Missionary Work
195
upon them, but should rather lighten the burdens of those who, having
so great a respect for the gospel ministry, would put themselves to great
inconvenience to do for them that which they should do for themselves.
The poor health of some of our ministers is because of their neglect of
physical exercise in useful labor.
As the matter has resulted, I was shown that it would have been
better had the Brethren J done what they could in the preparation of
tracts to be circulated among the French. If these works were not
prepared in all their perfection, they might better have been circulated,
that the French people might have had an opportunity to search the
evidences of our faith. There are great risks in delay. The French
should have had books setting forth the reasons of our faith. The
Brethren J were not prepared to do justice to these works, for they
needed to be spiritualized and enlivened themselves or the books
prepared would bear the stamp of their minds. They needed to be
corrected, lest their preaching and writing should be tedious. They
needed to educate themselves to come at once to the point and make
the essential features of our faith stand forth clearly before the people.
The work has been hindered by Satan, and much has been lost because
these works were not prepared when they should have been. These
brethren can do much good if they are fully devoted to the work and if
they will follow the light that God has given them.
[212]