shall equally inherit their fathers goods only this is obserued that one sonne shall haue as much as two daughters no one may keepe two or more wiues in one house nor yet in one cittie for auoyding of scolding contention and vnquietnesse that would bee amongst them but in euery city they may keepe one and the husbands háue liberty to be diuorced from their wiues three sundrie times and so oft to take them againe and the woman diuorced may stay with her husband that receiueth her againe if she please The Turkish women be very decent in their apparell vpon their heades they weare myters set vpon the top of their veiles wherwith their heads beeing bound in a comely fashion one side or edge of the veile hangeth downe vpon the right or left side of their heades wherewith if they go from home or come into their husbands presence at home they may foorth-with couer or maske their whole faces but their eyes for the wife of a Turke dare neuer come where a company of men be gathered together neither is it lawfull for them to go to markets to buy and sell Likewise in their great Temple the women haue a place farre remote from men and shut vp so close as no one can come to them nor hardly see them Which closet is not allowed for all women but onely for the wiues of noble men or heade Officers and that onely vpon Friday at their noone-tide prayer which they obserue with great solemnitie as is said and at no times else There is seldome any speech or conference betwixt men and women in any publike place it beeing so out of custome as if you should stay with them a whole yeare you shold hardly see it once but for a man to sit or ride with a woman is accounted monstrous married couples do neuer dally or chide in the presence of others for the husbands do neuer remitte the least iot of their authoritie ouer their wiues neither will the wiues omit their obedience towards their husbands The great Lords that cannot alwaies tarry with their wiues themselues depute and set Eunuchs to be keepers ouer them which obserue and watch them so warily as it is vnpossible for them to talke with any man but their husbands or to play false play with their husbands To conclude the Sarrafins yeeld so much credit to Mahomet and his lawes as they promise assured happines and saluation to the keepers thereof to wit a paradise abounding with all pleasures a garden situated in a pure and temperate Climate watered on all parts with most sweete and delectable waters where they shall enioy all things at pleasure dainties of all sorts to feede them silkes and purple to cloath them beautifull damfels euer readie at a call to attend them with siluer and golden vessels and that Angels shall bee their cuppe-bearers and minister vnto them milke in golden cuppes and red wines in siluer And on the other side they threaten hell and eternall damnation to the transgressors of his lawes And this also they firmely beleeue that though a man haue beene neuer so great a sinner yet if at his death he onely beleeue in God and in Mahomet he shall be saued The manners and customes Of the Christians and of their originall and Customes CAP. 12. CHRIST Iesus the true and euerlasting Sonne of God the Father omnipotent the second Person in the holy indiuidual coequall and eternall Trinitie by his incomprehensible decree and mysterie hidden from the world to the end that hee might raise and reduce vs miserable and vnfortunate wretches lost and forlorne by the disobedience of our fore-fathers Adam and Eue and therefore for many ages exiled and excluded out of the heauenly countrie and in heauen to repaire the auncient ruine of Lucifer and the Angels for pride expelled thence for supply of which vacancie we were chiefly created was one thousand sixe hundred and ten yeares since by the co-operation and working of the holy Ghost conceiued man and borne in Iudaea of the blessed Virgin Mary being of the house and lineage of Dauid from the thirtith yeare of whose age vnto the 34. at which time through the enuie and hatred of the Iewes he was crucified he trauersed ouer all the land of Iudaea exhorting the Iewes from the ancient law of Moses and the Gentils from the prophane worship of Idols vnto his new doctrine and religion those followers which he could get he called his disciples out of which electing twelue and appearing vnto them aliue after his death as hee had fore-told them he would he gaue them commission that as his Legats and Apostles they shold go into all places of the world and preach to all people such things as they had seene and learned of him Simon Peter who long before was by Christ ordained chiefe head ruler of his Church after him when after the receiuing of the holy Ghost the Apostles went some to one people some to another to preach as they were allotted and sent came first to Antioch where consulting and erecting a Church or chief seat or Chaire for the practise of Religion he with many other of the Apostles which often repaired vnto him celebrated a Councel in which amongst other things it was decreed that the professors and imbracers of Christs doctrine and true religion should after him be called Christians This chiefe Chaire of the Church beeing afterwards translated from Antioch to Rome he and his successours were very carefull and vigilant to reduce the Christian religion being as yet indigested vnpolished and little practised and the professors thereof into better order vniformity Out of the law of Moses which Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill out of the ciuill and politick gouernment of Romans Greeks and Aegyptians and out of both sacred and prophane rites lawes ceremonies of other nations but most especially by the wholesome doctrine and direction of Christ Iesus and the inspiration of the holy Spirit when they had vndertaken this busines and saw that not only among the Hebrewes but in al other nations else the people be diuided into religious and laitie and that all of them by an excellent subordination are in dignity and degrees different one from another as that the Emperor of Rome was Monarch of the whole world and that next vnto him were Consuls Patricians Senators by whose direction and aduice the state and common-wealth was well gouerned Again that in euery other country of the world were Kings Dukes Earles Presidents Lieutenants Deputies Tribunes of souldiers Tribunes of the common-people Praetors Captains Centurions Decurions Quaternions Sheriffes Treasurers Ouer-seers Portars Secretaries and Sergeants and many priuate people of both sexe That in the temple of the fained gods the king was chiefe sacrificer and that there were Arch-Flammins Proto-Flammins Flammins and Priests That also amongst the Hebrewes the High Priest was chiefe sacrificer vnder whome were inferiour Priests Leuites Nazareans Extinguishers of lights Exorcists
declaration of these Epistles hath promised to translate into Latine the booke which Francis Aluarez composed concerning the scituation manners and behauiour of the Ethiopians in which booke he expresseth and setteth forth his whole iourney or trauels One coppy of which booke I my selfe haue in my keeping But if Iouius surcease to translate it I would not bee strange to take the matter in hand although not willingly vnlesse most holy father it please you to command and then shall I be more free and safe from all malitious detractors who may happily suppose that I vndergoe the busines not with a desire to further the Christian common-wealth but rather in aemulation of Iouius glory For the doing of which busines effectually faithfully I suppose I am sufficiently instructed for when I had executed my embassage into Germany and Sarmatia was returned vnto my king Iohn the third of that name of whose great courtesie and bountie in receiuing of me I had sufficient triall I fell in conference with the Ethiopian Embassador at Lisbon a man honoured and indued with the dignity of a Bishop admirable for his credit doctrine and eloquence in the Chaldean and Arabian tongue and in briefe a man most fit to bee sent from the most mighty Emperour of Ethiopia vnto great and potent princes for vrgent and weightie affaires his name was Zaga Zabo and after an assured and firme friendship was established betwixt vs I had often conference with him and reasoned and debated with him especially of the manners and Religion of the Christians of Aethiopia for I desired to know those things not by the bare narration of trauelling interpreters but from a man borne in that Country and that in his presence and receiuing it from his mouth Amongst other things I shewed vnto him an Epistle sent into Portugall by Mathew the Embassador which Epistle together with the Articles which he proposed before King Emmanuel I translated as I haue sayd into the Latine tongue and many things I haue corrected by his direction where the interpretation obtained not sufficient credit nor likelihood which he affirmed did oftentimes happen both to me and to Iouius for as then I had with me the Epistles of the same Iouius which we conferred with great diligence and after vnfained friendship and the true loue of Christ flourished and was esteemed amongst vs I was imboldened to require of him a plaine and sincere declaration of the faith and religion of the Aethiopians and to haue it penned downe with his owne hands which hee graunted vnto me with great alacritie and foorthwith beganne to make description thereof which relation of his I haue faithfully translated into Latin as by the sequele will appeare wherein I went forward with greater desire my conscience vrging me that I was not ignorant that if these things should haue perished with me they could neuer after that be published by any other man for because they were so framed and composed after the Chaldean and Aethiopian phrase as they could hardly of any man bee vnderstood but of my selfe who by much familiaritie might attaine to the knowledge of all those things as well from the mouth as from the writings of the sayd Aethiopian Ambassadour In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen THese be the things which be vsed obserued amongst vs Aethiopians as touching our faith and religion First we beleeue in the name of the holy Trinity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost who is one Lord three in name but one in Diuinity three representations but one similitude the coniunction of the three persons is equall equall I say in Diuinitie one Kingdome one throne one Iudge one Charity one Word and one Spirit but the word of the Father and of the Sonne the word of the holy Ghost and the Sonne is the same word and the word with God and with the holy Ghost and with himself without any defect or diuision the Sonne of the Father and the Sonne of the same Father without beginning to wit first the Sonne of the Father without mother For no one knoweth the secret and mysterie of his Natiuity but the Father Sonne and the holy Ghost and the same in beginning was the Word