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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B21024	A voyage to Mount Libanus wherein is an account of the customs, manners, &c. of the Turks : also a description of Candia, Nicosia, Tripoly, Alexandretta, &c. : with curious remarks upon several passages re[l]ating to the Turks & Maronites / written originally in Italian by the R. F. Jerome Dandini.; Missione apostolica al patriarca de' Maroniti del Monte Libano. English	Dandini, Girolamo, 1554-1634.	1698 (1698)	Wing D168	76,284	146

I understood very well that they had been falsly charged with them however having read in one of their Books I know not what concerning one Will and one Operation in Jesus Christ and some other impure things I resolved to put all these Articles separately into writing and to propose each in particular to the Synod when it should be assembled before it came to the reformation of Abuses CHAP. XV. Of the assembling of a Synod and of the Profession of Faith that was made there AFter I had informed my self of all things as well as possibly I could I applied all my cares to give notice forthwith of the Synod for which I had such a desire to the Bishops two Deacons and to the most understanding Clergy They assembled the 28th of December which is the 18th according to the supputation of the Maronites who have not received the reformation of the Calendar of Gregory XIII The Patriarch then and those which were summoned finding themselves together read publickly the Pope's Brief which contained my Mission and the Authority I had from his Holiness and as every one remained silent I exposed unto them at large the Reasons that had moved me to convocate this Assembly I represented unto them the importance of it entertained them at the same time with the great care and affection his Holiness had towards them then I spoke a few words to the Bishops in particular touching their Duty and the Charge they had of the Church I divided the Matters to be treated of into three Heads the first whereof regarded to their Belief the second to the young Maronites that were to be sent from that Country to Rome and thirdly To those that would be sent back again from Rome unto them As I was ready to open the Synod with the Matters that regarded the Belief and Conformity of their Religion to the Church of Rome I was interrupted by the Patriarch who testified his having received much displeasure about a Synod that had been held some years ago from Rome protesting that neither he nor his Predecessor had done nor approved of what was transacted whereupon he detested and anathamiz'd the Errors which had been imposed upon them and the Nation He anathamiz'd all those that held them or had ever held them assuring us That he had always followed and would still for the future the Church of Rome to which words the prime Deacon being transported with zeal added these Yes we will follow and never separate in any part from it whatever misery may befall us Indeed I conceived much joy to see that the beginning was accompanied with so firm a resolution and such great stedfastness of spirit so that it incouraged me in such a manner that I believed I had no further search to make for to render me certain of my Enquiries However for to be more assured and also to justifie them I applied my self to examine all the Errors one after another and that every one in particular should declare his Belief all with one consent agreed without any dispute or controversie and made Profession together of the following Articles I. That there is in Jesus Christ but one Person which is Divine with two Natures two Wills two Operations one of which is Divine the other Humane It was a great comfort to me to see in all their Books very ample testimonies of this truth I found also particular Works composed upon this subject which was well handled and filled with a great number of Authorities drawn from the Old and New Testament as well as from the Latin an● Greek Fathers II. That the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son as from the only Principle that which is read not only by them in divers places of their Books but also such as is rehearsed by them in the Creed Qui est patre filio procedit III. That the Son alone was Incarnated and not the whole Trinity as also who was born died who rose again and who ascended into Heaven and for that reason they took the word Trisagion two manner of ways applying it sometimes to the whole Trinity sometimes to the second Person only but when they took it for the first they added it not at all but when for the second they added it by coherence to the Incarnation Birth Death and other the like things which truly agreed with Jesus Christ IV. That it might be judged by their Actions that they acknowledged a place of Purgatory and Original Sin that the first was sufficiently set forth by their Alms and Prayers V. That the second proved it self plainly by the Baptism they gave to little Infants to the end that being washed and cleansed of their sins they might obtain eternal Life altho' they had committed no Actual Sin that required their being washed and cleansed by that Sacrament knowing that St. Augustin