to marry than to burn who saith likewise that a Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife that is unblameable and sober and in the same manner the Deacons and all Ecclesiasticks as well as Secular ought to have their own lawful Wives Our Monks notwithstanding this do not marry and neither Laicks nor Clerks among us can have above one Wife at a time With us Marriages are not celebrated at the Door of the Church but in private Houses we are taught likewise by the Constitution of the Apostles That if a Priest is convicted of Adultery Murther Theft or of having given false Testimony that he ought to be deprived of his Orders and punished as other Malefactors in the same kind and that an Ecclesiastick or Layman after having known his Wife or having been polluted in his sleep ought not in 24 hours after that to enter into the Church which Women are not to enter into till the 7th day after their menstrua's are over and until they have washed all the Clothes they had on at that time Furthermore a Woman that is delivered of a Man-child is not suffered to enter into the Church till after 40 days and of a Female not till about 80 days which Custom of the Old Law is commanded likewise by the Apostles whose Laws Constitutions and Precepts we do so far as we are able observe in all Cases It is likewise forbidden among us to suffer Heathens or Dogs or any other such Creatures The Habassins have a great veneration for their Churches to come within our Churches neither is it lawful for us to go into them otherwise than barefoot or to laugh walk or spit or speak of secular things in them For the Churches of Ethiopia are not like the Land wherein the People of Israel did eat the Paschal Lamb as they were going out of Egypt where God commanded them to eat with their shooes on and with their loins girt because of the pollution of the land But they are like the Mount Sinai where the Lord spoke to Moses saying Moses Moses put off thy shooes for the ground whereon thou treadest is holy Now this Mount Sinai was the Mother of our Churches from which they derive their original as the Apostles did from the Prophets and the New Testament from the Old Furthermore it is not lawful for a Priest or Layman or any other Person of what condition soever after the receiving of the Venerable Sacrament to Spit from Morning till Sun-set The Habassins are all Baptized every year on the day of the Epiphany and whoever does it is severely Punished In Memory of Christ we are also Baptized every Year on the day of Epiphany which is not done by us as a thing necessary to Salvation but only for the Praise and Glory of our Lord Neither is there any Feast that we Celebrate with so great Solemnities as this because it was on this day that the Most Holy Trinity first appeared manifestly when our Lord Jesus Christ was Baptized in the River of Jordan on whose Head the Holy Spirit Descended at that time in the Figure of a Dove and a Voice from Heaven said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which Holy Spirit being in the Shape of a White Dove did appear with the Face and Figure of the Father and Son in One Divinity After the same manner Christ was seen by the Prophets under various Forms and Similitudes first in the Figure of a White Ram for the preservation of Isaac the Son of Abraham after the same manner he called Jacob Israel and Jacob called Judah to whom he gave power over his Brethren A lions whelp saying My son thou wentest up to the prey and resting didst lie down as a lion and as a lioness who shall rouze thee He manifested himself likewise to Moses in the Figure of a flame of fire on mount Sinai and in the likeness of a Rock to the Holy Prophet Daniel and to Ezekiel as the Son of man and to Isaias in the Form of an Infant he appeared to King David and Gideon in dew upon a fleece and besides the forementioned was seen under divers other Similitudes by the Holy Prophets under all which various Figures he still bore the Similitude of the Father and the Holy Ghost and since God when he Created the World said Let us make man after our own image and similitude and he did make Adam after his own Similitude ahd Image we do for that reason say That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Three Faces in one Similitude and Divinity We have also retained Circumcision from the time of Queen Saba till this day They Circumcise both Men and Women this Queen 's true Name was Maqueda who had Worshipped Idols after the manner of her Ancestors until having heard much of the Wisdom of Solomon she sent a Prudent Person to Jerusalem to certifie her whether that King's Wisdom was so great as it was reported and after being satisfied that it was so she took a Journey to Jerusalem her self where among other things she was Instructed by Solomon in the Law and the Prophets and had the Books thereof bestowed upon her As she was on her Journey home she was Delivered of a Son begot by Solomon whom she Named Meilech and carried with her into Ethiopia where having remained till he was Twenty Years Old he went up to Jerusalem to Visit his Father and to learn Knowledge and Wisdom by him the Queen by Letters intreated Solomon to Consecrate his Son Meilech King of Ethiopia A blind story of the Queen of Sheba and her Son before the Ark of the Covenant and the Testament of the Lord and that after such a manner as to make it Unlawful for the future for a Woman to Reign in Etoiopia as was then the Custom and that the Males only in a direct Line should Inherit the Crown Meilech when he came to Jerusalem did with ease obtain all his Mother had desired and instead of Meilech was Named David by Solomon who having sufficiently Instructed him in the Law and other Sciences sent him home to his Mother in much greater State and Splendor than he came with sending several of the Nobles and of their Sons in his Train to serve him and together with them Azarias a Prince among the Priests the Son of Sadock who was likewise a Sacerdotal Prince whereupon Azarias put David upon asking leave of his Father for him to offer Sacrifice before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord for a prosperous Journey which he obtained Azarias after having with great speed and secrecy got Tables made in imitation of the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord did whilst he was offering Sacrifice with great dexterity steal the true Tables of the Ark of the Covenant and put his new ones in the place of them none but God and himself being conscious to what he had done this among us in Ethiopia is declared
