opened a way to it who some times since sent Ambassadors with other Persons of Quality to us which was a thing had never been done by any Christian King or Pope before to any of our Ancestors Only in the Archives of our Great Grandfather Zera Jacob who was King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and a most Formidable Prince the Copies of some Letters to him from Eugenius the Roman Pontiff are still preserved the purport whereof is as followeth EUgenius the Roman Pontiff to our beloved Son King Zara Jacob the King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and who is mightily dreaded He goes on and tells him That his Son John Paleologus who had been dead two years the King of the Kings of the Romans had been called by him to celebrate a holy Synod to which he came accompanied by Joseph the Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many other Archbishops Bishops and Prelates as also with the Procurators of the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Jerusalem who had all united themselves to him in the love of the holy Faith and Religion So that now the Unity of the Church was re-established and all the old Controversies thorow God's assistance were ended and whatever was erroneous and contrary to Religion dissipated and right Order restored which had filled all People with joy We do here send you that Letter of Eugenius which has been preserved entire and would likewise have sent you the whole Order and Power of the Pontifical Benediction had it not been so large a Volume it being bigger than the Book of Paul to the Gentiles the Nuncio's that brought these Papers from the Pope hither were Theodore Peter Didimus and George the Servants of Jesus Christ You would do well holy Father to command your Papers to be looked over among which it is like you will meet with some Records of these Matters You may see by this holy Father that if you should be pleased to write any thing to us the memory thereof will be preserved in our Archives thorough all Ages And happy is the Man whose Memory is preserved in the Records of the holy City of Rome the Chair of St. Peter and St. Paul who are the Lords of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Judges of the World and my believing them to be so was the cause of my writing these Letters to your Holiness that I may obtain your Favour and that of your holy Conclave and therewithal all sorts of Blessings and the increase of all good things I do furthermore supplicate your Holiness to send us the Images of some Saints namely that of the blessed Virgin Mary that by that means your Holiness may be frequent
the help of your Blessing easily enlarge the Bounds of their Empires of which Blessing I do partake Among our Books there being Letters which were sent by Pope Eugenius with his Blessing to Zera Jacob which Blessing having descended to me I do now enjoy it and rejoyce in it mainly The Holy Temple of Jerusalem is a place I have great Veneration for and do frequently send Oblations to it by our Pilgrims and I would send both more and greater were I not Besieged on all sides by Mahometans and Infidels who besides that they Rifle our Messengers will not allow them a free passage whereas if the ways were but once opened I should then be able to Correspond with the Roman Church as well as other Christians to whom as to the Christian Religion I am nothing inferior for as they believe One Right Faith and One Church so I do profess the same and do most sincerely believe in the Holy Trinity and in One God and in the Virginity of our Lady the Virgin Mary I do also hold all the Articles of the Christian Faith and do keep them as they were writ by the Apostles And now that our good God has been pleased by the hand of the most Potent and Christian King Emanuel to open a way by which we may Correspond by Amdassadors since we are joyned in the Faith let us likewise with all other Christians joyn together in the service of God During the time the Ambassadors of that King were at our Court we received the News of his Death and of his Son and my Brother John having Succeeded to the Crown and as I was extremely afflicted at the News of the Death of the Father so I did very much rejoyce to hear of his Son 's having succeeded him for I do hope that by joyning our forces we shall be able to open a passage both by Sea and Land thorow the Regions of the Wicked Mahometans and to terrifie them to that degree as to drive them quite out of those Countries so that Christians may go to and return from Jerusalem without any molestation and I do most vehemently desire to partake of the Divine Love in the Temple of the Apostles Peter und Paul I do likewise desire to receive the most Holy Blessing of Christ's Vicar which your Holiness is undoubtedly And as the things I hear of your Holiness by our Pilgrims which go from hence to Jerusalem and from thence to Rome and that not without a Miracle do fill me with incredible Joy and Pleasure so there is nothing I would rejoyce in so much as to have a shorter way found out for my Ambassadors that so I might hear from you before I die which I trust in God I shall do by some means or other I beseech God to preserve you in Health and and Holiness I Kiss your holy Feet and do humbly beg your Blessing Your Holiness