word Gaz signifies as well the Face or Countenance as it bears the force of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Person The Nestorian Heresie asserting two Persons in Christ they so abhor that for that very reason they will not admit of his two Natures and two Wills tho they positively acknowledge his Divinity and Humanity For they affirm Christ to be true and perfect God and also true and perfect Man and to consist in one Individual Person of Divinity and Humanity without Confusion and Commixtion Farthermore They acknowledge the most Sacred Merits of Christ to be most sufficient and efficacious for the Sins of the whole world and consequently of all Mankind and this Gregory himself affirm'd to be true nor have I found in any of their Books which I have happen'd to see any thing that contradicts what he asserted However as the Greeks do they deny the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son yet all this while they acknowledge him to be equally the Spirit of the Father and the Son and to be a Person subsisting of himself For thus they declare in their Liturgy We believe the Father sending that the Father is in his own Person And we believe the Son who is sent that the Son is in his own Person and we believe the Holy Ghost who descended upon Jordan and upon the Apostles that the Holy Ghost is in his own Person Three Names One God Not as Abraham who is elder than Isaac nor as Isaac who is Elder than Jacob. It is not so The Father is not Elder than the Son because he is the Father nor the Son Elder than the Holy Ghost nor the Holy Ghost lesser or Younger than the Father and the Son nor is the Son Younger than the Father because he is the Son Not as Abraham who commanded over Isaac in respect of Generation because he begat him nor as Isaac who commanded Jacob. It is not so in Divinity The Father does not command the Son because he is the Father neither is the Son greater than the Holy Ghost because he is the Son The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are Equal One God one Glory one Kingdom one Power one Empire But concerning the Hypostasis or Person of the Holy Ghost really distinct from the Father and the Son the Author of the Organon thus discourses But least any one from what has been already said should infer that the Holy Ghost is not a perfect and distinct Person therefore said Christ to his Apostles I will send you another Comforter By which we know that the Holy Ghost doth exist together with the Father and the Son and also together in his own proper Subsistance or Person Not that the Holy Ghost is partly in the Son partly in his own Person but one and the same existent in his proper Person and existent with the Father and the Son Gregory being ask'd whether this were the unanimous and constant Opinion of all the Ethiopian Doctors reply'd It was I thereupon urg'd Why they deny'd that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father seeing they asserted that he was equally the Spirit of the Father and the Son He desir'd That I would first expound what was meant by Proceeding from the Father and then he would give the reason of the Denyal and that for his part he kept to the words of the Scripture John 15.26 and 16.24 Who goeth out from the Father and takes from the Son and that he sought no farther For that it was not lawful in Disputes concerning the most abstruse Mysteries of the Holy Trinity to argue by Consequences but to stick close to the very words and Expressions of Scripture themselves That I should consider what would follow if we should argue from the Unity and Equality of Essence to the Characteristical Proprieties of the Persons As if any one should undertake to averr That Christ is the Son of the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost is one and Coeternal God with the Father Some such kind of Argument his Countryman Tzagazaab may be thought to have had in his Brain when he wrote That Christ was the Son of himself and the Beginning of himself because he was co-essential with the Father whose Son he was By the way we are to understand That the Ethiopians instead of the word Vazzea went forth or proceeded and in the Preterperfect tense use the word Saraz to budd or sprout forth Thus Claudius in his Confession I believe in the Holy Ghost reviving Lord Zasratz em Ab who proceeded or sprung from the Father They never add from the Son altho the Liturgy Printed at Rome and Tzagazaab's Confession runs thus Zasraz em Ab vavalde who sprouted forth or proceeded from the Father and the Son Where 't is much to be doubted that from the Son was inserted by another hand We proceed to the Sacraments of which they neither have the common name nor number For they are utterly ignorant of Confirmation and Extreme Unction They make use of the word Mastar for a Mysterie whenever they go about to intimate the Mysterie of the Participation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Otherwise they do not think it necessary to signifie the Seals of Faith by any other Vulgar name not us'd in Scripture or to make much dispute about the Number Only said Gregory They make use of Baptism according to the Institution of Christ and with the Ceremonies anciently made use of by the Church But the Fathers of the Society reported That the Ceremonies of Baptism were so deprav'd and corrupted among the Habessines that they were constrain'd to Rebaptize great Numbers under a Condition As for the Holy Communion they Administer it indifferently to all both Layety and Clergy as it is the Custom in all the Churches of the East Neither has any thing more alienated their minds from the Fathers than their finding the Layety to be depriv'd of the Cup by the Latins Gregory being demanded what he thought of the real Presence of the Body and Blood in the Lord's Supper made answer That he acknowledged it Adding withal according to his manner when any Discourses arose of Matters more difficult and abstruse than ordinary Retzitze nagare vet 't is a nice business or Mastar vet It is a Mystery When I produc'd him these words in the Liturgies Lord now lay thy hand upon this Dish Bless it Sanctifie it and Purifie it that so thy Body may be made holy therein Again Lay thy hand upon this Cup and now bless it sanctifie it and purifie it that thy Blood may become holy therein In another place Lay thy hand upon this Spoon of the Cross to prepare the Body and Blood of thy only Son our Lord and God And in another place Convert this Bread that it may become thy pure Body which is joyn'd with this Cup of thy most precious Blood And out of the Eucharistic Prayer which bears the Title of the 318 Orthodox Divines these