the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word the Spirit of the Father the holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Sonne is the holy Spirit but the holy Spirit of his Spirit is without any diminution or augmentation for that the holy Ghost the Aduocate or Comforter the true God which proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in the fierie flame vppon the Apostles in the porch of Syon who declared and preached throughout the whole world the Word of the Father which Word was the Sonne himselfe Moreouer the Father is not first in that hee is Father nor the Sonne last in that he is the Sonne euen so the holy Ghost is neither first nor last for they be three persons but one God which seeth and is seene of no man and who by his onely counsell created all things and after that the Sonne of his owne accord for our saluation the Father himselfe being willing and the holy Ghost consenting thereunto descended from his high and heauenly habitation and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary which Mary was adorned with a double Virginity the one spirituall the other carnall he was also borne without any corruption the same Mary his mother after her child-bearing remaning a Virgin inspired with great wonder and hidden fire of Diuinity brought foorth without bloud paine or dolors her Sonne Iesus Christ who was a man innocent and without sinne perfect God and perfect man hauing one onely aspect As he was an infant he grew vp by little and little sucking the milk of his mother Mary the Virgin and when he attained to the age of thirty yeares he was baptized in Iordan he walked like other men he was wearie he sweat he was both hungrie and thirstie and all these things he suffered freely and voluntarily working many miracles and by his Diuinitie he restored sight to the blind healed those which were lame cleansed the leapers and raised vp the dead and last of all he was willingly apprehended and taken scourged beaten with buffets and crucified he languished and died for our offences and by his death he ouercame death and the diuell and by his sorrow in his life time hee dissolued our sinnes and bare our griefes and with the Baptisme of his bloud which Baptisme was his death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and he descended into hell where was the soule of Adam and his sons the soule of Christ himselfe which is of Adam which soule of Adam Christ himself took of the blessed Virgin Mary and in the brightnes of his diuinity and strength of his crosse he brake the brazen gates of hell binding Satan in chaines of yron and
after that if an Infidell call you to supper and that you will goe eate of all things which be set before you making no question for conscience sake and againe if any one shall say this is sacrificed to Idols eate not of it because of him that shewed you and for conscience sake c. All these things Paul speaketh to please those which were not yet confirmed in the faith because there arose many disputations and contentions betwixt those and the Iewes for the appeasing whereof he did more easily yeeld vnto them and conforme himselfe vnto their will which were not throughly confirmed in the faith And this hee did not that he would breake the law but that by gratifying others in releasing them from ceremonies hee might thereby winne them to the faith The same Apostle saith Let not him that eateth despice him that eateth not let not him that eateth not condemne him that eateth because hee which eateth eateth to the Lord and hee which eateth not eateth not to the Lord wherefore it is very vnworthily done to reprehend strangers that bee Christians so sharply and bitterly as I haue beene oftentimes reprehended my selfe both for this matter and for other things which belonged not to the true faith but it shal be better and more standing with wisdome to sustaine such Christians whether they bee Greekes Americans or Aethiopians or of any other of the seuen Christian Churches in charity and imbracings of Christ and to suffer them to liue and be conuersant amongst other Christian brothers without contumelies or reproches for we bee al the sons of baptisme and ioyne together in opinion concerning the true faith and there is no cause why wee should contend so bitterly touching ceremonies but that each one should obserue his owne ceremonies without the hatred rayling or inueighing of other neither is he that hath trauelled into other nations and obserueth his owne country ceremonies therefore to be excluded from the society of the Church Moreouer that which we haue in the Acts of the Apostles to wit how Peter saw Heauen opened a certaine vessel descending like vnto a great sheet bound or closed vp at the foure corners wherein were all kind of foure footed beasts and serpents of the earth and foules of the aire and a voice said vnto Peter arise Peter kil and eate to whom Peter said God forbid Lord for I did neuer eate of any thing commune or vncleane and the voice replied vnto him againe saying that which God hath made cleane doe not thou cal commune or vncleane which words being repeated three times the vessel was againe taken vp into Heauen which done the spirit sent him into Caesaria vnto Cornelius a deu out man and one that feared God with whom when Peter spake the holy Ghost fell vpon all those which heard the word of God and when they had receiued the holy Ghost Peter commanded that all Cornelius houshold should be baptised But when the other Apostles and brethren which were in Iudea heard that Cornelius was baptised they were displeased at Peter that hee had giuen Baptisme and the word of God to the Gentiles saying why wentest thou to men that be not circumcised and didst eate with them but when Peter had declared vnto them the whole vision they were pacified and gaue thankes vnto God saying And therefore hath hee giuen repentance vnto the Gentiles for their saluation And they remembred the word of the Lord which hee spake when he ascended vp into heauen Go throughout all the world and preach the Gospell vnto all creatures he that beleeueth and is baptized shall be saued but hee which beleeueth not shall be damned Then the Apostles began to preach the Gospel through out all the world vnto euery creature in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and the sound of them went throughout all the world And this vision wherein both cleane and vncleane things did appeare we in Aethiopia expound thus That by the cleane beasts was meant the people of Israel and by the vncleane beasts the people of the Gentiles And for this cause be the Gentiles called vncleane for that they bee worshippers of Idols and willingly do the workes of the diuel which be vncleane and whereas the voyce sayd vnto Peter Kill that we interpret in this manner Peter baptize and when it is said Peter eate that is interpreted as if he had sayd Teach and preach the lawe of our Lord Iesus Christ to the people of Israell and to the Gentiles Moreouer it is most certaine that it cannot bee found in any place of the Scriptures that either Peter or the other Apostles did kill or eate any vncleane beast after this vision And also we must vnderstand when the Scripture speaketh of bread he meaneth not meate or corporal nourishment therby but the explication and exposition of Christ his doctrine and of the Scriptures And surely it were well done for all teachers and preachers of this sheet which was shewed vnto Peter to teach high and great matters and not pettie or light things and such as do seeme little to appertaine vnto saluation nor thereby cunningly to hunt after this document as though it should be conuenient or lawfull for vs to eate vncleane things seeing no such thing can bee gathered out of the Scriptures for what is the cause that the Apostles in their bookes of Councels haue taught vs not to eate beasts that be strangled suffocated or killed ' of other beasts or bloud because the Lord loueth cleannes and sobriety and hateth gluttony and vncleannesse And our Lord also greatly loueth those that abstaine from flesh but much more those that fast with bread and water and herbes as Iohn Baptist the Eremite did beyond Iordane who did euer eat herbes and S. Paul the Eremite who remained in the wildernesse foure score yeares euer fasting and S. Anthonie and Saint Macarius and many other their spirituall children which did neuer tast flesh Therefore my brethren we ought not to despise and inueigh against our neighbors because Iames saith Hee which detracteth his brother or condemneth his brother detracteth the law and condemneth the law Paul also teacheth That it were better for euery one to liue contented with their owne traditions then to dispute with his Christian brother of the law and againe Not to know more than is behoofull but to be wise vnto sobrietie and vnto euery one as God hath diuided the measure of faith wherfore it is vndecent to dispute with our brethren of the law or of the difference of meates because the meate doth not commend vs to God especially seeing Paul the Apostle saith We shall neither abound if we do eate nor want if we do not eat And therfore let vs seek those things which be aboue and the celestiall food and leaue off these vaine disputations Al these things which I haue written concerning Traditions I haue not done to breed disputation but that as
my selfe and others together with the approbation of my indeauours and commendation of the workes by some worthy and worthily respected friends whose Iudgements doe farre exceed mine owne incouraged mee to vndergoe the businesse and to proceed in that I had already begunne with more alacrity which after much labour I haue now at length finished and suited in this ragged liuery and made him to speake in a phrase though not eloquent yet I hope plaine and intelligible And albeit a tale may be much improued by a formal manner of telling yet gold is more esteemed of for his goodnesse then for his collour and the worthinesse of the worke ought to bee of more regarde then the elegancy of the phrase the one beeing the substance the other but the shadow As for the nice curiosity of such word-weighing Crittickes as will sooner find two faults in another then amend one in themselues I little esteeme either of them or their censures But if for want of other matter to quarrell at any Momus should accuse my pen for mercenarie I protest I may truly answer them with the very words of mine Author that what I haue done was not Spe lucri ulsius neo popularis aurae ambitione verumenimuero tam libero plane otioso studio quam rei ipsius mira dulcedine at que vtilitate If I haue omitted or misconstrued any abolete words or sentences for their harshnesse and ill coherence or erred in setting downe the true quantitie of weights and measures for auoyding whereof I haue most commonly vsed the Latine words themselues or in describing the disguised apparell of sundry people as namely those rude sauages called Tovovpinambaltii beeing so different from all other