| Show EARLY CHURCH HISTORY IN ENGLAND the following letter gives an interesting account of a visit to preston eng sand in february last by elder robert aveson who has lately returned to his mountain home having a desire to attend the liverpool conference and to take a view of sights of early church history I 1 left patricroft Patri croft sunday february irth walked to monton green about a mile and then took the train for blackburn via wigan having to wait at wigan nearly half an hour an acquaintance I 1 had made on the route showed me around a portion of the old oid town I 1 took a glimpse of the old parish church the market place and a few other attractions tr ir then back to the station we went and continuing our lourney journey blackburn was soon reached A gentle onan anan on the tram train took me to clayton street where the conference was being held there was a tair air sized audience of saints and few strangers and twenty elders from utah including apostle A H lund an excellent spirit prevailed a very sociable time spent and some edifying instructions given by elder lund and several other elders all felt to for the divine influence they enjoyed according to the report of the labors of the eldera elder for the past six months there had been over 18 tracts distributed and twelve baptisms performed pe this number of bap isms iams compares favorably with other conferences of the size that have been held recently statistics show that blackburn has a population ot of over inhabitants the main industries are ironworks cotton mills and collier collieries colli eries fes on account of the recent cold weather there has been and is now much distress in that town a as s well as hundreds of other towns soup kitchens have been opened and other ways provided for the destitute poor I 1 have witnessed so many scenes of poverty in this land sin since a in my arrival here my heart has often acied I 1 and caused me to look forward to labe he time when my mission here would bit be finished and I 1 should return to the loved scenes of utah ah oh ye mountains high where the clear blue sky arches over the vales of the free where the pure breezes blow and the clear streamlets Stream lets flow how ive longed to your bosom to flee A missionary amongst the many experiences perien ces he posses passes through impressively learns one lesson as dear to him as any other and that is to appreciate his mountain home the next day monday fe february auary xyth 1 I 1 went to 11 preston reston ain an old town ton of about inhabitants the day following in company with H C boden V P wells and M A romney spent a great portion of the day in viewing the sights of preston principally principally those which pertain to church C history as it was in that town where the gospel was first preached in england elder boden who is president ot of the liverpool con ference was our guide it was a beau ticul morning before entering into details concerning our visit it may be well to state that the first elders set apart for a foreign mission were heber C kimball and orson hyde june 1837 these brethren in company with J fielding willard richards 1 goodson I 1 russell and J snider sailed from new york for england on the ship garrick july 1837 and arrived at liverpool on the irth of the same month after a three days stay at liverpool being prompted by the spirit they went to preston and it was here where they witnessed the first fruits of the gospel they lodged at the house of a widow in saint wilford street brother FiFI fielding ding went in search of his brother a minister residing in that town and soon afterward found him the rhe following morning sunday the brethren went to bear the rev mr fielding preach in his chapel and at the close of the service without being requested by them he gave out an appointment for the elders to preach in the afternoon elder kimball was chosen to address the congregation the elders also occupied the stand in n the evening and the following wednesday Wed wednesday evening learning that a number 0 of his flock had become converted to the new faith the rev mr fielding shut his doors against the elders preaching their doctrines but afterwards again gave them the privilege of speaking in his chapel the result was that ere many days elapsed a large number received the truth and were baptized ted to proceed with our visit we soon saon approached the old flag market the noted sp apt t where elder 1 I russell a few days after their arrival in preston delivered the first sermon in the open air to a large congregation many of whom were pricked to the beatt v it is situated on cheapside adjoining this market place is the town hall hal a large massive rock structure just at this moment the ponderous bell at the hall pealed twelve a doleful sound we were informed that at the request af the citizens the bell is muffled to a certain extent on account of the loud noise it makes not long ago a gentleman residing in preston who was lying dangerously ML ill a t man ot of wealth sent word to the mayor and hid had the dock clock stopped tor for several days entering this large build building ng we wire were ki kindly v d 1 y chown shown through van various ou s rooms T there h e r e is is a very large room used for dancing parties entertainments lec lectures etc cooled looked in in the mayors room council room committee I 1 and other apartments also the regalia art room where were exhibited some ex excellent cellen t oilen oil engravings akings av ings the th next ext sight which attracted our attention a short distance further on was the famous cockpit cock pit where the first conference of the church of jesus christ was held in this country at that time it was a large and corn cam iodious rt brick building it had been formerly used by the people to witness the sport of cockfighting cock fighting hundreds Hund rids of people had often shouted their buzzas in honor of the barbarous sport it had been latterly used as a temperance hall but what a contrast when the gospel of christ was preached and the songs of praise sung the old building is very badly demolished the only remains left being the west wall nearly complete and a portion of the north wall much has been said concerning this old relic and oftentimes has viewed especially by the missionaries to england there is nothing particular to see about it in fact I 1 think there is less of note than any sight right I 1 ever saw but its fame has brought the sightseer to take a view of it in order to satisfy his curiosity elder kimball and party rented this hall for nine shillings per week and they held meetings there As As before stated it was in this guilding the firt conference was held christmas of 