their own I do not find they have any besides some Fabulous Legends of the Lives of their Monks of which I shall only give the Reader a Taste In the Life of Tecla Haymanot the most famous of all their Monks both for Piety and Miracles the following Account of the Succession of their Grand Abbots is given The Angel St. Michael gave the Cowl to St. Anthony St. Anthony gave it to St. Macarius Macarius gave it to Pachomius Pachomius to Abbot Araguni or Michael who was one of the Nine Monks that came into Ethiopia Araguni gave it to Bazana Bazana to Mazralmoa Mazralmoa to Abbot John John to Abbot Jesus Jesus to Tecla Haymanot to whom Christ appeared and promised that whosoever should kill a Serpent upon a Friday should be pardoned all the Sins he had committed in Forty Years But notwithstanding the Lives of the Habassin Monks are all of a piece with the Lives of all the other Monks that are extant that is extreamly fabulous yet this must be said for them that Monkery continues to this day much the same among them as it was in the beginning from which in the Church of Rome it is so strangely degenerated For in Habassia Monkery much the same in Habassia as it was in the beginning any one that has a mind to be a Monk retires thereupon to the Desart where he puts on what Habit he pleaseth or judgeth to be most sutable to his pretensions Their Obligation so long as they profess themselves Monks which they are always at their liberty to give over is to fast every day in the Year till three a Clock in the Afternoon and to Assemble together at Midnight and at other certain Hours to perform their Devotions they do generally exercise great Austerities upon themselves being very strict in their Fasts many of them eating but once in two days and some never but upon Sundays some of them are said to have made Holes in the Trunks of Trees and to have lodged in them till the Trees have grown to shut them in Their Monastries are more like Villages than Roman Convents Their Monastries are little Villages every Monk having his distinct dwelling House with as much Land laid to it as a Man is able to cultivate and when they come to dye they dispose of their Goods as they please only the Land remains still to the Monastries Now this course falls in exactly with that of the Primitive Monks who always lived in Deserts where they work'd hard and were under no Vows whereas the Roman Monks have their Monastries in or near Princes Courts and in all Populous Cities and tho generally hurried into that Profession either by their Parents or by some sudden fit of Melancholy are fettered in it by Vows for their Lives and are so far from putting their Hand to any work that they are every where become proverbial for Laziness and as for their Buildings they are much more like Palaces than the Dwellings of People that have renounced the World and taken a Vow of Poverty upon them The most famous of all their Monastries is that of Alelujah wherein formerly there are said to have been 40000 Monks together all the Country about having been given to the Monks thereof to cultivate I do not find that any sort of Learning did ever flourish among the Habassins so that they have but few Books besides the Bible the Canons of the first Councils the Homilies of the Greek Fathers and the Lives of their Saints The Habassins do hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of the Christian Faith The Habassins hold the Scriptures to be the perfect Rule of Faith insomuch that they deny it to be in the Power of a General Council to oblige People to believe any thing as an Article of Faith without an express warrant from thence Their Canon of Scripture consists of 85 Books the Old Testament consisting of 46 and the New of 39. As to the Doctrine of our Saviour's Incarnation They are Eutychians they are all Eutychians holding that there is but one Nature in Christ which is the Divine by which they will have the Humane to have been swallowed up they were led into this Heresy by Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria who was condemned with Eutyches for it by the General Council of Calcedon whose Authority they for that reason reject pretending that its Decrees were imposed on the Church by Marcian the Emperor on which account they call all those who have yielded Obedience to it Mellites or Royalists as they themselves are called Jacobites from one James a Syrian who was a great Stickler for the Eutychian Heresy They allow the Bishop of Rome to be the first Patriarch They deny the Popes Supremacy but condemn his pretending to a Supremacy over the whole Church as Antichristian and do detest Popery to that degree as to declare That of the two they would sooner turn Mahometans than Roman Catholicks The Supream Authority in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil The Emperor is Head of the Church is in the Emperor They have but one Bishop at a time who is stiled the Abuna that is our Father he is always an Alexandrian Monk