unhappily lost in the Voyage So that what I set down was what occurred to my Memory which I have done with great Fidelity Farewell my most beloved Son in Christ Lisbon the 24th of April in the year of our salvation 1534. After having writ this I called to mind the passage wherein I had affirmed That Christ had descended into the lower parts for the sake of Adam's Soul and his own which he receiv'd from his Mother the holy Virgin Mary Of the truth whereof we have a certain Testimony in the Books of Government as we call them which Books were delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ to his Apostles and they are likewise the Mystery of Doctrines insomuch that their Testimony is admitted as infallible among us The Portuguese Divines are of Opinions that are contrary to those Writings but that does not hinder that from being true which these Books affirm viz. That the Souls of men are derived from Adam that is to say As our Flesh is derived from the Flesh of Adam so our Soul as a Burning Light is derived likewise from the Soul of Adam which makes us to be all of the Seed of Adam both as to Body and Soul In this large Confession of Faith A Censure on Zaga Zaba's Confession of Faith albeit Zaga Zaba discovers himself to have been piqued by the Portuguese Clergy having teaz'd him as they did about his Religion and to have disputed himself into some warmth upon several Ceremonial Points yet as to the Doctrines wherein the Roman Church was at that time contradicted by the Reformers namely the Three great ones of the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation and Purgatory it is visible that to ingratiate himself with the Pope and King of Portugal and to make his Court the better he did both stretch his Conscience and sacrifice his Resentments to the Publick Character he bore Those Doctrines having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Habassin Church Which Charge of Infidelity is justified both by the Jesuits and his Countreyman Gregory who never spoke of him but with detestation calling him commonly a Beast of the Field And as to his saying that his Emperor's Name was Precious and not Prestor John it was a plain Trick in him designing by such a slight Correction of that word to establish the opinion of his Master being the Prince was meant by Prestor John in Europe For whereas the present Emperor's Name was David so I do not find that there was one of the Name of John in the whole Line of those Princes Neither is there any colour for its having been a constant Title among them But while David's Ambassador was thus detained at Lisbon The Emperor David brings a terrible storm upon himself by seeking to enter into an alliance with the Portugueses disputing Whether it was lawful to eat Black-Puddings he himself continued involved in a rude and cruel War brought upon him by his new Correspondence with the Portugueses whose Name at that time was become very formidable all over the East For whereas the Habassin as is plain from his own Letters did expect nothing less from his new Alliance than the utter extirpation of all his Infidel Neighbours Heathens and Mahometans so natural it is for people to overvalue any new and untry'd advantage and to expect much more from it than it is capable of yielding so his Infidel Neighbours and particularly the Mahometans apprehending that an Alliance betwixt the Habassins and Portugueses might prove a thing of dangerous consequence to them did all conspire to interrupt it by disabling the Habassin before any Portuguese Troops could come to his assistance In prosecution of which Design Granhe a Mahometan Prince obtains several Victories over David one Ahamed whose Nick-name was Granhe or Left Hand a Mahometan Prince having joined his Forces with those of the King of Adel upon whom the Habassin had begun a War he marched against David resolving to give him Battel before he was reinforced by the Portuguese Troops which though they did not come in several years after were expected by every Moncon David being flushed by some former Victories and having an Army superior in number to that of Granhe and Adel joined together was so far from declining to fight that he marched directly towards the Infidels The two Armies no sooner met than they came to blows and after a long and bloody Fight the Habassins were totally routed most of them being either killed or taken Prisoners David having narrowly escaped He drives him at last in a manner out of his Empire retired to the Mountains where he sculked about for Two Years with a small flying Body During which time Granhe made himself Master of all the best Provinces of that Empire burning down the Churches or prophaning them by converting them into Mosques whereever he came David seeing his Empire in imminent danger of being totally conquered David sends one John Bermudes a Portuguese after having given him a Title to succeed the Abuna when he died to Rome and Lisbon to solicite and hasten some Succors dispatched one John Bermudes a Portuguese who had been in Ethiopia ever since the Empress Helena her Government to Rome and Lisbon to acquaint those Courts with the Ill Circumstances he was in and to conjure them as they had any regard to the Preservation of a great Christian Empire to send him some considerable Succors with all possible Expedition for otherwise the Habassin Church and Empire would be speedily lost beyond recovery And in order to make his Court the better with the Pope and that King he obliged the Abuna Mark not only to consecrate the said Bermudes who till then was a pure Layman a Bishop but to declare him also his Successor in the See of Ethiopia Bermudes being thus consecrated a Bishop John Bermudes before he went was consecrated a Bishop by the Abuna His Habassin Ordination by a single Euâ—ychian Bishop was allowed to be valid by the Pope when he came to Rome and declared Successor to the Abuna began his Journey for Rome over land and being arrived at that Court in the year 1538 was graciously received by Paul the IIId who did not only allow his Habassin Orders to be valid but did furthermore confirm his Nomination to the Patriarchate of Ethiopia So that whatever it is that hinders the Popes from allowing the Orders of the Church of England to be good unless their Infallibilities will contradict one another it cannot be what they pretend to wit either the Heresy of her first reformed Bishops or their not having been three to consecrate since in this case the Consecration of a Bishop by a single Heretical Bishop was allowed by the Pope to be valid But England is England and Ethiopia is Ethiopia and Policy may not allow that they should be both treated alike Bermudes having dispatched his own Business at Rome Bermudes having got his title to the Abunaship of Ethiopia
been Emperor himself for Seven years and that with the Approbation of the People who had also restored him after he had been Deposed for some time neither was his being a Bastard any bar to him since according to the Natural and Civil Law a Bastard may succeed his Father as John the First of Portugal did his Fathor Don Peter besides Suseneus was a Bastard no less than Jacob. On the other side saith Tellez it may be alledged That Jacob having been deposed to make room for Za Danguil who was both the true Heir and was chosen by the Grandees and People upon Danguil 's death the Throne became void and the Election of an Emperor out of the Royal Family devolved to the Commonwealth whereupon Suseneus who was the Grandson of an Infante was chosen Emperor by the Army upon Jacob 's having delayed coming to them Concluding That whatever Princes Titles or Pretences in such cases may be in Speculation according to the Practice of the World he has the best Title that â—â—s the longest Sword But to return to the Fathers who having staid at Court till Winter obtained leave to go to Gorgora to fix a Residence there but they had not been gone a Month before the Emperor writ to them to come to Court again declaring that he could not be without their Company any longer The Fathers obey'd the summons and repaired to Coga a place near the Lake of Dembea where the Emperor at that time had his Camp They were no sooner arrived but the Emperor gave them an Audience and after that was over ordered them to Dine with him that is in the same Room though not at the same Table The Portugueses give a tedious account of the particulars of this Entertainment the main of which are That the Emperor does not feed himself but has his Meat put into his Mouth by his Pages that his Diet was plain and without any thing of Cookery and that he had neither Knife Spoon Table-Cloth nor Napkin and had Bread for his Trencher and never Drank till he had done Eating Father Peter and his Companions never missed the Emperor's Levee the Emperor taking great delight to discourse with them about Religion and the difference that is between the Habassin and Roman Churches which Conferences having continued for some time The Emperor offers to write to the King of Portugal and the Pope and is encouraged by Father Peter to do it the Emperor sent one day to Father Peter to come to him alone and being come he told him That nowithstanding he was convinced that he ought to submit himself and his Empire to the Pope yet it would not be safe for him to attempt it before he had some assurance that the King of Portugal would assist him against those who would oppose him in doing of it That he intended therefore to write a Letter to the Pope and another to the King about it The Father having extolled his good intentions encouraged him to write those Letters assuring him of as good an Answer to them as he could desire The Emperor Seltem Saged's Letter to the Pope THE Letter of the Emperor of Ethiopia The Emperor's Letter to the Pope Malac Eguet cometh to the holy Pope of Rome with the Peace of our Lord Christ who loved us and washed us from our Sins in his blood and hath made us a Kingdom and a Priesthood to God the Father May this Peace be always with your Holiness and the Catholick Church of Christ Amen We have for a long time had a great affection for the Christians of your parts upon the account of the benefits this Empire received from them when it was formerly rescued by the Portugueses out of the hands of Mahometans and restored by them to its ancient estate and quiet most of whose Race died in our Father's Reign who was willing they should enjoy what his Ancestors had given them whereupon so soon as through God's Grace I took the Government of the Empire upon me I determined to renew our Alliance with the Faithful People of Christ in order to remedy the manifest distractions our Empire of late years has been put into by the Mahometans for notwithstanding we have subdued most of our Domestick Enemies we have Enemies still that are much more Powerful that is the Infidel Gauls who have Conquered a great part of our Empire and destroyed many of our Churches and which is worst of all are daily Invading us and exercising unheard-of Cruelties on Old Men Widows and Children whom we are not able to protect without being assisted by our Brother the Emperor of Portugal We do therefore implore his aid as our Ancestors did that of his Predecessors formerly and that there may be no failure we resolved to intreat your Holiness who is the Father and Pastor of all faithful Christians to write to our Brother to grant us what we desire of him before the Gauls grow stronger upon us As to the landing of the Succors he shall send it will be done without any danger they that are the Masters of our Coast being at this time very weak at Sea so being assured that your Holiness will assist us according to our necessities we will trouble you with no more words but shall refer the relation of the state of our Empire and of the kindness wherewith we Treat those of the Portuguese race and of the care we take of the Fathers and their Churches to Father Peter Pays to whom I have recommended the doing of it and to whose account I desire you to give the same credit as you do to this Letter We conclude praying that our Lord Christ would preserve your Holiness for many Years for the good of the Catholick Church Written in Ethiopia on the 14th of October 1607. The Emperor's Letter to the King of Spain THE Letter sent by the Emperor Malac Eguet His Letters to the King of Spain cometh to the Emperor of Spain the Holy Land of St. Peter the Prince of the Doctors and of the Catholick Church of our Lord of which the Apostle St. Paul said I have betrothed thee to one man to present thee a chast Virgin to Christ To whom be glory and in imitation of the most pure Messenger St. Gabriel who saluting our Lady the Virgin said The Lord save thee and of Christ our Lord who on the Evening of the Lord's-day after his Resurrection said to his Apostles being assembled together Peace be among you and as St. Paul writes in all his Epistles The Peace of our Lord be with your Majesty our Brother in the Faith that was preached by St. Peter at the time when our Lord Christ commanded his Apostles to go all over the world and preach the Gospel to all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost How is your Majesty and how is your Empire we are in health thorough the Intercession of St. Peter your and our
