Hill farm, Frooms Hill Ledbury. Herefordshire,
Elder W. Richards
Dear Brother. May grace, preace, strength, faith & victory, rest upon you & Sister Richards
from God our father & our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear Brother ^it^ is amid peculiar feelings that I take up
my pen to address you this morning. I have so many things in my mind at this time that
I wish to communicat & so little time & room to do it in that I hardly know whare to
begin or how to End. I feel that there never was a store House ten story high filled from top
to bottom with Merchantdize that cant have more of a variety in it than I have in my mind
at this time. & I hardly know how to go to work to give you a description of my situation
but I will try to do it by parible. figure, similee or sumthing or other. I am far from
feeling vain vane or like trifling lent I take the Liberty of making expressions to you that I
would not to the world, that you may ketch my view of the situation of things here. In the first
place permit me to say that I never before witnessed such a scenery as I am Experiencing here
neither did I every expect to in my generatoion. The Lord of Hosts is with me in power & sone
some of the time the Devil to. I have had some mighty Battles with the devil sword in hand since
I have been here & God has enabled me to give him a deadly wound & routed him out
of his camp & he has fled from me wounded & roaring like a Lion [&] I can hear
the sound of his roar about 10 miles off & I expect him to return for an other Battle
by & by for you are aware thant an Enemies camp cannot be brock up without some
noise & so you can form sumthing of an Idea of it from the following description.
I have been here 21 days preached 20 times & Baptized Mr Thomas Kington the superintendant of the
preachers of the United Brethren, a branch of or broke off from the Methodist Church & with Mr Kington I Baptzed
23 preachers of the same Order that was under his superintendance & also I Baptzed 46 of the members
of the same church making 70 in all, this scenery has committed into my hands & charge
& my controll mostly 45 esstablished places of preaching most of which are licensed according to
Law, & also 48 Preachers 24 of which I have already Baptzed & most of the rest are ready as soon
as they can have an opportunity. as I said before I say a gain their will be a mighty harvest
here for all the churches which these preachers are over are ready to receve the word. should I judge
from outward appearances I should think their would spedily be 500 Baptzed in this region &
probably more still I dont wish to count chickens before they are hatched. I am now Baptzing
about 10 daiy daily day before yesterday 12 & yesterday 9 sone days I have to go in the water 3
time a day. I Baptzed 6 preachers yesterday & I have a number to Baptze to day. yesterday 3
preachers came in a charriot or Gig to visit me they never had herd me preach at all. I had on wet
cloths & going to the pool to Baptze. I testified of Jesus Christ unto them the power of God rested upon
us & they kneeled down & wept & prayed, & their Gig stood still & they all went down into the pool
the same hour & I Baptzed them & they went their way rejoiceing & praising God. Mr Kington is an
humble man I have Ordained him an Elder & I ordained two priest their will be many worth[y]
labourers raised up in this country. you see by this time Brother Richards I am not Idle but
have much to do & need much wisdom from God to do it well, for it is the strongest
fishing ever I have done & I domt expect any thing els but while gathering the Salmon I shall get
among them some ells & snakes for their has already been sone after they would were Baptzed that would
pitch & Bound like a porpose or jump & roll like a hen with their head cut off manifesting ev[er]y kind of
spirit but that of order & if ever an Elder had any triming to do I expect to have my share of it
by & by for in doing such a rapid work as this I have to become all things to all men for I
cannot get time to do much triming as yet. in fact some have before I was aware of it
bounded into the water to me stark naked excecpting a loose cloth around their legs but I put a
stop to all disorder as fast as possible. & again I am Having a mighty struggle against this [Methodist]
power of falling down like a dead man stiff as a stake which is in some of the preachers as well
as the people. I have to handle all these things in wisdom. among the number that I have &
are Baptzing are some large farmers having 3 or 400 acres of land I have Baptzed sone constables
as well as preachers. there is a Merchent in Hanly that we Baptzed that trade is so bad that he is wind
ing up business & wants to go to Zion with the Saints. I have Baptzed most of his relatives
here several Brothers & Sisters here he has come down to visit them he has said sumthing to
them about it. & they all want to [trans] up business here & move with the Saints in
the U.S.A. & in fact most all the Saints are getting the same spirit here without my
preaching it. I do wish the Twelve would spedily come to England that we might hold a council
somewhare about these & many other things. when you next write to me say a word to me
what your mind is about this. the farmers here feel like this that bad times are coming & the
sooner they can turn their property in to gold the better & in fact with the view I have of the
times I cannot advise them as yet to the contrarary. you begin to see Brother Richards that I must
have much to occupy my mind at preasent considering what I have to do. & in addition to
this I have just recceved a Litter from Elder cCordon at Burslem. Stating that Elder Turley is
taken with a States warrent & put into Stofford Gail, it was done by a man in Birmingham
for an old Debt that Brother Turley contracted 15 years ago before he left England, or in other words
Turley was in partnership with a man & when they dissolved Turley gave up the stock into his
hands to seell & he supposed it was all settled but now the man claims that he did not
sell the stock for as much as he expeted & that he has still claims On Turley. John Jones
in Burslem was connected in taking him It is merely a trick of the Devil to stop his
