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
The next is Drubbing if the Crime be not Capital The punishment of the Nobility is Exilement into the Zanic Lake or into their high and steep Rocks which are in a manner like Ilands from whence however they frequently escape by reason that the People are easily corrupted by Bribery Homicides are deliver'd up to the next of (l) A Custome still us'd in Persia as you may read in Tavernier and Olearius Kin to the Party murder'd at whose free will it is to pardon the Malefactors sell them to forraign Merchants or put them to what death they please If the Homicide escape unknown the Inhabitants of the place and all the Neighbourhood are oblig'd to pay a Fine by which means many Murthers are either prevented or discover'd Most certainly the Law of Like for Like was always and still is accompted the most just and plainest among several Nations Hence that of Moses An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth But because there is not the same use of all members among men some men according to their various Callings having more use of one Member than another some being better able to lose their Hands than their Leggs others theâ—r Leggs than their Hands therefore among the Civiliz'd Nations this Law grew out of custome And it seems unjust to surrender the Offender to the Malice and Fury of the Offended Party when they may have unbyass'd Judges to give Sentence without Favour or Affection The End of the Second Book OF THE Ecclesiastical Affairs OF THE ABISSINES BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the ancient Religion of the Abissines and their Judaic Rites The Ecclesiastical History of the Abissines corrupt and why The first Relation of Matthew the Armenian false Tzagazaabus's Confession as little to be credited Those of the Fathers and Tellezius more certain Ecclesiastical History commended The Tradition of some concerning the Original of the Judaic Rites Circumcision us'd by many How it differs from the Judaic No piece of holy Worship among the Habessines Females circumcis'd Why the Abissines abstain from Swines Flesh The Various Customs of Nations concerning Meats The Sabboth observ'd in the Primitive Church Different from the Lords Day and how Whether lawful to marry a Brothers Wife They abstain from the shrunck sinew What to be thought of Candaces Eunuch Menihelec's Posterity revolted from the true Religion Claudius disclaims the Judaic Religion NOw we proceed to the Ecclesiastical History of the Habessinians then which there is not any other more corrupt For whatever we find scatter'd in our Relations were neither collected out of the Books which are publickly authentic in Habessinia nor taken from the report of any persons there skill'd in the Ecclesiastical Affairs of that Country but partly ill related through the Rashness of the Writers themselves partly by the same persons or others ill understood through their ignorance of the Ethiopic Language The first Relation concerning the Religion of the Habessines was set forth by Damianus a Goez a noble Lusitanian from the Report of Matthew the Armenian First Ethiopic Embassador to Emanuel King of Portugal which Narrative of his (a) In a little Treatise often quoted Of the Embassie of the Great Emperor of the Indians contains many things ambiguous many other things altogether false Insomuch that Tzagazaabus the second Habessinian Embassador plainly tax'd the Author of it (b) For thus he sayes in his Confession of Faith Matthew in regard he was an Armenian could not so perspicuously understand our affairs especially those that related to our Faith And therefore he reported many things to King Emanuel which are not in use among Vs Which he did not out of desire to tell an untruth because he was a good man but because he knew little concerning our Religion But in my opinion that good man Matthew spake many things which he knew much better for his ignorance Tho he himself in the Confession of his Faith which the same (c) Extant in the 2. Tom. of Spain illustrated p. 1302. Goez set forth did not much excel him either for truth or probability for which reason Tellezius not undeservedly reprehends him Certainly Gregory was very much offended with him And when he heard his following Doctrines 1. That Jesus Christ was the Son of the Father and the beginning of himself in the same manner that the Holy Ghost was the Spirit of himself and proceeded from the Father and the Son 2. That he descended into Hell where was the Soul of Adam and Christ himself which Soul of Adam Christ received from the Virgin Mary and toward the latter end of the Book That Christ descended into Hell for the Soul of Adam and not for his own 3. That the Souls of men piously deceas'd are not crucify'd in Purgatory upon the Sabaoth and Lords Day 4. That by the Decree and Commandment of Queen Maqueda the Women were also to be Circumcis'd as having a certain glandulous piece of Flesh not unfit to receive the Impression and mark of Circumcision I say when Tellezius heard these things and many other of the same mixture in no small heat and Passion he cry'd out That they were Fictions Dreams nay meer Lyes frequently repeating these words If he said this he was a Beast of the Field Yet out of these Books most of those Stories have flow'd which our Writers have made public concerning the Religion of the Abessines But the Fathers of the Society having bin conversant so long in Ethiopia and view'd the Habessine Books after several Disputations and Discourses with them have bin able to afford us more Truth whose Acts and Writings being free for the perusal of Tellezius we shall cull the choicest of his accurate Relations and what he has reported more ambiguous or more partially out of his dislike of the Alexandrian Religion we shall correct out of their own Writings or from the Discourses of Gregory himself Certainly to Christians no History can be more pleasant than that of Ecclesiastical affairs especially if we look back to the Primitive Church For whom would it not ravish into a high admiration of the wonderful Providence of God as well in founding as preserving his Church when he shall consider that it grew up and increas'd not by the Propagation of Arms or human Arts but by the Oppression of Heathenish persecution To whom can it be unpleasing to consider with a Pious Contemplation the undaunted Courage of the Martyrs the Constancy of her Doctors the Sincerity of the Christian People the Purity of the Faith the Strife of Good Works the Patience of the Weak the plainness of the Rites and Ceremonies Which when they once began to be alter'd with the reverence to the Church be it spoken then also enter'd in Pride instead of Modesty Ambition instead of Charity together with Faction and Contention As if our leisure and our Quiet were therefore granted us by Heaven to consume that time in making Scrutinies into all the misteries of
