he is or from whence he comes threatening us like Caterpillars against whom when they come the whole Countrey is up in Arms so that according to the word of David I am cast out like a locust you in what you do fulfilling what Christ said to the Jews I came in my Father's name and you received me not another will come in his own name and him you will receive the Children of Israel when they went out of Egypt carried not only their own goods but the Egyptians also which they had borrowed whereas we are forced to leave a great part of our own goods behind us but since we must leave them all when we come to die that gives us but little trouble but what afflicts us most is that your Highness should send the same Message to us which another King delivered with his own Mouth to Moses and Aaron in the Twelfth of Exodus Arise and go from among my people and that with the same haste as he forced the Jews out of Egypt by night it being said the Egyptians pressed the Hebrews to depart suddenly saying if they do not depart this night we are all dead men imputing the death of their First-born to the presence and detention of the Children of Israel whereas in Justice they should have attributed it to the hatred they bore to the Hebrews who had been their deliverers and to their own cruelty in having thrown their Sons into the Nile After the same manner Ethiopia ought to impute the just punishments they have received at the hand of God to the unjust hatred they have for the Portugueses their restorers and to their Manifold publick and scandalous Sins some whereof I shall just mention Most of their men are for having several Wives and their Women are for changing their Husbands Their Monks care not to have any thing more of Monks than the habit chusing the Houses of the Court of Ladies for their Monasteries The Nobles are for making themselves Lords of the Church and her Lands indulging the flesh in all things and would have their Pastors to be as so many Statues in having neither Eyes to see their Sins nor Mouths to reprove them nor hands to chastise them Nâ—w so long as these Sins continue in Ethiopia the Sword will never depart from it Open your Eyes Sir and follow the truth according to your knowledge thereof and suffer not the good Nature and Understanding which God has given you to be ruin'd by evil Counsellors but do justice to your Subjects remembering what God hath said by the Ecclesiasticus That Kingdoms are Translated from one to another and from one Family to another by reason of Injustice And since we are not to see one another again before we meet at the Tribunal of God's Justice I must tell you plainly That though I should not accuse you there you will accuse your self your Empire the Gospel the Councils and the Books of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church which I brought for your Instruction and you have rejected will all accuse you there Nevertheless I the Bishops and Fathers imitating our Master Jesus Christ who when he was on the Cross prayed for his Murtherers not attending to the hatred wherewith they persecuted him but to the precept of his Father's and his own willingness to die for them do from our hearts pray that God of his great Mercy would pardon you and your whole Empire and remove from you and it the Scourges of his wrath which the examples in holy Scripture threaten them withal who will go on in their Sins And whereas the Gauls since the time your Ancestors broke the Oath they made to the Portugueses That they would receive the Roman Faith have become Masters of the greatest part of your Empire so I pray God that the remaining part thereof may not be lost on this occasion wherein there have been so many Oaths and Excommunications with such a clear knowledge of the truth insomuch that what Saint Stephen said of the Jews â—ay be truly appli'd to you You do always resist the holy Spirit after the Example of your Fathers May that Divine Spirit which is the Temple and Fortress of Truth enlighten and strengthen your Highness to know and love the Roman Catholick Faith which is the true way and life Offonso Patriarch of Ethiopia Banished for Jesus Christ The Patriarch having been rifled by the way by a company of Banditties arrived at Fremona on the 24th of April and not being able to think of returning to the Indies to live there as a Private Friar and where he knew his Conduct would be censured if for no other reason for its having been unsuccessful he began to consider whether he might not in case the Emperor should command him to depart his Kingdoms which he every day expected he would do find some Nobles that would undertake to protect him against him but being sensible that that was not to be done any other way but by giving assurances that a Portuguese Army would come in a short time to succor them he immediately dispatched four Fathers to Goa The Patriarch so soon as he arrived at Fremona sends Four Jesuits to the Indies to sollicit for Troops to sollicit the sending of an Army to them as the greatest Service that could be done either to God or the Crown of Portugal and having done this he thought he might very well encourage some of the Grandees to take them under their protection by promises of a Portuguese Army being ready to embark at Goa to come to their assistance and being informed that Prince John Kay the Heir of their old friend Bahurnagays was living discontented upon his own Lands which were Mountainous and not far from the Sea Coast he sent two Fathers to him to try if they could persuade him to undertake their protection by promises of great things the Portuguese Army that was coming would do for him The Envoys managed matters so that they brought O Kay to promise to protect them it being agreed betwixt him and them He sues to O Kay a discontenred Lord for protection against the Emperor That whensoever the Emperor should command the Patriarch and Fathers to leave Ethiopia that he should send a Troop of Horse to fetch them from Fremona into his own Lands where when he had them once he promised to defend them till the Portuguese Army arrived This O Kay you must know was one of the chief Leaders in Guergis's Croisade for the extirpation of Popery O Kay undertakes to protect him which though the Patriarch knew well enough yet being sensible that he was discontented with the Emperor and the Court and believing Ambition to be much stronger in him than Religion he thought he might be a man proper enough for his purpose the very Peasants of Lasta being made use of by the Fathers against me Emperor as we shall see hereafter The Emperor who was too jealous of the Patriarch and
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
to marry than to burn who saith likewise that a Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife that is unblameable and sober and in the same manner the Deacons and all Ecclesiasticks as well as Secular ought to have their own lawful Wives Our Monks notwithstanding this do not marry and neither Laicks nor Clerks among us can have above one Wife at a time With us Marriages are not celebrated at the Door of the Church but in private Houses we are taught likewise by the Constitution of the Apostles That if a Priest is convicted of Adultery Murther Theft or of having given false Testimony that he ought to be deprived of his Orders and punished as other Malefactors in the same kind and that an Ecclesiastick or Layman after having known his Wife or having been polluted in his sleep ought not in 24 hours after that to enter into the Church which Women are not to enter into till the 7th day after their menstrua's are over and until they have washed all the Clothes they had on at that time Furthermore a Woman that is delivered of a Man-child is not suffered to enter into the Church till after 40 days and of a Female not till about 80 days which Custom of the Old Law is commanded likewise by the Apostles whose Laws Constitutions and Precepts we do so far as we are able observe in all Cases It is likewise forbidden among us to suffer Heathens or Dogs or any other such Creatures The Habassins have a great veneration for their Churches to come within our Churches neither is it lawful for us to go into them otherwise than barefoot or to laugh walk or spit or speak of secular things in them For the Churches of Ethiopia are not like the Land wherein the People of Israel did eat the Paschal Lamb as they were going out of Egypt where God commanded them to eat with their shooes on and with their loins girt because of the pollution of the land But they are like the Mount Sinai where the Lord spoke to Moses saying Moses Moses put off thy shooes for the ground whereon thou treadest is holy Now this Mount Sinai was the Mother of our Churches from which they derive their original as the Apostles did from the Prophets and the New Testament from the Old Furthermore it is not lawful for a Priest or Layman or any other Person of what condition soever after the receiving of the Venerable Sacrament to Spit from Morning till Sun-set The Habassins are all Baptized every year on the day of