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Letter from Orson Hyde to his wife Marinda and subsequently reprinted in Elders' Journal (Nov 1837) pp.19-22 detailing the wider work in Britain 1837.
Elders' Journal (Nov 1837) Orson Hyde p.19
Preston, England, September 14, 1837.
My Dear Marinda [Hyde]:
I have been and procured a large sheet of paper which will give me ample room to redeem the promise I made to you in a few lines which I addressed to you in Brother Kimball's letter to his wife. Through the favor of the Lord, I am in good health and spirits, and so are all the brethren. I read your letter with peculiar interest and have but one fault to find, and that is, there was not quite enough of it. I should like to have heard how the brethren are getting along, but I know you could not think of everything. I never wanted to see you more than I do at this time, but in this I cannot be gratified at present. There are about four thousand and two hundred long miles which separate us, and the mighty ocean rolling between.
Since I came to this place, I have been down by the water side and looked westward over the surface of the deep as far as the eye could extend, fancy painting to my imagination the prospect of catching a glimpse of my native shore through the glass of great desire and intense anxiety, but alas! the greatness of the distance blasted the prospect and the fleet and extended imagination returned within its own native borders. Again I looked as the sun was fast reclining in the western sky, leaving his golden beams in the mirror of waters, and decried a proud and lofty billow bending its course towards the shore as if to say, I have brought tidings from your home, your dear native home. But O! how I was disappointed again on seeing this false messenger sink by its own gravity to rise no more. This much is the result of one view of the seashore.
p.20
I labor in the vineyard night and day and the Lord labors with me. There have been between one and two hundred baptized in this place since we came, and Elder [Heber C.] Kimball is now a laboring about 15 miles from this place where he has raised small church, and I do not know but that it is a large one by this time. The Lord is with him and he can preach so loud and so fast that the Catholics call him a noisy devil. Brother [John] Goodson has this day returned from Bedford and says that he left thirteen baptized into the new covenant there and Brother [Willard] Richards is left with them. Brother Goodson will remain in this place with me for a season. Brother [John] Snider has returned from the borders of Scotland where he and Brother [Isaac] Russel went to labor and Brothers [Joseph] Fielding and [John] Snider left this place yesterday to go out into the country on a mission and will go from house to house. Brother Russel has not baptized any as yet but he will soon I think. Those who have been baptized are mostly manufacturers and some other mechanics. They know how to do but little else than to spin and weave cotton and make cambric, mull and lace, and what they would do in Kirtland or the city "Far West", I cannot say. They are extremely poor, most of them not having a change of clothes decent to be baptized in, but they have open hearts and strong faith. We have taught them nothing about the gathering for they have no means to bring them to America, let alone procuring them a place to live after they get there.
We all pay 2 English shillings per week for our lodging which is nearly 50 cents, and then we buy our own provisions at the market and it is cooked for us. The brethren will frequently divide the last loaf with us and will do all in their power for us. If it had not been for Brother [John] Goodson's books, I know not how we should have lived. They are very kind to us where we are, but their circumstances will not allow them to do much for us without pay. I have frequently seen the tender and delicate females with their old pails or baskets in the streets gathering up fresh horse dung with their naked hands and then go and sell it and get a penny or two's worth of bread for themselves and hungry children. Marinda, how would you like to follow that business? I pray God that such may not be your lot. Tell the brethren if it would be a pleasure to them to see their wives carrying on such or a similar branch of business for a living, to bring them along with them when they come to old England to preach the gospel. Whoever comes here for loaves and fishes will realize their expectations as much as our Kirtland speculators.
If Brother Joseph [Smith Jr.] never advised correctly before, he certainly did when he advised the brethren to leave their women at home. My humble advice is that if they have any compassion on their wives, let them for God's sake and for their wife's sake leave them at home. It is of no use for any to come into this country to preach the gospel unless they are able to defend it like a man of God. For unless they have a pretty powerful gift, they cannot live. Not so at home; if a preacher has but a small gift there, he can get what he wants to eat, etc., because there are none so distressedly poor there and they will keep him overnight free, but this is not the custom in this country. The people expect pay for what they do and in fact, that people who will receive the gospel, are not able to do it without pay. Now if there are any elders or preachers in the Church of Latter-day Saints in America who have faith to brook all these difficulties, let them come to old England. We want them. We must have such men and we say to them, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." We do believe that Kirtland affords some such men, men who are willing to forsake wife and children for Christ's sake and the gospel's, and look forward for their recompense at the resurrection of the just. It would be altogether better for the brethren to see us before they commence their labors in this country, for we can tell them many things respecting the customs of the people and the laws of the land respecting preaching the gospel, that will be of great service to them.
