heir preaching, he
admired the consistency of the two. He then compared both with the
Scriptures, reading through the entire New Testament. At length day
dawned upon his darkness. He became fully satisfied, that the
Scriptures were from God, and committed himself to their divine
teaching. Renouncing his self-righteousness, and all dependence on
the absolutions of the Church, he trusted for salvation only in the
blood of the Lord Jesus. Having adopted the opinion, that his
monastic vows were unscriptural and therefore void, he married a
discreet woman, who not long after gave good evidence of piety.

Wortabet accompanied the missionaries to Malta, as did also
Dionysius, the other ecclesiastic. This change in their
circumstances was at their own earnest request, but it was a great
change. The author saw them at Malta, and did not wonder at some
dissatisfaction on the part of the younger of the two, which helped
to bring a cloud, for a time, over his Christian character. But his
morals were irreproachable in the view of the world, and on his
return to Syria in 1830, which was mainly in consequence of the
failure of his eyes, the sun shone forth again, and continued to do
so till his death. He went back to Beirut with the intention of
supporting himself by manual labor, but the return of ophthalmia
interrupted his plans, and reduced him to poverty. 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. He was respected by the principal inhabitants of the
place, and his wife was regarded as a model of humility and piety.
Two or three were thought to have received saving impressions from
his conversation. He obtained his support, such as it was, by means
of a small shop, and was rigidly conscientious in his dealings.
Respectable men of all classes came frequently to converse with him
on religious subjects, and so gave him an opportunity to circulate
the Bible, and to recommend its religion to Druses, Armenians,
Papists, and Jews. Even Moslems sometimes listened with attention.

Having been drawn into a written controversy by a zealous Maronite,
Wortabet called in the aid of Taunus el Haddad, not being himself at
home in the Arabic, and with important aid from the written
discussions