the Epiphany and whoever does it is severely Punished In Memory of Christ we are also Baptized every Year on the day of Epiphany which is not done by us as a thing necessary to Salvation but only for the Praise and Glory of our Lord Neither is there any Feast that we Celebrate with so great Solemnities as this because it was on this day that the Most Holy Trinity first appeared manifestly when our Lord Jesus Christ was Baptized in the River of Jordan on whose Head the Holy Spirit Descended at that time in the Figure of a Dove and a Voice from Heaven said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Which Holy Spirit being in the Shape of a White Dove did appear with the Face and Figure of the Father and Son in One Divinity After the same manner Christ was seen by the Prophets under various Forms and Similitudes first in the Figure of a White Ram for the preservation of Isaac the Son of Abraham after the same manner he called Jacob Israel and Jacob called Judah to whom he gave power over his Brethren A lions whelp saying My son thou wentest up to the prey and resting didst lie down as a lion and as a lioness who shall rouze thee He manifested himself likewise to Moses in the Figure of a flame of fire on mount Sinai and in the likeness of a Rock to the Holy Prophet Daniel and to Ezekiel as the Son of man and to Isaias in the Form of an Infant he appeared to King David and Gideon in dew upon a fleece and besides the forementioned was seen under divers other Similitudes by the Holy Prophets under all which various Figures he still bore the Similitude of the Father and the Holy Ghost and since God when he Created the World said Let us make man after our own image and similitude and he did make Adam after his own Similitude ahd Image we do for that reason say That the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Three Faces in one Similitude and Divinity We have also retained Circumcision from the time of Queen Saba till this day They Circumcise both Men and Women this Queen 's true Name was Maqueda who had Worshipped Idols after the manner of her Ancestors until having heard much of the Wisdom of Solomon she sent a Prudent Person to Jerusalem to certifie her whether that King's Wisdom was so great as it was reported and after being satisfied that it was so she took a Journey to Jerusalem her self where among other things she was Instructed by Solomon in the Law and the Prophets and had the Books thereof bestowed upon her As she was on her Journey home she was Delivered of a Son begot by Solomon whom she Named Meilech and carried with her into Ethiopia where having remained till he was Twenty Years Old he went up to Jerusalem to Visit his Father and to learn Knowledge and Wisdom by him the Queen by Letters intreated Solomon to Consecrate his Son Meilech King of Ethiopia A blind story of the Queen of Sheba and her Son before the Ark of the Covenant and the Testament of the Lord and that after such a manner as to make it Unlawful for the future for a Woman to Reign in Etoiopia as was then the Custom and that the Males only in a direct Line should Inherit the Crown Meilech when he came to Jerusalem did with ease obtain all his Mother had desired and instead of Meilech was Named David by Solomon who having sufficiently Instructed him in the Law and other Sciences sent him home to his Mother in much greater State and Splendor than he came with sending several of the Nobles and of their Sons in his Train to serve him and together with them Azarias a Prince among the Priests the Son of Sadock who was likewise a Sacerdotal Prince whereupon Azarias put David upon asking leave of his Father for him to offer Sacrifice before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord for a prosperous Journey which he obtained Azarias after having with great speed and secrecy got Tables made in imitation of the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord did whilst he was offering Sacrifice with great dexterity steal the true Tables of the Ark of the Covenant and put his new ones in the place of them none but God and himself being conscious to what he had done this among us in Ethiopia is declared
to be a most certain and sacred Truth being delivered to us in the History of the said King David which is a Book about the bigness of St. Paul's Epistles and very pleasant to read When David was come to the Borders of Ethiopia Azarias going one day into his Tent discovered to him what he had so industriously concealed telling him he had brought the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord along with him whereupon David went straightways with him to the place where those Tables were kept and after the example of his Grandfather David danced before them with great exultation as did also the whole Company When he returned home his Mother resigned the Empire to him immediately from which time which is now near 2600 Years to this day the Empire of Ethiopia has desecended from Male to Male in a Right Line We have also ever since retained the Law of God and Circumcision and the Ministries prescribed by Solomon to his Son for the Government of the Court all which do to this day continue in the same Families and in the same Order neither is it lawful for the Emperor to put People of another Race into any of those Offices Furthermore at the Command of the said Queen Maqueda Women are Circumcised also among us Men and Women are Circumcised on the Eighth day but Male-Children are not Baptized till the Fortieth The Eucharist is Administred to Children when they are Baptized nor Female till the Eightieth day after their Birth without it be in case of Sickness and when that happens the Children are not allowed to Suck their Mothers until after they are purified the Water wherein Children are Baptized is Consecrated by Exorcisms and on the same day they are Christned they Receive the Venerable Body of Christ under the Element of Bread We were among the first Christians that received Baptism that Sacrament having been brought among us by the Eunuch of Candace Queen of Ethiopia who is spoke of in the Acts of the Apostles his Name according to our Tradition was Indick from which time to this day both Baptism and Circumcision have been in use among us and most Religiously and Christianly observed and thorough God's Grace will be so for ever We do observe nothing but what we find in the Law and the Prophets and in the Books of the Synods of the Apostles or if any thing else is observed by us it is done only for the sake of Order and for the Peace of the Church so as not to reckon it to be a Sin not to observe it Circumcision is not observed by them as a Sacrament but as a civil Custom wherefore our Circumcision is not Uncleanness but it is the Law and Grace which was given to our Father Abraham and which he received from God as a Sign not that he or his Sons should be Saved by Circumcision but that his Posterity might be distinguished thereby from all other Nations and as for what is signified by Circumcision we do observe it exactly by having our Hearts Circumcised neither do we Glory upon the account of Circumcision or prefer our selves to other Christians thereupon or reckon our selves for it the more acceptable to God with whom there is no acceptance of Persons as Paul testifies who tells us likewise that we cannot be Saved by Circumcision but by Faith for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature now by this Paul did not intend to destroy the Law but to establish it for he himself was Circumcised being of the Seed of Benjamin he Circumcised Timothy likewise after he was made a Christian his Mother being a Jewess notwithstanding his Father was a Gentile knowing that God approves both of Circumcision that is in Faith and of Uncircumcision which is by Faith for as he himself tells he was made all things to all men that he might save all to the Jews he became a Jew that he might gain the Jews and to those that were under the law as if he had been under the law which he was not that he might gain those who were under the law and to those who were without the law as if he had been without the law whereas he was not without the Law of God but was in the Law of Christ that he might gain them who were without the law he also became weak that he might gain the weak which he did that he might shew that it was not by Circumcision but by Faith that we must be Saved and so when he Preached to the Hebrews he spoke to them as Hebrews saying God hath at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to our forefathers by the Prophets and from thence proved to them that Christ was of the Seed of David according to the Flesh he Preached likewise to them That Christ was with our Fathers in their Tents in the Desart and did lead them by the hand of Joshua into the Land of Promise he furthermore testified That Christ was the Prince of the Priests and had entered into the Holy of Holies which is the New Tabernacle and had by the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood abolished the blood of Goats and Bulls by which none that