| 883 proved true, for when the fulness [fullness] of the gospel came from America to England, it was first preached in Preston, and through the influence of the Temperance Society, the Latter Day Saints procured the use of the Temperance Hall, in Preston, (a commodious building, originally erected for cock fighting,) for their chapel, and commenced meeting therein on the 3d of September, 1837, and continued until they were ejected through the influence of others, the Temperance Society not having it entirely at their control.-Similar favors have been received from several other Temperance Societies in England, for which, the Lord reward them.
Elder Richards continued to labor against much opposition in Bedford and the region round about, until the 7th of March, 1838, when he returned to Preston, leaving about 40 members in charge of elder James Lavender.
Elder Russell continued to labor at Alston, Brampton, & c., and returned to Preston near the same time, leaving about 60 members in the care of elder Jacob Peart.
At Christmas, 1837, priest Fielding was ordained elder, and several were ordained teachers, &c., at Preston; and in March, 1838, the church had extended from Preston to Penwortham, Longton, Southport. Eccleston, Whittle, Huntershill, Chorley, and the intermediate region through the labors of elders Hyde, Kimball, and Fielding, and the members amounted to several hundred in the region of Preston and Clithero.
During this month, elders Kimball and Hyde were diligently engaged organizing the different branches; and on the lst of April, a general conference was called at Preston, when the organization of the churches was completed, and many were ordained; among whom were elders Joseph Fielding, Willard Richards, and William Clayton, to the High Priesthood, and set apart by elders Kimball and Hyde to preside over all the churches in England.
On the 9th, elders Kimball, Hyde, and Russell, took leave of the Saints in Preston, and went to Liverpool, where they were visited by elders Fielding, Richards, Clayton, and others, and on the 20th of April sailed for New York, on board the Garrick, the same ship they came out on to England.
When elders Fielding and Richards had returned to Longton, they found a pamphlet purporting to be by the Rev. Richard Livesey, a Methodist minister, who had spent some time on a mission to the United States, as he says, and having nothing more important to attend to during his mission, it appears that he spent his time in gathering up a heap of lies and filth from the American papers, and imported them to England on his return; and finding that the work of God had commenced in his native land, and was likely to destroy his craft, set himself at work to condemn his heterogeneous mass of transatlantic lies, and form the wonderful production of the Rev. Richard Livesey's tract against the Latter Day Saints, it being the first thing of the kind that the enemy of all righteousness had found means to export from America, and circulate in England, but since which he has found servants in abundance, to assist in this nefarious merchandize [merchandise] of his heart's delight.
The church at this time, was in its infancy, and needed much instruction, which necessarily occupied the attention of the presiding elders to a great extent, and as there were few laborers in the field, the spread of the work was not very rapid for some time.
Sister Alice Hodgin died at Preston on the 2d of September, 1838, and it was such a wonderful thing for a Latter Day Saint to die in England, that elder Richards was arraigned before the Mayor's court at Preston, on the 3d of October, charged with "killing and slaying" the said Alice, with a "black stick," &c., but was discharged without being permitted to make his defence [defense], as soon as it was discovered that the iniquity of his accusers was about to be made manifest.
October 19, 1838, elder Clayton gave himself wholly to the work, and soon after commenced preaching and baptizing in Manchester; and from thence the work spread into Stockport, and other places in the neighborhood, through the labors of elders Clayton, Fielding, John Moon, and Wilding. A small church had previously sprung up in Bolton, through the labors of elder Wilding, and was continued by elder A. Fielding. In the summer of 1839 elders Clayton, Richards, and J. Moon labored in Burslem with some success, and a small church was planted in Burnley by elder
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