and upon notice of a Vacancy is consecrated and sent into Ethiopia by the Alexandrian Patriarch to whom this Church hath always been subject he has the seventh place in a General Council he Ordains only by Imposition of Hands he hath Lands both in the Kingdom of Dembea and Tigre from which besides several Perquisites he receives a considerable Revenue Their Priests Marry Their Priests may Marry after they are in Orders and as often as they are Widowers They are said to have divers Forms of Baptism viz. I baptize thee in the Holy Spirit They have divers Forms of Baptism I baptize thee in the Water of Jordan Let God Baptize thee Come thou to Baptism They Circumcise both Males and Females and all are Baptized every Year on the Feast of Epiphany they hold that Men derive their Souls no less than their Bodies from their Parents and that the Children of Christian Parents and especially of a Christian Mother are saved notwithstanding they dye without Baptism They celebrate the Eucharist but once a day in a Church All that are present at the Celebration of the Sacrament must communicate They do not elevate nor adore the Host nor keep it after the Communion They break it after it is consecrated They reckon the receiving of it breaks their Fast at which none must be present without communicating the Laity as well as the Clergy receive the Cup they do not elevate nor Worship the consecrated Elements neither are they kept after the Communion they consecrate unleavened Bread which they break after it is consecrated they reckon the receiving of the Sacrament breaks their Fast for which reason they never receive it on Fasting-days till after Three a Clock in the Afternoon They do not
of holy Mother Church In the Second place I do declare That I so long as I do live and am not loosed from that bond of Spiritual Marriage which I have Contracted with the Church of Ethiopia am the true Patriarch and Pastor and Abuna thereof and that whosoever is or shall come from any part is a stranger and cannot enter into it by the door it not being opened to him by the faithful and prudent Steward to whom Christ has delivered the Keys of his House Such a one therefore must be an Adulterer in taking another man's Wife while her lawful Husband is living I have been placed in this Chair by the true Successor of St. Peter and that with the same Authority as St. Peter placed his Disciple St. Mark in the Chair of Alexandria all that are in that Chair and do deny Obedience to the Pope and his Successors being Patriarchs only in name for the branch cannot bear fruit of it self if it continueth not in the vine In the Third place I am to put your Highness and the whole Empire in mind of those words of St. Paul Be not deceived for God no nor men will not be Mocked by your pretending that you have not forsaken the Roman faith but only in some customs for it is plain you have departed from her by divers Heresies namely the using of Circumcision together with Baptism the repeating of Baptism the keeping Saturday and the ceremonial Law about Legal uncleannesses and distinctions of meat and in dissolving Marriages many of you affirming that Christ is the Son of God by grace only Others affirming that there are Two persons in Christ others that he has one person made of Two and that he has not two Wills nor two Operations others that he died without his Divinity others that the Humanity is equal to the Divinity and is every where You do affirm likewise that water squeezed from dry grapes may be Consecrated and that the Souls of Children are derived from their Parents with a great many other things that are repugnant to the holy Scriptures and have been Condemned and Anathematized in divers Councils In the Fourth place I do beseech your Highness by the Precious Blood of Christ and by the Bowels of Our Lady the Virgin Mary and I do in the name of God and by the Authority which he hath given me by the Pontifical Oil that was poured on my head as upon that of Aaron on the day of my Consecration command you neither by force nor promises to endeavour to oblige the Portugueses that shall remain here to renounce the true Roman Faith Nor to set any Captain over them that is not a Catholick by Descent and chosen by Catholicks And I do pronounce the greater Excommunication to be Ipso facto incurred and do invocate the Indignation and Curse of Almighty God and of the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and of St. Thomas the Patron of India and of St. James the Great the Patron of Spain and Portugal on all that shall any ways offend in this matter or who shall at any time forsake the Roman Faith In the Fifth place I do advertise your Highness and all and every one in your Empire that there is no Nation under Heaven that has the like Obligations to another as Ethiopia has to Portugal The Portugueses not having come among you as the Children of Israel went into Egypt with Asses to have them laden with Provisions to satisfy their hunger