came could be justified and that he had spoke to the Jews in divers manners and did suffer himself to be Worshipped by his People with divers rites and an holy and uncorrupt Faith Furthermore The Children of Christian Parents before they are Baptized are called Half-Christians Those Children are looked upon by us as Half-Christians who as I am told are reckoned to be Heathens by the Roman Church upon account of their dying without Baptism whereas being the Children of the holy Blood of Parents who have been Sanctified by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon which Three Testimonies all that are Christians are reputed to be such they ought to be esteemed Half-Christians for there are Three who bear Witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood as St. John testifieth in his first Canonical Epistle the Gospel saith likewise That a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil tree evil fruit wherefore the Children of Christians are not as the Children of the Gentiles Jews and Mahometans who are dry Trees without Fruit but are chosen in the Womb of their Mothers as the Prophet Jeremy and John the Baptist were The Children of Christian Women are furthermore Chosen and Sanctified by the Communication of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ received by their Mothers from whom they derive their Nourishment during the time they are in their Wombs for as an Infant in the Womb rejoyceth or is sorrowful according as its Mother is affected so it is nourished likewise by its Mother's nutriment for as our Lord saith in his Holy Gospel Whosoever shall eat my body and drink my blood shall never tast death and again He that eateth my
young a man to have attained to so great a stock of Learning I was told likewise that he read my Treatise over and that after he had once read it it was seldom out of his Hand and that he was still shewing it to his Mother and Brothers and the Grandees of the Court and that upon the Abuna's having denounced an Excommunication against all that should read it the King had sent to him for leave to read it again and was put into such a Passion by the Abuna's having deny'd it to him that he called him Mahometan and Heretick saying He would read the Alcoran of Mahomet himself and at the same time not give him leave to read a godly Book commanding him thereupon since he was their Abuna to answer a Book that was written by a poor Clerk who had no Dignity To which the Abuna's answer was That he did not come into Ethiopia to dispute but to confer holy Orders The Court however being divided about this Affair some seeming to favour the Roman but most and especially the Queen-Mother and all her Creatures stickling for the Alexandrian Faith the King resolved to call together some of the most Learned among his Monks to have their Opinion in the matter and in order thereunto he commanded my Treatise to be Translated into Habassin leaving out those Passages he was displeased with when he first looked into it namely that where I spoke of the Pope St. Leo and of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria whom they reckon a Saint as they do Leo to be Excommunicated and Accursed and for whom they have such a detestation that they cannot endure so much as to have him named rejecting the Council of Calcedon and its Decrees which they say erred in the Faith in condemning St. Dioscorus as they unjustly Stile him Since which time they have always been separated from the Roman Church having now for 1067 years been involved in the Heresy of Sergius Paulus and Pyrhus who were all condemned in the Sixth Council of Constantinople and in that of Eutyches likewise which holds that there is but one nature in Christ The time being come when I was to receive the King's Answer I sent to know when I should wait upon him he sent me back word his Father's Embassador waited Ten years in Portugal before he could be dispatched I understood by this the King was for entertaining me with delays on purpose to keep me from returning with the Fleet which waited for us for fear least we might discover the weakness of his Empire to them and so when I went to have my Conge from him in order to my returning to Debora he commanded one to tell me That so great a man as I was and who had come so far was not to be dismissed quickly Besides that I could go no where where I could do so much good as where I was in confessing the Portugueses nevertheless if I was resolved not to remain in Ethiopia he would then desire me only to wait a month longer for his Answer and if I did not receive it then I might look upon my self as dismissed Presently after this he removed his Camp to a place that was two days journey from the place where it was we followed the Camp and being in the Field on Saturday and Sunday we set up an Altar whereon we said Mass on both those days where I was visited by three Monks who desired to have some Discourse with me about Matters of Religion One of them who was a Scholar told me That all that we did appeared well to him excepting that of our not observing Saturday and that of our cating Hare and Swine's Flesh Nevertheless after this he disgorged several Errors in Faith namely That the Souls when they leave the Body cannot presently behold the Divine Essence but are placed in a Terrestrial Paradise That the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son but from the Father only That the Son as to his Humanity was equal to the Father That none but Mahometans and Infidels were damned eternally in Hell I returned answers to all these Errors and declared the contrary Truths to him both from Scripture and Reason with which he was so fully satisfied that whispering me in the Ear that the two other Monks who were illiterate might not hear him he said What I had told him was the truth and that he believed it to be so in his heart The Month being expired I went to wait upon the King for his Answer and for leave to return home he bid me go in a good hour and as for the Fathers the King of Portugal designed to send to him he said He had appointed one to wait at Matrua to receive them when they landed being desirous to hear what they had to say to him With this I took my leave of him and passing thorough the Countries where divers of the Portugueses lived I confessed them and their Families and Married several of them to their Concubines having first reduced them to our holy Faith There was one among them who was nearly related to the King And whereas the Churches of that Countrey besides that they belong to Schismaticks have no Altars accommodated to our Service whereever we went we carried an Altar with us to celebrate on While I was in one of these places I received a Complement from a Prelate of a great Monastery of Monks of the Order of St. Anthony and one likewise from the Prelate of a Nunnery which were two Leagues off This Monastery of Monks is one of the biggest in Ethiopia it is called Debra Libanus and is of such Credit that all the Faith of Ethiopia depends upon it in a manner for which reason the Prelate thereof is in high Esteem I went to give him a Visit being attended by all the Portugueses of the place but he happened to be from home we nevertheless took a view of the Monastery which is no ways like ours neither as to Building nor as to their way of living every Monk having his distinct Dwelling-House and Land belonging to it which he cultivates with his own Hands so that the Habassin Monasteries look like Villages the Monks having their Houses on one side of the Street and the Nuns theirs on the other but not being kept asunder the Nuns are frequently troubled with Great Bellies These Monks are neither of the Order of St. Francis No mention of Rodriguez having seen the old Patriarch tho his chief business in Ethiopia was to fetch him from thence if he found him alive nor St. Austin but were founded by one Tecla Haymanot that is The Plant of the Faith who was of the Order of St. Anthony This Haymanot is a great Saint among them and is said to have killed a prodigious Serpent that was worshipped by the Heathens as a God whom he converted by that means to the Faith that is still taught in Ethiopia Thus much of Rodriguez's Relation the Jesuits have thought
