to be a most certain and sacred Truth being delivered to us in the History of the said King David which is a Book about the bigness of St. Paul's Epistles and very pleasant to read When David was come to the Borders of Ethiopia Azarias going one day into his Tent discovered to him what he had so industriously concealed telling him he had brought the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord along with him whereupon David went straightways with him to the place where those Tables were kept and after the example of his Grandfather David danced before them with great exultation as did also the whole Company When he returned home his Mother resigned the Empire to him immediately from which time which is now near 2600 Years to this day the Empire of Ethiopia has desecended from Male to Male in a Right Line We have also ever since retained the Law of God and Circumcision and the Ministries prescribed by Solomon to his Son for the Government of the Court all which do to this day continue in the same Families and in the same Order neither is it lawful for the Emperor to put People of another Race into any of those Offices Furthermore at the Command of the said Queen Maqueda Women are Circumcised also among us Men and Women are Circumcised on the Eighth day but Male-Children are not Baptized till the Fortieth The Eucharist is Administred to Children when they are Baptized nor Female till the Eightieth day after their Birth without it be in case of Sickness and when that happens the Children are not allowed to Suck their Mothers until after they are purified the Water wherein Children are Baptized is Consecrated by Exorcisms and on the same day they are Christned they Receive the Venerable Body of Christ under the Element of Bread We were among the first Christians that received Baptism that Sacrament having been brought among us by the Eunuch of Candace Queen of Ethiopia who is spoke of in the Acts of the Apostles his Name according to our Tradition was Indick from which time to this day both Baptism and Circumcision have been in use among us and most Religiously and Christianly observed and thorough God's Grace will be so for ever We do observe nothing but what we find in the Law and the Prophets and in the Books of the Synods of the Apostles or if any thing else is observed by us it is done only for the sake of Order and for the Peace of the Church so as not to reckon it to be a Sin not to observe it Circumcision is not observed by them as a Sacrament but as a civil Custom wherefore our Circumcision is not Uncleanness but it is the Law and Grace which was given to our Father Abraham and which he received from God as a Sign not that he or his Sons should be Saved by Circumcision but that his Posterity might be distinguished thereby from all other Nations and as for what is signified by Circumcision we do observe it exactly by having our Hearts Circumcised neither do we Glory upon the account of Circumcision or prefer our selves to other Christians thereupon or reckon our selves for it the more acceptable to God with whom there is no acceptance of Persons as Paul testifies who tells us likewise that we cannot be Saved by Circumcision but by Faith for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature now by this Paul did not intend to destroy the Law but to establish it for he himself was Circumcised being of the Seed of Benjamin he Circumcised Timothy likewise after he was made a Christian his Mother being a Jewess notwithstanding his Father was a Gentile knowing that God approves both of Circumcision that is in Faith and of Uncircumcision which is by Faith for as he himself tells he was made all things to all men that he might save all to the Jews he became a Jew that he might gain the Jews and to those that were under the law as if he had been under the law which he was not that he might gain those who were under the law and to those who were without the law as if he had been without the law whereas he was not without the Law of God but was in the Law of Christ that he might gain them who were without the law he also became weak that he might gain the weak which he did that he might shew that it was not by Circumcision but by Faith that we must be Saved and so when he Preached to the Hebrews he spoke to them as Hebrews saying God hath at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to our forefathers by the Prophets and from thence proved to them that Christ was of the Seed of David according to the Flesh he Preached likewise to them That Christ was with our Fathers in their Tents in the Desart and did lead them by the hand of Joshua into the Land of Promise he furthermore testified That Christ was the Prince of the Priests and had entered into the Holy of Holies which is the New Tabernacle and had by the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood abolished the blood of Goats and Bulls by which none that came could be justified and that he had spoke to the Jews in divers manners and did suffer himself to be Worshipped by his People with divers rites and an holy and uncorrupt Faith Furthermore The Children of Christian Parents before they are Baptized are called Half-Christians Those Children are looked upon by us as Half-Christians who as I am told are reckoned to be Heathens by the Roman Church upon account of their dying without Baptism whereas being the Children of the holy Blood of Parents who have been Sanctified by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon which Three Testimonies all that are Christians are reputed to be such they ought to be esteemed Half-Christians for there are Three who bear Witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood as St. John testifieth in his first Canonical Epistle the Gospel saith likewise That a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil tree evil fruit wherefore the Children of Christians are not as the Children of the Gentiles Jews and Mahometans who are dry Trees without Fruit but are chosen in the Womb of their Mothers as the Prophet Jeremy and John the Baptist were The Children of Christian Women are furthermore Chosen and Sanctified by the Communication of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ received by their Mothers from whom they derive their Nourishment during the time they are in their Wombs for as an Infant in the Womb rejoyceth or is sorrowful according as its Mother is affected so it is nourished likewise by its Mother's nutriment for as our Lord saith in his Holy Gospel Whosoever shall eat my body and drink my blood shall never tast death and again He that eateth my
