VII. DONATIONS IN CLOTHING, &c. Abington, Ms. A box, fr. ladies in 3d. par. Hamp. Chris. Depos. Ms. Sundries, fr. fem. 13 00 12 00 Shelby, N. Y. La. 2.00 14 00 Smithville and North Adams, N. Y. Fem. so. Springfield, Ms. Indiv. by E. Bliss, 12 00 43 00 11 26 Stamford, Ct. J. Davenport, St. Johnsbury, Vt. Mon. con. in 2d cong. chh. and so. Jonesboro, Ten. One barrel flour, fr. W. D. Westmoreland, N. Y. Coli. in Rev. Mr. Crane's cong. for Sandw. Isl. miss. 9; Spencer's settlement, mon.con 3,85; 12 85 East Windsor, N. su. Ct. Mrs. Minerva Bancroft, dec'd, by J. R. Woodbridge, Gardner, Ms. Widow Margaret Green, dec'd, (received previously, 180,61) less 85 paid for expenses, by N. Green, Paris, Ky. Dr. Alexander Bennett, dec'd, by B. Mills, Salem, N. Y. Miss Nancy Beaty, dec'd, by Rev. Dr. Proudfit, IV. PERMANENT FUND. Boston, Ms. Hon. William Phillips, dec'd, received from the Aux. for. miss. so. of Boston and vic. and the income to be applied for the purposes of the society, Committed to the care of A. Thomas, Utica, N. Y. Adams, Smithfield, N. Y. A box. Chenango Point, N. Y. Clothing, 18; mak- Oneida co. N. Y. A box, fr. friends, for do.. Sangersfield, N. Y. Clothing, Trenton Village, N. Y. A bundle, fr. H. House; do. fr. C. Seymour; do. fr. Reed's Utica, N. Y. A bundle, fr. Mrs. J. Barton; Watertown, N. Y. A box, for Mackinaw. 72 71 *70 89 Unknown, A barrel, for D. H. Austin, Har mony. The following articles are respectfully solicited from Manufacturers and others. Printing paper, to be used in publishing portions of the Scriptures, school-books, tracts, &c. at Bombay, and at the Sandwich Islands." Writing paper, writing books, blank books, quills, siates, &c. for all the missions and mission schools: especially for the Sandwich Islands. Shoes of a good quality, of all sizes, for persons of both sexes; principally for the Indian missions. Blankets, coverlets, sheets, &c. Fulled cloth, and domestic cottons of all kinds. broke out in a strain of severe rebuke upon me, for having, as she said, brought upon their family so much EXTRAS FROM THE JOURNAL OF MR. distress and disgrace. I begged them BIRD. Continued from p. 305. In the portion of Mr. Bird's journal, which will be inserted in this number, we shall first bring together the passages relating to the Shidiak family, and afterwards insert those that are of a miscellaneous nature. to be seated, talked with them in all the mildness I could, requested an account of what had happened, and what they were intending to do. They stated that Galeb had been and liberated Asaad in the night, and brought him homeward as far as the district of Kesroan, where the prince Abdalla had found the runaway, and taken him bound to Gzeer; that as soon as this Matters relating to the Shidiak Family.news arrived, the family wrote a pe Nov. 22, 1826. Abbas, a cousin of Phares, came from Hadet to persuade him to return home. He was accompanied by another cousin, the same who was connected with Galeb in the attempt to set Asaad at liberty. The latter gave secret hints to us not to suffer Phares to return, and as he was himself not at all disposed to do so, they went back as they came. The ostensible reason why they wish Phares to come home is, that the petty princes and shekh Mansoor (prime minister of the chief prince,) are threatening to punish the brothers for Phares' sake. The oldest brother, Mansoor, came down with the other two, but waited the result at a neighboring house. tition to the prince, that as this was an affair of religion, he would send the prisoner again to Cannobeen. Galeb had fled, as it was supposed, to a friendly prince in the neighborhood. It is now expected that the princes near Hadet will require, on very severe conditions, that the family seek out and deliver up both Phares and Galeb to be punished. Their object in coming to day is, to see Phares, and endeavor to persuade him to go to the house of Mr. Catafago, son of the Austrian consul of Acre, and wait there in safety till Mr. C. shall write to the emeers, and get him pardoned. They insisted on seeing Phares, but I told them it was impossible; that after what they had done in the case of Asaad, whom they first flattered home, and then took by 23. Tannoos, the brother of Phares, we are told, has actually been to Ebted-violence, we could not but fear they deen, being recommended to notice by prince Milhem, and received positive orders from shekh Mansoor, either to take Phares away from the English, or to take his life. Tannoos has become more fiery than ever of late, and may be seen, as he walks by himself, lifting his hand in a threatening attitude, as if he would say with Voltaire, "Crush the wretch." had other motives than what they declared, and that therefore we could not discover to them the hiding place of Phares, without at least first consulting him; but that, in the mean time, whatever they wished to write to Phares should be safely and immediately sent him. When they found they could not see Phares, they were much chagrined. The mother used rebukes and entreat25. Early this morning we were sur- ies, and looked about the house, saying, prised by a visit from Mansoor Esh"Where have you hid him?" Mansoor Shidiak and his mother. They were laughed in angry derision at being told scarcely seated, when the poor mother we could not believe him. He, how47 VOL. XXIII. ever, collected himself a little, and sat down and wrote the following letter. "To our beloved Phares.