nd then of
theology and general science in a convent. Occasionally he was
permitted to deliver public lectures. His text-book in the
instruction of the monks, was the theological treatise of St.
Anthony of Padua, translated into Arabic; of which he made an
abridgment, that is still used among the Maronites.

From about the year 1820 to 1824, Asaad was successively in the
employ of the Maronite bishop of Beirut, and of several Arab chiefs.
These frequent changes were apparently not for his advantage.

He next made application in person to his old college instructor,
who had been elevated to the Patriarchal chair. His holiness gave
him a cool reception, and reproached him for having preferred the
service of sheikhs and princes to that of his bishop. Yet so
valuable were his services, that he remained a while with the
Patriarch, copying, illustrating, and arranging certain important
documents of the Patriarchate, and making out from them a convenient
code of church-laws for the Maronite nation, which has since been
adopted for general use. But for some reason Asaad felt himself
unwelcome, and returned home dissatisfied.

At this time the Maronite priesthood began to be alarmed by the
distribution of the Scriptures, and the spread of Protestantism. The
Patriarch issued a proclamation against the missionaries, and they
replied. Asaad set himself to answer their reply. It was in this
connection that his name first became known to the missionaries, to
whom he was reported as a man of talent and high education. The
dignitaries of the church did not see fit to allow his essay to be
published.

In March, 1825, a well-dressed young man, of easy manners and sedate
countenance, came to Beirut and asked to be employed by the mission
as a teacher of Arabic. As soon as he gave his name, he was
recognized as the man who was to have answered their reply to the
Patriarch. He took no pains to conceal his agency in the matter, and
even frankly begged the liberty of examining the original book,
containing one of the most important quotations in the reply by the
mission.

There was then no special need of another teacher; and though his
very gentlemanly appearance and apparent frankness, and his good
sense pleaded in his favor, it was thought prudent to decline his
proposal. Little did those excellent brethren think, as this young
man turned to go away, how soon they would welcome him to their
hearts and homes, and how many thousands