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3^A of J.-ruif t'^ te-.:h t'n.-ni n-li^'.on. Tiii. iinpriiJ.-it c<m- 

 (!j:\, oa tU; partof thi er.ipjrov, excit.-d ?. rehellloa among 

 liis fubjefts ; he wn', cxcommunicatfd by the Abuiia ; and 

 hivln" been d;fertedbv his troops, h;- was overpowered and 

 fljin-^TKe fucce.Tiri wa; fjr foms time difputed. At length 

 Socinics, cilkd ah'o Sul'neus a d MA<c Segued, was fully 

 eilAblifhed on the throne ; a.iJ having declared to Pacz his 

 p-irpafe of embracin; the Romilh rcl-gion, he addrelTcd 

 two' letters, oie to the pope, a-id the other to the king of 

 Portugal, fuppliciting alTiihncc againil the invalions of the 

 GiUa. In the mean while he defeated thefe people, and 

 a'.fo a body of rebels afTembled to fupport the claims 

 r.f an impo'lor, who pretended to be the late emperor 

 Jacob, that hid contended with him for the crown. Whilil 

 he was meditating the cftablilhment of religion in the empire, 

 a new rebellion demanded his attention, and his thoughts 

 Wire wholly employed in various military expeditions. In 

 ifil6, he iifucd a very fevere order againil the Jews, whom 

 he determined totally to exterminate. His conduct towards 

 them was in the higheft degree cruel and unjuft. The con- 

 fcquence of his meafnrcs was the almofl: entire extin£t:on of 

 the Jewifii religion, the profelTors of which were commanded 

 to renounce their religion, and be baptifcd, under pam of 

 death. Pacz was at the fame time affiduous and fuccefsful, 

 in his endeavours to profelyle the Abyfilnians to the Catholic 

 faith, and Sociiiios having received letters from the pope and 

 the kinfr of Spain, with affurances of fuch fupport as each 

 of them, in his rcfpeclive province, could afford him, re- 

 Iblved to make a formal fuhmifiton to the pope, and to re- 

 nounce for ever hi? connec*:!0n with the Greek church. Am- 

 bnffadors wore appointed to go to Europe, to communicate 

 this intelligence, arid to finini the negociation between the 

 pope and the Abyfliniaiis ; but thefe ambafTadors were ob- 

 liged to return ; and this unprofperous occurrence prevented 

 the eilablifliment of popery in Abyfli.iia. The attempts of 

 Soclnios to change the religion of the country, occafioned a 

 ▼ariety of feditiojs and rebellious affociations againft his go- 

 vernment ; but the ob't.'Yiate emperor perfevered. Though 

 the Abyffinian ambalTadors had been conftrained to return, 

 many favourabli accounts of the ftate of religion in Abyf- 

 ■finia had been tranfmitted to Europe ; and new miffionaries 

 were fent under the direction of Alphonfo Mendez, who 

 anived at Gorgora, the royal refidencCj.in the beginning of 

 the year 1636. Socinios, after the firft audience, takes an 

 oath of fubrnifiion to the pope, and the ceremony was at- 

 tended with circumftancer, of peculiar folemnity. It was 

 followed by a proclamation, that ail priefts (hould embrace 

 the catholic faith on pain of death, that Lent and Eafter, 

 and the other moveable feafts, fliould be obler\'ed according 

 to the rales of the Roniilh church, and that the clergy 

 (hould be re-ordained, the churches confecrated anew, the 

 peopl ; rc-baptifed, and circumcilion, polygamy, and divorce 

 abrogated. The emperor, however, foon perceived the in- 

 jurious effefts of thefe meafures, and found it neceffary to 

 relax the feveity of his proceedings. He proceeded to 

 grant an univerfal tolei-ation ; and having reftored the Alex- 

 andrian faitli, ceremonies, and worfhip, he i-efigned the 

 crown and empire to his fon Eacilidas, or as he is fome- 

 times called Bafilides ; and foun after his proclamation for 

 this purpofe, he died, in 1632, and with him all the hopes 

 6f the Jefuits were cxtinguifhed. Facilidas was an invete- 

 rate enemy to the catholic fa:th, and he adopted every me- 

 thod in his po-.ver to fupprefs and eradicate it. He fiift ba- 

 nilhed ind then executed his ur.cie Sela Chrift os, v/ho had been 

 active in prom^,ting it, expelled the European mifiionarics, and 

 rcfided the attempts of the Jefuits for introducing others. The 

 fpint of rebellion in AbylCnia, and the neighbouring provinces, 



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was ft 11 aCiive ; nor could the efforts of Facilidas totally fobdu* 