-I wish to tell you, that Joseph Canaan informed me, at the house of our uncle Aboo Hassan, that, at the instance of our brother Galeb and our uncle Mrad, Tannoos Hey-kal brought our brother Asaad (from Cannobeen,) and that two men, sent by the emeer Abdalla, came to the house of the father of Tannoos, and took Asaad to the emeer. We went immediately to the emeer Be sheer (the less) with our mother, and begged of him a letter to the emeer Abdalla, that he would not inflict on Asaad any punishment. We afterwards understood that the emeer had sent Asaad to our lord the patriarch. This is what we have heard. Tannoos and Giffal are in Agosta, and Galeb and Mrad have gone to the emeer Shedeed Mrad. "As for you, my brother, let it suffice what Asaad has done. Take good care. Put your understanding in your head, and come back. You are pursuing a course, which will bring trouble on your brother Asaad; for if the patriarch comes to hear of your being at Beyroot, he will treat Asaad with more severity. But if it seem good to you, if you really desire peace, and if you wish well to your brother Asaad, come down a little in your temper, and act with caution. He that would build a house, first counts the cost. Your brother is in prison, and you are going on as you please, and enraging people against him. As yet no one abroad knows of your case. You pretend you are afraid of harm, but have you not before run away just as you have now, and did we not take you home without harm, and leave you to your own way of thinking? We do not reproach you for not confiding in us. It is quite in character with you; for he who rejects the great head of all (the pope,) will never after give up to any body. But if you seek peace, go and stay with Catafago, or if you wish to return home under the good pleasure of the prince and the patriarch, let Mr. C. write to the patriarch to send you a license to stay quietly at home; and as to the emeer Besheer, we have been to him (cousin Abbas and myself) and begged of him that if you returned he would forgive you, and his answer was, that we might be at rest on that subject; for that you were not a thief, or a murderer, but only weak and foolish. Therefore be at rest. Come home without any suspicion or fear whatever. Or if you still stand in doubt, we will send you priest Anthony, or priest Joh with a letter of security from the emeer, and you may come with one of them. This, my brother, is, in my opinion, the best course you can take, and you need not have the least fear in adopting it. But whatever you think best, let us be informed, that we may know how to act. Do not leave us without our seeing you, nor enrage the prince and patriarch against you. Enough of folly. If you wish to conceal that which is past, hearken to us. If you remind us of the case of Asaad, how it fell out with him, you know our agreement with him was, that none should molest him, on condition that he should molest no one, and you know also how he afterwards conducted himself. But your case is entirely different, provided you act according to our wishes. But if you continue to act according to your own plan, you certainly will meet with trouble. If you are for peace and quietness of mind in the way I have suggested, let us know it to-morrow, that we may suffer nothing by delay. Your brother, MANSOOR. "P. S. We are now at the house of Bird, and have examined the books on which you rely so much, and we have not discovered that salvation is to be obtained by forsaking all one's relatives, and ruining all their families without cause. You are therefore convicted of error and folly in regard to the way of salvation. If you wish for salvation, be a peacemaker, and we will say "thank you," and pray the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive the injury you have done us." The mother spent the night at Mr. Goodell's. We read according to custom in the Scriptures, and chose for the occasion those chapters of the Gospels, which speak of the persecutions which must necessarily fall upon believers; how families shall be divided, and brother shall deliver up the brother to death, &c. Some remarks were afterwards made, followed by prayer in Arabic. The poor woman was affected by the subject, expressed her assent to all, and begged our continued prayers. 27. According to promise, the answer of Phares to his mother was ready this morning. I took a copy of it, as it was unsealed, and forwarded the original. It was as follows. "Brother Mansoor.