A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE Rebellions and Bloodshed Occasioned by the Antichristian Practices OF THE JESUITS And other POPISH EMISSARIES IN THE EMPIRE OF ETHIOPIA. Collected out of a Manuscript History Written in Latin by JO. MICHAEL WANSLEBEN, a Learned Papist.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be Sold by Jonathan Edwin, at the Sign of the Three Roses in Ludgate street, 1679.   

IMPRIMATUR,  
Geo. Thorp Rmo in Christo P. & D. D no Guliel. Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domesticis. Ex Aedib. Lambeth. Jan. 1. 1678/ 9   

The Preface.  
IN the New Testament which the Author of our Faith hath bequeathed us not only for a brief Summary of Christian Principles but an express and unchangeable Rule of Practice too, the Wisdom of the Father hath so admirably reconciled the Interests of GOD and MAN as well in the Gospel as the Person of his Eternal Son, that while it consults Glory to God on High, it doth no less conciliate Peace on Earth and Good Will among Men; all the Laws and Precepts thereof having such a natural Tendency to suppress or regulate those Humane Lusts and Passions which disquiet the World, as might in reason procure the due and full Accomplishment of that Prediction, touching the Happy State of the Christian Oeconomy under the Messiah, which (according to the Inference Joseph made from the Duplication of Pharaoh's Dream) for the greater certainty of the thing is twice recorded by the Prophets in those express terms, 
Gen. 41.32.  They shall beat their Swords into Plowshares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks; 
Isa. 2.4.  Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, 
Micah 4.3, 4.  neither shall they learn War any more: but they shall sit every man under his Vine and under his Figtree, and none shall make them afraid. And that the Spirit who spoke by the Prophets might not differ from Himself in the Apostles, they imposed not their Doctrine upon the Gainsaying Pagans by Fire or Sword, nor sowed Dissension among Idolatrous People to facilitate their Conversion, but did at once preach and express the Will of their Master in Suffering the loss of their own Lives (not conspiring the Death of others) for his sake; which won their Persecutors to embrace the Faith they taught and died for, being charmed by the Beauty and Excellence of that meek and quiet Spirit wherewith they did adorn and recommend it.  
Yet, as if the Holy Jesus were not the same Yesterday and to day, his pretended Vicar at Rome sends forth Emissaries, whose Zealand Industry to propagate the Faith which they would needs have to be Catholic, are employed after a far different Method to gain Proselytes; especially those who most glory in appropriating his Sacred Name to their Unhallowed Order; while, instead of conforming to the Gospel-Precepts of Jesus, they execute that Prophecy dictated by the Legal Spirit of Joel, 
Cap. 3.9, 10.  Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare War, wake up the Mighty men, let all the men of War draw near, let them come up. Beat your Ploughshares into Swords, and your Pruning-hooks into Spears. For, That Church or State which they fail of perverting by strength of Arguments, shall be condemned to utter subversion by force of Arms: any Prince whom they cannot infect with their Superstitious Principles had need beware lest he taste their Poison or feel their Poniard: What their Preaching or subtle Persuasions cannot effect, Plots, Treasons, Murders, Tumults, Fire, and such like Unchristian Practices shall carry on.  
This is a Truth which more than one Age and Nation hath sadly experienced, but none ever had more reason to abhor and deprecate than Ours. Yet the well-ordered Government of our British Church and State is not the sole Object of Roman envy, nor hath England been the only Scene of Popish Cruelty. Not to mention the known and memorable Instances of Paris, Piedmont, Ireland etc. Ethiopia, a Country little known and less frequented by the English, hath felt the smart of Rome's malice, and bears fresh Scars of the Jesuits Treachery; who (if they please to think it a Commendation) are no Changelings, but constant to their MORALS, having in all points approved themselves the same in Africa which they appear at this day in Europe; a Transcript as well of their present Designs as their former Plots against England, being delineated in this short Abstract of the Abissin History.  
Did the Popish Emissary's foment a Rebellion in England, to compass the Destruction of our Glorious Martyr King Charles? The same they practised in Ethiopia, not only to the great hazard of Adam's Saghed, but the actual Ruin of Zà Dinghil, lawful Princes thereof.  
Have our Modern Jesuits veiled Murder under the Covert of their Chapels or Altars here? There they raised Strongholds and Fortresses under the Pretence of building. Churches and Colleges.  
Have they secretly prepared Fireballs and other Instruments of Mischief and Villainy among us? In Abissinia they did also conceal Warlike Engines in their Religious Houses.  
Have they drawn some of our English Subjects into the horrid Plot (lately discovered) against their Native Prince and Country? They did no less among the Abissins'.  
Have they conspired the Introducing of a Foreign Power into Great Britain and Ireland? They likewise not only Designed to betray the  Empire to the King of Portugal; but through their Treasonable Practices the Abissin Seacoasts are actually delivered into the hands of the Turks.  
In a word, Have they plotted to Assassinate our Sovereign Lord the King? So they did to kill the Emperor Adamas.  
And yet how exact soever the parallel is, I shall not presume to recommend those rigorous Proceed found necessary to rescue Ethiopia from this State pest, as the fittest Precedent to remedy or prevent the present Danger of England; but (according to my Duty) leave these Mysteries of State to the judicious determination of His Gracious Majesty and His Great Council, whom God preserve and prosper.  
But lest the Gate swell too big for the City, I refer my Reader for further satisfaction to the Narrative itself, which may well be concluded impartial in what concerns the Jesuits and other Popish Emissaries, since it comes from one of their own Profession; whom I have not only rendered with all possible fidelity but (to prevent any just ground of Cavil on that score) whatsoever the Coherence or Illustration of his Discourse thus abbreviated, induced me to insert, may easily be distinguished from the Authors own words, by those Crotchets wherein mine are enclosed [thus] throughout the whole Tract.  
And if the Account here given (added to the many other Jesuitical arts, which are now no longer a Mystery) induce any man to become a Proselyte to the Roman Cause or Party, I shall as little envy his Wit as I approve his Choice.   

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE Rebellions and Blondshed Occasioned by the ANTI-CHRISTIAN PRACTICES OF THE JESUITS And other POPISH EMISSARIES IN THE EMPIRE of ETHIOPIA.  
TEsfa Lion, a Native of Ethiopia, in his close to St. John's Gospel, which he published, together with the rest of the New Testament, in his Mother-tongue (imprinted at Rome in the year of our Lord 1548.) affirms that his Sovereign's Ancestors were in times past Lords of 62 Kingdoms, but their Empire is now reduced to a Third part of its ancient Dimensions. [A vast Region which (though concealed in those inward Recesses of Africa, neither well known nor oft frequented by us of Europe, yet) may claim a just precedency among all the Nations of Christendom, not only for the large extent of its Dominions, but likewise for the prime Antiquity of its Conversion to the Christian Faith, or at least its early Notice and participation of that Gospel whereby it hath been propagated in the World.  