consult with the Viceroy what course they were to take He remains there and sends his Spanish Coadjutor into Ethiopia with a promise of Portuguese Troops to be sent after him the Patriarch notwithstanding Rodriguez melancholy Account of things is said to have been extreamly zealous to have gone to his Province saying He should either be able to effect there what he was sent to do or should have the Honour of dying a Martyr Nevertheless after several Consultations had been held about it it was at last resolved That the Spaniard Bishop Andrew should be first sent thither with some of the Fathers of the Mission but that the Patriarch and the Portuguese Bishop should remain at Goa till things were more promising in Ethiopia than at present they were of which if it ever happened Bishop Andrew was to send them intelligence In pursuance of this Resolution Bishop Andrew embarked in February and towards the latter end of March landed at Arkiko where having made no stay he went on with a good Train of Portuguese to Deboraa and was there received by Bahurnagays the Prince of the Country with great kindness The Bishop so soon as he came to Debora writ the following Letter to the Emperor THE Heavenly Father The Coadjutor's Letter to the Emperor with his Son Consubstantial and Eternal and the Spirit the Comforter one only God and Three Persons be always with your Highness with an abundance of his Divine Graces that so you may in all things know and follow his most Holy Will according to what our Lord Christ hath said in St. John 's Gospel My food is to do the will of him that sent me teaching us likewise in St. Matthew 's Gospel to pray Thy will be done The Catholick and Illustrious Don John the Third King of Portugal after he had prevailed with his Holiness to send a Patriarch with some Associates into Ethiopia being thereunto moved by no worldly Interest but purely by a Zeal for God and the Love he has for your Highness has been at a vast Charge the particulars whereof his Highness might be acquainted with if he pleased to convey them to the Indies where the Patriarch now remains waiting your Highness's Pleasure that when he comes he may serve Christ here the more effectually It was nevertheless thought expedient that I and some of the Fathers of the Society should be sent before the Patriarch having before I left Goa invested me with full Authority as his Coadjutor which I was ordained to by his Holiness and accordingly we are come as far as Deboraa where we have been kindly entertained by Bahurnagays and have met with very good Company namely Francis Jacome and divers other Portugueses Our business here is to serve God and your Highness whose Royal Person and Estate may God preserve for his greater Service and Honour Amen Deboraa the 26th of March 1557. The Coadjutor after having staid three Weeks at Deboraa He goes to Court intriguing with Bahurnagays about the Troops the Viceroy had promised to send after him begun his Journey to Court being waited upon all the way by that Prince and being come within a days Journey of the Camp he was commanded to stop till he received further Orders where having waited two days he received Orders to advance and being come within Cannon-shot of the Camp was commanded to pitch his Tent there where having staid a Day and a Night about Noon a great Troop of the Princes of the Blood and chief Nobility all well-mounted and equipped came to wait on him to his Audience two of which having alighted went into the Coadjutor's Tent and having complemented him in the Name of the Emperor told him His Highness was ready to give him a publick Audience and had sent the splendid Body of Men he saw to wait upon him to it The Coadjutor having returned their Complement he robed himself in his Pontificalibus and mounted a Horse that had been sent to him by the Emperor and besides the Habassins who paid their Respects to him one by one he advanced towards the Royal Tent attended with a numerous Train of Portuguese who to do their Religion and their Country the greater Honour had come from all parts of Ethiopia to be present at this Solemnity The Emperor having contrary to Custom ordered the Coadjutor with his whole Train to ride into the first Court of the Palace had placed himself with his Mother in a Window behind Curtains to see the Cavalcade and after having waited a while in the first Court they were all commanded to alight and to advance to the second where they were not kept long before they were conducted into the Tent He is received with great Ceremony betwixt a Guard of Old Men of the first Quality who with Batoons in their Hands stood all in good order paying their Respects to the Coadjutor as he passed by them with a profound Reverence and Silence from the Antichamber where he did not wait long he was introduced into the Emperor's Presence by two of the Principal Ministers whereof his Friend Bahurnagays was one and having paid the customary Obeisances the Emperor received him with extraordinary Civility asking him several Questions about the King of Portugal and the present State of his Affairs as also concerning himself and his Voyages and Journeys So soon as the Emperor gave over asking him Questions the Coadjutor presented the Pope's Ignatius and the King's Letters to him which the Emperor opened and looked into immediately but he had not read far before the change that was observed in his Countenance did clearly discover that he was not at all satisfied with their Contents and particularly with their supposing him to be a Member of the Roman Church a thing saith a Jesuit who was present at the Ceremony as far from his thoughts as Rome is from Ethiopia nevertheless being a Wise and Well-bred Prince and if they would have let him alone with his Religion a great Friend to the Portugueses he so far dissembled his Resentments as to dismiss the Coadjutor with great demonstrations of Kindness granting him leave to come to him as often as he had any business with him The Coadjutor at all his following Audiences He urges the Emperor to submit himself to the Pope was at the Emperor continually to submit himself and his Kingdoms to the Pope assuring him though he would not be so civil as to believe him That the Pope was Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor upon Earth and that there was no Salvation for any one out of his Obedience The Answer the Emperor returned still to all the Coadjutor's passionate assurances was The Emperor declares his resolution never to do it That the Ethiopick Church had from the beginning been subject to the Chair of St. Mark at Alexandria and that he was so fully satisfied of the Justice of that Obedience that nothing in the world should ever be able to make him throw
as in a glass see what treatment they are to expect from Popery when ever the Supream Power is in its hands I have as an Appendix given the Reader an Epitome of the Dominican History of Ethiopia writ by a Friar of that Order and printed at Valentia in the Year 1610. and not only licensed by the Inquisition and all the other Regular and Secular Licensers of the Diocess but recommended likewise by them to the World as a true useful and edifying History As also a Full Account of the Practises and Conviction of Maria of the Annunciation the Famous Lisbon Nun which I take to be two such Originals in their several kinds as are not easily to be met with A Catalogue of the Authors out of whom this History was composed AThanasius Ruffinus Philostorgius Elmirinus Paulus Venetus Damianus Goer Zaga Zabo Francis Alvarez The Patriarch Bermudes John de Barros Antony de Gourea Osorius Pereira Thomas à Jesu Wunsleb Job Ludolphus Baronius Spondanus These that follow were all Jesuits Maffeius Gueriro Pays Godinus Almeyda Fernandez Tellez Rodriguez Vega. The Patriarch Mendes The Missionaries Letters Virichus A TABLE A. THE Abuna or Patriarch never grants any Indulgences pag. 88. A false Account of his Election 111. His Office 112. He comes to Court and is angry with the Conferences that had been held without his leave 301. The Conferences are renewed before him 301. He leaves the Court in wrath and excommunicates the Emperor 302. He promotes an Association in defence of their Religion 303. Being invited to Court goes thither well guarded 305. The Abuna and Monks wait on the Emperor in a Body 306. Upon the Emperor's slighting their Complaints they leave the Camp in a rage 307. He goes against Julius in person 309. and is slain 311. Adam succeeds Claudius 201. a fierce Enemy to Popery 201. is slain in battel 206. is succeeded by his Son Malac Saged who takes no notice of the Missionaries 207. Alaf is succeeded by his Son Adjam Saged the present Emperor of Ethiopia 465. The Agaus take up Arms 303. The Agaus having sent to a Prince of the Royal Family who had taken sanctuary among the Gaules to take the Crown of Ethiopia upon him take up Arms in defence of their Religion 356. Albuquerque sends two Envoys to Helena the Governess of Ethiopia 43. Alelujah the most famous of all their Monasteries 31. The Discoveries were intermitted and revived again by Alphonso The Alexandrian Submission he refers to was a mere Trick 231. They make a Remonstrance of their Case to the Emperor 360. They by a Trick necessitate the Emperor to declare his willingness that his good Subjects should enjoy their old Religion 390. The strong Mountain of Ambucanet is stormed by Gama 130. Father Antony Fernandez's Letter to the Father Visitor of the Indies 320. Ambassadors from the Portuguese and Habassins had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia 78. The Habassin Ambassadors submission to the Pope 79. Ambassadors are sent from Ethiopia to Portugal 289. A particular Account of the Ambassador's Journy 293. They are industriously sent out of the way 294. They are kindly received by the Comical King of Gingiro 297. They are stopt by the Prince of Combute upon an intimation of their not having been sent by the Emperor ibid. They are suffered to proceed on their Journey 299. They are thrown into Jayl by the King of Alaba and afterwards sent home stripped ibid. The Archbishop of Goa sends one Sylva a Secular Priest into Ethiopia 229. The Archbishop of Goa writes to the Abuna to submit himself to the Pope after the Example of the Patriarch of Alexandria 231. Athanateus's Letter to the King of Portugal 281. His Letter to the Viceroy of the Indies 282. B. BAhurnagays takes up Arms against Adam 203. He is routed and goes over to the Turks 205. He brings the Turks into Ethiopia and delivers Matrua and the other Seaport-Towns to them ibid. Bartholomew de Tiroli Founder of the great Dominican Convent Alelujah 470. Basilides throws his Uncle Raz Cella into Prison p. 396. He sendeth for the Patriarchs and Fathers Arms and banisheth them all to Fremona 396. Having extirpated Popery recovers most of his lost Provinces 465. After an happy Reign of Thirty two years he is succeeded by his Son Aelaef Saged 465. John Bermudes before he went was was consecrated a Bishop by the Abuna Habassin Ordination by a single Eutychian Bishop was allowed to be valid by the Pope when he came to Rome 120. Bermudes having his Title to the Abunaship of Ethiopia confirmed by the Pope goes from Rome to Lisbon 121. Where he acted as the Habassin Abuna ibid. He returns to Goa having as 't is said obtained an Order for 400 Soldiers ibid. C. TWO Italian Capuchins come to Suaghem 453. Six French Capuchins are sent by several ways into Ethiopia 450. Don Edward Calvam chief of the Embassy dying in the Island of Camera was succeeded by Lima 48. Cavillam and Payo who both understood Arabick are sent by the way of Memphis to find out Habassia 40. Cavillam Payo dying by the way goes first to the Indies then to the Southern Coast of Africk and at last enters into Habassia 40. He was kindly entertained by the King whose name was Alexander 41. He was detain'd as a Spy by King Nahod ibid. He sends an account of the Country by an Habassin Monk ibid. Cella Christos's Letter to the Pope 291. He turns Roman-Catholick 285. The Cardinal of Portugal prevails with the Pope to call the Patriarch out of Ethiopia 210. The High Chamberlain's Speech 341. The Church that had been turned into a Mosque is consecrated by the Abuna 131. The Churches built by Queen Sheba and Queen Candace 473. Claudius the Emperor invaded by Nur King of Adel 199. Gives him battel in which he was slain 200. Claudius hath some success in the beginning but was quickly after obliged to retire to the Mountains 122. The Coadjutor's Letter to the Emperor 181. He goes to Court 182. He is received with great ceremony 183. He urges the Emperor to submit himself to the Pope 184. The Coadjutor thunders out an Excommunication 197. A Dialogue betwixt the Emperor and Coadjutor 202. The Coadjutor and the Fathers made Prisoners by the Turks 206. The Patriarch dying at Goa the Coadjutor becomes Patriarch 207. A Conference between the Emperor and a Portuguese about Religion 178. Several Conferences about Religion 195 300. The Congregation de Propaganda fide being dissatisfied with the Conduct of the Portuguese Jesuits in Ethiopia takes the Mission from them and gives it to the Capuchins 446. The Congregations answer to the Patriarch 455. The Courtiers finding that none but Papists were favoured turn civil to the Fathers and their Religion 300. The Country is much alarmed therewith ibid. The Croisade is totally defeated and the old Abuna slain 311. A fifth Croisade raised against the Emperor 349. D. THE Damotes take up Arms for their Religion and are
