Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 November 1839

Pres.t J Smith Jr

Health and peace be unto you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We are well, and greatly prospered in the Lord, after all our tribulation. The Churches in these parts are prospering greatly and are firm in faith and increasing in numbers continually. the in and Brooklyn now numbers from 150 to 300 members and additions are being made every week. A general was held in this on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week present, were . . Elds , Layne, , Brown, Benidict and present were A[ddison] Everett Br Birge and Bro Van◊◊elver; many of the Church in the region round about, were represented, Several hundred members in all, and mostly increasing— great doors are open for preaching. and crowded houses are the order of the day. I have also received letters from and from , with joyful accounts of the spread of the work of the Lord. You would now find Churches of the Saints in , in , in Brooklyn in in , in , in . On Long-Island and in various other places all around us.

The learned have frequently come forward for debate and have as frequently retired from the field confounded. the people are astonished and have given up that Mormanism as they call it will finally prevail.

Our meetings are now held Three times every Sabbath in Columbian Hall, Grand Street, a few doors East of the Bowery, it is very central and one of the best places in the city, it will hold nearly one thousand people and is well filled with attentive hearers; has a good Hall well fitted up in where stated meetings are held, several every week, and crowded audiences In short the truth is spreading more rapidly than ever before, in every direction, far and near. There is a great call for our Books. I am now reprinting the “Voice of Warning” [p. 77]