Dear brother F.D. Richards,
It has been truly said, that the instinct which prompts men to cleave to the
land of their nativity, is one of the strongest of our common nature. This feeling is inherent to every Welshman;
the mountains and vallies (sic), towns and villages, of his native land,
enchanted as it were by the various romantic elegies of the Welsh Bards, cause
his heart to cleave to the home of this fathers, shuddering at the thought of
having his death bed surrounded by strangers, and his grave in a foreign land.
The love of country has given
birth to the loftiest deed of patriotism the finest outbursts of poetry the
most patient endurance of hardship and suffering, throughout the length and
breadth of Wales. The finest
climates, the brightest skies, and the most fertile plains, in other parts of
the world, have no charms for the Welshman; his language being, "Dim I mi y'w
pob diddanwch, maes o wlad fy nghenedigaeth, (no pleasure for me, out of my
native land.)
Knowing this to be the common
feeling of my countrymen, at the same time finding hundreds lately leaving
their country, (Abraham like) friends and relations, knowing but one language,
sacrificing property and all that is dear, to commence a journey of some eight
thousand miles ! described by their enemies as the valley of the shadow of
death; and the place they are going to as the region where death reigns through
famine, pestilence, and common destruction; yet, I find those Latter-day Welsh
Saints (and I suppose the English are much the same) going forth bold as lions,
in flocks, harmless as doves, happy as angels, singing Zion's songs, with their
hearts filled with joy and gladness, having the same feeling as the Poet, who
says:
"The Upper California, oh! that's the land for me; It lays between the
mountains, and great Pacific Sea;
The Saints can be supported
there, and taste the
sweets of liberty; In Upper California, Oh! that's the land for
me," &c.
The songs and feelings of the
sixty Welsh Saints that left their native shore, a few days ago, to accompany
Brother O. Pratt, with his three hundred English Saints, were the same as those
of the scores and hundreds of their brethren who have gone before, proving that
a stronger passion than the instinctive reluctance to leave home was planted in
their bosom yes, stronger than death itself; for I have heard many
testifying, that they would rather die with their faces Zionward, than remain
in the confusion of Babylon, lest they should partake of her sins, and receive
her plagues, for despising and disobeying God's counsel, "Come out of her my
people."
Zion on the sides of the North, the city of the Great
King, her beauty, order, strength, glory and prosperity, with the great
gathering thereto, of the pure in heart, with songs of everlasting joy, are the
subjects of their praises, and the theme of their conversation. They go forth regardless of the taunts of the
self-righteous religionists who surround them, that have the sneering, mocking
spirit of the antediluvians, crying "peace, security, where is the promise
of his coming we need no refuge the horizon appears well good today
but better tomorrow be damned ye Latter-day Saints that trouble the peace of
the world." But, I find the thousands of
Saints in Wales, with the spirit of Noah, warning all to fly from the wrath to
come; preparing to gather themselves up with their families, to go forth after
their brethren to the hiding place, geographically described by the inspired
prophets of the Lord, so minutely, that he who runneth may read, understand,
and know.
Wales, my dear sir, on one
hand, is full of religious societies; the congregations of the various parties
are numerous in all the towns and villages; their ministers, and local
preachers, have power with the multitudes; and out of those various
congregations men arise, speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them;
lovers of their own selves, coveteous, boasters, proud, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, highminded, lovers of
pleasure, having a form of godliness, denying the powerr thereof; ever
learning, never able to come to a knowledge of the truth; waxing worse and
worse, deceiving and being deceived. They
will not endure the sound doctrine of the gospel of the kingdom, containing
apostles, prophets, &c., "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Faith in immediate
revelation, and the super-natural agency of the Spirit of God. Repentance, baptism for the remission of
sins, the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, with signs
following believers, with the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, working of
miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers (sic) kinds of tongues, and
the interpretations of tongues, dreams, visions, ministry of angels,
&c. The Gospel in the fulness (sic)
of its blessings they deny, and they will have others not to believe in such a
gospel; but after their own lusts they heap up to themselves as teachers,
having itching ears, turning away their ears to fables. The Apostle Jude has truly said, "these are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own
lusts, and their mouths speaking great swelling words, having men's persons in
admiration because of advantage." Such
is the sad picture that now unveils itself to thousands connected with the
various denominations of Wales, speaking with convincing power, in language that
cannot be mistaken. And thanks be to
God, the multitude begin to see the above description, given in the oracles of
truth of the false prophets and teachers of the last days, as applicable to
those who deny the necessity of apostles, prophets, &c., for the perfection
of the Saints; who have also changed the ordinances, and preach contrary to the
promise of the Saviour, that signs shall follow believers, so that here are