will receive these Letters from our Brother John King of Portugal who will send them to you by our Ambassador Francis Alvarez We may judge what mean thoughts King John had of these Letters and Ambassadors to the Pope The Habassin Embassy to the Pope little regarded by their lying unregarded Five Years at Lisbon before they were sent to Rome and by his sending them at last only to do Honour to his Nehpew Don Martin de Portugal when he sent him Ambassador to that Court with the following Letter To the most Holy Father in Christ and the most Blessed Lord Pope Clement the IIId by Divine Providence presiding over the whole Church To the most Holy Father in Christ and the most Blessed Lord the most devout Son of the same Holiness John by the Grace of God King of Portugal and Algarves on this side and the other side of the Sea of Africk Lord of Guinea and of the Conquests Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia Arabia Persia and India After having most humbly kissed your Holy feet MOST Holy Father in Christ After having lain five years neglected at Lisbon it was sent to Rome only as an honourable Appendixto a Portuguese Embassy and most Blessed Lord The King my Lord and Father being sensible how acceptable it would be to God that the most remote Regions of Ethiopia and India which in these parts had been only heard of by a doubtful fame should be Sailed to by the industrious Navigation of Christians did at the beginning of his Reign send divers of his Captains and Subjects with great Fleets to discover the Coasts of those Countries which he did to that end that the Mahometans and Heathens of those Climates might be brought to acknowledge the Truth of the Christian Faith not knowing but that some Nations which were Christians already for such there were reported to be might be found out in the Course of such Discoveries thus thorough the Divine Direction the whole Country of Guinea was travelled over in which the King of Manicongo with vast numbers of his Subjects was Baptized as were several other Nations in India Persia and Arabia by the Industry and Piety of our Subjects and even those Provinces which were not forward at first to embrace Christianity do now begin to follow the Example of their Neighbours who notwithstanding the great Losses he sustained in his Ships Captains Nobles and other Subjects was not as becomes a Pious Christian discouraged thereby so as to give over those Voyages in the Progress whereof our Fleets have penetrated into the Red-Sea in which no Christian Ship had ever been before that Sea being wholly in the hands of the Turks and did after a long and sharp War discover the Coasts of the most Potent King of Ethiopia who is commonly called Pretegya and who with all his Subjects is a Worshipper of Christ to which King our Father immediately dispatched an Ambassador with an intention to reduce him to the Obedience of the Holy Apostolical See by certifying him That your Holiness sits in the Chair of St. Peter and are the only Vicar of Christ upon Earth to whom all Christian Kings do with great Veneration use to yield Obedience And not long after the said King of Ethiopia sent two Ambassadors in Company with ours when they returned home one of which was his Natural-born Subject and the other a Stranger during which time God was pleased to take our Father's Soul to himself and we having succeeded him in the Throne did without delay endeavour by our Captains that were in India to certify the said King of Ethiopia of our Father's Death and of our Resolution to carry on and finish what he had so gloriously begun for the Service of Christianity This our Declaration having been highly extolled by the said King he thereupon dispatched an Ambassador to us who is still Resident at our Court and with him our Chaplain Francis Alvarez who was one of the Ambassadors sent into Ethiopia by our Father This Francis Alvarez is now sent by the said King to Rome
as followeth 1. That we are to fast upon all Wednesdays in memory of its having been decreed by the Jewish Council upon that day That Christ should be put to death We are commanded likewise to fast upon all Fridays because Christ was crucify'd and died for our Sins on that day upon which two days we are commanded to eat nothing till Sun-set During the 40 days of Lent we are commanded to fast with Bread and Water and to be employed seven hours in the day in Divine Service by the same Edicts we are commanded to Administer the Sacraments in the Evenings of Wednesdays and Fridays because our Saviour expired at that time on the Cross We are furthermore commanded to assemble together unanimously on the Lord's Day in the Church three hours after Sun-rising to read and hear the Books of the Prophets and afterwards to preach the Gospel and Administer the Sacrament they have furthermore appointed Nine days to be observed as Festivities in honour of Christ to wit the Annunciation the Nativity the Circumcision the Purification or Day of Candles of Baptism of Transfiguration Palm-Sunday until the Octaves of Good-Friday which are twelve days of the Ascension and Pentecost with their Festivities according to these Books We are without exception to eat Flesh every day from Easter to Pentecost neither are we bound to fast till after the Octaves of Pentecost