ings.
"And now," said he, "if, as you say, you intend never to hold any more
conversation with me on the subject of religion, I have one request to
make of you, and that is, that you will go, and make the subject of
religion a matter of serious prayer and inquiry, and see where the path
of life is; I then leave you with your conscience and with God."

After relating the substance of this conversation to us, Asaad remarked,
that these people reminded him of the late patriarch such an one, who
had a moderate share of understanding, but was ambitious to appear very
well. This patriarch had a bishop who was really an acute and learned
man, and whose opinions were always received with the greatest deference
on all matters relative to religion. The bishop being on a visit one day
at the patriarch's, the latter called him to his presence, and proposed
to him the interpretation of a passage of scripture. The bishop gave the
explanation according to the best of his judgment. "No," said his
holiness, "that is not the meaning of the passage;" and proposed to have
a second. When the bishop had again given his opinions and reasons, the
patriarch answered as before, "That is not the meaning of the passage."
In a third and fourth case, the bishop was equally unfortunate, all his
arguments being swept away by the single sage remark of his holiness,
"That is not the meaning of the passage." At last the bishop, in a fit
of discouragement, said, "Your holiness has put me upon the solution of
a number of questions, in all which, it seems, I have been _wrong_. I
would now thank your holiness to tell me what is _right_." The patriarch
being startled at the new ground he was on, changed the conversation.
"So," said Asaad, "these people can all tell me I am mistaken; but when
I ask them what is _right_, they are silent."

Asaad has often remarked, that he is full of anxiety, and finds no rest
for the sole of his foot. In many things he sees the Romish church to be
wrong, and in some things he thinks _we_ are so. Our apparent
tranquility of mind, as to our religious views, is a matter of surprise
to him. This evening he conversed on the subject with more than usual
feeling. "I seem," said he, "to be alone among men. There is nobody like
me, and I please nobody. I am not quite in harmony with the English in
my views, and therefore do not please _you_. My own countrymen are in so
much error, I cannot please _them_. _God_ I have no reason to think