Report from Bro. D. T. Bourdeau.
By D. T. Bourdeau
I ARRIVED at Bordoville, Vermont, the 4th inst., since which time I have been resting up, exercising with my hands, studying to make a transition in my labors from the English to the French, and laboring with the churches of Enosburgh and Richford. During my absence of two years, a great change has taken place in these churches. Some have died, others have moved away, while a few have embraced the truth. Still greater changes of a different nature may be expected. The signs of the end are too ominous to be doubted. The coming of the Lord is very near. The present efforts for the formation of the image are enough to arouse us, though it is not one twentieth part of the evidence we have. Our time to labor for ourselves and others is short. We should be up and doing. We should emerge out of self, and feel more for perishing souls around us. Though all do not preach, all have a part to act. All can work. Each one should be looking up the lost sheep. Pamphlets can be handed out judiciously, and earnest prayers can be offered for the advancement of the cause. And those upon whom the burden rests of helping with their means, should not be backward. Their opportunities to help will not last long. Their strength is transferred to their property, and unless they awake to earnestness, others shall be raised up to take the crowns they might have worn. They may be tempted to think that the preachers are eager after their means. But what the preachers want is to see them prosper in doing their duty; and no church can prosper while neglecting to give their pecuniary aid to advance the cause. This is why the preachers should be pointed on this duty. But it is a nice thing to touch, and liable to be neglected, and those preachers who have business qualifications and moral courage to help the church financially are likely to be put in the shade by some. Yet this is the very kind of help that is needed by those who prize it the least. And oh! the importance of the churches’ so coming up on all points, that they can be helps to those who embrace the truth, and a source of encouragement to preachers returning from their arduous labors in new fields. Here the churches can gather or scatter. Dear brethren and sisters, let us arouse to the times in which we live, and work while the day lasts; for the dark night of trouble is coming in which no one can work. Bordoville, Vt., May 24, 1870.