Old Testament reck'ning the Lamentations by themselves and Thirty five of the New Testament adding to the Twenty seven those Eight Books of Constitutions and Canons which the Ethiopians call Manda Abtelis the Signification of which were unknown to Gregory as being words altogether Exotic This was also the reason why Tefa-Tzejon has this Expression in the Title of the New Testament I have caus'd a New Copy to be Printed but without a Synod because he did not Print together with the said Copy those Canons and Institutions before specify'd Next to this Book which is also call'd Hadas or absolutely New the chiefest Reverence is given to the three Oecumenic Councils the Nicene Constantinopolitan and Ephesine with some other Provincial Councils which were receiv'd in the Church till the Schism of Chalcedon But we are to understand that beside the Twenty Nicene Canons always receiv'd by the Greek and Latin Church they also admit of Eighty four other Canons which are extant among the Copies in the Arabic Language And these in the foregoing Century Baptista the Jesuit Transcrib'd and brought to Rome where they were Translated into Latin They were all formerly fairly written in Parchment and by Zer-a-Jacob or Constantine Emperor of the Habassines in the year 440. sent to Jerusalem and thence brought to Rome in the year 1646. where I saw it in the Habessine House in the year 1649. It contains the following Books The Synod of the Holy Apostles for the Ordering of the Church of Christ together with all the Precepts Decrees and Canons which Clement the Disciple of Peter wrote The First Synod is that of the Council of Ancyra The Second Synod is that of the Council of Caesarea The Third the Council of Nice The Fourth of Gangra The Fifth of Antiochia The Sixth of Laodicea The Seventh of Sardis Afterwards follow the Acts of 318 Orthodox Holy Fathers Then a Treatise of the Sabboth Compos'd by Retud-Halmanor Next a Declaration of the Doctrine of the Law by Constitutions and Exhortations Lastly a Decree and Canon of Penitence The Book was written at Axuma with a Preface of the Kings written dated from Shewa Adjoyning to this Book are the Liturgy or the Publick Prayers for the Use of the whole Ethiopic Church They call it Kanono Kedasi the Canon of the Eucharist as being the Rule of Administration and of all the other Liturgies They are Printed in the Roman Copy of the New Testament before the Epistles of St. Paul but intermixed with Foreign Insertions For there we find it written concerning the Holy Ghost who proceeds from the Father and the Son which latter proceeding neither the Greeks nor Ethiopians admit Besides this General Liturgy they have several other Liturgies which are appropriated for several Holydaies Kedasi Za-gezen the Liturgy of our Lord. Kedasi Za-Ghezeten the Liturgy of our Lady Kedasi Za-Warjat the Liturgy of the Apostles Kedasi Zawedus Martium the Liturgy of St. Mark Which Inscriptions have deceiv'd some Learned Men who have branded them with the Characters either of Apocryphal or false Titl'd for that they were not call'd so by the Composers of them both the Text it self and the Name of the Author sometimes added to the Title demonstratively evince as for Example The Liturgy of our Lady Mary which Abba Cyriacus Metropolitan of the Province of Behens compos'd Of this Nature they have also sundry other Manuscript Liturgies which the Ethiopians call Equtet Korban or the Thanksgiving of Oblation It being their Custom to use Eucharistical Prayers and Homilies in the Administration of the Sacrament But their Symbolic Book or Compendium of the whole Habessine Religion is call'd Hajma Monoto-Abaw The Faith or Religion of the Fathers of which Tellez writes That it is a Book among them almost of great Authority and Credit as being as it were a Library of the Fathers it being Collected out of the Homilies of St. Athanasius St. Basil St. Cyril St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril as also Ephrem the Syrian and the St. Gregories of which there are Four whom they acknowledge and highly esteem Gregory of Neo-Cesarea the Wonder-worker Gregory Nazianzene Gregory Nyssene and Gregory the Armenian Tellez adds St. Austin but of that I very much doubt the Truth the Writings and Names of the Latin Fathers being utterly unknown to the Abessines And indeed had that Book been Compos'd out of the Writings of the Fathers above-mention'd it might have been easily admitted by the Jesuits as an equal Judge between both Parties in their Disputes concerning the two Natures in Christ They have besides these several other Books that treat upon Sacred Subjects as Books of Martyrs and Lives of Saints which are call'd Synaksar in the Ethiopic Idiom Among the rest The History of the Fathers The Combats or Wrestlings of Martyrs The History of the Jews The Constitutions of the Christian Church A Book of Mysteries which Treats of Heresies written by St. George A Book of Epiphanius upon the same Argument The Spiritual Old Man The Harp of Praise in honour of the Trinity and the Virgin Mary Padab Tzahje The Splendor of the Sun which Treats of the Law of God