For, shortly after the Glorious Ascension of our Lord into Heaven, an Eunuch of great Authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians] whom the aforementioned Tesfa Zion, without expressing by what Authority he doth it, names Lacasa, and the place of her principal Residence Tigra [upon his return from Jerusalem, whither he had come to worship, met with Philip the Evangelist in the Desert of Gaza, who after he had preached unto him JESUS, in the Exposition of what he then read in the Book of Esaias the Prophet, baptised him in the next Water they came to as they went on their way; whereof we have an authentic Record in the 8th. Chapter of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. And since the Spirit of Truth in the same Scripture tells us, He went on his way rejoicing, doubtless at his journey's end he expressed that Joy and its just occasion, in making a public declaration to his Countrymen of all that befell him in the way, and so he became the first Preacher of the Gospel to that part of the World, though he was not fully qualified to convey all the privileges that might complete the Foundation of the Christian Church among them:] For, 
Vid. Spondan. An. Cbr. 35. N. 9 & 15.  the Eunuch wanting the Authority of conferring Holy Orders, (in regard he received both his Baptism and Instruction from a Deacon only, and returned home without any Imposition of the Apostles hands) the Abissins' remained destitute of Priests or Bishops till such time as one Abà Seláma arrived in that Country; whereof 
* Lib. 10. c. 9  Ruffinus in his Ecclesiastical History writes to this effect:  
Meropius a certain Tyrian Philosopher determining to visit India, took two Youths to accompany him in his Travels, the one named Aedesius, the other Frumentius. In his Return he unhappily fell into a Port of Africa, where a barbarous people surprised him and his whole Company, and slew them all, except the two Lads whom they found Cunning their Lessons under a Tree near the inhospitable Harbour, and of these they made a Present to their Sovereign. Aedesius was raised to the Office of his Cupbearer, but he advanced Frumentius to be one of his Privy-Council. After that Monarch's death, Frumentius became Protector to the heir during his minority, in which time he made diligent Inquiry among the Roman Merchants that drove a Traffic in those parts for such as were Christians; and these he directed and authorized to build divers magnificent Structures for the public exercise of the Christian Religion in more solemn Assemblies than had there been usual afore-time. But when the young Prince arrived to such years as qualified him to assume the Government, he no sooner took the Sceptre into his own hands, but Aedesius returned to his Kindred at Tyre; Frumentius traveled to Alexandria in Egypt, where after he had related the State of the Country from whence he came to the Patriarch, advising him to send some sitperson thither endued with Episcopal Dignity and Power, upon a Motion made by Athanasius (then newly entered into the Order of 
* An  History written by P. Almeyda saith be was Patriarch at that time. Ex Chron. Auzumensi.  Priesthood) the same Frumentius was sent back invested with the Authority of a Bishop, who not only increased the number of Believers by the Apostolic Miracles, which he wrought, but established also a Succession of Ecclesiastical Officers in those countries': Whereupon the Abissins', in memory of the singular Benefits they received by his Ministry, styled him Aba Seláma, i. e. The Father of Peace; [and have ever since honoured the See of Alexandria with the Consecration of their successive Metropolitans.] According to the Abissin Chronologies this came to pass in the Year of Christ 356. when two Brothers, whom they name Abriham and Azbiha, reigned together: but 
* An. Chr. 327. N. 4.  Spondanus disagrees in the Computation of the time, accounting their Reign nine and twenty years' sooner.  
From this Aba Seláma, to Abuna Simon who died in the year 1618. they reckon up Ninety five Metropolitans in a continued Succession.  
But the Church of Ethiopia, thus planted and established in the Orthodox Profession of the Gospel, did not long retain the Catholic Faith in its Purity: for, soon after the Council of Chalcedon (which was convened in the year of Christ, 451.) had condemned Dioscorus of Heresy, from whom, being then Patriarch of Alexandria, (or rather from Jacob Syrus his Scholar, according to their own Confession) the Abissins' received the corrupt Opinion of Eutyches; they did not only separate from the Churches of Europe, but proceeded so far as to pass sentence of Excommunication against them, the form whereof my Author out of an  Manuscript which he found somewhere in England, translates in these words, Maledicta sit impia Synodus quoe Chalcedone habita est: Maledictus sit qui cum illis communicate, omnesque qui in eâdem side cum illis permanent. Nos autem non obedimus Congregationi istoe hoereticoe unquam. In English thus. Let the wicked Synod held at Chalcedon be accursed: Cursed be he that is of their Communion, and all those that continue in the same Faith with them. But we own no Obedience or conformity to that Heretical assembly.  
From that time till the year 1177. our Ecclesiastical Historians make little mention of the Abissins', or any affairs of that Church: except Galvisius in his Opere chron. an. Chr. 451. fol. 462.  
But in the forementioned year 1177. Pope Alexander the III. was informed by one of his Physicians, named Peter, then newly returned out of Ethiopia, that the Abissin Emperor expressed himself very well inclined to the Church of Rome, and desirous of being reconciled to her Communion; for which purpose he requested his Holiness to entertain some of his subjects in Rome, where they might conveniently be brought up and instructed in the principles of the Roman Faith. This proposal was readily embraced by the Pope, and the better to promote and encourage the designed Union he appointed them a certain house with a Chapel dedicated to S. Stephen, situate behind the Choir of S. Peter's for their Accommodation. As soon as the Pope's Letters brought Tidings into Ethiopia of the kind Reception allotted for them in Rome, many of the Abissins' flocked thither, where they abode till they had throughly learned and espoused the Rites and customs of the Latin Church, and then these New proselytes were sent home again sit Instruments to induce their Countrymen to a milder Opinion of the Roman Religion.  
And to further this Design, 
Vide Spondan an. Ch. 1253. N. 3. 1321. N. 3. 1329. N. 10.  which had so auspicious a beginning, Innocent the IVth. sent divers of the Order of S. Dominic into the Abissin Territories, [to second the endeavours of those converted Natives now returned thither, and to perfect (if possible) the subjection of that Mighty Prince and people to the papal Chair.]  
Afterwards, Eugenius the IVth. having in the Council of Ferrara reconciled [at least as was pretended] the Greeks, Armenians, and Copties; [that nothing might be wanting to complete so glorious an acquest,] scent express messengers to Zera Jacob then reigning in Ethiopia, by whom he did earnestly invite and solicit him to enter into the Catholic Communion: And he being loath to frustrate so tedious and chargeable an Embassy (especially since 'twas the first made into those parts by an European Prince) sent some of his subjects to Rome, where they did not only compliment the Pope, but in their Emperor's name made a Confession of Faith according to the Articles received and established in the Church of Rome; and thereupon carried back with them Letters of Union from his Holiness, as the Acts of that Council signify, which was continued at Florence and ended in Rome; in the close whereof this great affair was transacted, a little before the death of Pope Eugenius. But the short continuance of that fair correspondence, and the few acts of Union or Obedience put in practice thereupon, may sufficiently evidence to the world that what the 
* A fair Confession from a Papist.  Ethiopian Monarches did of this nature in their Transactions with the Popes of Rome, was never hearty approved or generally entertained by their subjects.  
