for he said he was in haste, and bade us a most polite good morning. He
was what I should call an Adullamite.
A Greek priest in the village of Barbara once took me aside, to a
retired place behind his house, and told me that he had a profound
secret to tell me. He wished to become a Protestant and make the whole
village Protestant, but on one condition, that I would get him a hat, a
coat, and pantaloons, put a flag-staff on his house, and have him
appointed American Consul. I told him the matter of the hat, coat and
pantaloons he could attend to at but slight expense, but I had no right
to make Consuls and erect flagstaffs. Then he said he could not become
Protestant.
In 1866, a man named Yusef Keram rebelled against the Government of
Lebanon and was captured and exiled. The day he was brought into Beirut,
a tall rough looking mountaineer called at my house. He was armed with a
musket and sword, besides pistols and dirks. After taking a seat, he
said, "I wish to become Angliz and American." "What for," said I. "Only
that I would be honored with the honorable religion." "Do you know
anything about it?" "Of course not. How should I know?" "Don't you know
better than to follow a religion you know nothing about?" "But I can
learn." "How do you know but what we worship the devil?" "No matter.
Whatever you worship, I will worship." I then asked him what he came
for. He said he was in the rebel army, was captured, escaped and fought
again, and now feared he should be shot, so he wanted to become Angliz
and American. I told him he need have no fear, as the Pasha had granted
pardon to all. "Is that so?" "Yes, it is." On hearing this he said he
had business to look after, and bade me good evening.
But you will be tired of hearing about the Adullamites. If those who
came to David were like the discontented and debtors who come to us, he
must have been tired too. So many suspicious characters come to us, that
we frequently ask men, when they come professing great zeal for the
gospel, whether they have killed anybody, or stolen, or quarrelled with
any one? And it is not always easy to find out the truth. If fifty men
turn Protestants in a village, perhaps five or ten will stand firm, and
the rest go back, and frequently all go back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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