privilege and primacy to his Successors in the Chair of Rome where it has continued and will continue to the end of the world so that it shall neither be in the power of Moors nor Turks nor of any other Creature to destroy it those words of our Lord Jesus the Gates of all shall not pervail against it being its sure defence So when a Controversy arose in the Church the first Council of Nice which consisted of Three hundred and eighteen Bishops threw Arius out of the Church for affirming the Son of God to be a Creature as the second Council consisting of One hundred and fifteen Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Constantinople did Macedonius for asserting the Holy Ghost to be a Creature and the third Council consisting of Three hundred Bishops did Nestorius for dividing Christ into Two Persons the Divine and Human and the fourth consisting of Six hundred and thirty Patriarchs and Bishops assembled in the City of Calcedon Excommunicated the Rebellious Dioscorus for joyning in Infidelity with Eutyches in mixing the Humanity with the Divinity so as to make One only Nature whereas it is most certain That there are Two Natures in Christ the Divine and Human on the account of which Divine Nature it was that the said Three hundred and eigheeen Fathers did put the following words into the Creed We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Father and who was with him before the World was Created as on the account of his Human Nature the following words were added And was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin Mary with the Consent of the Father and the Son and of the said Holy Ghost Three Persons and One only God the Father and the Son not being named on that occasion being no argument of those Father 's not believing they did not Co-operate therein with the Holy Spirit but it was done on purpose to teach us That in the Most Blessed Trinity besides the operations ad Intra there are operations ad Extra according to the holy Fathers of those ad Extra the Works of Power are attributed to the Father those of Wisdom to the Son and those of Love to the Holy Ghost Wherefore since the Incarnation of the Son of God was for the sake of the Sons of Men and for that reason was a Work of Love The Three hundred and eighteen Fathers did attribute it to the Holy Spirit Though in Virtue and Power and the Creation of things the Father Son and Holy Ghost are One only True God The Virgin Mary was mentioned by them upon account of the Human Nature which in an instant united it self to the Eternal Person of the Son who is equal in Divinity to the Father and that in our Lord Jesus Christ being only One Person there are Two Natures is written in divers Books of the Holy Spirit St. Matthew in the beginning of it calleth his Gospel The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham which was said on the account of his Human Nature as it was on the account of his Divine Nature that St. John saith In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word the Divine Nature having neither Beginning nor End whereas the Human Nature had a Beginning All which Writings notwithstanding Eutyches the Master of Mischief did affirm That there was only One Nature in Christ and so mixed the Humanity with the Divinity now this Rebel was followed by Dioscorus who assisted him both in word and deed and having procured the Murther of Flavianius Patriarch of Constantinople for having Excommunicated Eutyches and some other obstinate Hereticks that were before him namely Arius Macedonius Nestorius and Sabellius all which matters having been submitted to the Holy Roman Church the Head of all other Churches on the account of the Empire and Primacy that it hath by inheriting the Power of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles It is certain the Patriarchs who succeeded Dioscorus in the See of Alexandria have not Preached the true Faith in having taught that there is only One Nature in Christ and so being destitute of the true Faith they have wandered out of the paths of Patriarchs Bishops and Priests in having had Wives and Children and Grand-Children and have been intangled in divers things not fit to be named they have also taken Money for Holy Orders and having Consecrated Salt Stones for Altar Stones have afterwards sold them having likewise tyrannized cruelly over those they Ordained obliging several of them to serve them a Year or Six Months at least in sawing Wood or Stone for their Palaces before they would Ordain them for which Practice they were Excommunicated by the Apostle who said He that buyeth or selleth Orders is excommunicated and has his portion with Simon Magus and Judas The Abuna Mark was Convicted by the Emperor Malec Saged of several carnal Crimes which are not fit to be heard or Uttered they being of that kind for which God rained down fire from Heaven and being Deposed for having been guilty of them he was Banished into the Island of Dek where he dyed a strange death his Belly swelling as hard as a Drum The Abuna Christos Dula kept several Concubines contrary to the custom of Patriarchs as was well known by all his Contemporaries and by some that are still alive His Successor Peter kept a Malaquis Wife and having been convicted of Adultery he did Penance for it as may be testified by several living Witnesses namely one Joseph and one Marino who are both Strangers and not Habassins and who adding sin to sin did Excommunicate the Emperor Jacob after he had Reigned Seven Years as he did all the People of Ethiopia likewise in case they did not Depose him and Banish him to the Kingdom of Narea and having placed Za Danguil in the Throne he afterwards excited his Subjects to Murther him by Excommunicating them if they did not do it and as if all this had not been enough he took the Field with the Emperor Jacob against us and was killed with him in the Fight The Abuna Simon was guilty likewise of divers enormous Grimes who besides his having taken one Mali an Egyptian 's Wife from him and dishonoured several Virgins he kept divers Concubines and happening to have a Child by one who was not able to maintain it to conceal his shame he ordered it to be thrown to the Wolves by whom it was devoured this every body knows to be true namely the Azages and who when Julius Rebelled instead of labouring according to the custom of Patriarchs and Monks to make Peace joyned with him in his Rebellion and having called his Soldiers together told them on the day before the Battel That he forgave them all Young and Old their Sins notwithstanding they had broke all the Commandmendments upon condition they would put all to the Sword
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
in our Mouths and Memories and that I may be always delighting my self in your Gifts For the same reason I do earnestly intreat you to send me some Learned Men and Artificers namely Carvers of Images Sword-Cutlers and Gunsmiths and Gilders and Carpenters but especially Artificers who knew how to Build Houses with Stone and to cover them with Lead and Copper I should be glad likewise to have some that understand how to make Glass and Musical Instruments and how to play well upon them with some Pipers and Trumpeters These Artificers I desire chiefly from your Holiness but in case you should have none to spare I must intreat you to order some of the Christian Kings your Sons who are all at your Commands to send them unto me Which Artificers when they arrive here shall be treated honourably and rewarded according to their deserts they shall also have good Wages and whenever they shall desire it they shall have free leave to return home and be well rewarded for their pains for I will detain no body against his will how beneficial soever his stay should be to me But to pass to other things I must expostulate with you holy Father Why do you not exhort the Christian Kings your Sons to lay down their Arms as becomes Brethren and to agree among themselves seeing they are all your Sheep and you are their Pastor Your Holiness is not ignorant of the Gospel-Commands and of its having said A kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but will become desolate For if those Kings would but all join together they would quickly destroy all the Mahometans and with ease demolish the Sepulchre of their False Prophet Apply your self therefore to this holy Father that so there may be a firm Peace and Confederacy established among them and exhort them to assist us who are besieged on all sides by Wicked Mahometans and Moors The Turks and Moors can assist one another and their Kings and Rulers do all agree together I have a Mahometan for my Neighbour who is constantly supplied with Arms Horses and all Military Weapons by Princes of his own Sect namely the Kings of India Persia and Egypt this is a great mortification to me to see the Enemies of the Christian Religion enjoy Peace and live together like Brethren and at the same time to see Christian Kings my Brethren not in the least concerned at the Injuries I endure not one of them offering to succour me as becomes a Christian notwithstanding the filthy Sons of Mahomet are always ready to succor one another not that I desire any Soldiers of them for I have enough of my own and to spare but all that I desire of them is only their Prayers and Supplications and your Holiness and my Brethren's Favour The reason why I want your Friendship is that I may be furnished by you with such things as are necessary to terrify the Mahometans the Enemies of the Name of Christ And that my Neighbours may be made sensible of my being favoured by the Christian Kings my Brethren and of their being ready to assist me whenever there shall be occasion which would be much for the honour of all of us that are of the same Faith and Religion and do intend to persist therein God fulfil your Desires to the praise of Jesus Christ and of God our Father who is praised