with one that had ever heard of them before The Observances prescribed in those Books are 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
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
The Emperor joins the Habassins and Portugueses where they had not been Ten Days before the Emperor came to them with a small Army but having after some Months got a Body of 500 Horse and 8000 Foot together he resolved to march and offer the Enemy Battel being strongly urged to it by the Portugueses who tho but 90 in number were mad to revenge the Death of their General Cunha who after the Defeat had retreated with 40 of his Portugueses into Tigre was sent to to come and join the Gross but that not being possible by reason of the Enemy's being posted betwixt them the Emperor advanced with the Forces he had with him and being come within sight of the Enemy encamped himself strongly for some days during which time there were frequent Skirmishes in all of which the Portugueses are said to have done Wonders if not to have wrought Miracles The Habassin General in whose Conduct and Courage the Soldiers placed their chief confidence happening to be slain in an Ambush the Turks had laid for him the Emperor had much ado to keep the Army from dispersing upon that unlucky Accident and to prevent it was obliged to offer the Enemy Battel some days sooner than he had otherwise intended to have done The Portugueses having desired it had the Van given them and were joined with 250 Habassin Horse and 3500 Foot The Rear which was commanded by the Emperor in Person consisted of the same Number of Horse and Foot The Enemies Van which was made up of 200 Turks with Fire-Arms 600 Moorish Horse and 7000 Foot was commanded by Granhe himself and the Rear consisting of 600 Horse and 6000 Foot by a great Turkish Captain The Two Armies were no sooner drawn into the Field He fights and routs Granhe than they ran upon one another with great Fury making a great Slaughter on both sides and the Body of Turks happening to charge the Habassins that were in the Van gave them such a shock as obliged them to retreat in great disorder which having been timely observed by the Portugueses who were hewing their way through the Battalions they were engaged withal they wheeled about and attacked the Victorious Turks with that vigor that they quickly forced them to give ground and with the loss of a great many of their best men to retire to their Gross but the Portugueses not being content with that followed their Blow and with the Assistance of the Habassins who had rallied again broke into the Main Body of the Enemy so as to make it give ground apace which being perceived by Granhe he galloped up to them and having put himself on their Head did act the part both of a great Captain and a stout Soldier till he received a Mortal Wound with a Musket Bullet in his breast Granhe killed fighting His men when they saw him fall from his Horse instead of seeking to revenge his Death or to carry off his Body threw down their Arms and betook themselves to their heels only a Turkish Captain who was near him when he received his Death's Wound defended his Body with his Scimiter in his hand till he fell dead upon it and sold his own life dear The Portugueses and Habassins pursued the Enemy so close that few of them escaped the Turks were all killed to 14 who keeping together in a Body got before it was day to the place where Granhe had left his Queen whom with a vast Treasure in Gold and Jewels they conveyed to a place of safety to the great loss and sorrow of the Habassins It is said there was not one Portuguese killed or wounded in this Fight which they will have to have been a miracle owing to the Standard they had bore ever since Gamas's death which was our Lady of mercy whereas before when they lost men they had fought under the Banner of the five Wounds of Christ which are the Arms of the King of Portugal Upon the news of this Victory all the Princes and Governors of Ethiopia The Emperor being restored to the quiet possession of his Kingdom quarrels with the Portugueses who had sided with Granhe flocked to throw themselves at the Emperor's feet who by pardoning them all to a man was immediately restored to the full and quiet possession of his Empire The Emperor for some time after the Victory caressed the Portugueses highly acknowledging on all occasions that he owed his Crown purely to their Valour But whether it was that the Emperor after the fashion of too many Princes looking upon the Services the Portugueses had done him as too great to be rewarded by him did for that reason begin to hate them as a reproach to him or that the Portugueses overvaluing their Services which is likewise a common fault on the other side did grow troublesome and insolent thereupon The chief cause of this Quarrel was the Abund urging the Emperor to turn Roman-Catholick presently and demanded greater Rewards than were just or than the Emperor could conveniently give them or whether it was the Patriarch's teizing the