but were moved to it purely out of Charity and Zeal for the faith It is not above an Hundred years since they were sent by their King to his great cost laden with Arms and Muskets and accompanied with a train of Artillery which is at this time in your Camp with the Royal Arms of Portugal upon them with their Pockets full of Money and that not to make themselves Masters of Ethiopia nor to Conquer it for their King but to deliver the Habassins out of a Mahometan Captivity and to free them from the Yoke which that cursed Sect had laid upon their necks for which great Service they have been so ill rewarded that their Children and Grandchildren were reduced to that Penury that the King of Portugal was obliged to allow them a yearly Maintenance Wherefore I do beseech your Highness to let them enjoy the Privileges which their Fathers purchased for them with their Blood and which have been granted them by former Kings for their services In the Sixth place I would have your Highness remember that several of the Fathers of the Society who are Eminent for their Piety and Learning have come into Ethiopia at divers times not to seek after Honours or Riches but to serve God and your people in much humility and to teach them the true faith some of them having given the greatest Testimonies of love that are possible in having laid down their Lives for their Friends which Three of them did one after having been several years a prisoner at Matzua and the other two at Adel and those that are now alive have served your Father with all the fidelity of Doctors Servants and Slaves as he himself has many times told me all which notwithstanding after they had built several Churches and Houses they are now turned out of them all and that in the midst of Winter their Churches and Goods being all given to the Enemies of the Roman Faith the Fathers that were at Gorgora having in little more than three Months time been sent from three several places they that were at Dembea and Gojam having been likewise turned out of all notwithstanding all which hard usage they continue to pray to God to Establish your Highness's Empire for ever and that he would give you a House that has the true faith for its Foundation and Heaven for its Roof Furthermore I would have your Highness remember That your Father desired the Bishop of Rome to send a Patriarch and Bishops into Ethiopia at whose request he sent me and a Bishop we were both Masters of Divinity and Readers of the holy Scriptures Neither did the most Catholick Powerful and Munificient King of Portugal expect that your Father should have remitted Gold to him to defray the charges of our Mission or that he should have taxed his Nobles on that account but he took the whole charge thereof upon himself which amounted to several Thousand Oquea's giving us also many rich pieces to make Presents of some of which are at this time in your Royal Palace and in several great Houses in Ethiopia Neither did he so much as charge your Father with the Maintenance of our persons having sent me yearly an Hundred Oquea's to support my Dignity Now all the return you have made to your Brother the King of Portugal and to the Bishop and me for all the charge and trouble that we have been at is to throw us out of all at a blow and to entertain another without knowing who
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
defend it with the last drop of his blood This Proclamation brought the whole Countrey in to Julius out of which having formed a numerous Croisade he marched directly towards the Nile with an intention to have fallen first upon Raz Cella the great Champion of Popery He Marcheth with a great Croisade against the Emperor but happening in his March to come near the place where the Abuna resided he went to wait on him to have his Blessing the Abuna who was glad to see him was not satisfied with giving him a Thousand Blessings for being so valiant for the truth but though he was above a Hundred Years of Age he would go in person in the Croisade The Abuna goes against him in person telling Julius That as he should partake of the benefits of that holy War if it had success so he was resolved likewise to partake of its dangers And whereas Julius was for beginning with Raz Cella the Abuna diverted him from it by telling him That since he was at the head of so great and zealous an Army he ought not to spend its first heats which were always the strongest in lopping off Branches but in striking at the Root which being once destroyed the Branches would wither of themselves He likewise encouraged the Soldiers by telling them That they fought for the best Cause in the world that is the true Religion which the Emperor and his Brother if let alone would certainly destroy assuring them That whosoever was slain in this holy War would die a Martyr and go straight to Heaven thundering out his Excommunications at the same time against the Emperor and his Brother and all that adhered to them as Apostates