routed 318. The Emperor David's Letter to Emanuel King of Portugal 50. His Titles 50 51. His Letter to King John the Third of Portugal 58. His Letter to the Roman Pontiff 64. His second Letter to the Roman Pontiff 71. He brings a terrible Storm upon himself by seeking to enter into an Alliance with the Portuguese 118. He sends one John Bermudes a Portuguese after having given him a Title to succeed the Abuna when he died to Rome and Lisbon to solicit and hasten some Succors 120. Dembea Lake its Description 4. its Islands ib. Eight Dominicans arrive at Ethiopia and are kindly received by Prester John 467. E. EManuel King of Portugal sends a splendid Embassy to the Emperor of Habassia 47. He sends Almeida with a great Fleet to take Ormus and some other Seaports in the Indies 42. The design of the Habassin Embassy 110. The Emperor being acquainted with the arrival of the Portugueses writes to Gama to come and join him 128. The Emperor being restored to the quiet possession of his Kingdom quarrels with the Portuguese 145. The chief cause of his quarrel was the Abuna urging him to turn Roman Catholick presently 145. He is resolved never to turn Roman Catholick 146. He thereupon writes to the Patriarch of Alexandria to send an Abuna into Ethiopia as formerly 147. He enrages the Portuguese thereby ibid. He receives the Abuna whose Name was Joseph at Deberea 148. He rids himself of the Popish Patriarch Bermudes ibid. His defence of himself and his Faith 167. His Confession of Faith 185. He offers to lay the Debates about Religion before his Council 189. He answers the Coadjutor's Book and writes one in defence of his own Faith 196. He invites Father Peter to Court 239. He greatly admires Father Peter's Sermon and therefore sent him his Dinner from his own Table 248. He discovers his Intention to Father Peter to turn Roman Catholick 250. His Letter to the Pope 251. His Letter to the King of Spain 253. He marcheth against the Rebels 257. He is killed fighting 259. The New Emperor sends to Father Peter to come to him 273. He offers to write to the King of Portugal and the Pope and is encouraged by Father Peter to do it 275. His Letter to the Pope 276. His Letter to the King of Spain 278. These Letters were probably forged by some Missionary 280. A mock Emperor set up and massacred 284. The Emperor and his Brother Raz Cella Christos convinced of Christ's having two Natures 285. He publisheth an Edict prohibiting any to affirm that there is but one Nature in Christ 301. He publisheth a Proclamation commanding all his Subjects to turn Roman Catholicks 303. He is addressed to not to trouble his Subjects about their Religion 304. He is deaf to all such Addresses 305. An Attempt made upon his Life 308. Upon his Victory prohibits his Subjects to observe Saturday 312. A severe Libel comes out against him 312. By a second Proclamation he commands all Subjects to work upon Saturdays 203. A Rebellion breaks out upon it 313. His Speech thereupon 315. He sends an Army against the Rebels and routs them 317. He reconciles himself to the Church of Rome 319. He grows jealous of his Brother Raz Cella 331. He sends him against Gabriel who was at the head of a Croisade 332. His Letter to the Patriarch 333. He is obliged to employ his Brother against them 357. Dom Apolinar d'Almeyda brings Letters and a Jubilee to the Emperor and to the Prince 364. The Emperor's Zeal revived by this Letter and a Jubilee 368. He is defeated by the Peasants of Lasta 372. He is passionately addressed for a Toleration ibid. He speaks to the Patriarch about it and will nor be denied 373. The Toleration proclaimed The Patriarch's Protestation against it 374. The Emperor's Answer to the Patriarch's Protestation 377. He declares his Resolution to continue a Roman Catholick 379. The Patriarch baffled in a great point of his Jurisdiction 380. The Country People in good humour by a Toleration yet not satisfied without re-establishment of their old Religion and banished the Patriarch and Fathers of Ethiopia Raz Cella going against the Peasants with an Army is routed 381. The Romanists have all their Churches and Lands taken from them The Emperor dieth and is succeeded by his Son Basilides 395. The Emperor marcheth against them and obtaineth a Victory 382. He is moved by the passionate Remonstrances of the Grandees and others to restore the Alexandrian Religion 383. The Patriarch and Fathers endeavour to divert him 385. He continues immoveable in his Resolution 388. The Patriarch's Manifesto 392. A Proclamation for restoring the Alexandrian Religion Festivities thereupon 394. The Emperor hearing thereof commands the Patriarch and Fathers to leave Ethiopia 422. He writes to the Bashaw of Suaqhem 454. The Bashaw murthers them all three and sends their heads to the Emperor 454. The Emperor's Library founded by Queen Saba 471. His Treasury 472. The Empress arrives at the Camp 127. The Eucharist is administred to Children when they are baptized 95. Eugenius the Fourth translates the Council from Florence to Rome upon a sham Pretence that the Emperor of Ethiopia was sending an Ambassador with a submission of himself and his Church to him 23. Esimetheus made King of the Homerites deposed by the Habassin Army which put Abraham in his place 17. Ethiopia the Climate 1. The true Title of the Emperor ibid. The Provinces 2. It s several great Rivers beside the Nile 6. It s great mixture of People 7. The Court Language is Amchara ibid. The Emperor names his Successor ib. The Royal Arms ib. The Queen of Sheba reported to have been its Empress Her Son by Solomon said to have introduced Judaism into it 8. The Eunuch that was baptized by Philip is said to have been of this Country and to have introduced Christianity into it 9. Frumentius Bishop of Axum its Apostle 10. Constantius's Letter to the Princes of Axum 11. Nine Monks come into it 14. Justinian sends an Embassy into Ethiopia 15. The business of the Embassy 16. The Ethiopians send an Ambassador to the Patriarch of Alexandria 17. James the Abuna of Ethiopia deposed by the Queen and restored by the King afterwards 18. The seventh place in a general Council given to the Abuna of Ethiopia by the Arabick Canons of the Council of Nice 20. The first Discovery of the Church of Ethiopia by the Portugueses 29. The account of the Succession of their grand Abbots 29. F. TWO Fathers are sent from Fremona to congratulate Suseneus who took the Name of Seltem Saged 272. Seven of the Fathers purchase leave to go to Dio but the Patriarch is detained 433. Four Fathers condemned as Traytors and executed by the Mob 446. Father Fermandes sollicits for Troops 208. The French King's Rage against Protestants superior to that of the Arians against the Orthodox 13. G. GAma enters into Ethiopia with his Troops and the Roman Patriarch 125. He sends
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Bishop Wettenhall's Method and Order of private Devotion Lately Printed DAwson of the Origin of all Laws Fol. Archbishop Cranmer's Memorials Fol. The Present State of England by Dr. Chamberlane 8 vo 1694. The History of the Troubles and Tryal of Archbishop Laud wrote by himself published by Hen. Wharton Fol. Whartoni Historis de Episcopis Decanis Londinensibus Assaventsibus 8 vo Archbishop Tillotson's Sermons of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion published from the Originals by his Chaplain Dr. Barker 8 vo 1695. His 16 Sermons on several Occasions being a 2d. Volume published from the Original by Dr. Barker 8 vo 1696. Remarks on Mr. Hill's Vindication of the Primitive Fathers against Bishop Burnet Animadversions on Mr. Hill's Vindication of the Primitive Fathers against Bishop Burnet Dr. Williams's Sermons of Divine Revelation preached at the Lecture founded by Robert Boyle Esq for the Year 1695. His Vindication of Archbishop Tillotsons's Sermons against the Socinians and of the Bishop of Worcester's Sermon of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion To which is annexed a Letter from the Bishop of Salisbury to the Author in Vindication of his Discourse of the Divinity of our Saviour 4 to Reflections on a Libel lately printed entituled The Charge of Secianism against Dr. Tillotson considered c. 4 to Dr. Salmon upon the London Dispensatory The 6th Edit 8 vo 1696. A Discourse of the Power and Efficacy of Charity By Mr. John Whitesoot Senior of Norwich A Discourse concerning Coining the New Money lighter In Answer to Mr. Lock 's Considerations about Raising the Value of Money By Nicholas Barbon Esq ADVERTISEMENT HEylin's Cosmography with very large Additions throughout the whole made by Edmund Behun Esq is fitted for the Press and will in short time be begun to be printed by Subscription THE Church-History OF Habassia or Ethiopia Alta. HABASSIA The Climate of Ethiopia or Ethiopia Alta or Ethiopia super Egyptum which are all the same according to the Newest and best Accounts we have of it is 9 Degrees in length reaching from Bergamo in the 8th Degree of Northern Latitude to Focay which is in the 17th Degree of the same Latitude and about 140 Leagues in Breadth taking it from the Shoar of the Red Sea to the Banks of Nile The King or Emperor of Habassia The true Title of the Emperor of Ethiopia is called the Naggasi that is the Lord or Ruler and not Prester Presbyter nor Preto John which Title was first given him by the Portugueses upon their imagining him when they first discovered this Empire to have been the great Christian Prester John who had been so much talked of and so little known in Europe not considering that all that had spoke of that Great Prince had placed his Empire in Asia to the North of China and not in Africa And as to Zaga Zabi calling him in his Relation published at Lisbon Precious John in that he play'd the Embassador rather than the Historian not caring to undeceive Europe at the expence of a Title which made his Master's Name much greater in it than it would have been otherwise Now though our Geographers have in their Maps been very liberal to this Emperor having extended his Empire 30 or 40 Degrees from South to North his Neighbours have not been so kind to him who within these 100 years have very much contracted it The Countries he is at present in possession of are Tigre The Provinces of Ethiopia Gojam Amhara Dembya Bagemeder Enarea part of Zoa Mazaga Salem Ogara Abergal Holcait Salgade Cemen Saloa Ozeca and Doba The Countries that have been taken from him are Anget Doaro Ogge Balli Adea Alam-ale Oxela Ganz Betazamora Gurague Sugama Baharguma Catrbut Boxa Gumer Couch Damota Mora-Aura Habera Oyfal Guedem Marabet Manz Beramo with all the Ports he had formerly on the Coast of the Red Sea Tigre which is the chief Kingdom in the Habassian Empire begins at Matzua a small Island not far from Arkiko a Sea-port Town in the 15th Degree of the Northern Latitude it is 90 Leagues in length and 50 in breadth and is by much the most Fertil and Trading Countrey in Ethiopia for which reason the Jesuits fixed their first and greatest residence in a Town called Maegoga or Fremona which stands near the middle of it The Kingdom of Bagemder lieth
believe Transubstantiation They do not believe Transubstantiation as is plain from their Liturgy in which the Words of Institution are thus set down This Bread is my Body this Cup is my Blood which Propositions the Romanists themselves acknowledge cannot be understood otherwise than siguratively Ludolphus farther tells us That when he asked Gregory the Habassin Whether he did not think that the Substance of the Bread and Wine was changed and converted into the Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ That he made answer That no such sort of Transubstantiation was known or understood by his Countreymen who were not so scrupulous neither did they use to start such thorny Questions Nevertheless it seemed to him probable and likely That the Common Bread and Wine was changed into the mysterious Representation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and so was altered from Prophane to Sacred to represent the true Body and Blood of Christ to the Communicants Than which Declaration nothing can be more agreeable to the Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the Eucharist Finally Paul de Roo Secretary to the Dutch East-India Company was in the Year 1691. told by the Habassin Ambassador who was sent to the Governor of Batavia That Transubstantiation and the Adoration of the Consecrated Bread in the Sacrament were what the Habassins abhorred They confess their Sins only in general They have only a general Confession saying Habassea Habassea I have sinned I have sinned without descending to particulars They deny Purgatory They deny Purgatory Confirmation and Extream Unction They condemn Graven Images They keep Saturday and Sunday Their Offices are all in the Vulgar Tongue and know nothing of Confirmation and Extream Unction they condemn Graven Images they keep both Saturday and Sunday and do never fast on either of them no not in Lent nor upon any day betwixt Easter and Whitsuntide their Church Offices are all in the Vulgar Tongue and are performed with extraordinary Devotion but especially their Litanies they go all betimes in the morning to Church to pay their Devotions which they do with great fervour and for the most part leave something of an offering behind them Whenever they come to any place that has a Church They are very devout They never go into a Church with their Shooes on nor sit in it but upon the ground let their Business be never so urgent they repair to it immediately they never go into any Church with their Shooes on nor sit down in it unless it be upon the ground on all occasions they express a deep sense of Religion but chiefly when they visit the Sick which they are very forward to do They are charitable to the Poor and to all Strangers if they are satisfied of their not being of the Roman Church for all whose Members the Cruel Persecutions which were raised and carried on for some years by the Jesuits while the Emperor was at their Devotion have created a perfect detestation in them The whole of their Divine Service consists in reading the Scriptures They seldom preach and some Homilies of the Fathers and the Administration of the Sacrament preaching being a rare Exercise among them at which when Mr. Ludolphus seemed to wonder he was asked by Gregory the Habassin Whether we of the Western Church thought our Preachers could say any thing better than what was written in the Sacred Sacred Scriptures and the Homilies of the Fathers or whether we thought their Sayings more efficacious than the Word of God and whether we did not fear lest those Preachers should utter