been Emperor himself for Seven years and that with the Approbation of the People who had also restored him after he had been Deposed for some time neither was his being a Bastard any bar to him since according to the Natural and Civil Law a Bastard may succeed his Father as John the First of Portugal did his Fathor Don Peter besides Suseneus was a Bastard no less than Jacob. On the other side saith Tellez it may be alledged That Jacob having been deposed to make room for Za Danguil who was both the true Heir and was chosen by the Grandees and People upon Danguil 's death the Throne became void and the Election of an Emperor out of the Royal Family devolved to the Commonwealth whereupon Suseneus who was the Grandson of an Infante was chosen Emperor by the Army upon Jacob 's having delayed coming to them Concluding That whatever Princes Titles or Pretences in such cases may be in Speculation according to the Practice of the World he has the best Title that â—â—s the longest Sword But to return to the Fathers who having staid at Court till Winter obtained leave to go to Gorgora to fix a Residence there but they had not been gone a Month before the Emperor writ to them to come to Court again declaring that he could not be without their Company any longer The Fathers obey'd the summons and repaired to Coga a place near the Lake of Dembea where the Emperor at that time had his Camp They were no sooner arrived but the Emperor gave them an Audience and after that was over ordered them to Dine with him that is in the same Room though not at the same Table The Portugueses give a tedious account of the particulars of this Entertainment the main of which are That the Emperor does not feed himself but has his Meat put into his Mouth by his Pages that his Diet was plain and without any thing of Cookery and that he had neither Knife Spoon Table-Cloth nor Napkin and had Bread for his Trencher and never Drank till he had done Eating Father Peter and his Companions never missed the Emperor's Levee the Emperor taking great delight to discourse with them about Religion and the difference that is between the Habassin and Roman Churches which Conferences having continued for some time The Emperor offers to write to the King of Portugal and the Pope and is encouraged by Father Peter to do it the Emperor sent one day to Father Peter to come to him alone and being come he told him That nowithstanding he was convinced that he ought to submit himself and his Empire to the Pope yet it would not be safe for him to attempt it before he had some assurance that the King of Portugal would assist him against those who would oppose him in doing of it That he intended therefore to write a Letter to the Pope and another to the King about it The Father having extolled his good intentions encouraged him to write those Letters assuring him of as good an Answer to them as he could desire The Emperor Seltem Saged's Letter to the Pope THE Letter of the Emperor of Ethiopia The Emperor's Letter to the Pope Malac Eguet cometh to the holy Pope of Rome with the Peace of our Lord Christ who loved us and washed us from our Sins in his blood and hath made us a Kingdom and a Priesthood to God the Father May this Peace be always with your Holiness and the Catholick Church of Christ Amen We have for a long time had a great affection for the Christians of your parts upon the account of the benefits this Empire received from them when it was formerly rescued by the Portugueses out of the hands of Mahometans and restored by them to its ancient estate and quiet most of whose Race died in our Father's Reign who was willing they should enjoy what his Ancestors had given them whereupon so soon as through God's Grace I took the Government of the Empire upon me I determined to renew our Alliance with the Faithful People of Christ in order to remedy the manifest distractions our Empire of late years has been put into by the Mahometans for notwithstanding we have subdued most of our Domestick Enemies we have Enemies still that are much more Powerful that is the Infidel Gauls who have Conquered a great part of our Empire and destroyed many of our Churches and which is worst of all are daily Invading us and exercising unheard-of Cruelties on Old Men Widows and Children whom we are not able to protect without being assisted by our Brother the Emperor of Portugal We do therefore implore his aid as our Ancestors did that of his Predecessors formerly and that there may be no failure we resolved to intreat your Holiness who is the Father and Pastor of all faithful Christians to write to our Brother to grant us what we desire of him before the Gauls grow stronger upon us As to the landing of the Succors he shall send it will be done without any danger they that are the Masters of our Coast being at this time very weak at Sea so being assured that your Holiness will assist us according to our necessities we will trouble you with no more words but shall refer the relation of the state of our Empire and of the kindness wherewith we Treat those of the Portuguese race and of the care we take of the Fathers and their Churches to Father Peter Pays to whom I have recommended the doing of it and to whose account I desire you to give the same credit as you do to this Letter We conclude praying that our Lord Christ would preserve your Holiness for many Years for the good of the Catholick Church Written in Ethiopia on the 14th of October 1607. The Emperor's Letter to the King of Spain THE Letter sent by the Emperor Malac Eguet His Letters to the King of Spain cometh to the Emperor of Spain the Holy Land of St. Peter the Prince of the Doctors and of the Catholick Church of our Lord of which the Apostle St. Paul said I have betrothed thee to one man to present thee a chast Virgin to Christ To whom be glory and in imitation of the most pure Messenger St. Gabriel who saluting our Lady the Virgin said The Lord save thee and of Christ our Lord who on the Evening of the Lord's-day after his Resurrection said to his Apostles being assembled together Peace be among you and as St. Paul writes in all his Epistles The Peace of our Lord be with your Majesty our Brother in the Faith that was preached by St. Peter at the time when our Lord Christ commanded his Apostles to go all over the world and preach the Gospel to all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost How is your Majesty and how is your Empire we are in health thorough the Intercession of St. Peter your and our
to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem to whom he sent the Collection of Canons which is now at Rome giving them likewise several Lands for uses which the Church of Rome allows to be pious this Monastery of Habassins stands on Mount Gabor Zera Jacob 's Letter to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem In the name of the Father and Son The Emperor Zera Jacob's Letter to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem and Holy Ghost one God whom I adore with all my heart and on whom I rely with all my strength and with all my mind to whom I am bound with the tye of sacred Worship which is not to be broken THIS Letter is written in this Book of Canons by us Zera Jacob whose Name since we took the Government upon us is Constantine in the 8th year after the God of Israel in the multitude of his mercies was pleased to place us on the Throne of the Kingdom of Ethiopia being in Seava which is called Teglet Let this come to the hands of my beloved the College of Saints who reside at Jerusalem the Holy City In the peace of the Lord. Amen I do proclaim you very happy for having in the first place obeyed the word of the Gospel which saith He that forsaketh not his father and mother wife and children c. for which reason you have left the world and have taken upon you the Yoke of Monkery the word of the Prophet hath likewise bound you which saith I will not go into the tabernacle of mine house nor climb up to my bed neither will I give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids until I find the house of the Lord the habitatian of the God of Jacob. Whereupon you determined to repair to Jerusalem the City of the Great King not being discouraged from going thither either by the Incommodities of the Journey or the heat by day or the cold by night nor by the dangers of Robbers where when you arrived what was said by the Prophet was fulfilled in you Let us therefore go into his house and worship in the place where the face of our Lord stood for to you it is given to kiss the place which his Presence hath hallowed from his Nativity to his Ascension For which cause I do very much rely on your Prayers and on the Afflictions you have suffered for God's sake I do salute you from the bottom of my heart saying Health to you the Sons of Ethiopia whom the Earthly Jerusalem hath tyed to her self that she may convey you to the Heavenly Health be to your Faith which is perfect in the Trinity and to your course of life which is like to that of Angels Health be to your Feet which walk to your Hands which touch to your Lips which kiss to your Eyes which do freely behold Galilee where God was Incarnate and Bethlehem where he was born taking our Nature upon him and the Cave where he lay and Nazareth where he was educated and Jordan where he was baptized that he might cleanse us and Corontum where he fasted for our sake and Calvary where he was crucified for our Redemption and Golgotha where he was buried and rose again that he might quicken us and the Mount of Olives where he ascended to his Father and our God that he might introduce us into the Inner Vail of the highest Heavens into which he himself entred and introduced the Apostles who were before us and the Oratory of Sion where the Comforter descended on our Fathers the Apostles Health be likewise to your Eyes which behold the Light that cometh out of the