the Roman Pontiff in the Year 1524. In the name of God the Father Almghty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God who was the same with him from the beginning of the World and who is Light of Light and very God of very God and in the name of God the Holy Ghost who is true God and proceedeth from the Father I The King at whose Name the Lyons do tremble who am by the Grace of God called Achami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin the Son of King David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh and by Grace the Son of St. Peter and St. Paul do send these Letters Peace be with you O Just Lord and holy powerful pure and sacred Father who art the head of all Bishops and fearest no-body because there is none that hath power to curse thee who art the most watchful Curate of all Souls and the Friend of Pilgrims and the sacred Master and Preacher of the Faith and the Enemy of every thing that offends the Conscience and the lover of all good Manners and a holy Person whom all do bless and praise O happy and holy Father I do obey you with reverence because you are the peace of all and do deserve whatsoever is good so that it is but just that according to the divine Commands of the Apostles all should yield obedience to you This belongs to you but they have likewise commanded us to reverence all Bishops Archbishops and Prelates and to love you as a Father and to reverence you as a King and to believe in you as a God For which cause I do humbly with bended knees and with a sincere heart tell you holy Father That you are my Father and I am your Son Holy and most mighty Father Why have you never sent any Nuncio's to us to be informed of our health for since you are our Pastor and we are your Sheep you ought not to have been unmindful of us nor ought you to have reckoned us to have been too remote from your Territories for your Nuncio's to have visited us seeing from the most remote Kingdom of the Earth that is Portugal your Son King Emanuel has commodiously sent his Ambassadors to us so that if God had deferred calling him to Heaven the things he and I were treating about had undoubtedly had a happy Issue before this time I should be glad to hear healthful things from you by certain Nuncio's having never had a word from your Holiness nor heard of you by any other way but by some of our vowed Pilgrims who neither carried Letters from us to you nor brought any from you to us and who therefore when we enquired of them could only tell us That going from Jerusalem after they had performed their Vows there to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles at Rome they had seen you giving us a general Account of your Affairs I took great pleasure in their Relations beholding in them the Image of your holy Countenance which appeared to me to be like that of an Angel and I must own that I do love and reverence you Nevertheless it would be much more grateful to me devoutly to contemplate your Words and Letters I must therefore beg it of you that you would send a Nuncio to me to exhilerate my heart with your Blessing for since we agree in Faith and Religion that is the thing of the World that I desire most and that my Friendship may be as the Ring you wear on your Finger or as the Gold Chain that is about your Neck that so I may be always in your heart and memory Friendship being much increased by greateful Words and Letters when holy Peace from which all human Joy doth flow naturally embraceth them For as one that is very thirsty is extreamly desirous of cold water as the Scripture has it so Nuncio's and Letters coming to me from remote parts either from your Holiness or any Christian King will fill my heart with extraordinary Pleasures such as theirs are filled with who after a Victory come to gather rich Spoils All this may be done with great ease now the King of Portugal has opened a way to it who some times since sent Ambassadors with other Persons of Quality to us which was a thing had never been done by any Christian King or Pope before to any of our Ancestors Only in the Archives of our Great Grandfather Zera Jacob who was King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and a most Formidable Prince the Copies of some Letters to him from Eugenius the Roman Pontiff are still preserved the purport whereof is as followeth EUgenius the Roman Pontiff to our beloved Son King Zara Jacob the King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and who is mightily dreaded He goes on and tells him That his Son John Paleologus who had been dead two years the King of the Kings of the Romans had been called by him to celebrate a holy Synod to which he came accompanied by Joseph the Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many other Archbishops Bishops and Prelates as also with the Procurators of the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Jerusalem who had all united themselves to him in the love of the holy Faith and Religion So that now the Unity of the Church was re-established and all the old Controversies thorow God's assistance were ended and whatever was erroneous and contrary to Religion dissipated and right Order restored which had filled all People with joy We do here send you that Letter of Eugenius which has been preserved entire and would likewise have sent you the whole Order and Power of the Pontifical Benediction had it not been so large a Volume it being bigger than the Book of Paul to the Gentiles the Nuncio's that brought these Papers from the Pope hither were Theodore Peter Didimus and George the Servants of Jesus Christ You would do well holy Father to command your Papers to be looked over among which it is like you will meet with some Records of these Matters You may see by this holy Father that if you should be pleased to write any thing to us the memory thereof will be preserved in our Archives thorough all Ages And happy is the Man whose Memory is preserved in the Records of the holy City of Rome the Chair of St. Peter and St. Paul who are the Lords of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Judges of the World and my believing them to be so was the cause of my writing these Letters to your Holiness that I may obtain your Favour and that of your holy Conclave and therewithal all sorts of Blessings and the increase of all good things I do furthermore supplicate your Holiness to send us the Images of some Saints namely that of the blessed Virgin Mary that by that means your Holiness may be frequent
Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met
Popery which was slackened so much of late I shall nevertheless set them down as they are published by the Jesuits leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader Pope Urban the VIIIth To Seltem Saged Emperor of Ethiopia Health and Apostolical Benediction MOST dear Son in Christ The Stream of the River Nile doth at this time make glad the City of God Fruits fit for the Banquets of Angels being brought from the thirsty Land of Ethiopia to the Palace of St. Peter there being nothing that the Mother of Riches or that Africk which is so fruitful of Monsters can bring to Rome the Mother of Christianity that is so Precious and wonderful as your Majesty's Letters addressed to Gregory the XVth of happy Memory to whose place though unworthy of it the Holy Spirit has been pleased to call us when we read them we could not forbear weeping for joy to hear that the vast Empire of Ethiopia had submitted it self to the Laws of the Roman Pontificate O happy Prince who after having Conquered divers Nations and triumphed over all your Enemies have been able to exalt the Trophies of the Cross of Christ upon the Towers of your Provinces For you do really plant Heaven in your Empire so long as the favour of so great a King is sought after by the making a profession of the Catholick truth Go on my Dear Son since God favours you and Rome by its applauses exalts you to the Society of those Princes who for having propogated the Kingdom of Heaven have an immortal memory in the praises of Mankind for notwithstanding your Majesty's Empire is beyond the anciently known ways of the Sun the Apostolical Senate which comprehends all the Nations of the