believe Transubstantiation They do not believe Transubstantiation as is plain from their Liturgy in which the Words of Institution are thus set down This Bread is my Body this Cup is my Blood which Propositions the Romanists themselves acknowledge cannot be understood otherwise than siguratively Ludolphus farther tells us That when he asked Gregory the Habassin Whether he did not think that the Substance of the Bread and Wine was changed and converted into the Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ That he made answer That no such sort of Transubstantiation was known or understood by his Countreymen who were not so scrupulous neither did they use to start such thorny Questions Nevertheless it seemed to him probable and likely That the Common Bread and Wine was changed into the mysterious Representation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and so was altered from Prophane to Sacred to represent the true Body and Blood of Christ to the Communicants Than which Declaration nothing can be more agreeable to the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Eucharist Finally Paul de Roo Secretary to the Dutch East-India Company was in the Year 1691. told by the Habassin Ambassador who was sent to the Governor of Batavia That Transubstantiation and the Adoration of the Consecrated Bread in the Sacrament were what the Habassins abhorred They confess their Sins only in general They have only a general Confession saying Habassea Habassea I have sinned I have sinned without descending to particulars They deny Purgatory They deny Purgatory Confirmation and Extream Unction They condemn Graven Images They keep Saturday and Sunday Their Offices are all in the Vulgar Tongue and know nothing of Confirmation and Extream Unction they condemn Graven Images they keep both Saturday and Sunday and do never fast on either of them no not in Lent nor upon any day betwixt Easter and Whitsuntide their Church Offices are all in the Vulgar Tongue and are performed with extraordinary Devotion but especially their Litanies they go all betimes in the morning to Church to pay their Devotions which they do with great fervour and for the most part leave something of an offering behind them Whenever they come to any place that has a Church They are very devout They never go into a Church with their Shooes on nor sit in it but upon the ground let their Business be never so urgent they repair to it immediately they never go into any Church with their Shooes on nor sit down in it unless it be upon the ground on all occasions they express a deep sense of Religion but chiefly when they visit the Sick which they are very forward to do They are charitable to the Poor and to all Strangers if they are satisfied of their not being of the Roman Church for all whose Members the Cruel Persecutions which were raised and carried on for some years by the Jesuits while the Emperor was at their Devotion have created a perfect detestation in them The whole of their Divine Service consists in reading the Scriptures They seldom preach and some Homilies of the Fathers and the Administration of the Sacrament preaching being a rare Exercise among them at which when Mr. Ludolphus seemed to wonder he was asked by Gregory the Habassin Whether we of the Western Church thought our Preachers could say any thing better than what was written in the Sacred Sacred Scriptures and the Homilies of the Fathers or whether we thought their Sayings more efficacious than the Word of God and whether we did not fear lest those Preachers should utter something which might be repugnant to our Faith and Salvation and which might prove of dangerous consequence to the Peace of the Church An Account of the Discovery of Ethiopia by the Portugueses DON ENRIQUE the Fifth The Infante Don Henry the first and most zealous Promoter of the discovery of unknown Countries Son of Don Joan the first King of Portugal by his Queen the Lady Philipa the Daughter of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster being a Prince much addicted to the study of Mathematicks was the first that ever entertained any thought of making Discoveries on the Western Coast of Africa to which he is said to have been encouraged by some Information he receiv'd from the Moors in Barbary when he was a Soldier there under his Father he was Master of the Military Order of Christ which together with his other Ecclesiastical Pensions brought him in a great Revenue all which together with his whole time he resolved to dedicate entirely to the gratification of his Curiosity after new Discoveries And in order to the better carrying on of this his great Design he retired from Court to a place in the Algarves called at that time Terranable but since from him Villa de Infante a few Months after his retirement he fitted out two Ships which having passed the Pillars of Hercules at that time the non ultra of Navigation they sailed to the Promontory of Ganaria but were discouraged from proceeding any further partly by strong Currents and partly by that Promontory running so far into the Sea that they could not discover its Cape This first Voyage was made in the Year 1410. His ill success at first after which it was 10 years before the Infante could prevail with any body to make a second Attempt the first Adventurers