something which might be repugnant to our Faith and Salvation and which might prove of dangerous consequence to the Peace of the Church An Account of the Discovery of Ethiopia by the Portugueses DON ENRIQUE the Fifth The Infante Don Henry the first and most zealous Promoter of the discovery of unknown Countries Son of Don Joan the first King of Portugal by his Queen the Lady Philipa the Daughter of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster being a Prince much addicted to the study of Mathematicks was the first that ever entertained any thought of making Discoveries on the Western Coast of Africa to which he is said to have been encouraged by some Information he receiv'd from the Moors in Barbary when he was a Soldier there under his Father he was Master of the Military Order of Christ which together with his other Ecclesiastical Pensions brought him in a great Revenue all which together with his whole time he resolved to dedicate entirely to the gratification of his Curiosity after new Discoveries And in order to the better carrying on of this his great Design he retired from Court to a place in the Algarves called at that time Terranable but since from him Villa de Infante a few Months after his retirement he fitted out two Ships which having passed the Pillars of Hercules at that time the non ultra of Navigation they sailed to the Promontory of Ganaria but were discouraged from proceeding any further partly by strong Currents and partly by that Promontory running so far into the Sea that they could not discover its Cape This first Voyage was made in the Year 1410. His ill success at first after which it was 10 years before the Infante could prevail with any body to make a second Attempt the first Adventurers having to excuse their Cowardice reported terrible things of the Dangers they had escaped Neither did the Infante during all that time Not discouraged thereby nor by Railery nor by grave Nonsense from going on with his Projects escape the discouragement that new and great Enterprizes do commonly meet withal his Designs for some years having been not only the Jest of the Lazy Buffoon but were also censured as Chimera's or Idle Projects by Men of Speculation and Gravity who said The Countreys the Infante was in quest of were neither better nor worse than the Sandy Deserts of Arabia that God having allotted those Countries to Wild Beasts for their habitation if men should offer to intrude into them they would either die or turn wild like the Natives and that the very sight of them would turn Whites Negroes that there had never wanted younger Brothers among Princes who had sought to remedy the misfortune of their Birth by new Discoveries but which had always miscarried That the Infante's Father who was a wise Prince finding Portugal wanted People had invited Strangers from all parts into it and had given them Lands to cultivate whereas if his Project should take effect it would tend to the depopulating of it with a great many other such idle Reflections But the Infante who had too great a Soul to be discouraged either by Railery or grave Nonsense having with much ado wrought some Mariners up to an Opinion of the feasibleness of the Undertaking in the Year 1420. he equipped several Vessels which after having met with violent Storms discovered
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
the help of your Blessing easily enlarge the Bounds of their Empires of which Blessing I do partake Among our Books there being Letters which were sent by Pope Eugenius with his Blessing to Zera Jacob which Blessing having descended to me I do now enjoy it and rejoyce in it mainly The Holy Temple of Jerusalem is a place I have great Veneration for and do frequently send Oblations to it by our Pilgrims and I would send both more and greater were I not Besieged on all sides by Mahometans and Infidels who besides that they Rifle our Messengers will not allow them a free passage whereas if the ways were but once opened I should then be able to Correspond with the Roman Church as well as other Christians to whom as to the Christian Religion I am nothing inferior for as they believe One Right Faith and One Church so I do profess the same and do most sincerely believe in the Holy Trinity and in One God and in the Virginity of our Lady the Virgin Mary I do also hold all the Articles of the Christian Faith and do keep them as they were writ by the Apostles And now that our good God has been pleased by the hand of the most Potent and Christian King Emanuel to open a way by which we may Correspond by Amdassadors since we are joyned in the Faith let us likewise with all other Christians joyn together in the service of God During the time the Ambassadors of that King were at our Court we received the News of his Death and of his Son and my Brother John having Succeeded to the Crown and as I was extremely afflicted at the News of the Death of the Father so I did very much rejoyce to hear of his Son 's having succeeded him for I do hope that by joyning our forces we shall be able to open a passage both by Sea and Land thorow the Regions of the Wicked Mahometans and to terrifie them to that degree as to drive them quite out of those Countries so that Christians may go to and return from Jerusalem without any molestation and I do most vehemently desire to partake of the Divine Love in the Temple of the Apostles Peter und Paul I do likewise desire to receive the most Holy Blessing of Christ's Vicar which your Holiness is undoubtedly And as the things I hear of your Holiness by our Pilgrims which go from hence to Jerusalem and from thence to Rome and that not without a Miracle do fill me with incredible Joy and Pleasure so there is nothing I would rejoyce in so much as to have a shorter way found out for my Ambassadors that so I might hear from you before I die which I trust in God I shall do by some means or other I beseech God to preserve you in Health and and Holiness I Kiss your holy Feet and do humbly beg your Blessing Your Holiness will receive these Letters from our Brother John King of Portugal who will send them to you by our Ambassador Francis Alvarez We may judge what mean thoughts King John had of these Letters and Ambassadors to the Pope The Habassin Embassy to the Pope little regarded by their lying unregarded Five Years at Lisbon before they were sent to Rome and by his sending them at last only to do Honour to his Nehpew Don Martin de Portugal when he sent him Ambassador to that Court with the following Letter To the most Holy Father in Christ and the most Blessed Lord Pope Clement the IIId by Divine Providence presiding over the whole Church To the most Holy Father in Christ and the most Blessed Lord the most devout Son of the same Holiness John by the Grace of God King of Portugal and Algarves on this side and the other side of the Sea of Africk Lord of Guinea and of the Conquests Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia Arabia Persia and India After having most humbly kissed your Holy feet MOST Holy Father in Christ After having lain five years neglected at Lisbon it was sent to Rome only as an honourable Appendixto a Portuguese Embassy and most Blessed Lord The King my Lord and Father being sensible how acceptable it would be to God that the most remote Regions of Ethiopia and India which in these parts had been only heard of by a doubtful fame should be Sailed to by the industrious Navigation of Christians did at the beginning of his Reign send divers of his Captains and Subjects with great Fleets to discover the Coasts of those Countries which he did to that end that the Mahometans and Heathens of those Climates might be brought to acknowledge the Truth of the Christian Faith not knowing but that some Nations which were Christians already for such there were reported to be might be found out in the Course of such Discoveries thus thorough the Divine Direction the whole Country of Guinea was travelled over in which the King of Manicongo with vast numbers of his Subjects was Baptized as were several other Nations in India Persia and Arabia by the Industry and Piety of our Subjects and even those Provinces which were not forward at first to embrace Christianity do now begin to follow the Example of their Neighbours who notwithstanding the great Losses he sustained in his Ships Captains Nobles and other Subjects was not as becomes a Pious Christian discouraged thereby so as to give over those Voyages in the Progress whereof our Fleets have penetrated into the Red-Sea in which no Christian Ship had ever been before that Sea being wholly in the hands of the Turks and did after a long and sharp War discover the Coasts of the most Potent King of Ethiopia who is commonly called Pretegya and who with all his Subjects is a Worshipper of Christ to which King our Father immediately dispatched an Ambassador with an intention to reduce him to the Obedience of the Holy Apostolical See by certifying him That your Holiness sits in the Chair of St. Peter and are the only Vicar of Christ upon Earth to whom all Christian Kings do with great Veneration use to yield Obedience And not long after the said King of Ethiopia sent two Ambassadors in Company with ours when they returned home one of which was his Natural-born Subject and the other a Stranger during which time God was pleased to take our Father's Soul to himself and we having succeeded him in the Throne did without delay endeavour by our Captains that were in India to certify the said King of Ethiopia of our Father's Death and of our Resolution to carry on and finish what he had so gloriously begun for the Service of Christianity This our Declaration having been highly extolled by the said King he thereupon dispatched an Ambassador to us who is still Resident at our Court and with him our Chaplain Francis Alvarez who was one of the Ambassadors sent into Ethiopia by our Father This Francis Alvarez is now sent by the said King to Rome
to yield Obedience to your Holiness in that King's Name and in the Name of all his Subjects We have detained him here for some time being willing for divers Reasons that he should accompany our dear Nephew Martin de Portugal our Councellor and Ambassador whom we have ordered to present the said Francis Alvarez Ambassador of the said King of Ethiopia to your Holiness to yield Obedience to you as also to acquaint you with what the Ambassador of the said King that was sent to us has laid before us together with the Copies of that King's Letters to us wherefore your Holiness will do a thing that will be very acceptable unto God if in all this Affair you do give entire Credit to the said Martin our Ambassador for certainly great thanks ought to be returned to God for having in the time of your Pontificate done so great a favour to your Holiness that a Portion of Christians who as to the largness of their Country are nothing inferior to this of ours should consent to the Catholick Faith and to the Roman Church by yielding Obedience to it We for our parts are very thankful to God for having made use of our Ministry in the Reduction of this King There being nothing more for the praise of true Piety than to behold Ethiopia joyned with Europe in the Unity of the Christian Profession May our Lord God be pleased to encrease and preserve the Felicity of your Holiness according to your own desire Dated at Settuval the 28th of May 1532. King John having made the Habassin Emperor's Complements in his Letters to the Pope to amount to a formal submission of himself his Church and Empire to him must make his having detained an Embassage of that Moment and which he himself Magnifies so much so long at Lisbon to be the more wonderful But what it should be that after having slighted this Embassy for five long Years induced him to trump it up thus if it were not to do his Nephew Honor is a Mystery I shall leave to the Reader to unriddle having only observed that there were two Creations of Cardinals soon after it came to Rome The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors being arrived at Bononia The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia where the Pope and the Emperor Charles the Fifth were together at that time they had the 29th of January given them for the Day of their publick Audience When being introduced into a publick Consistory at which the Emperor was present the Portuguese presented his Master's Letters to the Pope together with the Copies of those which had been sent to him and his Father by the King of Ethiopia When the Portuguese had done the Habassin presented his Master's Letters to the Pope and with them a Gold Cross that weighed about a Pound And having made the submission of the Emperor of Ethiopia and of his whole Church and Empire to his Holiness he was afterwards admitted to kiss his Foot and after that his Hand and at last his Mouth and having delivered the following Speech in Portuguese it was spoke aloud in Latin by the Secretary of the Portuguese Embassy MOST Holy and Blessed Father The Habassiâ— Ambassador's submission to the Pope the most Serene and Potent Lord David King of the Great and High Ethiopia who is commonly called Pretegya and who is no less glorious for the veneration he has for the True Religion than for his Empire Wealth and Kingdoms has sent this Ambassador to your Holiness with the Letters he has delivered to you commanding him to yield obedience and subjection to your Holiness in his Name and in that of his Kingdoms as Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor and the Chief Pontiff of the whole Church and to present you with a Gold Cross which he hopes your Holiness not regarding the value thereof which is but small but the veneration that is due to it for Christ's having suffered thereon for our sakes will be pleased to accept of beseeching your Holiness