following words Let the Holy Ghost descend and come and shine upon this Bread that it may be made the Body of Christ our Lord and that the taste and savour of this Cup may be chang'd that so it may be made the Blood of Christ our Lord. And when I ask'd him withal the Exposition of the words Majete vat valto to be chang'd or converted and then demanded of him Whether he did not think that the substance of the Bread and Wine was not chang'd and converted into the Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ He made answer That no such sort of Transubstantiation was known or understood by the Habessines That his Countrymen were not so scrupulous nor us'd to start such thorny Questions Nevertheless it seem'd to him probable and like that the vulgar Bread and Wine was chang'd into the mysterious Representation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and so was alter'd from Prophane to Sacred to represent the true Body and Blood of Christ to the Communicants Tellez confesses his dissatisfaction touching their Consecration it being their Custom to say over the Body of Christ This bread is my Body and over the Wine This cup is my Blood Which words have not in them the true force of Consecration For the Doctors of the Roman Church are of Opinion That whoever speaks those words does nothing These words This is my Body being only of Efficacy to operate a true Transubstantiation Which being true no man can pretend that the Abessines acknowlege Transubstantiation especially seeing they do not attribute those Divine Honours to the Sacraments which the Consequences of real Transubstantiation require Concerning the state of the Soul after Death there are several Opinions among the Habessines every one having free Liberty of Opinion in those things that do not directly concern Eternal Salvation So that it is no wonder that so many various Sentiments of private persons are brought away by our Doctors as the publick Opinions of the Habessines Some of them believe that the Souls of Men piously deceased shall not behold the Beatifical Vision of God before the Resurrection of the Body which is also the Opinion of many of the Ancient Latins as if the Soul remain'd in Expectation of the Body in some certain third place Others convinc'd by the Authority of the Scripture acknowledge only two Mansions of the Souls Heaven and Hell believing no Damnatinn to those that are in Christ and dye in his Faith Which they gather from the Example of the Penitent Thief and the words of Christ thus Translated by the Ethiopians Verily I say unto thee firmly believe that thou shalt be with me in Paradice Therefore as for those that Piously sleep in Christ they believe them not to be in a worse Condition than this Thief who at the point of Death was sav'd through Penitence actuated by Faith without any satisfaction given for his Thieveries Now to prove that the Soul of Man is not created they produce this Argument That God perfected the whole Work of his Creation upon the Sixth day Nevertheless they believe it to be in its own Nature immortal as being inspir'd into Man by God at his first Creation But on the other side they think it very absurd that God should be ty'd to create new Souls every day for Adulterate and Incestuous Births However the first Opinion seems to be the more vulgarly receiv'd among them in regard of their Prayers for the Dead As for example Remember Lord the Souls of thy Servants and our Father Abba-Matthew and the rest of our Fathers Abba-Salama and Abba-Jacob And a little after Remember Lord the Kings of Ethiopia Abreha and Atzbeha Caleb and Gebra-Meskah c. Then they add Release O Lord our Fathers Abba Antony and Abba Macarius Remember Lord the Soul of thy Servant our Father Tecla-Hajmanot with all his Companions From whence it may be fairly justify'd that the Abessines admit of a Purgatory And yet Gregory constantly deny'd it And Godignus confesses That there are no sacred Services said for the deceas'd among the Habessines The same thing Tellez confirms However he derides them as not constant to themselves for that to pray for the Dead and distribute Alms to the Poor is no other than to assert Purgatory Nor do I see how they can reconcile their Praying for the Rest of happy Souls and at another time their imploring the Intercession of the same Souls But they nothing mov'd with these Arguments and Inferences affirm them to be the Pious Conception of their good wishes and only a Commemoration of the happy Estate of the deceas'd and that it is none of their business to make any farther scrutiny into the Traditions of their Ancestors Gregory added That many Prayers of the Christians were so conceiv'd that many times those things were Petition'd for which were already perform'd and answer'd That the Lord's Prayer contain'd Petitions of that kind For that it would be a thing but badly inferr'd that the Name of God was not Hallow'd or that his Will was not done both in Heaven and Earth because we daily put up those Prayers besides we all begg every day for Daily Bread when most of those that make that Prayer do generally live in wealthy abundance He had heard perhaps among us our general good Wishes for the departed That God would vouchsafe