A Voyage to Abyssinia | Page 5

paid by the Portuguese to their
countrymen, by the Jesuits to their society, and by the Papists to their
church, nor aggravates the vices of the Abyssins; but if the reader will
not be satisfied with a Popish account of a Popish mission, he may have
recourse to the history of the church of Abyssinia, written by Dr.
Geddes, in which he will find the actions and sufferings of the
missionaries placed in a different light, though the same in which Mr.
Le Grand, with all his zeal for the Roman church, appears to have seen
them.
This learned dissertator, however valuable for his industry and
erudition, is yet more to be esteemed for having dared so freely in the
midst of France to declare his disapprobation of the Patriarch Oviedo's
sanguinary zeal, who was continually importuning the Portuguese to
beat up their drums for missionaries, who might preach the gospel with
swords in their hands, and propagate by desolation and slaughter the
true worship of the God of Peace.
It is not easy to forbear reflecting with how little reason these men
profess themselves the followers of Jesus, who left this great
characteristic to His disciples, that they should be known by loving one
another, by universal and unbounded charity and benevolence.
Let us suppose an inhabitant of some remote and superior region, yet
unskilled in the ways of men, having read and considered the precepts
of the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, to come down in search
of the true church: if he would not inquire after it among the cruel, the
insolent, and the oppressive; among those who are continually grasping
at dominion over souls as well as bodies; among those who are
employed in procuring to themselves impunity for the most enormous
villainies, and studying methods of destroying their fellow-creatures,
not for their crimes but their errors; if he would not expect to meet
benevolence, engage in massacres, or to find mercy in a court of
inquisition, he would not look for the true church in the Church of
Rome.
Mr. Le Grand has given in one dissertation an example of great
moderation, in deviating from the temper of his religion, but in the
others has left proofs that learning and honesty are often too weak to

oppose prejudice. He has made no scruple of preferring the testimony
of Father du Bernat to the writings of all the Portuguese Jesuits, to
whom he allows great zeal, but little learning, without giving any other
reason than that his favourite was a Frenchman. This is writing only to
Frenchmen and to Papists: a Protestant would be desirous to know why
he must imagine that Father du Bernat had a cooler head or more
knowledge; and why one man whose account is singular is not more
likely to be mistaken than many agreeing in the same account.
If the Portuguese were biassed by any particular views, another bias
equally powerful may have deflected the Frenchman from the truth, for
they evidently write with contrary designs: the Portuguese, to make
their mission seem more necessary, endeavoured to place in the
strongest light the differences between the Abyssinian and Roman
Church; but the great Ludolfus, laying hold on the advantage, reduced
these later writers to prove their conformity.
Upon the whole, the controversy seems of no great importance to those
who believe the Holy Scriptures sufficient to teach the way of salvation,
but of whatever moment it may be thought, there are not proofs
sufficient to decide it.
His discourses on indifferent subjects will divert as well as instruct, and
if either in these, or in the relation of Father Lobo, any argument shall
appear unconvincing, or description obscure, they are defects incident
to all mankind, which, however, are not too rashly to be imputed to the
authors, being sometimes, perhaps, more justly chargeable on the
translator.
In this translation, if it may be so called, great liberties have been taken,
which, whether justifiable or not, shall be fairly confessed; and let the
judicious part of mankind pardon or condemn them.
In the first part the greatest freedom has been used in reducing the
narration into a narrow compass, so that it is by no means a translation
but an epitome, in which, whether everything either useful or
entertaining be comprised, the compiler is least qualified to determine.
In the account of Abyssinia, and the continuation, the authors have
been followed with more exactness, and as few passages appeared
either insignificant or tedious, few have been either shortened or
omitted.
The dissertations are the only part in which an exact translation has

been attempted, and even in those abstracts are sometimes given
instead of literal quotations, particularly in the first; and sometimes
other parts have been contracted.
Several memorials and letters,