Emperor instantly to declare himself a Roman-Catholick it is certain they came in a short time to an open rupture the Emperor accusing the Portugueses of Impertinence and Insolence and the Portugueses the Emperor of Ingratitude and breach of Faith pretending he had promised the King of Portugal that whensoever he should be restored to the peaceable possession of his Empire he would immediately declare himself a Roman-Catholick and give the third part of his Dominions to the Portugueses But the Emperor as he absolutely denied his having ever made any such promise so he conjured the Patriarch not to trouble him any more about his Religion being resolved never to change it for that of Popery which he called Nestorianism and accused of worshipping Four Gods The Emperor is resolved never to turn Roman-Catholick adding accused of worshipping Four Gods adding That he was the Pastor and Prelate of all the Franks that were in Ethiopia but had nothing to do with his Subjects who had a Prelate of their own to wit the Patriarch of Alexandria in whose obedience after the Example of his Ancestors he was resolved to live and die The Patriarch finding he was not to be persuaded to embrace Popery was for trying whether he could not terrify him into it by obliging the Portugueses by his Censures not to serve him any longer until he made profession of it The Emperor is said at first to have laughed at this Excommunication as the effect of the impotent Passion of an angry old man who would needs be exercising jurisdiction where he had none and it is more than probable considering his present Circumstances and the small number the Pertugueses were then reduced to that he continued to do so to the last Notwithstanding it is reported That when he found the Portugueses would serve him no longer unless he declared himself a Roman-Catholick that he submitted abjuring
him would needs know what this extraordinary business was he told him There was a Portuguese or two Sick at that place and that he must needs go and hear their Confession before they died The Emperor finding the Father was not to be persuaded out of his Journey allowed him two Months which he reckoned was time long enough for the hearing of two Confessions to be absent from Court But the Father who had left the main body of the Portugueses not a year before without any Confessor to go to Court with the Viceroy of Tigre had not left the Court above a Month when the true cause of his retiring broke out in a Rebellion that was Headed by his good Friend Raz Athanateus the Habassin Earl of Warwick who having upon a disgust taken the Crown off Jacob's Head and placed it on Za Danguil's was now for taking it from Za Danguil again being displeased with him for preferring Luca Mariam to him A Rebellion breaks out presently after So hard a matter it is for Princes to please People who either have or think they have been instrumental in helping them to their Crowns But whatever it was that had disposed the People for a new Revolution whether the Emperor's Male-administration of Affairs or only an itch for the Festivity of a new Acclamation or a false compassion for the deposed Emperor it is certain Za Danguil was deserted by the main body both of the Grandees and People neither would they be satisfied unless they had Jacob restored to his Throne again But Za Danguil being a Prince of great Courage resolved they should not have the Crown but with his Head and having made up a small Army marched directly towards the Rebels who as he was informed were encamped on the banks of the Nile Nanina where Father Peter continued still confessing his two Portugueses happening to be in the Emperor's way as he marched he sent for the Father to come and speak with him The Emperor marcheth against the Rebels and when he saw him he cried out Alas your Reverence sees what they are doing to me for endeavouring to shew them the way of Truth and because I will not suffer the great to Oppress the small What would you advise me to do in this case The Father is said to have been sorry to see him with so small an Army and having comforted him as well as he could to have advised him to put his trust in God and to avoid coming to a Battel It is said farther that he offered to have gone along with him but having told him at the same time That his Spiritual Patients were not yet recovered and that he was busie repairing the Chappel the Portugueses had in that Village the Emperor bid him stay and go on with his good Works but be sure to recommend him to God in his Prayers and after two Months were expired not to fail where-ever he should be to come to him The Emperor hearing that Athanateâ—s who must have left the Court much about the same time with Father Peter had not as yet joined his Troops with those of Za Selasse whose pretence for Rebelling was Religion being in danger endeavoured to have got between them so as to have hindered their conjunction but Athanateus having had notice of this design defeated it by passing the River Nile sooner than otherwise he intended to have done Upon this design miscarrying for want of having been kept secret or by having been communicated to some of Athanateus Friends that were about the Emperor John Gabriel who commanded all the Portugueses that were in the Imperial Army advised the Emperor to delay coming to a Battel and the rather because the Heads of the Rebels were men of such different designs that it was not likely that they could hold long together but the Emperor pushed on by his own natural Courage and provoked by the Insolency of the Rebels was deaf to this advice and so did not only March directly towards them but did offer them Battel so soon as he came up with them and notwithstanding Seventy of his best Troopers who I doubt were Portugueses before a stroke was struck went