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
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
Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met
to be a most certain and sacred Truth being delivered to us in the History of the said King David which is a Book about the bigness of St. Paul's Epistles and very pleasant to read When David was come to the Borders of Ethiopia Azarias going one day into his Tent discovered to him what he had so industriously concealed telling him he had brought the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord along with him whereupon David went straightways with him to the place where those Tables were kept and after the example of his Grandfather David danced before them with great exultation as did also the whole Company When he returned home his Mother resigned the Empire to him immediately from which time which is now near 2600 Years to this day the Empire of Ethiopia has desecended from Male to Male in a Right Line We have also ever since retained the Law of God and Circumcision and the Ministries prescribed by Solomon to his Son for the Government of the Court all which do to this day continue in the same Families and in the same Order neither is it lawful for the Emperor to put People of another Race into any of those Offices Furthermore at the Command of the said Queen Maqueda Women are Circumcised also among us Men and Women are Circumcised on the Eighth day but Male-Children are not Baptized till the Fortieth The Eucharist is Administred to Children when they are Baptized nor Female till the Eightieth day after their Birth without it be in case of Sickness and when that happens the Children are not allowed to Suck their Mothers until after they are purified the Water wherein Children are Baptized is Consecrated by Exorcisms and on the same day they are Christned they Receive the Venerable Body of Christ under the Element of Bread We were among the first Christians that received Baptism that Sacrament having been brought among us by the Eunuch of Candace Queen of Ethiopia who is spoke of in the Acts of the Apostles his Name according to our Tradition was Indick from which time to this day both Baptism and Circumcision have been in use among us and most Religiously and Christianly observed and thorough God's Grace will be so for ever We do observe nothing but what we find in the Law and the Prophets and in the Books of the Synods of the Apostles or if any thing else is observed by us it is done only for the sake of Order and for the Peace of the Church so as not to reckon it to be a Sin not to observe it Circumcision is not observed by them as a Sacrament but as a civil Custom wherefore our Circumcision is not Uncleanness but it is the Law and Grace which was given to our Father Abraham and which he received from God as a Sign not that he or his Sons should be Saved by Circumcision but that his Posterity might be distinguished thereby from all other Nations and as for what is signified by Circumcision we do observe it exactly by having our Hearts Circumcised neither do we Glory upon the account of Circumcision or prefer our selves to other Christians thereupon or reckon our selves for it the more acceptable to God with whom there is no acceptance of Persons as Paul testifies who tells us likewise that we cannot be Saved by Circumcision but by Faith for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature now by this Paul did not intend to destroy the Law but to establish it for he himself was Circumcised being of the Seed of Benjamin he Circumcised Timothy likewise after he was made a Christian his Mother being a Jewess notwithstanding his Father was a Gentile knowing that God approves both of Circumcision that is in Faith and of Uncircumcision which is by Faith for as he himself tells he was made all things to all men that he might save all to the Jews he became a Jew that he might gain the Jews and to those that were under the law as if he had been under the law which he was not that he might gain those who were under the law and to those who were without the law as if he had been without the law whereas he was not without the Law of God but was in the Law of Christ that he might gain them who were without the law he also became weak that he might gain the weak which he did that he might shew that it was not by Circumcision but by Faith that we must be Saved and so when he Preached to the Hebrews he spoke to them as Hebrews saying God hath at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to our forefathers by the Prophets and from thence proved to them that Christ was of the Seed of David according to the Flesh he Preached likewise to them That Christ was with our Fathers in their Tents in the Desart and did lead them by the hand of Joshua into the Land of Promise he furthermore testified That Christ was the Prince of the Priests and had entered into the Holy of Holies which is the New Tabernacle and had by the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood abolished the blood of Goats and Bulls by which none that came could be justified and that he had spoke to the Jews in divers manners and did suffer himself to be Worshipped by his People with divers rites and an holy and uncorrupt Faith Furthermore The Children of Christian