nations as keeping the sence I could hardly adapt them to our owne English phrase or if I haue shewed my selfe too affectionate in the commendation of our owne country in my inlargement added to the chapter of England where I supposed mine Author was too sparing or to bee short if in the confession of the Aethiopians faith or the Epistles written from Prester Iohn to the Pope and kings of Portugall or in any other place or by any other meanes I haue ought mistaken or squared from the true meaning of the writers Bee pleased courteous and friendly Reader in humanity patiently to passe them ouer and impute such errors and escapes rather to the want of knowledge of the truth than want of will to expresse the truth And so concluding with this one onely aduertisement that if in the whole course of these bookes thou meete with any thing that in thy opinion doth ouermuch exalt the ceremonies of the Church of Rome thou wilt consider that the Author was an absolute Papist as well thou mayst perceiue and therefore of likelihood would by all meanes he could aduance and make the best of his owne Religion nor did I thinke it the part of a Translator by marginall notes to suppresse his opinions but in this place rather to forewarne thee which as the Prouerbe sayth doth fore-arme thee how to giue credit in those cases I commit these my labours to thy fauour able consideration and thy selfe to Gods holy protection Resting thine in what he is able ED. ASTON THE AVTHORS PREface to the Reader THE most famous and memorable lawes customes and manners of all nations and the situation of each seueral Countrie which Herodotus the father of Histories Diodorus Siculus Berosus Strabo Solinus Trogus Pompeius Ptolomy Pliny Cornelius Tacitus Dionysiuss Afer Pomponius Mela Caesar Iosephus and of later Writers Vincentius Aeneas Syluius who was afterward Pope Pius the second Antonius Sabellicus Iohannes Nauclerus Ambrosius Calepinus Nicholas Perottus in his books intituled Cornucopiae and many other famous Historiographers haue confusedly and as it were by parts commended vnto vs in their Commentaries I haue good diligent Reader as my leysure would serue collected abridged digested and compacted together in this short and compendious Breuiary wherein you may easily finde what euer you haue occasion to looke for which I haue effected not in expectance of gaine nor affecting popular prayse but freely and without other recompence then the pleasure and profite the thing it selfe bringeth with it And herein I haue expressed as well the customes of auncient time as those which be in vse at this day as well the good as the bad in differently that both lying open before thine eyes by their examples thou mayst follow and imitate in the course of thy life those which be honest holy and commendable and auoyd those which be dishonest and shameful And hereby thou shalt perceiue good Reader in what perfection and happinesse we now liue at this day and how fimply rudely and vnciuilly our forefathers liued from the Creation of the world to the generall Floud and for many ages after When as they vsing no money no merchandize but equalling one benefit with another had nothing proper to themselues but sea and land as common to all as the aire and firmament No man then gaped after honor and riches but euery one contented with a little liued a rurall secure and idle life free from toyle or trauell accompanied with one or more wiues and their sweet children hauing no other house than the heauens the shadow of a tree or some homely cabbin their meate was then the fruite of trees and milke of beasts their drinke water and their clothing first the vtmost rinde or broade leaues of trees and afterwards the skinnes of beasts vnhandsomly stitched together They were not then enclosed in and immured in walles nor defended with ditches but wandring abroad at their willes with their cattell not then compassed in inclosures reposed their bodies where euer night tooke them sleeping ioyfully and securely without feare of theeues or robbers wherof that age was ignorant All which things afterwards crept in and insued of mens variable willes emulation and dissonant desires when fruites gotten without labour beeing insufficient to sustaine such multitudes and other things growing defectiue and for the repelling and repressing the often incursions and fierce assaults of beasts and forraine people they were constrained to gather themselues into multitudes to ioyne their forces together and to apportion themselues certaine limits and territories wherein to liue where ioyning and vniting their houses for neighbourhood they beganne to liue a more ciuill and popular kind of life to fence and fortifie themselues with wals and trenches and to ordaine lawes and elect magistrates for the maintenance of peace and tranquilitie amongst them And then they began to prouide for their maintenance not onely by husbanding their grounds or following their flockes but by sundry other exercises and new inuented arts to passe by sea with their nauies into forren nations first for transporting of companies to inhabit new-found countries and then for trafficke and trading one with another to traine vp horses for the cart of copper to make coyne to cloth themselues more curiously to feed
long obseruation the course of the stars by whose speculatiō they prophesied of mens future fortunes They imagined the planets to be of great power and especially Saturne supposing the sunne to be of most beauty and of greatest vertue and that Mars Venus Mercury and Iupiter were to be obserued more then the rest for that they hauing each one his proper and peculiar motion foreshewed things to come and were the true interpreters of the gods And of this they were so fully perswaded as they called these foure stars al by the name of Mercury They foretold many things to come both hole-some and hurtful by winds shewers heate comets eclipse of Sunne Moone earthquakes and by sundry other signes and prodigies besides And they imagined that there were other stars subiect inferior to these planets of which some wandred in our Hemisphere and some in that which is vnder vs besides this they held the like error that the Aegiptians did and fained to themselues twelue gods attributing vnto each of them a month a signe in the Zodiake They prophesied of many things that should happen to their Kings as foreshewing to Alexander the victory he should haue in the fight with Darius to Hircanor Seleucus and to other successors of Alexander and many things after that to the Romaine successors whose euents proued true They write also of foure and twenty other stars whereof twelue be beyond the Zodiake towards the North and the other twelue towards the South of which those which appeare to our view they suppose to haue dominion ouer the liuing and the other to pertaine to those which be dead These things other circumstances haue those Chaldeans set forth to mens sight as they haue noted by long obseruation alleaging that this their doctrine hath continued for the space of three and forty thousand yeers from the first inuentiō therof to the reigne of Alexander which allegation of theirs were a very grosse impudent fable vnlesse we should interprete that the time of each yeere were but a month as was amongst the Aegiptians Of Iudaea and of the customs lawes and institutions of the Iewes CAP. 4. PAlestine which is also called Iudaea is a perticular Prouince of Syria sytuated betwixt Caelosiria and Arabia Petrea vpon the West it is washed with the Aegiptian sea and vpon the East with the riuer of Iordan This land the bookes of holy Bible and Iosephus their imitator called Canaan a land abounding with many riches as hauing plenty of fruites famous waters and being well furnished with balme It is scituated in the very middle of the world and is therefore very temperate neither to hot nor to cold which for the temperature of the elements the Israelites or Hebreues being a very ancient people and with whom alone from the first Creation of mankinde the knowledge and worship of the Heauenly and true God and the first forme of speech remained esteemed to be that which was promised by God to their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob a land flowing with milke and hony And therefore in the fortith yeere after the children of Israells departure out of Aegipt vnder the conduct of their valiant captaine Iosua they obtained the dominion thereof by force of their armes vanquishing and expelling one and thirty Kings which raigned in that Contry The Israelites retaine and liue vnder those laws which they receiued frō Moses their first captain althogh for many ages before Moses daies they liued without written law with great deuotion sanctity obtayning the truth by diuine Oracles and by the acutenesse magnanimity of their mindes and vnderstandings yet that great diuine Moses thought that no City could long continue in safety without the practise of law and equity And therefore when by rewarding the good punishing the wicked he had sufficiently exhorted his people to imbrace vertue and eschew vice he proposed vnto them other lawes and ciuel ordinances founded vpon those ten chiefe heads and grounds of lawes pronounced by God himselfe in mount Sina written in two Tables of which lawes being so many as they alone wold be sufficiēt matter to fill a whole volume I will onely touch those which be most worthy of remēbrance they that desire to know the rest let them read Iosephus the bookes of the Bible First Moses ordained that young children as soone as they were able to conceiue should bee instructed in the lawes seeing they contained in them the best kind of discipline That whosoeuer blasphemed the name of God should hang all a whole day be cast out at night without burial That no sacrifice should be solemnized vvith money gotten by whoredome That there should be 7. chiefe gouernors in euery city which were most noted for Iustice vvisdom that two of the leuitical Priests shold sit in iudgment with them if in discerning cōtrouersies the Iudges would not condiscēd to that which vvas right the vvhole matter should be decided by the discretion of the Priest Elder That the testimony of one man should not be currant to conuince an other of any crime nor yet of tvvo vnlesse their honesties vvere approued but the testimonie of three should stand and yet neither slaue nor woman should be sufficient witnesse because in one the basenesse of his fortune in the other the weaknesse and lightnesse of her sexe might rightly bee suspected that the fruite of trees new set or planted should not bee medled withall before the fourth yeere and that then they should pay for tithes the tenth part of the increase That neighbours and strangers should haue some part also and that the residue should remaine to him that planted them That they should sow cleane seed vpon their grounds and not mingled because the land would not like with seed of two sorts That trauellers should not bee restrained and interdicted from fruites but that they might gather as much as they pleased and their present necessity required and that if they were ashamed to take it the owners should offer it vnto them That the woman that gained vnlawfully or married her selfe to an other besides her lawfull husband should not bee regarded as a wife That shee that was supposed to bee a Virgine and was found defiled in her bodie with any man and conuicted of the crime should either bee stoned to death or burned aliue If one deflowred a Virgin espoused to an other man though she consented yet both parties should suffer extreame punishment and if he rauished her forcibly that then onely the author of the iniury should bee punished That if a man die and leaue no children behinde him his widdow should marry the brother of her deceased husband and by that matrimony bring forth issue to succeed them in their stocke but if the brother refused to marry her hee should shew the cause of his refusall before the elders and if his cause were approued good hee should haue liberty