having to excuse their Cowardice reported terrible things of the Dangers they had escaped Neither did the Infante during all that time Not discouraged thereby nor by Railery nor by grave Nonsense from going on with his Projects escape the discouragement that new and great Enterprizes do commonly meet withal his Designs for some years having been not only the Jest of the Lazy Buffoon but were also censured as Chimera's or Idle Projects by Men of Speculation and Gravity who said The Countreys the Infante was in quest of were neither better nor worse than the Sandy Deserts of Arabia that God having allotted those Countries to Wild Beasts for their habitation if men should offer to intrude into them they would either die or turn wild like the Natives and that the very sight of them would turn Whites Negroes that there had never wanted younger Brothers among Princes who had sought to remedy the misfortune of their Birth by new Discoveries but which had always miscarried That the Infante's Father who was a wise Prince finding Portugal wanted People had invited Strangers from all parts into it and had given them Lands to cultivate whereas if his Project should take effect it would tend to the depopulating of it with a great many other such idle Reflections But the Infante who had too great a Soul to be discouraged either by Railery or grave Nonsense having with much ado wrought some Mariners up to an Opinion of the feasibleness of the Undertaking in the Year 1420. he equipped several Vessels which after having met with violent Storms discovered
Furthermore If you shall think fit to marry either your Daughters to our Sons or your Sons with our Daughters it will be extreamly acceptable to us She desires a Daughter of Portugal for her Black Prince and will be much for both our Advantages by laying a foundation of a Brotherly Alliance betwixt us Which Marriages we are and shall always be ready to enter into with you What remains is That the Health and Grace of our Redeemer Christ Jesus and of our Holy Lady the Virgin Mary may extend themselves to you your Sons and Daughters and your whole Family Amen We do furthermore certify you That in case you and we join our Forces we shall with God's assistance be strong enough to destroy the Enemies of our Holy Faith for at Sea where by reason of our Empire 's lying so much within Land we are not able to do any thing You praised be God are the most powerful of all Jesus Christ being your Helper for in truth the things done by you in the Indies are miraculous and more than humane If you will set out a Fleet of a 1000 Ships we will take care to furnish them with all Necessaries Upon the Emperor of Habassin's having made this glorious Proposition to him King Emanuel resolved to send a splendid Embassy to his Court named Don Edward Calvam who had been Secretary of State to two Kings and Ambassador at the Courts of Vienna France and Rome and one Rodriguez de Lima and Francis Alverez one of his Chaplains in Ordinary to go Ambassadors sending rich Presents by them both to the Emperor and his Grandmother These Ambassadors with Matthew in their Company went to Goa on the Fleet that carried the Viceroy Lopez Suares by whom they were sent in the Year 1520. with a strong Convoy to Arkiko a Port in the Red-Sea belonging at that time to the Habassins Galvam who was the first in Commission dying by the way in the Island of Camara was succeeded by Lima who having made but a short stay at Arkiko begun his Journey towards the Habassin Court where when he arrived he was received by the Emperor with extraordinary joy and kindness Matthew who died in the way betwixt Arkiko and the Court having been splendidly interr'd by the Ambassadors in the Monastry of Bisoym The Ambassadors who were to have returned to the Indies by the same Fleet they came upon having brought their Negotiation to a speedy issue made what haste they could back to Arkiko where to their great mortification they found the Fleet they were to have embarked upon gone the Moncons or Trade-Winds which in those Seas blow six Months from one Point and six months from the opposite not permitting them to wait any longer for them And to encrease the mortification of this Disappointment they met with Letters which had been left for them by the Admiral that advised them of the Death of King Emanuel the greatest and most fortunate Prince that ever wore the Crown of Portugal The Ambassadors not knowing how long it might be before they should have a Fleet to carry them to Goa and being certain that by reason of the Moncon it must be at least six months before one could possibly come to them they returned to the Court again where they remained four years before any opportunity for Goa offered it self But at the end of four years they embarked upon a Fleet at Arkiko sent on purpose to fetch them carrying an Habassin Ambassador home with them with Letters to the King of Portugal and the Pope The Ambassadors did not arrive at Lisbon before the Year 1527. where the Habassin Ambassador whose name was Zaga Zabo was received with all the marks of friendship and kindness but whatever was the cause of it he was to his great sorrow detained above 10 years in that Court He hath given the World a large Account of the Faith and Customs of the Habassins which though false in