in the name of the said Prince to accept of all that he has offered with a pious affection of a Father for your most devout Son To which Harangue the Pope's Secretary return'd the following Answer OUR most holy Lord doth receive you The Pope's Answer to the Habassin Ambassador my Lord Francis Alvarez the Ambassador of the most serene David King of Ethiopia together with his Obedience Gift and Letters with a good Will and Paternal Affection and doth return Thanks to God that such Letters and such an Ambassador should come in the time of his Pontificate from so great and remote a Christian Emperor he hath heard what you have said with Attention and great Joy and has with his Venerable Brethren the Cardinals graciously accepted of your Master's Obedience as also of his Gift both for the Honour that is due to the Holy Cross and the good Affection of the Donor And he doth furthermore highly extol in the Lord the most serene King of Portugal who besides the other great Services done by himself and Progenitors to the Common-wealth and Christian Faith has likewise deserved well of King David by having entred into an Alliance with him and having procured your being sent with these Letters to the Pope What remains is his Holiness will endeavour to the utmost of his Power so far as the great distance that is betwixt their Countries will permit so to satisfie the desires of the said King as to make him sensible of his being in the Place of a most dear Son in Christ and in the Affection and Esteem of his Holiness and the Holy Apostolical See no less than other Christian Princes And his Holiness will treat with the Ambassador of Portugal and you concerning these Affairs and will by his Letters and Nuncio's Return an Answer to all that your King has desired Zaga Zaba having nothing else to do at Lisbon Zaga Zaba's the Habassin Ambassador at Lisbon Account of the Religion and Customs of his Countrey and being willing to ingratiate himself with that Court by representing the Habassin Church as agreeing with the Roman in the Chief Doctrines wherein the Reformers contradict her did put Pen to Paper and drew up the following Account of the Religion Customs and Rites of his Countrey An Account of the Habassin Religion and Customs composed by Zaga Zaba the King of Ethiopia's Ambassador and written with his own Hand at Lisbon In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen WE believe in the Name of the Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost who are One Lord and Three Names One Divinity and Three Faces though but One Similitude and are an equal conjunction of Persons equal I say in Divinity One Kingdom One Throne One Word One Spirit the Word of the Father and the Son and the Word of the Holy Spirit and the Son is the same Word the Word with God the Word with the Holy
Bishopricks nor any other Ecclesiastical Benefices which are all in the Gift of Precious John who bestows them as he thinks good When the Patriarch whose Revenues are very great dieth the Emperor is his sole Heir It is furthermore the business of the Patriarch to excommunicate all such as are obstinate to which Censures there is so great a Respect paid that all who slight them are condemned for their whole life to a strict and perpetual Fast He grants no Indulgences neither are the Sacraments of the Church denied to any Sinners but Murtherers The Patriarch in our Tongue is called Abuna only he who at present is in possession of that Dignity is called by his Baptismal Name which is Mark he is an Hundred Years of Age and upward With us the Year begins on the First day of September which falls always on the Vigil of John the Baptist the other Holidays as the Nativity Easter c. are observed at the same time as they are in the Roman Church The Gospel and Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ was first preached among us by Philip the Apostle If you would know the name of our Emperor it is always Precious John and not Presbyter John as it is here falsly reported to be in our Language It is John Belul and in the Chalde John Encoo or Precious or High John Neither is he ever called as Matthew falsly reported Emperor of the Habassins but of the Ethiopians for he being an Armenian did not thoroughly understand our Affairs and least of all those relating to our Faith which made him report several things to the wise King Emanuel of happy Memory that were false which was not done by him with an intention to deceive for he was an honest Man but because he was not well Instructed in the Matters of our Religion The Empire does not of right descend to the Eldest Son but to him on whom the Emperor is pleased to bestow it So the present Emperor was the third Brother and got the Crown by a Pious piece of Reverence For the last Emperor having when he was upon his Death-Bed commanded all his Sons to sit down by him on Royal Thrones they all did so except my Master who said Far be it from me to sit in the Chair of my Lord for which act of Piety his Father bestowed the Empire upon him His Name is David and his Dominions of Christians and Heathens are very large in which there are divers Kings Princes Earls Barons and Nobles who are all extreamly submissive to his commands He hath no other than Foreign Coin within his Territories Gold and Silver being paid and received among us by Weight We have a great many Cities and Towns tho not built as they are here in Portugal Precious John keeps his Court perpetually in the Camp which he does on purpose to accustom the Nobility to the Hardships and Exercises of War Neither is it to be omitted that we are Besieged on all Sides by the Enemies of our Faith with whom we have frequent Battels but are always Victorious which Victories we Attribute to the Divine Assistance A Written Law is not in use among us neither are the Complaints of Litigants Transacted by Papers but by word of Mouth which makes that Law-Suits are not Protracted by the Avarice of the Judges and Advocates to any great length I am to tell you likewise that Matthew was not sent by our Emperor David to the Invincible and Powerful King Emanuel of happy Memory but by Queen Helena who was Dowager to the Emperor The Hand of Mary who was Grandfather to David and who David being under Age at that time was Regent of Ethiopia She was undoubtedly a most Wise and Religious Princess and was Mistress of so much Learning that she Composed two Books in the Chaldee Tongue The Title of the first was Euzara Clebaa that is to say Praise the Lord with Organs in which she discoursed Learnedly concerning the Trinity and the Virginity of the Blessed Virgin The Second is called Chedale Câ—ay that is the Beam of the Sun in which she has divers accurate Discourses concerning the Law of God All these things relating to the Faith Religion and State of our Countrey I Zaga Zabo that is the Grace of the Father a Bishop Presbyter and Bagama Raz that is to say a Soldier and Viceroy of the Province of Bagana could not deny to Thee Damianus my dearest Son in Christ nor indeed to any one that should have desired it of me And that for two Reasons 1. Because I was commanded by the Most Potent Lord Precious John Emperor of Ethiopia not to conceal any thing relating to our Faith and Countrey from such as should desire to have an account thereof but to Communicate the whole truth of all such matters to them both by Writing and word of Mouth 2. Because I judged it convenient to acquaint this part of the World with our Manners Rites and Institutions and that the rather because I had neither said nor writ any thing thereof before not that I grudged my labour but because no Christian Soul since I came into Portugal had ever desired me to do it which is a thing I cannot wonder at enough I do therefore knowing you to be extreamly curious to be acquainted with our Affairs beseech you by the Wounds and Cross of Christ to Translate this Confession of Faith and Religion into the Latin Tongue that so the Integrity of our Manners and Rites may be known to all European Christians and if you should at any time happen to go to Rome I must intreat you to Salute the Pope Cardinals Patriarchs Archbishops Bishops and all the other Worshippers of Christ in my Name with the Kiss of Peace And to desire the Pope to send Francis Alvarez back to me with an Answer to the Letters of my Most Potent Lord the Emperor of Ethiopia that so I may at last return to my own Country and once more see my own House having been detained here too long already and that before I am arrested by Death which by reason of my great Age I must be in a short time I may carry back an Answer to my Master and having finished my Embassy may Dedicate the remainder of my Days to God and Divine Matters And in case this Treatise should not be so accurately Composed as it ought to be I must beseech you to Correct it and Adapt it to the Latin Phrase but so as not to alter the sense Finally I must intreat you in the Translation thereof to consult the Old and New Testaments that you may the better understand out of what Books I have taken my Quotations and may be able to translate them the more faithfully And in case matters should not be so curiously handled therein as to satisfy Critical Readers the fault thereof must be imputed to my want of Chaldee Books of which I have not one by me those I brought from home with me having been
of Affinity or Consanguinity Spiritual or Carnal those only excepted which are prohibited by the Divine Law and Spiritual Affinity in Matrimony shall never be contracted betwixt the Godfather and Godmother and their Godchildren you may also commute Vows into any pious work provided they be not the solemn Vows of Religion and Chastity At three times in the Year to wit Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide you may grant plenary Indulgences to all People of the said Province who being contrite have voluntarily confessed their Sins obliging them before you grant them to Fast and devoutly to beseech God in behalf of all the faithful of the Roman Church and on any other days you may grant Temporary Indulgences and Remission of Sins which must never exceed the term of Ten years you may likewise give license to your Friars to read Heretical Books and may at your pleasure unite annex and incorporate Ecclesiastical Benefices into Churches or other Pious and Religious places for the Spiritual or Temporal advantage of the Neighbours and may erect and found general Universities and Colleges wherein People may take all Degrees of Master and Doctor and likewise Hospitals for the Poor the Sick and Strangers Male and Female as also Monasteries and Colleges for Boys and Girls and Orphans in all which works of Piety and Charity may be exercised You may either in your Person or by your Deputies visit with a Plenary Jurisdiction all the said Universities Colleges Hospitals Monasteries and all other Religious Houses of what Order or Sex soever and reform them as well in the Head as in the Members and Chastise Correct and Punish all that shall be found faulty and may remove them from one place to another You may also if you find it necessary found Religious Houses of both Sexes and approve disprove or extinguish such as are already founded or may reduce divers Religions to one and reform their Constitutions by either adding to them or taking from them as you shall think fit in the Lord. You may give License to the poor Religious or not Religious to beg and desire Alms in the name of any Saint You shall furthermore in our Name and in that of the Holy See declare to the people of your Province the Faith of the Roman Church and which are the Canonical Scriptures that they ought to hold and follow in every thing You must likewise condemn the writings which the Roman Church rejects and condemns and must determine and declare to them which Ecclesiastical precepts do oblige them under the penalty of a mortal sin and which do not You may further by your Authority so that nothing be changed that is decreed by the Divine and Natural Law make Orders concerning all matters which are of positive right even so far as Excommunications Suspensions Interdicts and other Ecclesiastical Sentences Censures Penalties and Irregularities which any may have incurred upon the account of such matters declaring which are Obligatory and which are not until such time as the Apostolical See shall otherwise order You may also grant Dispensations concerning all such matters and may Legitimate Bastards and others that have any defect in their Birth You must create a Notary who by the Apostolical Authority may see all the matters executed which can be done by any Legate de Laterre or Nuncio of the said See You may also make Compositions with any People for Ecclesiastical Fruits or Revenues that have been unjustly received and employ the Money to some Pious use Finally you may lawfully and freely do and execute all things in general and every thing in particular that appertains to the Edification and Salvation of Souls or that are seasonable until such time as you shall receive an answer concerning them from the said See and to you our Son John Elect in case the said Andrew and Melchior or either of them should happen to die before you we do by these Presents and the said Apostolical Authority grant a Faculty and a Plenary and Free Power freely and lawfully to Name and Elect one or more Coadjutors who shall succeed one another in the said Church of Ethiopia and the Kingdoms thereunto belonging and to Institute and Consecrate them Bishops and Successors obliging them to intimate their Election Institution and Consecration to the said See in the manner aforesaid and to take an Oath of Fidelity and Obedience thereunto as is above prescribed and by Letters to acquaint the said See therewith All which must be done with the Approbation of the Council that is to be