by all thorow all Ages and you my Lord and holy Father with all the Saints of Christ at Rome embrace me and let all my Subjects and all that dwell in Ethiopia be received with the same Embraces and let thanks be returned to Christ with your Spirit These Letters your Holiness will receive from my Brother John King of Portugal the most Powerful Son of King Emanuel who will send them to you by our Ambassador Francisco Alvarez A Second Letter of David Emperor of Ethiopia to the Roman Pontiff written in the Year 1524. HAppy and holy Father who art made by God the Conservator of the Nations and who dost sit in the Chair of St. Peter To thee are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatsoever thou binded or loosest on earth is bound and loose in heaven according to what Christ hath said in St. Matthew 's Gospel I the King at whose Name the Lyons tremble who at my Baptism was called Atami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin but who when I took the Administration of my Empire upon me assumed the Names of David the Beloved of God the Pillar of Faith the Prince of Judah the Son of Solomon the Son of the Pillar of Sion the Son of Zara Jacob the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh Emperor of the Great and High Ethiopia and of vast Kingdoms and Dominions King of Xoa and Caffate and Fatigar Angot Baru Baaltinganze Adea Vanga and Mahon and Saba from whence the Queen of Saba went and Barnagays the Lord of all Nubia to the Confines of Egypt All which Countries and a great many more not here mentioned are under our Dominion neither have I mentioned the fore-named out of Pride or Vaingloy or for any other reason but that the Great God may be the more praised who of his singular bounty has been pleased to bestow the foresaid Christian Empires upon my Ancestors and who hath likewise been gracious to me after a special manner that I might constantly do service to his Religion making me Lord of Adel and the Scourge of the Mahometans and Gentiles who do worship Idols I do after the manner of other Christian Kings my Brethren to whom I am no-ways inferior either in Power or Religion send to kiss your Holiness's Feet Within my own Territories I am the Fillar of Faith neither am I assisted with any Foraign Succors but I do place my whole trust and confidence in God as my Ancestors did before me who have all been sustained and governed by him ever since his Angel spoke to Philip who instructed the Eunuch of the powerful Queen Candace Empress of Ethiopia in the Faith as he was coming from Jerusalem to Gaza Philip then baptized the Eunuch and the Eunuch afterwards baptized the Queen with the greatest part of her Court and People who from that day to this have continued Christians and strong in the Faith My Ancesters without any other than Divine Assistance have propagated the Faith thorow vast Regions which I likewise labour daily to do being fixed between the large Borders of my Kingdoms as a Lyon encompassed within a Wood and strongly fortified against the Mahometans and other Nations that are Enemies to the Christian Faith and who will not give ear to the Word of God and my Exhortation For which reason I with my Sword girt about me do persecute them and will by degrees expel them relying on the Divine Assistance which is never wanting to me which is more than all Christan Kings can say who if they would but agree together might with
Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met
A long Justification of their abstaining from Meats that are made unclean by the Law while they conversed with Christ make use of unclean Meats or so much as taste any thing that was prohibited by the Law which was what none of them offered to transgress no not after the time of our Lord's Passion when they began to preach the Gospel there being nothing in their Writings from whence it can be gathered that they did ever kill or eat any thing that is unclean It is true Paul saith Eat all that is sold in the shambles asking nothing for conscience sake and again If any that are infidels invite you to a feast and you are disposed to go eat whatsoever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake And again If any one shall say This is offered to idols do not eat for his sake that told you so and for conscience sake c. All which Paul spoke in compliance with those who are weak in the Faith betwixt whom and the Jews there were frequent Debates and in order to the putting a stop to those Disputes the Apostle complied much with the weaker Christians which he did not do that he would have the Law broke but that by gratifying such People in the relaxation of Rites he might allure them to the Faith The same Apostle saith likewise Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not for he that eateth eateth unto the Lord and he that eareth not eateth not unto the Lord. It is therefore an unworthy thing to reprove Christians who are Strangers with so much bitterness as I have been reproved here concerning this very matter and other little things which do no ways belong to Faith It would certainly be much wiser for Christians whether Greeks Armenians Ethiopians or of any of the Seven Christian Churches to bear with one another in Charity and in the Bowels of Christ in all such matters and to suffer one another to live and converse with their Christian Brethren being all Sons of Baptism and unanimous in the true Faith neither is there any cause why they should debate so sharply about Ceremonies or why every one should not be suffered to observe his own and that without hating and persecuting others for theirs neither ought any one in a strange Countrey to be debarred the Communion of the Church for observing his own Church-Ceremonies As to that we meet with in the Acts of Peter's seeing a Cloth let down from Heaven by the corners wherein were all Four-footed Beasts and all creeping Creatures and Birds of the Air and of his having heard a Voice that commanded him to rise and kill and eat to which Peter replied Far be it from me Lord for I have never eat any thing that is common and unclean to whom the Voice answered What God has purified that do not thou call unclean which having been done three several times the Vessel was then immediately taken up into Heaven whereupon the Spirit sent him straightways to Cesarea to Cornelius a holy Man fearing God to whom when Peter spake the Holy Spirit descended on all who heard the Word of God After which Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole Family Now when the Apostles and Brethren who were in Judea came to hear of what Peter had done they were angry and asked him How he came to go to men who were uncircumcised and to eat with them but after Peter had declared to them the whole Vision they were satisfied and returned thanks to God saying He hath given repentance unto life to the Gentiles and they remembred the word of the Lord which he spoke when he ascended into Heaven Go over all nations and preach the Gospel to all creatures in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Then the Apostles begun to preach the Gospel over the whole World to every Creature in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost insomuch that their sound went thorough the whole Earth Now this Vision wherein things clean and unclean appeared we of Ethiopia interpret thus The clean living Creatures were the People of Israel the unclean were the Gentiles who were therefore said to be unclean because they worshipped Idols and did the Works of the Devil which are unclean So that the Voice saying Peter kill was the same as if it had said Teach and preach the Faith and the Law of Christ both to the People of Israel and the Gentiles besides it is most certain that we read no where in the Scriptures of Peter or of any other of the Apostles killing or eating any thing that was unclean after this Vision We are to observe likewise That when the Scriptures speak of Bread it is not to be understood of a Corporal Food but of the Doctrine of the Gospel It is therefore adviseable for all Doctors and Preachers to teach high and sublime things of this Linen Cloth which was shewed to Peter and not low things which do no way appertain to Salvation and least of all to draw Arguments from thence to prove it to be lawful for us to eat things that are unclean seeing no such matter can be gathered from the Scripture but that is not all for the Apostles themselves in their Book of Synods have forbid us to eat any thing that is strangled or tore or half eaten by Beast or Blood hecause the Lord loveth cleanness and sobriety and hateth gluttony and pollution and loveth those much who abstain from Flesh and those more who fast with Bread and Water and Herbs as John the Baptist did who eat nothing else As also Paul the Hermite who lived in the Desert and fasted 80 years as St. Anthony and St. Macarius and a great number of their Spiritual Sons who never so much as tasted Flesh Wherefore Brethren we ought not to contemn and persecute our Neighbours for St. James saith He that speaketh evil of his brother or judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law Paul teacheth likewise That it is much better for people to rest satisfied with their own traditions than to contend with their Christian brethren about the law and that in such matters they ought not to be wiser than is necessary but to be wise to sobriety according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith Wherefore it is a very undecent thing to contend with our brethren about the law and distinction of meats since meat cannot commend us to God A charitable Admonition and especially since St. Paul hath said Whether ye eat plentifully or do not eat ye are never the worse Let us therefore look after higher things and the food that is heavenly and forbear such low and empty disputations What I have writ concerning Traditions I have not writ out of a spirit of contention but to defend my Countreymen against the violent reproofs of those who paid so
