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
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye shall not have life everlasting and when he instituted the Holy Supper he did not say The Blood is in my Body which I have given to you alone but take and drink and partake all From that time the Disciples did as they were commanded The Intermission of the Fast of the fourth Holyday which is nevertheless enjoyn'd by the Canons of the Holy Apostles as also a various manner of Fasting in the Time of Lent Besides by altering the Order of the whole Ecclesiastical Computation in reference to the Annual Festivals and the Permission of all Persons to enter into the Church without any distinction of clean or unclean these are the things that gave offence to our People But they detested nothing more than the reiteration of Baptism as if we had bin Heathens before we had bin Baptiz'd by the Fathers They re-ordain'd our Priests and Deacons they burnt the wooden Chests of our Altars and Consecrated some Altars of their own as if ours had not bin Consecrated before The Monks also complain'd that their Institutions were abrogated These and others of the same Nature were the true Causes that we abandon'd the Roman Faith tho it was not we who gave it Protection but our Father And therefore because the Alexandrian Abuna is now upon his Journey hither and hath sent us word that he cannot live or joyntly act in the same Kingdom with the Roman Patriarch and the Fathers we command you to hasten to Fremona Those things are offer'd now too late which might have bin easily at first allow'd For now there is no returning to that which all the whole Nation abhors and detests for which reason all farther Colloquies and Disputes will be in vain The Patriarch relates in his Epistle to the King of Spain That that same Metropolitan of whom the King makes mention came some years before into Ethiopia but lay privately conceal'd in Enarea where hearing of the disowning and casting off the Patriarch he brake out into this farther Expression to the King That he could not officiate in his Office unless the Patriarch and the Fathers were either put to Death or Banish'd to perpetuity So that the Patriarch and the Fathers were forc'd to obey the King's Command not without a long Dispute about their Guns which they would willingly have kept for their own Preservation but they were forc'd to deliver them up that they might be of no use to the Portugals who were coming as it was fear'd and reported to their assistance Thus the Patriarch with all the Fathers that were then in the Country were constrain'd to leave their warm Seats after an Enjoyment of Eight years standing In their return they met with various Misfortunes and were frequently infested with Thieves before they could get to Fremona But because they foresaw that would be no abiding place for 'em of any long continuance they presently resolv'd to send away some of the Fathers before into India to give the Vice-Roy an accompt of the state of their affairs and to desire some remedy that is to say a good sufficient strength of Portuguesis But before they could obtain that they receiv'd fresh Commands from the King who 't is very probable smelt their Design to remove from Fremona and be gon But they sang loath to depart a great while and to spin out time privately retir'd to one John Akay formerly an Enemy to the King who not being able to defend them they were pull'd out thence by the Ears and in May 1634. deliver'd to the Turks and first carry'd to Arkiko and Matzua after that to Suaqena and brought beore the Turkish Basha And indeed there was nothing more that provok'd the Habessines as Gregory told me then that they should require aid of the Military Power from India to establish their Religion They might said he have shaken the dust from their shoes at their departure as the Apostles were commanded but they were for settling Religion with Swords and Guns Which was not done so secretly but it came to the Ears of the Habessines for it seems that some of their Train vext at some Misfortune or other had imprudently threaten'd it Which was one reason among others that their Churches built of Stone and Morter and their Guns were taken from them CHAP. XIV Of what happen'd after the Departure of the Patriarch and the Fathers out of Ethiopia The Condition of the Bishop and his Associates privately left behind The Patriarchs misery among the Turks Peter Heyling a German Disputes with him Peter entertain'd by the King of Habessinia Various reports concerning his Death The Patriarch redeems himself He sends Hierom Lobo for Assistance who cannot speed The favourers of the Fathers put to Death in Ethiopia Now admitted into Habessinia Six Capuchins sent again their ill success Three more sent after them their sad Misfortune Nogueira Hang'd Mendez dyes in India After that no News from Habessinia NOtwithstanding the King's Commands to all in general the Patriarch left behind privately in several places Apollinaris Almeyda Hiacynthos Francisco Ludovigo Cordeyra Bruno Bruni and some others who after they had liv'd miserably for some time lurking up and down