Sepulchre of our Lord on the Old Sabbath to wit on the Eve of our Passover May your Peace and Love and Prayers and Benedictions be with me for ever Amen Behold I have sent you this Book of Synods that you may receive Consolation from it on the Old Sabbath and on the Lord's Day and that they may be a Memorial of me through all Ages Amen I Zera Jacob whose Name since God was pleased to place me on the Throne of the Empire is Constantine in the Eighth Year of my Reign do Bequeath unto you the Land of Zebla and Half of all the Tributes arising from it for Two Years which amounts to an Hundred Ounces of Gold toward your Food and Rayment and do give it to the Monastery of Jerusalem that it may be a Memorial of my self and of our Lady Mary and for the Celebration of Her Feasts to wit That of her Nativity on the 1st of May that of her Death on the 22d of January and that of her Translation on the 15th of August as also of the Feasts of her Son our Lord Jesus on the 29th of December when he was Born to be celebrated by you at Bethlehem together with the Festivities of his Passion and lively Resurrection from Death You shall likewise celebrate all the Festivities of our Lady Mary which in the Book of her Miracles are Thirty two in number And shall furthermore keep a Lamp burning for me in the Sepulchre of our Lord and another in the Entry thereof and on the right side one and on the left another as also at the place of his Burial three three at the Monument of our Lady Mary in Gethsemane and at the place where Mary Magdalen saw him one and in our Chappel three one also at Bethlehem where our Lord was born and another at the place in the Mount of Olives where our Lord ascended Let them he all maintained at my Charge and take care not to suffer them to go out at any time nor to give way to any Person contributing towards them And since I do rely on the Bond of your Love let your Prayers and Benedictions be with me thorough all Ages Amen My Beloved Don't you offer to say Light descendeth only upon us that your glorying in your selves be not in vain since you know that evil attends glorying and blessing humility Peace be with you the Peace of our Lord be with you Amen The Jesuit Guerrira speaking of the forementioned Ethiopick Embassy saith That the whole Story of it was either a mere Fiction not knowing its like of its having been made use of for so great a purpose by a Pope or that it had no manner of effect But it is no matter whether it was a Fiction or a Reality so long as it furnished a good pretence for a present turn and tended to the Disparagement of the Council of Basil which together with the ground it stood upon was blown up purely by Tricks of this nature the Yoke the Council of Constance had laid on the Neck of the Papacy being broke by Pretences of the Greek and all other Churches and Patriarchs having submitted themselves to it This is all that I have been able to meet with in Greek or Latin History concerning the Church of Ethiopia before the Year 1490 when it was first discovered by the Portugueses And as for Histories of
A long Justification of their abstaining from Meats that are made unclean by the Law while they conversed with Christ make use of unclean Meats or so much as taste any thing that was prohibited by the Law which was what none of them offered to transgress no not after the time of our Lord's Passion when they began to preach the Gospel there being nothing in their Writings from whence it can be gathered that they did ever kill or eat any thing that is unclean It is true Paul saith Eat all that is sold in the shambles asking nothing for conscience sake and again If any that are infidels invite you to a feast and you are disposed to go eat whatsoever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake And again If any one shall say This is offered to idols do not eat for his sake that told you so and for conscience sake c. All which Paul spoke in compliance with those who are weak in the Faith betwixt whom and the Jews there were frequent Debates and in order to the putting a stop to those Disputes the Apostle complied much with the weaker Christians which he did not do that he would have the Law broke but that by gratifying such People in the relaxation of Rites he might allure them to the Faith The same Apostle saith likewise Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not for he that eateth eateth unto the Lord and he that eareth not eateth not unto the Lord. It is therefore an unworthy thing to reprove Christians who are Strangers with so much bitterness as I have been reproved here concerning this very matter and other little things which do no ways belong to Faith It would certainly be much wiser for Christians whether Greeks Armenians Ethiopians or of any of the Seven Christian Churches to bear with one another in Charity and in the Bowels of Christ in all such matters and to suffer one another to live and converse with their Christian Brethren being all Sons of Baptism and unanimous in the true Faith neither is there any cause why they should debate so sharply about Ceremonies or why every one should not be suffered to observe his own and that without hating and persecuting others for theirs neither ought any one in a strange Countrey to be debarred the Communion of the Church for observing his own Church-Ceremonies As to that we meet with in the Acts of Peter's seeing a Cloth let down from Heaven by the corners wherein were all Four-footed Beasts and all creeping Creatures and Birds of the Air and of his having heard a Voice that commanded him to rise and kill and eat to which Peter replied Far be it from me Lord for I have never eat any thing that is common and unclean to whom the Voice answered What God has purified that do not thou call unclean which having been done three several times the Vessel was then immediately taken up into Heaven whereupon the Spirit sent him straightways to Cesarea to Cornelius a holy Man fearing God to whom when Peter spake the Holy Spirit descended on all who heard the Word of God After which Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole Family Now when the Apostles and Brethren who were in Judea came to hear of what Peter had done they were angry and asked him How he came to go to men who were uncircumcised and to eat with them but after Peter had declared to them the whole Vision they were satisfied and returned thanks to God saying He hath given repentance unto life to the Gentiles and they remembred the word of the Lord which he spoke when he ascended into Heaven Go over all nations and preach the Gospel to all creatures in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Then the Apostles begun to preach the Gospel over the whole World to every Creature in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost insomuch that their sound went thorough the whole Earth Now this Vision wherein things clean and unclean appeared we of Ethiopia interpret thus The clean living Creatures were the People of Israel the unclean were the Gentiles who were therefore said to be unclean because they worshipped Idols and did the Works of the Devil which are unclean So that the Voice saying Peter kill was the same as if it had said Teach and preach the Faith and the Law of Christ both to the People of Israel and the Gentiles besides it is most certain that we read no where in the Scriptures of Peter or of any other of the Apostles killing or eating any thing that was unclean after this Vision We are to observe likewise That when the Scriptures speak of Bread it is not to be understood of a Corporal Food but of the Doctrine of the Gospel It is therefore adviseable for all Doctors and Preachers to teach high and sublime things of this Linen Cloth which was shewed to Peter and not low things which do no way appertain to Salvation and least of all to draw Arguments from thence to prove it to be lawful for us to eat things that are unclean seeing no such matter can be gathered from the Scripture but that is not all for the Apostles themselves in their Book of Synods have forbid us to eat any thing that is strangled or tore or half eaten by Beast or Blood hecause the Lord loveth cleanness and sobriety and hateth gluttony and pollution and loveth those much who abstain from Flesh and those more who fast with Bread and Water and Herbs as John the Baptist did who eat nothing else As also Paul the Hermite who lived in the Desert and fasted 80 years as St. Anthony and St. Macarius and a great number of their Spiritual Sons who never so much as tasted Flesh Wherefore Brethren we ought not to contemn and persecute our Neighbours for St. James saith He that speaketh evil of his brother or judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law Paul teacheth likewise That it is much better for people to rest satisfied with their own traditions than to contend with their Christian brethren about the law and that in such matters they ought not to be wiser than is necessary but to be wise to sobriety according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith Wherefore it is a very undecent thing to contend with our brethren about the law and distinction of meats since meat cannot commend us to God A charitable Admonition and especially since St. Paul hath said Whether ye eat plentifully or do not eat ye are never the worse Let us therefore look after higher things and the food that is heavenly and forbear such low and empty disputations What I have writ concerning Traditions I have not writ out of a spirit of contention but to defend my Countreymen against the violent reproofs of those who paid so
