I advised him to stick to his trade, which would obtain
for him far more respect than preaching. He replied, that "the
word of God must be preached in all countries; that the Apostle
Paul had encountered dangers and difficulties, but, nevertheless,
he preached to, and converted the heathen," &c.
Whenever I have met an exceedingly ignorant missionary, he has
invariably compared himself to the Apostle Paul. In half an hour
I found, that I was conversing with St. Paul in the person of the
blacksmith. Whether this excellent apostle is among the captives
in Abyssinia at the present moment, I do not know; but, if so,
their memory of the Bible will be continally refreshed by
quotations, which fly from the tongue of the smith like sparks
from his anvil. His companion was very ill, and incapable of
moving. I went to see the poor fellow upon several occasions, and
found him suffering from dysentery and diseased liver. These
excellent but misguided people had a first-rate medicine chest,
filled with useful drugs and deadly poisons, that had been
provided for them cheaply, by the agent for their society at
Cairo, who had purchased the stock in trade of a defunct doctor.
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