at last were most of them Hang'd In the mean time he himself spent almost a whole year in great Vexation and full of sorrow among the Barbarous Turks in Suaqena almost melted by the Sun But nothing more increas'd the anguish of his Mind than the News of the New Metropolitan's arrival out of Egypt and that it should be his misfortune to be constrain'd to behold him as he pass'd by He had in his Train a certain German whose Name was Peter Heyling a Native of Lubeck a young Gentleman eminent for Probity and Learning a Professor of the Augustan or Lutheran Religion and generally call'd by the Title of Muallim that is in Arabic Doctor Peter He being desirous to see the world and learn the Arabic Language was arriv'd about that time in Egypt and was very much esteem'd for his Piety and Modesty by the Coptites and hearing that the Metropolitan was going for Ethiopia he obtain'd leave to go in his Train and by that means met the Patriarch Alphonsus at Suaqene Presently he undertook to encounter him opposing several Opinions and Tenents of the Roman Church and expounding in Arabic to the standers by whatever was said on both sides The Patriarch in a heat desir'd him to forbear that Explanation because he did not understand the Arabic To which the other answer'd That he Disputed for others to hear as well as himself The Disputation being ended The Patriarch turning to his Companions sighing told them That if that Doctor went into Habessinia he would precipitate the whole Country into Heresie He was no sooner arriv'd there but he became very acceptable to the King who gave him a Tent and all things necessary Concerning his Death various Reports were spread abroad For some said
of the Jews Error who were learned in the Books of the Mosaic Law Most Nations have a particular Dyet some by custome some through superstition Not to speak of the Mahumetans who abstain not only from Swines flesh but from Wine is not the custom of the Bannians not much different from the ancient Pythagoreans to be strangely admir'd who onely feed upon Herbs and Meats made of Milk which we hardly believe sufficient to sustain Nature Others there are that devour all sorts of Creatures which the flesh consuming Beasts themselves refuse and otherwise nauseous to the most part of Men. The Oriental Tartars feed upon Camels Foxes and all sorts of wild Beasts Some of our Europeans indulging their appetites please their palats with a sort of Dyet abominated by all other People as Frogs Cockles and I know not what sort of Insects Gregory had an utter aversion to Lobsters Crabbs Crayfish and Oysters which we accompt our chiefest Delicacies and it turn'd his stomach to see Turkies Hares and several other Dishes to which he was unaccustom'd brought to our Tables Being ask'd why he abstain'd from Swines flesh he retorted still and why we from Horse-flesh And most certainly were we to banquet with the Tartars there are but very few of us that would easily be induc'd to eat Horse-flesh with an Appetite tho it be one of their principal junkets Nay their Embassadors to our Princes desire fat Horses for their Kitchins However they abstain from blood and things strangl'd not out of any observance of the Mosaic Law but an Apostolic Decree always in force in the Eastern Church which was also for many Ages observ'd in the Western Church and reviv'd in some Councils They also rebuke us for that we suffer'd that Decree to be laid aside Nor do they allow the Jews Sabboth out of a respect to Judaism or that they learnt it from some certain Nations that kept the Seventh day holy But because the ancient Custom of the Primitive Church who observ'd that day perhaps out of complacency to the Jews being long retain'd in the East was at length carry'd into Ethiopia For thus we find it written in some ancient Constitutions which they call the Constitutions of the Apostles Let the Servants labour five days but let them keep the Holydays the Sabboth and the Lords Day in the Church for the sake of Pious Instruction The Council of Laodicea decreed that the Gospels with other parts of Scripture should be read upon the Sabboth when before the Paragraphs of the Law of Moses were onely read upon the Sabboth and the Gospels upon the Sunday the Texts of the old Law being thought most agreeable to the Old Sabboth and the Texts of the New Testament to the New Sabboth Socrates also farther testifies that the People us'd to assemble at Church upon the Sabboth and Lords Day And Gregory Nyssen whose Writings the Ethiopians have among them saith With what Eyes dost thou behold the Lords Day who hast defil'd the Sabboth Know'st thou not that these two days are Twins and that if thou injur'st the one thou dost injury to the other But Claudius makes so much difference between both days that he prefers the Lords day before the Sabaoth But as to what pertains to our Celebration of the ancient Sabaoth we do not celebrate it as the Jews did who Crucify'd Christ saying Let his blood be upon Us and our Children For those Jews neither draw water nor kindle fires nor dress meat nor bake bread neither do they go from house to house But we so celebrate it that we