which is observed for the greater honour and veneration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ they command us likewise to celebrate the Days of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin Mary with great honour But besides the Precepts of the Apostles a certain Precious John whose name was Zara Jacob ordained 33 days in every year to be kept in honour of the said Blessed Virgin and a day in every Month in honour of Christ's Nativity which is always the 25th of the Month and a day likewise in every Month to be observed in honour of St. Michael Furthermore in obedience to the said Synod of the Apostles we do celebrate the day of St. Stephen and other Martyrs and are bound by the Institution of the Apostles to observe two days to wit the Sabbath and Lord's-Day on which it is not lawful for us to do any work no not the least on the Sabbath-Day because God after he had finished the Creation of the World rested thereon Which Day as God would have it called the Holy of Holies so the not celebrating thereof with great honour and devotion seems to be plainly contrary to God's Will and Precept who will suffer Heaven and Earth to pass away sooner than his Word and that especially since Christ came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfil it It is not therefore in imitation of the Jews but in obedience to Christ and his holy Apostles that we observe that Day the favour that was shewed herein to the Jews being transferred to us Christians so that excepting Lent we eat Flesh every Saturday in the Year but in the Kingdoms of Barnagaus Tigre and Mahon the Christians according to ancient custome do eat Flesh on all Saturdays and Sundays even in Lent We do observe the Lord's-Day after the manner of all other Christians in memory of Christ's Resurrection But as we are sensible that we have the observation of the Sabbath-Day from the Books of the Law and not from those of the Gospel A Falsehood so we are not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and the Prophets On those forementioned Days we believe the Souls of the Just departed this Life not to be tormented in Purgatory which ease will be granted by God to them upon those two most holy Days until the term of their suffering for their Sins is expired and they are entirely delivered to the shortning and mitigating of which Torments we believe the Alms that are given for the relief of the Souls in Purgatory do contribute much towards the remission of which Souls the Patriarch grants no Indulgences The Abuna never grants any Indulgences which we believe belongs to God only and that he only constitutes the time of their punishment neither does the Patriarch grant Indulgences on any occasion The Gospel obligeth us to observe only the Six Precepts which Christ with his own mouth has explained as follows I was hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you entertained me naked and you covered me sick and you visited me in prison and you came unto me which are all words that will be spoke by Christ at the Day of Judgment For the Law as St. Paul says sheweth us our sins which Law without Christ The Habassins believe Original Sin none is able to keep Paul witnesseth likewise that we are all born in sin by reason of the Transgression and Curse of our Mother Eve Paul saith furthermore that we died thorough Adam and do live thorough Christ who of his infinite mercy gave us these Six Precepts that when he comes in Majesty to judge the Quick and Dead we may be saved With which Words and Precepts he will on the Tremendous Day of Judgment allot everlasting Glory to the Righteous and to the Wicked Fire and Everlasting Damnation We do reckon only five mortal Sins as they call them which are gathered out of the last Chapter of the Revelations where it is said Without are dogs and witches and unclean persons and murtherers and idolaters and every one who loveth and maketh a lye It is constituted by the holy Apostles Clerks may marry in the Book of Synods that it is lawful for Clerks to marry and that even after they have some knowledge of Divine Matters who after they are married are received into the Order of Presbyter to which none are admitted before they are 30 years of Age neither are Bastards ever admitted to it Holy Orders are conferred by none but the Patriarch and after the death of their first Wives neither Bishops nor Presbyters are permitted to marry a second time unless the Patriarch shall think fit to dispence with them which he does sometimes to eminent Persons and when it is for the Publick good Neither are they suffered to keep Concubines unless they do voluntarily give over officiating after which they must no more meddle with holy things and this is so strictly observed that the Presbyters who marry a second time must not presume so much as to take a consecrated Candle in their hands and if any Bishop or Clerk is found to have had a Bastard he is deprived of his Orders and all his Ecclesiastical Benefices and his Goods if he dies without Children lawfully begotten do all go to Precious John and not to the Patriarch That it is lawful for Presbyters to have Wives we have received from St. Paul who would rather have both Clergy and Laity