erected for the handling of all weighty Affairs and which you shall hereafter Constitute All Constitutions and Apostolical Ordinances and Reservatories though of Cathedral Churches or of this Patriarchal Church tho confirmed by Oath or Apostolical Confirmation or by any Confirmation Statutes Customs or any other way to the contrary notwithstanding Given at St. Peters in Rome on the 17th day of February in the year of our Lord 1554 in the 5th year of our Pontificate The Bulls of the three Elects being come to Lisbon the King looking upon it as the greatest honour that had ever been done to Portugal to have a Patriarch consecrated in it The Patriarch and one of his Coadjutors are Consecrated at Lisbon made great Preparations for that Ceremony the Patriarch and the Bishop of Hieropolis were both consecrated in the Church of the Trinity Friars by Don Julian d'Abreu Bishop of Portalegree and Dom Gasper Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dom Peter Bishop of Hippo Melchior Elect of Nice having Sailed from Lisbon for the Indies four days before the arrival of the Bulls But notwithstanding the King and the whole Court honoured this Consecration with their presence yet I do not find that any of the great Prelates of the Kingdom were present at it which together with it s not having been performed in the See Church but in the Chappel of a Convent and that by two Titulars and the Poorest Bishop in Portugal makes me suspect that the great Prelates were not over-well pleased with this upstart Order leaping so soon into such high Dignities For about the time of this Promotion and which it is like enough might contribute something towards it there was a most terrible storm raised both in Spain and France against the whole Order of the Jesuits Don John Archbishop of Toledo The Jesuits leaping so quickly into such high dignities contrary to their Vows creates them Enemies who continued a mortal Enemy to it till his death driving them out of the University of Completum in the year 1555 and prohibiting all his Priests upon pain of Deprivation to make use of any of their Exercises and prohibiting all others upon pain of Excommunication to confess themselves to any of them The Sorbon likewise declared about the same time That the Society of Jesus was dangerous to the Faith a disturber of the Peace of the Church pernicious to Monastical Religion and in a word
already in a manner submitted himself to the Roman See by having in his Letters both to the present Pope and to Paul the IVth stiled them the Pastor of Pastors and Father of Fathers and Head of the whole Church To which he reply'd That he gave the Pope those Titles only in Civility and that it was not fair to strain Complements that pass betwixt friends to such purposes and if there was any thing in the Letters he sent to the Pope that was not agreeable with the Doctrine of the Church that it was not to be laid at his door but at Abraham the bearer's who to make his Court the better at Rome The Alexandrian after having taken the Pope's Money denies to submit himself to him had foisted several things into those Letters which he knew would be grateful to the Pope Abraham who was present when the Patriarch made this Declaration did not deny his having done it but smiling told the Jesuits That he believed it was lawful on several occasions to dissemble as much as that came to that being no more than what St. Paul himself had done who declared That he became all things to all men He added further A trick of an Alexandrian Monk That he had a Book wherein it was said That St. Paul when he was among the Heathens did act as a Heathen and to ingratiate himself with them the more in order to their Conversion at last did worship their Idols But notwithstanding Pius was thus Defeated as to this Patriarchal Submission he had a Sham-one of a Mock-Patriarch of Babylon ready for the Council of Trent against it Sate next Year Rodriguez as he was returning to the Indies had the following Account sent him by one Alfonso de Franca a Portuguese Captain that belonged to the Court of a Conference he had with the Emperor about Religion His Highness saith Franca intended to have caught me in the same trap he had set for your Reverence and having drawn his water over great flats to his Mill he charged me before all the Portugueses and the whole Court with having called him and Dioscorus Hereticks I made answer That our Sacred Writings of the holy Councils and our other Histories of the Church for 1070 years had still called them so and that the Eastern Churches that were separated from the Roman did the same To this he repli'd That tho our History might call them so A Conference betwixt the Emperor and a Portuguese about Religion yet God knew what his own Scriptures said of them I rejoined I was sensible that the Habassins did look upon us as Nestorian Hereticks pretending that we hold that there are Two Persons in Christ which is what I am told to my face every day and that the Treatise your Reverence Presented to his Highness did not prove the Truth of our Faith by affirming that it was not credible that so many Christian Kings being all united in one Faith and under one Pastor should be all in the Wrong and the Emperor of Ethiopia only in the Right He Answered I have hitherto lived in Peace and Amity with all Christian Kings and that it was I only that endeavoured to bring him to be upon ill terms with them I told him the Pope and my Lord the King of Portugal had sent me to reveal the secret of our Holy Faith to him which was all that I endeavoured and for which if his Highness was displeased with me I had a Religion and a King I would die for sooner than deny them He told me further That I had reported among his Subjects that their Abuna's were sent to them from the Turks I answered that was a great truth since none of them were ever consecrated at Rome or sent from thence He then asked me Why since I was so great a Romanist and a Bigot for my Faith I had desired to be Baptized in Ethiopia and to receive the Eucharist from them As to Baptism I said there was no such thing I having been Baptized when I was but Eight days old but as to the Eucharist it was true that being once dangerously stick I had desired it which was a thing I thought I might lawfully do in the extream necessity I was in at that time and that I would do it again if there were the same occasion and could not have the opportunity of a Roman Priest He told me he would order it not to be given to me St. Paul having said there is but one Faith and one Baptism To that I repli'd If St. Paul saith so why is your Highness Baptized once a year This put him into a great Passion and having given me a great many hard words he put his Hand to his Sword which I having observed I said to him Sir I would not have your Highness defer punishing me for for this Truth of the good Jesus I do not fear all the Kings of the Earth nor none but him whom we desire not to chasten us in his wrath but for you I would have you to chasten me in your anger for as there is nothing so excellent as the Soul so Iregard nothing that is not Infinite I spoke all this to him with an extraordinary courage so that seeing me much more resolute than he had ever done at any time before he went away and left me in the Field so that by what I can perceive by him he will sooner put himself under the Turks and so will his whole people too who are all Dioscoreans as are the Alexandrians than yield obedieace to the Holy Pope I did not care to acquaint you with this sooner for fear of having discouraged your Reverence from using your utmost diligence in your Office But while things were in this Posture in Ethiopia at Rome and Lisbon they still continued to reckon it as good as reduced to the Roman Obedience and that there was nothing wanting to perfect it but the new Patriarch's Presence among them who on the 15th of March 1556 set Sail from Lisbon upon the Ship called the Graca as Bishop Andrew did at the same time upon the St. Vincent and after a Tempestuous Voyage they arrived at Goa on the 13th of September of the same Year It cannot be expressed how much the Patriarch was troubled at the News of the present Posture of Affairs in Ethiopia The new Patriarch arrives at Goa which were brought by Redriguez to Goa a few days before he landed it being a terrible disappointment to him to find that a Work which he had thought would have done it self was next to impossible The Patriarch and Bishop with all their Companions were lodged in the Jesuits Collage where they found the old Patriarch but not a word of what passed betwixt them or of their having ever so much as seen one another tho' undoubtedly they did having been several Months together in the same House The new Patriarch having consecrated Melchior Elect of Nice they begun to
it off and whereas he had been pleased to charge the Ethiopick Church with holding divers Errors in Faith if he would be at the pains to read over a Confession of Faith which he had Published lately he would see how unjust that Charge of Heresy was there being nothing in that Confession that was not taught by Christ and his Apostles The Emperor Claudius's Confession of Faith In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost One God THIS is my Faith The Emperor's Confession of Faith and the Faith of my Fathers the Kings of Israel and the Faith of my Flock which is within the bounds of my Empire We Believe in One God and in his only Son Jesus Christ who is his Word Power Council Wisdom and who was with him before the World was Created and who in the last days visited us and without leaving the Throne of his Divinity was made Man by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and who when he was Thirty years of Age was Baptized in Jordan and being a perfect Man was in the days of Pontius Pilate Crucified and was Dead and Buried and Rose again the Third Day and on the Fortieth day after his Resurrection did Ascend with Glory into the Heavens where he sitteth at the right hand of the Father and shall come again in Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no End We Believe also in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father We Believe one Baptism for the Remission of Sins and do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead to the Life to come Which is Everlasting Amen We do walk in the plain and true way declining neither to the right nor to the left from the Doctrine of our Fathers the Twelve Apostles and of Paul the fountain of Wisdom and of the Seventy two Disciples and of the Three hundred and eighteen Orthodox Assembled at Nice and of the Hundred and fifty at Constantinople and of the Hundred at Ephesus Thus I Profess and thus I Teach I Claudius Emperor of Ethiopia my Royal Name being Atznaf Saghed the Son of Uuanag Saghed the Son of Naod As to our observing the day of the old Sabbath we do not keep it after the manner of the Jews who Crucified Christ saying His Blood be upon us and our Children For whereas the Jews do neither draw water nor light a fire nor boyl meat nor bake bread nor go from one house to another on that day We do administer the holy Supper thereon and according to the Command of the Apostles in their Book of Doctrines do keep the Love-Feasts Neither do we observe it after the same manner as we do the Sabbath of the First day which is a new day and of which David said This is the day that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad therein For on this day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the Dead the Holy Ghost likewise descended on this day upon the Apostles in the Parlour of Sion on this day Christ was also conceived in the womb of the Holy and perpetual Virgin Mary and will come thereon to Reward the Righteous and to Punish Sinners Neither do we Circumcise after the manner of the Jews Paul the fountain of Wisdom having told us That to be circumcised profiteth nothing nor to be uncircumcised but a new creation which is Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ And who told the Corinthians That he that had received circumcision was not to be uncircumcised all the Books of St. Paul 's Doctrine concerning Circumcision and Uncircumcision being in our hands So that Circumcision is no otherwise in use among us than as the Custom of a Countrey as Incision in the Face is in some parts of Ethiopia and Nubia and the Boring of the Ears in India what we do therein being in compliance with a human Custom and not in Obedience to the Mosaical Law And as to Swines Flesh we do not abstain from that neither after the manner of the Jews nor in Obedience to the Law of Moses neither do we abominate those or reckon them to be unclean that do eat it as we do not force those to eat it that have a mind to abstain from it which is according to what our Father Paul writ to the Romans saying He that eateth let him not despise him that eateth not for the Lord accepts both for the kingdom of God consists not in meat and drink and in another place he saith Every thing is clean to the clean but it is evil for a man to eat with offence It is said likewise in Matthew 's Gospel That nothing defileth a man but what comes out of his Mouth all that goes into the Belly being thrown into the draught This teacheth us That all Flesh is clean and destroyeth the whole Fabrick of the Jewish Errors Wherefore my Religion and the Religion of my Priests and Doctors who teach by my Command within the bounds of my Empire is such as declineth neither to the right nor to the left from the paths of the Gospel and the Doctrine of Paul In the Book called Tarick it is written That the Emperor Constantine commanded all the Jews to eat Swines flesh on the day of our Lord's Resurrection whereas with us people are at their liberty to abstain from it or any other sort of flesh there being some that love the flesh of Fish others of Hens and some abstain from Mutton every one as to such things following his own appetite there being no Law nor Canon of the New Testament concerning eating the flesh of Terrestrial Creatures all things according to St. Paul being clean to the clean and he that believeth may if he please eat all things This is what I have writ that you might know the Truth of my Religion Written at Damot on the 23d of in the Year 1555. The Emperor finding that no declarations he could make of his Resolution never to forsake the Religion of his Countrey The Emperor offers to lay the Debates about Religion before his Council were able to make the Coadjutor give over teizing him for quietness sake told him one day That notwithstanding he was fully satisfied with the Religion of his Ancestors in every point nevertheless since a Person of his Character and Authority had come so far to persuade him to submit himself to the Pope he was willing to lay that whole matter before his Council that he might have their Opinion about it The Coadjutor being sensible that this was only to put him off with delays and at last to lay the blame of his not turning Roman-Catholick on his Councellors whom and especially the Queen-Mother and the Officers of her Court he knew to be mortal Enemies to Popery he endeavoured to divert him from a course from which he expected no good by the following Letter The Coadjutor endeavours to divert him from that course by