before us but so soon as our back is turned are making inroads upon us again For the destruction of this Enemy it is that we desire to have some troops from you with Artificers of all Trades and Fathers to instruct us that we may be of one heart and one body and that the faith of Christ which is destroyed by the hands of Infidels may be established and that there may be peace and love among us This was formerly desired by our Ancestors but it did not please God it should be accomplished in their times but the Turks who then hindered it may now with ease be driven out of the Island of Matzua for which reason we intreat your Holiness to recommend this our request to our Brother desiring him to comply therewith and to execute it speedily We do not trouble your Holiness with many words being well assured of your readiness to grant what we shall desire See that the Fathers you send hither be learned and holy that so they may be able to instruct us in whatsoever is necessary to our Souls I shall add no more a few words being enough to the wise The Emperor of Ethiopia's Letter to the King of Spain THE Letter writ by the Emperor Asnaf Segued cometh to our Brother Don Philip King of the Kings of Spain Peace be with your Majesty The Peace and Love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sign of the Holy Cross be always with your Majesty How is it with you As I returned from the War to the place where I was to reside all the Winter a certain Father whose Name is Peter Pays of whose Learning and Piety I had heard before came to visit me I was very glad to hear the account he gave of the state of your Majesty's Health and the welfare of your Kingdoms and did return Thanks to God for having given you such Prosperity that none of your Enemies are able to disturb it May our Lord increase the number of your Majesty's years and bring what he hath begun to an happy issue Hear Sir your Majesty is not ignorant that in the days of the Emperor Asnaf Segued when a certain Mahometan called Granhe invaded Ethiopia and destroyed all our Churches a Confederacy was concluded and confirmed by an Oath betwixt our two Crowns and that when my Ancestors sent to John King of Portugal for some Succors he sent us some which were Commanded by Don Christopher de Gama and which in conjunction with our Army Conquered that Mahometan The High and Mighty God who exalteth the humble and throws down the proud being our helper After which there was Peace and Quietness the force of the Mahometan who had not the fear of God before his Eyes being broken in pieces The Portugueses remained among us in great Honour wanting for nothing till the day of their Death as their Posterity do not to this day Wherefore we being Christians no less than our Ancestors and under the obligation of the same Oath we ought to have the same Enemies that is the Galls who destroy our Lands and who when we go against them with our Armies do run away from us but so soon as our back is turned do as Banditti make inroads into our Empire for which reason we do desire your Majesty to send us some Soldiers and with them your Daughter to be Married to our Son by which means our Alliance will be firmer and we shall be one Body and of one Heart Our Son is Seven years Old and your Daughter as we are informed is but Three so they shall be bred together with the milk of Wisdom and shall be taught the Holy Scriptures I do also wish that your Majesty would with your Troops send me Artificers of all Professions and that you would do it speedily that so being united in the Faith of Christ there may be Peace and Love betwixt us and that this Empire which is the Land of our Lady and of Christ our Redeemer may not be lost The Mahometans are extreamly Zealous for their Sect and do whenever there is occasion help one another and ought not your Majesty to do the same for your Faith which is above all As to what we write to you concerning your sending your Daughter hither you are not to think that we desire her for any other end than to establish an Alliance between us and that she may be a pledge of Peace for the future May God who can do all things fulfil our wishes Hear farther Brother in order to the establishment of our Affairs Do you send a Viceroy to the Island of Matzua and my General shall be at the same time at Arkiko on the Continent by which means we shall bridle the Power of the Turks and being Masters of those parts we will send our Merchants with all sorts of Goods and Provisions into yoar Conquests and will divide the Customs between us our Countrey is very Rich and wants for nothing and the reason why we have not hitherto sent any Merchants to these parts with Provisions of Honey Gold and Slaves is because we have a mind to pinch the Turks for whom we have no kindness but when your Viceroy is once come with his Portugueses we shall quickly send Merchants to them with all sorts of Commodities May our Lord God bring what we desire and what is grateful to your Majesty to a happy issue that so the Power of the Turk which is a great Stone of Scandal may be utterly broke It does not appear by these Letters that the Emperor was in such a violent fit of Zeal when he wrote them for a Roman Patriarch and for submitting his Church to the Pope immediately as he is reported to have been in when he delivered them to Father Peter for though in both of them he writes very earnestly to have the Infanta and some Troops sent with all possible expedition he does not say one word of his Church's submission or of a Roman Patriarch And in case Father Peter when he acquainted the Emperor with the Infanta's Age did to make his Court the better feed him with hopes of obtaining her for his black Prince it was no more than what his Countreyman Gundamore did here in England either with the same Infanta or her Sister and the restitution of the Palatinate It might have been expected that Father Peter now he had brought the Emperor to be a Bigot for Popery beyond what he desired should have stuck close to him till he had done the work and that no small matter should have made him to have left the Court where his presence was so necessary but whatever was the true cause of it the Father all of a sudden desires leave of the Emperor to go to Nanina a place two days journey from the Court pretending to be called thither by extraordinary business and when the Emperor Father Peter withdraws from Court upon a slight pretence who was very unwilling to part with
THE Church-History OF ETHIOPIA WHEREIN Among other things The Two Great Splendid ROMAN MISSIONS into That Empire are placed in their true Light To which are Added An Epitome of the Dominican History of That Church And an Account of the Practices and Conviction of MARIA of the Annunciation the Famous NUN of Lisbon Composed By MICHAEL GEDDES D.D. Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of SARUM LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVI To the Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of His MAJESTY's Privy Council May it please Your Lordship THE following Book being the History of a Church that was never at any time under the Papal Yoke and which when its Princes instead of being Nursing Fathers struggled hard of late years to have brought its Neck under it never rested until it had both broke that insupportable Yoke asunder and secured it self from ever having the like Attempts made again upon its Liberty To whom can it so naturally go for Patronage as to a Noble and Great Prelate who had the Courage when Popery was in the heighth of its last Triumph among us in his own single Person to give it the first Publick Check that it met with a kindness the Church and State of England will I hope never forget I am sure they ought not and who has furthermore for near these Twenty Years made it his chief Study by creating a right understanding betwixt all Antipapal Churches to unite them all into one Body that so they may be the better able to withstand their common Enemy who is still indefatigable in his Endeavours to bring all Churches yet into bondage Which Consideration together with the great Obligation the Compiler of this History is under to neglect no opportunity of owning to the World how much he has been beholden to your Lordship as they have put me upon dedicating it to You so I cannot but hope that a Person of Your Lordship's High Birth and admirable Benignity and sweetness of Temper will both pardon my Presumption in so doing and pass by any weaknesses that may discover themselves in the Composure and also accept it as a small Testimony of my being Your Lordship 's Devoted and most humble Servant Michael Geddes THE PREFACE WHEN in the Preface to the Synod of Diamper I promised from Portuguese Relations to give some Account of the Churches which were never within the Bounds of the Roman Empire I intended to have begun with the Church of Mosul or Babylon but not having hitherto been able to procure those Informations of it which I had then some reason to expect and having during my nine Years Residence at Lisbon furnished my self with all the Portuguese Books which do any ways treat of Ethiopia I was perswaded by some Friends to alter my mind and to begin with That Church which of all others till within these Two hundred years had had the least Communication with the Roman and which notwithstanding all the pains its Princes and the Jesuits have been at of late to bring her under the Bondage of the Papacy has tho with a terrible struggle maintained her Primitive Liberty and Independency on that Ambitious and Usurping See and does to this day with greater Zeal than ever assert them And that I may not seem Actum agere in publishing an History of Ethiopia after the Learned Mr. Ludolphus I am to acquaint the Reader That whereas the two great Splendid Roman Missions into that Empire are the most remarkable things that have come to our knowledge in the History of that Church so if some of my Learned Friends are not mistaken Those Two Missions with all their Steps and Circumstances are here placed in a truer Light than they were ever seen in before And tho I will not promise that my Conjectures