preaching but I believe the Lord will overturn it for Gdod how long he will be confined
in prison I do not know. The whole Labour at the Potteries is now flung upon Elder Cordon
& when he wrote me he was some out of health & should their be any faithful labourer at
liberty would they not do well to go into that part of the vineyard & assist. And again in addition
to this case I have a certain Brother Richards whome I love of a truth for the truths sake that dwelleth
in him & I pray God that it may be with him forever & he asks an interest in my prayerrs in
his behalf & his companions that the Lord may manifest his will concerning them. I will now
say Dear Brother I will gladly comply with your request the first leasure moments I can
get, in fact I have attempted two or three times since I recceved your two Letters upon the subjet
to lay the case before the Lord but no sooner than I would begin to pray some one would bye
wraping at my door for me to go & baptzed them or for sumething els. in fact since I recceved
your letters I have had no spare time hardly to pray for any thing, for you see how things are
with me & of course can judge how my time is taken up. I scarcely pass a pool of water but
what sumbody is waiting there for me to baptze them. & in fact if John had more Baptizing to
do when all Judea & Jerrusalem went unto him to be Baptzed, then I have had for a few days past he
certainly had his hands full. But do not think dear Brother that I shall close this letter with out
answering the questions you have asked me & expressing my feelings unto you No God forbid
not with standing I have not had time to lay your case before the Lord as I could wish, yet I have a word
to express upon the subject. In the first place I wish to say I recceved your twoo letters & have read them over
several times. & you speak my mind perfectly with regard to any other persons opening any of our letters
excepting our own Qurorum. & when I gave permision for a letter to be opened should one come before
my returned, I did not then expet to be gone but vary few days before my return & it was
under the impression that if I had a letter at all during my absence it would be from Brother
Clayton in Manchester, & as they wanted to hear from him I gave them that priv^i^lege with a charge
to say nothing concerning the contents if their was any thing that the church should not know
but being gone longer than I expected your letter arived & was opened by Brother Turley. But I
have sent orders for no more letters to be opened that are sent to me. And with regard to the
question you asked me on the scrap of paper. (I say yes let them eat or drink what they will in such cases)
I should be pleased Brother Richards to hear from you often & give me all the news you have
from any quarter I was pleased to hear of doors being opened in Scotland tell me whare
I can direct a letter to Elder Mullenner in Scotland. also inform me of any information
you get from any of the Twelve I wonder why they tarry so long in Americ[a] may the Lord
hasten them to his country. Also inform me concerning sister Richards health from time
to time give my love to her & tell her I should be exceding glad to see her but when I shall
get out of this part of the vineyard I cannot tell. pray for me Brother Richards that I may be meek
& humble that I may fully overcome evry speces of pride & self wrighteousness [that] I may feel
my dependence on God in all things, & that I may know the mind of God concerning me in all
things. A word concerning you & Sister Richards. But what am I that I should teach or instruct
thee or inquire the will of the Lord concerning thee. O that I was more worthy that I might greant
thee the desire of thy heart in this this thing & that I might more fully know the mind of
God concerning myself & all things that are required at my hand that I might be more fully
prepared to greant thee thy request. But if you can receive it at my hands I say unto you thus
saith the Lord let not my servant Willard Richards litely essteem his calling or station for I have
called him & he is a chosen vessel unto me & no man shall ever do his work or take his
crown. for he is humble & seeks my will, his afflictions shall work together for his good in
the end, let him be not weary in commtting his case unto the Lord or trusting in my n[a]me
& I will bring it to pass & the darkness shall pass away & the light shall come. & I [page torn]
break the bands that bind him & lib[er]ate him from those under his charge for they [page torn]
not worthy & some are under condemnation for litely essteeming the priesthood & him
whome God has set over them. Let him still call upon me in Mighty prayer & be not weary
committing his companions & all his ways into my hands & I will work out his deliverance
in a way that I have prepared, & he shall yet have many souls as seals of his ministry, & be
mighty in council, & much beloved by his brethren the Twelve. Thus Dear Brother is
the voice of the spirit concerning you & I would say to Sister Richards by way of council to try
not to be discouraged nor desire to die but to live. though your afflictions may be
great for a time yet consider what Jesus has bourn, commit all your ^ways^ unto the Lord
you will ere long enter that rest that remains for the people of God then your
morning will be turned into joy & you will be satisfyed with the goodness of
the Lord I feel as though the Lord will open a door whareby you will be liberated
before many days I will pray for you before God that your faith fail not & that
you may have grace & strength according to your day. whatever is manife[s]ted
unto me I will endeavour to communicate it unto you from tine to
time. Write me soon Brother Richards & dont be discouraged God will be your
friend. I should be glad to see the second No of the Tines & Seasons should you
get one please send ^it^ to me at Ledbury. Any thing you may have upon your
mind pleas communicate freely It will meet a welcome reception
W Woodruff
Excuse my scribling I dont have time to write plain [w]ay
Mr Willard Richards
Meadow Street Newhouse opposite No 3
Preston
Lancashire
[stamp in red ink]
LEDBURY
MR 26
1840
[unknown writer] [sideways text]
Hill farm - Ledbury. Woodruff Mach 25, -40
Answerd March 27. –