Parents before they are Baptized are called Half-Christians Those Children are looked upon by us as Half-Christians who as I am told are reckoned to be Heathens by the Roman Church upon account of their dying without Baptism whereas being the Children of the holy Blood of Parents who have been Sanctified by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon which Three Testimonies all that are Christians are reputed to be such they ought to be esteemed Half-Christians for there are Three who bear Witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood as St. John testifieth in his first Canonical Epistle the Gospel saith likewise That a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil tree evil fruit wherefore the Children of Christians are not as the Children of the Gentiles Jews and Mahometans who are dry Trees without Fruit but are chosen in the Womb of their Mothers as the Prophet Jeremy and John the Baptist were The Children of Christian Women are furthermore Chosen and Sanctified by the Communication of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ received by their Mothers from whom they derive their Nourishment during the time they are in their Wombs for as an Infant in the Womb rejoyceth or is sorrowful according as its Mother is affected so it is nourished likewise by its Mother's nutriment for as our Lord saith in his Holy Gospel Whosoever shall eat my body and drink my blood shall never tast death and again He that eateth my
body and drinketh my blood shall be with me Paul likewise speaketh to the same purpose when he saith the unbelieving husband is justified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband otherwise your children would be unclean whereas now they are holy Now if the Children of an Unbelieving Mother are notwithstanding that Sanctified by the Faith of their Father how much more holy must they be whose Father and Mother are both Believers For which reason it is much more pious to call such Infants before they are Baptized Half-Christians than Pagans The Apostles in their Book of Synods do likewise affirm That all who had Faith though they were not Baptized may be called Half-Christians in which Books it is said that if a Jew or Gentile or Mahometan do embrace the Faith he shall not be received presently but must first come to the door of the Church there to hear Sermons and the words of our Saviour Christ and that being disposed to Believe he may understand what Christ's yoke is after which he may be called an Half-Christian even before he is admitted to Baptism which is also according to the Gospel which saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned It is also the custom among us for Women when they are with Child to Confess their Sins and receive the Lord's Body before they are Delivered and they who neglect to do this are looked upon as Wicked and Impious Christians as are also their Husbands for not having obliged them to it Confirmation and Extream Unction are not reckoned Sacraments among us Confirmation and Extream Unction no Sacraments neither are they in use in our Church as I see they are in the Roman We do surthermore reckon it contrary to the Law of Moses and the Institutions of the Apostles to eat unclean Meats from all which we do abstain merely in Obedience to the Law and the Scriptures which with us consists of Eighty one Books that is to say the Old Testament consists of Forty one Books The Scripture the perfect Rule of Faith and the New of Thirty five which Canon or Number of Books we have expresly delivered to us by the Apostles themselves and to which it is not lawful for us to Add or Diminish any thing no not though an Angel from Heaven should persuade us to it and we do look upon him as Accursed that shall offer to do any such thing so that neither our Patriarch nor our Bishop do reckon that they can either by themselves or in a Council make any Laws That People are under an Obligation of a Mortal Sin to observe In the Books of our Synods it is ordained by the Holy Apostles That we must confess our selves before we can receive Penance from a Confessor according to the greatness of our Sin They teach us likewise how we ought to Pray and Fast and how to exercise Charity Confession is much in use among us for we have no sooner committed a Sin than we run and throw our selves at the feet of a Confessor this is the constant practice of all Men and Women of whatsoever Quality or Condition and whenever we Confess we do receive the Body of our Lord under both Species They all receive the Sacrament in both Elements It is not kept in their Churches and in Wheaten and Unleavened Bread so that if we Confess our selves daily we do daily receive the Sacrament as well Layicks as Ecclesiasticks The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not kept in our Churches as it is here in Europe neither is it at any time Administred to the Sick until after they are recovered All among us Layicks as well as Clerks do receive the Sacrament at least Three times a Week which is never received any where but in the Church It is never received but in the Church no not by the Patriarch or Precious John himself We do always make use of the same Confessor and do never go to any other but when our own is absent to whom when he returns we are