Christian Commonwealth beholdeth all your Heroick Actions giving manifold applauses on the Theatre of the world to your Majesty and to all that are employed by you in suppressing the rashness of Rebels and in breaking the horns of Fiends We the Vicar of the Almighty Majesty in this Throne which all Christians do with bended knees adore have turned the eyes of our Apostolical solicitude towards your Majesty praying that the most exalted Arbiter of Princes may send his Angels to be Soliders in your Triumphant Armies we are not ignorant of what some people drive at for we behold whole Legions of Devils fighting against the Scepter of Christ which is the strength of your Majesty's Right-arm we know the Professors of false Doctrines do likewise whet their Tongues as a Sword that so they may with the poison of their Impiety infect the Bread of Life Assume a courage therefore worthy of the Race of David in whom the House of Ethiopia glories as in their Ancestor who when such people placed their Camps against him did put his trust in God and so found by Experience that the name of the Lord was the Tower of David guarded by aâ— heavenly Host and praised by a victorious Army My most dear Son it is undoubtedly as you write that the Pests of their Countrey and the Disturbers of the people shall not God assisting you be suffered to reign We do most affectionately impart our Apostolical Benediction to your self and your best Brother and to all your Royal Family and faithful People and shall pray continually that you may always have the Arms of light from the Sanctuary of the Divinity and we do here with the keys of the Pontiff open unto you the Treasure of the heavenly Indulgence with whose healthful riches we do at this time bless the Ethiopick Church we shall likewise be always mindful to sollicit the most Powerful King of Spain to grant you all that you shall desire of the Austrian House Most Dear Son we do embrace you in the arms of our Apostolical Charity and carrying you in our hearts we shall always adorn you with the Patronage of our Pontificate and while you do with a Royal Piety venerate the Patriarch of Ethiopia and his Coadjutors you give Examples to others to honour the Priesthood and do whet the sollicitude of holy Prelates to labour in Ethiopia we wish you joy of the obedience of your people who so long as a Religious King fights under the standard of Christ do never Desert him Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman this First of February 1627. in the Fourth Year of our Pontificate Pope Urban the VIIIth's Letter to the Prince Our Most Beloved Son in Christ Health and Apostolical Benediction THE Wealth of Nile floweth to the glory of your Name Urban's Letter to the Prince and you the Son of the Ethiopick Empire do grow up in the hopes of a most powerful Principality you do nevertheless understand God having taught you how miserable you had been had you not drank of the streams of the Gospel out of the Fountain of the Catholick Church and if you had not by adoring St. Peter in the Roman Pontificate been made the Son of God whose Possession and Workmanship the whole frame of Heaven and Earth is in the Roman Church The holy Quire of Reigning Priests and of Obedient Nations do applaud the Heir that is to rule in Ethiopia with Christian Virtue rejoicing that a Kingdom is prepared for you out of which your triumphant Father the Scepter of whose Empire is the Rod of Direction do's thorough the Divine Assistance extirpate the Synagogue of Satan you having been Educated in the Domestick imitation of such splendid virtues and being in a Post that draws the eyes of Heaven and Earth upon you Such Councils are expected from your Wisdom as are to be like the lights of the Holy Spirit and the Thunderbolts of the Divine Vengeance And being it is thus beloved Son you must not think of living at ease in your Father's Palace before you have made all Ethiopia throw it self at the feet of St. Peter that so they may find Heaven in the Vatican For the Doctrines of the Pope will not be only the hope of Salvation to you but they will be also the Anchor of quietness and the safety of your Dominions We do embrace you most Dear Son with the Arms of Apostolical Charity and do wish you an obedient people and favourable Angels amidst the Trophies of your Arms and the Joys of your Prosperity and we do from the bottom of our heart impart our fatherly Benediction to you Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman the Twenty Eighth of December 1630. in the Seventh Year of our Pontificate Now besides that the Phrase of these Letters do very much resemble that of the Patriarch Mendez who affected a Tinsil Oratory in every thing he writ That to the Prince bears Date the same Month of the same Year when it was deliver'd This Jubilee The Emperor's Zeal revived by this Letter and a Jabilee notwithstanding it was Laughed at by the Habassins who asked by what Authority the Pope pretended to forgive Sins is said to have warmed
Emanuel the Only God who is the God of Heaven and is always the same growing neither older nor younger preserve and protect you The Envoy of those that arrived who was first in Commission was named Rodrigo Lima with whom was joyned one Francis Alvarez who for the singular Piety and Probity of his Life was very dear to me he did also return very proper answers to all the questions I put to him concerning Religion you ought therefore to prefer him and to call him Master and to employ him in the Conversion of the people of Matrua and Zeila and of all the other Islands of the Red-Sea all which are on the Coast of our Empire I have bestowed a Cross and a Staff upon him as Badges of Authority and would have you to do the same and to make him Bishop of those Countries for he well deserves it and is very fit for that Office God be propitious to you that so you may always be Valiant against your Enemies and may bring them all under your Feet God grant you a long life and make you partaker of as good Places in the Kingdom of Heaven as I wish for my self for I have heard many good things of you and have seen with my eyes what I never expected to have seen May God make things succeed from good to better and may your place be over the Tree of Life which is the place of the Saints I as your little Son have done what you Commanded me and if you will send Ambassadors to me I will always obey you that so we may help one another and whenever your Ambassadors shall arrive as these did at Matrua or at Dalacam I will be sure to take that care of them that you desire I should there being nothing I am so ambitious of as that we should be united in Councils and Actions and whensoever your Fleet shall come upon my Coast I shall joyn them immediately with an Army And whereas on my Borders there are no Christians nor Christian Churches I am willing to give all those Provinces which Border upon the Mahometans to your Subjects to Inhabit make haste therefore to execute what you have begun In the mean time I would have you send me some of your Learned Men as also some Gravers of Images of Gold and Silver and some Lead Copper and Iron Smiths as also some Printers that understand our Letters to Print Books for our Churches and some that know how to make Bracelets and how to Gild Metals they shall be all well entertained in my Palace and whenever they shall have a mind to return home they shall