abundance of Particulars I shall set down at length having first translated the Habassin Emperor's Letters to the Pope and the King of Portugal The Letters of the most Serene David Emperor of Ethiopia to Emanuel King of Portugal writ in the Year 1521. In the name of God the Father as it was always and who has no beginning In the name of God the only Son who was like unto him before the light of the Stars was seen and before he laid the foundations of the Sea but who in time was conceived in the Womb of a Virgin without Human Seed and without Marriage for after this manner was the knowledge of his Office In the name of the Comforter the Spirit of Holiness who knoweth all Secrets that are or ever were and all the height of Heaven which is sustained and upheld without Pillars and who enlarged the Earth which before was not known nor created from the East to the West and from the South to the North neither are they First and Second but a Trinity join'd in One Eternal Creator and One Council and One Word thorow all Ages Amen THESE Letters are sent by Mani Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin which was the name that was given me at my Baptism but the name I assumed when I took the Government upon me is David the Beloved of God the Pillar of the Faith of the Race of Judah the Son of David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Pillar of Sion the Son of the Seed of Jacob the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh Emperor of the Great and High Ethiopia and of Mighty Kingdoms and Provinces King of Xoa and Affate and of Fatigar and of Angote and Bara and of Baaligaura and of Adea and of Vangue and of Goiam where the Nile riseth and of Damarua and of Vaquem Edri Ambea Vagni Tigri Mahon and Sabaym where Queen Saba lived and of Barnagaes and Lord of all the Countries as far as Nubia on the Confines of Egypt These Letters are addressed to the most Potent and Excellent King Emanuel who liveth in the love of God and who continues stedfast in the Catholick Faith the Son of the Apostles Peter and Paul King of Portugal and Algarves the Friend of Christians the Enemy Judge and Conqueror of the Mahometans and Heathens of Africk and Guinea from the Promontory and Island of the Moon to the Red-Sea of Arabia Persia and Ormus and of the whole Indies and of all the Provinces Islands and Lands belonging to them the Destroyer of the Mahometans and of all the mighty Heathens the Lord of Towers and of High Castles and Walls the Propagator of the Faith of Jesus Christ Peace be with you King Emanuel who relying uton God's Assistance do slaughter the Mahometans and with your Fleet and Armies every where drive the Infidels out as Dogs Peace be with the Queen your Wife the Friend of Jesus Christ and the Servant of the Virgin Mary the Mother of the Saviour
more because it was writ before the King had received the Letter he is said to have sent to him in the year 1607. In the year 1611 the Emperor received the following Letter from the Pope in answer to that he is said to have writ to him in the year 1607. Paul the Vth 's Letter to the Emperor of Ethiopia To our most dear Son in Christ Health ad Apostolical Benediction WE give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The Pope's Letter to the same Emperor for having been so merciful to you as to restore you to your Royal Throne as you write he has done We do Congratulate your success and do commend you mightily for your Zeal in Defence of the Christian Faith for which as we understand by your first and second Letters you are very fervent We have according to your desires recommended the necessity of your Kingdoms to our most dear Son in Christ Philip the Catholick and Powerful King of Spain who we hope will be induced by his Magnanimity and Zeal for the Christian Faith to assist you powerfully having order'd our Apostolical Nuncio that is with his Catholick Majesty to sollicit what you have desired with great diligence What remains dear Son is to exhort you to persevere constantly and immoveably in the fear of God and Stoutly and Zealously to defend the Christian name and to continue always devoted to the holy Roman Catholick and Apostolick Church your most loving Mother as we in our Prayers which we make to God before the Most holy Bodies of the Apostles for our Sons the Christian Kings and Catholick Princes shall always be sure to remember you and to beg of him from whom all good things do proceed that he would so enlighten your Understanding with the Light of his holy Spirit that you may do his will and from the inward Bowels of our Charity we do most tenderly give our Blessing to your Majesty Written at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman on the 4th of January in the Year 1611 and in the Sixth year of our Pontificate It is plain from this Letter that the Popes do not stand so much upon their Punctilio's with remote Heretick Princes The Popes are civiler to remote Hereticks than Domestick ones as they do with those in Europe they reckon to be Hereticks Paul in this Letter calling a Prince who was a Professed Euâ—ychian Heretick his most dear Son in Christ a Title neither Urban would bestow upon King James nor Gregory the Fifteenth upon the Prince of Wales in their answers to the unhappy Letters wherein those Princes had been so civil