upon the dark and hidden things of those Missions are all true as who indeed that makes many and especially in matters which have been industriously disguised by men of Art will venture to promise yet this I can safely say that I have not made one but what I thought I had some ground for And as to matters of fact I do assure the Reader that in the matter of the Missions I have set down few or none but what I had out of Roman-Catholick Writers and licensed by the Inquisition and who for the most part were Jesuits There are Four things whereof if I am not mistaken this History will abundantly satisfy the Impartial Reader The First is That the Roman Missionaries but especially the Jesuits having neither the gift of Miracles nor of Patience to wait for the slow issues of the old method of converting Nations by preaching the Faith to them are every where where they can come at them for dispatching it with Dragoons or by some other violent and sanguinary way The Jesuits being all to a man of the same opinion with their great Apostle of the Indies Francis Xaveir whose Maxim as Ravarette informs us was Mientras no estiuveron debaxo del Mosquete no avia de ver Christiano de provecho that is to say Missionaries without Muskets do never make Converts to any purpose The truth of which Maxim John Bolunte a Missionary Jesuit tells us is confirmed by universal Experience Niâ—enâ—el Brasil saith he Peru Mexico Florida Philipinas y Maluca ha havido Christianidad ni Conversion sinla sombra de vel Poder Secular that is Neither in the Brasils Peru Mexico Florida the Philipins or Maluca have any Conversions been made without the help of the Secular Power affirming in another place of his Book Que en nenguna parte se ha hecho fruto sin Armas that is That Missionaries have done nothing any where without Military Arms. The Second is That there is no Tyranny in the World equal to that which the Roman Prelates where they have the Secular Arm at their command do continually exercise and that without the common relentings of humanity upon all sorts of people that will not turn to their Religion The Third is That Missionaries when ever they have inspired a Prince the main Body of whose Subjects are Anti-papists with a bigotry to introduce their Religion into his Country do commonly before they have done with him either run him out of breath or make him run his head against a wall The Fourth is That Ambition did very early take possession of the Jesuits Order that Society not being above ten years standing in the World when it had engrossed a Mission to it self which did promise both greater and cheaper Honours to its Ministers than ever any Mission had done before The clear discovery of which Truths together with that of the true Spirit and Temper of Missionaries and the Precipices they put Princes upon who are so unhappy as to be their Converts must make This History to be of some use to all Protestant Countreys which may therein
you I do likewise send Francis Alvarez to the Pope to yeild Obedience to him in my Name as it is just I should O Lord my Brother King attend and apply your self to the Friendship that was begun betwixt us by your Father and do not neglect to send Letters and Ambassadors to us frequently for I am extremely desirous to receive them from you as from my Brother And since we are both Christians and the Mahometans though Wicked are still in Peace with all of their own Sect it is fit it should be the same betwixt us And I do declare That for the future I will receive no Embassy from the King of Egypt nor from any of those Kingdoms which have formerly sent Ambassadors to us nor from no other King but only from your Highness from whom I do earnestly desire to have them come for the Mahometan Kings by reason of the difference that is betwixt us in Religion do never look upon me as their Friend and do only pretend to have a Kindness for me that they may Trade with the more conveniency and security within my Dominions from whence they draw great Profit exporting Yearly great Quantities of Gold whereof they are extremely Covetons while at the same time they have no real Friendship for me for which reason I take no pleasure in their Gain but this having been a Custom of my Ancestors was to be endured though after all the only thing that hinders me from making War upon them and Confounding them is the fear of provoking them thereby to violate and destroy the Temple of Jerusalem where the Sepulchre of Christ is which God hath been pleased to leave in the hands of those filthy Mahometans and to demolish the Churches that are in Egypt and Syria this is the only cause why I do not Invade and Conquer them which I am sorry I am not at liberty to do O King I can by no means rejoyce in the Christian Kings of Europe who as I am informed do not agree in one heart but are at War one with another be you all Unanimous and in Friendship one with another for my own part had I a Christian King in my Neighbourhood I would never be absent from him I do not know what to say of these matters nor what to do since God seems to have ordained things to be as they are My Lord let me have Ambassadors from you frequently for when I see your Letters I think I behold your face there being a greater Friendship betwixt those that live far asunder than betwixt Neighbours by reason of the stronger desire they have one for another for he that has hid his Treasure thinks the oftner of it and loves it the more for not seeing it according to what Christ saith in his Gospel Where your treasure is there will your hearts be also my heart is therefore with you because you are my Treasure and you ought also to make me your Treasure so as sincerely to joyn your Heart with ours O Lord and Brother observe this word for I am told you are very Wise and in Wisdom like your Father of which when I was informed I returned Thanks to God for it and throwing away Sorrow did put on Joy and said Blessed be the Son that is Wise and who has a great Head the Son of King Emanuel who sits upon the Throne of his Kingdoms Sir Have a care you do not grow weary since you are no less Valiant than your Father and do not discover your self to be Weak against the Mahometans and Gentiles whom with God's Assistance you may easily Conquer and have a care how you say The Forces left me by my Father are small for they are abundantly sufficient and God will always help you I have Men Gold and Provisions like the Sand of the Sea and the Stars of Heaven so that we two being United may with ease destroy the whole Barbarous Race of Mahometans I desire nothing of you but Experienced Officers to Discipline and Command my Soldiers O King thou art of a just Age whereas Solomon took the Government upon himself when he was but 12 years old and notwithstanding that had great Power and was wiser than his Father I also when Nau my Father died was but 11 years of Age and have notwithstanding that with God's assistance acquired more Power and Riches since I sate on the Throne of my Father than ever he had having conquered all the Neighbouring Nations and Kingdoms we have both cause therefore to thank God for so singular a benefit Hearken to me Brother and Lord for there is one thing I must request of you which is That you would send me some of your Learned Men as also some Artificers that understand how to make Images and how to Print Books and to make Swords and all sorts of Military Weapons with some Masons Carpenters and Physicians and Surgeons and some who skill to beat Gold and gild and how to work in Mines I would also have some that know how to cover Houses with Lead and to make Tile in a word all sorts of Artificers shall be welcom to me namely such as make Pistols Help me I beseech you to all these things as one Brother ought to help another and then God will help you out of your Troubles The Lord hear your Prayers and Petitions as he has received holy Sacrifices at all times namely the Sacrifices of Abel and of Noah when he was in the Ark and that of Abraham when he was in the Land of Madiam and of Isaac when he went from the Trench of the Oak and of Jacob in the House of Bethlem and that of Moses in Egypt and of Aaron in the Mount and of Joshua the Son of Nun in Galgala and of Gideon on the Rock of Sampson when he was in a dry and thirsty Land and of Samuel in Rama of the Prophets and of David in Naceea and of Solomon in the City of Gabeon and of Elias in Mount Carmel when he raised the Daughter of the Widow over the Pit to life and of Jehosaphet in Battail and of Manasses when he turned to God after having sinned and of Daniel in the Den of Lions and of the three Companions Sidrach Mesack and Abednego in the fiery Furnace and of Hannah before the Altar and of Nehemiah who together with Zerobabel built the Walls and of Matathias with his Sons on the fourth part of the Earth and of Esau upon the Blessed In the same manner may God receive your Sacrifices and Supplications and assist you and be on your side against all wickedness at all times Peace be with you I do embrace you with the Arms of Holiness as I do also your whole Council and all your Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons and all Men and Women the Grace of God and the Blessing of the Virgin Mary the Mother of God be with you and with all People Amen The Letter of David Emperor of Ethiopia to
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
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