unhappily lost in the Voyage So that what I set down was what occurred to my Memory which I have done with great Fidelity Farewell my most beloved Son in Christ Lisbon the 24th of April in the year of our salvation 1534. After having writ this I called to mind the passage wherein I had affirmed That Christ had descended into the lower parts for the sake of Adam's Soul and his own which he receiv'd from his Mother the holy Virgin Mary Of the truth whereof we have a certain Testimony in the Books of Government as we call them which Books were delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ to his Apostles and they are likewise the Mystery of Doctrines insomuch that their Testimony is admitted as infallible among us The Portuguese Divines are of Opinions that are contrary to those Writings but that does not hinder that from being true which these Books affirm viz. That the Souls of men are derived from Adam that is to say As our Flesh is derived from the Flesh of Adam so our Soul as a Burning Light is derived likewise from the Soul of Adam which makes us to be all of the Seed of Adam both as to Body and Soul In this large Confession of Faith A Censure on Zaga Zaba's Confession of Faith albeit Zaga Zaba discovers himself to have been piqued by the Portuguese Clergy having teaz'd him as they did about his Religion and to have disputed himself into some warmth upon several Ceremonial Points yet as to the Doctrines wherein the Roman Church was at that time contradicted by the Reformers namely the Three great ones of the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation and Purgatory it is visible that to ingratiate himself with the Pope and King of Portugal and to make his Court the better he did both stretch his Conscience and sacrifice his Resentments to the Publick Character he bore Those Doctrines having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Habassin Church Which Charge of Infidelity is justified both by the Jesuits and his Countreyman Gregory who never spoke of him but with detestation calling him commonly a Beast of the Field And as to his saying that his Emperor's Name was Precious and not Prestor John it was a plain Trick in him designing by such a slight Correction of that word to establish the opinion of his Master being the Prince was meant by Prestor John in Europe For whereas the present Emperor's Name was David so I do not find that there was one of the Name of John in the whole Line of those Princes Neither is there any colour for its having been a constant Title among them But while David's Ambassador was thus detained at Lisbon The Emperor David brings a terrible storm upon himself by seeking to enter into an alliance with the Portugueses disputing Whether it was lawful to eat Black-Puddings he himself continued involved in a rude and cruel War brought upon him by his new Correspondence with the Portugueses whose Name at that time was become very formidable all over the East For whereas the Habassin as is plain from his own Letters did expect nothing less from his new Alliance than the utter extirpation of all his Infidel Neighbours Heathens and Mahometans so natural it is for people to overvalue any new and untry'd advantage and to expect much more from it than it is capable of yielding so his Infidel Neighbours and particularly the Mahometans apprehending that an Alliance betwixt the Habassins and Portugueses might prove a thing of dangerous consequence to them did all conspire to interrupt it by disabling the Habassin before any Portuguese Troops could come to his assistance In prosecution of which Design Granhe a Mahometan Prince obtains several Victories over David one Ahamed whose Nick-name was Granhe or Left Hand a Mahometan Prince having joined his Forces with those of the King of Adel upon whom the Habassin had begun a War he marched against David resolving to give him Battel before he was reinforced by the Portuguese Troops which though they did not come in several years after were expected by every Moncon David being flushed by some former Victories and having an Army superior in number to that of Granhe and Adel joined together was so far from declining to fight that he marched directly towards the Infidels The two Armies no sooner met than they came to blows and after a long and bloody Fight the Habassins were totally routed most of them being either killed or taken Prisoners David having narrowly escaped He drives him at last in a manner out of his Empire retired to the Mountains where he sculked about for Two Years with a small flying Body During which time Granhe made himself Master of all the best Provinces of that Empire burning down the Churches or prophaning them by converting them into Mosques whereever he came David seeing his Empire in imminent danger of being totally conquered David sends one John Bermudes a Portuguese after having given him a Title to succeed the Abuna when he died to Rome and Lisbon to solicite and hasten some Succors dispatched one John Bermudes a Portuguese who had been in Ethiopia ever since the Empress Helena her Government to Rome and Lisbon to acquaint those Courts with the Ill Circumstances he was in and to conjure them as they had any regard to the Preservation of a great Christian Empire to send him some considerable Succors with all possible Expedition for otherwise the Habassin Church and