About this time John the II. King of Portugal, desirous to make some new discoveries [that might employ and enrich his Subjects, whose experience and success in the Art of Navigation extended their Renown and Dominion farther toward the East than any other People of Europe in that Age,] resolved to send some able persons with his Credential Letters, (as to the most remarkable Provinces thereabouts, so especially) to the Emperor of Ethiopia; that, (if no other Advantage should accrue thereby) he might at least be gratified with a more exact Information concerning those parts of the World. In this enterprise, Alphonsus à Pavia and Johannes Petrus à Covilham, both Portugueses, were the chief: They began their Voyage from Lisbon on the 7th of May, 1486. and having passed through Neapolis, Egypt, Tor, and Suaquem, at last Johannes (Alphonsus being dead by the way) arrived at the Imperial Court of Ethiopia, where then reigned Alexander, who was Successor to beat Mariam the son of Zera Jacob, by whom they were entertained with all demonstrations of Humanity and Kindness: especially Johannes Petrus who grew into so much Favour and esteem there, that he was never permitted to return into his own Country. He therefore omitted not, upon all fair Occasions which his abode and interest in that Court allowed him, to discourse of the great Achievements happily undertaken and accomplished by the Crown of Portugal; the relation whereof so won upon the mind of Helen the Empress, that she rested not satisfied till an Embassy was sent to conclude a League of Friendship with Emanuel, who then sat on the Throne of his Father K. John deceased some time before. And on that errand one Matthew an Armenian, whom they made choice of as the fittest person for such an employment, came to Lisbon in the year 1513.  
This was the first Embassy which any Prince of Europe ever received from the Ethiopian Court: For those Abissins' who were sent to Rome upon the Mediation of Pope Alexander's Physician (as is before related) came not immediately from Ethiopia, but were recommended from a Monastery which they then had in Jerusalem.  
Hereupon King Emanuel of Portugal returned an honourable Embassy to the Abissin Emperor, which he committed to the management of Edward Galvan a very sage experienced person, and Francis Alvarez his own Chaplain, a devout & learned Priest; and with them sent back the Armenian also. But Galvan dying in Cameran, an Isle of the Red Sea, Rhoderic Lima was appointed his Substitute, who with Alvarez and the rest of their company (except Matthew the Armenian who likewise died by the way) presented themselves at the Court of Ethiopia before David then reigning, 
See the History written by Francis Alvarez.  who gave them most splendid and obliging entertainment, not only at their first Reception, but during the whole time of their Residence. After six years (a great part whereof they spent against their wills in that Court) they were licenced to return, Alvarez having so well acquitted himself in his Negotiation there that the Emperor deputed him to be his Ambassador to the Pope, with a command [as was pretended] to tender Obedience to his Holiness in his Name. But Claudius, David, successor, did afterwards tell Oviedus to his face, that this was 
* This Forgery is owned by the Pen of a Rom. Cath.  added to the Emperor's Letters as well contrary to his intention as without his knowledge. He sent also with them Christopher Licanatus, alias Zega Zeab, with kind Letters both to the King of Portugal and the Pope.  
These Ambassadors left Ethiopia in the Month of April, an. 1526. and arrived at Lisbon in July the same year. But Francis Alvarez came not to Rome till the 29th. of January, an. 1533. at which time he delivered the Ethiopian Letters to the Pope (than Clemens the VIIth.) who caused them to be read in the presence of that puissant Emperor Charles the Vth. and many other Worthies.  
King Emanuel was very desirous this friendly correspondence, already so well initiated, might be brought to perfection; and though he did not live to see his Wishes fully answered, yet this design of his was afterwards much facilitated by another Message from Claudius the Son and Successor of David, wherein he earnestly requested aids from the King of Portugal against one 
* Against whom Tessa Zion inveighs bitterly, terming him a Companion of the Goats and Persecutor of the Sheep, because of the devastation of his Native Country.  Grain King of Adel, [a more successful than potent Neighbour, who at that time miserably wasted his Dominions,] and to render this request the more successful and avaialable, he [not only sent a Confession of his Faith since published by Job Ludolfus, but] in the same Letters further craved an understanding person invested by the Pope with the Authority of a Patriarch, and some other able Divines to be sent under his Conduct into Abissinia.  
In Answer to this proposal, John King of Portugal demanded of Ignatius de Loyola some Members of his Order (not long before instituted) to be employed on that occasion; but the Father of the Jesuits [with a Deliberation suitable to his Gravity] gave him no reply till the year 1555. and then he recommended Johannes Nunnius Barretta and Melchior Carnerius, both Portugueses, and Andreas Oviedus a Castilian, as persons throughly accomplished for such a purpose. And [that a plenary power and qualification from the See Apostolic might add the more Honour and Authority to their Mission,] Nunnius was ordained Patriarch of Ethiopia by Pope Julius the III d. and afterwards confirmed by Pope Paul the IVth. and of his two Co-adjutors, the first was made Bishop of Nicoea, the later Bishop of Hierapolis: [Thus were they fitted to reconcile the Abissin Church to the Roman Faith; and to prevent dissension among them,] it was ordered and agreed that upon the death of Nunnius, Oviedus should succeed in the Charge and Dignity of Patriarch.  
On this occasion the King of Portugal wrote to Claudius; and so did Ignatius Loyola, whose Epistle may be seen in the History of the Jesuits. However these Letters were not sent by the three above named, but being conveyed to Petrus Mascarenius then Viceroy of India, he transmitted them to the Ethiopian Court by the hands of three other persons, that they might sound the Emperor's Inclinations before the Patriarches arrival: But Claudius (having already received the aids he desired) had changed his mind in the matter of Religion, intending nothing less than to admit of the Alteration he had proposed, so that, when the Roman Fathers came to press for Audience, he sent them word, he had neither Need to receive the Instruction, nor Will to obey the Authority of the Church of Rome; nay, so averse were his Nobles to their Admission, that some of them openly affirmed, they would sooner submit to the Turkish than the Roman yoke.  
Nevertheless, that so high an enterprise might not fall under the blemish of an utter frustration, Oviedus [now become principal of the Mission, in the absence of Nunnus, who proceeded not with them] boldly prosecutes his Journey with five Fathers more, and so wrought his way through all the Obstacles which threatened his disappointment, that on the third day of Pentecost in the year 1557. they were admitted into the Emperor's presence, who seemed to promise them a  Reception at the first; but having read their Letters, his Countenance was quickly changed, the Contents thereof being no way correspondent to his Humour or Interest; as he afterwards sufficiently expressed in his frequent disputes with the Bishop concerning Religion, whereby he gave them to understand he would not easily relinquish the received Opinions and Customs of the Abissin Church. Hereupon Oviedus wrote a confutation of their Errors and presented it to the Emperor, who made him no other reply thereunto than what might suffice to signify his firm Resolution of adhering to the Principles of his Forefathers.  
But these repeated altercations having rendered the Bishop's presence ingrateful at Court, he sound it high time to retire with his Companions to some place of greater privacy, where they omitted not their usual Industry and utmost endeavours to reduce the Abissin Christians to the Doctrine and Rites of the Roman Church; whereupon the Emperor not only sent him a severe check and prohibition, but (had not some of the Nobles interposed their interest and Arguments) would have proceeded to put him to death, but [being dissuaded from inflicting any Sanguinary punishment,] he at last with great fury enjoined the Roman Bishop never to see his face more. This was transacted in January 1559. and Claudius ended his days in a battle against the Saracens in the month of March next following.  