bound to repair The Confessors do in the Name of the Church absolve from all Sins there being no cases no not the most heinous reserved to the Bishop or Patriarch Presbyters are not allowed to Confess themselves to those that they Confess and among us all Presbyters and Monks and all Officers of the Church do live by their own Labour for the Church hath no Tythes it has Lands which are Cultivated by the Priests and Monks either in Person or by their servants and as for Alms they receive none but those that are offered in the Church for the Burial of the dead and other Holy Offices it not being lawful for any of them to beg about the streets or to extort Alms from the common people Furthermore The Sacrament is never administred above once a day in a Church It is not shewed to the People No Masses are said for the Dead in our Churches there is never but one Mass a day which we do reckon to be a Sacrifice neither is it lawful for us according to ancient Custom to Celebrate more for which Mass we never receive any Money the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not shewed to the People among us as I observe it is here and all Priests Deacons and Subdeacons and all People whatsoever that are present at the Celebration are obliged to Communicate We say no Masses for the remission of Souls but our Dead are Buried in a Consecrated Place with Prayers and Crosses over whom among other things we recite the beginning of St. John's Gospel and do offer Alms for them the day after they are Buried and at certain other times when we have Funeral Feasts This is what I have to say of our Faith and Religion But whereas since my coming to Portugal I have had several Debates with some Doctors namely with Didacus Ortis Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dean of the King's Chappel and Pedro Magalho concerning the distinction of Meats it will not be improper for me to say something of it in this place It is to be observed that it is in obedience to the Old Testament that we observe a distinction of meats which distinction is ordained by the Word of God who was afterwards born of the Virgin Mary and walked and conversed with his Apostles which Living Word of God had always an entire and irrevocable Speech or Word and who did no where in his Gospel say that such things might be eat as were before prohibited as unclean For as to those words in the Gospel That whatsoever entreth into the mouth doth not defile the man but that which cometh forth of the mouth Christ's intent therein was not to dissolve the Law he had formerly enacted but only to confute the Superstition of the Jews who blamed the Apostles for having eat Bread with unwashen hands neither did the Apostles
Patriarch Replied That as to the Customs of Fasting on Wednesdays and of using their Old Offices as he had mended them and of Observing the Festivities as formerly which were all that his Highness had desired of him he had granted them all already and was ready to grant them every thing that was in his Power and not contrary to the Faith wherefore since his Highness did not intend that there should be any Alteration made in Matters of Faith he beseeched him to put forth a Proclamation declaring That as he was of the Roman Faith himself so it was his Will and Pleasure That all his Subjects should be of the same and that as to matters of Custom he was ready to comply with them therein so far as the Faith would permit him In which request the Bishop and Five Fathers seconded him with great earnestness but to no purpose the Emperor telling them plainly That he could do no more for Popery than he had done The Patriarch who was for leaving no stone unturned went from the Emperor to wait upon the Prince and having told him the same story he told his Father the Prince seemed to be surprized with the news and returned such Answers as would have imposed upon a weak Man but the Patriarch knowing him to be Master of a most profound Dissimulation and an inveterate Enemy to the Roman Church gathered from his ambiguous Answers That without a Miracle the Roman Faith could not be much longer supported in Ethiopia So they all returned to the Patriarch's Palace desperately afflicted with the present sad prospect of their Affairs The Alexandrians that they might bring the Emperor under a necessity of executing what had been agreed on in Council had industriously spread a report That on St. John Baptist's day their Ancient Faith was to be restored to them which report having brought all the Countrey to the Camp to be present at the Solemnity they then told the Emperor That there was no remedy but he must either Restore to his People the Religion of their Fathers or run a great hazard of his Crown since the Pecple who were come in such vast multitudes in hopes of having it done if they were disappointed would be thrown into such a Fury that no body could tell where it might end The Emperor made answer That he was willing his good Subjects should enjoy their Old Religion but that he might not be worse than his word to the Patriarch he commanded some of his Servants to go and wait upon him and acquaint him with the necessity there was of gratifying his People with a Toleration of the Alexandrian Faith Za Mariam who was in the number of those that were commanded to carry this