with Brown; that is mainly a work of sowing seed & done diligently. At New York there is a small gathering, of which I know little; but there was a very loose neutral gathering, but it was split up by the arrival of an ex-Baptist minister from Detroit, and he who might have done mischief  as a gifted man has shown himself clearly, as at any rate naughtily supporting the denial of the immortality of the soul. He was seeking to be active everywhere by a religious journal. The Lord’s hand has been very marked in this, yet he was a person that interested me, but from all the ramifications of that influence, it is a most merciful circumstance tho’ sorrowful. The result for the half that broke with him & his party I know not. I have sought to put myself in communication with the little handful who gather by means of another at Albany who is alone & faithful there, a (_?_), but who hopes some will gather as he found some from England who had known such things. I strive thus to minister as I can in these many & distant places, & I feel there is a good spirit & desire which comes from the Lord, & a bond which in general unites all. If this continue it will hold up the hands of the scattered ones & make them centers of light, such is my desire & prayer. I have begun, too, a little to suggest brethren here helping the work, they have here and there no doubt a little, but having it more before them as a privilege & duty. It is difficult here as people come out to live. It is not a place of acquired or inherited fortune as in England; however they could do