over to the Enemy that did not hinder the Emperor from engaging with them the fight was bloody for some time the Victory continuing doubtful till the Emperor as he was fighting in Person more like a Heroe than a General was Slain upon whose fall The Emperor is Killed Fighting his Men reckoning that they had then nothing to Fight for threw down their Arms and cri'd out for Quarter Those of the Portuguese Blood on both sides are said to have done Miracles on this occasion but we have had so many of those Miracles in Gama's Expedition that it would make the Reader sick to trouble him with any more There are said to have been Two hundred of the Roman Catholick Profession in the Two Armies which if it was so it ought to have obliged Father Peter to have gone with the Emperor to have Confessed those that were in his Army before they engaged rather than to have staid behind to do it to Two of that Profession and whom he had then been Confessing for above Six Weeks But as we know little of what the Jesuits did in Ethiopia but from their own reports so if any thing be brought to light in the managing of these Missions that does not make much for the honour of their Order the discovery thereof must be owing purely to the irresistible power of truth which though never so artificially disguised will still give some glimpses of it self The Emperor though not actually reconciled to the Church of Rome when he was slain is said for his good inclinations to it to have had a Miracle wrought on his Body it was not to bring him to life again which the Emperor who took it out of the Earth to give it a more honourable Enterment would have been very sorry should have been the effect of his Piety but the Miracle was That his Body when taken out of the Ground Ten years after it had been lodged in it was found intire A plain evidence saith a Jesuit of the integrity of his Faith Death not being strong enough to exercise its tyranny on a body which had been so incorrupt in all matters of Justice As to Father Peter's lamenting the Emperor's Death so much as he does in a Letter I do not take that to be any argument at all of his not having been privy to the Conspiracy but of the Conspirators having either carried things farther than he would have had them or perhaps than they themselves at first intended or of his having been too far engaged therein by his first Patron the Viceroy of Tigre before he saw the Court to go back with honour or safety Athanateus amidst the triumphs of his Victory was not unmindful of his Friend Father Peter Father Peter repairs to the Victorious Rebels but writ to him
sent for the Messengers and told them That he now saw plainly what the Emperor's design was in demanding their Arms and that he would therefore write to his Highness about it before he parted with them but the Messengers being very urgent to have the Arms out of his Custody he agreed that they should be deposited in the hands of any person they would name till he had an answer from the Emperor The Patriarch's Letter to the Emperor DAniel Miserata Christos The Patriarch's Letter to the Emperor thereupon and Danaceos have by Virtue of an Order from your Highness demanded all my Guns Muskets and other Arms I presently shewed them all the Arms I had and which are now deposited in safe hands until I have an answer from your Highness On the same Ships with these Arms there came several Cannons and Muskets which were all carried back to the Indies only for the guard of my person the King's Officers gave me Twenty four Muskets and a few Carabines of the Carabines I have not one left having parted with them all to your Father and some of the Grandees and of the Muskets I gave Fourteen to your Father Two to Raz Cella Christos one to Caba Christos and one to Guergis keeping Six only for the guard of my own House and Person which as they are all I have so they are all very much at your Highness's service though at the same time I cannot forbear telling your Highness that your Father on several occasions sent Catabines both to me and the Fathers with which we never did harm to any body nor were they of any other use to us but to affright Robbers and other ill-disposed people And whereas your Highness is pleased to Banish us to a place to which we cannot go but thorough vast Deserts we might reasonably have expected that you would have done us the same favour but instead of that to take the Six Muskets from me which are my whole guard is in effect to take away all my Church-Ornaments and Books which are my whole Treasure if not my Life this being to give the world to understand that they have free leave to Murther the Bishop and the Fathers This I know very well is the design of those that gave you this advice though they will not let your Highness know so much for though I am sensible how pure an heart lodgeth in your Highness's breast and how like you are to your Father yet you have undoubtedly those about you that are contriving how they may have us all Murthered and as there are several things which they have Extorted from your Highness by their Importunities so this of banishing us to Fremona is one of them which is done by them with an Intention of having us all Murthered either by the way or when we are there of which your Highness is to know nothing until it will be too late to remedy it The Lion when his Teeth and Claws are broke becoming the sport of the Monkies and notwithstanding the guilt of our Blood may lie upon others the disgrace thereof will fall upon your Highness For what can the world say but that you disarmed us on purpose that we might be Robbed and Murthered and that after having ty'd us hand and foot you threw us in the way of Soldiers and Robbers I am informed likewise that your Highness has sent the same Orders to all the Fathers which is really