Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/124
whereof ends in one single Nut, which being cover'd with Earth produces the Palm-tree. Most of the people of the Country do say, that in regard there is among the Palm-trees the distinction of Male and Female, that therefore they must be planted one by another, for that otherwise the Female Tree will bear no Fruit. But others affirm that nicety to be unnecessary; and that it suffices, when the Male is in Blossom to take a Flower from the Male, and put it into the Heart of the Female a little above the Stem; for unless they should do so, all the Fruit would fall off before it came to maturity.
There is at Balsara a Cady that administers Justice, and who is establish'd by the authority of the Prince that commands there. In the City are also three sorts of Christians, Jacobites, Nestorians, and Christians of St. John. There is also a House of Italian Carmelites; and there was a House of Portugal Austin-Friars, but they have forsak'n the Town ever since their Country-men quitted the Trade.
The Christians of St. John are very numerous at Balsara, and the Villages thereabouts; who anciently liv'd by the River of Jordan, where St. John Baptiz'd; and from whom they took their Name. But since the time that Mahomet conquer'd Palestine, though Mahomet formerly gave them his Hand and his Letters of Priviledge that they should not be molested, nevertheless they that succeeded the false Prophet resolv'd to extirpate them all; to which purpose they ruin'd their Churches, burnt their Books, and exercis'd all manner of cruelties upon their Persons: which oblig'd them to retire into Mesopotamia and Chaldea, and for some time they were under the Patriarch of Babylon, from whom they separated about a hundred and sixty years ago. Then they remov'd into Persia and Arabia, and the Towns round about Balsara; as Souter, Despoul, Rumez, Bitoum, Mono, Endecan, Calafabat, Aveza, Dega, Dorech, Masquel, Gumar, Carianous, Balsara, Onezer, Zech, Loza. Nor do they inhabit City or Village by which there does not run a River. And many of their Bishops have assur'd me, that the Christians in all the foregoing places make above five and twenty thousand Families. There are some among them who are Merchants; but the most part of them are Trades-men, especially Gold-smiths, Joyners, and Lock-smiths.
Their Creed is full of fables and foul errours. The Persians and Arabians call them Sabbi, a People that have forsak'n their own Religion, to take up a new one. In their own Language they call themselves Mendai Jahia, or Disciples of St. John, from whom, as they ascertain us, they have receiv'd their Faith, their Books, and their Traditions. Every year they celebrate a Feast for about five days, during which time they go in Troops to their Bishops, who Baptize them according to the Baptism of St. John.
They never Baptize but in Rivers, and only upon Sundays. But before they go to the River they carry the Infant to Church, where there is a Bishop who reads certain Prayers over the Head of the Child; from thence they carry the Child to the River, with a Train of Men and Women, who together with the Bishop go up to the knees in Water. Then the Bishop reads again certain Prayers out of a Book which he holds in his Hand, which done he sprinkles the Infant three times, saying, Beesmebrad er-Rabi, Kaddemin, Akreri, Menhal el gennet Alli Koulli Kralek; or, In the Name of the Lord, first and last of the World and of Paradise, the high Creator of all things. After that, the Bishop reads something again in his Book, while the God-father plunges the Child all over in the Water; after which they go all to the Parents House to feast. If any tax their Baptism for inefficient, in regard the Three Persons of the Divinity are not nam'd therein, they can make no rational defence for themselves. Nor have they any knowledge of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, only they say that Christ is the Spirit and Word of the Eternal Father. They are so blind as to believe the Angel Gabriel to be the Son of God, begotten upon Light; yet will not believe the Eternal Generation of Christ, as God. Yet they confess he became Man, to free us from the Punishment of Sin: and that he was conceiv'd in the womb of a Virgin without the knowledge of Man, by means of the Water of a certain Fountain which she drank of. They believe he was crucifi'd by the Jews; that he rose the third day; and that his Soul ascending up to Heaven, his Body remain'd on Earth. But like the Mahometans they corrupt their Faith, by saying, that Christ vanish'd when the Jews came to take him, and that he deluded their cruelty with his Shadow.
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