f eighteen thousand men. Taken by
surprise, no opposition was made. Both Druzes and Christians were at
once disarmed, and officers were left to collect recruits.

With the dreaded evil thus strongly upon them, there was a more
general disposition to throw off the Druze religion. Applications
came from individuals and from families in different and distant
villages. Among them were some of the higher ranks. One whole family
connection of eighty individuals declared their readiness to pledge
their property as security that they would never apostatize from the
Christian faith; and had it been in the power of the mission to
secure to them the political standing of Christian sects, and had
the brethren been disposed to favor a national conversion, after the
example of the early and middle ages, it is probable that the whole
body of the Jebal Druzes, at least, would have become nominal
Protestants. Of course the missionaries explained to them how
inconsistent with the spirituality of our religion would be such a
mere profession of Christianity. For a few Sabbaths, the Arab
congregation was composed chiefly of Druzes; and Mr. Smith threw
open his doors to them at the time of family prayers, and had the
opportunity of reading and explaining the Gospel to from ten to
fifteen for two months; but without finding evidence, with perhaps a
single exception, of a sincere desire to know the truth.

That exception was in the case of a Druze named Kasim. Mr. Smith saw
him first in October, 1835. Residing in the mountains, Kasim had two
of his sons already baptized by the Maronites, and had openly
professed himself to be no longer a Druze, but a Christian. He had
not himself received baptism, for fear of his relatives, who had
once gone in a body and beaten him. He now removed into the
immediate neighborhood of the missionary, where he hoped for
protection, and he and his family became regular attendants upon
Christian worship. He professed a strong attachment to the Saviour,
as did also his wife, and they both made evident progress in
religious knowledge. Both openly declared themselves Protestants,
and were anxious for baptism. The officer of the Emir Beshir,
finding in his hands a testimonial from Mr. Smith, that he was a
Christian, respected him in this character, while he was seizing all
his Druze neighbors for soldiers; but he had not then been admitted
to the church, for want of sufficient evidence of true conversion.

Kasim wa