to grant the Interr'd Body a Quiet Repose and at length a joyful Resurrection And thereupon said he Do not you your selves wish the same good wishes for the Dead Do not you believe that the Carkasses of the Dead may be vexed with Spiritual Evils or that a happy Resurrection may be obtain'd by your Prayers And he took so heinously the suspition of his belief of Purgatory that he cry'd out Would it not be an irreverent Injury to so many Kings and Fathers should we interpret the Commemoration of their Souls to that height as to think they should be tormented for so many Ages in Purgatory and want the aid of our indefatigable Prayers to release them after so long an Imprisonment For those Kings and Fathers were men among the Habessines most Innocent and had bin dead above a Thousand years since or more So that whether they be in Paradice or remain in any other place expecting the Resurrection of their Bodies in both cases Prayers of that Nature seem superfluous Besides were there any Question to be made of the happy Condition of Men Piously deceas'd we should rather pray for those whose lives were more loose and vain than for those whose Conversations were without blame And therefore what has bin deliver'd about the Opinions of the Habessines concerning Purgatory leans rather upon Conjecture than any sufficient Authority they being ignorant of the very Name Insomuch that Jacob Wemmers the Carmelite in his Ethiopic Lexicon was constrain'd to forge a Word by calling it Mantzehi Hatate the Purger of Sin But we are to understand that it was the most Ancient Custom of
among the Europeans for her Letters sent to Emanuel the First King of Portugal of which we shall hereafter speak more at large David at the beginning of his Reign very prosperous in his Undertakings for he had won several Victories from the Adelans after his Grandmothers Decease as if he had now the Curb in his teeth giving himself up to Luxury and the love of Women was very Unfortunate toward the end of his days For being driven out of all his Kingdoms and Territories he was forc'd to betake himself with some few Soldiers to the Rock Damo where he dy'd in the Forty sixth year of his Age. In this the more unhappy that during his Reign the Nation of the Gallans the Scourge of Habessinia made their first Incursions out of Bali He had four Sons of whom the first Victor dy'd before the Father of the other three we shall have occasion to speak in due place He was very well vers'd in Holy Writ and in the three first Councils as may be understood by his Discourses with Alvarez Claudius by his other Name call'd Atznaff-Saghed the Son of David came to a Kingdom miserably shatter'd and over-burthen'd with Calamity and lurking in the utmost Confines of his Dominions there attended some miraculous assistance from Heaven which soon after answer'd his Expectation John the Second King of Portugal sending him Succour under the Conduct of that most Valiant and Noble Portuguese Christopher Gamas who with a small Band of Four hundred Portuguese Foot Soldiers overthrew vast Armies of the Barbarians and laid the Foundations of regaining the Habessinian Empire Claudius was a man of a most Princely Port. For besides the outward Grace of his Person he was endu'd with many Virtues of the Mind which made him judg'd by all worthy of the Royal Dignity The Fathers of the Society applauded him for a most Prudent Prince though otherwise not so well pleased with him because he had not shew'd that Affection to the Roman See as they requir'd though he did not prohibit the Divine Worship of the Latin Church nor hinder'd the Roman Priests from the free Exercise of their Religion He was also Learned and well instructed in Ecclesiastical Antiquity So that as Tellezius witnesses his Teachers seem'd illiterate in comparison of their Scholar For in Disputes with the Fathers of the Society he himself for the most part would argue with so much vehemence that sometimes he put them hard to it to make him an Answer And when he observ'd that the Habessines were blam'd for retaining certain Judaic Rights contrary to the Christian Laws he put into Writing a succinct Confession of Faith by which he clear'd all Objections and excus'd himself and his Subjects That Confession we formerly (f) In England Anno 1667. It is also added to our Ethiopic Lexicon and Grammar set forth and shall publish again in our Commentary So that the Fathers of the Society could object nothing but Schism against so great and famous a Monarch He reign'd Eighteen years and some Months with great toil and trouble by reason of his continual Wars with the Adelans who mindful of the overthrows they had receiv'd frequently attempted Revenge The King stout of hand and indefatigable never refus'd Battel till at last in the Month of March 1559. fighting against Nurus the Captain of the Adelans his Army being vanquish'd guarded only with Eighteen Portugueses and Combating more furiously than warily he fell by an Immature but not unrevenged Death He left no Children behind him whence it came to pass that the Right of Succession being very ambiguous in Ethiopia the Contention was long dubious between his Brother Menas and Tascar the Natural Son of Jacob the second Brother deceased For this claim'd the Kingdom in right of his Father while he liv'd the Elder Brother the other alledg'd himself to be the nearer in Blood than he who was Illegitimate The Controversie being decided by the Sword Tascar was taken in the Battel and thrown headlong down a Rock Menas otherwise (g) Erroneous here some Historians ignorant that the word signifies a Gem call him Adam Adamas-Saghed having obtain'd the Kingdom by Arms being of a Cruel Disposition degenerated altogether from the Lenity Sincerity and Piety of the Habessines as if he had learnt the savageness of the Tvrks and Arabians among whom he had been long a Captive For he hated the Portugueses as minding their own Affairs and forbid the