Wedasi Ambatzi The Praise of God Matzehfe felsit bagzeten Marjam The Book of the Death of our Lady Mary In whose Praise and Honours there are several Hymns and Verses among which the most extoll'd is that which is call'd Organon Denghel The Virgins Musical Instrument Composed by Abba George an Abassine Doctor a Book not very ancient but in high esteem by reason of the great number of Similitudes and Allegories as also for the Elegancy of the stile and words But as to what Egidius the Capuchin writes to the famous Petreskius concerning the Prophesie of Enoch as if such a thing were extant in the Ethiopic Language in a Book call'd Matzhe Henoch the Book of Enoch the Story is altogether fabulous So soon as that noble Gentleman heard of this Book he spar'd for no Cost to get it into his hands till at length the Knavery of those he employ'd impos'd upon him another Book with a false Title The Book was afterwards lodg'd in Cardinal Mazarine's Library and the Preface Middle and End being Transcrib'd by a Friend of mine was presented to me but there was nothing in it either of Enoch or his Predictions only some few Notions there were and some very clear discourses of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth and the Holy Trinity under the Name of one Abba-Bahaila-Michael There is another little idle and impertinent Pamphlet hardly worth taking notice of were it not so frequently currant in Europe Gregory call'd it Tzalot Betzet or a Magical Prayer and averr'd That it was not only not esteem'd but rejected in Ethiopia tho by us charily hoarded up in several Libraries It is writ with so much stupidity that you shall find therein many Prayers of the Virgin Mary to her Son stufft with monstrous words to which are attributed Vertues and Efficacies more than Divine
as Adnael Adotavi Adotael Tilelmejus Cuercuerjam Flastaslaque With many others more horrid to Pronunciation But from hence it is apparent how much the Habassines resemble the Jews as affecting words of uncouth and unheard of insignificancy by which they thought to command both Heaven and Hell which carrying a kind of a dreadful sound the Habessines also use them in their forms of Anathematizing they cry And let him be accurs'd by Addirion and Actariel by Sandalphon and Hadarmel by Ansiciel and Patchiel by Seraphiel and Zeganzael by Michael and Gabriel and by Raphael and Meschartiel and let him be interdicted by Tzautzeviv and Haueheviv He is the great God and by the Seventy Names of that great King and on the behalf of Tzortak the great Ensign-Bearer CHAP. V. Of the Religion of the Habassines at this Day The Reports of Matthew the Armenian and Tzagazaab false or uncertain The Fathers have omitted their soundest Opinions And fix'd their several Errors upon them The Confession of Claudius Genuine The great Authority of the Synodal Writers They admit the Nicene and other Councils till that of Chalcedon They acknowledge the Trinity one Person of Christ and his sufficient Merit The Proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son they deny Gregorie's Dispute and Opinion The Ethiopian interpretation of the word Proceed The Sacraments Baptism Communion under both Kinds The real Presence The words they use in Reference to it Gregorie's Opinion of Transubstantiation Of the Soul after Death They pray for the Dead Deny Purgatory Gregorie's Opinion concerning it The Original of Prayer for the Dead They pray to Saints and Angels Their Catechism for Children and Neophytes WEre the Symbolical Book of the Habessines which they call Hajmanot-Abau to be found in Europe we might easily Collect from thence the true and genuine Sence and Doctrine of the Ethiopic Church concerning the Heads and Articles of the Christian Faith for hitherto we find the most of them uncertainly deliver'd and for the Confession of Faith set down by Matthew the Armenian and Tzagazaab we have already taken notice of the failings in it The Fathers of the Society that have been conversant among the Habessines both in this and the former Century and frequently discours'd with their Learned Men passing by their sound and serious Opinions tax them of many Errors which they have receiv'd from the Greeks and Jews As for Example That the Spirit proceeds only from the Father That the Human Nature of Christ is equal to his Divinity They acknowledge but one Will and one Operation in Christ for which reason they believe that we affirm Four Persons in the Godhead seeing that we confess two Wills and two Natures in Christ. They repeat the Ceremony of Baptism every year upon the Feast of the Epiphany They believe that the Souls of the Just shall not be receiv'd into Heaven before the end of the World nor do they think them to be Created but produc'd out of Matter They neither confess the Number nor the particular Species of their Sins but cry in general I have sin'd I have sin'd They use not the Sacrament of Chrism nor Extream Unction upon the approach of Death nor do they mind the Consolation of the bread of life Insomuch that many of them stick not to say That they who follow the Roman Religion are not only Heretics but worse than the Mahumetans They reject the Council of Chalcedon casting many reproaches upon Leo the Great but highly applauding Dioscurus They deny Purgatory These things I chose to deliver almost in the very words of Godignus who Collected them out of the Relations and Letters of Gonzalez Rodoric Alphonsus de Franca Emanuel Fernandez and others of the Society Neither do they seem to be improbable but how they evade or excuse them we shall shortly declare As to what is said that some of them believe the Followers of the Romish Religion to be worse than Mahumetans I could not hear any such thing from Gregory neither did he think it was to be understood in reference to their Doctrine but their Tyranny over their Subjects it being the Custom of the Mahumetans only to vex and oppress all those who are under their Power professing a Religion contrary to theirs but never to rage against them with