of Affinity or Consanguinity Spiritual or Carnal those only excepted which are prohibited by the Divine Law and Spiritual Affinity in Matrimony shall never be contracted betwixt the Godfather and Godmother and their Godchildren you may also commute Vows into any pious work provided they be not the solemn Vows of Religion and Chastity At three times in the Year to wit Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide you may grant plenary Indulgences to all People of the said Province who being contrite have voluntarily confessed their Sins obliging them before you grant them to Fast and devoutly to beseech God in behalf of all the faithful of the Roman Church and on any other days you may grant Temporary Indulgences and Remission of Sins which must never exceed the term of Ten years you may likewise give license to your Friars to read Heretical Books and may at your pleasure unite annex and incorporate Ecclesiastical Benefices into Churches or other Pious and Religious places for the Spiritual or Temporal advantage of the Neighbours and may erect and found general Universities and Colleges wherein People may take all Degrees of Master and Doctor and likewise Hospitals for the Poor the Sick and Strangers Male and Female as also Monasteries and Colleges for Boys and Girls and Orphans in all which works of Piety and Charity may be exercised You may either in your Person or by your Deputies visit with a Plenary Jurisdiction all the said Universities Colleges Hospitals Monasteries and all other Religious Houses of what Order or Sex soever and reform them as well in the Head as in the Members and Chastise Correct and Punish all that shall be found faulty and may remove them from one place to another You may also if you find it necessary found Religious Houses of both Sexes and approve disprove or extinguish such as are already founded or may reduce divers Religions to one and reform their Constitutions by either adding to them or taking from them as you shall think fit in the Lord. You may give License to the poor Religious or not Religious to beg and desire Alms in the name of any Saint You shall furthermore in our Name and in that of the Holy See declare to the people of your Province the Faith of the Roman Church and which are the Canonical Scriptures that they ought to hold and follow in every thing You must likewise condemn the writings which the Roman Church rejects and condemns and must determine and declare to them which Ecclesiastical precepts do oblige them under the penalty of a mortal sin and which do not You may further by your Authority so that nothing be changed that is decreed by the Divine and Natural Law make Orders concerning all matters which are of positive right even so far as Excommunications Suspensions Interdicts and other Ecclesiastical Sentences Censures Penalties and Irregularities which any may have incurred upon the account of such matters declaring which are Obligatory and which are not until such time as the Apostolical See shall otherwise order You may also grant Dispensations concerning all such matters and may Legitimate Bastards and others that have any defect in their Birth You must create a Notary who by the Apostolical Authority may see all the matters executed which can be done by any Legate de Laterre or Nuncio of the said See You may also make Compositions with any People for Ecclesiastical Fruits or Revenues that have been unjustly received and employ the Money to some Pious use Finally you may lawfully and freely do and execute all things in general and every thing in particular that appertains to the Edification and Salvation of Souls or that are seasonable until such time as you shall receive an answer concerning them from the said See and to you our Son John Elect in case the said Andrew and Melchior or either of them should happen to die before you we do by these Presents and the said Apostolical Authority grant a Faculty and a Plenary and Free Power freely and lawfully to Name and Elect one or more Coadjutors who shall succeed one another in the said Church of Ethiopia and the Kingdoms thereunto belonging and to Institute and Consecrate them Bishops and Successors obliging them to intimate their Election Institution and Consecration to the said See in the manner aforesaid and to take an Oath of Fidelity and Obedience thereunto as is above prescribed and by Letters to acquaint the said See therewith All which must be done with the Approbation of the Council that is to be erected for the handling of all weighty Affairs and which you shall hereafter Constitute All Constitutions and Apostolical Ordinances and Reservatories though of Cathedral Churches or of this Patriarchal Church tho confirmed by Oath or Apostolical Confirmation or by any Confirmation Statutes Customs or any other way to the contrary notwithstanding Given at St. Peters in Rome on the 17th day of February in the year of our Lord 1554 in the 5th year of our Pontificate The Bulls of the three Elects being come to Lisbon the King looking upon it as the greatest honour that had ever been done to Portugal to have a Patriarch consecrated in it The Patriarch and one of his Coadjutors are Consecrated at Lisbon made great Preparations for that Ceremony the Patriarch and the Bishop of Hieropolis were both consecrated in the Church of the Trinity Friars by Don Julian d'Abreu Bishop of Portalegree and Dom Gasper Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dom Peter Bishop of Hippo Melchior Elect of Nice having Sailed from Lisbon for the Indies four days before the arrival of the Bulls But notwithstanding the King and the whole Court honoured this Consecration with their presence yet I do not find that any of the great Prelates of the Kingdom were present at it which together with it s not having been performed in the See Church but in the Chappel of a Convent and that by two Titulars and the Poorest Bishop in Portugal makes me suspect that the great Prelates were not over-well pleased with this upstart Order leaping so soon into such high Dignities For about the time of this Promotion and which it is like enough might contribute something towards it there was a most terrible storm raised both in Spain and France against the whole Order of the Jesuits Don John Archbishop of Toledo The Jesuits leaping so quickly into such high dignities contrary to their Vows creates them Enemies who continued a mortal Enemy to it till his death driving them out of the University of Completum in the year 1555 and prohibiting all his Priests upon pain of Deprivation to make use of any of their Exercises and prohibiting all others upon pain of Excommunication to confess themselves to any of them The Sorbon likewise declared about the same time That the Society of Jesus was dangerous to the Faith a disturber of the Peace of the Church pernicious to Monastical Religion and in a word
was for Destruction and not for Edification There were two things one would think might have been some rubs in the way of this promotion though we do not find they were in the least The first was That there was a Patriarch and one of the Pope's own Confirming then living in Ethiopia of whom we shall hear more hereafter The second was the Vow that is taken by the Jesuits never directly nor indirectly to seek after any Ecclesiastical Promotion either within or without their Order which they had violated with a witness in seeking after a Mission of this nature which was not to be performed without some high Prelates Neither do we any where read that Ignatius when he laboured so hard to get his Friars employed therein did desire only the Ministry of it for them leaving the Prelacy thereof to such as were under no Vows to the contrary But however the Clergy stood affected the King was extreamly pleased with this Promotion and presented the Patriarch with extraordinary rich Vestments and with a noble set of Plate for his own Altar all which upon this Mission miscarrying was afterwards given by King Sebastian to the Jesuits College at Goa where the Patriarch had lodged it The Patriarch by reason of his Bulls not having come till some days after the India Fleet departed was obliged to wait a year for the next Fleet The King of Portugal wisely suspecting that things were not so ripe in Ethiopia as they were reported to be sends an Envoy for true Intelligence during which time he lived for the most part at St. Rocks the House of the professed Jesuits at Lisbon of whose Chappel he laid the first Stone But notwithstanding it was generally believed both at Rome and Lisbon that the Habassin Church and Empire were as good as reconciled to the Pope yet there did not want some sober Heads at Lisbon who doubted whether all things were so well in Ethiopia as they were reported to be and as it is plain the Pope and Ignatius thought they were the former in his Bull calling the Emperor his Beloved Son and the latter calling him his Lord in Christ in his long Letter that he writ to him and in a style as if he had been a second Pope of Rome This Letter of Ignatius is set down at length by Maffeus and all the other Writers of his Life in which there are but two things that are remarkable the one is his quoting the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Chalcedon for the Authoritative Supremacy of the Pope whereas those Councils do place the Pope's primacy of Order which was all they allowed him on a bottom that quite destroys the Florentine Supremacy founding it purely upon the Secular consideration of Old Rome being the first City in the Roman Empire And the second is his proving from Pope Marcellus's Decretal Epistle which is acknowledged by all Learned Roman-Catholicks to have been a Spurious Brat of the Eighth or Ninth Century That God did expresly command St. Peter to fix his See at Rome But to return to the thread of my Story The King having been made jealous by some of his Ministers that Ethiopia might not be altogether so well disposed to submit it self to the Pope as was commonly believed gave Orders to Don Peter Mascarenhas who Commanded the Fleet that Sailed for the Indies four days before the coming of the Pope's Bulls to Lisbon so soon as he arrived at Goa to dispatch an Envoy thither to bring certain tidings of the present state of its Affairs who accordingly so soon as he was arrived