Porters Clerkes and Singers That amongst the Greekes were Captaines of thousands Captaines of hundreds Captaines of fifty Gouernours ouer ten and rulers ouer fiue and that besides these as wel amongst the Greeks as Latines there were diuers sorts of conuents and religious houses both for men and women as the Sadduces Esseyes and Pharisies amongst the Iewes the Salij Diales and Vestales amongst the Romanes All the holy Apostles as Peter and those which succeeded him in the chaire of Rome agreed established that the vniuersal Apostolike most holy and high Bishop of Rome should euer after be called the Pope that is to say the father of his countrie and that he should proceede and gouerne the Catholike Romane Church as the Emperour of Rome was Monarch ouer the whole world and that as the Consuls were next in office and authoritie to the Emperour and were euer two in number so should there bee foure Patriarkes in the Church of God that in degree and dignitie should be next vnto the Pope whereof one was seated at Constantinople another at Antioch the third at Alexandria and the fourth at Ierusalem That the Senators of Rome should be expressed by Cardinals that such Kings or Princes as gouerned three Dukedomes should be equalled with Primates that should gouerne theree Archbishops and that the Archb. or Metrapolitans shold be compared to Dukes that as the Dukes had Earles vnder them so should Bishops be vnder the Archbishops That Bishops likewise should be resembled vnto Eatles their Assistants and Suffragans vnto Praesidents and Provosts vnto Lieutenants Arch-priests should supply the place of Tribunes of the soldiers for Tribunes of the people were ordained Chancelors and Arch deacons were put in the place of Praetors for Centurions were placed Deanes parish Priests for Decurions and other Prelates and Ministers for Aduocates and Atturneys Deacons represented the Aediles sub-deacons the Quaternions Exorcists the Duumuiri hostiarii or dore-keepers the treasurers readers singers and Poets the Porters of the Court and Acolites and Priests Ministers the Secretaries Taper-bearers decreeing that all these sundry Orders of Church-officers should be called by one generall name Clerkes of the Greeke word Cleros a lotte or chance whereby at first they were elected out of the people for Gods part or portion of inheritance This done they ordained that seuen sorts of these Clerkes should be of more speciall name and note then the rest as hauing euery one his peculiar function habit and dignitie in the church and that they should be alreadie to attend vpon the altar when the Bishop of Rome doth sacrifice to wit the Pope himself Bish Priests Deacons Subd Priests and singing men The office of Bishops is to giue orders to veile virgins to consecrate Bishops to confirme children by imposition of hands to dedicate Temples to degrade Priests frō their functions and to put them in againe vpon their reformation to celebrate Councels to make Chrismes vnctiōs to hallow vestiments and Church vessels and to do any other things which meaner Priests may do as well as they as to cathechise and baptize to make and consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar and to communicate it to others to pronounce absolution to the penitent to restraine the stubborn and to preach and declare the Gospel of Christ The crownes of their heades must bee shauen round like the Nazareans and they ought neither to weare lockes nor long beards they are bound to perpetuall chastitie and they haue the command and preheminence ouer other priests their liuings and maintenance ought to be onely of first firuites tythes oblations nor may they meddle or busie themselues in worldly matters their apparell and conuersation should be decent comely honest and they are tyed onely to serue God and the Church and to occupy and employ themselues seriously in reading the holy Scriptures that thereby they may perfectly know al things which belong to Christian Religion wherin they are bound to instruct others There be diuers conuenticles and houses of religious persons both men women as Benedictines Friars preachers Franciscans Augustines Bernardines Antonians Ioannites Carthusians Praemonstratentians Carmelites Cistertians many others euery one of which Orders haue distinct habits and customes different one from another by the rules which they haue priuatly set downe and prescribed for themselues to liue vnder And all of these professe perpetuall chastity obedience and wilfull pouertie liue for the most part a solitary life for which cause they were called Monkes as men liuing a monasticall kind of life Some of these Orders haue for their heads and gouernors of their houses and societies Abbots some Prouosts and some Priors but the Bishops be onely subiect to the Bishop of Rome most of these Orders we are hoodes or cowles though not all of one colour and abstaine wholy from flesh Bishops when they offer vp the sacrifice of the Masse were cōmanded by that sacred Synod to bee attired in holy vestures which for their perfection are borrowed out of the law of Moses of these garments be 15. to wit the Sandals the Amice the long Albe that reacheth down to their anckles the Girdle the Stole the Maniple the purple Coate with wide sleeues the Gloues the Ring the Linnen garment called Castula the Napkin or Sudary the Pall or Cope the Myter the Crozier staffe a chaire standing nere the altar for him to sit in of these 15. church-ornaments six were made common as well to other inferiour Priests as to Bishops that is to say the Amice the long Albe the Girdle the Stole the Manuple the Castula besides these 15. sundry sorts of garments the Pope by the donation of the Emperor Constantine the Great weareth in the celebration of the Masse all the Robes vsed by the Emperors of Rome as the scarlet coate the short purple cloake the scepter and the triple Diadem and with these he is arrayed in the Vestry when he saith Masse vppon any sollemne festiuall dayes and from thence goeth to the Altar attended with a priest on his right side and a Deacon on his left before him goeth a sub-Deacon with a book in his hand shut two taper-bearers one with a censor burning incense when he approcheth nere to the Altar hee puts off his myter and kneeling down with his attendants vpon the lowest step pronounceth the Confitcor or publike confession of sinners and then ascending vp to the altar he openeth the booke and kisseth it and so proceedeth to the celebration of all the ceremonies belonging to that sacrifice the sub-deacon reading the Epistle and the deacon the Gospell Bishopps and all other eminent Priests bee likewise bound to prayse God euery day seuen times and to vse one certaine order and forme of prayer and not onely to do so themselues but to giue commandement to all inferior Priests whatsoeuer vnder their charge and iurisdiction to do the like as to say Euensong in the afternoone Compline in the
twy-light Mattins in the morning and their houres at the first third sixt and ninth houre of the day and that all this if it be possible should be done in the Church humbly kneeling or standing before the Altar with their faces towards the East The Lords prayer and the Apostles Creed were then vsed to be sayd as they are now at this day Saint Hierome at the instance of Pope Damasus distributed and digested the Psalmes by the dayes assigning to euery houre his proper Psalmes and their number as nine at nocturns vpon holy dayes and 12. vpon working daies for the laudes at Mattins fiue fiue at euen-song and at all other houres three and it was chiefly he that disposed and set in order the Gospels Epistles all other things which as yet be read out of the old new Testament sauing only the hymnes Damasus diuiding the Quire of singing men into two parts appointed them to sing in course the Anthemes written by S. Ambrose Bishop of Millaine added Gloria Patri to the end of euery Antheme The Toletan Agathon Councels allowed the lessons hymnes which be read before euery houre The prayers grails tracts alleluias offertories communions in the Masse anthems versicles tropes and other things sung and read to the honor of God in the office of the Masse as well for the day as night were penned by S. Gregory Gelasius Ambros and diuers others of the holy Fathers not all at once but at diuers times The Masse for so is that sacrifice called was celebrated at the first in that simple furniture and plaine manner as it is now vsed vpon Easter Eue. Pope Celestinus added the Priests manner of entrance to the altar the Gloria in excelsis was annexed by Telesphorus the hymne which begins et in terra was composed by Hillarie Bishop of Poictiers and was afterwards by Symachus ordained to be sung The salutations taken out of the booke of Ruth which the priest pronounceth 7. times in the Masse by saying Dominus vobiscum were appointed by Clement Anacletus Gelasius disposed the rest to the offertory in the Order they be now vsed except the Sequentiae which are said after the Masse and these Nicholas added the Apostles Creed which Damasus annexed vnto them out of the Constantinopolitan councell The Sermon which is preached to the people by the priest or deacon standing in a pulpit vppon holy-daies was rather vsed by tradition after the examples of Nehemias or Esdras then instituted by any other in which Sermon the people that be present at Masse bee admonished to communicate as in duty they are bound and that they should imbrace mutual loue that they should be purged from their sins not be polluted with vices when they receiue the Sacrament of the altar and for that cause he concludeth his Sermon with the publike confession of sinners he declareth moreouer vnto them the contents of the old and new Testament and putteth them in mind of the ten Commandements the twelue Articles of our beleefe the seuen Sacraments of the Church the liues and Martyrdomes of Saints the holy-dayes and fasting daies