* Who in another Tract published by my Author is also named Minas.  Adamas Saghed his brother succeeded him both in the Throne, [and in the Resolute Affection he had for the Abissin Church, as then established by the ancient Laws and Constitutions of the Empire] being a man so inveterate against the Promoters of the Roman Cause that, upon some bold reply made by Oviedus (when admitted to a Conference) he could scarce forbear laying violent hands upon him; nay, his Fury carried him so far as to tear the Gown from his back: Nor was his wrath thus appeased, but (when he was become Patriarch, in the room of Nunnius Barretta who died at Goa, in the year 1562.) he banished him into an horrid and desolate Mountain together with his Complices, where they were confined for the space of six months, till released upon the Intercession of some Lords. He also revoked the Liberty which Claudius his Predecessor had formerly granted, That such Abissin women as were married to Portugueses might observe the Roman Institutions, without incurring any penalty: and forbade all his Subjects on severe penalties to profess the Roman Religion, or so much as be present at the Popish Mass or any Portuguess meeting; whereupon divers were imprisoned, tortured, and put to death, for transgressing the Imperial Edict.  
By this rigour and strict severity which he used for the suppression of the Roman Interest now set on foot by the Fathers in his Territories, many of his Subjects were so 
‖ Not without the concurrent Instigation of the Jesuits, who led the Portugal Faction.  exasperated, that in the year 1560. Isaac Barnagassi, who drew a considerable part of the Nobles into the Conspiracy, plotted with thirty 
‖ Not without the concurrent Instigation of the Jesuits, who led the Portugal Faction.  Portugueses how they might destroy him: And [finding no sit Opportunity for the private Assassination of his person, the more plausibly to effect it by open War] they pretend to vindicate the Right of Bencon 
* or Zarcar.  Tarcar, the Son of his deceased Elder Brother Claudius, for whose advancement to the Throne they take up Arms. But Adamas, justly apprehensive of the danger, soon levied an Army to suppress the 
* One Rebellion occasioned by the Pope's Agents.  Rebellion; and to re-ingratiate himself with the Portuguese party, he invitos Oviedus, and the rest of his Co-adjutors, by an amicable message, to his Camp; [not being ignorant from what quarter the Storm arose.] However, the Fire being blown up so far already as not to be quenched without Effusion of blond, they came to blows, with various success: For, in the first conflict Adamas was driven from his Trenches, with some loss; in the second, he had the good fortune to take Tarcar alive, and (in hopes his Trouble might die with him) caused him to be beheaded on the 2d of July, 1561. But in a third Battle, Isaac, the Traitorous Viceroy of Midrebahr, having set up another Brother of the deceased Tarcar, and called in the Turks to his Aid, so terrified Adamas and his Army with their great Guns, that he left his Camp in confused haste and fled on the 20th of April, 1562. and in the month of February the year following, he ended his Days and Troubles together, leaving his Son 
‖ Whom be elsewhere names Basilides.  Melec Saghed very young to succeed him, who, by those of the Loyal Party, was set up in his Father's room.  
But Barnagassi, prosecuting the Rebellion upon the Interest of Tarcar's brother whom he had advanced to the Imperial Title and Dignity, became Master of Mesauva, and Erquiquum, with all the Sea-coast, which [finding himself unable to carry on the Treason he had begun, to its desired issue] he maliciously betrayed to the subjection of the Turks, his Confederates. However, in spite of the malice or success of his Enemies, Melec Segued outlived these Storms, and became equally eminent in Glory and Virtue.  
In the mean time the Patriarch Oviedus, after the forementioned Discomfiture of Adamas, having retired with part of the Portugueses [notwithstanding their success, which makes it very unaccountable] into Fremona, a Town in the Kingdom of Tigra, where he passed the remainder of his life, he wrote divers Letters both to Rome and Portugal, dated in the year 1562. wherein he chargeth the miscarriage of his whole Enterprise on the want of Aids from Portugal, and (among other things) desires to be removed out of Ethiopia into India, which request was granted him by a Brief from Pius quintus bearing date Feb. 25. 1566. But notwithstanding this Liberty given him, he afterwards excused himself for not passing into India, by reason of the Turks who were become Masters of the Passage, in Letters to the Pope on the 15th of June 1567. wherein he also gave his Holiness an Account, that the number of Roman Catholics at that time in the Empire of Ethiopia might be about five hundred. And at last this vigilant Patriarch, after 15. or 16. years' Residence in Fremona, died there, an. 1577. [After his death we find not any further attempt from Rome, till] the year 1584. when Pope Gregory the XIIIth. sent Johannes Baptista Brittus to reclaim Melec Saghed to Apostolic Obedience; [furnishing him not only with persuasive Letters, but many Catholic Books, which for the more effectual Conviction both of the Sovereign and his Subjects, were to be dispersed among them. Armed with these Instructions] he passed by the way of Aleppo to Ormuz, thence he sailed to Goa, and there embarked himself on a ship bound for the Red Sea, where touching upon a small Isle (whose name we know not) he was taken and slain by the Turks, an. 1586. And yet [though he and the great design he undertook miscarried together] some of his Books were brought into Ethiopia, where they were received and cried up [at least by those well affected to the Church of Rome] as Divine Oracles dropped down from Heaven.  
Touching these Affairs we hear no farther mention during the Reign of Melec Saghed; only that in the year 1593. he sent one Tecle Maria, of the Order of S. Anthony, to Rome and Lisbon, requiring succours might be sent him on some special occasion; but his Message was not answered with its desired effect.  
About this time divers Roman Fathers made many ineffectual attempts to pass into Ethiopia, being still disappointed by the Turks, who were now 
* Thus they justly smarted by the Effect of their Treason against Adamas.  Possessors of all the Ports & Avenues to that Empie lying on the Sea-coast, by whom some of them were killed and others captivated for many years. Hereupon they began to consider of some safer Expedient for their Transportation, & it was concluded requisite to this purpose that an House should be built upon Diu, an Isle belonging to the Kingdom of Cambaya (situate between the City Cambaya and the River Sinda) whereunto Armenians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks and Persians continually resort to lad and unlade the Traffic they carry on in those parts; in regard that from thence, by reason of the great Concourse of People always passng to and fro the Fathers might conveniently enough in the habit of Armenians be conveyed by the Moors themselves into Ethiopia, And no sooner had Ayres de Saldanna, than Vice Roy of India, [of his pious inclination to that Religious design] built and endowed the House they desired, but this Counsel took effect, so that in the year 1603. P. Petrus Paez, in 1605. P. Anton. Fernandez. and P. Anton. de Angelis, and in 1606. P. Ludovicus de Azevedo and Laurentius Romanus, were successively transported without danger or discovery: and [for the better dispersing of their Doctrine] the one part betook themselves to Dembea, and the other to Fremona; where [they knew so well to act their parts and improve their advantages, that] they drew great numbers of Proselytes to the Church of Rome, and among the rest prevailed with the Emperor 
* Which perhaps is no other but the same Melec Saghed under a different Title, it being usual for the Abissin Afonarches to have many Names, whereof Job Ludolsus hath given aparticular instanco in his Notes on the Confession of Claudius, N. 5, 6.  Zà Dinghil himself to espouse their Religion and own the Pope's Authority. But [instead of winning his Subjects to embrace the same Profession after the example of their Sovereign, his Defection from the established Opinions and Practices of the Abissin Church] so enraged the people, [who till then had expressed themselves Loyal and Obedient to his Person and Government] that they 
‖ This is a second Rebellion occasioned by Popish Emissaries.  rebelled against him, and while he endeavoured to reduce them to their Duty by force of Arms, he was slain in the Battle.  