made often use of that argument to prove that same truth against the Pelagians of his time VI. That Souls generally speaking when they depart from the Body go straight to Heaven for to enjoy Blessedness or to Hell for to be there eternally punished or for a time to Purgatory VII That 't is never Lawful for to deny ones Faith in words as Jesus Christ himself manifestly declared He that denies me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven VIII Finally That in Marriage they permitted sometimes a Separation of Living but that nothing but Death was able to dissolve the Bond of Matrimony in such a manner as that it was lawful for the Husband to Espouse another conformable to those words of Jesus Christ which are so express Whosoever puts away his Wife and marries another commits Adultery I failed not to object and lay before them those Books wherein I found some Errors They made answer That they were not their true Books but that they had been maliciously contrived by the Jacobins and dispersed amongst their Nation that as to the rest their Books were very different and that the Pope had received false information of them which satisfied me so much the more because in their Actions I discovered that it was so in effect I saw in their Books which they acknowledged for true nothing but what was Catholick and as others have not made that distinction with exactness enough one ought not to be astonished if they returned to Rome with such contrary Informations Wherefore having received by what is here demonstrated and by many other Enquiries and Circumstances transacted in this Synod plenary satisfaction of the firmness of their Belief we made several Canons for to reform the Abuses amongst them and to confirm the Profession they made here of their Faith and added what other things we thought necessary for to oblige them to a firm constancy therein CHAP. XVI Of the Maronites that were to be sent to Rome and of those that should return from thence into their own Country I Had yet said nothing of two

cannot imagine what hinders the publication of that Work since it hath been finish'd three Years ago I know that divers Latin Authors whose Testimonies it were useless to rehearse pretend that the Maronites derive really their Original from that Abbot Maron of whom we have spoken but we may say that they too easily follow the Opinion of the Maronites without being willing to take pains to examine the thing in it self 'T is long since the Maronites have promis'd us the History of the pretended St. Maron whose Memory they so much celebrate it were to be wished that some learned Person amongst them would plainly exhibit that History whereof we have but little knowledge for perhaps they have added to the number of Saints the Heretical Saint Maron as the Nestorians and most part of other Sects honour to this day their Patriarchs The Nestorians honour Nestorius with the Title of Saint in their Prayers and Liturgies and make Imprecations against the Memory of Saint Cyril whom they consider as an Heretick The Jacobites do also the same thing in respect to divers of their Sectaries There is some appearance that it will not be long before we have the Works which the Maronites of Mount Libanus promise to publish in one of their Attestations which is printed at the end of the third Tome of the Perpetuity I wish nevertheless that before they write of their Liturgies that they first divest themselves of an Infinity of false Prejudices wherewith they are cumber'd and which hinder them to treat of that matter with exactness enough Moreover 't is to be observed that he that hath printed that Attestation of the Maronites hath done it under the name of the Maronites of Antioch altho' it hath been writ by them who inhabit Mount Libanus That which deceiv'd him was that the Patriarch which resides in the Monastery of Cannubin in Mount Libanus takes upon him the Quality of Patriarch of Antioch but he does not live at Antioch and I believe also that there is not at this time in that City any Church of Maronites Remarks upon the Twelfth Chapter 'T IS no extraordinary wonder to see that most part of the Maronite Priests can but only read and write there are but a very few knowing Persons in all the Levant for they have not the conveniency of Colleges as we have yet there are some of them skill'd in the Italian Besides the Jesuits have Schools in the Levant and particularly at Constantinople where they instruct Youth Cyrilli Lucar in a Letter which he writ from Constantinople to Witemberg pretends that that Ignorance is advantageous to the Levantines for says he they retain always their ancient Belief without Innovation Nevertheless the same Author in another Letter hugely reproves the Ignorance of the Priests and Bishops of the Eastern Churches out of a fear he testifies to have least the Establishment of the Jesuits at Constantinople introduce some Novelty in the East but however it be the Church of Rome is obliged to these Jesuits herein for that they have by that means prevented Calvinism to over spread the Levant Before that the Ma●onites had a College at 〈◊〉 they were much more ignorant than they are at this juncture we have seen of