Fire and Sword In the mean time we have a Confession set forth by King Claudius but the scope of that Confession was only to clear himself and his Subjects from the Imputation of Judaism which he found to be the only reason that impeded the Amity between him and the Portugals Therefore leaving this Confession by what we can gather from their Publick Liturgies and the Writings and Sayings of Persons both Publick and Private the sum of the Habessinian Doctrine seems to consist of the following Heads First They acknowledge the Holy Scripture to be the sole and only Rule of what they are to believe and what they are to do insomuch that King David said to Alvarez That if the Pope should impose upon Him or His Subjects any thing what the Apostles had not written or permitted he would not obey him nor his own Metropolitan if he should attempt to do the like But with the Scripture they are so much in love that there is nothing more delightful to their Ears than the repetition of it Therefore saith Tellez Nothing more pleas'd the Habessines than to hear the Scripture often quoted in Sermons and the more Citations a man brings out of Scripture the more learned be is accompted Nor do they give much less Credit to the Three Oecumenical Councils as appears by the Confession of Claudius They generally make use of the Nicene Creed which they call Tzalot Hajmanot the Prayer of the Faith That which we use they have not no more than all the rest of the Eastern Churches a strong Argument that it was not compil'd by the Apostles tho' in regard of the Doctrine which it contains it may be truly call'd Apostolic For certainly the Nicene Fathers would not have stifl'd such a Creed or set forth another of their own had the Apostles left such an Epitome of their Doctrine behind them The Ancient Greek Councils then are the Councils which the Habessines have in reverence together with the Eighty four ancient Canons added to those of the Nicene Council till they come to that of Chalcedon which they do not only utterly reject but also Criminally reproach Whatever therefore the Catholic Church admitted and believ'd before that Council concerning God Three in one the Three distinct Persons in one Essence the Eternity of the Son of God the Existence of the Holy Ghost and other Articles of Faith all those things the Habessines willingly consent to and allow condemning those that Dispute against them By the way we are here to observe that the Ethiopic words Sabsatu Gaz Gaz Egza Bahr Three Persons and one God are vulgarly ill Translated being to have bin render'd Three Faces One Lord for the
the Church first of all to read the Names of the Holy Martyrs out of the Public Registers as being a Duty owing to the memory of the invincible Testimonies for Christ Which the following Ages strain'd another way as if they had need of our Intercession and others as if we could not be without their Intercession made it a presence to invoke the Holy Saints as if they were present and heard them To which we may add That the Ancient Christian Orators and Writers of Homilies making use of their Rhetorick by vertue of that Figure commonly call'd Prosopopocia bespoke the blessed Saints and introduc'd them as it were returning Answers from whence it is not improbable that Suspition might introduce the Custom of giving the same Adoration to them as to God himself and worshipping them with Temples Altars and other Divine Honours Which nevertheless the Habessines do not do for though they keep Holydaies in memory of their Saints they do not call them Bagnabat Solemnities but Tjabarat Remembrances They also invoke them tho they know not after what manner they may be able to hear them and beg their Intercessions also especially of the most Holy Virgin Mary to whom they bear such an affectionate Reverence that they think whatever the Church of Rome has invented to her Honour all too little and yet they erect no Statues to her memory for all that being contented only with her Pictures When they were in a rage against those of the Roman Religion and pursu'd 'em in their fury with Sticks and Stones they cry'd out Kill Kill whoever is not an Enemy of Marie let him take up a Stone to stone her Enemies to Death But more than this they many times invoke the Angels as having for that perhaps a more specious pretence because they have bin frequently said to appear to good Men and Women and hear their Prayers Of these the Ethiopians reckon no less than Nine Orders which they borrow from their Names and Epithites given them in Sacred Scripture Malaeket Angels particularly so call'd or by another Name Manofsat Spirits Bitean Malaeket Arch-Angels Agaezet Saltanot Manoberet Hujebat Maqinenet Qirubil Surafel Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magistracies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thrones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Princes Cherubims Seraphims Some there are who give them several other Sirnames as Bikanot Primores or Cheiftains and Arbabe or Arbab Asat as much as to say fierie Myriads Others there are who affirm That first of all there were Ten Orders of which the first whose Chieftain was Satanael together with his Associates revolted from God and that the Blessed hereafter shall succeed into their places which they assert to be the cause of the Devils inveterate hatred toward Man As to their forms of Catechizing Youth and Neophytes the following Accompt may afford very great Satisfaction as being written by Gregory with his own hand and all that he could then call to mind A Brief Accompt of the Heads of the Ethiopic Faith in which they usually instruct their Youth and Neophytes They are Extant more at large in Ethiopia but more succinctly as follows What God dost thou Worship The Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons but one Deity Of these Three Persons which is the first which the last which the greatest which the least Their is no Person first or last no Person Superior or Inferior but all equal in all things