instituted and ordained by the Church the vices and vertues and all other things necessarie for a Christian to know Pope Gregory added the Offertory to the Masse and Leo the Prefaces Gelasius and Sixtus the greater and lesser Canons and Gregory the Lords prayer out of the Gospell of Saint Mathew Martial Saint Peters Disciple instituted that Bishoppes should giue the benediction and Innocentius that inferior Priests should offer the Pax Agnus Dei was adioyned by Sergius the Communion by Gregorie and the Conclusion in these wordes Ite missa est Benedicamus Domino or Deo gratias was inuented by Pope Leo. The twelue Articles of our Faith which the holy Apostles haue commanded euery one not onely to acknowledge but most constantly to beleeue be these following The first that there is one God in Trinitie the Father Almightie Maker of heauen and earth the second That Iesus Christ is his onely begotten Sonne our Lord the third that he was conceiued of the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary the fourth that he suffered vnder Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the fift that he descended into hell and the third day rose againe from the dead the sixt that he ascended into heauen and that there hee sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty the seuenth that he shall come againe in glorie to iudge both the quicke and the dead the eight that there is a holy Ghost the ninth that there is a holy Catholike Church the tenth that there is a Communion of Saints and remission of sinnes the eleuenth that there is a resurrection of the flesh and the twelfth that there is an eternall life after death in another world The tenne Commandements which were written with the finger of God and deliuered by the hands of his seruant Moses to the people of Israel and which he willed vs to obserue and keepe be these following The first to beleeue that there is one God the second not to take the name of God in vaine the third to keepe holy the Sabbath day the fourth to honour our fathers and betters the fift to do no murther the sixt not to commit adulterie the seuenth not to steale the eighth not to beare false witnesse the ninth not to couet other mens goods and the tenth not to desire another mans wife nor any thing that is his The seuen Sacraments of the Church which bee included in the last fiue Articles of our faith and which the holy Fathers haue commanded vs to beleeue be these following First Baptisme and this Sacrament heretofore as it was established by a canonicall sanction was not ministred vnto any vnlesse vpon very vrgent necessitie but vnto such as were afore-hand well instructed in the faith and sufficiently catechised and examined thereof seuen sundrie times to wit vpon certaine dayes in Lent and vppon the vigils of Easter and Penticost beeing the vsuall times for consecration in all Parishes But this Sacrament beeing aboue all the rest most necessarie vnto saluation and least any one should depart out of this life without the benefit thereof it was ordained that as soon as an infant was borne he should haue God-fathers procured for him to be his witnesses or sureties and that then the child beeing brought by his God-fathers before the church doore the Priest standing there for the purpose should demand of the child before he dippe him in the holy Font whether he will forsake the Diuell and all his pompes and whether he stedfastly beleeue all the Articles of the Christian faith and the God-fathers affirming on his behalfe the Priest bloweth three times in the Infants face and when he hath exorcized and catechized him he doth these seuen things in order vnto the child first he putteth hallowed salt into his mouth secondly hee annointeth his eyes eares and
nostrils with earth moystened with his spittle thirdly giuing him his name after which he shall be called he marketh him with the signe of the crosse vpon his breast and backe with hallowed oyle fourthly inuocating the name of the blessed Trinitie the Father Sonne and holy Ghost in whose name all other Sacraments are ministred three times he dippeth or ducketh him into the water or else powreth water vpon him three times in forme of a crosse fiftly dipping his thomb into the holy Chrysme he signeth his fore-head with the signe of the crosse sixtly hee couereth him with a white garment and seuenthly and lastly putteth into his hands a burning candle It was ordained by the Agathon Councell that Iewes before they were baptized shold be instructed in the Christian faith nine moneths and fast forty daies and that they should refuse all their substance make free their bond-seruants and put from them their children if they had any such as were circumcized after the lawe of Moses and fo◠those causes it is no maruell that the Iewes bee so hardly induced to receiue the Sacrament of Baptisme 2. The second Sacrament is Confirmation which is giuen onely by the Bishop in the Church before the altar to children of fourteene yeares of age or vpwards and if it may be while they be fasting in this manner All the children which come to be confirmed beeing there present with their god-fathers the bishop hauing said a prayer ouer each of them dips his thombe into moist Chrisme signing euery one of their foreheads with the signe of the crosse In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and for their better remembrance and to the end they should not require this Sacrament againe he giueth euery one a blow vpon his right cheeke and then the Godfathers for feare least the moist vnction should runne off or be wiped away through negligence or carelessenesse bind their foreheads with a linnen cloth which they bring with them for that purpose and that cloth they may not put off vntill the seuenth day after And such force haue the holy fathers attributed to this Sacrament as if a man dislike of his name he tooke in his Baptisme in taking of this Sacramēt he may haue it changed into an other name by the Bishop 3. The third Sacrament is the Sacrament of holy orders which in the primitiue Church was likewise ministred by the Eishop and that only in the month of December but now it is ministred at six times in the yeer appointed for that purpose that is to say vpon the Saterdaies of al those 4. feasts called Ember weekes which were ordained for that end vpon the Saterday called Sitientes which is the Saterday before passion Sunday vpon the eue of the blessed Passouer and then to men only and to such whose condition of life bability of body quality of minde is sufficiently knowne and approued There be seuen orders of Priests or according to some nine all of which as the holy fathers haue euer bin of opinion haue imprinted in their hearts by their holy orders such special caracters of grace as they be euer after held holy sanctified which be singing men or organists doorekeepers readers Exorcists Priests Ministers or Acolits Subdecōs Deacons Priests Bishops yet it is held to be but one Sacrament not many by reason of the finall office which is to consecrate the Lords body Euery one of these nine orders of Priests hath his peculiar office in the Church ornaments allowed him by the Toletan councel to distinguish him from the rest for the doore keepers or sextons are to defend and keepe the Churches and to open shut them and therefore a key is giuen vnto them when they be ordained to the readers that haue power to read the old Testament and holy histories is giuen a booke the office of Exorcists is to dispossesse such as bee possessed with euil spirits and haue a booke giuen vnto them wherein be contained those exorcismes for a marke to signifie that office The office of the Acolites is to set the candlesticks vpon the Altar and to light the tapers as also to set in redinesse the vyoles or pots of water to carry them away when masse is done and therefore be they manifested by carrying a candlesticke with a taper in it and an empty vial or cruet The Subdeacons are to take the oblations to handle the chalice and patin and make them ready for the sacrifice and to administer wine and water to the Deacons in the vials and therefore the Bishop giueth them a chalice and a patin and the Archdeacon cruets ful of wine water and a towel The Deacons proper function is to preach the word of God to the people and to be assistant to the priests in the holy misteries of the Church and to them is giuen the booke of the New-Testament a stole cast crosse ouer one shoulder like a yoake The power of the priests is to consecrate the Lords body to pray for sinners and by enioyning them penance to reconcile them againe vnto God and therefore is he honored with a chalice ful of wine a patin with the hoast vpō it a stole hanging on both shoulders and the linnen garment called Castula What is giuen to Bishops at their consecrations you haue heard before and they be euer ordained consecrated about three of the clocke on the Lords day at the celebration of the office of the masse before the reading of the Gospel by three other Bishops whereof the Metrapolitan to be one who doe it by laying there hands and a booke vpon his head In the primitiue Church there was little difference betwixt Bishops and other priests for al of them by common consent did ioyne together in the gouernment of the Church til such dissentions grew among them as euery one would call himselfe not of Christ but rather of him by whom he was baptised as one of Paule an other of Apollo a third of Cephas And therefore for the auoiding of schismes maintayning an vniformity in the Church the holy fathers though it necessary to establish a decree that al which should euer after be baptised shold he called by one general appellation Christians of Christ and that euery Prouince should bee gouerned by one Priest or more according to the quantity bignesse who for their grauity and reuerence should be called Bishops and they should gouerne and instruct both lay people clergy that were vnder their charge not after their owne wils and pleasures as was vsed before but according to the prescript rules canons and ordinances of the Church of Rome and holy Councels and then by the permission furtherance of good and holy Princes all Kingdomes throughout the Christian world were deuided into Diocesses the Diocesse into Shires and Counties and they againe into seueral parrishes which good and godly ordinance both for clergy and laytie is