to treat us as Rebels none but such having their Arms taken from them by the Government so that with our Arms you take away our Honour and Lives Now this being our case your Highness would do us a great favour if you would command us all to be slain here where our bodies will not be devoured by Wolves or if you would be so kind as to command us to be put to death in the Camp I do promise to come in my richest Pontificals to undergo that Blow which would I hope be precious in the Sight of God May the same God preserve your Highness O. Patriarcha This Letter having had no effect upon the Emperor whom the Patriarch for all his giving him such sweet words The Emperor renews his orders for banishing and disarming them and throwing all the blame of things upon his Counsellors knew to be the most inveterate Enemy the Roman Church had in Ethiopia Miserata Christos was sent back with a verbal Order commanding the Patriarch immediately to surrender his Arms and to declare upon Oath that he had delivered all he had The Patriarch took this so heinously that he told the Messenger That he neither could nor would take any such Oath Bishops being prohibited by the Sacred Canons to swear adding His Highness might venture to take his Muskets from him who being a Clerk was to make use of no other than spiritual Arms but that it was more than he durst do to a private Portuguese Centinel who do not use to part with their Arms but with their Lives The Messenger perceiving the Patriarch was not to be persuaded to Swear to the Delivery of the Arms desired that Two of the Fathers might do it which being granted the Fathers delivered all their own and the Patriarchs Arms declaring upon Oath that they had delivered all they had but when the Messenger urged the Patriarch after he had Disarmed him to begin his journey to Fremona He made answer That he would neither go nor promise to go thither before he had an Answer to a Letter he designed to write to his Highness The Patriarch's Letter to the Emperor DAniel Miserata Christos and Danaceos The Patriarch's second Letter to the Emperor have in your Majesty's name commanded me and all the Fathers to go straightways into the Province of Tigre and have given us the reason why your Highness has thought fit to banish us to that Kingdom My Answer to them was That I would neither go nor promise to go thither before I had your Highness's Answer to this Letter Sir I did not come into Ethiopia of my own head but was sent hither by the Roman Pontiff who is the Supream Governor of the Church and by your Brother the King of Portugal after your Father had intreated him by several Letters to send a Patriarch and as it was at your Father's request that I was sent so when I arrived here I was received by him and the whole Empire as their Pastor and Father all of them Swearing in my hands to be always obedient to the Roman Church I have served you all now these Seven Years as Jacob kept the flock of Laban according to the Talents God has bestowed on me by Preaching Administring the Sacraments and visiting Churches as is known to all the world by several Books that have given an account thereof and now all of a sudden you are for removing me from the Post God and your self placed me in and for banishing me to Tigre and from thencein a
amongst them any longer Here our Historian falls into a most violent fit of Railing against those Portuguese Jews and for their sake against their whole Race calling them an Impious Cruel Malicious Pestilent Contagious Infamous Vile Nasty Loathsome Generation and at last desires all the Devils in Hell to fetch the whole Race of them for having dared to report such impudent lies of an Empire that was much more Catholick than France in having received both the Inquisition and the Council of Trent which was what France could never yet be perswaded to do he likewise blames the old Christians among the Portuguese for having been so easy as to give Credit to such malicious and groundless Reports and as to what the Popes and the Kings of Portugal have said and done upon supposition of the Habassins being Enemies to the Roman Church he saith they had been miserably imposed upon by the stories which were raised by those Villanous Jews as they were also in the case of the Patriarch Oviedo who at the same time that he was revoked by the Pope because there was no hopes of his doing any good in Ethiopia by reason of the Emperor and the Peoples obstinacy in the Alexandrian Faith was reverenced by all the Habassins as a Saint and beloved by them as a Father and listned to as a wise Man and reckoned as an Apostle sent by God to them and was so far from being in Disgrace with the Emperor that he was President of his Latin Council It is true the Portuguese Patriarchs and Fathers having done several indiscreet things whereby they had disobliged the Habassin Clergy grew sick of Ethiopia quickly and returned to the Indies The Portuguese saith he being a People who cannot live long out of their own Country or at least from among their Countrymen whereas Bishop Andre Oviedo being a Spaniard and one who weighed and considered things would neither leave his Flock nor quarrel with them about Trifles and so lived and died in Ethiopia with great Honour his Memory being precious amongst them to this day of the truth of which the Pope was quickly afterwards fully satisfied for the Habassins of St. Stephen's Colledge at Rome understanding how their Church was misrepresented sent one of their Body immediately to acquaint the Emperor Menna who succeeded Claudius therewith who was put into such a Rage by the news of his being represented not to be a Roman-Catholick by the Portuguese Jews that he presently made a Law prohibiting all Portuguese upon pain of Death to come into Ethiopia without a Certificate of their being Old