Southern France by D. T. Bourdeau

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Aug 30, 1877

Southern France.

By D. T. Bourdeau

INTERESTING accessions have been made to the cause in this city since I reported last. Brother Gabert's two daughters, who are first-class teachers, have been at home on a vacation, and, after close and serious examination at our meetings and in private interviews, have decided to cast their lot with this people. One of these persons has taught seven years in a high school in Southern Switzerland, and the other, a poetess whose productions are highly prized in France and Switzerland, is connected with a high school in Germany, and is a friend of a daughter of the emperor of Germany. No pains will be spared to turn these persons away from the truth; but they seem to have counted the cost. Let us pray for them. They both speak and write French and English, and have a partial knowledge of the German tongue.

The political contest in this country is waxing hotter and hotter. Evidently a crisis is coming, which, we hope, will result in our favor. God's eye is on France, as well as on other countries. There are many honest souls to be saved in France; and God will thwart the purposes of the rulers of the powers of darkness, if he has to humble the nation a second time. Deliverance will come to the honest. The extreme aggressions and injustice of the clericals must be followed by a favorable reaction. The noblest sons of France, her greatest scholars, are Republicans. Such men as Thiers, Victor Hugo, Gambetta, Jules Simon, and a host of others, will not be easily put in the shade. Their influence will be felt in favor of freedom. Who among us can read their able speeches before the dissolution of the House without being impressed with the thought that they are God's chosen agents to open the way for the spread of the truth in France? God bless Jules Simon, the former Minister of the Interior, who was heartlessly and shamefully excluded from his office while pleading for the liberty of the press, to meet our case in connection with that of others.

But in view of the present excitement, and the aggressive measures of the clerical party to gain the ascendancy, depriving the people even of the meager privileges the laws allow in matters of religion, I think it will be proper for me to labor in Switzerland for a season. I have been gradually preparing the minds of our friends on this point. I have made a trip with Brother Gabert in the mountains of Ardèche, away from the influence of the clericals and their emissaries, and have spoken a few times, and scattered tracts.

It was our privilege to receive a profitable visit from Brother Andrews on his way to Italy. I expect to see him again shortly, as he returns to Switzerland.

D. T. BOURDEAU.

Valence, July 31.