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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	holy_a	spirit_n	trinity_n	2,812	5	9.9722	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30860	The late travels of S. Giacomo Baratti, an Italian gentleman, into the remote countries of the Abissins, or of Ethiopia interior wherein you shall find an exact account of the laws, government, religion, discipline, customs, &c. of the Christian people that do inhabit there with many observations which some may improve to the advantage and increase of Trade with them : together with a confirmation of this relation drawn from the writings of Damianus de Goes and Jo. Scaliger, who agree with the author in many particulars / translated by G.D.	Baratti, Giacomo.; G. D.; Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574.; Scaliger, Joseph Juste, 1540-1609.	1670 (1670)	Wing B677; ESTC R11736	63,785	282

nothing memorable in this Kingdom but some places where the Inhabitants do pick up golden sand which they refine and sell to the Merchants of Melinde that bring hither their Camels This Country hath no Barley nor Wheat but instead of those grains they have Tafo Daguza seed with which they make a bread very pleasant to the taste but much more sweet than ours It grows in any ground the worst as well as the best nature hath thus provided for all Countries and people a means to supply themselves by their industry if they will make use of it This Country is extream hot and the most unfit for dwelling of any one that I have seen in the Territories of the Neguz the beams of the Sun beat against the sandy ground and meeting there with an obstinate resistance they return back into the face and uncovered part of the body so that it is not possible to walk here abroad about noon by reason of the excessive heat therefore the inhabitants do keep themselves within their Houses from ten of the clock until two In the Houses that are all thatcht and supported with posts it is very cool the Sun-beams have not the power to enter in through the Reeds Of Amara ALthough this Kingdom is directly under the Line there is not a more pleasant place to dwell in all over the world It is full of Mountains and Valleys about twenty leagues in circumference adorned with high Woods and Forrests the ground is extream fruitful the people very civil the Clergy devout the Nobles gallant and brave In the mountains are many little Villages planted in the low ground and in the midst of them is a strong Castle that looks like a Town for the outmost wall contain about two miles in circumference Here the Kings Children are kept with the Emperours as Hostages of their fidelity They are all trained up in several exercises the only inconveniency is that they are here confined to live which it may be to them is no inconveniency for they never see any thing else but these mountains and think the world hath no other place for a dwelling but here The Bishop of Amara a very grave man introduced us into the Castle where the Emperours Children were kept they were then but young the eldest was not above four years of age His countenance was promising we had a sight of the Gardens and Walks full of pleasant Fountains and Rivulets artificially brought into these high places The Walks were covered with a Tree not usual in our Country the branches were twisted one with another in such a manner that no Sun could penetrate them they were entertained always green for at the root of the Trees on both sides of the Walk a little Current of fresh water doth always run that refresheth the roots and preserveth them from the droughth of Summer It is as delicious a place as any I have seen in Europe the Children have the liberty to hunt and divert themselves out of the Walls of this Castle but they are never to go out of the mountains while their Father lives for that purpose a strict guard is kept at the passage where no man can go or come without leave It is both narrow and steepy made with the hand a few persons are able to keep it from all the world in the castle are places appointed for the exercise of the youth and over them they have Masters learned and experienced in all those Sciences and Disciplines that they are to know Here are excellent Astrologers for that is a Science unto which this Country people is addicted They have some here learned in the Arabian and Indian Tongues others that give themselves over to the study of Philosophy and Nature but very few do trouble their brains with Divinity this makes them less notional but more practical for they know no niceties in Cases of Conscience to excuse their actions and inclinations The other Kingdoms are less remarkable only that of Damut and Goiame are full of Mines of Gold The Emperour keeps them with above 6000 men in Arms continually Tegrai and Vangue are mountainous and peopled with wild beasts trees more than with men Xoa is rich and fruitful but in it nothing else remarkable Of the Religion of the Abyssins and of the manner of their Discipline THey do all profess the Christian faith with much zeal the Church of the Queen Candaces whose name they say was Indich first brought this Religion into their Country that was for the most part possessed with the Jewish St. Thomas afterwards