short time to the Indies or Portugal there to be affronted by every body that shall see me since they cannot but think that I who was so kindly entertain'd in Ethiopia must have done some very ill thing to deserve to be thus banished from thence But supposing you should not send me to the Indies but should suffer me to have my grave at the foot of the Patriarch Don Andrew D' Oviedo 's Tomb in Fremona all the Indies and Europe any all the world when they shall come to hear of my being banished thither will and must conclude that it is for some great Miscarriage that I have been guilty of Wherefore that I may be able to give some account of my self to the world I do in the name of God and Truth beg and require it of your Highness and of all your Nobles That you would be pleased to let me have the reasons in writing why you have thought fit to banish me the Court whether it be for my having preached any false Doctrine or for having been guilty of any scandalous Crime or for not having punctually compli'd with the obligations of my Pastoral function or for having been Insolent in my words or too rigorous in punishing or for having been slothful or careless or for what other cause Your Highness may remember that when your Father desired that his Subjects might be permitted to return to some of their ancient customs that I gratify'd him fully in that matter and that he happening at the end of our Treaty to mention some other customs that he had not spoke of before I told him That I was ready to yield to every thing that was not contrary to the Law of God one thing only excepted which was the giving the Cup to the Laicks which though not contrary to the Law of God the concession thereof being reserved to the chief Roman Pontiff the Successor of St. Peter and Christ's Vicar upon Earth it was not in my power to grant it I promised nevertheless at the same time to write to his Holiness about it and to lay the whole matter before him with great sincerity that so he as a faithful and prudent Steward might Ordain what was most profitable What I did then offer to your Father I do now again offer to your Highness and do declare That if your Highness and your Empire will but continue in the Obedience of the Roman Church the head of all Churches and will but follow her faith that I will grant you all that I can with a good Conscience in the form aforesaid Finally I do beseech your Highness before you send me away to assemble all your Learned men to Treat and Dispute with me about their doubts in Matters of Faith for confiding in the Mercy of God and their good Judgments I do not in the least doubt but that I shall be able to convince them of their being in several errors and to oblige them to confess that the Chair of St. Petor is such That the gates of hell can never prevail against it This in my opinion would be the best course you could take to quiet the minds of your people for that if this should not be yielded to what can the common people say but that the Learned men of Ethiopia were afraid to appear before the Light of the Roman Doctors but having shut their eyes do throw themselves into utter darkness What is offered in justification of their not yielding to this to wit that they shall incur an Excommunication if they do it is intolerable since the Patriarch of Alexandria no nor the Pope himself has not power to lay an Excommunication upon his Subjects on that account and the reason is because such an Excommunication would tend to the Destruction of the Faith which is known and made manifest by the Disputations of Learned men It is likewise contrary to the express command of God and his Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Christ having commanded his Disciples and in them his whole Church to go and teach all Nations Jews Gentiles and Hereticks and again to seek and they should find knock and it should be opened unto them And how is truth sought or how are its gates knocked at but by Disputations It is also contrary to what St. Peter ordered who commands all Christians to be always prepared to give satisfaction to all that should desire a reason of the hope that is in them and in the last place it is a contradiction to St. Paul who told his Disciple Timothy that a Bishop ought to be a Doctor and writing to Titus he declares wherein that Doctorship consists and that it does in being so powerful in sound Doctrine as to be able to convince Gainsayers Wherefore if your Learned men do think that we contradict the truth why do they not endeavour to convince us of it and not seek to excuse their not endeavouring it by pretending that by ingaging in a Disputation with us they should fall under the Excommunication of Three hundred and Eighteen Fathers there being no manner of foundation for that pretence since Hosius Victor and Vincentius the Presidens of that Council were all the Legates of Pope Sylvester the Master of Constantine the Great who undoubtedly never drew the Sword of Excommunication against themselves to thrust it into their own Bowels wherefore to flee to Excommunication in such a case is to trust to a covering that cannot hide the ignorance of him that seeks to cover himself with it Since your Highness has been pleased to take all my Arms from me if I must go to Fremona I desire the favour of you to let my Servants have the Muskets to Guard me thither and they sholl be sent back to you again and if this should be denied I hope your Highness will appoint a strong Guard of Portuguese Soldiers with Fire-Arms to see me out of danger O. Patriarcha Though one cannot but be touched to see a Person who but a few Months before was in so high a Post treated thus rudely yet at the same time one can scarce forbear smiling to find a Roman Prelate advancing the Principle of the Seekers so high The Principle of the Seekers is advanced by the Patriarch as to make it to be destructive of Religion and contrary to the Commands of Christ and his Apostles to forbid People under pain of Excommunication to dispute about Matters of Faith denying it to be in the Pope's Power to rob People of this Liberty notwithstanding he could not but be sensible that it is what the Pope does every where and that there is no Doctrine whatsoever for which the Inquisition would sooner Burn a man than for maintaining such a liberty of Inquiry into the truth of Doctrines of Faith to be the undoubted Privilege and Duty of every Christian But this is not the only instance we have of the Jesuits affirming That the very same Doctrine may be true in one Countrey
was for Destruction and not for Edification There were two things one would think might have been some rubs in the way of this promotion though we do not find they were in the least The first was That there was a Patriarch and one of the Pope's own Confirming then living in Ethiopia of whom we shall hear more hereafter The second was the Vow that is taken by the Jesuits never directly nor indirectly to seek after any Ecclesiastical Promotion either within or without their Order which they had violated with a witness in seeking after a Mission of this nature which was not to be performed without some high Prelates Neither do we any where read that Ignatius when he laboured so hard to get his Friars employed therein did desire only the Ministry of it for them leaving the Prelacy thereof to such as were under no Vows to the contrary But however the Clergy stood affected the King was extreamly pleased with this Promotion and presented the Patriarch with extraordinary rich Vestments and with a noble set of Plate for his own Altar all which upon this Mission miscarrying was afterwards given by King Sebastian to the Jesuits College at Goa where the Patriarch had lodged it The Patriarch by reason of his Bulls not having come till some days after the India Fleet departed was obliged to wait a year for the next Fleet The King of Portugal wisely suspecting that things were not so ripe in Ethiopia as they were reported to be sends an Envoy for true Intelligence during which time he lived for the most part at St. Rocks the House of the professed Jesuits at Lisbon of whose Chappel he laid the first Stone But notwithstanding it was generally believed both at Rome and Lisbon that the Habassin Church and Empire were as good as reconciled to the Pope yet there did not want some sober Heads at Lisbon who doubted whether all things were so well in Ethiopia as they were reported to be and as it is plain the Pope and Ignatius thought they were the former in his Bull calling the Emperor his Beloved Son and the latter calling him his Lord in Christ in his long Letter that he writ to him and in a style as if he had been a second Pope of Rome This Letter of Ignatius is set down at length by Maffeus and all the other Writers of his Life in which there are but two things that are remarkable the one is his quoting the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Chalcedon for the Authoritative Supremacy of the Pope whereas those Councils do place the Pope's primacy of Order which was all they allowed him on a bottom that quite destroys the Florentine Supremacy founding it purely upon the Secular consideration of Old Rome being the first City in the Roman Empire And the second is his proving from Pope Marcellus's Decretal Epistle which is acknowledged by all Learned Roman-Catholicks to have been a Spurious Brat of the Eighth or Ninth Century That God did expresly command St. Peter to fix his See at Rome But to return to the thread of my Story The King having been made jealous by some of his Ministers that Ethiopia might not be altogether so well disposed to submit it self to the Pope as was commonly believed gave Orders to Don Peter Mascarenhas who Commanded the Fleet that Sailed for the Indies four days before the coming of the Pope's Bulls to Lisbon so soon as he arrived at Goa to dispatch an Envoy thither to bring certain tidings of the present state of its Affairs who accordingly so soon as he was arrived at Goa sent one James Dias Oprestes joyning Father Gancalre Rodriguez a Jesuit with him into Ethiopia to bring Intelligence how matters stood there this Jesuits chief if not only business in Ethiopia as we shall see hereafter was if he found the Patriarch Bermudes alive to fetch him off to make a clear stage for his Successor since it would not have looked well to have had two Popish Patriarchs together in Ethiopia These Envoys sailed from Goa in February 1555 and in 30 days landed safe at Arkiko where having rested themselves for some time they continued their Journey by Land till they came to the place where their old Friend Bahurnagays resided who having received them with great kindness sent them with a good Convoy to the Court But The Jesuit Rodriguez having given the World a very particular relation of all this Negotiation at the Habassin Court I shall set it down word for word as he reports it On the 26th Rodriguez the Jesuit who went with the Envoy into Ethiopra his account of their Voyage and Negotiation of May we came to the King of Ethiopia's Court which is nothing but a Camp full of Tents the King was pleased to give us a publick Audience the second day after our Arrival into whose presence when we were introduced we found him seated in a Chair hung round with Silk Curtains as indeed the whole Tent was the Floor of the Room being covered with a rich Carpet James Dias having delivered our Letters to the King he Commanded them to be Read in the hearing of all the Portugueses that belonged the Court who were all permitted to be present at the Ceremony In which Letters our Lord the King having acquainted him with his intention of sending one of his Courtiers with a certain number of Friars of Good lives and found Doctrine next year to him the King when he heard that was all of a sudden in a great disorder and had his thoughts so taken up with it that when we spoke to him he never returned us any answer that was to the purpose but dismissed us to return to our Tents Within two or three days after this Audience the King took a Progress to visit his Grandmother who lived at a place that was Eight or Ten days Journey from the Camp in which he left us without having given any order about our Entertainment and without sending us so much as any thing of a Complement So that I do not know what would have become of us had not an honourable Portuguese carried us to his House which was Two or Three Leagues from the Camp and Entertained us there till the King returned which he did not in a Month. During that time I composed a Treatise of the Errors of Ethiopia and of the Truth of our Holy Faith with an intention to have presented it to the King who as I was told by a Potuguese that was much in his Favour had no kindness for the Roman Pontiff and had said openly That he stood in no need of the Friars the King of Portugal was so forward to send him being fully resolved never to submit himself to the Roman Church I was informed likewise by all the Portugueses of the Court That several of the Grandees had been heard to say An expression of the greatness of the Habassin Zeal against Popery That they