Empire would be speedily lost beyond recovery And in order to make his Court the better with the Pope and that King he obliged the Abuna Mark not only to consecrate the said Bermudes who till then was a pure Layman a Bishop but to declare him also his Successor in the See of Ethiopia Bermudes being thus consecrated a Bishop John Bermudes before he went was consecrated a Bishop by the Abuna His Habassin Ordination by a single Euâ—ychian Bishop was allowed to be valid by the Pope when he came to Rome and declared Successor to the Abuna began his Journey for Rome over land and being arrived at that Court in the year 1538 was graciously received by Paul the IIId who did not only allow his Habassin Orders to be valid but did furthermore confirm his Nomination to the Patriarchate of Ethiopia So that whatever it is that hinders the Popes from allowing the Orders of the Church of England to be good unless their Infallibilities will contradict one another it cannot be what they pretend to wit either the Heresy of her first reformed Bishops or their not having been three to consecrate since in this case the Consecration of a Bishop by a single Heretical Bishop was allowed by the Pope to be valid But England is England and Ethiopia is Ethiopia and Policy may not allow that they should be both treated alike Bermudes having dispatched his own Business at Rome Bermudes having got his title to the Abunaship of Ethiopia
would sooner put themselves under the Mahometans than turn Papists This put me upon writing all that I could have Preached to them if I could have spoke their Language that so I might by the answer the King returned to it clearly discover his thoughts which he had so long dissembled when we heard of the King 's being returned to the Camp we went presently to wait upon him and were told by several Portugueses that belonged to the Court That the King had not so much as once mentioned our Names since our Audience Now the Treatise I had composed being in Portuguese it was necessary if I would have the King to read it to get it Translated into Chaldee whereupon I writ a Letter to the King himself to desire him to let me have a couple of Learned Monks to Translate the Truths of our Faith into Chaldee I having put them together on purpose to shew how little reason his people had to call us of the Roman Communion Hereticks and to affirm that we were worse than Mahometans and being informed that the Habassins had a Book among them written by the Schismaticks and Hereticks of Alexandria from whence they have their Abuna's having paid a Tribute to the Turk for that priviledge Entituled The Adultery of the Franks wherein among other things the Council of Calcedon is condemned pretending that it taught that there were Four Persons in the Holy Trinity and we are likewise charged with divers Errors I begg'd of the King that I might have a sight of that Book The King would not let me have the Book and was very angry that I had been told of it but as to the Monks I had desired he ordered a couple to come to me but they had not well begun the Translation before either out of fear that the King would be displeased with them if they went on with it or because he had privately Commanded them not to do it they gave it over so that I was obliged to repair to a Portuguese Captain to speak to them to finish it who with much ado prevailed with them to go on The Interpreter on my side was a worthy Portuguese who understood both the Languages well Having at last got my Treatise Translated the next thing I had to do was to get it written out fair and having desired an Amanuensis of the King to do it for me after having granted me one he repented presently and sent me word That if I would let him see my Treatise as it was he would read it over and that otherwise he would never trouble himself with it so I was obliged to carry it to him as it was having first dated it and put my name to it it bore date the 20th of August When I delivered it to him I was accompanied by a Portuguese Captain and Seven or Eight more of the same Nation and after having paid the customary Obeisances I began a short speech concerning the occasion of my coming into Ethiopia but the King interrupted me and began to talk of other things as one prepared to ward off the blows that I had designed to have given him when I had put my Treatise into his hand he begun to read in it but had read but a little way before he was put into such a passion by it as made him vomit out the poison he had so long concealed telling me I had desired leave to set down the Truths of my own Faith and to have some Monks to Translate them into Chaldee but instead of that I had charged those with Errors who had none he told me further That that was a work no ways proper for a simple Priest like me but was the work of some Great Bishop or Prelate like the Pope I made answer It was true I was but a mean man but the things I had set down were nevertheless the Truths of the Gospel and of the Holy Councils whom and not me I desired his Highness to hear He told me I had imposed several things upon them which they never held I replied I knew very well that his Highness was in no Error of Faith but that his Subjects were and that I had set down nothing but what was true and what I was ready to