| 599 October 18, Elder Josiah Ells wrote from Machias, Maine, giving some interesting items concerning the people who belonged to the G. J. Adams colony, who went to Palestine. He states:-
"I have preached three times to the people whom G. J. Adams organized into a congregation, and some of them went with him to Palestine; there are but three remaining in that land, as I learn from some of the party returned; they seem satisfied now that he learned his doctrine in the church organized by the Seer; and I understand they intend to be baptized; the leading men I have not seen, except one, who desired me to call upon him when I returned.-The Saints' Herald, vol. 17, pp. 693, 694.
The same difficulty that was experienced in Utah had also to be met in England. Members of the church, as fast as opportunity offered, would emigrate to the States. No objection could be urged in regard to their going when their circumstances could be improved thereby, yet it left the work from whence they removed without the necessary support, and often resulted in breaking up and disorganizing branches and districts. Thus it appears that little has been accomplished in some of these fields, when in fact the results of progress there are to be found elsewhere. In the following letter, written October 21, 1870, from Birmingham, England, Elder Thomas Taylor mentions this disposition to move to the United States:-
"I believe there are some very good saints in Wales, as I receive some very good letters from some of the brethren, those who, I believe, are trying to do right, and to spread the work of the Lord; but of course it is the same there as in all other places, they are not all saints who bear the name. We have always been troubled some little in that way; but generally speaking, our branch now is in a good position, although small in number yet they are of the right kind. The Lord blesses those who are doing right. The reason of our numbers being small is, that our members keep moving to America as fast as they can get the chance. We have baptized between seventy and eighty into the Birmingham branch. We baptized four lately, and we have
(page 599) |
