DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0198
164
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
may be merely a pretext to cover their atrocious pursuits ; and
certain it is that, though the Crescent now holds sway over the
lower countries, the Cross resumes its power beyond, in Abyssi-
nia. Here the faith which St. Mark preached in Alexandria
was transplanted under the form of the Eutychian heresy, and,
with the exception of a brief Roman Catholic interlude, it has
maintained its ground ever since. In the sixteenth century, the
Portuguese, having weathered the Cape of Good Hope, turned
their eyes eagerly in search of an African settlement: in Abys-
sinia they found a people almost relapsed into a savage state,
yet holding firm.to the leading doctrines of the Christian faith.
Their missionaries soon obtained a settlement among this simple
people ; and the Jesuits, well aware of what a bond self-interest
constitutes in the holiest alliance, and knowing besides the sym-
pathy with their pursuits that the discovery of wealth would
create and maintain in Portugal, occupied themselves actively in
cultivating a commerce between the two countries.
Now, it is a fact, written on the forehead of History, that
wherever, from the poles to the tropics, the Church of Rome has
carried her spiritual arms, attempts to create a temporal power
have accompanied them, and Abyssinia formed no exception to
the rule. A Latin patriarch was soon discovered by the empe-
ror to be the leading authority in his kingdom ; the Monophysite
faith, which had languished hitherto, revived under the genial
breath of persecution, and an Abuna, or indigenous patriarch,
espoused the cause of his church and his country. This spiritual
chief was slain in the civil war which followed, but was imme-
diately replaced ; and, after five rebellions, the apostate emperor
gave liberty of conscience to his people, which was fatal to the
Romish Church. At his death, his son Basilides restored the
ancient faith and discipline, and the Monophysite churches
resounded with a song of triumph, " that the sheep of Abyssinia
were now delivered from the hyaenas of the West."
They seem to have profited little, however, in a spiritual point
of view, by this deliverance. The light of Christianity glimmers
very faintly at present through the gloom of superstitions which
have the shadows of African idolatry added to their own. St.
Michael is appealed to as an intercessor, and the Virgin Mary is
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
may be merely a pretext to cover their atrocious pursuits ; and
certain it is that, though the Crescent now holds sway over the
lower countries, the Cross resumes its power beyond, in Abyssi-
nia. Here the faith which St. Mark preached in Alexandria
was transplanted under the form of the Eutychian heresy, and,
with the exception of a brief Roman Catholic interlude, it has
maintained its ground ever since. In the sixteenth century, the
Portuguese, having weathered the Cape of Good Hope, turned
their eyes eagerly in search of an African settlement: in Abys-
sinia they found a people almost relapsed into a savage state,
yet holding firm.to the leading doctrines of the Christian faith.
Their missionaries soon obtained a settlement among this simple
people ; and the Jesuits, well aware of what a bond self-interest
constitutes in the holiest alliance, and knowing besides the sym-
pathy with their pursuits that the discovery of wealth would
create and maintain in Portugal, occupied themselves actively in
cultivating a commerce between the two countries.
Now, it is a fact, written on the forehead of History, that
wherever, from the poles to the tropics, the Church of Rome has
carried her spiritual arms, attempts to create a temporal power
have accompanied them, and Abyssinia formed no exception to
the rule. A Latin patriarch was soon discovered by the empe-
ror to be the leading authority in his kingdom ; the Monophysite
faith, which had languished hitherto, revived under the genial
breath of persecution, and an Abuna, or indigenous patriarch,
espoused the cause of his church and his country. This spiritual
chief was slain in the civil war which followed, but was imme-
diately replaced ; and, after five rebellions, the apostate emperor
gave liberty of conscience to his people, which was fatal to the
Romish Church. At his death, his son Basilides restored the
ancient faith and discipline, and the Monophysite churches
resounded with a song of triumph, " that the sheep of Abyssinia
were now delivered from the hyaenas of the West."
They seem to have profited little, however, in a spiritual point
of view, by this deliverance. The light of Christianity glimmers
very faintly at present through the gloom of superstitions which
have the shadows of African idolatry added to their own. St.
Michael is appealed to as an intercessor, and the Virgin Mary is