CHAPTER XXIV.
MY JOURNEY TO HEREFORDSHIRE—INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BENBOW—THE WORD OF THE LORD FULFILLED TO ME—THE GREATEST GATHERING INTO THE CHURCH KNOWN AMONG THE GENTILES SINCE THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH IN THIS DISPENSATION—A CONSTABLE SENT TO ARREST ME—I CONVERT AND BAPTIZE HIM—TWO CLERKS SENT AS DETECTIVES HEAR ME PREACH, AND BOTH EMBRACE THE TRUTH—RECTORS PETITION TO HAVE OUR PREACHING PROHIBITED—THE ARCHBISHOP'S REPLY—BOOK OF MORMON AND HYMN BOOK PRINTED—CASE OF HEALING.
On the 3rd of March, 1840, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord to me, I took coach and rode to Wolverhampton, twenty-six miles, and spent the night there.
On the morning of the 4th I again took coach, and rode through Dudley, Stourbridge, Stourport and Worcester, and then walked a number of miles to Mr. John Benbow's, Hill Farm, Castle Frome, Ledbury, Herefordshire. This was a farming country in the south of England, a region where no Elder of the Latter-day Saints had visited.
I found Mr. Benbow to be a wealthy farmer, cultivating three hundred acres of land, occupying a good mansion, and having plenty of means. His wife, Jane, had no children.
I presented myself to him as a missionary from America, an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had been sent to him by the commandment of God as a messenger of salvation, to preach the gospel of life unto him and his household, and the inhabitants of the land.
Mr. Benbow and his wife received me with glad hearts and thanksgiving. It was in the evening when I arrived, having traveled forty-eight miles by coach and on foot during the day, but after receiving refreshments we sat down together, and conversed until two o'clock in the morning.
Mr. Benbow and his wife rejoiced greatly at the glad tidings which I brought unto them of the fullness of the everlasting Gospel, which God had revealed through the mouth of His Prophet, Joseph Smith, in these last days.
I rejoiced greatly at the news that Mr. Benbow gave me, that there was a company of men and women—over six hundred in number—who had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodists, and taken the name of United Brethren. They had forty-five preachers among them, and had chapels and many houses that were licensed according to the law of the land for preaching in.