After the death of Zà Dinghil, there arose two Competitors for the Crown, Jacob and Susnejos, between whom the whole strength of the Empire was divided. Jacob had been driven, about a year before, by a Faction of the Nobles, to Enarea as an Exile, for as much as they reputed him to be Illegitimate; but having maintained a good correspondence with divers of the Grandees during his absence from Court, at his return he [found not only a very friendly Reception, but so great an Interest among them as enabled him to] overcome his Uncle Susnejos in the Field and ascend the Throne. But not long after [such is the instability of Fortune] Susnejos, who pretended to the Crown as nearer in Blood reinforced his scattered Troops, and with his victorious Arms deprived Jacob at once of his Life and Sovereignty, on the 10th. of March, a 1607. This Prince Jacob had two sons, who (upon their Father's overthrow) fled for their security; the one was named Cosmus; the other, Zega Christus, who, after he had escaped out of the Abissin Territories, traveled to Jerusalem, thence he went to Rome, after that he came to Paris, and in the end died at Ruel, an. 1638.  
Susnejos, who was a Prince no less renowned for his Virtues than his Successes, divided the Government of his three principal Kingdoms, Amhare, Abagamider, and Tigra, between his three Brethren, and Gorgora he committed to the charge of a certain Duke, in whom he much confided. And having thus disposed the places of greatest Trust into safe hands, he was the better able to suppress all Tumultuary Insurrections in the bud, and provided for the peace and safety of his Empire, which was much established by his absolute Conquest of a neighbouring enemy, that often infested his Dominions, called the Gallae. These were a People inhabiting between the Kingdom of Bale and the Sea, generally esteemed the Race of those Jews that were irrecoverably dispersed by Salmanassar, Nebuch adnezzar, Titus, Adrian, and Severus, who, as they accidentally fell into those parts, associated together, and from small despised beginnings grew up into a considerable body, which proved troublesome (if not formidable) to the neighbouring Princes; though by their long abode in that Climate, they are now become black.  
Ethiopia being thus at rest on every side, Susnejos [resolves to improve those Haleyon days in propagating the Faith hitherto concealed in his own Breast, and for this purpose] calls the Roman Fathers, acquainting them with his design to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and expressing himself ready to let the Pope and King of Portugal know his Intentions by Letters, which he would have sent without the privity of his Nobles. But the Father's advising the contrary, he consulted them in this Affair, though little to his satisfaction, they being utterly averse to his Proposal: However (notwithstanding their dissent) he resolutely proceeds, and [following his own sense] wrote to Paul the Vth. on the 14th. of October, 1607. and to the King of Portugal on the 10th. of December, the same year, in which Letters he requested Aids against his 
* He seems to intent such of his Subjects as should persist in the old Abissin persuasion.  enemies, and Ministers to instruct his Subjects in the Catholic Faith.  
These [after a long delay] were granted him by Pope Gregory the XVth. an. 1622. (much about the time that the College de propagandâ side was first erected in Rome) and Alphonsus Mendez, a Portuguese Jesuit, was constituted Patriarch of Ethiopia: But he departed not from Lisbon till the year 1624. when prosecuting his Voyage, he arrived the year following at the Port of Beilur in the Kingdom of Dancale, (which lies over against Mocca) the King whereof, being a Tributary and Ally to the Abissin Emperor, had Notice of his arrival, and accordingly received him. From thence he passed on to 
* Supposed the same with Fremona.  Maiguagua, where he wintered with the Fathers of the Society; next he came to Genéte Jesus, where also some Fathers dwelled; after that to Gorgora, and there he found Fathers likewise; and at last he arrived at the Emperor's Court, who entertained him with great demonstrations of Joy and Favor.  
After a few days of refreshment, the Patriarch Alphonsus, attired in Pontifical habit, made a Sermon before the Court on that Text, Thou art Peter, 
S. Matth. 16.18.  and upon this Rock I will build my Church, etc. And at the Close of his Discourse, the Emperor (by his Lord Chamberlain) made open Confession in the presence of all his Nobles, That Dioscorus had been justly condemend, and though Jacobus Syrus his Disciple brought that Heresy among them, yet they were still conscious of the Authority of the Church of Rome, whereof himself was so throughly convinced that he resolved to countenance the Roman Faith throughout all his Dominions; concluding with the Application of that Passage to the Church of Rome, which S. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
cap. 8.35, 37, 38, 39  Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, etc.  
After this Speech was ended, the Emperor took an Oath, wherein he obliged himself to be an obedient Son to the Church and Pope of Rome; then 
* or Basilides.  Fasilades, his Son and Heir apparent, did the like; and after him, Râs Secla Christus the Emperor's half Brother, with other Grandees and Officers of State, took the same Oath. Then the Nobles swore Allegiance to Fasilades, as the sole person whom [at the expense of their Lives and Fortunes] they would set upon the Throne, in case of his Father's decease; whereunto some [of the most zealous for the rising Cause] added this Proviso UPON CONDITION HE CONTINUED FIRM TO THE ROMAN FAITH. 
☞  Last of all, the Ecclesiastical Censure of Excommunication was denounced against any person that should thenceforward endeavour to remove the Catholic Faith, or restore the Abissin Persuasion. This great Revolution was transacted on the eleventh day of February, in the year 1626.  
In pursuance of the Oath he had lately taken, Susnejos required his Subjects to renounce their ancient Opinions and Way of Worship: But the major part of them were so obstinate in their Old Principles, and their Sovereign so resolute to reduce them to the New, that the whole Empire (lately flourishing in Peace and Tranquillity) was transformed into a dismal scene of Oppression and Violence, being filled with the blood and slaughter of its native Inhabitants, insomuch that the number of sufferers in this Quarrel of Religion did not seldom amount to four thousand in a day.  
This grand success of the Roman Cause was with all convenient speed certified to the Pope, than Urban the VIIIth. who (not a little pleased with such acceptable tidings) wrote gratulatory Letters to the Ethiopian Patriarch Alphonsus: dated at S. Peter's in Rome the 4th. of March, 1628. and the fifth year of his Papacy.  
In the mean time all Acts of Religion passed in Ethiopia according to the rites of the Roman Church; all from the Emperor to the meanest Commoner were rebaptized, and their Marriages, which the Abissin Custom had in times past allowed to be dissoluble at the pleasure of the parties, became now irevocable: [except a Divorce were granted by Dispensation, or adjudged by Sentence.]  
But, (to use my Author's own words hujusmodi per vim & supplicia populos ad Regnum Christitrahendi modus, diuturnus esse hautquaquam poterat;) this method of drawing (or rather driving) People by Acts of Violence and the infliction of punishments, to the Kingdom of 
* Though the Abissins' avere Christians already.  Christ, was not likely to lay any lasting foundation: For, when the Catholic Faith had been promoted and maintained with Fire and Sword for the space of 
* Four.  fourteen years, [so that it seemed to be rooted and established in the Empire] divers of the Great ones (still well affected to the Abissin Church) combining together made an 
* A third Rebellion by reason of the Popish Interest.  Insurrection for the Restauration and Defence of their Ancient Profession; and these were quickly seconded by multitudes of the Common People flocking to them from every quarter, whose Courage and Numbers received no small accession from the presence and persuasions of those Abissin Monks, who (lest they should have been compelled to embrace the Roman Faith or suffer the severe Penalties denounced against its opposers) had retired into inacessible Mountains, or lain hid in obscure dens and caves; but now disclosed themselves to the new raised Forces, animating them against the Roman Fathers and their Doctrine.  
