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Keeling, of the English Wesleyan Society, and all were on the best terms of Christian fellowship. In December, 1833, Messrs. Temple and Hallock removed to Smyrna, with the printing establishment, and Dionysius Carabet accompanied them as a translator. Wortabet had previously returned to Syria.
Tod, an English merchant, accompanied by Wortabet, obtained an audience with him, and made known the case of Asaad. The Pasha directed the Emir Beshir to furnish ten soldiers to Mr. Tod, with authority to search the convent of Canobeen by force, if necessary. He was received by the Patriarch and priests of the convent with dismay.
The great work of translating the Scriptures into Arabic, was now committed to Mr. Smith; and he was assisted by Butrus el-Bistany and Nasif el-Yasijee. Messrs. Ford and Benton removed to Aleppo, with a view to a permanent station. They were accompanied by Mr. Smith, Butrus, and Wortabet, the latter of whom remained there until his services were required at Hasbeiya. Mr.
Bird visited him in May, 1831, at his residence near Sidon, and found him and his wife destitute indeed of the good things of this life, but contented and cheerful, and Wortabet warning all around him, night and day. Much of his conversation was spiritual, and he was listened to with deference.
John Wortabet, son of the Armenian convert of that name, had been their preacher four years, and ultimately became their pastor. He inherited the abilities of his father, and was an acceptable, courageous, and zealous preacher.1 There were occasional dissensions among his people, but the church gradually increased in compactness, order, and efficiency.
Smith gave them lessons in geography and astronomy, of which they knew almost as little as of English. A school taught by Taunûs el Haddad was converted into a girls' school. A female school was also opened by the ladies of the mission, assisted by the widow of Wortabet, for which a house was erected by the subscriptions of foreign residents.
Among them were Asaad and Phares Shidiak, from the Maronite Church; a lady from the Latin Church; Dionysius, Gregory Wortabet, Jacob, and the wife of Dionysius, of the Armenian Church; the wife of Wortabet and Yooseph Leflufy, of the Greek Catholic Church; and Asaad Jacob and Tannûs el-Haddad, of the Greek Church.
Having been drawn into a written controversy by a zealous Maronite, Wortabet called in the aid of Taunûs el Haddad, not being himself at home in the Arabic, and with important aid from the written discussions of Messrs. King, Bird, Goodell, and the lamented Asaad, he came out with a full exposition of the points at issue between Protestants and the Church of Rome, which attracted much attention.
William W. Eddy and wife joined the mission in 1852, and were designated to Aleppo. The political condition of Hasbeiya and the surrounding region, now became so disordered as often to make it inaccessible to missionaries, or their native assistants. Yet Mr. Wortabet persevered in his labors during all these troubles, and was afterwards ordained pastor of the church.
The Protestants at Hasbeiya, under favor of the Druzes, who then had the upper hand in all political matters, and under the successful pastorate of Mr. Wortabet, now built a neat, substantial church, forty-five feet by thirty-five, with a basement for schools and prayer meetings. Mr. and Mrs. Foot left the mission in the autumn of 1854, on account of her illness, but too late to save her life.
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