as to give them the title of The most blessed Father The Emperor growing every day more and more inclinable to the Roman Church for which his Brother Cella Christos had declared himself openly a Champion suffering none to be about him that were not either actually of her Communion or that appeared not to be well disposed for it did upon the Receipt of this kind Letter from the Pope begin to think of Professing himself a Roman Catholick too but being sensible that that could not be done without raising such a storm in his Empire as it would not be possible for him to weather without Portuguese Troops Embassadors are sent from Ethiopia to Partugel He is said to have resolved to send an Embassy to the King of Spain to Sollicit that Affair by the way of Melinde and Goa The persons named for this Employment were Father Anthony Fernandes and one Tecur Egzy an Habassin of Quality by whom the following Letters were sent to the Pope The Emperor's Letter to the Pope The Letter of the Emperor Seltem Saged cometh with the Peace of the good Pastor Jesus to the Holy Roman Pope Paul the Vth. the Head and Pastor of the Universal Church Holy and Loving Father WE have received your Letter of January 1611 The Emperor's Letter to the Pope which is full of that love wherewith a tender Father is inflamed when he receives a penitent Prodigal Son and not having been able by reason of the sudden departure of the India Ships to return you an answer so soon as we desired we have now determined to do it by another way which we hope God will open unto us and to that end we have sent Father Antonio Fernandes of the Society of Jesus who has for some time resided at our Court and with him our Embassador Tecur Egzy desiring that your Holiness may have speedy notice of our being brought by the preaching of the Fathers of the Society who are resident in our Empire to the Knowledge of the truth of the faith of the Chair of the Blessed St. Peter and of our being resolved to embrace the same and to yield obedience to your Holiness as the Head of the Universal Church so as for the future to be governed by a Patriarch of your sending and that we may be put into a condition of yielding this obedience publickly it will be necessary for us to have some Troops from Don Philip the Powerful King of Portugal without which we shall never be able to do it openly We do therefore most humbly beseech your Holiness that since as you have writ to us you have been pleased to order your Apostolick Nuncio residing at his Catholick Majesty's Court to sollicit this Affair with great diligence that you will renew your Orders to him that so they may be both effectually and speedily executed and so good an occasion may not be lost and that in our days and during his happy years our Empire may find this necessary remedy And since you are the Father of all Catholick Kings hold us in the number of such and as you offer Prayers to God for them before the most holy Bodies of the Apostles do the same for us your humble Son Written at our Court of Dembea on the 13th of January 1613. But as the Emperor's Brother Ras Cella Christos was the chief promoter of this Embassy so he likewise writ a Letter to the Pope by it which was as followeth The Letter of Cella Christos Viceroy of Gojam cometh with the Peace of the Eternal Father to the Holy Father Paul the Vth. the chief Pontiff the Successor of St. Peter and Head of the Church Most Beloved Father IF according to the Holy Scriptures Cella Christos's Letter to the Pope they who were far off are come near I who was at a vast distance am now brought near by the Preaching of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus that reside in this Empire for I having been commanded by my Brother Seltem Saged my Lord the Emperor to be present at several Conferences between the Fathers and our Learned men I came at last to the Knowledge of the Truth of the Faith of the Chair of St. Peter and of that Chair's being the Head of the Universal Church which faith I thereupon embraced and obliged my Brother the
defend it with the last drop of his blood This Proclamation brought the whole Countrey in to Julius out of which having formed a numerous Croisade he marched directly towards the Nile with an intention to have fallen first upon Raz Cella the great Champion of Popery He Marcheth with a great Croisade against the Emperor but happening in his March to come near the place where the Abuna resided he went to wait on him to have his Blessing the Abuna who was glad to see him was not satisfied with giving him a Thousand Blessings for being so valiant for the truth but though he was above a Hundred Years of Age he would go in person in the Croisade The Abuna goes against him in person telling Julius That as he should partake of the benefits of that holy War if it had success so he was resolved likewise to partake of its dangers And whereas Julius was for beginning with Raz Cella the Abuna diverted him from it by telling him That since he was at the head of so great and zealous an Army he ought not to spend its first heats which were always the strongest in lopping off Branches but in striking at the Root which being once destroyed the Branches would wither of themselves He likewise encouraged the Soldiers by telling them That they fought for the best Cause