[Susnejos in the mean time was not idle, but like a vigilant and resolute Champion of the Faith he had solemnly espoused, sent forth his Troops to prevent the danger of those Tumults, hoping to crush them ere they could be in a posture to make head against him, though the success did not answer his Expectation: For] the Viceroy, to whose Valour and Conduct he entrusted that Campaign, and many Catholic Nobles who fought under his Banner, fell in sundry Battles; so that by the unhappy issue of these Intestine Wars the Catholic Cause daily declined, and upon the rumour of their losses the adverse party proportionably increased both in strength and number.  
Hereupon they first demand Liberty to celebrate their Mass after the Rites prescribed in the Liturgy of their Forefathers: This being readily assented to, the success emboldened them to press with greater vigour and earnestness for the Restitution of all their other Opinions and Privileges. And whereas the Roman Fathers seemed the sole Obstructors of their desired Liberty, they never gave the Emperor any respite from their clamorous addresses till he condescended to rid the Court of the Patriarch and his Co-operators, whereupon [being as well wearied by their Importunity as terrified by their Power] he commanded the Fathers to return to Maiguagua: Upon whose Removal from their Prince's eye, the people soon obtained a public Revocation of all those Edicts that had been made in favour of the Roman Catholics or their Religion, and a general Grant of Liberty of Conscience to all the Abissins', as in times past. A short time after, the death of Susnejos put an end to the Controversy, an. 1632.  
The Reasons of the people's implacable animosity against the Fathers, which procured their Ejection, were not (it seems) well understood in Europe, till a certain Abissin named Abbas Gregorius, and he a Catholic, being weary of the Commotions occasioned by the Jesuits in his own Country, came to Grand Cairo, then to Jerusalem, and after that to Rome, where he gave an Account of the whole matter upon Oath before Don Pedro Lippa, than Secretary to the College de propagandâ fide.  
And Ernestus Duke of Saxony, hearing of this Abissins' Arrival and Deposition, immediately sent an Express to invite him to his Court, that he might be informed in a more particular manner from his own mouth. However, not being fully satisfied with his Relation, he sent Wansleben (my Author) into Egypt, an. 1663. to procure the best information he could from such as came down from Ethiopia to Grand Cairo.  
Now of the Abissins' Relation and the Author's Enquiry, this he gives us as the sum and substance.  
The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez, 
The Jesuits Pride,  [as if he had vied with the Emperor's Pomp and Attendance] maintained three hundred servants in his ordinary Retinue, and in all things carried a losty Port far exceeding the degree of an Ecclesiastical person; (at least among the Abissins', where men of that Function live at a contrary Rate and retain very different Customs;) nay, his Pride was such that he would not give any Ethiopian, of what estate or degree soever, the respect due to his place or quality; whereof this may serve for one signal instance. Susnejos, on some special occasion, sent his Son and Successor to speak with the Patriarch, into whose presence at the same instant came a Lay-brother of the Order; to the later he appointed a Chair, [as a mark of Honour,] permitting the Heir apparent in the mean time to stand before him [without making him the least Tender of the like Civility.] Nor did he put a less affront upon the Empress herself, [when she had as much Need as Reason to expect a more obliging Treatment;] for, 
Ingratitude,  whereas the Emperor had granted Alphonsus and the Fathers of his Society the same Castle, wherein he preserved his Treasure, for their Security in the time of the Rebellion; they ingratefully denied admission to his Royal Consort, when (in a great apprehension of imminent danger) she fled thither for Refuge. And so little did he countenance the Natives of that Country, that he would neither allow any of the Abissins' [though zealous Assertors of the Roman Catholic Profession] the dignity of Holy Orders, nor permit them to accompany him in those journeys which he road on Horseback, except they would submit to walk by him on foot, like so many Lackeys.  
[Butler, besides these personal dis-respects, there were many other Provocations, of a more heinous nature, which moved the Abissins' to hate and expel the Jesuits, as enemies to the Public Weal, in plotting the Subversion as well of the Civil as Ecclesiastical Government, not content to Triumph in the Ruin of their Church, without improving that to the Dissolution of their State too. For,]  
They laid a secret design to betray the Empire of Ethiopia to the Portuguese Dominion; 
and Treasonable Practices.  whereof they were undeniably convicted by divers Letters [written to carry on the Treason,] which were seasonably intercepted.  
Under the pretence of building Churches and Colleges, they raised Fortifications and strong holds in many advantageous parts of the Country.  
And a vast quantity of Instruments for the erecting of Mounds and Bulworks, with other warlike preparations, were (upon a strict search) found in their houses.  
In short, they did inordinately enrich themselves and were intolerably insolent; which first bred among the Abissins' a suspicion, that they rather aimed at the Gold and Government of Ethiopia, than the salvation of its Inhabitants.  
Upon this discovery, the Roman Cause died together with Susnejos; for no sooner was his son Fasilades advanced to the Throne, but he resolved to expel the Catholic Fathers out of his Dominions; and to the more violent as well as speedy execution of this Resolve he was not a little quickened by a message from a neighbouring King, who, (being both Potent and Wealthy) threatened to invade him, unless he gave his Subject's liberty to worship God according to the Rites of their Ancestors. Having therefore granted the Patriarch forty servants, Letters of safe Conduct, and licence to transport whatsoever his Father had bestowed upon him; he strictly enjoins him and all the Roman Fathers to departed the Empire without delay, [and by public Decree makes it a Capital Offence for any of them to be found in his Territories on any pretence whatsoever.]  
After their departure, he immediately prohibits the Exercise of the Roman Religion, deprives the Catholic Abissins' of all their Honours and Charges; compels them both by Threats and Punishments to resume their former Opinions; and in the Province of Assa put three Jesuits to death, because they departed not with the rest, [at the day prescribed:] The like number of Abissins' and Portuguese ran the same Fate [for their Obstinacy,] and among others Bishop Apollinaris; nor did he spare his own Uncle, Râs Secla Christus, then seventy years old, but condemned him to a tedious imprisonment.  
In a word, Susnejos the Father was not more zealous and active to plant the Roman Faith in Abissinia, than Fasilades his Son and Successor was to extirpate and abolish it.  
As soon as these affairs were throughly made known and impartially stated at Rome; the College de propagandâ fide [upon mature consideration of their ill success and it's as just as apparent occasion] resolve to lay aside the Jesuits as improper instruments for that enterprise, and in their stead made choice of some Religious persons of the Order of Mendicant Friars to manage their design upon Ethiopia. Accordingly certain Capuchins (namely Agat-Angelus and Cassianus) were deputed for that Charge, and ordered to proceed on their journey thither, an. 1636.  
While these things were transacted in Italy, the Patriarch of Alexandria (at the Request of Fasilades, who in the year 1634. had resettled his Empire in its pristine State and Condition) had ordained one Arminius a Copti, of the Monastery of S. Macarius, Metropolitan of Ethiopia, according to the ancient usage; whom the Italian Friars, upon their arrival at Grand Cairo, found ready to departed to his new Charge, as soon as he should receive the Patriarch's Benediction and his Letters Patents: and understanding that they were also designed for Abissinia, he made the Fathers a civil invitation to be his Companions in Travel; but Arminius having obtained his dispatches before they were fitted for so great a journey, proceeds on his way without them.  
