Note 1 — Chapter I · SABBATARIAN CHURCHES IN ASIA AND AFRICA.

According to Assemanni, Christianity was once professed by the horde of Koraites; and their chief, who received ordination, which probably gave rise to the legend of Presbyter, or Prester, John.

[2] Some modern theorists have severely reprehended the Paulicians, or Armenians, for the part they bore in these sanguinary scenes. But so long as the principle of patriotism is cherished; so long as the names of home and country are accounted sacred; and so long as the memories of Tell, and Wallace, and Washington, are held up to general emulation, the laity, at least, may be excused for recognising the legitimacy of self-defence.

[3] Those who desire a more detailed account of the Armenians may consult La Croza, Galanus, Olearius, Chardin, Fabricius, in Lux Evangelii, and, above all, Tavernier.

[4] I am aware that the truth of this statement has been questioned, but after all there is nothing so very improbable in it. Alfred was a prince of an enterprising disposition, and might have sent an embassy to India for several reasons, and their performance of the journey was no impossibility.

[5] The Trisagion is the hymn supposed to be chanted by the Cherubim before the throne of glory, and commences with Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty.

[6] Authors are far from being unanimous in their accounts of this people and their origin. It has been maintained by not a few that they are of Syriac extraction, and that the St. Thomas, from whom their appellation is derived, was an Armenian merchant and missionary who flourished as their leader in the fifth century. Others, with equal plausibility, contend that they originated from a colony of Abyssinians. Dr. Buchanan maintains an opinion different from either. He supposes them to be natives of India, whose ancestors were converted by St. Thomas, the Apostle. He says, that "we have as good reason for believing that St. Thomas died in India, as that St. Peter died at Rome."

According to a tradition of the natives, the Apostle came first to Socotara, an island in the Arabian Sea, and thence departed to Cranganor, where he founded several churches. The next scene of his labours was Coromandare, and preaching in all the towns and villages he came to Melsapour, the chief city, where he converted the prince and a great part of the nobility to the Christian faith. This so enraged the Brahmins, that one of them secretly followed him into a solitary place, where he retired for prayer, and stabbed him in the back with a spear.

[7] According to another account, their conversion to this creed was effected by the missionaries of the Empress Theodora, which, however, has been disputed by Assemanus.

[8] Gibbon says that "two abunas had been slain in battle."

[9] It has been supposed, and with reason, that many of these customs were introduced by the Jesuits, and that previous to the partial subjection of this church to the Romish authority, it was much more pure than it has since been.

[10] The observation of Sunday was brought in by the Jesuits, who found it easier to induce them to observe both days than to consent to a substitution of the first for the seventh day.

[11] The Abyssinians still retain the physiognomy and olive complexion of the Arabs, and afford an incontestable evidence that three thousand years can neither change the colour nor the intellectual capabilities of the human species. Under the burning sun of Africa, the Abyssinian, a branch of the great Caucasian family, has preserved the name and semblance of Christianity and civilization through the wreck and revolutions of ages, and amid the tempests of foreign and domestic dominations. Conscious of his ignorance, he once sought the fraternity of Europe for the sake of her letters and her arts. But how is it with the Nubian, whose unequivocal African descent is betrayed by his stupid features, black colour, and woolly hair, yet who enjoyed equal or superior advantages in ancient times? The history of his race would attest to the truth in this case. He has relapsed into that barbarism which seems to be his native element, and from which he appears incapable of preserving himself. The only memorials of his Christianity are a few words, of which he is incapable of understanding the sense; the only traces of his civilization a few heaps of sculptured ruins.

[12] The negotiations of Justinian with the Abyssinians are mentioned by Procopius, John Malala, and others. The original narrative of the ambassador Nonnosus is quoted by the Historian of Antioch, and Photius has given a curious extract. Justinian reigned over the Greek empire from 527 to 565.

[13] The present village of Anuma is conspicuous by the ruins of a splendid Christian temple, and seventeen obelisks, of Grecian architecture. According to Alvarez, it was in a flourishing state in 1520, but was ruined the same year by the Turkish invasion.

[14] Those who desire to form an acquaintance with Abyssinian history may consult Procopius, Baronius, Cosmos, Indicopleustus, Alvarez, Lobo, and Bruce. In these works, the subject is very amply and ably treated.