demonstrate to him He said He was no friend to Disputations but there was one thing he was certain of which was that Ethiopia had always held the same Faith that it did now or at least that it had for above a Thousand years that Disputations were never to be used but with Heathens and that his Faith being thus Ancient there was no body before me had ever presumed to say it was Erroneous To this I answered That God did sometimes for peoples Sins suffer such things and that his Highness had reason to thank God for having in his time visited Ethiopia with the truth of the Gospel He said the Catholick Church was divided into four Chairs and that they had from the beginning been subject to one of them I repli'd it was true but so it was likewise that all Churches were Anciently subject to the Roman Bishop who was above all the rest as his Highness was above his Subjects insomuch that the three other Chairs for having denied obedience to the Roman were all become Schismatical together with all those who were subject to them That his Highness if he would be pleased to peruse my Treatise would therein meet with full Answers to all his Objections exhorting him to take care not to make himself of that number of People the Prophet speaks of who would not understand that they might do well The Emperor's defence of himself and his Faith After a great deal of arguing I told him that my design in writing that Paper was to discover how his mind stood disposed towards the Pope and the Learned Friars which his Brother the King of Portugal was about to send to him for that if he was not willing that they should come it would be to no purpose for the King to send them so far I did therefore beseech his Highness to declare whether he intended to submit himself to the Pope as he had promised he said he had learned Friars enough in his Kingdom and that it was needless for the King of Portugal to trouble himself to send him any more and as for the Pope That he had never yielded him any obedience that Submission that was carried to him by Gasper de Magalhaens being what he had never made and was either a trick or mistake of the Monk who Translated his Letters to the King of Portugal concluding That he was resolved never to yield Obedience to any Patriarch but the Patriarch of Alexandria whom he would always obey as all his Ancestors had done before him When I found the King thus absolutely determined I took my leave of him who after I was gone begun to extol me for a mighty Scholar saying He wondered how it was possible for so
Jesuits in Ethiopia are protected by the Peasants of Lasta which they still pretended was in danger had two Roman Priests concealed in his Country sent to Za Mariam either to deliver them up to the Emperor or to put them to Death himself hoping by this discovery to make the Peasants of Lasta jealous of him as a secret Friend to the Roman Church notwithstanding all his high Pretensions to the contrary and upon Za Mariam having denied that he had any such Priests in his Country the Viceroy of Tigre to spoil the Double Game he was playing writes a Letter to the Monks that were among the Peasants to let them know what a Champion for the Alexandrian Faith they had in Za Mariam who had for several years kept two Roman Priests concealed about him in hopes that a Portuguese Army would be sent to conquer Ethiopia to prove the truth of which if they would not take his word for it he offered to send them two unquestionable Witnesses the one an Habassin who had been bred among the Jesuits and the other a Portuguese whom he had intercepted coming with a Message from the Indies to Za Mariam But as God would have it say the Jesuits notwithstanding it was all true that the Viceroy had writ to the Monks yet Za Mariam having lodged the two Fathers privately in the Mountain of Amba Salama did face it down so as a Trick of the Viceroy's to break the Confederacy that the Peasants and Monks not believing a word of it continued still to look upon Za Mariam as a true Alexandrian and on the Emperor and the Court as still Popishly affected for having attempted to create a misunderstanding betwixt him and them Now this was a pleasant turn enough for to bring the Peasants of Lasta when they could get none else to do it to serve the ends of Popery the thing in the World they hated the most and which they thought they were then fighting against The Emperor finding the Peasants were not to be undeceived ordered the Viceroy of Tigre to march against them with a numerous Army who having brought them to a Battel routed them totally and their Head Za Mariam being taken the day after the Fight was cut in pieces by the Soldiers who were so inraged by their General 's being kill'd The Peasant's General is kill'd and the two Fathers taken and hanged that they gave no Quarters In Za Mariam say the Jesuits the last Pillar of the true Faith and the Foundations of all our hopes in Ethiopia fell to the ground The two Fathers having lost their Protector were quickly discovered and being put into the hands of one Lessano a violent Alexandrian he carried them to a great Fair that was in the Neighbourhood where he hanged them both in the Market-place after whose Death there was not a Jesuit of any Nation left in Ethiopia In the Year 1646. Two Italian Capuchins