be well Rewarded for their Pains and I do Swear by Christ Jesus who is God and the Son of God that they shall have free leave to depart This I do desire and expect from your known Virtue and Goodness being sensible that you have a great kindness for me by your having treated Matthew so Honourably and Liberally and by having sent him back as you did I do most earnestly desire to have all the forementioned Artificers sent hither and do promise that you shall never have any cause to repent of your having sent them for I will take care that they shall all be well rewarded wherefore since a Father ought not to deny what his Son desires of him and you are my Father and I am your Son let us be joyned together as two Bricks are in a Wall that so we may be two with one Heart and may agree in the Love of Christ Jesus who is the Head of the World all that are in him being as Bricks joyned together in a Wall Amen The Letters of the same David Emperor of Ethiopia to King John the IIId of Portugal written in the Year 1524. In the Name of God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things that are made visible and invisible In the Name of God the Son the Council and Prophet of the Father and in the Name of the Holy Ghost the Comforter and living God Who is equal to the Father and the Son and who spoke by the mouth of the Prophets and inspired the Apostles that they might Thank and Praise the Perfect Trinity in Heaven and on Earth and in the Depths always Amen I The Frankincense of the Virgin for that was my Baptismal Name but who with the Scepter of my Kingdom have taken the Name of David The Beloved of God the Pillar of the Faith the Offspring of Judah the Son of David the Son of Solomon Kings of Israel the Son of the Pillar of Sion of the seed of Jacob the Son of the hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh do send these Letters and this Ambassador to the Greatest most Powerful and High John King of Portugal and Algerves the Son of King Emanuel Peace be with you the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always Amen When I heard of the Power of the King your Father by whom the Moors the Sons of the filthy Mahomet were subdued I gave great Thanks to God for the Increase and the Greatness of the Crown of Conservation in the House of Christianity I did likewise take great pleasure in the arrival of the Ambassadors who brought that King's words to us because by that means a singular Love Friendship and Correspondence was established betwixt us in order to the Extirpating of all the Wicked Mahometans and the Unbelieving Heathens that lie betwixt our two Kingdoms But while I was full of this Joy before I had sent any Ambassador to him I received the News of your and my Father's Death which turned my Joy suddenly into Sorrow whereof our Court Prelates and Monks and in a word all our Faithful Subjects did deeply partake Our Sorrow upon this News becoming equal to our former Joy Sir From the beginning of my Reign there was no Ambassador nor Envoy sent to me by the King or Kingdom of Portugal but by your Father who sent some of his Captains hither and with them some of his Nobles and Clarks and Deacons who brought with them all the Utensils of a Solemn Mass I must tell you I was overjoyed at their arrival and did receive them with great Affection dismissing them after they had done their Business that so they might return home in Peace and with Honour But being come to the Port of the Red-Sea that is on my Borders they found the Admiral of their Fleet gone who as he certified me himself could wait no longer for them by reason of a Custom that you have of changing your Admiral every Third Year which together with no other Fleets having touched at any of my Ports for some Years after was the cause of your Ambassador's having staid so long at my Court. I do now send what I desire of you by Brother Christopher Licanot whose Baptismal Name is Zaga Zabo that is to say The Grace of the Father who will lay my Demands before
in our Mouths and Memories and that I may be always delighting my self in your Gifts For the same reason I do earnestly intreat you to send me some Learned Men and Artificers namely Carvers of Images Sword-Cutlers and Gunsmiths and Gilders and Carpenters but especially Artificers who knew how to Build Houses with Stone and to cover them with Lead and Copper I should be glad likewise to have some that understand how to make Glass and Musical Instruments and how to play well upon them with some Pipers and Trumpeters These Artificers I desire chiefly from your Holiness but in case you should have none to spare I must intreat you to order some of the Christian Kings your Sons who are all at your Commands to send them unto me Which Artificers when they arrive here shall be treated honourably and rewarded according to their deserts they shall also have good Wages and whenever they shall desire it they shall have free leave to return home and be well rewarded for their pains for I will detain no body against his will how beneficial soever his stay should be to me But to pass to other things I must expostulate with you holy Father Why do you not exhort the Christian Kings your Sons to lay down their Arms as becomes Brethren and to agree among themselves seeing they are all your Sheep and you are their Pastor Your Holiness is not ignorant of the Gospel-Commands and of its having said A kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but will become desolate For if those Kings would but all join together they would quickly destroy all the Mahometans and with ease demolish the Sepulchre of their False Prophet Apply your self therefore to this holy Father that so there may be a firm Peace and Confederacy established among them and exhort them to assist us who are besieged on all sides by Wicked Mahometans and Moors The Turks and Moors can assist one another and their Kings and Rulers do all agree together I have a Mahometan for my Neighbour who is constantly supplied with Arms Horses and all Military Weapons by Princes of his own Sect namely the Kings of India Persia and Egypt this is a great mortification to me to see the Enemies of the Christian Religion enjoy Peace and live together like Brethren and at the same time to see Christian Kings my Brethren not in the least concerned at the Injuries I endure not one of them offering to succour me as becomes a Christian notwithstanding the filthy Sons of Mahomet are always ready to succor one another not that I desire any Soldiers of them for I have enough of my own and to spare but all that I desire of them is only their Prayers and Supplications and your Holiness and my Brethren's Favour The reason why I want your Friendship is that I may be furnished by you with such things as are necessary to terrify the Mahometans the Enemies of the Name of Christ And that my Neighbours may be made sensible of my being favoured by the Christian Kings my Brethren and of their being ready to assist me whenever there shall be occasion which would be much for the honour of all of us that are of the same Faith and Religion and do intend to persist therein God fulfil your Desires to the praise of Jesus Christ and of God our Father who is praised by all thorow all Ages and you my Lord and holy Father with all the Saints of Christ at Rome embrace me and let all my Subjects and all that dwell in Ethiopia be received