Having promised in our last
number, something on the rise and progress of the church of
Christ, we commence with the intention of giving a relation of a few facts, as they have occurred
since the church was organized in eighteen hundred and thirty. We shall be brief in this article, as
we design to give from time to time the progress of this church, for the benefit of inquirers as well
as the satisfaction of those who believe.
Soon after the book of
Mormon cam forth, containing the fulness of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the church was organized on the sixth of April, in Manchester; soon after, a branch was
established in Fayette, and the June following, another in Colesville, New York.
We shall not give, at this time,
the particulars attending the organization of these branches
of the church; neither shall we publish in this, the account of the persecution of those who were
then called and authorized to preach the everlasting gospel. Twenty more were added to the
church in Manchester and Fayette, in the month of April; and on the 28th of June, thirteen were
baptized in Colesville: and of these we can say as Paul said of the five hundred who saw the
Savior after he had risen from the dead: The greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep. In October, (1830) the number of disciples had increased to between seventy and
eighty, when four of the elders started for the west, and founded a branch of the church at
Kirtland, Ohio, around which many have since arisen.
These first four, having added
one to their number, proceeded to the west, after having
baptized one hundred and thirty disciples in less than four weeks and ordained four of them elders,
and finally stopped in the western bounds of the state of Missouri, having been preserved by the
hand of the Lord, and directed by his Spirit.