started business for himself, under the auspices of his father. Shortly after this, in 1830, his father and family emigrated to Upper Canada, leaving him to dispose of some unsold property and settle the affairs of the estate.

In about two years he completed the whole business entrusted to him and followed them. While crossing the British channel the ship he sailed in encountered severe storms, which lasted a number of days. He saw [29] several ships wrecked in that storm, and the captain and officers of his own ship expected hourly that she would go down.

But not so with our young emigrant. The voice of the Spirit was still saying within him, "You must yet go to America and preach the gospel."

"So confident was I of my destiny," he remarks, "that I went on deck at midnight, and amidst the raging elements felt as calm as though I was sitting in a parlor at home. I believed I should reach America and perform my work."

Landing in New York, he remained there and in Brooklyn and Albany a few months before going on to Toronto, Upper Canada, where he was to rejoin his parents.

After his arrival in Toronto he connected himself with the Methodists in that city, and began preaching under the auspices of their church organization.

were members of the Church of England, and he was brought up in the doctrines of that church until he was about fifteen years old. He then joined the Methodists, and was soon after appointed a local preacher, and continued as such until he left England about the year 1828 or 1829. His father's family had left about two years previously and gone to the neighborhood of the city of Toronto, upper Canada. After a short residence in New York, Brooklyn and Albany, he visited his parents in Canada, and took up his residence at Toronto.

The leading men in the Methodist church called a special conference to consider the principles of these heterodox brethren. The meeting was called and presided over by some of the most prominent leaders in the Methodist persuasion [33] in Canada, among whom were the Rev. Mr. Ryarson [Ryerson] and Rev. Mr. Lord, of the British conference. The hearing was not a trial pro forma, but rather a friendly discussion of those principles held by the brethren in question.

The hearing continued through several days; and in the debates the "heterodox" held their own against the learning and talent of the church leaders; and at the conclusion of the investigation expressed themselves as being more fully confirmed in their doctrines since their learned opponents had been unable to refute them by the word of God. The conclusion reached by the conference was thus stated by the president:

Brethren, we esteem you as brethren and gentlemen; we believe you are sincere, but cannot fellowship your doctrine. Wishing, however, to concede all we can, we would say: You may believe your doctrines if you will not teach them; and we will still retain you in fellowship as members, leaders and preachers.

as my house was a home for the Methodist preachers, one of the more prominent of them began to see these things and to preach accordingly, until he was threatened with expulsion, and rather than give up his living he consented to let those things alone, and preach like the rest of them, and he afterwards became a persecutor of the Saints.

The first hour, eight to nine o'clock, was spent in prayer. The Rev. William Lord, appointed President by the British Conference, was welcomed to the chair, and the great service he had rendered during the year was gratefully acknowledged. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson was elected Secretary. In addition to the regular services there was preaching every morning at five o'clock and in the evening at 7.30.

The next year's conference was held in Belleville, toward the eastern end of Lake Ontario, almost due north of Palmyra, New York. It commenced June 8, 1836 (well into Parley P. Pratt's extraordinary success in Toronto).