in the world that is the true Religion which the Emperor and his Brother if let alone would certainly destroy assuring them That whosoever was slain in this holy War would die a Martyr and go straight to Heaven thundering out his Excommunications at the same time against the Emperor and his Brother and all that adhered to them as Apostates from the Faith The Emperor hearing that Julius was Marching towards him with a numerous and Zealous Croisade sent to his Brother to make all the haste he could to come and join him with his Army but fearing lest Julius who made long Marches might be up with him before his Brother could join him He incamped his Army so that the Enemy's Horse in which their main strength consisted if they should attack him in his Camp would be of little use to them When the Armies were within sight of one another the Emperor sent his Daughter who was Wife to Julius to try if she could persuade her Husband to lay down his Arms promising him not only a pardon for what he had done but every thing that a subject could reasonably desire of his Prince And in case she should not be able to bring him to submit she was then to try if she could obtain a Cessation of Arms of him for a few days but Julius either reckoning himself secure of a Victory that would have the Crown for its reward or being fearful to take the Emperor's word after he had provoked him so much would hear of nothing but of Fighting saying He would either die a Martyr for his Religion or by Conquering its Enemies secure it from being ever destroy'd And that he might lose no time He fights the Emperor's Army and is killed he attacked the Emperor's Camp before his Princess was well got back to her Father and having put himself at the head of a brisk body of men be advanced towards his out-guards who though they did not come in to him would not strike a stroke telling their Officers flatly That they would never draw their Swords against a man who was fighting in Defence of their Religion Julius observing this asked aloud all the way he went where the Emperor was that was resolved to destroy the Religion of their Forefathers which he was there with his Sword in his hand ready to defend against him and all Mankind with which as if it had been the word of the Imperialists he advanced within sight of the Royal Tent without having met with the least opposition until a body of Tigrians who were posted not far from it put a full stop to his Career thorough whom as he was hacking his way he was knocked off his Horse with the blow of a stone under the left Eye and as he lay on the ground had his head presently chopped off which was carried to the Emperor by a private Sentinel The Body that advanced with Julius having as it were lost their Soul in their Commander was presently hewed all in pieces and the Tigrians following their blow The Croisaide is totally defeated and the old Abuna slain and the other Imperialists who would not strike a stroke before joining with them now that Julius was slain they put the whole Croisade immediately to the rout every man of them so soon as they heard of their General 's being killed throwing down their Arms and crying out for Quarter The old Abuna was stunned so with this sudden turn of things that he was not able to stir from the place where he had posted himself but though several of the Imperialists knowing him to be the Abuna had out of Reverence to his character and great Age passed by him without offering him any violence yet a true Roman Catholick say the Jesuits whose name was Za Michael having found him out gave him such a blow in the neck with his Lance that he laid his head at his foot with whose and Julius's death this great Croisade vanished having had no other effect than to enrage the Emperor more than he was before against the Alexandrians The Emperor upon this Victory prohibits his Subjects to observe Saturday and their Religion who immediately upon this Victory set forth a Proclamation prohibiting all his Subjects upon severe penalties to observe Saturday any longer This Impious Proclamation as the Habassins reckoned it produced a bitter Libel directed by way of a Letter to the Emperor wherein he was told That his Subjects were all amazed at his wickedness in commanding the violation of that Sacred day advising him not to be rid by the Jesuits A severe Libel comes out against the Emperor who were an Ignorant little sort of people and who being of the race of Pontius Pilate and Uncircumcised did teach that there are Two Natures in Christ Adding That they were men swallowed up in the Gulph of their own Fopperies and did run headlong like an unbridled Horse without looking before them and did well deserve to have a Milstone tied about their Necks and to be thrown into the Sea and to be made partakers of the Curse that befel Pope Leo for having deni'd the Unity of Christ's Nature and after a great huddle of Texts of Scripture in favour of their Doctrines it at last admonisheth the Emperor that in case he was not weary of his Crown and the high Dignity he had received from the Popes of Egypt who wore the holy and new Ephod and bore the badge of the Cross to give over trying such new Experiments concluding thus Ah! We do here send this precious stone which enlightens the eyes of the blind May it be for an offering