administer the Sacrament and relieve the Poor and the Widow as our Fathers the Apostles commanded Us. We Celebrate it as the Sabaoth of the first Holiday which is a new day of which David saith This is the day which the Lord made let us rejoyce and exult therein For upon that day our Lord Jesus Christ rose and upon that day the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in the Oratory of Sion And in that day Christ was incarnated in the Womb of the Perpetual Virgin St. Mary and upon that day he shall come again to reward the Just and punish the Evil. Gregory also testify'd That the Habessines abstain from no sort of Labour upon the Sabaoth but from the most servile sorts of Labour This Custom continu'd long in the Church till it was abrogated by degrees for by the 22d Canon of the said Council of Laodicea the Christians are forbid to work upon the Sabaoth Nevertheless the Sacred Lectures were continu'd for a time as appears by the Canon above mention'd till at length those were also left off perhaps because that the People having a licence to work there were but few that repair'd to Church Moreover according to the Custom of the Jews it is lawful in Abessinia to marry the Widow of the Brother deceas'd as Alvarez testifies Adding That the Habessinian defend their so doing by the Laws of the Old Testament But Gregory positively deny'd that it was lawful but onely conniv'd at by the Magistrate However that such Wives are also prohibited from coming to the Holy Communion wherein Alvarez agrees with him However it does not therefore follow that this Custom was translated from the Jews to the Habessines no more then if any one should assert that the Laws of Polygamie and Divorce were deriv'd from the Jews And yet this is somewhat strange I must confess that they abstain from that Muscle which the Hebrews call Ghid Hannesheh or the Sinew mutilated the Ethiopians Sereje Berum the forbidden Nerve the Amharies Shalada Which very probably they might learn from the Jews in their own Country of which Nation there are several Colonies in Ethiopia But as to what is reported concerning Queen Candaces Eunuch we have already shew'd that she was not Queen of Habessinia but of the Ethiopians that inhabited the Iland of Meroe and if the Eunuch were a Jew it does not follow that his Lady the Queen shall be so too Others there are who tell us That Menilehec's Successors in a short time return'd to the worship of Idols Which if it be true the assertion of the Continuation of the Jewish Religion till the time of the Apostles will prove altogether vain tho in Europe most certainly the Habessines were long suspected of Judaisme and so are many to this day Which King Claudius observing by his Disputations with Gonsalo Rodriguez and the Writings which he compos'd to refute the Errors of the Habessines set forth a Confession of which we have already cited several parcels as they related to our business The chief Scope of which was to remove that Suspition of Judaism from himself and his Subjects which in my opinion he very effectually did CHAP. II. Of the Conversion of the Habessines to the Christian Faith The Conversion of the Habessines attributed to Queen Candace's Eunuch but contrary to authentic Histories Candace no Habessinian Other Traditions nothing better Demonstrated when and by
Two Holydaies in a Week They want Bells Their Music unpleasing yet they Daunce about Fastings and fourth and sixth Holydaies whence None during Easter Of the Fasts of the Protestants in Europe The beginning of the year Their manner of Computation Nuptial Rites Polygamy Marriages of Cousin Germans or first Cousins Divorces Burials HItherto we have set forth what the Habessines believe concerning the Trinity the Principal Articles of the Christian Faith The order of our Story now requires that we should say something of their Rites and Ceremonies For tho it nothing avail at what time or in what manner sound Doctrine be Preach'd so that all things be done decently and in order nevertheless these Rites and Ceremonies have begat great Disputes and produc'd great Disturbances in the Church For indeed from the very Infancy of the Gospel various were the Contentions of Holy and Pious men about Ceremonies Some believ'd that the Judaic Rites not being expresly abrogated by Christ were of necessity to be observ'd together with the Doctrine and Sacraments of the New Testament even as helps to Salvation Others there were who judg'd that they might be profitably retain'd though not of absolute necessity as well in remembrance of the ancient Church of God as to gain the Souls of the Jews The first Opinion the Apostles themselves Condemn'd In other things using Apostolic Prudence and Moderation they made a distinction betwen Jews and Ethnics newly Converted For they not only permitted the Jews to retain their ancient Rites but perswaded Paul to comply with so many Millions of unbelieving Jews who were Zealous Admirers of the Law and accus'd Paul for teaching a Defection from the Law for forbidding Infants to be Circumciz'd and for not living according to the Jewish Customs Paul obey'd and purify'd himself with his Companions