went into that Country and there did confirm them in the Christian Religion obliging all the inhabitants by the greatness and number of his Miracles to embrace it Some opposition he met with from the Grandees that had always retained the Pagan superstitions especially in the Kingdom of Damut where there is a mountain that bears yet his name The Heathens subject to the Emperour of Aethiopia had got him into their possession and were resolved to make him suffer for the destruction and neglect of their Idols they had often attempted upon his life but neither Sword nor Poison could injure his Person they sought therefore to drown him in a lake and when that could not procure his death they shut him up in a Tower built in the top of these unpleasant mountains where he remained prisoner until an Angel took him from thence leaving all his keepers dead on the ground and brought him again to the Imperial Court where he complained of the violence and unjustice that had been done unto him which the Emperor going about to revenge raised an Army to seize upon the King of Damut that had consented to the imprisonment of the Apostle He remained here many years until he departed into the Indies where he preached also the Gospel He left behind him many thousand Christians and as they say he brought unto them the two books Abelil and Menda and established here the Discipline that is used amongst them with all the Ceremonies practised They and the Capties of Egypt differ much in point of ceremony but in belief they are Eutycheans as for the most part Some there are that have true and Orthodox opinions of Christ Here is the form of their belief published in writing amongst them by which we may judge of them further WE believe in the Name of the Holy Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit who are but one Lord three names but one Divinity three faces but one similitude The conjunction of the persons is equal in the Divinity for there is but one Kingdom one Throne one Judge one Charity one Word and one Spirit The word of the Father of the Son and the word of the Holy Ghost and the Son is the same word The word with God and with the holy Spirit and with himself is the son of the Father and from the Father without the least deficiency or division without 〈…〉 y beginning he was the son of his Father without Mother no body can know the Mystery of his filiation unless it be the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Now this Son was in the beginning the Word and this Word was the Word with God and the Word was God The spirit of

contradict what he had before established but only that he might refute the superstition of the Jews that did reprove the Apostles for eating with unwasht hands And the Apostles themselves whiles they lived with our Saviour Christ Jesus never made use of unclean beasts nor did ever taste of those things that we●● prohibited in the Law and no●● of them did offer to transgress i● this particular After our Saviou● Passion when the Apostles beg●● to preach the Gospel none 〈…〉 ever prove by the Sacred Record● that they did ever eat or kill 〈…〉 unclean beast It is true St. P 〈…〉 saith whatsoever comes in t●● shambles eat inquire not of it 〈…〉 conscience sake after that 〈…〉 saith if any unbeliever doth inv● you to a Feast and you have ● mind to go of whatsoever is p 〈…〉 before you eat inquiring after nothing because of conscience Again if any shall say this was sacrificed to an Idol do not eat of 〈…〉 because of him that told thee an● because of conscience c. Al● this St. Paul saith to please the● that were not sufficiently confirmed in the faith because between them and the Jews there were many disputes and contentions to the end that he might appease them he sided with and laboured to please the Christians that were not confirmed in the faith This he did not to break the Law but only by granting something of the ceremonies he might win them to the faith The same Apostle saith Let him that eateth not despise him that eateth ●or him that eateth not judge him that eateth for he that eateth eateth to the Lord and he that eateth not eateth not to the Lord. Therefore it is an unworthy act to reprove forrein Christians so fiercely and in a hostile manner as I have been for this and other matters that concern not true faith It were more wisely done to bear with such Christian men as the Greeks Armenians and Ethiopians are to treat them with kindness and charity and to suffer them to live and converse with other Christians for we are all baptized in the same baptisme and subscribe unanimously to the same belief There is no cause wherefore any shold so furiously dispute about ceremonies let every one observe his own without hatred and railing one against another for that the correspondency between Churches should not be interrupted if afar off they use customs in those Provinces proper to the place and genius of the people Besides we have in the Acts of the Apostles how Peter saw the Heavens opened and a certain vessel come down like a great sheet bending on the four corners to the earth in the which were all sorts of four-footed Beasts and Serpents of the earth with the Fowls of the Air unto him the voice did say Rise Peter and eat unto whom Peter answered Far be