I understand that Brother Pratt has gone east with his wife to spend the winter and meet some other brethren in New York in May next to come to England. But he had better wait and see us in Kirtland before he starts or anyone else, for we can tell him things that will prove to their advantage and to the advantage of the cause if they will do so.
We shall probably sail for New York about the first of March next, at least some of us, if not all, and we hope to be in Kirtland about the first of May next.
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My dear wife, I never wanted to see you more than I do at this time, yet I am glad you are where you are, and that I am where I am. But the time will be when we shall meet again and rejoice before the Lord. I can truly say that I never before preached with that power and spirit that I have since I come to this place. In fact, I am surprised at myself many times. The priests all fear and tremble and Babel's towers begin to fall. The priests talked of putting me in prison for preaching without a license from under this government. I made application to the clerk of the peace for a license, but he informed that I could not obtain one until the court of quarter sessions which would be in October. I thought it would not answer for me to be idle until that time, therefore I continue preaching in houses and in the streets and on the public grounds and in the market places and am liable to be taken and thrust into prison any day when informed against. But the priests dare not really do this for fear of the people, for all men, almost, consider us to be prophets of God. Thus by the power and goodness of God we still continue to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. We are now occupying a large and spacious building in town owned by a general philanthropist, but does not belong to any church. The place will accommodate towards eight hundred people and we have it free of charge. The priests have been to him, telling him that he was encouraging false doctrine by letting us have the house, etc. His reply to them is, "You are at liberty to go and contest the point with them and if you think their doctrine incorrect, go and expose them. You shall have your turn in the use of the house." This shuts their mouths and puts them in rather an awkward position. The people here are quite anxious to build a chapel for themselves by laying aside sixpence a week out of their scanty earnings, but we shall advise them upon this subject to do differently.
We have not said a hard word against the priests since we came here, neither have we spoken against any sect, yet they say all manner of evil against us. The people have discovered this difference between us, and they are most agreeable surprised, and it gives us unbounded influence. We tell them that God has not sent us to judge and condemn another man's servant, but he has sent us to preach the kingdom of God. The short experience that I have had here, causes me to regret that all the elders have not observed the same course. I am quite satisfied that the great and frequent anathemas pronounced by many of our elders upon people who do not believe their testimony are not by the spirit of God. Neither do I think it wisdom to be clubbing the sects always, but let them alone, and preach Jesus Christ.
My dear wife:
I take the liberty to write a few more words across the lines which I hope you will be able to read. I feel that I have given myself wholly to the Lord and to the work of the ministry. I feel that I am far from home and no arm to lean upon but the arm of the Almighty. In him do I put my trust and to him do I look for every blessing that I need. I know that in me there is no goodness, that is, in my flesh, for when I view my past course I am ready to say, O Lord, deliver thy servant from vanity, cleanse his heart from all unholy desires. Let the virtue of thy blood wash him and make him fit for an inheritance with the Saints in light. Let him be sanctified, a vessel of honor to bare glad tidings to those who sit in darkness and call upon poor wandering prodigals to return to their father's house. Give him prosperity in the promulgation of thy words, and let the enemies of the cross be confounded and put to shame before the sublimity and power of his arguments. Let him raise the standard of the cross in every land and nation where he shall go and let the simple and broken hearted flock unto it and rejoice beneath its heavenly banner. Before the light which he shall hold forth, let error, ignorance, and superstition fall like Dagon before the ark of God or flee like the shades of night before the rising glory of the king of day. Let his heart become the storehouse of charity and good will to men and his body the temple of the Holy Ghost. Let his tongue be armed with truth supplied from the rich and flowing fountain of the heart.
O Lord, remember the partner of all my joys and sorrows and when she reads this epistle from her dear and affectionate husband, bless, or bless her with the same love and joy that now inspire my bosom. Let her enjoy health of body and peace of mind. When she is sick, do thou heal her. When she is cast down, do thou raise her up. When she is sorrowful do thou comfort her; when the tear of deep affection steels down her cheeks, do thou cheer her mind with the prospect of once more seeing the object of her earthly hopes and with open arms embracing her nearest and dearest friend. And now, O Lord, have thou respect unto the little babe which thou hast given us. Take it not from us, but let it remain as a source of comfort unto its parents. Give her health and the prosperity and may she grow like thine own plants and let the blessings of heaven rest upon her. Let the babe and her mother be faithfully preserved until thy servant shall return to his home. Let these, the humble petitions of thy servant be answered, for I ask them in the name of Jesus Christ, thy Son, Amen.
Now farewell for a little season Until I come and bring a reason, Why I left my all behind, To go and warn all mankind. p.22
For lo! the time is drawing nigh, When Christ will take us up on high; No more to part, no more to sorrow, The time is nigh 'twill be tomorrow.
I am as ever your affectionate husband,
Orson Hyde.
Marinda Hyde.
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