them since that time three very knowing Persons at Paris who came out of this Seminary Altho' they have at this time amongst them divers Persons capable to Instruct the People yet they fail not to send them still Religious Missionaries to entertain them more in their Duty but the Ecclesiasticks of the Country bear them envy and often quarrel with them believing themselves to be more capable to preach and exercise other Functions than those sent unto them In effect it were to be wished there were no other that preached but the Natives for that 't is very difficult for the Europeans to speak and pronounce the Arabick Tongue well which is the reason that the People cannot forbear laughing when they hear these Preachers speak so far are they from giving them Audience And I have heard not long since that a Deacon of Nount Libanus should say That these Missionaries did them much harm for that they accused them at their return of divers Errors whereof they had no foundation and that only for to be continued in their Mission As to the Caldean Tongue 't is true that 't is the same amongst them at this day as the Latin is amongst us Since Omar rendered himself Master of Syria at the beginning of the seventh Century the Arabick Language introduced it self by little and little into the Country and as the Arabs commanded and held the principal Offices there they obliged the People to conform themselves to their Language However the Caldee hath always been conserved in the Church and the most knowing writ still in that Language after Omar for a long time nevertheless you must observe that the Language which the Ancients calls Caldee is ordinarily called Syriack which most part of Grammarians distinguish from the Arabick Caldee as two different Dialects but the Maronites whom our Author has followed call sometimes their Language the Caldee In effect that which we call Syriack differs not almost from the Caldee but the Characters 't is true that it hath many Dialects but all these Dialects make but one Language 'T is very ancient and some pretend that it was the Language of our first Parents That which might support this Opinion is That there is no other Language that appears so simple in its expressions nevertheless there is greater appearance that 't is a corruption of the Hebrew as the Italian is of the Latin and that in process of time it appropriated to it self divers Greek words and the words also of other Languages It has a particular Character which is but a corruption of the Hebrew Character wherefore 't is needless to search as many have done who it was that first invented the Syriack Letters They differ also from one another in their Characters as the French vary from the Italians in the manner of writing their Letters The Jacobites and the Maronites have the same Letters and they are such as we see in their printed Books The Nestorian Caldeans which are dispersed in many places of the Levant have different Characters from those of the Maronites and 't is by that we may easily know the Manuscripts of the different Caldean Sects altho' these Characters differ no more one from another than the writing of a French Man and an Italian We have no room here to speak of all the Books which are written in Caldee we will observe only such as are in use at this day amongst the Maronites that we may not digress too far from the design of our Author They have in the first place two sorts of Syriack Translations of the Old Testament one of which is done out of the Hebrew and the other out of the Greek of the Septuagint however we must not give credit to

what some say of that Version out of the Hebrew which they call simple for to distinguish it from the other for they falsly believe that that Translation hath been done in the time of Solomon and Hiram King of Tyre 't is an History which hath no more foundation than that of the Syriack Letters for Authors attribute these same also to Solomon Gregory Abulfarius makes mention of these two Versions and affirms that the Eastern Syrians make use of the first and the Western Syrians of both Hebed Jesu in his Catalogue of Caldee Books speaks of one Mar Aba who hath translated the Old Testament out of the Greek into Syriack but as the Syriack Church was in being long before this Mar Aba it had a Translation of the Bible into Syriack taken out of the Greek Translation of the Septuagint for the Church in the first Ages knew no other Bible but that of the Septuagint which seemed to have been alone esteemed Authentick in the Decrees of Councels and I know not why the Eastern Tyrians made use of a Version made different from the Hebrew Text since the Apostles themselves used the Septuagints and that the first Translations from the Hebrew different from that of the Seventy were rather for the use of particular Persons than any Church Moreover James of Nibise and St. Ephraim who preceded Mar Aba followed the Bible of the Septuagint besides that Version which they call simple for to distinguish it from that of the Seventy which doth not always follow the Text differs sometimes from the Hebrew for to accord with the Greek However it may be well seen that at first it was entirely conformable to the