Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 9, 1910

Editorial

By Editor

Our First French Work. — In the REVIEW of May 1, 1856, was a letter from Augustin C. Bourdeau, pastor of a little French church in Vermont, announcing that he and his wife and his parents had accepted the third angel’s message, through reading the REVIEW. The following February he reported a visit he had made to Canada, to carry the light to his brother, Daniel T. Bourdeau, who was in the French Institute of the Grand Ligne Mission. The ordeal of meeting the learned professors of the institute weighed heavily upon the young convert:—

Satan tried for a while to put snares in my way to prevent me from going to Canada: I was unlearned, and too young (twenty-two years of age) to appear before such learned and mighty men. “But,” said Paul, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” These words of the apostle banished all my fears; and I felt that if God was for me, I had nothing to fear.

DISCUSSING with the leading professor, his brother Daniel was surprised at the professor’s endeavor, first, to show that there was no Sabbath at all, and then to build up a Sunday sabbath from nothing. His final position was, “It is better to cover a truth, rather than to offend.” This line of controversy drove Daniel Bourdeau to take sides with his brother in the argument. Brother A. C. Bourdeau was greatly strengthened by the interview, and his brother was convicted. That night, says the report,—

We prayed till he felt that his sins were forgiven. Then he prayed the Lord to guide him in the truth concerning the Sabbath. We continued in prayer till break of day. Of a truth the Lord was with us in our little prayer-meeting, and that to bless. Praise his ever-blessed name!

A FEW Sabbaths later Brother D. T. Bourdeau wrote to his people that he had fully accepted the light, adding: “I this day retrace my steps. I come within the circumference of the Bible. I enlist in the army of the Almighty.” By December 1857, he was in Battle Creek, studying and preparing to translate. Elder James White printed that month the first call for help to bring out literature in the French language:—

God in his great goodness has brought Brethren Augustin and Daniel Bourdeau to love and obey the present truth, and they most ardently desire to teach it to the French people. Brethren, they need tracts as well as we. It is for you to say whether they shall have them. I wait to hear from you, and shall go forward in this work if I am sustained by my brethren.

In April, 1859, the REVIEW began to advertise a French tract on the Sabbath, and one on the prophecies of Daniel 2 and 7.