Master May Christ our Lord who is the beginning and end of all things carry on that Amity and Friendship which he hath begun between us The principal cause of my writing to your Majesty at this time is to renew the Familiarity and Correspondence which was between our Ancestors which Friendship together with the Adoption of the Holy Spirit has much enobled us Wherefore we desire your Majesty to send us some strong and stout Soldiers to help us to beat the Enemy out of our Ports your Troops when they arrive will find us provided with Arms and all other necessary Provisions of War and in a readiness to assist them to the utmost It being much fitter that those Ports should be in your Majesty's hands than in the hands of the greatest Enemies of our holy Faith your Majesty's Ancestors sent an Army of Gallant men into Ethiopia at a time when the Enemy was ready to have destroy'd our Faith and Empire We might destroy all our Enemies with great ease if we were assisted by the powerful Kings that profess the Gospel and who do comfort our hearts with the Memory of heavenly things we being all Sons of Heaven as St. John witnesseth saying What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit Furthermore we are at war with another Enemy who are called Gauls and who do give us much trouble Wherefore we beseech your Majesty to send us some stout Troops and such as are Zealous for our holy Apostolical Faith and that with all possible Expedition We on our part have for some time been ready to receive them and if they were once come it will quickly appear that all that we design is feasible For why since Christ our Lord is our Common Head and we are all his Members and the Heavenly Father hath begot us all in one Womb of Baptism and that not with corruptible seed should we not be all tied in one chain of love with one Soul and one Body If these Letters were writ by the Habassin Emperor which I do very much doubt they plainly discover that the Fathers chief Argument to persuade him to submit himself to the Pope was the promise of Portuguese Troops but the reason why I suspect these Letters not to have been writ by the Emperor but by some Missionary in the Indies and who had never so much as been in Ethïopia are 1. That Seltam Saged or Suseneus 's Father was never Emperor as he is said in these Letters to have been 2. Guerreiro in his relation of Ethiopia printed at Lisbon in the Year 1611 sets them down under the name of the Emperor Jacob These Letters were probably forged by some Missionary or Malasequet 3. Their Phraseology excepting an affected sprinkling here and there of uncouth Phrases as also their Complements are so much Spanish that an Habassin has not less of the air of a Spaniard than they have of the Letters that were certainly known to have been writ by some of those Emperors Lastly Pereira tells us That the Habassin Emperors from the time that the remains of Gama 's Troops went over to the Turks and assisted them against Ademas dreaded nothing so much as the coming of Portuguese Soldiers from the Indies but whatever the Emperors did there being nothing that the Jesuits desired so earnestly it is to be feared that they made bold with the Emperor's name in the solliciting of them But there are more Letters behind which whether genuine or suppositious I shall set down leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader The Letter of Raz Athanateus to the King of Portugal THE Letter of Peace and Love Athanateus's Letter to the King of Portugal sent by Athanateus cometh to the High and Powerful Emperor of Portugal with the Peace of our Lord Christ who was Crucified on the holy Cross for the Redemption of the World May this Peace be always with your Majesty The cause of my writing this Letter to you is the earnest desire that the Emperor and I both have to see some Portuguese Troops in this Countrey We do therefore most earnestly beseech your Majesty to send us a Body of stout well-disciplin'd men in order to there covering of our Ports which are at this time in the hand of the Enemies of our Faith When your Soldiers arrive we will take care that they shall be supplied with Arms and all other Necessaries Your Majesty's Ancestors assisted us when the Mahometans broke in upon us and we do to this day remember what great things Christ wrought for us by their means I must therefore a second time intreat your Majesty to send us a Body of stout Soldiers whom when they arrive I shall be ready to receive with open Arms and my mind gives me they will come at some time or other concerning which affair Father Peter Pays will write more at large to your Majesty Written in Ethiopia the 13th of December 1607. The Letter of Raz Athenateus to the Viceroy of the Indies THE Letter of Peace and Love His Letter to the Viceroy of the Indias sent by Athenateus cometh to the great Viceroy of the Indies with the peace of our Lord Christ who died on the holy Cross for our Redemption may that Peace be always with your Excellency and your whole State Amen Hear Sir My Father was always a great friend to the Portugueses that came into these parts having continually favoured them in all things as I have done ever since his death having on all occasions assisted them both with my Interest and my Purse and saved several of them when condemned to die being willing to preserve the remains of the first Portugueses that came among us until more should come to them for the good of this Empire I have had it for some years in my thoughts to write to you but have still been hindered by the Wars we have of late been so much embroiled in out of which God has been pleased to deliver us at last and to give us an Emperor of a Sound Judgment and who governs all things with great prudence who upon my acquainting him with the great need we stand in of Portuguese Succors was pleased to write himself to the King of Portugal for some commanding me to do the same and to acquaint him how much we desire them and how much their coming will be for God's Service I must therefore intreat your Excellency to lend us your helping-hand in this affair that so it may be brought to a speedy Issue Let there be at least a Thousand Soldiers sent and let it be done with all possible Expedition for which Service you will have honour in the sight of God who will undoubtedly reward you for it and were there but once a way opened for it your Excellency shall want nothing that this Empire affords I shall say no more since Father Peter Pays who is acquainted with all my secrets can disclose
more because it was writ before the King had received the Letter he is said to have sent to him in the year 1607. In the year 1611 the Emperor received the following Letter from the Pope in answer to that he is said to have writ to him in the year 1607. Paul the Vth 's Letter to the Emperor of Ethiopia To our most dear Son in Christ Health ad Apostolical Benediction WE give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The Pope's Letter to the same Emperor for having been so merciful to you as to restore you to your Royal Throne as you write he has done We do Congratulate your success and do commend you mightily for your Zeal in Defence of the Christian Faith for which as we understand by your first and second Letters you are very fervent We have according to your desires recommended the necessity of your Kingdoms to our most dear Son in Christ Philip the Catholick and Powerful King of Spain who we hope will be induced by his Magnanimity and Zeal for the Christian Faith to assist you powerfully having order'd our Apostolical Nuncio that is with his Catholick Majesty to sollicit what you have desired with great diligence What remains dear Son is to exhort you to persevere constantly and immoveably in the fear of God and Stoutly and Zealously to defend the Christian name and to continue always devoted to the holy Roman Catholick and Apostolick Church your most loving Mother as we in our Prayers which we make to God before the Most holy Bodies of the Apostles for our Sons the Christian Kings and Catholick Princes shall always be sure to remember you and to beg of him from whom all good things do proceed