use of the Roman Religion not suffering any of the Habessines to go into the Latin Churches He also revok'd the Liberty which his Predecessor Claudius had granted to the Wives and Families of the Portugueses to frequent the Roman Chappels which caus'd many to wish again for the Clemency of Claudius with which they were not contented however before He despis'd the Romish Bishop Andrew Oviedo who in the Reign of Claudius was sent to make way for the new Patriarch and for some Months kept him in Prison Nor was he much more kind to his own Subjects For which reason out of an aversion to his Proceedings they revolted from him in several Parts Among the rest Isaac Bahrnagassus a man in great Power and skill'd in Military Discipline calling the Turks to his Assistance upon the Twentieth of April 1562. overcame the King in Battel and slew him to the great detriment of Habessinia For ever since that time the Turks have been Masters of the Coast of the Red Sea He left three Sons Sarza-Denghel Lesanax and Tazcar Of which the last dy'd without Children Sarza-Denghel taking the Government upon him call'd himself Malac-Saghed and was Inaugurated after the ancient manner at Axuma His Fortune was equal to his Vertues for he was stout of Hand and wise in Counsel And first he drave the Turks who were Masters of Dobarva the Metropolis of the Maritime Province out of Tigra He would also have driven them out of the Port of Arkiko and the Isle of Matzua had he not been recall'd to defend his Upland Dominions from the Incursions of the Galans These People by the Rapines and Plunder of five and twenty years while the Habessines were busied in so many other Wars increased to that power that now they over-ran Habessinia not with scattering Troops but with compleat Armies So that all the time of his Reign though otherwise prosperous in War he was forc'd to struggle with them However he subdu'd Enarea and caus'd the Prince thereof to turn Christian For he carefully observ'd the Christian Religion according to the Constitutions of the Church of Alexandria The Latin Rites he left indifferent And for the Fathers of the Society he often commended their Conversation of Life and their Studies but despised their Doctrine saying That their Manners and not their Doctrine was to be imitated Certainly Manners and Doctrine do not always accord And therefore sometimes the Doctrine is to be approv'd where the Manners are not Correspondent and sometimes the Manners are to be imitated
friendship cannot long remain in one and the same Brest and that the fruit of Treason being reap'd there is no farther need of the Traitor the King commanded him to be apprehended and carried away into the steep Mountain of Gueman in the Kingdom of Gojam He would not put him to death as not believing it became a noble Prince to take away a mans life for fear of a future crime But he making his Escape about a year after invaded Waleka where having gather'd together some Troops of Vagabonds and dissolute Persons he supported himself by Robbery and Rapine till at last making his Incursions into Gojam he was there slain by the Pagans His head being brought to the King was fix'd upon a Lance and set up before the Royal Pavillion to be view'd by all the World no man pitying his misfortune in regard that all people knew his advancement had cost the loss of so many innocent lives Not so inglorious was the end of Ras-Athanasius and yet sufficiently miserable For he every day losing more and more of the Kings favour was at length the contempt of all men Insomuch that his wife the daughter of Malec-Saghed unaccustom'd to brook indignities forsook his bed Thus once the next to Supream authority now the next to most dejected misery not able to o'recome the anguish of his mind he fell into a Fever of which he dy'd But Susneus to establish himself in his Dominion by all ways courted the friendship of the Portugueses as being skilful in the art of Gunnery and Fire-arms the chiefest terror of those Nations hoping that not without reason by their assistance to defend himself as well against his own Subjects too much addicted to Tumults and Seditions as the Kindred and Friends of the slain Kings And not only so but to render himself formidable to the Gallans To that purpose he kindly receiv'd the Fathers of the Society then living in Dembea He sent for Peter-Pays and most courteously gave ear to him and treated him as his familiar Friend And as he was favourable and bountiful to them so did he dayly afford many testimonies of his kindness to the rest of the Portugueses and the more to oblige them he set up the Latin Religion nothing terrify'd by the example of Za-denghel And indeed the Fathers had such a power over him that at length he surrender'd himself to the Pope and together with his Son sware obedience to him as Universal Bishop and Vicar of Christ abrogating the Religion of Alexandria Which was afterwards the occasion of horrid uproars bloody wars and the slaughter of many great Personages But the possession of a Kingdom won by the Sword seldom enjoys a perfect tranquility especially when the death of the Predecessor comes be in question For presently that is to say the very next year up starts a counterfeit Jacob who alarum'd all Habessinia with the fear of a new War Some there were that acknowledg'd they both knew and saw the dead body of King Jacob after the blood was wip'd away but no man durst assert himself to be the Person that kill'd him The Counterfeit therefore addresses himself to the Monks of the famous Monastery of Bizan in the prefecture of Bahrnagassus where he remain'd and to hide the fraud as if his face had bin disfigur'd with his wounds went always vail'd Nor was it long before his Story was believ'd Not so much out of respect to his own Person as out of malice to Susneus whom they hated as a Person that was unknown to them and by his exilement inur'd to the Savage Customs of the Gallans Neither