with the same Embraces and let thanks be returned to Christ with your Spirit These Letters your Holiness will receive from my Brother John King of Portugal the most Powerful Son of King Emanuel who will send them to you by our Ambassador Francisco Alvarez A Second Letter of David Emperor of Ethiopia to the Roman Pontiff written in the Year 1524. HAppy and holy Father who art made by God the Conservator of the Nations and who dost sit in the Chair of St. Peter To thee are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatsoever thou binded or loosest on earth is bound and loose in heaven according to what Christ hath said in St. Matthew 's Gospel I the King at whose Name the Lyons tremble who at my Baptism was called Atami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin but who when I took the Administration of my Empire upon me assumed the Names of David the Beloved of God the Pillar of Faith the Prince of Judah the Son of Solomon the Son of the Pillar of Sion the Son of Zara Jacob the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh Emperor of the Great and High Ethiopia and of vast Kingdoms and Dominions King of Xoa and Caffate and Fatigar Angot Baru Baaltinganze Adea Vanga and Mahon and Saba from whence the Queen of Saba went and Barnagays the Lord of all Nubia to the Confines of Egypt All which Countries and a great many more not here mentioned are under our Dominion neither have I mentioned the fore-named out of Pride or Vaingloy or for any other reason but that the Great God may be the more praised who of his singular bounty has been pleased to bestow the foresaid Christian Empires upon my Ancestors and who hath likewise been gracious to me after a special manner that I might constantly do service to his Religion making me Lord of Adel and the Scourge of the Mahometans and Gentiles who do worship Idols I do after the manner of other Christian Kings my Brethren to whom I am no-ways inferior either in Power or Religion send to kiss your Holiness's Feet Within my own Territories I am the Fillar of Faith neither am I assisted with any Foraign Succors but I do place my whole trust and confidence in God as my Ancestors did before me who have all been sustained and governed by him ever since his Angel spoke to Philip who instructed the Eunuch of the powerful Queen Candace Empress of Ethiopia in the Faith as he was coming from Jerusalem to Gaza Philip then baptized the Eunuch and the Eunuch afterwards baptized the Queen with the greatest part of her Court and People who from that day to this have continued Christians and strong in the Faith My Ancesters without any other than Divine Assistance have propagated the Faith thorow vast Regions which I likewise labour daily to do being fixed between the large Borders of my Kingdoms as a Lyon encompassed within a Wood and strongly fortified against the Mahometans and other Nations that are Enemies to the Christian Faith and who will not give ear to the Word of God and my Exhortation For which reason I with my Sword girt about me do persecute them and will by degrees expel them relying on the Divine Assistance which is never wanting to me which is more than all Christan Kings can say who if they would but agree together might with
with one that had ever heard of them before The Observances prescribed in those Books are as followeth 1. That we are to fast upon all Wednesdays in memory of its having been decreed by the Jewish Council upon that day That Christ should be put to death We are commanded likewise to fast upon all Fridays because Christ was crucify'd and died for our Sins on that day upon which two days we are commanded to eat nothing till Sun-set During the 40 days of Lent we are commanded to fast with Bread and Water and to be employed seven hours in the day in Divine Service by the same Edicts we are commanded to Administer the Sacraments in the Evenings of Wednesdays and Fridays because our Saviour expired at that time on the Cross We are furthermore commanded to assemble together unanimously on the Lord's Day in the Church three hours after Sun-rising to read and hear the Books of the Prophets and afterwards to preach the Gospel and Administer the Sacrament they have furthermore appointed Nine days to be observed as Festivities in honour of Christ to wit the Annunciation the Nativity the Circumcision the Purification or Day of Candles of Baptism of Transfiguration Palm-Sunday until the Octaves of Good-Friday which are twelve days of the Ascension and Pentecost with their Festivities according to these Books We are without exception to eat Flesh every day from Easter to Pentecost neither are we bound to fast till after the Octaves of Pentecost which is observed for the greater honour and veneration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ they command us likewise to celebrate the Days of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin Mary with great honour But besides the Precepts of the Apostles a certain Precious John whose name was Zara Jacob ordained 33 days in every year to be kept in honour of the said Blessed Virgin and a day in every Month in honour of Christ's Nativity which is always the 25th of the Month and a day likewise in every Month to be observed in honour of St. Michael Furthermore in obedience to the said Synod of the Apostles we do celebrate the day of St. Stephen and other Martyrs and are bound by the Institution of the Apostles to observe two days to wit the Sabbath and Lord's-Day on which it is not lawful for us to do any work no not the least on the Sabbath-Day because God after he had finished the Creation of the World rested thereon Which Day as God would have it called the Holy of Holies so the not celebrating thereof with great honour and devotion seems to be plainly contrary to God's Will and Precept who will suffer Heaven and Earth to pass away sooner than his Word and that especially since Christ came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfil it It is not therefore in imitation of the Jews but in obedience to Christ and his holy Apostles that we observe that Day the favour that was shewed herein to the Jews being transferred to us Christians so that excepting Lent we eat Flesh every Saturday in the Year but in the Kingdoms of Barnagaus Tigre and Mahon the Christians according to ancient custome do eat Flesh on all Saturdays and Sundays even in Lent We do observe the Lord's-Day after the manner of all other Christians in memory of Christ's Resurrection But as we are sensible that we have the observation of the Sabbath-Day from the Books of the Law and not from those of the Gospel A Falsehood so we are not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and the Prophets On those forementioned Days we believe the Souls of the Just departed this Life not to be tormented in Purgatory which ease will be granted by God to them upon those two most holy Days until the term of their suffering for their Sins is expired and they are entirely delivered to the shortning and mitigating of which Torments we believe the Alms that are given for the relief of the Souls in Purgatory do contribute much towards the remission of which Souls the Patriarch grants no Indulgences The Abuna never grants any Indulgences which we believe belongs to God only and that he only constitutes the time of their punishment neither does the Patriarch grant Indulgences