and false in another The Patriarch's Letter having been read in the Council it was Debated therein Whether they should gratifie him with a publick Disputation and though that was carried in the Negative it was judged convenient however that an Answer in the Emperor's Name should be returned to it Which was as followeth The Letter of Seltem Saged cometh to the Patriarch with the Peace of God My Lord HEAR what we say and write to you The Emperor's answer to the Patriarch We have received your Letter and do understand all that it contains As to your desiring to know why we have turned you out of the Post wherein God and the Emperor had placed you Your Lordship cannot but be sensible that so long as we were under our Father the Emperor we never disobeyed him in any one thing nor did we ever so much as open our mouth against any thing that he did but were so submissive to him in all things that we never said I will have this or I will have that or I like this or dislike that insomuch that I do not remember that during his life I ever did any thing of my own head but did still what he Commanded me As to the business of your Religion our Soul never entered into its Councils neither did we ever joyn with any Counsellors either to build it up or destroy it We need not be told that the Emperor sent for your Lordship and that the Fathers likewise came with his Consent as we need not that ever since your coming he has been continually embroiled in Wars for endeavouring to establish your Faith Fighting sometimes with his Sons and at other times with his Slaves whom he had raised from the dunghil to great honours Insomuch that from the first hour we were able to bear Arms we have never done any thing but fight in obedience to our Father's Commands which we always obeyed After the Battel I had in the beginning of this Winter with Ognadega our Learned Monks and People having assembled themselves together in the Camp took the confidence to tell my Father their thoughts freely in the following words Sir How long are we to be plagued thus and to tire our selves about things that are good for nothing We desire to know When we are to give over fighting with our Kinsfolk and Brethren or cutting our right hand off with our left What great difference is there betwixt the Roman Faith and ours For do they of Rome teach That there are Two Natures in Christ and have not we always believed and taught the same in affirming that our Lord Christ is perfect God and perfect Man perfect Man as to his Humanity and perfect God as to his Divinity But whereas those his Two Natures are not separated his Divinity being United to the Flesh and not separated from it and his Flesh to the Divinity we do not for that reason affirm them to be Two but One being made so out of two Causes and that not so as to Confound and Mix those Natures in their Beings but on the account of their being one and the same Principle we call them by the name of that Union so that our Controversie with them in this matter is of small importance Neither was it the cause of our having had so much fighting but it was because they denied us the Blood in the Communion notwithstanding Christ has told us positively in his Gospel that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you shall not inherit eternal Life And notwithstanding that Christ himself when he Instituted the Sacrament after having given his Body to his Disciples and received it himself did not say The blood is in my flesh which I have given you but on the contrary he said Take and drink and divide it among you His Disciples doing as he Commanded them and as he gave them to understand by saying Do this in remembrance of me Neither was this the only thing that discontented the People but moreover the prohibiting them to Fast on Wednesdays which St. Peter and St. Paul and no fewer than Eight Synods had Commanded them to do upon pain of Excommunication Neither was that all but because they saw us Eat and Drink in the first week of Lent Eating on the Morning of Good Friday from which time till Easter they do never taste any thing They heard likewise that we received the Sacrament in the Morning on Fasting-days and that the Roman Church permits People on Fasting-days to eat Milk and Butter and to drink Water having changed all the Festivities of the Year and suffering Men and Women promiscuously to enter into the Church without keeping any out for being unclean But the things of all others for which they abhorred us the most was for saying That they Baptized themselves as if they were Heathens and Publicans whereas in truth there is no great difference betwixt the Romanists and them as to that point And because the Romanists treated their Priests and Deacons as if they had not been in Holy Orders giving them Priesthood upon Priesthood and Diaconate upon Diaconate and for burning some of their Altars for no other reason but because they were made of Wood and Consecrating those again that were made of Stone as if they had been Profane before The Monks were also inraged against the Romanists for not living like Monks who are not to be left to their liberty whether they will Fast or not and because the Fathers took state upon them and did not visit them according to the Custom of Monks For these and divers other reasons the People far and near were much discontented and said to the Emperor Hear what we have to say and either give us leave to live quietly or knock us on the head since the War does thicken upon us daily When the Emperor was told this by all his People he without our joyning with them in it finding that there was no other way to quiet their minds and that he would not be able to punish them much longer commanded his Counsellors to advise together what was best to be done who after a serious consult came to this Resolution That they must all return to their Ancient Religion and Customs Your Lordship in being acquainted with this will know the reason why you are turned out of your Place which God and the Emperor had bestowed on you and that the very same Emperor that sent for your Lordship and gave you your Authority was the Person that deprived you of it Wherefore since an Alexandrian Abuna is on his way hither and he has sent us word that he cannot be in the same Countrey with a Roman Patriarch and Fathers we have ordered you to Repair to Fremona and there to remain As to what your Lordship now offers which is That if the People of Ethiopia will but continue in the Obedience of the Roman Church that you will dispense with them
as to all matters which are not contrary to the Faith that comes too late now for how is it possible for them to return to that which they have not only forsaken but do abominate now they have had a taste of their Old Religion again For can a grown Man be born again or enter a second time into his Mother's womb Your Lordship further desires That we would assemble our Learned Men to Dispute with you before you depart about matters of Faith This ought also to have been done in the beginning besides Is that Cause like to be supported by Arguments which has been maintained hitherto only by Force and Violence By taking Estates from some The Cruelty of the Persecutions raised by the Jesuits and throwing others into Prison and Punishing others more severely and that for no other reason but because they would not embrace your Faith And as if that had not been sufficient you have dragg'd great multitudes out of the Desarts who would have been contented to have lived there upon Herbs and confined them to Prisons nay the poor People that would have been glad to have Buried themselves in Caves not having escaped your Persecution Now what a Barbarity would it be to go and tease poor People with Arguments who have suffered so much in Desarts and Banishments It would certainly be a very unjust thing both in the sight of God and Man As to your Lordship's desiring to have a Portuguese Guard to attend you that cannot be but we shall appoint a very Honest Man and who has a great train of Servants to convey your Lordship and all your Goods in safety to the place whither you are to go This Letter gives us a great deal of light into the Affairs of Ethiopia at this time For First We see plainly thereby that Popery as to its Persecuting spirit is the same in all Climates it having no sooner got the Power of the Government of Ethiopia on its side than it made the penalty of not embracing it the loss of Estate Liberty and Life and Herbs were reckoned too high a Diet and Caves and Desarts too good a Dwelling for those that left all and fled to them to preserve a good Conscience Secondly That their denying the Cup in the Sacrament to the Laity and the validity of the Alexandrian Ordinations and not their believing that there were Two Natures in Christ were among the chief causes of the Habassins having such an Aversion for Popery Lastly That Popery owed all the footing that it ever had in Ethiopia to Violence so that it no sooner lost the assistance of the Secular Arm than it came to nothing There are two passages likewise in this Letter which do seem to make it evident That the Habassins do not believe Transubstantiation the one is where they do absolutely deny our Saviour's Blood to be in the Element of Bread and the other is where they seem to intimate That our Saviour made his Disciples understand what he meant by calling the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament his Body and Blood by bidding them Celebrate it in Memory of him The Patriarch finding that there was no remedy but that he must go to Fremona and that the Emperor would neither lend him his own Arms nor appoint him a Portuguese Guard did thereupon desire him to charge some Responsible Man with the Books and every thing else that belonged to the Church declaring that if that was not done That he would not take them with him The Answer the Emperor returned to this petition was very short which was That for his part he did not know how to pack Goods and that he must therefore e'en do it himself and having done it be gone with them And the Patriarch having desired to know who it was that was to be his Convoy he had word sent him on Holy Thursday That they were two Messengers and two Nobles who would go well attended with Servants and that he must begin his Journey next Morning which being come the Patriarch made his Farewel-Sermon and after that was ended The Patriarch begins his Journey to Fremona he took off his Shoes and having shaked the Dust that was on them in the Air he put them on again and begun his Journey on the Second day whereof he dispatched the following Memorial to the Emperor Now that your Highness's Counsellors do reckon that the security of your Empire dos consist in the Extirpation of the Roman Faith His Memorial to the Emperor which is the only true Catholick and Apostolick Faith and in the Banishment of the Patriarch Bishop and Fathers I for my part notwithstanding I know your Highness is most miserably abused by those men do say with Jonas Take me and throw me into the Sea it being better that one man should die than that a whole Nation should perish However your Highness must know that the Roman Faith can never be destroyed it not being founded on the mud wherewith the Nile fills Egypt but on the firm Rock of St. Peter 's Confession to whom Christ hath promised that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it having also said to him at another time Peter I have prayed to my Father for thee that thy faith may not fail Wherefore being now banished for having preached the Gospel I can say with St. Paul I labour even unto bonds nevertheless the Word of God is not bound Wherefore as Fathers when they come to die or when they are to part with their Children for any long time do speak to them as Jacob did to his Twelve Sons or as old Tobit did to the young one and as Christ when he ascended into Heaven did to his Disciples so upon my departure I will speak to your Highness and your whole Empire all the truths which it imports you to be acquainted with In the First place I do testify to your Highness before God and Christ Jesus who is to Judge the quick and the dead That the Church of Rome is the Mother Mistress and Head of all Churches Christ having commanded her in the person of her Founder St. Peter to confirm his brethren and feed his sheep that is all the faithful of the world who are all the Sheep of Christ so that none can have God for their Father but they who have this holy Church for their Mother out of which there is no Salvation no more than there was out of the Ark in the time of the Deluge And I do farther declare That your Highness and all that are in your Empire who have violated the Oath you made in my hands To live and die in the Faith and Obedience of the Roman Church have incurred thereby the Excommunication which was pronounced by me and divers Priests in the name of God at that time and by the Authority of St. Peter and the Roman Pontiff his Successor from which you cannot be absolved before you return to the Obedience and Union