come to Suaqhem the Congregation De propaganda fide sent two Italian Capuchins to Ethiopia who having got to Suaqhem by the way of Grand Cair they found one of the French Fryars of the former Mission there and having consulted together what course they were to take the wise Italians were for writing to the Emperor for leave to come into his Country to preach the Gospel in it which being agreed to they writ a Letter to him wherein contrary to the course that had been taken by the Portuguese who were still for making the difference betwixt the Alexandrian and Roman Faith as wide as they could possibly they were for persuading the Emperor that he and they were of the same Faith and that being so They write to the Emperor for leave to come into his Country they hoped his Highness would not be against their coming into Ethiopia to preach the same Faith that his Highness professed But the Emperor was so far from being overcome by this Capuchin Complement which contradicted all the Jesuits had told him of their Heresies that upon reading the Letter he roared out as if he had been mad saying What is it not enough that I have been persecuted for so many years for my Religion by Portuguese from the East but that I must have Italians come from the West to persecute me for it afresh And instead of returning any Answer to their Letter The Emperor writes to the Bashaw of Snaghem to rid him of them he writ to the Bashaw of Suaqhem who valued himself much upon his being a Renegado Christian To ease him of these and all the Fryars that should come to his Port at any time complaining that he could not have one days quiet for them in his Kingdom and that having rooted out the Portuguese a new set of People were come to disturb him with new pretences The Bashaw being glad of the opportunity of at once gratifying the Emperor and his own Renegado Zeal commanded the two Italians to be murthered in his Presence The Bashaw murthers them all three and sendstheir Heads to the Emperor and the French Fryar who had a Passport from the Grand Signior to be assassinated sending their three Heads to the Emperor who as a Reward made him a Present of three Bags of Gold Dust promising him as many Bags of Gold Dust as he should at any time send him Heads of Roman Pryars Upon which Correspondence betwixt the Emperor and the Governor of Suaqhem a report was raised of Basilides having turned Mahometan not long after he had banished the Patriarch The Patriarch being extreamly desirous to revive if it were possible the Jesuits lost interest in the Habassin Mission in the year 1646. sends and Dedicates a Book he had writ on the Six First General Councils and a Catechism he had made in Ethiopia for the use of that Church to the Congregation de Propaganda fide from whom the year following he received the following Answer Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord THE Books composed by your Grace with great diligence and study as appears from the frequent testimonies of Scripture which are in them together with your most Elegant Epistle Dedicatory to this Holy Congregation de Propaganda fide have been received by the most Eminent Fathers of the said Congregation with a joyful mind and who have ordered two things concerning them the one is That the said Books be delivered to the Portuguese Assistant of the Jesuits Order that so all that is in them relating to the Habassin Errors and all that your Grace has writ in Confutation of them may be noted and being digested into a Book may be Printed in the Press of the said Holy Congregation for the use of the Missionaries of Ethiopia The other is That some Persons Secular or Regular of which there is great plenty in this City be deputed to Examine them and give in their Opinion of them All which with their Thanks for having Dedicated those Books to them the said most Eminent Fathers have ordered
dead before his nomination arrived the Patriarch was nominated by the King of Portugal to the Archbishoprick of Goa which Dignity he did not live to take possession of having departed this life on the Twenty ninth of June before the arrival of the Fleet by which the nomination was sent He died in the Seventy Seventh Year of his Age having been Sixty Three Years a Friar of the Society of whom though his Brethren the Jesuits have wrote great things the poor Ethiopick Church might justly apply to him what Moses's Ethiopick Wife said to him in a passion Thou hast been an Husband of blood to me Basilides having by a total extirpation of Popery out of his Empire Basilides having extirpated Popery recovers most of his lost Provinces quieted the minds of his Subjects set about recovering the Provinces his Infidel Neighbours had during the Habassin broils about Religion tore from his Predecessors and was so prosperous in his Wars as to regain most of them having if Morad the Habassin Ambassador at Batavia did not stretch extended his Empire Northward to the confines of Nubia and Southward to Hadea the people of which Kingdom were converted by him to the Christian Faith Basilides having Reign'd Two and Thirty Years After a happy Reign of Thirty Two years is succeeded by his Son Aelaf Saged was after his Death succeeded by his Son Aelaf Saged in the Year 1665. Aelaf swayed the Ethiopick Scepter Fifteen Years without