1843.] and the Abyssinian Church. 683 



The Reverend Messrs. Gobat and Kugler first penetrated into north- 

 ern Abyssinia, and established their residence at Adowa, and the Reverend 

 Messrs. Kraff and Isenberg, followed in the same path. 



The words of the true Gospel were listened to by the natives with 

 every attention, and amidst a scene of universal corruption, the pure 

 lives of the preachers were beheld with amazement. But intrigue and 

 foreign influence produced a revulsion in the mind of Aubie, the tyrant 

 prince of Tigre, and the order for departure to the coast was enforced 

 by the governor of the town, who was anxious to possess himself of 

 property, that could not be removed from his avaricious grasp. Their 

 names, nevertheless, remain in the land, and to this day the English 

 missionaries are spoken of with the greatest reverence, as possessing 

 every quality that was good, mild, and just. 



Ardent zeal in the cause of Christianity again induced Messrs. Isen- 

 berg and Kraff to brave the dangers of an unexplored route through 

 the fiery desert of the inhospitable Adaiel, and to endure the foul an- 

 noyance of a savage existence. The kingdom of Shoa now forms 

 the theatre of their praiseworthy exertions. Dogmatical treatises 

 have been ably penned in the vernacular language of the country; a 

 school in the capital extends to the rising generation the means of im- 

 provement, and the example of a holy life will no doubt produce a 

 happy effect. 



But the uphill task of the missionary is indeed hard, and the wonder 

 is, that any thing has been accomplished, and not that the harvest is 

 scanty. Disliked as a stranger of envied accomplishments, despised as 

 an alien to the land, and hated by the ignorant and bigotted priesthood, 

 the words of truth fall unheeded from lips the most eloquent, and the 

 most zealous endeavours prove of little avail. Perfectly satisfied with 

 his own creed, the Abyssinian finds it easier to kiss the holy book than 

 to peruse its contents, and to trust to the priestly absolution, instead of 

 moulding his conduct according to the doctrines of pure faith. The 

 rude artizan is esteemed of higher importance than the erudite Mis- 

 sionary, and blinded by the grossest superstition, engulphed in a sink 

 of bestiality, and wedded to the manners, the customs, and the doctrines 

 which are diametrically opposed to the evidences of the Gospel, it is not 

 until the arts of civilized society shall have been introduced, and the 

 neck of the self-sufficient Abyssinian bent under the superiority of the 



