protestant influence in this or other countries. Happily, since the year
1820, no fresh complaints have issued from the south of France on the
score of religion.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ASAAD SHIDIAK.

NARRATIVE OF THE CONVERSION, IMPRISONMENT, AND SUFFERINGS OF ASAAD
SHIDIAK, A NATIVE OF PALESTINE, WHO HAS BEEN CONFINED FOR SEVERAL YEARS
IN THE CONVENT OF MT. LEBANON.

The following narrative illustrates two points. 1st. The usefulness of
Christian Missions. 2d. The unchanging persecuting spirit of the papal
church. The subject of the following narrative has now been in
confinement about five years; during which time he has suffered almost
every indignity and vexation which the malice of his enemies could
impose upon him. Up to the present time, however, he has remained
steadfast in his adherence to the principles of the gospel. We give the
narrative of his trials and sufferings in the simple and affecting
language of the missionaries, which excited such powerful interest in
the bosoms of Christians, at the time of its first publication. The
principal facts are taken from the Missionary Herald published by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

_Biographical Notices of Asaad Shidiak._

The following account of the remarkable convert from the Maronite Roman
Catholic church, whose name has, of late, appeared frequently on the
pages of the Missionary Herald, is compiled chiefly from the journal of
Mr. Bird, American Missionary in Syria. The other matter which is
inserted, is derived from authentic sources, and is designed to
connect, or to illustrate the extracts from the journal, or to render
the biography more complete and satisfactory.

_His early History._

Asaad Shidiak was born in the district north of Beyroot, called Kesruan,
where, and at Hadet, a small village five miles south-east of Beyroot,
his family have ever since lived. This family now consists of the
widowed mother, five sons, (of whom Asaad is the third) and two or three
daughters. At about the age of 16, he entered the college of Ain Warka,
and spent a year and a half in studying grammar, (Arabic and Syriac,)
logic and theology. After this he passed two years teaching theology to
the monks of a convent near Hadet.

He has also been some considerable time scribe to the bishop of Beyroot,
and to the patriarch, the latter of whom was a teacher in the college
when Asaad was a student. During the late rebellion, headed b