were they pleas'd with Raas-Seelech his brother by the Mother's side whom he had made Viceroy of Tigra whom they look'd upon also as a forraigner So that he not being able himself to quell the Disturbances the King was forc'd to advance himself But the Rebels having intelligence of his coming fled several ways to avoyd fighting Their Captain with only four of his Associates and some few Goats which he carry'd with him for their milks sake secur'd themselves by a painful Pilgrimage through the most wild and uncouth concealments of Nature that the Rocks could afford him where it was impossible to trace him So that the King dispairing after a tedious search to find him out return'd to Dembea and having solemniz'd his Inauguration at Axuma after the ancient Custom of the Country he made Ansalax Governor of Tigra in the room of his Brother who afterwards by the help of two Noblemen that counterfeited themselves their friends having apprehended the Rebels put them to death But what was more strange our Europe it self could not some time after discern an Aethiopian Counterfeit of the same name For in the Year 1631. a certain Impudent Counterfeit by the names of (i) For so the Ethiopic word Tzaga Christos is pronounced There is a Relation of this Person extant Entitl'd The Strange Accidents of the Travels of His Highness Prince Zaga-Christ of Ethiopia c. very absurd and full of Fables Tzagax assuming to himself to be the Son of Jacob came into France and producing several Recommendatory Letters and Certificates from the Credulous Monks of Palestine was taken for a Great Prince and expell'd Heir to the Kingdom of Ethiopia and Entertain'd with a large Pension from the King after the Example of some of the Princes of Italy which is to consider what may be Correspondent with their Munificence toward an Exile of so great Dignity rather then to enquire who he really is Which was to be admir'd For that both at Rome and in Portugal there were at that time extant several annual Relations by which it was apparent that Jacob was slain in Battel Young and never marry'd above Twenty years before But that which added to the Credit of the Impostor was his graceful Presence with a Countenance wherein Seriousness and Frankness were wonderfully intermix'd that while he kept company with other Princes as Bochart himself told me he seem'd to excel them all both for beauty of form and sweetness of disposition and particularly that his Majestick Aspect strook all his beholders with admiration Whether that Beauty were really in his Person or whether the Novelty of the thing or the Opinion that he was of the Race of Salomon byass'd their Judgments Tho otherwise no reason could be given why he acted the part of the Son of an Ethiopian King unless it were to contend with (k) Relating to the Daughters of Thespius Hercules or (l) See Suetonius in Claud. Juvenal Sat. 6. Tacit. Annal. l. XI Plin. X. 23. Messalina for the prize of most enormous Lust And indeed it may be thought that fearing his Imposture should be discover'd he rather chose to bring himself to his end by the pleasing debaushes of Luxury than to fall under the Hangman Being dead he was branded with this Epitaph Cy gist le Roy d'Ethiopie L'Original ou la Copie Here lyes the King
word to say And thus a second Victory being won from the Primate of Ethiopia himself a more severe Edict concerning the two Natures was publish'd by the Cryer making it Death for any Person to deny the contrary By this so sharp a Decree as if it had bin the loud signal to Battel it is incredible to think how the minds of the People were incens'd As for the Controversie it self they did not think it of so high a Concernment as to engage divided Parties in Blood and Massacre about it In regard that all acknowledg'd both Divinity and Humanity in Christ so that the Question was only about a word But let the Question be what it would such a severe way of proceeding was never heard of before in Ethiopia as being altogether contradictory to the mildness of Christ and his Apostles and the Lenity of the Primitive times So then if Men were to be scourg'd and whipp'd because they could not apprehend two Natures in Christ what must they expect if other Questions should be started about Innovations of greater difficulty in the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Fathers Exasperated with these fair pretences Simeon the Metropolitan together with several of the Nobility and among the rest Jamanaxus alias Emana Christos another of the King's Brothers by the Mothers side and lastly almost all the Interested Clergy and Monks met and held Consultations together to prevent the threatning Mischiefs and lastly combin'd to live and dye for the Defence of their ancient and settled Religion To this end Simeon under pretence of incumbent Duty which was to be watchful over the Preservation of the Constantinopolitan Religion fix'd an Excommunication Publickly upon the Dores of the great Church belonging to the Camp against all that embrac'd the Religion of the Franks or ventur'd to Dispute concerning it The King tho highly offended with this unexpected boldness of the Metropolitan durst not adventure to revenge himself However he Publish'd another Edict whereby Liberty was granted to every Person that so pleas'd to embrace and exercise the Fathers Religion already establish'd by fair Disputes and Arguments on their side Which so little terrify'd the undaunted Metropolitan that he thunder'd out his Anathema's against all that maintain'd two Natures in Christ. The Moderate Party bewail'd these Paper Skirmishes which they foresaw would break forth and end in Slaughter and Misery and that the King's Decrees would never be establish'd without the effusion of much Blood Sensible of these Fears several of the great Personages of the Kingdom together with the King's Mother Ite-Hamelmala most earnestly besought the King to desist from what he had begun and not