1843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 707 



The successor of St. Mark, however, could barely retain his own ex- 

 istence in Egypt during the succeeding oppressions and exactions of 

 the Moslem ; and Ethiopia, his remote charge, now nearly isolated from 

 the remainder of the world, remained for the next ten centuries a 

 sealed book to European history, preserving her independence from all 

 foreign yoke, and guarding in safety the flame of that faith which she had 

 inherited from her fathers. 



The reign of the Ascetics succeeded to that of disputation, and men 

 lacerated their bodies, and lived in holes and caves of the earth like 

 wild beasts. Tekla Haimanot and Eustathios were the great founders 

 of monkery in the land. An angel announced the birth of one, and the 

 other floated over the sea, borne in safety amidst the folds of his leathern 

 garment. Miracles still continued to be occasionally performed. Sanc- 

 tity was further enhanced by mortification of the flesh, and austerity of 

 life was highly praised and followed by the admiring mob. 



The original discipline of the anchorite was severe in the extreme. 

 It was to be continually girt round the loins with heavy chains, and 

 to remain for days immersed in the cold mountain stream, to recline up- 

 on the bare earth, and to subsist alone upon a scanty vegetable diet. 



Monasteries were at length founded, and fields and revenues set apart 

 for the convenience of their inmates ; and although a visiting superior 

 was appointed to check corruption and punish innovation or transgres- 

 sion, the asperities of the monastic life gradually softened down. The 

 cheggue preferred the comforts of a settled abode to wearisome tours 

 and visitations ; further immunities were granted to all loving a life of 

 ease and spiritual license, and the commonwealth deplored the loss of a 

 great portion of her subjects, who assisted her neither in taxes, nor in 

 military service. 



Ethiopia meanwhile extended her wide empire on every side, and her 

 religion was imposed upon the conquered territories. From the great 

 river Gochoh to the frontiers of Nubia, the crutch and the cross per- 

 vaded the land. Churches were erected on every convenient spot, and 

 the blue badge of nominal Christianity encircled the necks of an ignorant 

 multitude. The usual wars and rebellion arose, and schisms and sects 

 fill up the archives of ten centuries, with all the uninteresting precision 

 of more civilized countries. But still the Church flourished ; the Patri- 

 arch was regularly received from Alexandria, a long list of ninety-five 