that he would so enlighten your Understanding with the Light of his holy Spirit that you may do his will and from the inward Bowels of our Charity we do most tenderly give our Blessing to your Majesty Written at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman on the 4th of January in the Year 1611 and in the Sixth year of our Pontificate It is plain from this Letter that the Popes do not stand so much upon their Punctilio's with remote Heretick Princes The Popes are civiler to remote Hereticks than Domestick ones as they do with those in Europe they reckon to be Hereticks Paul in this Letter calling a Prince who was a Professed Euâ—ychian Heretick his most dear Son in Christ a Title neither Urban would bestow upon King James nor Gregory the Fifteenth upon the Prince of Wales in their answers to the unhappy Letters wherein those Princes had been so civil as to give them the title of The most blessed Father The Emperor growing every day more and more inclinable to the Roman Church for which his Brother Cella Christos had declared himself openly a Champion suffering none to be about him that were not either actually of her Communion or that appeared not to be well disposed for it did upon the Receipt of this kind Letter from the Pope begin to think of Professing himself a Roman Catholick too but being sensible that that could not be done without raising such a storm in his Empire as it would not be possible for him to weather without Portuguese Troops Embassadors are sent from Ethiopia to Partugel He is said to have resolved to send an Embassy to the King of Spain to Sollicit that Affair by the way of Melinde and Goa The persons named for this Employment were Father Anthony Fernandes and one Tecur Egzy an Habassin of Quality by whom the following Letters were sent to the Pope The Emperor's Letter to the Pope The Letter of the Emperor Seltem Saged cometh with the Peace of the good Pastor Jesus to the Holy Roman Pope Paul the Vth. the Head and Pastor of the Universal Church Holy and Loving Father WE have received your Letter of January 1611 The Emperor's Letter to the Pope which is full of that love wherewith a tender Father is inflamed when he receives a penitent Prodigal Son and not having been able by reason of the sudden departure of the India Ships to return you an answer so soon as we desired we have now determined to do it by another way which we hope God will open unto us and to that end we have sent Father Antonio Fernandes of the Society of Jesus who has for some time resided at our Court and with him our Embassador Tecur Egzy desiring that your Holiness may have speedy notice of our being brought by the preaching of the Fathers of the Society who are resident in our Empire to the Knowledge of the truth of the faith of the Chair of the Blessed St. Peter and of our being resolved to embrace the same and to yield obedience to your Holiness as the Head of the Universal Church so as for the future to be governed by a Patriarch of your sending and that we may be put into a condition of yielding this obedience publickly it will be necessary for us to have some Troops from Don Philip the Powerful King of Portugal without which we shall never be able to do it openly We do therefore most humbly beseech your Holiness that since as you have writ to us you have been pleased to order your Apostolick Nuncio residing at his Catholick Majesty's Court to sollicit this Affair with great diligence that you will renew your Orders to him that so they may be both effectually and speedily executed and so good an occasion may not be lost and that in our days and during his happy years our Empire may find this necessary remedy And since you are the Father of all Catholick Kings hold us in the number of such and as you offer Prayers to God for them before the most holy Bodies of the Apostles do the same for us your humble Son Written at our Court of Dembea on the 13th of January 1613. But as the Emperor's Brother Ras Cella Christos was the chief promoter of this Embassy so he likewise writ a Letter to the Pope by it which was as followeth The Letter of Cella Christos Viceroy of Gojam cometh with the Peace of the Eternal Father to the Holy Father Paul the Vth. the chief Pontiff the Successor of St. Peter and Head of the Church Most Beloved Father IF according to the Holy Scriptures Cella Christos's Letter to the Pope they who were far off are come near I who was at a vast distance am now brought near by the Preaching of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus that reside in this Empire for I having been commanded by my Brother Seltem Saged my Lord the Emperor to be present at several Conferences between the Fathers and our Learned men I came at last to the Knowledge of the Truth of the Faith of the Chair of St. Peter and of that Chair's being the Head of the Universal Church which faith I thereupon embraced and obliged my Brother the
Popery which was slackened so much of late I shall nevertheless set them down as they are published by the Jesuits leaving them to the censure of the judicious Reader Pope Urban the VIIIth To Seltem Saged Emperor of Ethiopia Health and Apostolical Benediction MOST dear Son in Christ The Stream of the River Nile doth at this time make glad the City of God Fruits fit for the Banquets of Angels being brought from the thirsty Land of Ethiopia to the Palace of St. Peter there being nothing that the Mother of Riches or that Africk which is so fruitful of Monsters can bring to Rome the Mother of Christianity that is so Precious and wonderful as your Majesty's Letters addressed to Gregory the XVth of happy Memory to whose place though unworthy of it the Holy Spirit has been pleased to call us when we read them we could not forbear weeping for joy to hear that the vast Empire of Ethiopia had submitted it self to the Laws of the Roman Pontificate O happy Prince who after having Conquered divers Nations and triumphed over all your Enemies have been able to exalt the Trophies of the Cross of Christ upon the Towers of your Provinces For you do really plant Heaven in your Empire so long as the favour of so great a King is sought after by the making a profession of the Catholick truth Go on my Dear Son since God favours you and Rome by its applauses exalts you to the Society of those Princes who for having propogated the Kingdom of Heaven have an immortal memory in the praises of Mankind for notwithstanding your Majesty's Empire is beyond the anciently known ways of the Sun the Apostolical Senate which comprehends all the Nations of the Christian Commonwealth beholdeth all your Heroick Actions giving manifold applauses on the Theatre of the world to your Majesty and to all that are employed by you in suppressing the rashness of Rebels and in breaking the horns of Fiends We the Vicar of the Almighty Majesty in this Throne which all Christians do with bended knees adore have turned the eyes of our Apostolical solicitude towards your Majesty praying that the most exalted Arbiter of Princes may send his Angels to be Soliders in your Triumphant Armies we are not ignorant of what some people drive at for we behold whole Legions of Devils fighting against the Scepter of Christ which is the strength of your Majesty's Right-arm we know the Professors of false Doctrines do likewise whet their Tongues as a Sword that so they may with the poison of their Impiety infect the Bread of Life Assume a courage therefore worthy of the Race of David in whom the House of Ethiopia glories as in their Ancestor who when such people placed their Camps against him did put his trust in God and so found by Experience that the name of the Lord was the Tower of David guarded by aâ— heavenly Host and praised by a victorious Army My most dear Son it is undoubtedly as you write that the Pests of their Countrey and the Disturbers of the people shall not God assisting you be suffered to reign We do most affectionately impart our Apostolical Benediction to your self and your best Brother and to all your Royal Family and faithful People and shall pray continually that you may always have the Arms of light from the Sanctuary of the Divinity and we do here with the keys of the Pontiff open unto you the Treasure of the heavenly Indulgence with whose healthful riches we do at this time bless the Ethiopick Church we shall likewise be always mindful to sollicit the most Powerful King of Spain to grant you all that you shall desire of the Austrian House Most Dear Son we do embrace you in the arms of our Apostolical Charity and carrying you in our hearts we shall always adorn you with the Patronage of our Pontificate and while you do with a Royal Piety venerate the Patriarch of Ethiopia and his Coadjutors you give Examples to others to honour the Priesthood and do whet the sollicitude of holy Prelates to labour in Ethiopia we wish you joy of the obedience of your people who so long as a Religious King fights under the standard of Christ do never Desert him Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman this First of February 1627. in the Fourth Year