How many Persons Three How many Gods One How many Deities One How many Kingdoms One How many Powers One How many Creators One How many Wills One Is God limited by time No For he is from all Eternity and shall endure to all Eternity Where is God Every where and in all things Is not the Father God Yes Is not the Son God Yes Is not the Holy Ghost God Yes Dost thou not therefore say there are Three Gods I do not say Three Gods but Three Persons and One only God Who begat the Son God the Father But the Holy Ghost proceeds from Father and takes from the Son Pray shew me some Similitude how Three Persons can be in one Deity The Sun tho he be but one in Substance yet in him are found three distinct Things Rotundity Light and Heat Thus we also believe that in one God there are three Persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost equal in all things Of those Three Persons which was born for our Redemption The second Person viz. The Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ How many Nativities had he Two Which were they His first Nativity was from the Father without Mother without time The second from the Virgin Mary our Lady without Father in time she always remaining a Virgin Is Jesus Christ our Lord a Man or is he truely God God and Man both in one Person without Separation and without Change without Confusion or Commixture In the same manner do the Habessines Believe and Teach all matters of Faith viz. Concerning the Baptism of Christ his Fasting his Passion his Death his Resurrection his Ascention into Heaven and sending of the Holy Ghost Moreover That he shall return in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead That he is present in the Holy Sacrament That the Dead shall rise at the last Day That the Just shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but that Sinners shall be condemn'd to Hell They also believe the Catholic Church according to the Creed compil'd by the 318 Orthodox Fathers that met at the Council of Nice We shall not add more at present till more and those Publickly approv'd Books shall come to our hands that we may not imprudently attribute as some have done the Opinions of private persons to the whole Church CHAP. VI. Of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Ethiopic Church as also of the Habessine Temples Sacred Rites often an Occasion of Disturbance in the Church The Prudent Decree of the Apostles Paul's Condescension necessary Judaish Rites retain'd Many new Ceremonies invented by the Pope by the Alexandrian Metropolitan none The most ancient Ceremonies retain'd by the Abessines Their Churches dark like the Synagogues The Divisions of them and Quires The Nobility made Deacons The Bishops Lodgings Much honour'd They admit of Pictures They sign with the Cross Baptism of grown People Vndertakers why so call'd The Eucharist given to baptiz'd Infants Some frivolous forms of the Habessines constrain'd the Fathers to Rebaptize The Custom of Annual Bathing not effectual for Baptism The abuse of it The State of Ecclesiastical Affairs miserable in Habessinia The Reasons General Confession Absolution Before 25 years of Age they believe themselves Innocent Much Preaching Gregorie's Opinion of their Sermons They Read Homilies c. The Sacred Vessels for the Eucharist Why the Stone Consecrated by the Romans is call'd a Chest by the Habessinians A particular Discourse of the Author Leavened Bread The Wine distributed in a Spoon The defect of it supply'd The time and place for the Holy Supper
Infants are much shorter Males were formerly never Baptiz'd before the Fortieth day Females before the Eightieth day unless upon imminent danger of Death But now they hasten Baptism much sooner especially if the Infant be weak and sickly The Godfathers and Godmothers make answer to the Priest in their behalf Nor are they plung'd in the Water but only Sprinkl'd and Dipp'd and that at the Entrance only of the Church there being no admittance for them into the Church before Baptism Lastly Because the Holy Communion is given to those of riper years presently after Baptism therefore least Infants should be in a worse Condition in former times they dropt two or three drops out of the Sacred Cup having crumbl'd a little piece of the Holy Bread into it before to shew there was the same regard to be had to them as to those of riper Age. Which being long observ'd in the Latin Church the Ethiopians together with the Armenians observe the Custom to this day Gregory told me That they did no more than only dip the top of one of their Fingers in the Wine and moisten the Childs tongue Now that they use the same form of words with us Alvarez is Positive that is to say I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Nor could I apprehend any otherwise out of their own Liturgies Which makes it more to be admir'd what the Fathers of the Society making no mention at all of this Form have written into Europe That several partly unwonted partly frivolous Forms and quite altering the Essence of Baptism were made use of by the Habessine Clergy For Example I Baptize thee in the Name of the most Holy Trinity I Baptize thee in the Name of Christ I Baptize thee in the Name of the Holy Ghost only I Baptize thee in the Water of Jordan The Lord baptize thee Let God wash thee Let Baptism wash thee Blessed be the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost with several others of the same Nature For which reason they were constrain'd to Rebaptize many People not permitted by the Catholic Church but upon extraordinary occasions So that at length they promiscuously Rebaptiz'd all the Habessinians tho with this Condition That the first Baptism was not rightly perform'd which drew upon them the Hatred and Envy of the Habessinian Clergy Many Writers have believ'd and reported That the Ethiopians were branded with a Mark after Baptism in order to the fulfilling the words of St. John He that cometh after me shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire But Gregory himself deny'd