-I cannot return home as you suggest, for a number of reasons. First, because I wish to read the Bible, and live according to it. To do this at home, would in all probability be impossible; for if it had been possible, it would have appeared to be so, first, in regard to my own case, and secondly, in regard to that of our brother Asaad. Secondly, from my own inclination, I am not disposed to return and live at home; for there is no employment for me there, and nothing inviting to attract me there. Thirdly, what was done to our brother Asaad might next be done to me also. I have therefore determined to set myself at a great distance from you, that I may at the same time save you from the disgrace you may feel on ny account, and obtain for myself that peace and quietness of mind, which you seem to wish me. "How can you suggest the idea of my coming home and remaining in quietness and liberty? 'Tis a thing quite impossible; for how could I enjoy liberty, and do as I please, while the word of God must be secreted in my chest, it being my pleasure to make the word of God as public as the sun? You speak of my fearing the prince if I should return, and of my enraging him if I do not. I answer, the main injury is to be expected from yourself. For when I received a blow of the sword, it was not a blow of the prince. I should have returned home before, of my own accord, but when I saw these two things, viz. that the Gospel must be kept secreted at home, and that injury was to be expected there by all who love it, I was afraid. Not that I feared all my friends, but chiefly him who struck me with the sword, who burnt the books, and who delivered up our brother Asaad to prison and to chains. From all that you have done, and from your railing still at me and my heresy, it is plain to the world, that your object is, to rive me from the country. "My dear brother, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Truly the carnal mind is enmity against God. We ought, therefore, to possess, not the mind of Martha, but of Mary, and make it our main object to know and keep the commandments of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and give less heed to men, who are but dust and ashes. Now let me ask, for what reason was I beaten? For what reason was Asaad beaten? Do you beat a person for calling God and not man his Lord? If we have violated the laws of God, or have honored men more than God, or if we have taught any thing not contained in the Gospel, or if we have done injury to any man, then we are open to the condemnation of the law; but if not, if we are really believers in Christ Jesus, then there is to us 'no condemnation." "To conclude, I am going to leave you. I am going to a far distant land, where the word of God is a public book, where freedom is secure, where truth reigns over princes, and not prin ces over truth. I now beseech you not to forget your brother Asaad. When you pray to God, remember me. Think often of those words of the apostle Peter: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.' Your brother, PHARES." 28. Galeb made his appearance this morning with the design of obtaining an interview with Phares. He appeared in a weak, despondent state; was taken sick, as he said, by exposure to rain in executing his projected liberation of his brother, and was confined to his bed when he should have been present to aid Asaad in his escape. Having found his way, with some difficulty, to Beyroot, he was now secreted in the house of a friendly Mussulman. We went together on board the vessel. The interview was rather cold, as it sociations. Galeb has strong remaining prejudices as a Maronite, and Phares is now, in his eyes, an established heretic. But what was worse, Phares (who, though a heretic, was his best friend,) was about to leave him to sustain persecution alone. On our way back, and in the evening, we had much serious conversation, in which Galeb appeared somewhat softened by his troubles, but much inclined to entire infidelity. res. 30. Went on board again to see PhaFound him happy and diligent in searching the Scriptures. He had transcribed a number of passages, which he begged to have explained. Found Galeb waiting at my return, and we renewed our religious discussions. Dec. 2. Went on board and took leave of Phares. Left him calm and happy as usual, in the prospect of leaving the darkness and tyranny of Mount Lebanon. Mansoor Esh Shidiak called upon us in the evening, and conversed for half an hour, with unusual mildness. He said that within four years the state of religion in these mountains had undergone an entire change. 