Christians from the Inquisitions of Lisbon and Goa He writ also immediately to Goa Lisbon and Rome to disabuse those Courts and to let them know that none but rascally Jews would have had the Impudence to have reported That he and his Empire were not true Roman Catholicks He writ also to the Colledge of Cardinals and particularly to the Protector of his Empire obliging his Council of State to do the same with passionate Declarations of their great Zeal for the Roman Faith and to give the Pope yet further satisfaction he made a new Submission of himself and his Empire to him Alexander the Third who succeeded Menna in the Empire reckoning that his Predecessor had not done enough in sending only one Ambassador to the Pope sent an Embassy to Rome which consisted of Twenty four Priests and Two Gentlemen to yield Obedience in his Name to the Holy See So much of the Dominican History of Ethiopia In which though it is an Octavo of 1130 odd Pages and a small Print there is not one syllable of truth from the beginning to the end yet notwithstanding that I do not know that I ever saw an History in any Language that had more of the Magisterial Air of Truth in it the Author seeming every where to value himself extreamly upon his Fidelity and his care of setting down nothing without being first well assured of its Truth appealing constantly to Authentick Records though a great way off for such falshoods as had the least of the Colours of Truth in them insomuch that in the beginning of his Book he saith with the greatest assurance imaginable That none could doubt of the truth of any thing he had reported in his History but Scepticks who called the truth of all things into question as in another place he reflects severely upon the Jesuits Maffenis and Mariana accusing them both of not having had that sacred regard for Truth in their Writings which all who write Histories ought to have and as if he had a mind to impose his Fictions upon God as well as Man for Truths he concludes his Legend of the Lives of several Habassin Dominican Saints some of which we have reason to believe were never in Nature or if they were were undoubtedly neither Dominicans nor Papists with the following Prayers to them MOST Glorious Illustrious and Holy Saints who being now in the Caelestial Palaces cloathed with Robes of Immortality do enjoy the clear Vision of the most Holy Trinity and being disarmed of your bodily Weapons wherewith you fought so manfully in the World are now seated under the Shades of the Victorious Palms and of the Triumphant Laurel in the Pavillions and Tabernacles of Glory Pardon me all my Faults pardon all my Errors pardon my weak Capacity pardon the Injury I have done the height of your Triumph worthy of all Immortal Trophy by my rude Pen and pray for us O most Glorious Saints who in Company of the Angelical Spirits and in the Caelestial Quire of God do Sing the Sanctus of the Mass of the most Holy Trinity and are perpetually employed in the Praises of God pardon the unpolishedness shortness and grossness of my Tongue your Prowesses being so Great your Works so Heroick and your Victory so Glorious that nothing but the Tongues of Angels are fit to celebrate them Pray for us O high exalted Princes who do live as Grandees in the Palace of the King of Glory and are as Cavaliers of the Golden Key in the Cabinet of God being always in his Presence Pardon that little that I have writ of your Feats your Glories being so great that no Pen without it be taken from the Wings of Archangels is fit to celebrate them Pray for us Most Glorious Stars of Heaven most Resplendent Meteors of the Earth Golden Artizans of the Church and the bright Light of the Predicant Order who out of the Pulpits did astonish the World like Thunder confounding Hereticks and Pagans and converting Souls to God Pardon me if the brightness of your Virtues is eclipsed by the little I have said of them and pray for us Apostolical Preachers who are in Glory about the Father of Light pardon me if your Travels Missions Peregrinations Sermons and Labours Virtues and Prodigies or if the Glory of your Glory is not aggrandized as it ought to be And pray for us Valiant Martyrs who with your Blood
Alexandrian Faith if it had any such to defend their Religion if they were able before the Emperor Which bold challenge being accepted Several publick Conferences about Religion there were divers publick Conferences about Religion held thereupon before the Emperor In all which the Fathers but by their own Brethren are said to have been Victorious and by their great skill in School-Divinity to whose subtleties the Habassins were utter strangers to have baffled them shamefully at every turn to the admiration of the whole Court When the Monks and Fathers had done Disputing the Emperor with the advice of his Cabinet Council An Edict is published by the Emperor prohibiting any to affirm that there is but one Nature in Christ The Abuna comes to Court and is angry with the Conferences that had been held without his leave put forth a Proclamation prohibiting all his Subjects upon severe Penalties to affirm that there is but one Nature in Christ The Abuna Simon hearing of the Disputations that had been held at Court and of the Proclamation they had ended in made all the speed he could thither and being come to Court he threatned the Emperor with an Excommunication for having held publick Disputations about Religion without his leave The Emperor endeavoured to pacify the angry Old Man by telling him That it was true that he had permitted some Conferences but for no other end but to remove a Schism that was in the Church but now that be was come he might if he pleased have the Conferences renewed again The Abuna though his talent is said not to have lain much that way gave his Consent to have the Disputations