At the same time there was in Cairo one Peter Heyling, a Lutheran of Lubec, who, for his better security among the Roman Catholics, passed under the name of Petrus Nolingus, an Hollander. 
* An Enterprise worthy of the Protestant Religion.  This man (as is credibly reported) with Ten others of the same Persuasion, [emulating the industry of the Roman Church,] concurred in a joint resolution to disperse the Christian Doctrine, according to the Principles of the Reformed Religion, over the whole earth; [and that the distribution of their Labours might be the better regulated, they cast the several Provinces of the World into a proportionable division among them,] each of them obliging himself to undertake that part which should fall to him by Lot: In pursuance of which agreement and design, the forenamed Peter was advanced as far as Cairo, The Lot having destined Egypt and Ethiopia to his charge. A person (by my Authors own confession) of eminent Prudence, well skilled in History, experienced in Physic, and in many Languages (as Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Ethiopic,) inferior to none.  
From Cairo he traveled sevent days journey to Siút, a City in the upper Egypt, but was constrained to return thence by the means of Agat-Angelus; wherefore to prevent the like affront and disappointment a second time, he determined to procure Licence to accompany Arminius the  Metropolitan in his journey towards his new Province, for which purpose, that he might ingratiate himself with the chief of the Copties [at least as my 
* With those of his Religion 'tis no sin to belly an Heretic to blast his Reputation  Author saith] he not only professed their Religion, but privately suffered himself to be Circumcised, and by these means obtained commendatory Letters from the Alexandrian Patriarch to the Emperor of Ethiopia, as well as Permission to join with Arminius in his Travels, who left Cairo in the year 1637.  
[And yet the Coherence of my Author's discourse seems to imply that Heyling great parts and abilities recommended him to Arminius; who, that he might the better veil his own want of Learning under the covert of such a man's company and assistance, had a private inducement to obtain the Patriarch's Grant for his Protection and Society, without having recourse to any such indirect means or base compliances as are above specified.]  
Peter Heyling thus arrived in Abissinia, under the Metropolitans Favour, took up his abode in a Church, [not far from Court.] And as soon as he was settled in his new Mansion, he began to practise Physic and profess the Instruction of Youth in the Greek and Hebrew tongues, wherein he quickly became so famous that even the principal Nobility accounted it a singular privilege to have their Sons educated under his Tuition; so that he might easily have amassed a very considerable Treasure, had he been disposed to accept or hoard up all the Gratuities that were offered him: But he either generously refused the Presents when tendered, or else (in ease they were urgently pressed upon him) liberally distributed the overplus among the poor; [after he had made himself a very moderate allowance out of it for Food and Raiment.] A sufficient evidence [as my Author notes] of his great Abstinence or self-denial.  
These remarkable qualities and endowments could not long brook the concealment of a private life, but broke out into such an advantageous report of him as reached the Emperor's Ears, and won him so high an esteem at Court that [after some Trial had been made of his Capacity for public employments] he was by large steps and degrees quickly raised to the principal Charge of the Empire, in which great Office and Trust he acquitted himself with such a prudent address, that his Great Master obliged him (with a courteous violence) to accept of a Revenue and Attendance equal to the Chief of the Nobility, with a most delightful Apartment in a place (accounted the Paradise of Ethiopia) called Genéte Christos; yea, and designed him, as 'tis commonly and positively affirmed, his own Daughter in marriage.  
Peter Heyling finding himself so deeply interested in the Prince's Favour and Affection, began to remind his Imperial Majesty of all those deplorable Troubles wherein his Dominions had been so often involved [(especially in the days of his Father,) and so effectually represented to him that those dreadful Commotions and all their pernicious consequences] were solely occasioned by the Jesuits, and Popish Emissaries, warning him of the sudden approach of others on the same Errand, [together with the firm Resolution of their Party to persist in the like Treasonable attempts,] that at last his Remonstrance prevailed with the Ethiopian Monarch and his Council to establish a Penal Law against all 
* With regard (no doubt) to a certain old Prophecy which our learned Dr. Ed. Castelcites out of Sandoval thus, Que gente blanca haziendo los labradores los han de echar sucra de Etiopia: importing, That a White People under some disguise should dispossess them of their Country.  the people of Europe, [of what Country or persuasion soever,] forbidding any person bearing the native distinction of a white Complexion to enter his Territories upon pain of death.  
In the mean time the Roman Fathers, an. 1638. proceed on their journey by Suaquem an (Isle of the Red Sea) thence to Enquiquum and so on towards the Abissin Court, in the Company of certain Merchants who had liberty of Traffic in those parts. When they came to Seráve, where Barnagassi the Viceroy of Midrebahr had his ordinary Residence, he no sooner see two White Faces among the Travellers, but he suspected them to be such as had by the late Imperial Edict been banished from all the Coasts of Ethiopia: whereupon (being thereunto advised by the chief Abissin Priest upon the place) he searched their Sumpture, and therein found Chalices, Stones consecrated for Altars, Sacerdotal Ornaments and Mass-Books, with other things prepared for Ecclesiastical uses. Having thus discovered their persons and designs, the Viceroy informs his Master of the discovery he had made, and detains the Fathers in chains until he should receive further notice of his Majesty's pleasure; which was no sooner signified but they were brought to the Emperor's presence on the 5th. of August, 1638. where, upon reading some Letters which they produced from the Patriarch of Alexandria, the Emperor was at first inclined to remand them [without any further mark of his displeasure] to Grand Cairo from whence they came: But, being advised to the contrary by Peter Heyling, and his new Metropolitan Arminius, he changed his purpose and required them [as a Test resolved on in the late Consult] to receive the Holy Communion after the manner prescribed and practised in the Abissin Church, with a Promise that (in case of their Conformity thereunto) they should not only have Licence to remain in his Dominions, but be capable of places of Honour and Trust therein: Provided also that they bless S. Dioscorus, and curse Pope Leo; for, all the Abissins' firmly believe, that in his time the Roman Church fell into Heresy, and (to let my Author speak in his own Language, Ex sancta & capite, qualem tune fuisse fatentur, eam factam dicunt Caudam & Cathedram Diaboli) from being Holy and the Head (as they then owned her) she became, they say, the Tail and the Chair of the Devil.  
This proposal being utterly rejected by the Friars, his Imperial Majesty (at the urgent motion of his Mother, the Clergy, and the Commons, whose joint Vogue accused him of Dissimulation, in case he put not these Franks to death according to his own Decree) past sentence against them; which was speedily executed, they being hanged with those very Ropes which themselves had made use of for their Girdles, and in that posture were entombed by the vast number of Stones which the multitude of Abissin Zealots threw at them; [the heap still remaining a Monument as well of the Roman Father's Resolution as of Ethiopian severity.]  
Peter Heyling in process of time (being grown very Rich and powerful) began to make public expression of his dislike of divers Abissin Customs, decrying especially their Adoration of Saints, and of the Virgin Mary herself, as repugnant to true Religion and the Holy Scriptures; having on the same account privately forbidden his Scholars to use their ordinary Forms of Prayer directed to her. This begat him much ill will and great opposition among the Nobles; for all the Abissins' have a very great Reverence for the Holy Virgin: To express their disgust therefore, they first withdrew their Sons from his Tuition; and after that, made use of their best Arguments and Interest with the Emperor not only to remove him from Court but out of his Dominions also, who hereupon having gently admonished him [at least to be silent and connive at their Customs, if he could not conform to them] without effect, order him to quit his Territories for a time, as the best expedient to avoid the dangerous efforts of popular fury.  