any such Custom nor do the Fathers of the Society make any mention of it in their Writings But this is certain that the People of Africa as well Gentils as Mahumetans do cauterize the Temple-Veins of Children newly Born to preserve them from Catarrhs Which being perhaps done by some of the Habessines to the same end was by some ignorant Foreigners taken for a Religious Ceremony As having heard that formerly there were a sort of silly Heretics who misinterpreting the word Fire properly so taken and wresting it to the Improper signification of Baptism preferr'd the Caustic Signature of Fire before the Ceremony of washing in Water But now for what concerns their Anniversary Baptism with which the Abessines are so much reproach'd we are to give this Light Upon the XI of January which with us is upon the Sixth in the mid'st of their Summer and the Feast of the Epiphany they keep a most joyful Festival in Commemoration of the Baptism of our Saviour which with many of the Ancients they certainly believe was perform'd upon that day By the first Dawn of the Morning Light the Clergy begin the Solemnity with certain loud and chearful Hymns The King with all the Nobility of the Court the Metropolitan with the Clergy Nobles and Plebeians Old and Young before Sun-rise throng into the Rivers and Ponds and there delight themselves in the Water plunging and diving over Head and Ears As they meet any of the Priests they crave a Blessing from them who return them generally their desires in these words God bless thee or God the Father Son and Holy Ghost bless thee Hence it was that many believ'd that the Ethiopians renew'd their Baptism every year But as excess of Joy frequently begets wantonness so is it frequent for the Young men upon this day to leap and dance and swim and duck one another and by and by to fill the neighbouring Fields with Hoopings and Hallowings the usual Consequences of such kind of Sports So that they make of it rather a day of Jollity than a Pious Christian Festival All this I relate from Gregorie's own Lips The Relation of Alvarez is quite different as if it were a real Baptism and that the Men and Women were at that time promiscuously rebaptiz'd Whether they did so or whether Alvarez rightly understood the words of the Baptizer I very much question And yet I cannot but very much wonder at what Tellez reports That at other times and for slight causes both Men and Women cause themselves to be rebaptized and that after a most indecent manner For should such a thing have been customary King Basilides would never have upbraided the Fathers with their reiteration of Baptism so frequently as he did For my part I never read or heard of any such thing However if any such thing were ever practis'd it is to be attributed rather to the stupid ignorance of the Priests then to allow'd Custom For in the last Century such was the most miserable Condition of the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Habessinia that nothing could be more deplorable at what time by reason of the continual Invasions and Irruptions of the Gallans and Adelans the People were dispierc'd and scatter'd up and down the Mountains and Rocks like a Flock without a Shepheard without Law and almost without either King or Metropolitan all Sacred Worship ceas'd their Clergy were dissipated and their Temples and Monasteries every where ruin'd and burnt What wonder then that Ignorance and Sloth should grow upon them and that the illiterate Priests for want of Books not to be supply'd by Printing and through the scarcity of Learned Men should rashly obtrude many things altogether Foreign from the Rites of their Ancestors For such Accidents frequently happen in great Calamities when Bishops and Princes cannot perform or else grow careless of their Offices when little regarding their own Eternal Salvation they leave that to fate or the pleasure of every private Person which should be their chief and principal care Such was the Sluggishness that overwhelm'd all Greece in the time of Maurice the Emperor so that neither Gregory understood Greek nor any one at Constantinople could understand Latin such was the misery of that Age in the Latin Church as Baronius testifies when nothing but meer Barbarism and Ignorance Triumph'd when all Arts and Vertuous Studies were Exil'd and
sent into Abessinia with the Titles of Patriarch of Alexandria and Ethiopia As little respect did the Habessines give to John Nonius Barret and Andrew Ovieda Portugueses dignify'd at Rome with the Titles of Patriarch and sent into Ethiopia by the King of Portugal About the beginning of this last Century one Peter upheld by the Factious Party withstood Za-Denghel who favour'd the Romanists In the Time of Susneus Simeon already mention'd came into the Kingdom who being Slain and the Miller depos'd Alphonsus Mendez was by the Pope at the Instance of the Fathers of the Society preferr'd and by the Abessinians admitted to be their Patriarch tho not acknowledg'd under any other Title then that of Abuna Zaromeja or the Roman Abuna But he together with his Companions being soon after expell'd another call'd the Cophtit was sent in whose Company Peter Heyling of Lubeck travelled to the Habessine Court. To him succeeded one John and about the year 1651. another call'd Mark who being depos'd for his vitious life Michael succeeded him Lastly about the year 1662. one Gabraxos was order'd to supply his Decease As for the Cathedrals or Principal Churches they have their chief Overseers which they call Komasat Such a Komos was Peter the Ethiopian whose acquaintance was courted by Paulus Jovius It is their Duty to take care of the Secular Matters of the Churches and to compose the differences between the Clergy-men so far as their Jurisdiction extends Over the Churches that belong to the Camp the Debtera Gueta Presides as much as to say the Ruler of the Canons The Debterat or Canons being those Persons who are particularly employ'd in those Offices that require the addition of Hymns and Sacred Melody The