doing any thing that was Memorable only having heard of the greatness of the Dutch power in the Indies he sent one Morad an Armenian his Ambassador in the Year 1672 to the Governor of Batavia Aelaf dying in the Year 1681 Aelaf is succeeded by his Son Adjam Saged the present Emperor of Ethiopia was succeeded by his Son Jaso Adian Saged who sent Morad a Second time to the Governor of Batavia in the Year 1689. The account Morad gave of his Master was That he was exceeding tall of Stature had a fierce Countenance and was very brave and wise and of indefatigable application to business and as to his affairs both at home and abroad he affirmed them to be in a most flourishing condition The Letters of those Embassies together with the Dutch Governors answers to them are published by the great Mr. Ludolphus at the end of his Commentaries as are also the Answers which were given by the said Ambassador to the Questions which that Learned Person had sent some Years before to the Indies for which I refer the curious Reader to that Learned Book A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE Dominican History of Ethiopia Composed by Father Lewis De Uuretta a Dominican and Printed at Valentia in the Year 1610. IN the Year 1316 Eight Dominican Friars with a Holy Sister Santer'd from Rome to Jerusalem where having Visited the Holy Sepulcher taking Bethlehem in their way they went down into Egypt and from thence to Ethiopia and having there Learned the Language of the Countrey perfectly in a few days they begun to preach to the Astonishment of that whole Empire confirming the truth of all they taught by Miracles Prester John the Emperor hearing of those wonderful Preachers sent to bid them welcome into his Empire and to let them know they had free liberty to build Convents enough therein to hold all Europe and to exercise their power of Inquisitors upon all his Subjects and that he would allow them all the same Privileges and Immunities that they enjoy in the Latin Church The Fathers overjoy'd at this news begun presently to make use of the liberty that was granted them and having penetrated Six Hundred Leagues into Ethiopia they came at last to the Lake of Cafates on the other side of the Equinoctial where the head of the River Nile riseth where upon the Mountains of the Moon and in the Kingdom of Gojam and among the Caffres and in the Provinces bordering on the Cape of Goodhope they built several Convents filling them all presently with Friars of their own Order most of which came afterwards to be as famous for their Learning and Piety as they were for their Miracles but the topping man of all those Novices was one Tecla Haymonot the only Child of King Sacasab and Queen Sarah who having wrought divers Miracles in his Infancy when he came to be a Man preferred the Dominican habit to a Crown and came afterwards to be the Chief Glory of his Order having had the Honour done him whenever he said Mass to have the Wafer and the Wine brought down from Heaven to him by an Angel and whenever he went to any City to Preach he was constantly attended by all the Lyons Tygers Wolves Snakes and Serpents in the Neighbourhood who never left him till he dismissed them with the blessing for which they all expressed themselves very thankful and who having founded a Monastery for Nine thousand Dominican Friars obliged the Devil to do all the servile work thereof for Seven Years which he did alone so exactly that the Convent has never been so well served since which made an Emperor when he was told of it say That Tecla Hamonot was to blame for not having made the Devil serve the Convent as long as it stood While the Friars were thus employed the Holy Sister was not idle who as if she had intended to have taken the Emperor at his word built a Monastery wherein she placed Five Hundred Dominican Benta's of the third Rule This great Nunnery was at first called Bado Nagh but at this time Santa Clara the History of all which Convents is to this day curiously Painted in the Cloisters of the Plurimanos whither any who are so unreasonable as to doubt of the truth of them may go and be satisfied The Monastery of Plurimanos in which there are Nine thousand Dominican Friars was founded by Tecla Haymonot It is four Leagues in Compass and hath Eighty Dormitories which have all the great Church at one end and the Refectory at the other Some of these Dormitories have One hundred and twenty some One hundred and fifty and some Two hundred Cells Every Dormitory has a particular Chappel and Library belonging to it The great Church is Six hundred paces long and so it had need since all the Friars repair to it together on Sundays and Holidays The Second great Dominican Convent in Ethiopia is that of the Allelujah which was built by Bartholomew de Tiroli a Dominican Friar who was Consecrated Bishop of the City of Dangola at Rome it has but Seven thousand Friars who on high Days Dine all together in the Refectory From these two Convents there are vast numbers of Missionaries sent once a year to Arabia Bengala Siam Pegu and China as also to Congo Monopatata and the Cape of Goodhope by some of which Missionaries the King of Congo and Angola was Baptized in the Year 1580. These Missionaries do all return home at Whitsuntide and our Historian being sensible that