at Goa sent one James Dias Oprestes joyning Father Gancalre Rodriguez a Jesuit with him into Ethiopia to bring Intelligence how matters stood there this Jesuits chief if not only business in Ethiopia as we shall see hereafter was if he found the Patriarch Bermudes alive to fetch him off to make a clear stage for his Successor since it would not have looked well to have had two Popish Patriarchs together in Ethiopia These Envoys sailed from Goa in February 1555 and in 30 days landed safe at Arkiko where having rested themselves for some time they continued their Journey by Land till they came to the place where their old Friend Bahurnagays resided who having received them with great kindness sent them with a good Convoy to the Court But The Jesuit Rodriguez having given the World a very particular relation of all this Negotiation at the Habassin Court I shall set it down word for word as he reports it On the 26th Rodriguez the Jesuit who went with the Envoy into Ethiopra his account of their Voyage and Negotiation of May we came to the King of Ethiopia's Court which is nothing but a Camp full of Tents the King was pleased to give us a publick Audience the second day after our Arrival into whose presence when we were introduced we found him seated in a Chair hung round with Silk Curtains as indeed the whole Tent was the Floor of the Room being covered with a rich Carpet James Dias having delivered our Letters to the King he Commanded them to be Read in the hearing of all the Portugueses that belonged the Court who were all permitted to be present at the Ceremony In which Letters our Lord the King having acquainted him with his intention of sending one of his Courtiers with a certain number of Friars of Good lives and found Doctrine next year to him the King when he heard that was all of a sudden in a great disorder and had his thoughts so taken up with it that when we spoke to him he never returned us any answer that was to the purpose but dismissed us to return to our Tents Within two or three days after this Audience the King took a Progress to visit his Grandmother who lived at a place that was Eight or Ten days Journey from the Camp in which he left us without having given any order about our Entertainment and without sending us so much as any thing of a Complement So that I do not know what would have become of us had not an honourable Portuguese carried us to his House which was Two or Three Leagues from the Camp and Entertained us there till the King returned which he did not in a Month. During that time I composed a Treatise of the Errors of Ethiopia and of the Truth of our Holy Faith with an intention to have presented it to the King who as I was told by a Potuguese that was much in his Favour had no kindness for the Roman Pontiff and had said openly That he stood in no need of the Friars the King of Portugal was so forward to send him being fully resolved never to submit himself to the Roman Church I was informed likewise by all the Portugueses of the Court That several of the Grandees had been heard to say An expression of the greatness of the Habassin Zeal against Popery That they
the 10th of St. Matthew Flesh and blood saith he hath not revealed this unto thee And the Prophet Micah in the 9th Chapter saith A man's enemies are those of his own house And in the 10th of St. Matthew Christ saith Think not that I came to bring peace on the earth I tell you nay but a sword for I came to set a man at variance with his Father and the Daughter with the Mother and the Daughter-in-law with the Mother-in-law and a man's enemies shall be those of his own house for he that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me And in the 12th of St. Luke he saith again Think you that I came to bring peace upon the earth And in the 14th Chapter of the same Gospel he saith If any man come to me and hate not Father and Mother c. From all which we may learn That Parents and Relations are commonly Spiritual Enemies Christ himself having said A man's enemies are those of his own house and that he came to divide the one from the other and that whosoever hateth not Father and Mother in such cases cannot be his Disciple And what he taught others as to this matter he confirmed by his own Example when without asking his Holy Mothers advice who undoubtedly would never have counselled him to have done any thing that was amiss he remained disputing in the Temple and understanding his Mother had been in great Pain for him and had been seeking after him he made her answer when she told him of it Wist you not that I must be about my Father's business intimating to us by this Carriage That in Matters appertaining to God we are not bound to advise with our Friends and Parents and especially when they endeavour to hinder us from doing what is good for in such cases he commands us to hate them May our Lord give your Highness good and true Counsel in all things and Grace always do his Will and hereafter to enjoy his Holy Glory Amen The 22d of June in the Year 1557. Now were ever a poor Empress and Council of State libelled so out of Scripture or pelted out of a Concordance before Or was the folly of a Peoples being obliged to be of a Religion because it was the Religion of their Ancestors for several Ages ever more severely exposed Besides there is one thing remarkable in this Letter which is the Bishop's affirming positively That Bermudes was and did act for some years as Patriarch of Ethiopia and as such had the Lands belonging to that Dignity setled upon him by the Emperor After this Letter Several Conferences about Religion the Emperor and the Bishop had divers Conferences about Religion but without any effect the Emperor growing daily more zealous for his Ancient Faith and averse to that of Rome The Bishop being piqued with this ill success challenged all the Learning of Ethiopia to a publick Disputation which being accepted the Emperor himself bore a great part in it defending the Habassin Faith with that Dexterity and Learning that the Jesuits themselves confess he did sometimes put the Bishop hard to it to answer him The Habassins were so encouraged by having such a Champion on their side that the Bishop was never denied a publick Disputation when he desired it and tho he is said by his Brethren to have still come off victorious the Habassins did always triumph the Bishop being laughed at by them as the most baffled Man that ever pretended to weild an Argument The Bishop growing weary of disputing betook himself to his Pen again and having Composed a Treatise against all the Habassin Errors he Presented it to the Emperor conjuring him to read it without Prejudice The Emperor promised to do so but was so far from being converted by it that if it were possible he was setled in his Ancient Faith thereby more than he was before The Emperor answers the Coadjutor's Book and writes one in defence of his own Faith Writing a Book not only in Answer to that of the Bishop's but one also in Defence of his own Church declaring in them both that he had seen nor heard nothing to convince him that as a Christian he was bound to submit himself and his Empire to the Pope The Bishop finding his Writings were as Unsuccessful as his Conferences and Disputations left the Court in Wrath retiring to a place called Decome where he had not been long before he thundred out the following Excommunication Andrew d' Oriedo by the Grace of God and the Apostolical See Bishop of Hieropolis and Coadjutor to the most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord John Nunes Baretto Patriarch of Ethiopia AS it is profitable to Publish and Praise such things as are Good The Coadjutor thunders out an Excommunication on purpose to ingage People to follow them so it is likewise necessary to Declare and Censure publick Evils that People may avoid them Wherefore since the People of Ethiopia notwithstanding their having had all the Articles of the Roman Faith preached to them in such a manner that all that were disposed to learn it cannot but be thorowly acquainted therewith do with great Obstinacy continue to deny Obedience thereunto and not only so but did on the Ogge of the last Year cause a Proclamation to be made at the Market-Cross prohibiting all Persons upon pain of Death to go into any of our Churches adhering still to the Customs of their Fore-fathers and that as appears to us not out of Ignorance for that cannot be considering how many things they hold that are notoriously Evil and contrary to the Service of our Lord. We do therefore define and by Sentence declare That all the People of Ethiopia Great and Small Learned and Unlearned do deny to yield that Obedience to the Holy Roman Church which they and all other Churches are in Duty bound to yield the Roman Church being the Head of all Churches and the Pope of Rome the Father Pastor and Superior of all Christians They do likewise on divers Occasions repeat Baptism which is contrary to the Faith And do also publickly observe Saturday which they did not formerly in Ethiopia And do Circumcise themselves and their Slaves as also all the Converts they do make at any time to Christanity forcing many of them to submit to it They also hold it to be a Sin to eat Hare or Swines Flesh or any of the Meats prohibited by the Mosaical Law which Law was abolished by the Death of Christ and is contrary to what he has commanded in his Gospel Several among them holding it likewise to be a Sin to go into a Church on the day on which they have known their Wives which is no where prohibited by Christ or his Church Their Learned Men do also with great Zeal maintain That there is but one Nature and one Operation in Christ and that Christ's Humamanity is equal with his Divinity which is contrary to the