to raise up implacable Seditions to the Ruin of himself and his Kingdom After which the Metropolitan with many Monks and Nuns came to the Camp and implor'd the King not to innovate any thing in Religion otherwise that they were prepar'd to lay down their lives for the Religion of their Ancestors At last the King referr'd the whole Business to another Colloquie which continu'd for Six days one after another but without any Success A clear Testimony that Controversies in Religion are not to be decided by Disputes After that all the Clergy throw themselves at the King's Feet and with Sighs and Tears beseech him Not to change a Religion so quietly Establish'd in Ethiopia for so many Ages by so many of their Emperors But nothing would prevail the King remain'd inexorable and immoveable so that the Petitioners departed full freighted with Exasperation and Rebellion Immediately all hopes of Concord and Agreement being lay'd aside the Sword was next unsheath'd whence follow'd those terrible Commotions and Bloody Wars that have almost ruin'd the most flourishing part of Ethiopia The Chief of the Conspirators were Jamanaxus Aelius the King's Son in Law Viceroy of Tigra the Eunuch Caflo and several others But to give the better Colour to their Rebellion and Design of Killing the King the Metropolitan caus'd a new and more severe Excommunication to be fix'd upon the Chief Church in the Camp by which all the partakers of the Latin Religion were Anathematiz'd In the mean time the Fathers of the Society relying upon the King's Favour hasten'd to get all things ready that might be of advantage to Establish their Doctrine To that end they translated Maldonatus upon the Four Evangelists Toletus upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans Ribera upon the Hebrews and some others into the Ethiopic Language which some esteem'd others by reason of the intermixture of Amharic words contemn'd as full of Barbarisms and Soloecisms But as for the Lord's Prayer and the Salutation of Mary being nothing but the Latin written in Ethiopic Characters they abhorr'd 'em as looking upon them to be nothing but Magic Spells On the other side the Alexandrians fell upon the Fathers with all the bitterest Invectives that might be those Paper Skirmishes being generally the fore-runners of more Bloody disputes In pursuance of which Aelius by an Edict Commands all the Franks to depart out of Tigra and the Alexandrians to follow him by which means having muster'd up a compleat Army he openly Rebels Simeon Curses the Franks but loads Aelius with his Blessings upon which he no doubt relying resolv'd to fight his Father in Law then upon his March against him with a strong Force notwithstanding all the Perswasions of his Wife to the contrary Fierce therefore and in the heat of his young Blood and over-confident of his own Faction not staying so much as to take his Breakfast but as it were Drunk with Fury and Rage only with a small Troop about him he leaps his Horse into his Father's Camp asking Where the King was and so what between the astonishment of some and the wonder of others what the Matter should be he rode up without any hurt to the King's Pavilion where at length the Alarum being taken he was soon surrounded Ston'd and Stabb'd to Death and so dearly paid for his rashness The Captain thus Slain the Soldiers betake themselves to their heels Simeon between the Fugitives and the Pursuers stood alone by himself like a man stupifyed whether not at first observ'd or neglected as a Clergy-man but at length being known he was Slain among the Crowd Both their Heads were sent about the Kingdom and expos'd as a Public Spectacle The Eunuch Caflo had his Head struck off Jamanaxus was pardon'd Thus the Kindred of Kings for the most part escape the Punishment of those Rebellions to which they themselves have given Life and Encouragement The King who was never fearful now more emboldened by his Victory now questions other Heads of Religion and soon after by Public Edict prohibits the Observation of the Sabbath as Judaical and Repugnant to Christianity In answer to this Edict some Person without a Name had written contemptuously of the Roman Religion reflecting severely upon the Fathers of the Society whom he call'd the Kindred of Pilate as being a Roman and withal sharply menacing
wanting Elated with these golden Promises his Temerity carry'd him so far as to send as if he had now bin the undoubted King of Ethiopia a Viceroy into Tigra To this Viceroy he allow'd a Select Band of Soldiers for his Convoy but they neglectful and careless of their Military Duties took their Pleasure so much that at length surpriz'd in the midst of their Jollity by the Royalists they were forc'd to leave Four thousand of their Party behind them Slain upon the Spot while the shatter'd Remainders speeded back to lay the blame of their ill Success upon the unwary Conduct of their Leaders But the Lastaneers intent upon revenge had at length the same advantage against the Royalists who were stragling to destroy the approaching Harvest and pay'd them home with equal Slaughter for Slaughter Thus Fortune ballancing both sides the Author of these Miscarriages was enquir'd after and as soon found by those that watched their Opportunities For presently Ras-Seelax was accus'd as if he had bin negligent in Executing the King's Orders and had not sent timely Succors to the over-power'd Combatants And his Enemies so far prevail'd that Articles were fram'd against him to which he was compell'd to answer which he did and justify'd himself so well that in words indeed he was acquitted but in Fact condemn'd For he was again degraded and all his feudary Possessions and Military Employments granted away to Basilides Thus Ras-Seelax being once more lay'd by it was no difficult matter to undermine the Patriarch and the Fathers For against them the general Complaint was made That they had no other Design but as they had subjected