shav'd his Head and so entring the Temple together offer'd up an Offering for every one of them Nay more then this what would be now accompted a heinous Crime he caus'd Timothy to be Circumciz'd being induc'd thereto by the Necessity of those times Yet at another time he condemn'd Circumcision if it were done with a Judaic Intention Thus an Action in it self indifferent becomes bad or good from the Reason and Intention of the Agent But then what what was to be done with the Gentiles that embrac'd the Faith of Christ the Apostles took into their Deliberation Nevertheless they would not oblige them to the Observation of the Mosaic Law but only in answer to their Doubts they commanded them only to abstain from those things which might not only create in the Jews a dislike of the Gospel but also very much scandalize those that were already Proselytes and disturb mutual Charity and Friendship in daily Converse and Society For the Jews would not Dyet with those who eat things Sacrific'd to Idols or strangled nor the blood it self From that time some of the Judaic Rites prevail'd as indifferent among most who did not contend against Piety and Christian Doctrine Till at length by degrees they were either abrogated by the Church or worn out of Use Nor had the most ancient Institutions of the Christians any other Originals as the Building of Churches Plunging the whole Body in Baptism Two Fast Dayes in a Week Festivals and the like However there were but few Ceremonies in the troublesome times of the Church but in the times of Peace they increas'd to Infinity and the worse the state of the Church was the more Ceremonies insomuch that St. Austin complain'd in his time That the most wholsom Precepts of Divine Books were not so much regarded as the fictitious Comments and Inventions of Men upon them The Church of Rome by how much more opulent and powerful than the rest so much the more sedulously and industriously it compos'd all things to Splendour and Pomp. The Roman Pontiff being the sole Judge of all things whether convenient or not commodious and what he thought fit to Abrogate or Establish But the Patriarch of Alexandria whom the Ethiopians obey as their High Pontiff what with the unhappy Contentions between the Melchites and Jacobites and the Persecutions of the Saracens has had enough to do to keep his own Station not being at leisure in the midst of so many Storms to think of divulging new Ceremonies Nor would the Habessines out of their wonted simplicity and plain heartedness the best Preserver of ancient Custom attempt to alter or abrogate any thing without his leave or Command Whence it comes to pass that many of the most ancient Customs of the Primitive times in other places out of date or abrogated are still retain'd to this day among them Which makes us hope that our Labour will not be ungrateful to the Reader curious of Ecclesiastic Antiquity if we compare the Old with the New First only their Churches are briefly to be describ'd which formerly were sufficiently Magnificent and by King Ladibela hewn out of the Bodies of the Rocks themselves Some were also Built by the Succeeding Kings but Grainus out of his hatred to Christianity ruin'd the greatest part of them There are yet remaining some Footsteps of that famous Cathedral which Helena David's Grandmother Built In which there is more want of Light than of Gold or Silver The Structure of most resembles the Ancient Architecture For the ancient Christians when first they had obtain'd the Opportunities of building Churches for Public Use choosing rather to imitate the Jews than the Gentiles Built them in imitation of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem or of the Jewish Synagogues nor did they give them the heathenish Names of Temples but call'd them Ilyriacas as it were dedicated to God or else Oratories or Martyria Places of Public Testimony Now as the Temple of Jerusalem being encompassed with a spacious Wall consisted chiefly of three parts that is to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the wide Porch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the body of the Temple and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Holy of Holies so the Cathedrals of the Ancients had a Porch before the great Folding Dores surrounded with a Wall where the Excommunicated and Penitents and Novices were oblig'd to tarry till the latter more fully instructed in Christianity were admitted to Baptism or the former brought forth the real fruits of Amendment Then there was the Body of the Church in the middle of which was a secret Place screen'd with a Curtain which was call'd the Sacrificatory as also the Suggestum or place where the Pulpit stood in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which represented the Holy of Holies Such a Suggestum or Place of Ascension is still to be seen in the Jewish Synagogues and call'd in imitation of the Greek word Bimah But this the Europeans afterward thought more convenient to remove to the farther end of the Church we call it now the Quire for the most part separated with Iron Lattices from the Body of the Structure These Antique Forms