y the shekh
Besir, a mere complimentary letter of Asaad's to one of the disaffected
party, being intercepted, and shown to the emir Beshir, his suspicion
was excited, and he wrote immediately to the patriarch, in whose employ
he then was, to dismiss him from his service. The letter of Asaad was
produced, and though it was seen to contain nothing exceptionable, the
patriarch thought proper to dismiss him without ceremony.

_Connexion with Mr. King._

The dispensations of Providence often seem afflictive when they happen,
and most kind and benevolent afterwards, when their design is perceived.
So it was in the case of Asaad. Being thus cast out upon the world, by
those who ought to have befriended him, he applied to Mr. King for
employment as his instructer in Syriac, and was accepted. Though a young
man, Mr. King pronounced him to be one of the most intelligent natives
of the country, whom he had met with on Mount Lebanon. From morning
until night, for several weeks, they were together, and hours were spent
by them, almost every day, in discussing religious subjects, and upon a
mind so candid, so shrewd, so powerful in its conceptions, and so
comprehensive in its surveys, as that of Asaad, an impression favorable
to protestant christianity could not but be made.

Having completed his engagements with Mr. King, he, at the
recommendation of Mr. Fisk, set up a school in Beyroot, for teaching
Arabic grammatically, but soon found himself obliged to relinquish it,
at the command of his patriarch. He was also forbidden, as is stated by
Mr. Bird, to give any further instruction to the _Bible-men_, as the
missionaries are called, because the patriarch "had received fresh
instructions from Rome to _persecute_ these men _by every means in his
power_, so long as one of them should remain in the country."

When Mr. King was about to leave Syria, he wrote the farewell letter to
his friends in that country. The letter was designed, by the writer, to
show the reasons which prevented his becoming a member of the Roman
catholic church. This letter Asaad attempted to answer but his answer,
so far from being satisfactory to himself, was the occasion of raising
strong doubts in his mind, as to the general correctness of the Romish
faith.

_Connexion with Mr. Bird._

Under the influence of these doubts, which seem to have distressed him
greatly, he entered the service of Mr. Bird as his instructer in Arabic.
His doubts continued to