Message to the Patriarch being admitted to speak with him told him in the Emperor's Name and words We have embraced your Faith and have been at much pains about it but our People do not care for it so though it was really out of hatred to Raz Cella that Julius took up Arms nevertheless the pretence that helped him to an Army was that he would defend the Old Religion who with vast multitudes of People that had flocked in to him was destroyed Cabrael and Guergis used the same pretence and had the same success And Cerca Christos and the Peasants who are now in Arms have no Quarrel with me but for having prohibited them the exercise of their Religion The Faith of Rome is not bad but as I have told you formerly my People do not understand it and are very well contented to live and die in the Religion they were brought up in I am resolved therefore since they are so fond of it to let them alone with it and if there are any that are inclinable to the Roman Faith they shall have free Liberty to Profess it as the Portugueses who have been among us ever since the Reign of Asnaf Saged have had When Mariam had done speaking the Patriarch asked him Whether it was by the Emperor 's Express Order that he had delivered him that Message Mariam told him it was The Patriarch made no other reply But that Ethiopia had never been without Wars before the Roman Faith was known in it and that he would return an Answer to the Emperor after he had advised with his Brethren Who having consulted together drew up the following Manifesto which they sent to the Emperor by Father Manuel YOUR Highness has sent me word The Patriarch's manifesto against it That being upon the point of losing your Empire for your Zeal to establish the Roman Religion you are resolved to let your People alone with their Old Faith and that you will at the same time grant Liberty to all that shall have a mind to embrace Popery Sir My Affection for you is nothing inferior to that I have for the King of Portugal being as ready to condescend to every thing that is for the Interest of your Kingdoms as you can desire provided it do not clash with the Purity of the Faith for as whatever is a Sin can never be for the good of any Kingdom so neither can I grant any such thing neither ought your Highness to desire it of me There are two things to be observed in this great Affair the one concerns the Peasants who having never embraced the Roman Faith your Highness may for some time wink at their living in the Heresie of their Fathers the other concerns those who have embraced the Roman Faith and Communicated with that Church and not only so but have obliged themselves by Oaths to be always Obedient to her Now to these your Highness cannot say You may if you please live in the Faith of your Fathers since it would be a grievous Sin against God in you to do so as it would be in me likewise if I should either advife you to it or consent to your doing it And were it lawful for one that is a Foreigner to meddle with your Government or to give advice about it I would tell you that it is my Opinion That your Highness will certainly Ruin your Empire by granting Liberty of Conscience which must necessarily fill it with Dissentions and Civil Wars For what but Blood and Wars can follow upon one part of your Subjects being for the Roman and the other part for the Alexandrian Faith And must not the having of an Abuna for one Party and a Patriarch for the other infallibly end in Two Kingdoms and Two Kings Whether the Patriarch believed the Popish Party to be so Numerous in Ethiopia as to have made a considerable division therein upon a Toleration or talked so only to terrifie the Emperor it is certain that the Toleration was no sooner published than the whole Body of the Court and Countrey returned to their Old Religion insomuch that Father Manuel happening after he had delivered the Patriarch's Manifesto to the Emperor to tell him That by granting Liberty of Conscience he would undoubtedly
he is or from whence he comes threatening us like Caterpillars against whom when they come the whole Countrey is up in Arms so that according to the word of David I am cast out like a locust you in what you do fulfilling what Christ said to the Jews I came in my Father's name and you received me not another will come in his own name and him you will receive the Children of Israel when they went out of Egypt carried not only their own goods but the Egyptians also which they had borrowed whereas we are forced to leave a great part of our own goods behind us but since we must leave them all when we come to die that gives us but little trouble but what afflicts us most is that your Highness should send the same Message to us which another King delivered with his own Mouth to Moses and Aaron in the Twelfth of Exodus Arise and go from among my people and that with the same haste as he forced the Jews out of Egypt by night it being said the Egyptians pressed the Hebrews to depart suddenly saying if they do not depart this night we are all dead men imputing the death of their First-born to the presence and detention of the Children of Israel whereas in Justice they should have attributed it to the hatred they bore to the Hebrews who had been their deliverers and to their own cruelty in having thrown their Sons into