thousands halting between two opinions; and the light of truth and
intelligence, is slowly, but surely breaking the spell. For truth is mighty, and will prevail. On the other hand, I find the various
branches of the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales, in love, peace,
and harmony; increasing in grace, wisdom, and intelligence. From their beloved president, Mr. William
Phillips, down to the youngest members, there is but one mind, one faith, one spirit. The unity
of faith that prevails is truly astonishing, when we consider that the church
is made up of members, who before they were joined in body, had as many
conflicting doctrines, with the various denominations they belonged to, ebbing
and flowing in their brains, as they are waves between the ebbing and flowing
of the sea. If I am allowed to trace the
cause of this union, this oneness of spirit, I find it embodied in that important
principle, "God has set in his church first apostles;" a principle that the
spirit of the world will not receive, and the denial of this truth is the very
fortress in which the powers of darkness for the present stand. In the midst of the thousands of Saints in
Wales, scattered here and there, not only in the towns and villages, but in the
solitary vallies (sic) where there may not be more than one or two families,
living by watching their sheep on the sides of the surrounding craggy
mountains; I can scarcely find one who will not testify that they have been
edified, consoled, comforted, made strong in spirit, in the unity of the faith,
filled with wisdom and intelligence, in a word, clothed in salvation through
the ministry of the apostles of the church of Christ now, in the same manner as
the saints through the ministry of apostles formerly were made perfect for the
work of the ministry, to the edifying of the body of Christ. It is true, there are thousands of my
brethren who have not seen one of the brothers, exalted by God into the office
of apostleship; yet they know, through various testimonies, of their existence
in the church; in truth, they know that the church could not exist without the
Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the different officers of
the kingdom. The light of truth and
intelligence, sent forth by the apostles, in epistles, treatises, and lectures,
are read in the Welsh language by the brethren, often by the midnight lamp, after their return from their toilsome, perhaps
sixteen hours, labour. From the moment
they read, the effect can be seen in the edification they have received, by the
consecration they make, in dedicating body and spirit to God's service; causing
their indefatigable exertions, in rolling forth the light of truth through the
empire of darkness, to shine forth before men, until they have become a bye
word and a proverb, "mawr a rhyfedd ydyw zeal y saint," (great and wonderful is
the zeal of the Saints.)
The distribution of the truth
connected with the salvation of the present dispensation, through the medium of
thousands of tracts in English and Welsh, will soon bring a harvest of Cambria's brave sons and daughters into Emmanuel's kingdom,
that will cause the heavens to rejoice, the votaries of darkness to
groan, and the gates of hell to tremble.
Has not brother
Kelsey's courage, with the faithful band in London, caused the church universally to rejoice" The blow he is going to give the kingdom of
darkness, in sending forth nearly thirty thousand messengers, each having the
sacred sword of the spirit of truth, carrying the savour of life unto life, or
of death unto death, wheresoever they go.
These blessed messengers enter into the closets of rich and poor; they
wrestle in the conviction and conversion of thousands, in a "still small voice"
that cleave to be honest in heart, with an undissolvable (sic) attraction.
I was too bashful myself,
when a member of the Baptist denomination, to attend publicly to the ministry
of the officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But a poor widow, supported with her family
by the poor fare of the parish, found means to get a tract, which she gave me;
which, like the little captive maid in Isreal, in the house of Naaman the
leper, convinced me of the poverty of my religion, the power of God unto
salvation revealed in connection with all who obeyed the ordinances of the
gospel that brought life and immortality into light. So to Jordan, or rather to a river, I went
with an officer duly called and authorized by God to administer the ordinance
of baptism for the remission of sin, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit which I
received through the laying on of hands, which spirit testified with my spirit,
that I was an adopted child into God's family, that my sins were forgiven, that
the person that officiated was a servant of God, and that the church I was in,
was no other than the House of God, and the very gates of heaven. Through the goodness of God, I soon brought
my family into the church to rejoice with me, and some scores besides, who have
brought their families and others to rejoice in the common salvation of
all. So I rejoice in seeing the little
stone tolling forth in my native land through the medium of tracts, &c.,
increasing in strength, velocity, and stature, crushing the image (false
religion) into dust, and becoming already a great mountain, and will soon fill
the whole earth with the glory of God's power and goodness.
Verily, greatly blessed will
that brother, sister, or family be, that will contribute their mite to get the
gospel preached through the medium of tracts, &c., to the poor, bringing
into their possession the true riches of eternity. "He that converteth a sinner from the error
of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."
Wm. Howell.
Liverpool, Feb. 15th, 1851.