on any occasion The Gospel obligeth us to observe only the Six Precepts which Christ with his own mouth has explained as follows I was hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you entertained me naked and you covered me sick and you visited me in prison and you came unto me which are all words that will be spoke by Christ at the Day of Judgment For the Law as St. Paul says sheweth us our sins which Law without Christ The Habassins believe Original Sin none is able to keep Paul witnesseth likewise that we are all born in sin by reason of the Transgression and Curse of our Mother Eve Paul saith furthermore that we died thorough Adam and do live thorough Christ who of his infinite mercy gave us these Six Precepts that when he comes in Majesty to judge the Quick and Dead we may be saved With which Words and Precepts he will on the Tremendous Day of Judgment allot everlasting Glory to the Righteous and to the Wicked Fire and Everlasting Damnation We do reckon only five mortal Sins as they call them which are gathered out of the last Chapter of the Revelations where it is said Without are dogs and witches and unclean persons and murtherers and idolaters and every one who loveth and maketh a lye It is constituted by the holy Apostles Clerks may marry in the Book of Synods that it is lawful for Clerks to marry and that even after they have some knowledge of Divine Matters who after they are married are received into the Order of Presbyter to which none are admitted before they are 30 years of Age neither are Bastards ever admitted to it Holy Orders are conferred by none but the Patriarch and after the death of their first Wives neither Bishops nor Presbyters are permitted to marry a second time unless the Patriarch shall think fit to dispence with them which he does sometimes to eminent Persons and when it is for the Publick good Neither are they suffered to keep Concubines unless they do voluntarily give over officiating after which they must no more meddle with holy things and this is so strictly observed that the Presbyters who marry a second time must not presume so much as to take a consecrated Candle in their hands and if any Bishop or Clerk is found to have had a Bastard he is deprived of his Orders and all his Ecclesiastical Benefices and his Goods if he dies without Children lawfully begotten do all go to Precious John and not to the Patriarch That it is lawful for Presbyters to have Wives we have received from St. Paul who would rather have both Clergy and Laity
A long Justification of their abstaining from Meats that are made unclean by the Law while they conversed with Christ make use of unclean Meats or so much as taste any thing that was prohibited by the Law which was what none of them offered to transgress no not after the time of our Lord's Passion when they began to preach the Gospel there being nothing in their Writings from whence it can be gathered that they did ever kill or eat any thing that is unclean It is true Paul saith Eat all that is sold in the shambles asking nothing for conscience sake and again If any that are infidels invite you to a feast and you are disposed to go eat whatsoever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake And again If any one shall say This is offered to idols do not eat for his sake that told you so and for conscience sake c. All which Paul spoke in compliance with those who are weak in the Faith betwixt whom and the Jews there were frequent Debates and in order to the putting a stop to those Disputes the Apostle complied much with the weaker Christians which he did not do that he would have the Law broke but that by gratifying such People in the relaxation of Rites he might allure them to the Faith The same Apostle saith likewise Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not for he that eateth eateth unto the Lord and he that eareth not eateth not unto the Lord. It is therefore an unworthy thing to reprove Christians who are Strangers with so much bitterness as I have been reproved here concerning this very matter and other little things which do no ways belong to Faith It would certainly be much wiser for Christians whether Greeks Armenians Ethiopians or of any of the Seven Christian Churches to bear with one another in Charity and in the Bowels of Christ in all such matters and to suffer one another to live and converse with their Christian Brethren being all Sons of Baptism and unanimous in the true Faith neither is there any cause why they should debate so sharply about Ceremonies or why every one should not be suffered to observe his own and that without hating and persecuting others for theirs neither ought any one in a strange Countrey to be debarred the Communion of the Church for observing his own Church-Ceremonies As to that we meet with in the Acts of Peter's seeing a Cloth let down from Heaven by the corners wherein were all Four-footed Beasts and all creeping Creatures and Birds of the Air and of his having heard a Voice that commanded him to rise and kill and eat to which Peter replied Far be it from me Lord for I have never eat any thing that is common and unclean to whom the Voice answered What God has purified that do not thou call unclean which having been done three several times the Vessel was then immediately taken up into Heaven whereupon the Spirit sent him straightways to Cesarea to Cornelius a holy Man fearing God to whom when Peter spake the Holy Spirit descended on all who heard the Word of God After which Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole Family Now when the Apostles and Brethren who were in Judea came to hear of what Peter had done they were angry and asked him How he came to go to men who were uncircumcised and to eat with them but after Peter had declared to them the whole Vision they were satisfied and returned thanks to God saying He hath given repentance unto life to the Gentiles and they remembred the word of the Lord which he spoke when he ascended into Heaven Go over all nations and preach the Gospel to all creatures in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Then the Apostles begun to preach the Gospel over the whole World to every Creature in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost insomuch that their sound went thorough the whole Earth Now this Vision wherein things clean and unclean appeared we of Ethiopia interpret thus The clean living Creatures were the People of Israel the unclean were the Gentiles who were therefore said to be unclean because they worshipped Idols and did the Works of the Devil which are unclean So that the Voice saying Peter kill was the same as if it had said Teach and preach the Faith and the Law of Christ both to the People of Israel and the Gentiles besides it is most certain that we read no where in the Scriptures of Peter or of any other of the Apostles killing or eating any thing that was unclean after this Vision We are to observe likewise That when the Scriptures speak of Bread it is not to be understood of a Corporal Food but of the Doctrine of the Gospel It is therefore adviseable for all Doctors and Preachers to teach high and sublime things of this Linen Cloth which was shewed to Peter and not low things which do no way appertain to Salvation and least of all to draw Arguments from thence to prove it to be lawful for us to eat things that are unclean seeing no