"Brother John Benbow furnished us with £300 to print the first edition of the Book of Mormon that was published in England," wrote Elder Woodruff; "and on the 20th of May, 1840, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, and I held a council on top of Malvern Hill, and there decided that Brigham Young should go direct to Manchester and publish three thousand copies of the Book of Mormon and the Hymn Book.
"The power of God rested upon us and upon the mission," said Elder Woodruff, in our field of labor in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. "The sick were healed, devils were cast out, and the lame made to walk. One case I will mention: Mary Pitt, who died later in Nauvoo, sister of William Pitt, who died years after in Salt Lake City, had not walked upon her feet for eleven years. We carried her into the water, and I baptized her. On the evening of the 18th of May, 1840, at Brother Kington's house in Dymock, Elders Brigham Young, Willard Richards, and I laid hands upon her head and confirmed her. Brigham Young being mouth, rebuked her lameness in the name of the Lord, and commanded her to arise and walk. The lameness left her, and she never afterwards used a staff or crutch. She walked through the town of Dymock next day, and created a stir among the people thereby; but the wicked did not feel to give God the glory.
"The whole history of this Herefordshire mission shows the importance of listening to the still small voice of the spirit of God, and the revelations of the Holy Ghost. The people were praying for light and truth, and the Lord sent me to them. I declared the gospel of life and salvation, some eighteen hundred souls received it, and many of them have been gathered to Zion in these mountains. Many of them have also been called to officiate in the bishopric, and have done much good in Zion. In all these things we should ever acknowledge the hand of God, and give Him the honor, praise, and glory, forever and ever. Amen.
"On the 11th of August, 1840, I took the parting hand of the Saints in Herefordshire, and started on a mission to London, in company with Apostles Heber C. Kimball and George A. Smith. We rode from Leigh to Cheltenham, where we tarried for the night, and in the morning took coach and rode forty miles through a most delightful country, which everywhere wore the golden hue of plentiful harvest. We passed through Oxfordshire, in sight of Stowe, the family residence of the Duke of Buckingham, and at Farmington station took train for London, where we arrived at 4 p. m. We changed conveyances and went to the center of the city by omnibus, walked across London Bridge into the Borough, and called upon Mrs. Allgood, the sister of Elder Theodore Turley's wife. She treated us with kindness, gave us refreshments, and then directed us to a public house, the King's Arms, King Street, Borough. There we tarried for the night.
"We were now in England's great metropolis, to sound therein the first proclamation of the latter-day work. Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and myself were the first three elders in London to preach the gospel and establish the Church of Latter-day Saints. We took a walk into the city, passed London Bridge twice, and returned and spent the night at King's Arms. On the following day we called upon the Rev. J. E. Smith, Lincoln's Inn Fields, also visited John Pye, 16 Curiosity Street, Chancery Lane. He was a strong believer in the prophecies of Joanna Southcott, and was one of the society. We then returned and had a view of St. Paul's Cathedral, the largest in the world except St. Peter's at Rome. We crossed London Bridge, took tea at 19 King Street, then went to Union Chapel, Waterloo Road, and heard a comical sermon delivered by an Aitkenite preacher. I spent the night at 58 King Street, at Mrs. Loftus.'
"The next day, August 21st, was the most interesting sight-seeing day in my life. I started in company with Elders Heber C. Kimball and George A. Smith for a walk over the city of London. We crossed London Bridge, passed through King William Street and several other streets, and visited Covent Garden; then through St. Martin Street and Court, Leicester Square, Sidney Alley, Coventry Street, Picadilly, Glass House Street, and through most of Regent Street—one of the most splendid streets in the world. We passed through Langham Place and All Souls' Church—which has a spire naked from its base to the top—then through Oxford Street, and returned by way of St. Paul's, ending our sight-seeing of the day by visiting the noted monument erected in commemoration of the great fire in London in 1666, and built under the direction of that famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren. We entered a door at its base, paid sixpence on entering, and ascended three hundred and forty-five black marble steps, which brought us up two hundred feet into the air, and about one hundred feet higher than the highest houses. We stepped on the outside of the pillar, which is surrounded by an iron railing, and there was presented to our view on every hand the wonderful scenery of the greatest city in the world, a city that boasted of a history covering nearly two thousand years. At our feet, as it were, lay a historical panorama, stretching out to our view in all directions.
"We were located so as to overlook nearly every part of the city. East of us lay the ancient Tower of London; east of us also lay the Mint; north the Mansion House of the Lord Mayor of London; northwest, St. Paul's Church; west, Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliament; south lies the river Thames, with five of the large bridges across in full view, and one not seen from the monument, making six. These six bridges are fine sights in themselves. They are the architectural monuments of the Thames, and our view of them from our high pinnacle, with their crowds of moving and everchanging human masses, and cabs, omnibuses, carriages, drays, etc., which dash along, presented to us a picturesque sight. In addition to all this, within our view was London Borough, on the south of the river, and all around us hundreds of churches, chapels and spires, standing in the midst of one universal mass of buildings, covering six square miles of ground. While viewing this prospect on a clear day, we conversed with a Prussian traveler, a citizen of Berlin, who had traveled much over Europe and Asia and other parts of the world, and he declared that there was not, to his knowledge, another spot on the face of the earth that presented to view such a grand scene as that before us.
"August 23rd we went to Zion's chapel and heard the celebrated Rev. Robert Aitken preach two sermons. He delivered a powerful warning to the Gentiles, and presented some of the most sublime truths I ever heard from a sectarian priest; but he was building without the foundation. On the 24th we removed our lodgings to Mr. Robert Merryfield's, No. 15 Gloucester Row, Grange Road, where we obtained a room for all three of us.
"On the 25th of August we attended a meeting of the Temperance Society, at their hall, which we secured for the 7th of the next month. Brother Smith made a short speech. On the following day we started out in quest of places in which we might preach. Brother Kimball went to one part of the city and Brother Smith and myself to another. We called upon two Baptist ministers and asked one for his chapel. In the evening we attended a Methodist meeting in Long Lane.
"Next day we again went to the Temperance Hall, in St. George's Road, near the Elephant and Castle, and by the request of the committee I addressed the meeting upon the subject of temperance. I was followed by George A. Smith. We gave out an appointment to preach the gospel at that place September 7th.