 it. However, he left the empire at his deatli, in 1665, in 

 a much more peaceful and profperous ftate, than that in 

 which it was devolved upon him by his father.' He was fvic- 

 ceeded by his fon Hannes I., who had the audrefs to prc- 

 ferve peace during his whole reign, if we except lome feeble 

 expeditions againtt Laftvi and the Shanf,-alla ; and, in i63o, 

 his fon Yafous I. afoended the throne with the approbation of 

 tiie whole kingdom. This prince is faid to h.ave pofTelTed 

 all thofc abilities and difpofnions which form the character 

 of a '^reat and good monarch. In this reign attempts were 

 made to revive European millions. They were occafioned 

 by a report that, on the expuliion of the Jefuits from Abyf- 

 finia, many catholic clH-itlians had fled into the adjacent 

 countries of Nubia and tiennaar, where they were grievoudy 

 cpprefled by the Mahometans. The caufe of thefe chrif. 

 tians was efpoufed at Rome, and the pope difpatchcd a mif- 

 llon for tbeV relief, under tl-.e title of the Etk'r.pk mi[]>.m. 

 The miffionaries were inftrucled to penetrate a^ far as pof- 

 f'ble into AbyiTinia, and to maintain the cathohc faith as far 

 as they were able, till an opportunity offered of converting 

 the whole empire ; and for their protection and encourage- 

 ment, a convent was eftablilhed at Achmim, in Upper 

 Etrvpt. At the fame time, Louis XIV. of France ap- 

 pointed fix Jefuits to the fame miffion, and furnifhed them 

 witii fuitable prefents for the emperor and the principal 110- 

 biiitv. The admiiTion of thefe miffionaries was facilitated by 

 a dangerous fcorbutic diforder, which had attacked Yafous 

 and his fon, and for which they wifoed to have the advice of 

 an European phyfician. Maillet, the French confu! at 

 Cairo, wifliing the Jefuits to have the honour of the miffion, 

 difappointcd the views of Friars Pafchal and A-nthony, two 

 Franclfcans, who were firft tliought of, and recommended 

 Charles Poncet, a Frenchman, who had been bred a che- 

 niift and apothecary, and Father Brevedent as his fervant, 

 to Hagi Ali, a Mahometan faftor at Cairo, for the dcfired 

 purpofe. The Franclfcans attempted the deftruclion of 

 Poncet and his attendants ; but Poncet arrived fafe at Gon- 

 dar on the 2 ill of July, 1699, and having perfectly cured 

 hi8 royal patient, fet out on the 2d of May, 1700, on his 

 return for Europe, and arrived in fafety at iSIafuah. Breve- 

 dent died at Gondar foon after their arrival. An embaffy on 

 the part of the Abylhnian monarch was defeated by the in- 

 terference of Maillet ; but the Jefuits concerted another mif- 

 fion from France, and the pcrfon appointed as ambairador 

 was M. de Roule, vice-conful at Damietta. This miffion 

 was veiy injudicioufly conducted ; the merchants at Cairo 

 refilled it; tlie Franclfcans obllrucled it, and it terminated in 

 the murder of the ambaffador in the province of Sennaar. 

 Yafous, the emperor, had been previoufly afiaffinated, in 

 1 704, by a confpiracy of his v/lfe and fon, Tecla Haiman- 

 out, who was hlmfelf affaffinated in 1706, and fucceeded 

 by his uncle Tifilis, or Theophihis. After the death of 

 this monarch, in 1709, the line of Solomon, by the queen 

 of Sheba, was fet afide, by the i.ifluence of the confpirators 

 who had contributed to the murder of Yafous and Tecla, 

 and a ilrangcr, called Oullas, was feated on the Abyffinian 

 throne. Oullas v/as foon depoled ; and David, Ion of 

 Yafous, was proclaimed king of Abyffinia, and crov>'ned at 

 Gondar on the 30th of Janua-y, 17 14. The diflenfions 

 among the Abyffinian clergy, that occurred in this reign, 

 produced a dreadful maffic.-e, and ended in the death of the 

 king, who died, by poifon, in 17 19. He was fueceedcd 

 by his brother, Bacuffa ; and Cacuffa, in 1729, by his fon 

 Yafous II. His reign was difturbed by frequent ieditions 

 and rebclhcns ; in one of which. Gondar, the capital, was fet 

 on fire, and almoft entirely ruiued. He died in 175.^, 

 2 not 