redeeming thence Adam his sons Al these things Christ did wherfore he was replenished with diuinity and that diuinity was with his soule also with his most holy body which diuinity gaue vertue to the crosse which diuinity he euer had yet hath commune with the Father in Trinity Vnity nor did that Christ while he walked vpō the earth euer want his diuinity for the least twinckling of an eye After this he was buried and the third day the same Iesus Christ the Prince of resurrection Iesus Christ the chiefe of the Priests Iesus Christ the King of Israel arose againe with great power and fortitude and after all things were fulfilled which the holy Prophets fore-shewed hee ascended with great glorie triumph into heauen and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and he shall come againe in glorie carrying his crosse before his face and the sword of Iustice in his hand to iudge both the quicke and the dead of whose kingdome shall be no end I beleeue one holy Catholike and Apostolike Church I beleeue one Baptisme which is the remission of sinnes I hope for and beleeue the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come Amen I beleeue in our Ladie the blessed Virgin Mary a Virgin I say both in spirit and flesh who as the mother of Christ is the charity of all people the Saint of Saints and Virgin of Virgins whome I do worshippe all manner of wayes I beleeue the sacred wood of the crosse to bee the bed of the sorow of our Lord Iesus Christ the son of God which Christ is our saluation by whome wee be saued a scandall to the Iewes and foolishnesse to the Gentils But we preach and beleeue the strength of the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ euen as S. Paul our Doctor hath taught vs. I beleeue S. Peter to be the rocke of the lawe which law is founded vpon the holy Prophets the foundation and head of the Catholike and Apostolike Church both east and west where euer is the name of our Lord Iesus Christ the power of which Church Peter the Apostle hath and the keyes of the kingdome of heauen with which he can shut and open loose and bind and hee shall sit with the other Apostles his fellowes vpon twelue seats with honor and praise with our Lord Iesus Christ who in the day of Iudgement shall pronounce the sentence vpon vs which day to the Saints shall be cause of ioy but to the wicked griefe and gnashing of teeth when they shall bee cast out into the burning flames of hell fire with their father the Diuell I beleeue that the holy Prophets and Apostles Martyrs and Confessors were the right imitators of Christ whom with the most blessed Angels of God I worship honor in like maner also do I imbrace affect as their followers Also I beleeue that vocall and auricular confession of all my sinnes is to bee made to the priest by whose prayers through Christ our Lord I hope to obtain saluation Moreouer I acknowledge the B. of Rome to bee the chiefPastor of the sheep of Christ yeelding obedience vnto all Patriarks Cardinals Archb. Bishops of whom he is head as vnto the Ministers of Christ himselfe This is my faith and law and of al the people of Aethiopia that be vnder the power of Precious Iohn which faith the loue of Christ be so confirmed amongst vs as with the help of our Sauiour I shall neuer deny it neither by death fire nor sword which faith all we shall carry with vs in the day of iudgment before the face of the same Lord Iesus Christ Now hauing gone thus farre I will expresse the discipline doctrine and law which the Apostles in their holy books of Councels and Canons which we call Manda Abethylis haue taught vs and of those bookes of the ordonances of the Church there be 8. all which were compiled by the Apostles when they were assembled together at Ierusalem wherof making great inquiry of many Doctours after I came into Portugall I found none that did remember them The obseruatiōs which the Apostles prescribed vnto vs in these bookes be these following First that we ought to fast euery wednesday in remembrance of the Iewes Councell for vpon that day they consulted and decreed amongst themselues that Christ shold be killed and that we shold fast euery Friday vpon which day Christ Iesus was crucified and died for our sins and vpon these two dayes we are commanded to fast till the Sun-setting They also inioyned vs to fast with bread water the forty daies of Lent and to pray seuen times in the day and night By those edicts also we be bound to celebrate our sacrifice vppon Wednesdayes and Fridayes in the euening because at that time our Lord Iesus Christ yeelded vp the ghost vpon the holy Crosse They willed also that vpon Sundaies we should al assemble together in the holy church at the third houre of the day from the Sun rising to reade and heare the bookes of the Prophets and that after that we should preach the Gospell and celebrate Masse Moreouer they appointed nine festiuall daies to be celebrated in memorie of Christ to wit the Annunciation the Natiuity the Circumcision the Purification or Candlemas his Baptisme Palm sunday vnto the octaues of good Friday as we term it which be 12. dayes the Ascension also and the Feast of Penticost with their holy dayes And by the precepts of these bookes we eate flesh euery day without any exception from the Feast of Easter vnto Penticost neither bee we bound to fast in all this time vnto the octaues of Penticost which thing we do for the more honour reuerence of the resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ They will vs also to celebrate the day of the death assumption of the Virgin Mary with all honor Moreouer besides the precepts of the Apostles one of the Precious Iohns surnamed The seed of Iacob ordained that besides these dayes euery thirtith yere 3. dayes should be celebrated in honor of the same blessed Virgin he also commanded one day in euery moneth to be celebrated for the Natiuity of our Sauior Christ which is euer the 25. day of the month in like manner he appointed one day in euery moneth to be kept holy in honor of S. Michael Furthermore by the cōmandement of the Apostles Synods wee celebrate the day of the Martyrdom of S. Stephen and of other Martyrs We he bound also by the institution of the Apostles to sollemnize two dayes to wit the Sabbath and the Lords day in which daies it is not lawfull for vs to do any manner of businesse no not the least trifle The Sabbath day we obserue for this cause for that God hauing perfected the Creation of the world rested vpon that day which day as it was his will it should be called the Holy of Holies so if that day should not be reuerenced
with great honor and religion it would seeme to be done directly against the will and commandement of him who had rather that heauen and earth should perish then his word especially seeing Christ himselfe came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it wherfore we obserue that day not in imitation of the Iewes but at the bidding of our Lord Iesus Christ his holy Apostles the grace of which Iewes is translated vnto vs Christians And vpon this sabbath day Lent excepted wee euer eate flesh which vse is not obserued in the kingdome of Bernagues and Tygri Mahon the naturall people of which two kingdomes by an ancient custome eat flesh vpon the sabbath daies and Sundaies in Lent now wee celebrate the Lords day as other Christians do in memory of Christs resurrection but we know that the Sabbath day is to be obserued and kept holy by the books of the law and not by the Gospell and yet notwithstanding we be not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and of the Prophets And vpon these two daies we beleeue that the soules of the godly departed which remaine in Purgatorie bee not there tormented which rest God hath granted vnto those soules vpon these most holy daies vntill the end of their punishments due for their offences in this world being determined they be deliuered thence for the diminishing of which paines and to extenuate shorten the time of their punishments we beleeue that almes deedes done for the dead be very profitable vnto those souls which liue in purgatory To the remission of which soules the Patriarke giueth no Indulgence for that we beleeue doth belong vnto God only and to the constitution of the time of their punishment neither doth the Patriark allow any daies for Indulgēces By the reading of the Gospel we be only bound to keep 6. precepts which Christ explaned with his owne mouth I was an hungred saith he and you gaue me to eate I was thirstie and you gaue me to drink I was a stranger you tooke me in naked and you clothed me sicke and you visited me I was in prison and you came vnto me Which words Christ will onely pronounce in the day of Iudgement because the law as Paul witnesseth sheweth vnto vs our sins which law Christ Iesus excepted no one can keepe And Paul also saith that we be all borne in sinne for the transgression of our mother Eua and for her curse and malediction and the same Paul further saith that wee die through Adam and liue through Christ which Christ of his aboundant mercy hath giuē vnto vs these six precepts to the end that we might be saued when hee shall come in his Maiesty to Iudge both the quick the dead by which words and commandements in that fearefull and terrible day of Iudgment hee will pronounce and shew vnto the good euerlasting glory and to the wicked fire and eternall damnation And wee reckon but only fiue deadly sinnes as they terme them which wee gather out of the last Chapter of the Reuelation where it is sayd For without shal be dogs and inchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies It is ordained by the holy Apostles in their bookes of councels that it is lawful for the Clergy to mary after they haue attained to some knowledge in diuinity and being once maried they be receiued into the order of priests into the which order none is admitted before hee accomplish the age of 30. yeeres neithey bee any bastards by any meanes allowed to enter into that most holy order these orders be giuen by no other but by the Patriarch onely where the first wife of a Bishop or Clercke or Deacon is dead it is not lawful for them to mary an other vnlesse the Patriarch dispence therewith which sometimes for a publike good is granted to great men nor is it lawful for them to keepe a concubine vnlesse they wil refuse and put themselues frō saying seruice which if they once do they may neuer after meddle in ministring diuine matters and this is obserued so strictly that those priests which haue beene twise married dare neuer take in their hands so much as a candle that is consecrated to the Church and if any Bishop or Deacon be found to haue any bastard child hee is depriued from all his benefices and from his holy orders his gods if he decease without lawful heires come vnto Prestor Iohn and not to the Patriarch and the warrant that we haue that our priests may marry is taken out of Saint Paul who had rather that both Clergy and Laity should marry then burne And he also saith that a bishop ought to be the husband of one wife and that he should be sober and irreprehensible and in like manner would he haue Deacons and further that Ecclesiasticall persons should haue their proper wiues by lawfull marriage euen as secular people haue but Munckes mary not at all and both Lay men and Clergy haue but one wife a peece and matrimony is not contracted before the gates of the holy Church but in the priuate houses of those that beare most sway at the bridall wee haue haue also receiued from the ordinance of the Apostles that if a priest bee found in addultery or committing manslaughter or theft or bearing false witnesse he shal be depriued and put from his holy orders and punished like other malefactors againe by the institution of those Apostles if any person either Ecclesiastical or Lay doe lie with his wife or bee polluted in sleepe hee commeth not into the Church for the space of foure and twenty houres after nor is it lawfull for menstruous women to come into the Church vnlesse vpon the seuenth day after their sicknesse and then to haue all their garments throughly washed which they wore during the time of their monthly disease and they themselues purged from all filth A woman also that bringeth forth a man child must not come into the Church till after the fortith day and if she brought forth a woman child then shee must not come into the Church till after the eighteeth day This is our custome founded vpon the ancient law and also vpon the Apostolicke law which lawes ordinances and precepts wee obserue as diligently in al points as possible may bee Moreouer we bee prohibited that neither swine nor dogs nor other such beasts shall enter into our Churches Also wee may not goe to the Church but bare footed neither is it lawfull for vs to laugh walke or talke of prophane matters in the Church nor once there to spit hawke or him because the Churches of Aethiopia bee not like vnto that land where the people of Israell did eate the Paschall lambe departing from Egipt in which place God commanded them to eate it with their shooes on and girded with their girdles by reason of the pollution of the earth but they bee like vnto Mount