1837 was the day on which it convened about twenty rods from the cock pit it is the old parish church the first building erected on this sacred spot was built about A 0 since that time it appears that the old portion has been removed and a new one butlein aurit tin in its stead we did abt learn when the present buildt building I 1 ng was waso erected but judging from the condition odthe structure it can be clearly seen that it is not a very lengthy period we proceeded from thence to the vauxhall ct chapel lapel it is situated on 66 a toad road by that name vauxhall road it stands a few yards back the street and is enclosed with a lenee lence t the building is a very plain one built of brick two stories carved ona on a rock slab sab above the door is an inscription particular baptist church A lady of about forty summers residing next door to the chapel kindly kedly admit admitted tied us in the building we went into the pulpit where elder deberc delivered his first sermon in gnat britain it was biere to a good sized audience atre the tad were proclaimed of the glorious gospel which had been ushered in I 1 can almost imagine with what riveted attention their eyes would be fixed upon the speaker oh what a grand privilege n i to listen to the voice of an elder inspired by the holy ghost how their hearts must have rejoiced and how eagerly would they listen to the gospel as it hao had formerly been preached by paul by peter tand and by jesus christl christi tidings of great joy had come to them the earth had lain in dar darkness kniss for seventeen cen centuries turie and now the gospel light had been shered ushered in the same doctrines preached the same gifts of the holy ghost manifest and the same organization as existed in the primitive church the building will seat about five hundred people turning to our attendant I 1 inquired Is there anyone living who can remember when the latter day saint elders preached in this room no she replied my lather father could have bold told all about it but he has haa been dead ten years there were two other old persons who could remember the incident but bui they have also passed away we learned that the ancestors of the present owners of the building had purchased it in the year 1836 a year previous to the arrival of elder kimball and his party proceeding about half a mile further we reached park where for the first time we caught a view of the famed river ribble traveling through the fine park we soon reached the river side most of the river in sight was a mass oi of ice it is believed that the present I 1 resent winter is the coldest since 1867 our ur guide informed us that himself and companion elder had recently walked over it that portion where there was no ioe the water could be seen gently flowing onward the tide had made sad havoc with the ice we strolled along by the river side for about three quarters of a mile when we came to the identical spot where the first baptisms bap i were perl performed ormed nine in number which event transpired on the of july 1837 it is stated that george D watts was the second person baptized what changes have taken place since that period A rapid increase occurred directly after the date mentioned for we learn that when the first conference was held which was within five months from the time the first converts were baptized there were one thousand members in the british mission the harvest was then ripe although the laborers were few what grand results were produced how interesting it must have been to the elders they thrust in their sickles and reaped abundantly since that time many thousands in these lands have embraced the truth and a numerous host have emigrated to the valleys ot of the mountains compare the labors of the elders in those days to the present time and what a vast difference we behold the city of manchester once had a branch of nine hundred members at present it has about two dozen in thickly populated cities where large branches were nourishing flourishing today you will find no active members it looks as if the harvest was past the summer ended the gleaners cleaners glea ners had finished their work wor kand and we had come after the gleaners cleaners glea ners had gone cities towns and villages are traded and preached in without little apparent result truly can it be said it is a day of warning the spirit of indifference that is manifest is great it is discouraging to the elders but if we warn the people we are fulfilling our mission and playing laying our part well it is not the eatter latter day saints only who have noticed this lethargy regarding spiritual affairs the different denominations make the same complaint they are puzzling their brain how bow to awaken interest in the people so they will attend divine worship pleasant sunday afternoon services are being held to unite the people the churches and chapels are thinly attended the theaters are crowded entertainments and dancing halls are well patronized but the desire for spiritual food is vry meagre comparatively ively speaking about a stones throw from that part of the river where the baptisms were first performed is a massive rock railway bridged bridge it is believed that there are not many in the world to surpass this extraordinary piece of architecture there are five arches the lancashire and yorkshire and london and northwestern railways have lines running over it the last sight we took in was the house where the first elders were at tacked with wilh evil spirits it is no 21 saint wilfort street off fox street a three story building built of brick A room in the third story was where the incident referred to occurred about a week after their arrival in preston a number of candidates being ready lor for baptism brother kimball was appointed to perform the ordinance it seems that the adversary was determined to mar the progress of the work towards morning of the night previous to the immersions brother 1 I russell who had been appointed to preach on the market place that day came to the room where elders kimball and hyde were sleeping and asked them to pray for him for he was so afflicted with evil spirits he thought he could not live long unless he obtained relief they laid hands upon him and rebuked the evil spirits while they were thus engaged brother kimball was struck with some invisible power I 1 and fell senseless sense lebS on the floor as though he had been shot they laid him on the bed but his agony was so gr great eat he could not endure it so he got up tell on his knees and began to pray the brethren plainly saw the evil spirits who foamed and grashed gnashed their teeth upon them for half an hour they witnessed this terrible scene ROBERT |