'Before that time, you would hear no one blaspheme, or lie, or any thing of the sort, but every one attended prayers in the church with all regularity, and lived in peace. At present, the case was the reverse, and nobody could deny that the protestants were more correct in their lives, and more near to the requirements of the Gospel, than the Maronites. The Bibles we had brought were all perfectly correct and true, and no objection could be made against them; but the patriarch was afraid that if the people read in these Bibles, threy would become heretics, and so prohibited them. Since the order had been given, there was no other way but to submit. To oppose the will of the patriarch in this thing, would have no other effect than to bring disgrace and perhaps ruin on one's self and family. For example, the family of Shidiak, once rich and honorable, was now in poverty and extreme disgrace.' "My uncle," said he, "has three daughters, and if we had suffered Asaad to go on in his own way, not one of these daughters would ever have been married. I myself was under engagement of marriage, and was to have received, with my wife, 15,000 piastres: now, I am to have nothing, Don't think this country is like a country of liberty, where men may speak the truth. There is no way of getting along here, but by management and lies. Asaad has turned out a heretic, and we report that he is insane; so half our disgrace is avoided. Now Phares has taken it into his head to follow his example, and we shall not report that he is become a protestant, but that, as he went to Acre to accuse the patriarch of injustice, he afterwards ran away through fear of punishment." 6. Galeb came again this evening, and we had a long, and I hope profitable conversation. He expressed much attachment to his two persecuted brothers, although they were heretics. Speaking of his troubles brought on by this late affair, he said the greatest trouble of all is the loss of Phares. When I asked him to do some writing for me during his leisure in his hiding place, he consented. But when I told him that it was the "Statement of Asaad," that I wished him to copy, he refused, saying he should weep the whole time. He said that during his present solitary hours, his thoughts run much on the vanity of the world, and he often listens to the unceasing hum of business around him, and asks, Of what avail is all this?' He often wishes to have no more to do with the world, but when he gets out into company these thoughts vanish. 11. A friendly youth from Hadet says all is profound silence there. Whoever opens his mouth to speak a word of Asaad, or of the protestants, falls under excommunication. Tannoos has found in Phares' chest, a paper containing an account of the whole plan of delivering Asaad. It was, however, taken by the uncle Mrad and torn in pieces, that it might not reach the patriarch, or princes. 15. This evening one of the relatives of Asaad called bringing a letter from the patriarch addressed to a brother of his, and to Tannoos the brother of Asaad. It had not yet been delivered, but as it was not sealed, the young man read it to us, and afterwards gave us a copy. It was as follows: "The apostolic blessing rest upon our respected children, shekh Giffal and shekh Tannoos Esh Shidiak; the Lord bless them, Amen. "We received yours in due time, and rejoiced in the news of your health and prosperity. We are well assured of the diligence you have used in the matter of Phares, and his brother, the wretch Rab-shoon.* With regard to us, perhaps you learned sufficiently, son Tannoos, when you were with us, that we have no other object in view, than that of opposing those wretched persons (the protestants) and to prevent them from scattering abroad their poison. We have indeed laid under excommunication all those who attempt, or assist in, or in any way favor the escape of the miserable Rab-shoon; but as you two were not concerned in the late attempt of this kind, you are of course not affected by the excommunication. Your brother Galeb, when he came hither, brought us a letter in the name of the whole family of Shidiak, and we know not whether it was a true letter, or a forgery. "Since it has not pleasedGod to open the way for the escape of the thrice wretched Rab-shoon, nor for the infusion of his poison, it remains for you to make sure work of his brother Phares, according as you have been ordered.* If you can but accomplish this, you will do away all suspicion, and justify yourselves before God and men. "We need no additional evidence to bring to light the evil that has been done, and was likely to be done, by Rabshoon and his brother Phares. As for you, we wish you nothing but all bodily and spiritual health, and that no molestation whatever may come upon you in this matter. Let this suffice, and the apostolic blessing rest upon you twice and thrice." It appears that these two relatives, Tannoos and G:ffal Esh Shidiak, as soon as they heard of the escape of Asaad, sent a letter to the patriarch to prevent his suspecting them of having been accomplices in the plot. Joseph Michael says, that Mansoor has offered a thousand piastres to any one who will apprehend Phares. Poor man he does not know how safe the lad is from all his persecution. This evening Phares set off from Tyre to Alexandria. Lord of Sheool, or Hell. †They had been ordered, by the Emeer Besheer the less, to kill him. |