Hebrew but that with time it has been corrupted by Transcribers and particular Persons who have reformed it in some places by the Septuagint insomuch that that Version hath lost somewhat of its ancient simplicity through the different commixtures that hath been introduced thereunto There is also some appearance that the Hebrew Text from which that Syriack Translation hath been made was not altogether the same as that we have at this day as for the Syriack New Testament I do not doubt but that it may be very ancient yet the dialect wherein it is written is a sufficient proof according to my judgment for to shew that it is not an Original The Caldee that was spoken in Jerusalem in the time of our Saviour was not the Caldee Language of the New Testament and if St. Matthew writ his Gospel in that Language which they called also then the Hebrew as is very probable it cannot be said that 't is the same Syriack Gospel as we have at this day because of the difference of the Dialects Pope Gregory XIII caused a little Prayer-Book to be printed at Rome in the year 1585. for their use written in Arabick and Syriack Characters that Book contained some Prayers which bore the Title of Salutation and addressed to the Virgin Mary the Archangels Gabriel and Michael with some other things of the like nature whereunto were added the Penitential Psalms with the Litanies of the Saints But these Litanies that are in use in the Church of Rome have not been received by the Maronites of Mount Libanus unless it be very lately for that Gabriel Sionita hath left them out of his Copy which I have in my hands and 't is apparent that that fashion of Praying to Saints is not ordinary in the Eastern Churches They have also their particular Editions of Councels their Constitutions their Fathers and divers other Books nevertheless you must observe that they acknowledge but the first four General Councels that preceded their Schism I question also whether the Maronites have at any time had any particular Constitutions altho ' they procure some that bear that Name it may be that they have added that Title to a Book which they call at this day the Ecclesiastical Constitutions which a Learned Man of that Nation pretends to have been written before the Califf Omar rendered himself Master of Syria I cannot tell what foundation he has for to believe them to be so ancient if it be not that they are written in Syriack and that that Language according to his Sentiment began to grow out of use from the time of Omar They have been Translated into Arabic in 1059. by a Maronite Archbishop according to the relation of Abraham Ecchelensis and they treat of divers Matters in Theology principally of the Sacraments Proper Baptism is there distinguished from the Metaphorical or Confirmation is considered as the perfection of Baptism frequent Communion much recommended There is a long Treatise about the Ordination of Chantres Exorcists Readers Sub-deacons Deacons Priests and Bishops to whom it is prescrib'd to assemble before their Patriarch Moreover one may see there Rules for the Administration of the Temporalities of the Church for Tythes for Pious Legacies for Civil Affairs to wit for all things that regard Wills things in Trust Inheritances Donations Loans Restitutions and Purchases The same Constitutions regulate also the Services that ought to be performed towards the Dead their Burial and the Banquets they make for them therein besides are particular Statutes for Monks for the Schools and for the Books that were to be received into the Church Finally you may have Rules there for to make a distinction of Sins Murder Apostacy and Fornication are reckoned as the greatest The Author pretends in this Chapter that 't is a great happiness to the Christians of the Levant that they have not the use of printing because that prevents the errors of so many Sects to be commix'd with the Orthodox one may say as much of the impressions of Europe which have their commodities and incommodities for that ought to facilitate great changes both in Church and State If the Levantines lay aside the use of printing for these Reasons they are wiser than we in following that Maxim of Policy Non prosit potius siquid Obesse potest However the Turks permit the Jews to print at Constantinople Salonica and elsewhere but 't is upon condition that they print none but their own Books which is of no consequence He adds moreover that Manuscripts are more subject to changes than printed Books in effect that happens but too often and without having occasion to search elsewhere for examples the Maronites alone furnish us with enough for one can almost see no Manuscript-Books amongst them for Divine Service that are altogether alike and conformable to those printed at Rome for their use but some are larger other again contain less 'T is also worthy of observation that Morin who believed he had given us the Ordinations of the Maronites entirely hath printed but the lesser part which regards the Ministry of the Bishops for they are used to have two distinct Books one of which serves the Bishop who Ordains and the other the Minister who Answers him The first is properly the Book of Ordinations the other is