the Empire in Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Roman Pope so to bring it under the Dominion of the King of Portugal in Seculars To this end under the pretence of Temples and Residencies they rear'd up Castles and Walls from whence they could never be expell'd with Spears and Arrows Many other things of the same Nature they suggested which if the King now through Age more jealous did not absolutely believe yet he hearken'd to them with a more easie Attention However outwardly and publick he shew'd the same Kindness and Affability to the Fathers as before and kindly receiv'd the Bishop sent from Rome to be a Coadjutor to the Patriarch But when he brought the Diploma's of the Jubilee open'd at Rome in the year 1625. and then granted to Ethiopia he was derided by most Men who could not comprehend those great Vertues of Indulgencies which the Bishop boasted of For some began to Discourse among themselves like the Pharisees Who is this who also forgives Sins Who can forgive Sins but only God To which the King made answer with a severe Countenance That the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven were given to Peter and that the use of those Keys belong'd to the Pope for the Granting Indulgencies However the Habessines as if those Indulgencies had afforded Materials for Sin bent themselves still more and more to Sedition and Tumult For the Revolt of the Lastaneers so well succeeding Sertzazax newly made Viceroy of Gojam so ill repay'd the King for his new favours that he not only revolted from him himself but which was more detestable to think he would have drawn in the young Basilides to have conspir'd with him against his own Father And when he could not prevail upon the young Prince he endeavour'd to have advanc'd another young Noble Gentleman of the Blood Royal to the end he might have reign'd himself under his Name But being overthrown and taken he was drubb'd to Death Seven of his Accomplices lost their Heads One of his chief Agents because he had vented horrid Blasphemies against the See of Rome and opprobrious words against the King was hung up upon an Iron Hook driven into a high Stake upon which after he had hung a whole Day because he repeated the same Provocations in the midst of his Torment he was at length run thorough the Body with several Spears and so ended his miserable Life So many and such lamentable Accidents as these pierc'd the very hearts of most People and the Lastaneers dispairing of Pardon hearing of such horrid Executions were the more resolute in their Rebellion Thereupon the King undertook a new Expedition with all his Forces against them and had taken the very Head and Ring-leader of all the Rebels had he not with a small Retinue made a shift to Escape yet he left behind him great store of rich Plunder But he could not be utterly Subdu'd in regard that so many Sculking Holes so many wide and spacious Rocks where those Savages liv'd and hid themselves like so many wild Beasts could neither be assail'd nor taken It happen'd therefore that Fortune wheeling about the Rebels overthrew a Select Party of the King's Forces and by and by with all their force lay hovering about the King's Army which they foresaw would in a short time want Provision The King therefore fearing to be clos'd up in those narrow Streights retir'd into Dembea before the War was at an end Which he did with so much hast more then it was thought he needed to have done that as it diminish'd his own fame so it gave Courage to the Rebels And now the Fathers great Enemies beholding the King 's Melancholly redoubled their Complaints That there would never be peaceful Days in Ethiopia so long as the Roman Religion bare so much sway That it was a very good Religion but above the Capacity of the People who would still prefer the Worship of their Ancestors to which they had bin bred from their Infancy before foreign Innovations which they understood not For who should perswade them That Circumcision was evil That the Holydaies of the Sabbath are not pleasing to God that the ancient Liturgy cannot be prov'd That the Roman Calendar is better then the Ethiopic That the Fasts of the Fourth Holyday are less acceptable to God then the Fasts of the Seventh How much more expedient and profitable were it to retain the ancient Ceremonies in such things as do not contradict the Substance of Faith But as for Ras-Seelax and others that endeavour the Contrary it was apparent they did it meerly to advance their own Designs against the King and Kingdom With these and such like Expostulations the King being overcome especially finding no other way of appeasing and quietting the Lasteneers and that Bagemdra was almost all in the Hands of the Enemy and at the same time all his Friends especially the Ladies of Quality laying before him the Danger he would be in should he be deserted by his Soldiers he at length press'd the Patriarch to remit whatever possibly might be remitted He foreseeing a terrible Storm tho sore against his Will thought 't was high time to lower his Sails for fear of Losing all while he hazarded the Saving of all Whereupon he submitted to the King's request nevertheless upon Condition That nothing Decreed should be remitted by Publick Acts