such matter can be gathered from the Scripture but that is not all for the Apostles themselves in their Book of Synods have forbid us to eat any thing that is strangled or tore or half eaten by Beast or Blood hecause the Lord loveth cleanness and sobriety and hateth gluttony and pollution and loveth those much who abstain from Flesh and those more who fast with Bread and Water and Herbs as John the Baptist did who eat nothing else As also Paul the Hermite who lived in the Desert and fasted 80 years as St. Anthony and St. Macarius and a great number of their Spiritual Sons who never so much as tasted Flesh Wherefore Brethren we ought not to contemn and persecute our Neighbours for St. James saith He that speaketh evil of his brother or judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law Paul teacheth likewise That it is much better for people to rest satisfied with their own traditions than to contend with their Christian brethren about the law and that in such matters they ought not to be wiser than is necessary but to be wise to sobriety according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith Wherefore it is a very undecent thing to contend with our brethren about the law and distinction of meats since meat cannot commend us to God A charitable Admonition and especially since St. Paul hath said Whether ye eat plentifully or do not eat ye are never the worse Let us therefore look after higher things and the food that is heavenly and forbear such low and empty disputations What I have writ concerning Traditions I have not writ out of a spirit of contention but to defend my Countreymen against the violent reproofs of those who paid so
Master May Christ our Lord who is the beginning and end of all things carry on that Amity and Friendship which he hath begun between us The principal cause of my writing to your Majesty at this time is to renew the Familiarity and Correspondence which was between our Ancestors which Friendship together with the Adoption of the Holy Spirit has much enobled us Wherefore we desire your Majesty to send us some strong and stout Soldiers to help us to beat the Enemy out of our Ports your Troops when they arrive will find us provided with Arms and all other necessary Provisions of War and in a readiness to assist them to the utmost It being much fitter that those Ports should be in your Majesty's hands than in the hands of the greatest Enemies of our holy Faith your Majesty's Ancestors sent an Army of Gallant men into Ethiopia at a time when the Enemy was ready to have destroy'd our Faith and Empire We might destroy all our Enemies with great ease if we were assisted by the powerful Kings that profess the Gospel and who do comfort our hearts with the Memory of heavenly things we being all Sons of Heaven as St. John witnesseth saying What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit Furthermore we are at war with another Enemy who are called Gauls and who do give us much trouble Wherefore we beseech your Majesty to send us some stout Troops and such as are Zealous for our holy Apostolical Faith and that with all possible Expedition We on our part have for some time been ready to receive them and if they were once come it will quickly appear that all that we design is feasible For why since Christ our Lord is our Common Head and we are all his Members and the Heavenly Father hath begot us all in one Womb of Baptism and that not with corruptible seed should we not be all tied in one chain of love with one Soul and one Body If these Letters were writ by the Habassin Emperor which I do very much doubt they plainly discover that the Fathers chief Argument to persuade him to submit himself to the Pope was the promise of Portuguese Troops but the reason why I suspect these Letters not to have been writ by the Emperor but by some Missionary in the Indies and who had never so much as been in Ethïopia are 1. That Seltam Saged or Suseneus 's Father was never Emperor as he is said in these Letters to have been 2. Guerreiro in his relation of Ethiopia printed at Lisbon in the Year 1611 sets them down under the name of the Emperor Jacob These Letters were probably forged by some Missionary or Malasequet 3. Their Phraseology excepting an affected sprinkling here and there of uncouth Phrases as also their Complements are so much Spanish that an Habassin has not less of the air of a Spaniard than they have of the Letters that were certainly known to have been writ by some of those Emperors Lastly Pereira tells us That the Habassin Emperors from the time that the remains of Gama 's Troops went over to the Turks and assisted them against Ademas dreaded nothing so much as the coming of Portuguese Soldiers from the Indies but whatever the Emperors did there being nothing that the Jesuits desired so earnestly it is to be feared that they made bold with the Emperor's name in the solliciting of them But there are more Letters behind which whether genuine or suppositious I shall set down leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader The Letter of Raz Athanateus to the King of Portugal THE Letter of Peace and Love Athanateus's Letter to the King of Portugal sent by Athanateus cometh to the High and Powerful Emperor of Portugal with the Peace of our Lord Christ who was Crucified on the holy Cross for the Redemption of the World May this Peace be always with your Majesty The cause of my writing this Letter to you is the earnest desire that the Emperor and I both have to see some Portuguese Troops in this Countrey We do therefore most earnestly beseech your Majesty to send us a Body of stout well-disciplin'd men in order to there covering of our Ports which are at this time in the hand of the Enemies of our Faith When your Soldiers arrive we will take care that they shall be supplied with Arms and all other Necessaries Your Majesty's Ancestors assisted us when the Mahometans broke in upon us and we do to this day remember what great things Christ wrought for us by their means I must therefore a second time intreat your Majesty to send us a Body of stout Soldiers whom when they arrive I shall be ready to receive with open Arms and my mind gives me they will come at some time or other concerning which affair Father Peter Pays will write more at large to your Majesty Written in Ethiopia the 13th of December 1607. The Letter of Raz Athenateus to the Viceroy of the Indies THE Letter of Peace and Love His Letter to the Viceroy of the Indias sent by Athenateus cometh to the great Viceroy of the Indies with the peace of our Lord Christ who died on the holy Cross for our Redemption may that Peace be always with your Excellency and your whole State Amen Hear Sir My Father was always a great friend to the Portugueses that came into these parts having continually favoured them in all things as I have done ever since his death having on all occasions assisted them both with my Interest and my Purse and saved several of them when condemned to die being willing to preserve the remains of the first Portugueses that came among us until more should come to them for the good of this Empire I have had it for some years in my thoughts to write to you but have still been hindered by the Wars we have of late been so much embroiled in out of which God has been pleased to deliver us at last and to give us an Emperor of a Sound Judgment and who governs all things with great prudence who upon my acquainting him with the great need we stand in of Portuguese Succors was pleased to write himself to the King of Portugal for some commanding me to do the same and to acquaint him how much we desire them and how much their coming will be for God's Service I must therefore intreat your Excellency to lend us your helping-hand in this affair that so it may be brought to a speedy Issue Let there be at least a Thousand Soldiers sent and let it be done with all possible Expedition for which Service you will have honour in the sight of God who will undoubtedly reward you for it and were there but once a way opened for it your Excellency shall want nothing that this Empire affords I shall say no more since Father Peter Pays who is acquainted with all my secrets can disclose