Nebrat seems to be their Dean Next to whom in Dignity are the Kasis or Presbyter and the Nepheh Kasis or Sub-Presbyter the Dejakon or Deacon and Nepheh Dejakon or Sub-Deacon As for those Under-Ministers which in the Primitive Church were known by the Name of Readers they are quite out of Use as are also Deaconesses of which however they have the greatest need by reason of the frequent Baptizings of full-grown Women to whom their assistance while the Ceremony of their Baptism requires them to be naked is most necessary All Ecclesiastical Persons when they walk publickly abroad carry a Cross in their hands and offer it to all they meet to be Kiss'd having hardly any other note of Distinction from the Layety The same sort of Cross the Seculars also carry who to the end they may be admitted into the Sanctuary desire to be ordain'd Deacons as also most young Children All the Clergy except the Monks are permitted to Marry Neither will any man deny but that it was Lawful for the Catholic Bishops of the Primitive Church the Presbyters and Deacons to do the same which was also upon the Persuasion and Arguments of Paphnutius a most Holy Man allow'd of and approv'd by the Fathers of the Nicene Council as both Socrates and Sozomenus testifie whose Credit justify'd by all Antiquity was never yet call'd in question especially being confirm'd by the practice and so many clear and undeniable Presidents of the Primitive Church till Siricius and Innocent the First took upon them to order it otherwise in the Latin Church Among the Eastern Churches honest and lawful Matrimony was in much more high esteem than faithless Batchelorship obnoxious to perpetual concupiscence Wherefore the Grecians Armenians Russians but more especially our Ethiopians not only permitted their Presbyters to Marry but soonest prefer the Husbands of Wives insomuch that the nearest way to that Preferment is to Marry For they take the words of the Apostle Let him be the Husband of one Wife for a Precept yet understand it only so as not to extend any farther but to one single Marriage And therefore their Clergy never offer to covet repeated Wedlocks which even by the Seculars were not approv'd in the Eastern Churches The Novatians detested a second Wedlock after Baptism as equal to the Crime of Adultery The Latin Fathers also gave it an Ignominious Character reproaching it with the Scandalous Title of honest Adultery But in after Ages the Matter being more wisely consider'd it was not thought material whether the same Person Married one or more Wives after Death had once made the Seperation so that the Matrimony were lawful since there appear'd no reason to the contrary For which was alleadg'd the famous example of one Woman at Rome that had surviv'd the Two and twentieth Wedlock But the Habessines still observe their ancient Laws in regard that by the ancient Canons they that Marry twice are accompted unworthy of Holy Orders CHAP. VIII Of the Separation of the Habessines from the Greek Church in the Time of the Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon Dioscurus Condemn'd From thence the Melchites and Jacobites The great Damage to the Church by that Schism The Ethiopians defend Dioscurus The Ethiopians Condemn the Council of Chalcedon and call Timotheus and Eutyches Hereticks They acknowledge two Natures in Christ The words Essence Substance Person and Nature ambiguous to the Abessines A doubt concerning the Disputations of the Fathers with the Abessines about the two Natures How they are to be Disputed with The Jacobites abstain from the Arabic word for Nature which the Eutychians use The Dissention deplor'd THE Alexandrian Church remain'd in Unity with it self and with the Greek Church till the Council of Chalcedon by us call'd the Fourth Universal Council which Marcian the Emperor Summon'd to appease the Discords and Dissentions that were risen among the Bishops and Divines by reason of the Doctrine of Eutyches This Eutyches a Constantinopolitan Abbot asserted That both the Natures of Christ the Divine and Human upon his Incarnation immediately became one and the same and that therefore there was but one Nature and one Will in Christ For which reason they that held this Opinion were call'd Monothelites Thereupon it was Decreed in this Council That Christ was of the same Substance with the Father according to his Deity but Sin excepted of the same Substance and like to us in all things according to his Humanity One and the same in two Natures united yet without mixture mutation division or distance both Natures acting that which was proper to it by Communion with each other Dioscurus also the Patriarch of Alexandria was condemn'd as a Heretic Defender of Eutyches and not only so but being publickly whipp'd he was sent into Exile and another put up in his room who because he follow'd the Emperors or the Royal Religion was therefore call'd a Melchite or Royalists according to the Arabic word The Contradicters of this Opinion were call'd Eutychians afterwards Jacobites from one Jacob a Syrian who stoutly defended the Doctrine of Eutyches Hence arose a most fierce and outragious Schism in the Church of Alexandria defil'd with Blood and Slaughter which was the reason that not only the greatest part of the
