Four Weeks in New England.
By Geo. L. Butler
HAVING some business matters connected with the cause to call me to the East this spring, I concluded to hold a few meetings and spend a short time there, hoping it might be for the good of the cause. My first meeting was in Bordoville, Vt., April 4 and 5. There was not as large an attendance as I hoped to see. But perhaps the people were partially excusable on account of the bad going. Our meeting was one of labor; the preaching was plain and close, designed to show all what characters we must possess in order to pass the grand review of the Judgment. It was not expected to result in great present joy and rejoicing; still we trust good will result in the end. Many thought the preaching was just what was needed. I had never before been at Bordoville. The large church there have a work to do to share largely in the blessing of God. They need arousing and inspiring. April 11 and 12, I spent in Bolton, as it was thought advisable by the leading brethren in Vermont. Here a small church was raised up a few years since. They have had but little labor, and I found them in a rather discouraged state. We had very bad weather and bad going, and but few were there. But I think good was done, and several expressed themselves as much encouraged to go on and strive for higher attainments in the Christian life. These were all the meetings I could well hold in Vermont at that time. I felt very much impressed that the brethren in this State need help and encouragement, and rousing up to feel the greater importance of eternal things. I fear worldliness and a settling down into an easy state of indifference are characteristic of too many. There is good material in Vermont, and brethren there of experience. But in order that the work should prosper, there must be an arousing among the people. I had the privilege of spending some days, in company with my aged father who went East with me, at Waterbury, the place of my birth, in the society of old friends and relatives. These, though not believing with us, treated us very cordially and made our stay pleasant. My meeting at Norridgewock, Me., April 18 and 19, was quite a pleasant one to me. The spring is cold and backward, and the going could hardly have been worse; yet the brethren took considerable pains to come out. We should doubtless have had a large meeting had the going been favorable. Bro. Goodrich was present and preached once. He has been laboring at Somerset Mills, where some ten or a dozen have come out strong in the truth. Half a dozen came from there over the terrible going to our meeting, with whom I formed a very pleasant acquaintance. They seemed to be substantial, reliable people, and love the truth. This was my first visit to Norridgewock. I felt much attached to the friends in Maine, and there seemed to me to be a more encouraging state of feeling here than in Vermont. Bro. Goodrich reports many openings for labor—far more than he can fill. Truly the harvest is great and the laborers few. Our social meeting Sunday morning was an encouraging one. I enjoyed it much. If Maine could have the laborers she needs to take hold with Bro. Goodrich, who is trying to do all he can, I think there would be a good forward movement in that State. The lack of labor is badly felt. My meeting at Boston, Mass., April 25 and 26, was quite a large one. On the Sabbath their hall was nearly filled. The brethren and sisters came from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Portland, Me., New York city, and various parts of Massachusetts, and I understood it was the largest attendance of our people ever at one meeting in the city. I was encouraged by this. And there seemed to be a mind to take right hold to work. The public sentiment of the friends of the cause in the New England Conference seemed to me to be healthy. They want to do all they can. On Sunday, our meeting was much smaller than the day previous, on account of a most unpleasant storm. It rained and snowed till the streets were filled with slush. It could hardly be more unpleasant. The lack of laborers in the cause afflicts the New England Conference the same as the others I have mentioned. Were it not for this, I see no reason why the cause might not move on here. The brethren and sisters are trying hard to make up this lack as far as they can by the distribution of reading matter; but the lack can only be partially filled in this manner. Where are the men to fill this crying want? My visit, on the whole, has been a matter of satisfaction to me, and I trust of good to the cause. Battle Creek, Mich., May 1, 1874.