from the Faith The Emperor hearing that Julius was Marching towards him with a numerous and Zealous Croisade sent to his Brother to make all the haste he could to come and join him with his Army but fearing lest Julius who made long Marches might be up with him before his Brother could join him He incamped his Army so that the Enemy's Horse in which their main strength consisted if they should attack him in his Camp would be of little use to them When the Armies were within sight of one another the Emperor sent his Daughter who was Wife to Julius to try if she could persuade her Husband to lay down his Arms promising him not only a pardon for what he had done but every thing that a subject could reasonably desire of his Prince And in case she should not be able to bring him to submit she was then to try if she could obtain a Cessation of Arms of him for a few days but Julius either reckoning himself secure of a Victory that would have the Crown for its reward or being fearful to take the Emperor's word after he had provoked him so much would hear of nothing but of Fighting saying He would either die a Martyr for his Religion or by Conquering its Enemies secure it from being ever destroy'd And that he might lose no time He fights the Emperor's Army and is killed he attacked the Emperor's Camp before his Princess was well got back to her Father and having put himself at the head of a brisk body of men be advanced towards his out-guards who though they did not come in to him would not strike a stroke telling their Officers flatly That they would never draw their Swords against a man who was fighting in Defence of their Religion Julius observing this asked aloud all the way he went where the Emperor was that was resolved to destroy the Religion of their Forefathers which he was there with his Sword in his hand ready to defend against him and all Mankind with which as if it had been the word of the Imperialists he advanced within sight of the Royal Tent without having met with the least opposition until a body of Tigrians who were posted not far from it put a full stop to his Career thorough whom as he was hacking his way he was knocked off his Horse with the blow of a stone under the left Eye and as he lay on the ground had his head presently chopped off which was carried to the Emperor by a private Sentinel The Body that advanced with Julius having as it were lost their Soul in their Commander was presently hewed all in pieces and the Tigrians following their blow The Croisaide is totally defeated and the old Abuna slain and the other Imperialists who would not strike a stroke before joining with them now that Julius was slain they put the whole Croisade immediately to the rout every man of them so soon as they heard of their General 's being killed throwing down their Arms and crying out for Quarter The old Abuna was stunned so with this sudden turn of things that he was not able to stir from the place where he had posted himself but though several of the Imperialists knowing him to be the Abuna had out of Reverence to his character and great Age passed by him without offering him any violence yet a true Roman Catholick say the Jesuits whose name was Za Michael having found him out gave him such a blow in the neck with his Lance that he laid his head at his foot with whose and Julius's death this great Croisade vanished having had no other effect than to enrage the Emperor more than he was before against the Alexandrians The Emperor upon this Victory prohibits his Subjects to observe Saturday and their Religion who immediately upon this Victory set forth a Proclamation prohibiting all his Subjects upon severe penalties to observe Saturday any longer This Impious Proclamation as the Habassins reckoned it produced a bitter Libel directed by way of a Letter to the Emperor wherein he was told That his Subjects were all amazed at his wickedness in commanding the violation of that Sacred day advising him not to be rid by the Jesuits A severe Libel comes out against the Emperor who were an Ignorant little sort of people and who being of the race of Pontius Pilate and Uncircumcised did teach that there are Two Natures in Christ Adding That they were men swallowed up in the Gulph of their own Fopperies and did run headlong like an unbridled Horse without looking before them and did well deserve to have a Milstone tied about their Necks and to be thrown into the Sea and to be made partakers of the Curse that befel Pope Leo for having deni'd the Unity of Christ's Nature and after a great huddle of Texts of Scripture in favour of their Doctrines it at last admonisheth the Emperor that in case he was not weary of his Crown and the high Dignity he had received from the Popes of Egypt who wore the holy and new Ephod and bore the badge of the Cross to give over trying such new Experiments concluding thus Ah! We do here send this precious stone which enlightens the eyes of the blind May it be for an offering