to him as a thing not feisable The Pope who at that time was Pius the Vth. believing what the Cardinal had writ to him in the Name of the King of Portugal dispatched the following Letters of Revocation to the Patriarch which the Cardinal took care to forward with all possible expedition To our Venerable Brother Andrew Oviedo Patriarch of Ethiopia Venerable Brother Health and Apostolical Benenediction c. BY Letters from our Beloved Son Sebastian The Pope's Letters of Revocation the Illustrious King of Portugal his Ambassador resident at our Court and by other Persons of good Credit we are informed That you having been sent by this Apostolical See into Ethiopia to reduce the People thereof to the knowledge of the Orthodox Faith have not after having spent several years therein been able by reason of the hardness of their hearts and their obstinacy in their ancient Errors to reap that fruit which might justly have been expected of your pious Labours whereas if you were employed in the Island of Japan on the Province of China Countries inhabited by Heathens and who at this time seem well disposed to receive the Faith of Christ it is to be hoped that with God's Assistance your Labours would be profitable in those parts where the Harvest is great and the Labourers are few We having been thus informed and being moved by brotherly Charity suffering together with you since there is no likelihood of your reaping that fruit where you are which might justly be expected from your great Labours and so long a Peregrination and finding our selves placed though without our Merits in this holy See and being sensible of our being debtors to all and by our Office bound to promote the Glory and Honour of Almighty God and the Salvation of Souls saluting you with the Charity of a Brother and having received ample testimonies of your Zeal and Affection to promote the Catholick Religion we do exhort you in the Lord and in virtue of holy Obedience and the remission of all your Sins Command you by the first opportunity you shall have of Sailing after the receipt of these our Letters to depart forthwith to the Island of Japan or China there to Preach the word of God according to the Doctrine of the Holy Roman Church who is the Mother and Mistress of all the Faithful and there to administer all the Sacraments which do properly belong to the Episcopal Function so as trusting in the Divine Mercy to endeavour to gain all the Souls you can to God and in order to the enabling you thereunto we do by our Apostolical Authority give you free leave and full power to exercise all Episcopal Offices in those parts or any other that have not a proper Bishop So as to moke use of all those Faculties and Indults which were granted to you by Pope Julius the IIId of happy Memory or by any other Roman Bishop our Predecessors with relation to the Kingdom of Ethiopia And we do likewise by the same Authority dispense with you so far that you may without any scruple of Conscience live and remain in the aforesaid parts unless there should happen to be more hopes of reducing Ethiopia to the Union of the Catholick Faith than there is at present Dated at Rome in St. Peter's and Signed with the Seal of the Fisherman on the 1st of February 1560. The Patriarch though Sick of Ethiopia The Patriarch is unwilling to return to the Indies yet seems to have had no great stomach for the China or Japan Mission which to speak the Truth was a hard imposition upon one of his years And so though in his Answer which is here subjoined he assures the Pope of his readiness to submit to all his Commands yet he sufficiently intimates that he was as willing to resign his Dignity and serve him or the Jesuits in their Kitchens as to keep it and carry it to China or Japan in which affair it is to be feared that the Patriarch's being a Spaniard was of no advantage to him it being the custom of the Portugueses when they have got any Foreign Friars among them in the Indies to put them upon the forlorn of all dangerous Missions as they did Oviedo on this and Father Peter who was likewise a Spaniard on that of the Second Habassin Mission as we shall see hereafter The Patriarch's Answer to the Pope Andrew d'Oviedo to Pope Pius the Vth. Most Blessed Father IN this present year 1567 His Answer to the Pope with some Letters from the College of St. Paul at Goa a Copy of an Apostolical Brief from your Holiness to me came to my hands wherein among other pious devout and holy things are these words We do exhort you in the Lord and in virtue of holy Obedience and Remission of your Sins do command you by the first opportunity you shall have of sailing after the receit of these our Letters to depart for the Island of Japan or the Kingdom of China And a little lower there are these words We do furthermore by the same Apostolical Authority dispense with you so that in case there is no hopes of reducing Ethiopia to the Church you may go into those parts and there remain without any s … ple of Conscience To which Apostolical L … no less than if I had received their original I prepared my self to yield obedience as it is fit just and healthful that we should at all times and in whole and in part obey your Holiness for in obeying you Most Holy Father we obey Christ the only begotten Son of God in whose place you are upon earth our Head and Father and the Master of all faithful Christians all the Indulgence Order and Power of the Church of Christ being derived from you to all others The holy Mother-Church of Rome whose Faith never did nor never will fail and who is the Mother and Mistress of all the Churches in the world and of all faithful Christians being continued in your Pontificate As to your having commanded me to go to the Island of Japan by the first convenience I have had no opportunity since I received your Commands and so am excused for not being gone neither in truth can I embark here with any safety there being a thousand Turkish Ships and not one Christian in the Port of Matzua at this time As to what is said of having any hopes of the reducing of Ethiopia I should quickly have such hopes could we but have Five or Six hundred Portugueses sent hither from the Indies according to what was agreed before I left Goa upon the advice they had received there of the obstinacy of the King of Ethiopia and which we have been now long expecting Were this once done I should not only hope to see Ethiopia quickly reduced but should be infallibly certain of it With which Troops we should not only be able to convert all this Empire but innumerable multitudes of Heathens also into whose
likewise the true secret of Bahurnagays's Rebellion which was of such fatal consequence to Ethiopia it being said in this Letter That the Coadjutor before he left Goa had a promise that a good Body of Portugueses should be sent after him as it is also that if these Troops had arrived when they were expected which was when Bahurnagays was first in Arms the Habassin Church had been reduced to the Obedience of the Roman before the writing of that Letter Now what should it be that hindered the Portuguese Government which still pretended that the propagating of the Roman Faith was its chief aim in all its remote Conquests and whose title to them all was founded solely on that pretence from sending such a handful of Men to do the Church so signal a service as the Converting of another Europe to it It was not that they were fearful that the Number of Soldiers that was desired The reason why the Portugueses sent no Troops into Ethiopia when so strongly solicited to do it would not have been able to have done that great work for that considering what was done by Gama with a smaller number and that it is not common with the Portugueses to distrust their own strength in such cases whatever was this could not be the cause of it and if this was not one may venture to say it was not that they reckoned it a scandalous thing to go about to Convert an Heretical Kingdom by Dragoon Missionaries that being a thing as the Patriarch truly observes in his Letter That no true Roman Catholick could be offended at The true cause therefore of their denying so inconsiderable an aid to do so great a work though so vehemently solicited to do it was that though at first they had promised themselves great matters from the reduction of Ethiopia to the Obedience of the Roman Church they found afterwards that the doing of it would be of little or no advantage to them by reason of its lying quite out of the way of their great Indian Trade and its having no native Commodities to countervail the great Charge its remoteness and the neighbourhood of the Turks would necessarily put them too to maintain an interest in it Neither were the Patriarch and Fathers such weak Men as not to know at what their business stuck who therefore took care in all their Letters to assure the Government that besides divers other Commodities there was abundance of Fine Gold in some parts of Ethiopia and that Damut which might easily be Converted by 600 Soldiers and which was likewise full of Gold did reach to Mosambique and Sefala the best Portuguese Plantation in the Indies but the Government it seems either did not believe these reports or thought they should Buy fine Gold there too dear to turn to any account So that the Spanish Minister had this among other Instances undoubtedly in his eye who told Philip the IVth That it was a vain conceit the World had entertained of the Zeal of the Portugueses upon the account of the Conversions which had been made by them in the Indies for it was Covetousness and not Zeal that had engaged them to make all those Conquests the Conversions that had been made in those parts having been performed by the Divine Power and the Charity of a few particular Friars the Crown and Government having had no other aim therein but the Robbing of Kingdoms and Cities and there were still the greatest Conversions where there was most to gratifie their Covetousness but where there was nothing to be had there