Synai where the Lord spake vnto Moyses saying Moyses Moyses put off thy shooes from thy feet because the ground wherevpon thou standest is holy ground and this Mount Synai is the mother of our Churches from whom they tooke their beginning as the Apostles did from the prophets and the New Testament from the Old Furthermore it is not lawfull for Lay-men or Clergy or for any other person of what condition soeuer hee bee after hee hath receiued the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to spit or cast from the morning till the sunne setting and if any doe spit hee is seuerely punished Also in memory of Christs Baptisme wee be all euery yeere baptised vpon the feast day of the Epiphanie of our Lord and this we doe not that we beleeue that it pertaineth to our saluation but for the laude praise and glory of our Sauiour neither doe wee celebrate any other feast more solemly or bountifully with shewes plaies and ceremonies then wee doe this because vpon this day the holy Trinity did first manifestly appeare when our Lord Iesus Christ was baptised in the riuer of Iordan when the holy Ghost descended vpon his head in forme of a Doue and a voice proclayming from Heauen This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased which holy Ghost appearing in forme of a white Doue appeared in shew and figure of the Father and Sonne in one Diuinity In like manner Christ was seene of the holy Prophets in many similitudes formes and likenesses first in forme of a white Ram for the preseruation of Isaack the Sonne of Abraham And in like manner hee named Iacob Israel and Iacob Iudas the Lions whelpe to whom hee gaue power ouer his other brethren saying thou didest rise vp my sonne to the prey and when thou didest rest thou didest lie still like a Lion and Lionesse who shall raise him vp Hee also manifested himselfe to Moyses in Mount Synai in forme of a flame of fire hee shewed himselfe to the holy Prophet Daniel in similitude of a Rocke hee appeared also to Ezechiell the Sonne of Man and to Isaias in likenesse of an infant he declared himselfe to King Dauid and to Gedeon like a frost vpon a fleese of wool and besides these similitudes recited hee was seene of his holy Prophets in many other formes and notwithstanding hee was seene in so many sundrie formes yet hee alwaies represented the similitude of the Father and of the holy Ghost And when GOD created the world hee said Let vs make man according to our similitude and likenesse and hee made Adam after his owne similitude and likenesse wherfore wee say that the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are three countenances in one similitude and diuinity Wee haue receiued circumcision euer from the time of Queene Saba which wee obserue vntill this day The proper name of this Queene Saba was Maqueda who was a worshipper of Idoles after the manner of her auncestors into whose eares when the fame of the wisdome of Solomon was entred shee sent a certaine wise man vnto Ierusalem to finde out the truth and to certifie her of the wisdome of that King who beeing returned and shewing the truth vnto her shee sodainely prouided her selfe to take her iourney towardes Ierusalem and when shee was thither come besides many other things which King Solomon taught her shee learned the law and the prophets and returning into her country hauing obtained libertie to depart in her iourney shee brought forth a sonne which was gotten by a King whom she called Meilech and him the Queene brought vp with her selfe in Aethiopia vntill hee was 20. yeers of age and then sent him back vnto Solomon his father that of him he might learne vnderstanding and wisdom desiting by her letters that he would consecrate and make his Sonne Meilech King of Aethiopi a before the Arke of the couenant of the will or testament of the Lord and that from thence-forth women should gouerne no more in Aethiopia as then the custome was but that the male children should lineally succeed in the Kingdome When Meilech came to Ierusalem he easily obtained of his father his mothers requests for Meilech was called Dauid whom when he was sufficiently instructed in the law in other disciplines his father Solomon determined to send him back to his mother decked in gallāt attire and furniture fit for a King and the more to shew his bounty he gaue vnto him noble followers companions and the sonnes of great men who should serue him as their King Moreouer he decreed to send with him Azarias the high priest the sonne of Zadoch the high priest likewise which when Azarias vnderstood he exhorted Dauid that he would intreat liberty of his father for him to sacrifice for good successe in their iourney before the Arke of the couenant of the Lord which beeing obtained of Solomon Azarias as sodainely and as secretly as he could caused tables to be hewen and squared like vnto the tables of the Testament of the Lord and when they were perfected he went to sacrifice and in the time of sacrifice hee priuily and very cunningly stole the true tables of the couenant of the Lord from the Arke and set in there places the counterfeit tables which hee brought with him without the priuity of any man butonly God and himself This declaration wee Aethiopians receiue as most holy and most approued as by the History of the same King Dauid which is most pleasant to read doth appeare the volume of which History is full as thicke as all Saint Paules Epistles When Dauid was come into the borders of Aethiopia Azarias entred into his tent disclosed and reuealed vnto him that which thetherto hee had kept secret to himself that is to say that he had the Tables of the couenāt of the Lord which whē Dauid vnderstood he ran hastily to the tent where Azarias had the tables of the couenāt of the Lord and there in imitation of King Dauid his grand-father he began to daunce for exceeding ioy before the Arke wherein the tables were which when the people saw and vnderstanding the matter they all of them in like manner exulted with mirth and great ioy And then Dauid passing through much part of Aethiopia came lastly to his mother who forth-with yeelded vp into his hands the gouernment of all the prouinces laying vpon his shoulders the whole care of the Kingdome And from that time euen vntill this day being almost the space of two thousand and sixe hundred yeeres the Kingdome of Aethiopia hath lineally descended from male heire to male heire and since that time wee obserue the law of the Lord and circumcision as before is said and likewise since that time hitherto the offices which Solomon ordained for his sonne Dauid for the guiding of his Court are kept and obserued in the same order and families as they were at that time neither hath the Emperor himselfe power to assigne others of other kinreds to
bee often-times dipped it will bee turned into Copper The men weare garments that bee made hollow about the shoulders and linnen coates or shirts vnder them the collers whereof appeare about their necks higher then their vppermost garments and bee wrought with silke and gold They bee indifferent what manner of stockings they weare for that they euer haue buskins ouer them They be very curious in annointing and trimming of their haire and they euer go in linnen hatts which they sildome put of or once remooue from their heads vnlesse when they sit still and bee idle but womens peticotes bee made more straiter to their bodyes then mens coates bee and reach higher towards their chinnes to couer their neckes and breasts ouer which they weare gownes and their faces bee masked with linnen Veales richly wrought and imbrodered so as you can see no part of them but their noses and eyes Their heads be couered with linnen kerchers or coyfes set with pearls and precious stones and they as well as men weare buskins that come vp to the calues of their legges Their time of mourning in Hungary is for some a yeare and for some two and they shaue of their beards all but the vpper lippe They iudge of matters concerning the true religion according to their law but in disciding of other matters their course is if the matter in question be difficult or doubtfull and cannot other wise be determined that the plaintife or defendant shall fight it out by combat in the presence of the King or his deputy who is to iudge of the victory for of his tryall by batell death doth not alwaies follow for it is conquest sufficient for one if his enimy ether faint or fight vnwillingly or fly out of the lists appointed for the combat The horsemens fight in Hungary is first with lances and then with swords and foote soldiars fight naked on all parts but their priuities They haue a proper speach but not much differing from the Boemian language and though they haue a forme of letters of their owne yet vse they altogether the Roman character They be a cruell kind of people very hardy valiant in war much more fit to fight on foote than on horsebacke They be vnder the gouernment of a King or rather a Duke that hath Kingly authority They vse barbed horses in the wars but weare light armor themselues and they fight one after another and not all together And surely there is no one Christian country in the world that hath held warres so long against the Turke as the Hungarians haue don the other Hungary in Scithia which is the mother of this Hungary is almost like vnto this in language and manners sauing that the people bee more barbarous and liue still in Idolatry Of Boemia and of the