it from me Lord for I never did eat any common or unclean thing The voice answered him What God hath purified do not thou call it unclean which being often repeated the vessel was taken up into Heaven These things being done the spirit sent him to Caesarea to Cornelius a pious man and one that did fear God unto whom as Peter did preach The Holy Ghost fell upon all that heard the word of God and Peter did baptize c. This Vision is thus interpreted by us in Ethiopia the clean Beasts are the Children of Israel the unclean the Gentiles who are thus called because they are worshippers of Idols and act the unclean works of the Devil And whereas the voice said unto Peter Peter rise and kill we thus understand it Peter Baptize Eat that is preach and publish the faith and the Law of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people of Israel and to the Gentiles It is certain that it can never be found that Peter or any other of the Apostles did either kill or eat unclean Beasts after this Vision Now when the Scripture mentions food in several places it intends to signifie unto us Christ and his Doctrine we must not therefore understand it of any corporal or nourishing food All the learned do agree that this sheet that was shewn unto Peter did teach him high and sublime matters and not the inferiour things of the world that relate not to our salvation neither are we to gather from thence that we have liberty to eat of unclean things seeing that can never be gathered out of Scripture wherefore do the Apostles amongst the Decrees of their Council command us not to eat of creatures hang'd strangled ●orn in pieces or half eaten by other beasts or of bloud for God loves cleanness and sobriety and hates gluttonness and uncleanness God loves them also that abstain from flesh and much more them that feed upon bread and herbs and are content with water as St. John Baptist that lived a Hermite beyond Jordan he always fed upon herbs St. Paul the Hermite led a sparing life in the desart 80 years St. Anthony and St. Macarius and many of their followers never tasted any flesh Therefore my brethren you must not contemn nor revile us for St. James saith he that speaks evil of his brother or Judges his bother speaks evil of the Law and Judges of the Law and S. Paul advises to be content with our own traditions and not to dis-pute about the Law of Moses with Christians wherefore it is not handsome to quarrel with our brethren about the Law or the choice of Meats for meats do not render us more or less acceptable to God therefore let us seek after the heavenly food and set aside these frivolous disputations about meats These things that I have here written about traditions proceed not out of an itch of disputation nor out of contention but only that I might justifie my own people from the cruel accusations of many who having no respect for my Master the most Potent Emperour Precious Giam ●or for us his subjects do revile us and call us Jews and Mahumetans because we observe the Saturday as the Jews and fast till Evening as the Mahumetans they say these things should not be done by Christians they do also complain against us for the Marriage of our Clergy who have the same liberty as the other people and because we are re-baptized every year as if we did distrust the efficacy of the first baptism because we circumcise men and women which custom the Jews do not observe so punctually because we keep the Law of Moses in the choice of meats and because we judge more charitably of Christian children before baptism than they do and esteem them not as Pagans but as half Christians I have been forced to publish this that I might justifie my own people from their slanders that accuse us and that I might oblige the Doctors of the Church of Rome to be the more kind to us I know not by what Religious instinct they have been moved to forbid me to participate with them in the Body

the Land or to displease their Soveraign Lord. The Territorie round about is very barren and the place extream cold most part of the year whether it be the nature of the Soil or the elevation of the Mountain into the second Region of the Air none could tell me but here these Persons of Quality are famished to death imprisoned and put to suffer several other sorts of puments according to the pleasure of the Neguz This place is very convenient for that purpose for the Friends and Acquaintance of the offenders cannot come to learn the miseries that they endure nor the cruelties that they suffer which if they did know might oblige them to a revenge or ill will against their Emperours Of several Customs of the Abyssins THe Emperour and people have so great a respect for the Churches that they never ride by them upon their Horses as soon as they come within a hundred paces they alight and walk a foot bowing at the publick places of their Devotion in honour of that great God that hath named them his Houses of Prayer as they pass by When the Emperour makes any progress far from the usual place of Residence certain Religious men do carry before him upon their shoulders a banner with some pious representation in it with an Altar or Table of Stone upon which they use to Celebeate their Communion before them marcheth a fellow with a Censer in