the Nile After the same manner Ethiopia ought to impute the just punishments they have received at the hand of God to the unjust hatred they have for the Portugueses their restorers and to their Manifold publick and scandalous Sins some whereof I shall just mention Most of their men are for having several Wives and their Women are for changing their Husbands Their Monks care not to have any thing more of Monks than the habit chusing the Houses of the Court of Ladies for their Monasteries The Nobles are for making themselves Lords of the Church and her Lands indulging the flesh in all things and would have their Pastors to be as so many Statues in having neither Eyes to see their Sins nor Mouths to reprove them nor hands to chastise them Nâ—w so long as these Sins continue in Ethiopia the Sword will never depart from it Open your Eyes Sir and follow the truth according to your knowledge thereof and suffer not the good Nature and Understanding which God has given you to be ruin'd by evil Counsellors but do justice to your Subjects remembering what God hath said by the Ecclesiasticus That Kingdoms are Translated from one to another and from one Family to another by reason of Injustice And since we are not to see one another again before we meet at the Tribunal of God's Justice I must tell you plainly That though I should not accuse you there you will accuse your self your Empire the Gospel the Councils and the Books of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church which I brought for your Instruction and you have rejected will all accuse you there Nevertheless I the Bishops and Fathers imitating our Master Jesus Christ who when he was on the Cross prayed for his Murtherers not attending to the hatred wherewith they persecuted him but to the precept of his Father's and his own willingness to die for them do from our hearts pray that God of his great Mercy would pardon you and your whole Empire and remove from you and it the Scourges of his wrath which the examples in holy Scripture threaten them withal who will go on in their Sins And whereas the Gauls since the time your Ancestors broke the Oath they made to the Portugueses That they would receive the Roman Faith have become Masters of the greatest part of your Empire so I pray God that the remaining part thereof may not be lost on this occasion wherein there have been so many Oaths and Excommunications with such a clear knowledge of the truth insomuch that what Saint Stephen said of the Jews â—ay be truly appli'd to you You do always resist the holy Spirit after the Example of your Fathers May that Divine Spirit which is the Temple and Fortress of Truth enlighten and strengthen your Highness to know and love the Roman Catholick Faith which is the true way and life Offonso Patriarch of Ethiopia Banished for Jesus Christ The Patriarch having been rifled by the way by a company of Banditties arrived at Fremona on the 24th of April and not being able to think of returning to the Indies to live there as a Private Friar and where he knew his Conduct would be censured if for no other reason for its having been unsuccessful he began to consider whether he might not in case the Emperor should command him to depart his Kingdoms which he every day expected he would do find some Nobles that would undertake to protect him against him but being sensible that that was not to be done any other way but by giving assurances that a Portuguese Army would come in a short time to succor them he immediately dispatched four Fathers to Goa The Patriarch so soon as he arrived at Fremona sends Four Jesuits to the Indies to sollicit for Troops to sollicit the sending of an Army to them as the greatest Service that could be done either to God or the Crown of Portugal and having done this he thought he might very well encourage some of the Grandees to take them under their protection by promises of a Portuguese Army being ready to embark at Goa to come to their assistance and being informed that Prince John Kay the Heir of their old friend Bahurnagays was living discontented upon his own Lands which were Mountainous and not far from the Sea Coast he sent two Fathers to him to try if they could persuade him to undertake their protection by promises of great things the Portuguese Army that was coming would do for him The Envoys managed matters so that they brought O Kay to promise to protect them it being agreed betwixt him and them He sues to O Kay a discontenred Lord for protection against the Emperor That whensoever the Emperor should command the Patriarch and Fathers to leave Ethiopia that he should send a Troop of Horse to fetch them from Fremona into his own Lands where when he had them once he promised to defend them till the Portuguese Army arrived This O Kay you must know was one of the chief Leaders in Guergis's Croisade for the extirpation of Popery O Kay undertakes to protect him which though the Patriarch knew well enough yet being sensible that he was discontented with the Emperor and the Court and believing Ambition to be much stronger in him than Religion he thought he might be a man proper enough for his purpose the very Peasants of Lasta being made use of by the Fathers against me Emperor as we shall see hereafter The Emperor who was too jealous of the Patriarch and