of our Pontificate Pope Urban the VIIIth's Letter to the Prince Our Most Beloved Son in Christ Health and Apostolical Benediction THE Wealth of Nile floweth to the glory of your Name Urban's Letter to the Prince and you the Son of the Ethiopick Empire do grow up in the hopes of a most powerful Principality you do nevertheless understand God having taught you how miserable you had been had you not drank of the streams of the Gospel out of the Fountain of the Catholick Church and if you had not by adoring St. Peter in the Roman Pontificate been made the Son of God whose Possession and Workmanship the whole frame of Heaven and Earth is in the Roman Church The holy Quire of Reigning Priests and of Obedient Nations do applaud the Heir that is to rule in Ethiopia with Christian Virtue rejoicing that a Kingdom is prepared for you out of which your triumphant Father the Scepter of whose Empire is the Rod of Direction do's thorough the Divine Assistance extirpate the Synagogue of Satan you having been Educated in the Domestick imitation of such splendid virtues and being in a Post that draws the eyes of Heaven and Earth upon you Such Councils are expected from your Wisdom as are to be like the lights of the Holy Spirit and the Thunderbolts of the Divine Vengeance And being it is thus beloved Son you must not think of living at ease in your Father's Palace before you have made all Ethiopia throw it self at the feet of St. Peter that so they may find Heaven in the Vatican For the Doctrines of the Pope will not be only the hope of Salvation to you but they will be also the Anchor of quietness and the safety of your Dominions We do embrace you most Dear Son with the Arms of Apostolical Charity and do wish you an obedient people and favourable Angels amidst the Trophies of your Arms and the Joys of your Prosperity and we do from the bottom of our heart impart our fatherly Benediction to you Dated at Rome at St. Peter's under the Ring of the Fisherman the Twenty Eighth of December 1630. in the Seventh Year of our Pontificate Now besides that the Phrase of these Letters do very much resemble that of the Patriarch Mendez who affected a Tinsil Oratory in every thing he writ That to the Prince bears Date the same Month of the same Year when it was deliver'd This Jubilee The Emperor's Zeal revived by this Letter and a Jabilee notwithstanding it was Laughed at by the Habassins who asked by what Authority the Pope pretended to forgive Sins is said to have warmed
confirmed the Truth of the Gospel conquered Tyrants triumphed over Wild Beasts and with your hands full of Palms and your Heads crowned with Laurels are entered into the Palaces of Heaven pardon my Ignorance and pray for us Sacred Virgins shining Religious the Glory of the World the Honour of Heaven the Beauty of Humane Nature and the singular Ornaments of the Order of St. Dominick Pardon all the Defects of this Book in relation to your Praises and pray for us Amen After this studied Prayer which is a sufficient Indication of the Romantick Genius of the Man he imagining I suppose that Protestants notwithstanding all his Apologies and begging of Pardons for having said so little of his Heroes would not be so civil as to believe one half of what he has said of them falls foul upon them and thanks God that he did not write these things to Luther and Calvin or any other excommunicated Hereticks who do ignorantly brutally rashly and blasphemously deny the profitable Intercession of the most glorious Saints with God but to most Catholick Spaniards whose Cridulity having never been tainted with the Heresies of their Neighbours of France and England he hoped would swallow his Book of Prodigies without chewing and especially coming recommended to them by all its Licenses as a Book of wonderful Edification to all pious Souls most of them vouching likewise for the truth of it Its Licensers and Vouchers being no less Men than Don Batasar de Boria Doctor of Law Archdeacon of Xativa Canon of the Church of Valentia and Vicar-General and Official of the Archbishoprick of Valentia Juan Pasqual Rector of the Church of St. Martin and Licenser of the Patriarch of Antioch and Archbishop of Valentia Fryar Raphael Riphez Prior Provincial of the Dominicans in the Kingdom of Arragon Fryar Lupero de Huette and Fryar Jeronymo Mos Licensers of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition who do all in their Licenses give great Commendations both to this History and its Author But this History having been written chiefly to blast the rising-Reputation of the Jesuits and the credit of all their Reports it s having so many and so great Vouchers for its Truth and the Master of the Sacred Palace likewise to whom it is Dedicated for its Patron was not enough to hinder the Jesuits from exposing it so soon as ever it crept out of its cell to the world in its true colours whole Battalions of them falling upon it at once at such an unmerciful rate that as I have been told they made the Dominicans so much ashamed of this Romance which they had endeavoured to have obtruded upon the world for a true History that they have laboured ever since to get all the Copies of it into their hands to destroy them for which reason I shall do all that I can to preserve that which I have by giving it to a Library which next to that of the Emperor of Ethiopia 's is the greatest in the World But this is not the only pious fraud the Dominicans have miscarried in after having promised their Order great honour from them History of the Lisbon Nun called Maria of the Annunciation but above all is that of the Nun at Lisbon the History whereof I shall here set down more at length than I have seen it any where in one Book Maria of the Annunciation was Born at Lisbon and at the age of Thirteen was put into the Dominican Convent of the Annunciation in that City in which so soon as she was of age to do it she professed her self a Nun which she had not done long before she begun to have Miraculous Visions and to be daily visited by Christ in Person whom she still saluted with the Doxology thus Glory be to the Father and to Thee and to the Holy Spirit Whenever she received the Sacrament her Soul was in a Rapture and was honoured with the Vision of the Heavenly Coire of Angels and when she embraced the Crucifix which she still called her Husband it constantly darted out beams of Light much brighter and stronger than those of the Sun One day as she was at her Devotion Christ appeared to her and made her a promise to visit her again upon St. Thomas Aquinas's day and thereon to do her the greatest honour that any Creature was capable of Maria having acquainted Antonio de la Cerda the Provincial of her Order who upon her Name being so high for Miracles was become her Confessor with the Promise had been made her she was directed by him how to prepare her self for the reception of so great a favour whose Directions she punctually observed for never was any creature more submissive to a Confessor Thomas Aquinas's day being come and all the Nuns and Friars being assembled to Mattins while Maria was in a most profound fit of Devotion Christ Crucified appeared to her and in the sight of the whole Congregation printed all the Wounds of his Head Side Hands and Feet upon the same parts of her Body she had Two and thirty Wounds such as Thorns use to make on her Head and in her Side a Gash that resembled a Wound made with a Spear and on her Hands and Feet the Wounds were of a Triangular Figure as if made by a Nail and in order to excite the Devotion of the absent as well as present the Rags she laid to the Wounds on Thursdays had always the Five Wounds of Christ printed on them in the form of a Cross and happy was the Roman Catholick Prince or Princess who could obtain some of those Sacred Rags The Pope he had one and the King of Spain who was strangely devoted to her had another and the Empress had one sent her against she lay in neither was there a Roman Catholick Prince or Princess in Europe but what had obtained one of them by some interest or other Paramus in his History of the Inquisition saith That he being at that time an Inquisitor in Sicily saw one of them which had been sent to the Viceroy Don Henrique de Gusman's Lady who he saith adored it as the most Sacred Relick in the World And Philip the IId. to satisfie the World that he firmly believed all that was reported of the Sanctity and Miracles of the Lisbon Nun had the Royal Standard of the Armada which came against England in the year 1588. Blessed by her The Inquisition whose business it is to enquire severely into the truth of things which are reported to be Miracles having summoned her Confessor and all the rest of the Friars who belonged to the Convent to appear before them was fully satisfied by their Depositions and Oaths as Eye-Witnesses of the Truth of the whole matter as it was reported Whereupon Gregory the XIIIth writ her a very Godly Letter exhorting her to Humility Thankfulness and Perseverance in her Devotions and as there was no Roman Catholick that did in the least doubt of the truth of what