one hand and a little Bell in the other at the sound of it the horsemen come down the people stand by and all do prepare themselves to let their Prince pass They never use to send their thoughts one to another in writing but by messengers either out of ignorance or superstition for they fancy the use of writing so sacred that they will not profane it in ordinary business because God hath been pleased to commit his Holy Word in writing yet of late seeing the inconveniencies their scrupulous fancies have reduced them to they have made use of writing in several occasions as in Registring the Affairs of the Kingdoms in setting down the expences disbursements and Receits of the Emperours Revenues c. But the characters are distinct from those of the Bible or of their Sacred Books And when the Emperour sends an Embassadour he then dispatches with him some Credential Letters They are not to make Wine but by stealth none but the Abuna and the King may cause the Grapes to be strained for they are afraid that if Wine did grow common it would introduce much debauchery and many disorders which could not find a remedy They do not forbid it out of superstition as the Turks but for some politick considerations that Wine may not grow so common amongst them that they might neglect the other drinks which encourage Husbandry for they use a sort of drink made of a leaf which they sow it is of a pleasant taste much like unto old Mede a drink made of Honey They drink also water steeped with Barley other Grains The Emperour and the Abuna have liberty to drink and make Wine by their Laws All the Wine of this Country is very black but a great Cordial it burns not so much the stomach as others do in hot places but cherisheth and refresheth the body The towns in this Country are not numerous in Houses they seldom contain above 2000. I never ●aw a walled City some Castles of late have been built for pleasure rather than for defence Their houses are but mean and low covered with a thick thatch their beds are Hides tied up at the four corners They eat upon couches with a little round and low table placed before them that supports a large dish they have some Vessels made of earth of a shining black very beautiful these are their cups to drink of late they have the use of Gold and Silver in their houses They have several sorts of weapons short Lances Swords Bows and Arrows without Feathers Helmets and Head-pieces they have got some field Guns purchased from Merchants at an extraordinary rate to encourage them to import more The Abyssins are natural lyars and deceivers they seldom speak truth when they swear unless they be brought to take a solemn Oath or be forced to swear by the Head of their Neguz or be scared with the thoughts of Excommunication for they apprehend that above all corporal punishments This is their manner of administring an Oath the party that is to swear follows two Priests to the Church-door they carry before him Fire and Incense as soon as the party comes the Priests cause him to lay his hand on the door saying unto him these words If thou swear an untruth as the Dragon devoureth the beasts of the Forrest so let the infernal Devils devour thee as the Grapes are bruised in the Wine-press so let them bruise thy body and as the fire consumeth the wood so let thy soul for ever burn in hell The party that sweareth answers to every one of these imprecations Amen But if thou speak the truth let thy life be prolonged with honour and thy soul at last be received into heaven and again he answereth Amen which being ended he tells what he knows of the business required from him They have not the liberty to kill an Ox without the Governours leave although it belong to them for they are careful to preserve Cattel in that place from the excess of Luxury here are no shambles therefore in the towns as in Europe their ordinary victuals are Mutton Herbs Fruit Fowl wild Beasts and such like The wild Goats do increase here in such a manner especially near the Mountains that they eat up all the Corn and Grass other wild things are here in great numbers they do not therefore suffer their tame Cattel to be destroyed whiles they have so many wild that they threaten the Fruits of the earth with destruction to encourage the hunting of them they forbid the ordinary use of Beef This Inland people is naturally of a lazy disposition they have therefore many Laws to quicken them and oblige them to labour and provide for their own preservation As the not killing of their Oxen without License the refusing alms to beggars they are not to suffer any in the Kingdoms of the Neguz that will not work unless they be so sick and maimed that they are not able to help themselves then the Religious houses do administer comfort to them for they are endowed for that purpose with many Lands and Reversions The Abyssins are very devou● in all holy duties in holy places they pay unto them a great respect they 'l neither spit nor sit down in their Churches nor suffer any Dogs nor Cats nor any other unreasonable creature to enter into them but instead of seats they use Crutches very conveniently made to lean upon At the Church door there stands a multitude of them every one takes his own and draws as near the Preacher as possible he can They