manners of the Boemians CAP. 11. BOHEMIA is a country on the North side of Germanie and included in the limits of Germany it hath vpon the East Hungaria Bauaria on the South Noricum on the west and Poland on the North It is in a manner as broad as it is long too and about three dayes iourney either way beeing on all sides compassed and inuironed with the Hircanian wood as with a naturall wall Through the middle thereof runneth the riuer Albis and an other riuer called Multauia vpon the banckes whereof standeth that goodly Citty Praga the chiefe and Metropolitan City of the whole nation The country affoordeth great store of Wheate and Barley and aboundeth with all kinde of victualls both flesh and fish Oyle there is none neither there nor in any other part of Germany nor doth it yeeld much Wine but great store of Beere and that of the best of any other country which for the goodnesse is carryed thence as farre as Vienna in Austria The Boemians notwithstanding they bee hemmed and compassed round about with Germaines yet doe they not speake the Germaine language it beeing expelled thence by the comming of the Dalmatae for their Chronicles report as Volateranus affirmeth that two brethren borne in Croatia departing thence and seating themselues one in Boemia the other in Poland altered the countries both in their names and languages and yet there bee many in Boemia at this day that obserue and retaine both the language and ancient customes of the Germaines for in their Sermons the Germaine tongue is spoken and the Boemian in their funerals And Friars Mendicant of all others onely had power heretofore when there was any Friars there to preach instruct the people in what language they listed The people be very licencious as hauing no strict lawes nor statutes to restraine them but euery one doth what best pleaseth himselfe without controulement for they haue reiected the authority and rites of the Romaine Church and receiued the Waldensian doctrine which they defend tooth and naile This doctrine not many yeares since was first preached by one Hus and by him generally receiued whereby the traditions of the Romaine Church are at this day there vtterly neclected and derided for this is now their practise of religion First they esteeme of the Bishop of Rome no otherwise then of other Bishops denying him to be of any more reuerence and authoritie than other Bishoppes are holding also that there is no difference among Priests and that it is not the dignity of Priesthood that maketh one better but his deserts and well liuing That soules as soone as they bee departed out of the bodyes goe instantly eyther to perpetuall paines or eternall pleasures And that there is no Purgatory at all to purge and purifie them of their sinnes after this life To pray for the dead they account foolish and absurde and a thing inuented onely for the profit of Priests The Images of our Sauiour Christ and of his Saints they vtterly abandon and contemne and deride and scoffe at the Benedictions and hollowings of Water Palmes or any other things whatsoeuer They hold that the religion and practise of Fryers mendicant was inuented by the Diuell and that the Priests ought to bee poore and not to possesse mony nor substance but to liue onely of the almes of the people that euery one hath free power and liberty to preach and expound the word of God That no mortall sinne is in any sort to bee tollerated although by the committing of that sinne a greater inconuenience may bee avoyded and that hee that is conuinced of deadly sinne is not worthy to possesse and inioy any secular office nor Church dignity nor is fit to be obeied confirmation and extreame vnction they exclude from the number of the Sacraments and esteeme of auricular consession as friuolous and vayne and that it is sufficient to acknowledge their sinnes vnto GOD secretly in their chambers That Baptisme is to be ministred with water onely without any commixtion of holy oyle That Church-yards are vayne and superfluous inuented onely for coueteousnesse and that no one place is fitter for buryall than
other for that the whole world is the vniuersall Temple and open Sanctuary of God And that those which build and erect Churches Monasteries and Oratories do goe about to restraine and limit Gods power and Maiesty That Preests Vestiments Ornaments for the Altar Palls surplices Chalices Patines and such other like vessells are trifles and trash of no moment and that the Priest hath power to consecrate the body of our Lord at all times and in euery place and to minister it to those which desire it and that it is sufficient onely to prouonce the words of consecration That we ought not to pray to Saints to be intercessors for vs vnto Christ and that it is lost time that is spent in singing or saying the Canonicall houres That no dayes should be kept holy from labour but the Lords day only that no feast daies should bee celebrated in honour of the Saints and that by the institutions of the Church fasting is of no merit The report also is that the Boemian Priests do minister the Sacrament of the body of our Lord vnto infants and to all others indifferently vnder both formes which is a greater sacrifice than that which is vsed in the Church of Rome and one George Poggebratius is saidt o be the Author of this Ministration One Picardus comming out of France infected this nation with this monstrous and abhominable madnesse for hee hauing intised a great number of the baser sort both of men and women to bee his followers instructed them to goe naked and as the author of all licentious liuing called them Addamites by whose instructions venery was openly practised without difference of kindred or allyance and many other most horrible offences some of which sect are said to remayne as yet for there bee some Bohemians which bee therefore called Gruebenhamer which choose out for the excercising of their religion vautes and hollow caues in the ground and when their Priest according to their custome hath pronoūced this part of Genesis crescite et multiplicamini et replete terram that is increase and multiply and replenish the earth instantly they put out all their lights and fall to their lechery in the darke euery man with the woman hee first lighteth vpon without respect of age or kindred and when they haue finished their busiesse they light their lights againe and goe euery one into his owne place and so bee their ceremonies ended This execrable custome of that damnable sect is not much different frō those feasts called Bacchanalia which are first celebrated in Hetruria and afterwards in Rome by women in the night time who hauing pampered them-selues with wine and banketting accompanied with men in secret corners without difference or respect either of kindred or age whereby grew such confusion as oftentimes the mothers were defiled by their owne children and many other enormous villanies were perpetrated and done which they tooke their beginning as from the warehouse of all wickednesse The ringleaders of this preposterous celebration were first cut of at Rome when Quintus Martius Philippus and Posthumius Albinus were consulls as Sabellicus reporteth in his first Aenead and seauenth booke but this irreligious impiety and horrible heresie of the Boemians could not bee extirpated and rooted out in the raigne of foure Kings Veneceslaus Sigismundus Albertus and Vladislaus although they opposed them-selues against it with all their force and power Of Germany and of the customes of the Germaines CAP. 12. GERMANY is the largest nation of all Europ it lieth farre North and is deuided from France with the riuer of Rheyne from Rhetia and Pannonia with the riuer Danubius from Sarmatia and Dacia with certaine hills but more with the feare which one nation hath of the other and vpon all other sides it is inclosed with the ocean But the limits of Germany at this day exceed these bounds extend further comprehending vnder that name Rhetia Vindelitia Norica the vpper Pannonia the Alpes part of Illiria euen to the gates of the Citty of Trent All the country of Belgia in like sort which was heretofore vnder the French gouernment and all about the riuer of Rheyne are vnited to the Germaines imbracing both their law and language and forgetting or not daring or else scorning to call themselues French The Heluetians likewise by little and little haue almost lost both their name and speach and become perfect Germaines Germany challengeth as her own a great part of transalpine France besides all these the souldiers of Germany haue within the space of three hundred yeares brought vnder their subiection the Prutenia barbarous and cruell nation waining them from the worshiping of Idols to their owne language and the Christian religion this country therefore as now it is compared vnto what it was before it will appeare that it hath added more to it selfe from forraine nations then was formerly comprehended in his owne limits All Germany was once deuided into two parts wherof that part which is nearest vnto the Alpes was called the higher Germany the other the lower which lieth northward and towards the Ocean this partition doth yet continue and the higher part is now called Alemania as some thinke of a certaine lake or riuer called Alemanus and each of these parts consisteth of sundry Prouinces for the higher Germany going vpwards from the riuer Moganus which runneth along by Franconia containeth Dauaria Austria Styria Athesis Rhetia Heluetia Sueuia Alsatia and the Prouince of Rheine vnto the citty Mentz in Almania The inferior or lower Germany hath in it Franconia a good part wherof towards the South is held to be in high Germany Hassia Lotharingia Brabant Gelderland Zeiland Holland Frysland Flanders Westphalia Saxonie Dacia Peninsula Pomeranià Liuonia Prussia Sletia Morauia Boemia Mysnia Marchia and Thuringia Germany although some parte thereof seemed better than other was first as Cornelius Tacitus writeth for the most part ether ouer-growne with woods or rouer-flown with waters being more base and barren to wards France and more subiect to stormes and tempests towards Noricum Styria Pannonia so that it yeelded neither fruite nor grayne onely it bred good store of cattell but such as were both little and low gold and siluer it affordeth none and therefore as a poore and base county it was dispised and very little regarded But surely Cornelius was either much deceyued or else the country is much altered from what it then was for Germany at this day is so pleasant and so plentifull of all things so beautified strengthened and addorned with famous Citties strong Castels and stately buildings as it is nothing inferior either to France Spaine or Italy for the heauens smyle vpon them the fields affords them store of fruites the Sunne solaceth him selfe amongst her hills shee hath whole mountaines of vynes woods at wil and all kinde of graine in abundance being watred on all sides with Rhene Danubius Moganus Albis Neccharus Sala Odera and with many