We had spent twenty-three days in
that great Babylon of modern times and
had found it harder to establish the
Church there than in any place where
we had ever been. We had baptized one man, and ordained him a priest;
and six others had given in their names
to be baptized on the following Sunday;
and at this time there was some little
prospect of the Rev. Robert Aitken re-
ceiving the work. I, therefore, left
London feeling that our mission and
labors had not been altogether in vain.
I was rejoiced on my return to the
churches to find that the work was uni-
versally and rapidly progressing in Here-
fordshire. In some cases it was even
reaching the nobility, and a lady of
title had become convinced of the work
of God through our ministry.
Lady Roberts was of the nobility of England and a lady of wealth, and had
withdrawn from the Church of England
and had traveled much in search of truth
looking for the fulfillment of the Pro-
phets.
She became acquainted with the ful-
ness of the Gospel through a female
servant in the employ of Squire Dowds-
well. She began to investigate the sub-
ject; the Spirit of God rested upon her
and convinced her of the truth of the
work. She obtained the four numbers
published of the Millennial Star, and,
fearing that she should not be able to
obtain them for herself, copied the
whole of them with her pen. She also
read the Book of Mormon and copied a
part of that, and became perfectly con-
vinced of the truth of the work of
which she read, and said she would go a
thousand miles but what she would see
some of the Twelve and be baptized
under their hands. Hearing that I was
in London she was about to take a
journey there to see me, and the other
brethren, and be baptized. She had
two brothers, ministers of the Church of
England.
On the , we
held the Frome's Hill Conference, at
which were represented 24 churches,
with 754 members: 14 elders, 51 priests,
9 teachers and 1 deacon. The Bran
Green and Frome's Hill Conferences
were now composed of 40 churches,
1,007 members: 19 elders, 78 priests,
15 teachers and one deacon.
These two conferences, with their
forty branch churches, and over a thou-
sand organized members, under the di-
rection of one hundred and thirteen
ordained officers, had been raised up
within six months and a half. Surely
the work of God had been marvelous,
unparalleled perhaps in the history of
any new religious movement.
I meditated upon these things, and in
my journal of date , I wrote thus:
"This has been a busy day with me.
After standing upon my feet from morn-
ing till evening I am called to shake
hands with hundreds of Saints with glad
hearts and cheerful countenances. It is
with no ordinary feelings that I meditate
upon the cheering fact that a thousand
souls have been baptized into the new
and everlasting covenant in about half a
year in one field which God has enabled
me to open. I pray him to accept the
gratitude of my heart for his mercies
and blessings unto me in this thing, and
enable me to stand with these Saints
and all the righteous in His celestial
kingdom."
This day I had stood upon my feet
eight hours in conference, conversed
much of the time in suggesting, speak-
ing, motioning, etc.; ordained about
thirty, confirmed some, healed many
who were sick, shook hands with about
four hundred Saints, walked two miles,
and ended with about four hours chim-
ney corner preaching. I then laid down
to rest and dreamt of catching fish.
The church ministers at this time were
very much stirred up in this region be-
cause of the success of the work of God
in the midst of the people, and every
exertion was made by them to stay its
progress. They were finding that the
Lord was delivering their flocks out of
their hands and giving them unto the
shepherds of the Church of the Saints.
They were alarmed and were holding
conventions and meetings to contrive
plans and adopt means to overthrow the
latter-day work of God, which they un-
derstood not, and believed not, yet
feared its power. And well indeed they
might, for in some instances they did
not have more than ten or fifteen at their
We had spent twenty-three days in
that great Babylon of modern times and
had found it harder to establish the
Church there than in any place where
we had ever been. We had baptized
one man, and ordained him a priest;
and six others had given in their names
to be baptized on the following Sunday;
and at this time there was some little
prospect of the Rev. Robert Aitken receiving the work. I, therefore, left
London feeling that our mission and
labors had not been altogether in vain.
I was rejoiced on my return to the
churches to find that the work was universally and rapidly progressing in Herefordshire. In some cases it was even
reaching the nobility, and a lady of
title had become convinced of the work
of God through our ministry.
Lady Roberts was of the nobility of
England and a lady of wealth, and had
withdrawn from the Church of England
and had traveled much in search of truth
looking for the fulfillment of the Prophets.
She became acquainted with the fulness of the Gospel through a female
servant in the employ of Squire Dowdswell. She began to investigate the subject; the Spirit of God rested upon her
and convinced her of the truth of the
work. She obtained the four numbers
published of the Millennial Star, and,
fearing that she should not be able to
obtain them for herself, copied the
whole of them with her pen. She also
read the Book of Mormon and copied a
part of that, and became perfectly convinced of the truth of the work of
which she read, and said she would go a
thousand miles but what she would see
some of the Twelve and be baptized
under their hands. Hearing that I was
in London she was about to take a
journey there to see me, and the other
brethren, and be baptized. She had
two brothers, ministers of the Church of
England.
On the , we
held the Frome's Hill Conference, at
which were represented 24 churches,
with 754 members: 14 elders, 51 priests,
9 teachers and 1 deacon. The Bran
Green and Frome's Hill Conferences
were now composed of 40 churches,
Column 2
1,007 members: 19 elders, 78 priests,
15 teachers and one deacon.
These two conferences, with their
forty branch churches, and over a thousand organized members, under the direction of one hundred and thirteen
ordained officers, had been raised up
within six months and a half. Surely
the work of Godhad been marvelous,
unparalleled perhaps in the history of
any new religious movement.
I meditated upon these things, and in
my journal of date , I wrote thus:
"This has been a busy day with me.
After standing upon my feet from morning till evening I am called to shake
hands with hundreds of Saints with glad
hearts and cheerful countenances. It is
with no ordinary feelings that I meditate
upon the cheering fact that a thousand
souls have been baptized into the new
and everlasting covenant in about half a
year in one field which God has enabled
me to open. I pray him to accept the
gratitude of my heart for his mercies
and blessings unto me in this thing, and
enable me to stand with these Saints
and all the righteous in His celestial
kingdom."
This day I had stood upon my feet
eight hours in conference, conversed
much of the time in suggesting, speaking, motioning, etc.; ordained about
thirty, confirmed some, healed many
who were sick, shook hands with about
four hundred Saints, walked two miles,
and ended with about four hours chimney corner preaching. I then laid down
to rest and dreamt of catching fish.
The church ministers at this time were
very much stirred up in this region because of the success of the work of God
in the midst of the people, and every
exertion was made by them to stay its
progress. They were finding that the
Lord was delivering their flocks out of
their hands and giving them unto the
shepherds of the Church of the Saints.
They were alarmed and were holding
conventions and meetings to contrive
plans and adopt means to overthrow the
latter-day work of God, which they understood not, and believed not, yet
feared its power. And well indeed they
might, for in some instances they did
not have more than ten or fifteen at their
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