the People were Obdurate and not to be wrought upon And so we see their Zeal expired quickly where it was not animated by Covetousness and how they who had nothing else to say but Lord open unto us were not thought fit to enter into Heaven The Cardinal-Regent having prevailed with the Pope to recal the Patriarch did order Ruy Laurenco de Tavara who went Viceroy to the Indies in the year 1567. so soon as he arrived at Goa to send some Ships to Ethiopia to fetch off the Patriarch and the Fathers but Tavara happening to die in the Voyage those Orders whatever was the reason were never executed though if they had so soon as it was possible the Ships would have come too late for the Patriarch who died at Fremona on the 9th The Patriarch dieth of July in the year 1567. Thus ended the First great Habassin Mission The unhappy issue of this Mission from which Ignatius had promised so much Honour to himself and his Order Which as it was no happy thing for the Jesuits so excepting the Second Mission it was the worst thing that ever befel Ethiopia THE SECOND PART AT the time of the Patriarch's death of the Five Jesuits that went with him into Ethiopia there were but Three left alive they were Manuel Fernandez the most passionate Solicitor for Dragoons who died at Fremona in the year 1583. Antony Fernandez who died at the same place 10 years after and Francis Lopez who lived till the year 1597. after whose death there was not one Roman Priest left alive in Ethiopia For Nine years after the Patriarch's decease the Jesuits seemed to have given the Habassin Mission quite over none of that Order that we read of having during that time attempted to go thither But upon Philip the IId's who pretended to a much greater Zeal than any of his Ancestors for the service of the Roman Church coming to the Crown of Portugal they resumed the thoughts of it again and not knowing but that all the Fathers who were in Ethiopia might be in the next world that they might be found by Philip in possession of that Mission they sent Two Fathers thither in the Habit of Armenian Merchants hoping that under that disguise they might steal into it without being discovered by the Turks Two Jesuits are sent in a disguise to Ethiopia who having got all the Habassin Ports into their hands were extremely watchful to keep out Portugueses The Two Friars that were sent on this dangerous enterprise were Antony de Monserrato and Peter Pays who were both Spaniards It being the Custom of the Portuguese Superiors in the Indies as has been observed before when they have any Foreigners under them to be so kind to them as to give them still the most hazardous Posts Which by the way is no great argument of the Friars being always the most fond of the Missions in which their Lives are exposed to the most danger as in all their Histories they are still represented to be for if it were so it is very strange that the Portugueses having their Countreymen still the Superiors should not have that Interest in them as to carry the most desirable Employments from Foreigners and especially Spaniards of whose Honour they are naturally so jealous But however that were in the year 1588. the Two Spaniards were sent from Goa to Dio where they waited some Months before
my whole heart to you May our Lord God bring all to an happy Issue and grant your Excellency many years of Life Amen Had the Jesuits been so kind as to have published those Letters of Father Peter that these refer to we might then probably have known the true cause of that Father's having left Za Danguil's Court so abruptly as he did but however that were it is plain from what Athenateus writes of the Father's being acquainted with all his Secrets so as to be able to disclose his whole heart to the Viceroy that they two had been plotting together so that had the Thousand Portugueses Athenateus wrote for so earnestly come it is more than probable that he would have made use of them for his own Service the getting the Ports of Matzua and Arkiko into the hands of the Portugueses and the erecting of Tigre by their Assistance into a Kingdom Independent of that of Ethiopia being a thing the Fathers even when most in favour with the Emperors were continually labouring to bring about For Athenateus was not only never in favour with the Emperor whose name he made use of in these Letters but on the contrary as the Jesuits themselves confess he was reduced by him to the Miserable condition of a probre escudero or poor Waiting-man Neither is it unlikely that it was Athenateus having ruined himself and his Family by intrieguing with the Fathers that made him when he was upon his Death-bed reject their Assistance when they offered themselves to him and that with indignation not caring it is like to have any thing more to do with people that had deceived him so often Tho to do the Fathers Justice it was none of their fault that the Soldiers did not come by the first fair wind after they had promised them But the Habassin Empire notwithstanding all its late great bleedings was too full of bad humours to continue long quiet A Mock Emperor set up and Murthered For Seltam Saged was not well warm in his Throne when a Fellow of base extraction was set up for the Emperor Jacob and though he is said not to have resembled him in the least either in Face or Person yet he acted him so well that he was followed by vast Multitudes This Perkin after having cost Ethiopia a vast quantity of blood was killed at last by some of the Grandees of his own Party being grown weary of maintaining a Mock Prince at so great a charge Father Peter is said to have made himself very Popular on this occasion by having persuaded the Emperor to pardon all the Common People and most of the Nobles that had been engaged in this Rebellion as likewise to Pardon a great herd of Peasants who had provoked him more by their Rudeness and Insolence than by their having taken up Arms against him The Emperor having thus rid his hands of his Sham-Rival removed his Camp from Coja The Emperor and his Brother Ras Cella Christos convinced of Christ having two Natures to a place called Deqhana on the North-Side of the Lake of Dembea which was not far from Gorgora the new Residence of the Jesuits by which means the Fathers had daily opportunities of waiting on him and of Discoursing with him about Matters of Religion The argument of all others that persuaded the Emperor the most effectually of the truth of Christ's having two Natures was the Fathers shewing him a place in his own Hamanot Abea a Book of the same nature with the Bibliotheca Patrum wherein it was affirmed That that Doctrine was believed by all the Ancient Doctors of the Church and that Dioscorus the Patriarch of Alexandria was the first Bishop that had ever denied it Raz Cella Christos a Prince of great heat and who was made Viceroy of Gojam by his Brother the Emperor at this time Cella Christos turns a Zealous Roman Catholick thereupon was likewise convinced of the truth of that Doctrine by the same argument and being once convinced of it nothing would serve him but he would publickly declare himself a Roman Catholick upon it reckoning that the Alexandrians who had so grosly imposed upon him in one particular had Mislead him in every point wherein they differ'd from the Roman Church He would gladly have made his Abjuration and first Confession at the feet of Father Peter but the Father not happening to be in the way when he was called to go against the Gauls who had made a great inroad into his Provinces he would defer the doing of it no longer and so made them at the feet of Father Francis whom for that reason he ever after called his Master Nevertheless after the Expedition was over he made a general Confession of his whole Life to Father Peter and with it a Solemn and Publick Declaration of his resolution to Live and Dye in the Roman Faith His Example is said to have been followed by most of his Officers and by several of the Grandees of the Court. In the year 1607. Father Peter having writ a Letter to the K. of Spain to acquaint him with Seltem Saged being Established in the Throne of Ethiopia and to desire him to send to Congratulate his accession to it and to thank him for his kindness to the Fathers that King complied so far with the Father's request as in the Year 1609 to write the following Letter to the Emperor MOST Powerful Emperor of Ethiopia The King of Spain's Letter to Emperor of Ethiopia I Don Philip by the Grace of God King of Portugal and Algarves Lord of Guinea and of the Conquest Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia Arabia Persia and India c. Do send you much Health as my Brother whom I love and prize much Now since there has always been a good Correspondence and Amity between the Emperors your Ancestors and the Kings of Portugal to me it seemed just and fitting to write this to you to let you know how much I rejoice at the News of your accession to the Empire and shall always rejoice to hear of your Prosperity being ready as occasions shall offer to satisfy you in all things and accordingly I have recommended your affairs to these my Kingdoms and to my State of India and the Viceroy thereof that they knowing how acceptable it will be to me may be sure to comply with all your desires and that this our Amity may continue I do most passionately desire you to write all your News to me as I shall do mine to you I do earnestly recommend the Friars that are in your Kingdom to you which is my chief Obligation namely Father Peter Pays desiring that they no less than the Portugueses may be Treated as it is reasonable Most Powerful Emperor whom I love and prize as my Brother May our Lord have your Royal Person and State in his holy Protection Written at Madrid the 15th of March 1609. The Emperor is said to have been very proud of this Letter and the
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