LIVERPOOL:
PUBLISHED BY P. P. PRATT
STAR OFFICE, 36, CHAPEL STREET.
PRINTED BY JAMES AND WOODBURN, 14, HANOVER STREET.
INTRODUCTION.
The circumstances which gave rise to this mission of Elder Hyde are quite peculiar and extraordinary; and in an American publication are thus described by himself: "Something near eight years ago, Joseph Smith, a prophet and servant of the Most High God, did predict upon my head, that I should yet go to the city of Jerusalem, and be a watchman unto the house of Israel, and perform a work there which would greatly facilitate the gathering together of that people: the particulars of which it is not necessary to mention here.
"Year after year has passed away since that period, and my labours in the ministry have been confined to the Gentiles on both sides of the Atlantic.
"In the early part of March last (1840), I retired to my bed one evening as usual, and while contemplating and enquiring out, in my own mind, the field of my ministerial labours for the then coming season, the vision of the Lord, like clouds of light, burst upon my view. The cities of London, Amsterdam, Constantinople, and Jerusalem all appeared in succession before me, and the Spirit said unto me, 'Here are many of the children of Abraham whom I will gather to the land that I gave to their fathers, and here also is the field of your labours.'