renewed and Learned Men having been appointed on both sides to manage the Debate the Fathers in the Conferences did demonstrate the Truth of Christ's having two Natures so evidently The Conferences are renewed before him from the Scriptures Councils and right Reason that the Habassins had nothing that was material to say against it the Abuna himself not having offered one word in defence of his Faith when he saw his Monks most miserably baffled It is remarkable That it was the policy of the Jesuits to make the Doctrine of Christ's having two Natures and not that of the Pope's Supremacy against which by what the Emperor Claudius did we know the Habassins had enough to say the point that was debated in all their publick Conferences which was not so proper considering that the Habassins might have believed that Doctrine as the Reformed and Greek Churches do without being the nearer to the Church of Rome for it for it does not at all follow That because Christ had two Natures that the Pope must therefore he his Vicar upon Earth and that all Christian Churches must submit themselves to him The very Fathers that established that Doctrine in the Council of Calcedon having denied that the Pope had any Supremacy but what he owed to Rome 's being the first City is the Roman Empire as I have observed elsewhere Upon the Habassins being thus baffled upon a point the Church of Rome was no more concerned in than the Church of England the Fathers in the heat of their triumph did drive on the Emperor at a most furious rate persuading him to set forth another Proclamation making it death for any one to deny that there are two Natures in Christ But the Abuna though he had little to say for his Religion at the Conferences The Abuna leaves the Court in wrath and Excommuicates the Emperor endeavoured after he had left the Court to make amends for his silence there by roaring the louder through the Countrey as he went home and being sensible that besides the whole body of the People he had the Emperor's Mother and his half-brother Emana Christos with several other Grandees on his side he was no sooner got home then he thundered out an Excommunication against all not excepting the Emperor that had or should submit themselves to the Pope The Emperor was at first troubled at this Censure The Emperor is provoked thereby to publish a Proclamation Commanding all his Subjects to turn Roman Catholicks The Agau's thereupon take up Arms. The Abuna promotes an Association in desence of their Religion Julius enters into it and takes the Field against the Emperor but being afterwards satisfied by the Fathers of its Nullity he was provoked by it to set forth a Proclamation desiring all his Subjects to embrace the Roman Faith Commanding that Proclamation to be published by the Judges throughout the whole Empire which most of them did notwithstanding it was contrary to their private Judgments This Proclamation having put the whole Empire into a flame and provoked the Agau's to take up Arms the Abuna who waited only for such an opportunity so soon as he found the Emperor engaged in that War writ Circular Letters to all his Confidents exhorting them and all the Nobles and People that were not weary of the Faith of their Forefathers to enter into an Association in Defence of it against the Emperor and his Brother who had now both declared themselves open Enemies to it Julius the Viceroy of Tigre who had Married a Daughter of the Emperor's so soon as he had received the Abuna's Letter did not only begin to Persecute the Fathers that resided at Fremona but seized likewise upon the Estates of all the Habassins within his Province that had turned Roman Catholicks declaring he would Defend his Religion against all the world with the last drop of his blood The Emperor hearing of the Circular Letter and the Association that was going on was very angry with the Abuna wishing he had him in his hands to put a stop to his enflaming his Subjects against him but knowing that if he discovered himself to be displeased with him that he would either not come if he sent for him or come with such a Guard that it would not be safe for him to offer him any violence he thought fit to dissemble his passion so far as to write a kind Letter to him desiring him to repair to him with all possible speed to satisfy some scruples which gave him great disturbance writing at the same time to Father Peter to come likewise which the Father did immediately bringing with him the news of the Persecution that was set on soot in Tigre against the Fathers and their Converts The Queen and several Grandees of the Court seeing what a storm the Emperor was like to raise by endeavouring to introduce Popery into his Empire waited upon him in a body The Emperor is addressed to not to trouble his Subjects about their Religion beseeching him as he loved his Crown and his people to give over that design as a thing not feasible since not only the Monks but the whole body of the Nation did openly declare That they would Defend their Religion against him and all the world with their Lives and Fortunes and would dye a thousand