Thus this Great man voluntarily relinquished Ethiopia, together with the High place and Interest he held there, after he had been (as it were) naturallized by Twelve years' Residence in that Country; being accompanied by his usual Retinue, and all the Wealth he had gotten, [which was sent along with him as a mark of the just esteem and favour the Emperor ever had for him:] But having advanced on his way thus attended as far as the Isle Suaquem, he fell into the hands of a Turkish Pasha, who (to satisfy his Avarice) deprived him at once of his Life and Riches.  
Soon after Peter Heyling's departure, 
Another Popish Plot.  the Emperor's younger Brother, with divers Nobles inclined to the Roman Principles, made a dangerous Conspiracy against their natural Lord, upon the design of introducing more of the Catholic Fathers; but Fasilades, having received timely notice hereof from Arminius, his Primate and Metropolitan, immediately caused his Brother to be 
* According to the barbarous Custom of Eastern Tyranny.  Strangled with a Napkin [for the better prevention as well of public Rumours as Commotions] and exposed his Complices to open Execution. And, [in consideration of this Treason,] became so exasperated against the Catholics, that he rather resolved to introduce Mahumetanism than admit any of the Roman Church into his Territories. This Resolution [rashly conceived to avoid one extreme, did desperately precipitate him into another, wherein] he proceeded so far that (as my Author saith) he sent to Iman, a certain King of Arabia Felix, for a Turk learned in the Law of Mahomet, whose Abilities might qualify him to transport the Doctrine of his Prophet into Ethiopia. But an Abissin Christian, being one of those that were employed on this Errand, as soon as he returned (whether upon disgust, or some other more laudable reason) imparted to the Principal of the Nobility and Clergy the sum of that wicked Embassy, advising them to consider of some prudent and safe way for the prevention of so great a mischief.  
Upon this Information they began to raise tumultuary Assemblies, wherein the people grew so bold as to vent open threats against their Sovereign; nay, when the Turkish Effendi arrived, they did so much stomach the honourable reception he found at Court, that they twice set his Lodgings on Fire, and spared not to make sundry Attempts upon his Life. These daring Actions, pretending no less than the absolute revolt of his Subjects, engaged Fasilades (under the pretext of some criminal Accusation) to cast the Mahometan Ambassador into prison, and declare himself ignorant of the design for which he came into his Dominions. Soon after [finding it the only Mean to allay the Commotions and restore the Peace of his Empire] he sent the Turk back into his own Country, having gratified him with many rich Presents, among which was a very costly Vest bestowed on him by the Empress.  
The College de propagandâ fide, having all this while received no News of the Fathers Capuchins since their departure, sent after them other Fathers, an. 1638. whereof P. Antonius de Virgolta, and P. Antonius de Petra Pagana, were the Chief, both being of the Reformed Order of S. Francis. These Emissaries passing by Grand Cairo, soon after arrived at Suaquem and thence sailed to Mesauva, where they remained two years [in continual expectation of some favourable opportunity for their safe passage into Ethiopia:] But having endured many Grievances from the injurious Turks in the time of their abode there, [and nothing advanced in the hopes of compassing their design,] they were necessitated to return to Suaquem; an Isle whose shores are so very white that they seem at a distance covered with Snow, much about a mile in compass and well inhabited, but doth not yield the least drop of fresh water, wherewith it is supplied from the neighbouring Continent, though at a dear rate; for, a skin of water is commonly sold for two Chabers, forty of which pieces amount to the value of a Spanish Paragon, neither doth it produce any Fruits or Food for the use of Man, (nay, it cannot boast of the least Verdure) but is furnished with all Necessaries for humane Life from the Kingdoms of Fungi and Sennaar. In this Isle Antonius de Petra Pagana practised Physic, and Antonius de Virgolta made Fans of Straw, by which means they lived quietly and supplied their Wants in that barren place.  
There Father Anthony Virgolta died, whereupon Father Anthony de Petra (now left alone) sends Letters to Rome wherein he informed the College that to seek for any access into Abissinia by Sea would be not only a fruitless but impossible Attempt.  
Hereupon they send other Emissaries with directions to proceed all the way by Land, wherein they were ordered to go as far as conveniently they might by the River Nilus, then to pass on through Nubia, Sennaar, and the whole Realm of Fungi, and so to steal privately into Ethiopia. Jacob Vemmers, a Carmelite Friar, was Head of the Mission. And, being constituted Apostolic Vicar of the whole Empire, departed from Rome, an. 1640. with Letters from Pope Urban VIII. to the Emperor, the Metropolitan, and Archimandrita the General of the Monks, respectively: his Companions were P. Joseph de Atino, and P. Felix de S. Severino, of the Reformed Order of S. Francis. But upon the death of Vemmers, Mattheus de Castro succeeded in his Charge, who, when he was advanced on the way with his companions as far as Cairo, returned to Rome, [for what reason is not specified in our History.]  
While Matthaeus was hastening towards Italy, the Fathers, whom he left in Egypt, had an opportunity presented for their conveyance to Suaquem, by the favour they had gained with Mahunied-Pasha who was then going to assume the Government of that Island with some other adjacent places. Their arrival there did very much revive and comfort P. Antonius de Petra, [till then disconsolate in that melancholy Solitude wherein the death of Virgolta had left him.]  
Soon after they held a Consultation there concerning the method and possibility of their gaining entrance into Abissinia, whereupon they resolved first to found the Emperor's inclinations by Letters, and these they wrote by the Aid of a certain Catholic Abissin named Gregory, who had been [graced with the singular favour of being] ordained a Priest by the Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez.  
But these Letters, being delivered to Fasilades at that unhappy juncture of time when the Mahometan Doctor was in Ethiopia, put him into such a rage, that he presently dispatched a Messenger to the Pasha, then resident in Suaquem, requesting him to kill all the Religious men in his Isle, and (to render this cruel demand the more prevalent) promised 150. Ounces of Gold for his Reward. This taking proposal was readily accepted by the covetous Pasha (Successor to him that brought the Fathers thither from Cairo) who [to purchase both the Money and Favour of so Potent a Neighbour] cut off their heads almost as soon as the Abissin Messenger arrived; for, [without any further warning or legal Process,] they were executed in the Evening of that very day wherein the Emperor's Letters came to his hands, which is said to be the Feast of the Annunciation, an. 1648.  
From that time till the year 1669. the Roman College, [upon these apparent hazards and discouragements,] quitted their Designs of propagating the Catholic Faith in Ethiopia during the Reign of Fasilades: but then, having News of his death, upon some hopes or intimation that his Successor was less rigorous towards the Roman Catholics, they resumed their former Intentions, and made choice of these three Priests to be their Emissaries, Don Antonio de Andrada a Native of Ethiopia, and two Fathers of the Order of St. Francis; who [in Obedience to the Directors of their Mission, so diligently prosecuted their Journey, that without any remarkable impediment they] arrived at Suaquem, the unfortunate Isle aforenamed, as their last Letters intimate; [where we must leave them and their Enterprise, till my Author, or some other able Pen, shall give us a further Account of its Success.]  
FINIS.