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Report from Iowa

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1866

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 28, No. 13.

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Report from Iowa.

By Albert C. Bourdeau; Daniel T. Bourdeau

BRO. WHITE: From Fairfield, on Monday July 23, we went to Vernon, and held three evening meetings with the church in that place. While we were there we suffered great inconvenience on account of excessive heat; yet we hope that our labors among them were not in vain. The church in Vernon is small, and composed mostly of sisters. May they keep pace with the message in its onward course, that others in seeing their consistency, and godly life, may be led to unite with them to walk in the way of holiness.
July 26 and 27, we traveled from Vernon to Sandyville, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles.
We remained at Sandyville ten days, and held twelve meetings. These meetings commenced and progressed with increasing interest to the close, and resulted in much good to the church. Several of the trials and difficulties which existed among the brethren, and which had a tendency to discourage them, were settled in a satisfactory manner to the parties interested; and as we tried to advocate the principles of unity and love, and to show the relations that brethren and sisters sustain to each other as members of the body of Christ, our hearts were made glad in seeing the church coming up on these points, and manifesting an ardent desire to draw near to God and each other. Four united with the church, and Elder R. W. Reed’s daughter, a young lady, spoke in our meetings for the first time. On first-day, August 5, a funeral discourse was given on the death of Sr. Hodges, who died July 17; and a good impression was left on the church, and on the unbelievers who were present.
While at Sandyville we were deeply impressed with the importance of the following points:
1. In our intercourse with each other as members of the church, we should be tender-hearted, and kind, and respect each other’s feelings; and be imbued with that spirit of love, and satisfaction that led the Saviour to lay down his life for us.
2. If we possess these characteristics, we shall be very careful, and not rash, in laboring with an erring brother or sister. Says Paul, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Gal. vi, 1. It requires spirituality, meekness and wisdom to labor for the erring; and it frequently happens that those who lack these graces feel competent to restore the erring; but they are likely to be distant, rash and unyielding, and often do more harm than good. Let your souls be so filled with pity and the love of God, that you can lay down your lives for the brethren; then approach them carefully, realizing your own weakness, and dependence on the mercy and grace of God, and that it is a nice thing to take the mote out of a brother’s eye. Don’t dab your finger in the eye, lest you put out this tender and delicate organ. But get the heart tender, and the mote will fall of itself in tears of humble gratitude.
3. But while it is our duty to care for, watch over, and labor with, our brethren for their good, we should not be always searching to find out their faults, and take up a labor with them on slight or seeming deviations from right. Wait till the evil is sufficiently developed that the erring and the church can see it, as well as yourself. Do not probe to the quick till you know that there is a sore. Then if you take up a labor, the church will understand the case, and will be united in their labors of love.
4. When a trial comes up in a church the cooler you keep and the choicer you are of your words the better it will be for you, for those in trial, and for the church. All are not competent to decide with regard to intricate matters involving right and wrong; and even those who are prepared to do this, should have their words few and well chosen. They should think much and speak sparingly. It often happens that when all speak freely, and hastily pass judgment when a trial comes up in a church, ten difficulties are manufactured which are worse than the original one.
5. It does not help those who err to hear that their brethren speak about them in a way to unnecessarily lessen the confidence of the church in them. Such a course is productive of many and great evils, and cannot help those who pursue it. Better pity those who have been overcome, and if you are called upon to speak of their faults, do it with a view to help them.
6. It is unwise for any who are especially connected with a trial, to leave the church to which they belong and settle elsewhere to escape the trial. It is through trials that we are to be purified, and you can find no place in this earth where you can escape trials if you are a child of God. And if you run away from one trial before you have learned the lesson you should derive from it, you will have to pass through another trial to learn it. So you gain nothing in fleeing from trials. On the contrary you may lose much, and, perhaps, manufacture trials for others where you go.
7. When a trial is settled, wisdom requires that it be dropped forever. It should not be dug up again lest the same scene be acted over. And remember that a wound that is just healed over is easily aggravated and can be made worse than ever before, without a great effort to probe into it.
On Wednesday, Aug. 8, we came to Knoxville, and in the course of six days we held eight meetings. At first some of the brethren and sisters appeared to be at a distance from us and from each other in their feelings; but as the truth was presented they became interested, and drew near to us and to each other. Especially was our business meeting in this place interesting and profitable to the church. Measures were taken on several points of duty connected with their prosperity, and we left them greatly encouraged to renew their zeal and diligence in the service of God.
At the close of our meetings at Knoxville, we received the sad intelligence of the sudden death of our only sister, who had been endeared to us, not only by the ties of nature, but also by our sweet and uninterrupted religious experience together in the service of the Lord from our childhood days till the time of her death. She had been in the message for ten years, and had not flinched amid the trials that had assailed her. She left a dear companion, and four children to mourn her loss. May God sustain and console them in their bereavement. It would have been consoling to us and our companions, as well as to our aged parents, and other relatives, if we could have been with them at the funeral, at least. But we would not murmur. May God comfort our dear companions, parents, and friends in their affliction. And may we meet our dear sister when the Life-giver shall come.
A. C. & D. T. BOURDEAU.
Fairfield, Iowa, Aug. 17, 1866.