t
their own safety in flight. Once they almost succeeded. Asaad
himself, under the pressure of his sufferings, made several attempts
to flee, but not knowing the way, he was easily apprehended, and the
only effect was an aggravation of his misery. A priest gives the
following account of his treatment, after one of these failures. "On
his arrival at the convent, the Patriarch gave immediate orders for
his punishment; and they fell upon him with reproaches, caning him,
and smiting him with their hands; yet as often as they struck him on
one cheek, he turned to them the other. 'This,' said he, 'is a
joyful day to me. My blessed Lord and Master has said, Bless them
that curse you; and if they strike you on the right cheek, turn to
them the other also. This I have been enabled to do; and I am ready
to suffer even more than this for Him who was beaten, and spit upon,
and led as a sheep to the slaughter on our account.' When they heard
this, they fell to beating him anew, saying, 'Have we need of your
preaching, you deceiver? Of what avail are such pretensions as
yours, who are in the broad road to perdition?' He replied, 'He that
believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, hath eternal life.'
'Ah,' said they, 'this is the way you are blinded. Your salvation is
by faith alone in Christ; thus you cast contempt on his mother, and
on his saints. You believe not in the presence of his holy body on
the earth.' And they threw him on the ground, and overwhelmed him
with the multitude of their blows."

For three successive days he was subjected to the bastinado, by
order of the Patriarch. Remaining firm to his belief, he was again
put in chains, the door barred upon him, and his food given him in
short allowance. Compassionate persons interceded, and his condition
was alleviated for a time, but no one was allowed to converse with
him. After some days, aided, it is supposed, by relatives, he again
fled from the convent, but was arrested by soldiers sent out in
search of him by the Emeer Abdallah, and delivered to the Patriarch.
"On his arrival," says a priest who was with him at Canobeen, "he
was loaded with chains, cast into a dark, filthy room, and
bastinadoed every day for eight days, sometimes fainting under the
operation, until he was near death. He was then left in his misery,
his bed a thin flag mat, his covering his common clothes. The door
of his prison was filled up with stones and mortar, and his food was
six thin cakes