OCR Text |
Show Page 180 the city for the construction of a university, and that he, Brother Pratt, was wanted to take "a leading part in these matters." A prospectus for the university solicited funds through Orson Pratt from 31 the English Saints as of April 1850. Orson's two years in Britain were nearly completed, but he would be back in the fall. In many ways, this mission was his most productive and his most momentous - Mormonism expanded incessantly throughout England, Scotland, and Wales, missionaries pushed into the archaic, fermenting societies of the continent, and for the first time the writings of Orson Pratt began to draw the contempt of the intellectual community and the widespread acceptance of hundreds of the spiritually dispossessed. Clearly Orson's philosophical approach appealed to many - one witness writes: "In your theological tenets I most cordially acquiesce...being conscious of your ability and believing you to be the most efficient person 32 in this country." Orson Pratt was popular with the Saints in England, and when the First Presidency called him home, on April 12, 1850, they wrote: "And if the Saints should mourn his loss, we would say, be comforted and come with him, or follow him as fast as you can...Elder Pratt has done a great and good work in England." 33 |