There Was No Christian Kingdom Or State
In The Indies Of Which All Was True Which They Heard Of This Land Of
Prester-John:
And there was none in the other parts of the world
who was a Christian separated from the Catholic Church but what was
known, except this kingdom of Aethiopia.
It has therefore passed
for the kingdom of Prester-John since the time that it was
discovered by the Portuguese in the reign of King John the Second.
The country is properly called Abyssinia, and the people term
themselves Abyssins. Their histories count a hundred and sixty-two
reigns, from Cham to Faciladas or Basilides; among which some women
are remarkably celebrated. One of the most renowned is the Queen of
Sheba, mentioned in Scripture, whom the natives call Nicaula or
Macheda, and in their translation of the gospel, Nagista Azeb, which
in their language is Queen of the South. They still show the ruins
of a city which appears to have been once of note, as the place
where she kept her court, and a village which, from its being the
place of her birth, they call the land of Saba. The Kings of
Aethiopia draw their boasted pedigree from Minilech, the son of this
Queen and Solomon. The other Queen for whom they retain a great
veneration is Candace, whom they call Judith, and indeed if what
they relate of her could be proved, there never was, amongst the
most illustrious and beneficent sovereigns, any to whom their
country was more indebted, for it is said that she being converted
by Inda her eunuch, whom St. Philip baptised, prevailed with her
subjects to quit the worship of idols, and profess the faith of
Jesus Christ. This opinion appears to me without any better
foundation than another of the conversion of the Abyssins to the
Jewish rites by the Queen of Sheba, at her return from the court of
Solomon. They, however, who patronise these traditions give us very
specious accounts of the zeal and piety of the Abyssins at their
first conversion. Many, they say, abandoned all the pleasures and
vanities of life for solitude and religious austerities; others
devoted themselves to God in an ecclesiastical life; they who could
not do these set apart their revenues for building churches,
endowing chapels, and founding monasteries, and spent their wealth
in costly ornaments for the churches and vessels for the altars. It
is true that this people has a natural disposition to goodness; they
are very liberal of their alms, they much frequent their churches,
and are very studious to adorn them; they practise fasting and other
mortifications, and notwithstanding their separation from the Roman
Church, and the corruptions which have crept into their faith, yet
retain in a great measure the devout fervour of the primitive
Christians. There never were greater hopes of uniting this people
to the Church of Rome, which their adherence to the Eutichian heresy
has made very difficult, than in the time of Sultan Segued, who
called us into his dominions in the year 1625, from whence we were
expelled in 1634.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 27 of 79
Words from 13635 to 14155
of 41322