Deaths sooner than turn Papists All which passionate Remonstances were so far from shaking the Emperor's Zeal for the introducing of Popery that they inflamed it to that Degree that he one day told Father Peter That notwithstanding he was sensible he had so far lost the hearts of his Subjects by the favour he shewed to the Roman Religion that they were all ready to rebel against him nevertheless he was resolved either to lose his Crown He is deaf to all such addresses or to establish that Faith in Ethiopia And as for his Brother whenever he was spoke to to renounce Popery and return to his former Faith his answer was still While I have breath in my body I will defend the Roman Faith with my Sword my Tongue and my Pen. The Abuna that he might not seem to be wanting to his duty in such a critical juncture The Abuna being invited to Court goes thither well guarded resolved to go and wait on the Emperor but with such a Train that it should not be safe for him if he had a mind to it to meddle with him the very Monks that attended him being more in number than the Royal Army The Abuna and his Monks when they came within hearing of the Emperor's Tent gave a general shout That they came all prepared to die for the faith of their Forefathers being resolved to hear no more arguments against it making the whole Camp to ring with Ajentent Ajentent that is to say The Ancient the Ancient meaning their Faith The Emperor being willing to put a stop to this fury sent to the Abuna to come to him which the Abuna did and having spoke their minds very freely to one another they agreed to summon a Convocation of the Clergy to meet on Michaelmas-day at which the Fathers were to be present and to be heard The Convocation being met at the time appointed it was so far from allaying the heat of the Habassins which was the end for which the Emperor had called it that it put them in a greater flame than they were in before for the Fathers knowing they had not one voice on their side in that whole body were not for having things put to the Vote but for having them disputed as if it had not been a Convocation but only a publick Conference but though the Fathers offered several Arguments in defence of their Doctrines which the Habassins did not so much as pretend to Answer Nevertheless the Habassin still kept their Ground declaring That no Sophistry should ever persuade them out of the faith of their Forefathers The Convocation having wrangled for that was all the Jesuits would suffer to be done in it for five days it broke up in a great heat leaving matters a great deal worse than it found them The Abuna and his Monks finding there was no good to be done upon the Emperor The Abuna and the Monks wait on the Emperor in a Body who seemed to be bewitched by the Jesuits were for leaving the Camp immediately without taking any farther notice of him but having considered on 't a little better they agreed to wait upon him in a body to conjure him by all that was sacred and as he loved himself his Posterity and People not to endeavour to bring a new Religion in among them and which he could not but be sensible was the Religion in the world that they the most hated and so without sending to him for an audience which they had reason to believe would have been denied them they went and threw themselves at his feet and instead of speaking raised a most lamentable howl as if they had been so many Ideots say the Fathers which howl having continued a good space they at last recovered their speech crying with one Voice That his Highness must not think that he was able to destroy a Religion which had been maintained in Ethiopia by so many Emperors thorough so many Ages Upon the Emperor slighting their complaints they leave the Camp in a rage The Emperor not appearing to be in the least moved either by their Complaints or Threats they all ris and went away in a great Rage some of them being said by their Enemies to have been so far provoked by the Emperor's carriage toward them as to have conspired to Murther him and his Brother as they went out of the Camp for Recreation but not having met with an opportunity of executing that black design they all returned home with their Abuna but with their Spirits so exasperated that it was visible to every body that they would not suffer the Emperor and his Jesuits to be long quiet Father Peter to divert the Emperor from thinking of the troubles that he was like to bring upon himself and his Empire by his Zeal for Popery Father Peter Builds the Emperor a standing Palace put him upon building a standing Palace on a Peninsula in the Lake of Dembea and there being no such thing as a Mason in all Ethiopia the Father undertook the work himself and in a short time run up a House which the Jesuits say would have been a convenient Hunting Palace for the best King in Europe The Emperor was extreamly pleased with it and the Habassins having never seen a House with Stories before called it Habet Labet that is a House upon a House While Father Peter was employed in Building the other Fathers were busy Translating some Commentaries on the Scripture out of Latin into Habassin namely Maldonate on the Gospel Ribera on the Epistle to the Hebrews Tolet on St. Paul's Epistles and Viegas on the Revelation who were all Spanish Jesuits the Habassins not being to know that any in Europe that were not of that Nation and Order could write Books While the Emperor was solacing himself in his new Palace An attempt is made upon the Emperor's life his Brother Amana Christos Julius the Viceroy of Tigre and one Calfe his Chamberlain and chief Eunuch conspired to Murther him in it and had done it had it not been for a Spring-Lock which shut a door behind him as he fled from the Conspirators of which Lock it is reported that the Emperor when he first saw it on the Door would have had it taken off as troublesome to open every time he went into his Closet had not Father Peter persuaded him to let it alone by telling him That it might at some time or other do his Highness some Service The Conspirators having made their Escape had no remedy after such a black attempt but to take the Field and Julius being got into Tigre he immediately set forth a Proclamation commanding all within that Kingdom who were of the Roman Faith Julius the Emperor's Son-in-Law takes up Arms for the defence of their Religion to go to the Emperor and his Brother who would make them welcom and all that were of the same faith with their Fathers to repair to him he being resolved to