defend it with the last drop of his blood This Proclamation brought the whole Countrey in to Julius out of which having formed a numerous Croisade he marched directly towards the Nile with an intention to have fallen first upon Raz Cella the great Champion of Popery He Marcheth with a great Croisade against the Emperor but happening in his March to come near the place where the Abuna resided he went to wait on him to have his Blessing the Abuna who was glad to see him was not satisfied with giving him a Thousand Blessings for being so valiant for the truth but though he was above a Hundred Years of Age he would go in person in the Croisade The Abuna goes against him in person telling Julius That as he should partake of the benefits of that holy War if it had success so he was resolved likewise to partake of its dangers And whereas Julius was for beginning with Raz Cella the Abuna diverted him from it by telling him That since he was at the head of so great and zealous an Army he ought not to spend its first heats which were always the strongest in lopping off Branches but in striking at the Root which being once destroyed the Branches would wither of themselves He likewise encouraged the Soldiers by telling them That they fought for the best Cause in the world that is the true Religion which the Emperor and his Brother if let alone would certainly destroy assuring them That whosoever was slain in this holy War would die a Martyr and go straight to Heaven thundering out his Excommunications at the same time against the Emperor and his Brother and all that adhered to them as Apostates from the Faith The Emperor hearing that Julius was Marching towards him with a numerous and Zealous Croisade sent to his Brother to make all the haste he could to come and join him with his Army but fearing lest Julius who made long Marches might be up with him before his Brother could join him He incamped his Army so that the Enemy's Horse in which their main strength consisted if they should attack him in his Camp would be of little use to them When the Armies were within sight of one another the Emperor sent his Daughter who was Wife to Julius to try if she could persuade her Husband to lay down his Arms promising him not only a pardon for what he had done but every thing that a subject could reasonably desire of his Prince And in case she should not be able to bring him to submit she was then to try if she could obtain a Cessation of Arms of him for a few days but Julius either reckoning himself secure of a Victory that would have the Crown for its reward or being fearful to take the Emperor's word after he had provoked him so much would hear of nothing but of Fighting saying He would either die a Martyr for his Religion or by Conquering its Enemies secure it from being ever destroy'd And that he might lose no time He fights the Emperor's Army and is killed he attacked the Emperor's Camp before his Princess was well got back to her Father and having put himself at the head of a brisk body of men be advanced towards his out-guards who though they did not come in to him would not strike a stroke telling their Officers flatly That they would never draw their Swords against a man who was fighting in Defence of their Religion Julius observing this asked aloud all the way he went where the Emperor was that was resolved to destroy the Religion of their Forefathers which he was there with his Sword in his hand ready to defend against him and all Mankind with which as if it had been the word of the Imperialists he advanced within sight of the Royal Tent without having met with the least opposition until a body of Tigrians who were posted not far from it put a full stop to his Career thorough whom as he was hacking his way he was knocked off his Horse with the blow of a stone under the left Eye and as he lay on the ground had his head presently chopped off which was carried to the Emperor by a private Sentinel The Body that advanced with Julius having as it were lost their Soul in their Commander was presently hewed all in pieces and the Tigrians following their blow The Croisaide is totally defeated and the old Abuna slain and the other Imperialists who would not strike a stroke before joining with them now that Julius was slain they put the whole Croisade immediately to the rout every man of them so soon as they heard of their General 's being killed throwing down their Arms and crying out for Quarter The old Abuna was stunned so with this sudden turn of things that he was not able to stir from the place where he had posted himself but though several of the Imperialists knowing him to be the Abuna had out of Reverence to his character and great Age passed by him without offering him any violence yet a true Roman Catholick say the Jesuits whose name was Za Michael having found him out gave him such a blow in the neck with his Lance that he laid his head at his foot with whose and Julius's death this great Croisade vanished having had no other effect than to enrage the Emperor more than he was before against the Alexandrians The Emperor upon this Victory prohibits his Subjects to observe Saturday and their Religion who immediately upon this Victory set forth a Proclamation prohibiting all his Subjects upon severe penalties to observe Saturday any longer This Impious Proclamation as the Habassins reckoned it produced a bitter Libel directed by way of a Letter to the Emperor wherein he was told That his Subjects were all amazed at his wickedness in commanding the violation of that Sacred day advising him not to be rid by the Jesuits A severe Libel comes out against the Emperor who were an Ignorant little sort of people and who being of the race of Pontius Pilate and Uncircumcised did teach that there are Two Natures in Christ Adding That they were men swallowed up in the Gulph of their own Fopperies and did run headlong like an unbridled Horse without looking before them and did well deserve to have a Milstone tied about their Necks and to be thrown into the Sea and to be made partakers of the Curse that befel Pope Leo for having deni'd the Unity of Christ's Nature and after a great huddle of Texts of Scripture in favour of their Doctrines it at last admonisheth the Emperor that in case he was not weary of his Crown and the high Dignity he had received from the Popes of Egypt who wore the holy and new Ephod and bore the badge of the Cross to give over trying such new Experiments concluding thus Ah! We do here send this precious stone which enlightens the eyes of the blind May it be for an offering