was any such thing either written or said by any Person of Credit CHAP. II. Of the Books and Learning of the Ethiopians Books not holy reckon'd Ethiopic Their Studies what No written Laws Lamentable Physicians Nor better Philosophers Of the mixture of the Elements in Humane Bodies They hold two Souls In Mathematicks not absurd They love Poetry but only Divine all in Rhime various sorts Riddles and Proverbs Desirous of the Latine The Fathers would not teach them Arabic frequent Their Epistolary Style BEsides Sacred Books the Habessines have but very few others For the Story of (f) Vrreta did not think worth while to tell so modest an untruth The most celebrated Libraries saith he that ever had Renown were nothing in respect of Presbyter John's the Books are without Number richly and artificially bound Many to which Solomon's and the Patriarchs Names are Affixt Godignus explodes him l. 1. c. 17. Yet Gallesius in his late Discourse concerning Libraries averrs the same and adds That Chancellor Seguiers Library contains more Books than any Ethiopic Library Barratti who chatters of a Library containing Ten Thousand Volumes 't is altogether vain and frivolous Some few we had an Account of One call'd the Glory of Kings already mention'd I know not whether it be that of which Tellez Writes because it is of high Authority among the Habessines and as it were a Second Gospel and preserv'd in the Pallace of Axuma In that is Recorded the History of the Queen of Sheba and others to which the Habessines give great Credit A Chronicle cited by King Claudius in his Confession of Faith The Book of Philosophy much esteem'd in Ethiopia The Ladder a Vocabulary in that the most difficult words are Expounded in Amharic and Arabic but very unfortunately and perversly As the following Example about Gemms will Testifie It was sent me by Gregory The Jasper in the Pentateuch and Apocalyps in the Arabic the Colour of it is White and Red. The Saphyr in the Pentateuch and Apocalyps in Arabic The Colour of it is like a burning Cole he meant the Carbuncle now call'd the Ruby They meddle with no Studies but those of their own Learned Language and Sacred Matters Most believe they have enough if they can but Read and Write and that either the Parents teach their Children to do or else certain of their Monks for a small stipend They have no written Laws Justice and Right is determined by Custom and the Examples of their Ancestors and most differences are ended by the Will of the Judge Their manner of Administring Physick is most Deplorable They Cure Men by cutting and burning as they do Horses They cure the Yellow Jaundies by applying a hot burning Iron in manner of a Semicircle toward the upper end of the Arm laying a little Cotton upon the Wound that the Humour may issue forth so long as the Disease remains In most Distempers every Person is his own Physitian and uses such Herbs as he learnt were useful from his Parents Some are of Opinion that it is not a Pin matter whether they make use of Physitians or Apothecaries or no not believing it worth their while to be recover'd at so great Expences If the King be sick they come to him ask him as if it were out of pity What he ayles and what is his Distemper And if any one have been ill of the same Distemper he tells what did him good deeming the same Remedies applicable to all Constitutions If a Pestilence chance to break out they leave their Houses and Villages and retire with their Heards into the Mountains putting all their Security in flying from the Contagion Tertian Agues they Cure by applying the Cramp-fish to the Patient which is an unspeakable Torture Wounds they Cure by the help of Myrrhe which is very plentiful among them I have not as yet ever seen the Treatise of Philosophy which I mention'd at the beginning of the Chapter but it appears by the Theological Disputations of their Divines that they are none of the Acutest Logicians nor have they any knowledge of Natural Philosophy as is apparent to any one that reads their Books concerning the mixture of the Four Elements in the Creation of Man as also concerning the Soul the Author of the Organum gives this accompt God made a Miracle when he Created our Father Adam and Formed him of the Four Elements he mixed the Elements yet so that they should not disagree among themselves the First with the Second and the Third with the Fourth he mix'd the dry with the Moist and the Hot with the Cold the Visible with the Invisible the Palpable with the Impalpable He made Two out of the Palpable and Two out of the Impalpable He made Three of the Dry and One of the Moist He made Three out of the Visible and One out of the Invisible The great Architect knew where the Inner Chamber was to be Seated and plac'd the Corners of the House in the Four Elements and understanding that a vessel of Clay could not move nor speak without the mixture of a Spirit that must come from Himself therefore he Breath'd upon his Face and made him Rational and Self-moving as saith the most Holy Law He Breath'd into the Face of Adam the breathing place of Life and he became Man by the Breath of Life Therefore the Soul dies not with the Body for that proceeding out of the Mouth of the Lord it was mixt with the Body as saith our Lord in the Gospel Fear not those who kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul Now as to what he said Thou shalt not kill the Soul be spoke concerning the sensitive Soul because there are two Souls in Man one the Spirit of Life which proceeded out of the Mouth of God not reckon'd among the Elements and which never dyes The other is the Blood of the Body that is to say the Sensitive Soul which has its Original from the Elements and that is Morral Wherefore God said Thou shalt not eat the Flesh with the Blood because the Blood is the Sensitive Soul But the Pillar of the House of God is the Spirit of Life Now after the Spirit of Life is departed the Body becomes a Carcass therefore the Law pronounc'd the Carcass Unclean because the Spirit of Life is departed from it But among us we reckon the Dead Body of a Christian to be clean because the Human Body was mix'd with the Blood of Divinity besides that the Grace of Baptism departs not from it and concerning the Carcass of the Son of the Virgin David said They cast away their Brother as an unclean Carcass That is they did not understand it to be holy because the Jews were his Brethren in respect of his Mother and by their Law the Carcass was reputed unclean It is to be wondred that the Habessines who cannot understand two Natures in Christ united in one Existence should find out two Souls in the body of Man And yet