made a most lofty Panegyric in Praise of the Pope not without some Reflections upon the Blindness of former Ages then he fell to commemorate what had been done of later Times How That the Emperors of Habessinia had sent their Embassadors formerly to Rome and that lately one of them had requested thence a Pastor and Evangelical Preachers that therefore now the Time was come wherein his Majesty was bound to satisfie the desire of his Ancestors and to submit himself and his Subjects to the See of Rome The King Commanded the Grand Chamberlain of his Houshold Melca Christos Prince of Samena to return an Answer who after he had extoll'd the Merits of the Portugueses It is now the King's Intention said he to fulfil the Promises of his Ancestors by yielding Obedience to the Roman Pope But as he was going on the King interrupted him saying That this was not the first day of his Intention to surrender his submission to the Roman Pope as having long before promis'd it to the Superior Father of the Society of Jesus Presently the Patriarch after a short answer unfolded a Book containing the four Evangelists and then the King falling upon his Knees took his Oath after this manner We Sultan-Saghed King of the Kings of Ethiopia believe and confess That St. Peâ—er Prince of the Apostles was by Christ our Lord Constituted Head of the whole Christian Church and that Principality and Power over the whole World was given to him when he said Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and I will give to thee the Keys of Heav'n and at another Time when he said to Him Feed my Sheep In like manner we believe That the Pope of Rome lawfully Elected is the true Successor of St. Peter the Apostle in his Government and that he has the same Power Dignity and Primacy of the whole Church of Christ Therefore we Promise Offer and Swear true Obedience and humbly submit our Person and our Empire at the feet of our Holy Father Urban the VIII of that Name by the Grace of God Pope and our Lord and to his Successors in the Administration of the Church So God help us and these Holy Evangils After the King had done his Son Basilides the King's Brothers all the Viceroys and Peers as also all the Clergy and Monks then present took the same Oath After this Ras-Seelax hastily Drawing forth his Scimiter brake forth into these passionate Expressions What is done let it be done that is to say Let past things be forgotten But whoever for the future shall not do it since it becomes every one so to do shall feel the weight of this An Act which to most that were present seem'd very severe especially to those who had taken part with Gabriel at whom those words were constru'd to be principally levell'd Moreover he added an unusual Clause to his own Oath That he also swore Allegiance to Basilides as Heir and Successor to his Father and that he would also be his faithful Vassal so that he would promise to Protect and Defend the Holy Catholic Faith otherwise that he would be the first and most profess'd of his Enemies As if it had bin lawful for a Subject to impose new Conditions of his Subjection upon a most Absolute Prince and Monarch not bound by any Laws of Man such as is the King of Habessinia However the King said nothing nor durst Basilides as being under the Tuition of his Father take notice of it Nor indeed was this Condition added to his Oath any advantage to the Roman Church but rather serv'd to hasten the Ruin of Ras-Seelax This Solemnity concluded with an Anathema after the Ethiopian manner upon all those that for the future should forget or break this Oath Immediately after several Edicts were Publish'd That none for the future should say Mass or Exercise the Priestly Office except such as were licens'd by the Patriarch Thereupon the Ordinations of the Alexandrian Metropolitan not being accompted lawful most of the Priests were constrain'd to receive new Ordinations from the new Patriarch upon this Condition That they should all observe the Roman Forms of Worship and not give any succour or harbour to Rebels who offended in that Nature was to be severely punish'd It was also farther enjoyn'd that in the Celebration of Easter and Observation of Lent the Canons of the Church of Rome should be faithfully follow'd There was also one thing more than usual exacted by the Patriarch who having a great mistrust of the Ladies of the Royal Blood caus'd a It is still a Proverb among the Ethiopians Zaqon Qawino What is done let it be done Decree to be made that they also upon a prefix'd day as being more zealous for the Alexandrian Opinions than the Men should take the Sacred Oath of Supremacy to the Pope as if they had bin a distinct Body Politic from the Men. But whether it were put in Execution or how done I do not find In the next place great care was taken for Building a Patriarchal Seat and for settling an Annual Revenue for support of the Dignity of the new Primate to which purpose a place was chosen out in the Confines of Bagemdra and Dembea call'd Debsan as also another in the Imperial Camp near Dancaz Residencies also for the Fathers were built in several Provinces of the Empire to stock it with Jesuits Maiguagua or Fremona in Tigra Ganeta Jesus with a fair Church Gorgora in Dembea Azazo Enabeesse vulgarly Nebesse Hadash by the Portugals Adaxa Kolala Leda-Negas Serca Temhhua Atthana in Bagemdra The same year also Lent was kept after the Roman manner with all the Solemnities of the Passion Week as also Easter according to the Roman Calendar Which occasion'd most violent Commotions over all the Empire and more especially among the Clergy and Monks Who being ignorant of the Computation and the Cause thought it a high breach of the Canons of the Nicene Council and the Paschal Cycle therein prescrib'd Neither could the Edict be equally dispers'd over so many far distant Regions for want of Printing In the mean time they were very busie in Baptizing the Converted and ordaining of Ecclesiastical Persons many of which had bin already Baptiz'd and Ordain'd Sermons were also Preach'd in several places after the manner of Europe wherein it was necessary for the Fathers to Cite many places of Scripture if they desir'd to be accompted Learned Thus the Fathers of the Society made a daily and very great Progress insomuch that the Number of Baptiz'd and Converted to the Roman Religion amounted to many Thousands About two years after the Patriarch made a Visitation assisted by some of the Sodality in which vast Numbers of People were some of them Rebaptiz'd others Confirm'd to the great good-liking and applause of the King and his Peers who had never seen such things perform'd by any of their Metropolitans before Others look'd asquint upon these prosperous beginnings seeking
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