“It shall not always reign!” cried Henry, “We have been sent by The Spirit to offer you redemption of the body!”
Then with alternating quotations from the Old and New Testaments he and Starky showed that God would now destroy most mankind as he had done before in the deluge that drowned all but Noah and his family; but here in England another family of the faithful would be made immortal if they cleaved to someone sent by God to save them.
“That pure Vessel of the Holy Spirit stands among us!” cried Starky, “But it is not yet time to utter his name.”
“Those who have ears to hear, let them await in readiness and soon they shall hear,” said Henry, “And believing, they will receive eternal life. Amen, Amen and Amen.”
In little more than a year Brighton and Weymouth, Charlinch and Stoke had each a hive buzzing with expectant Princeites. There was even a cluster of them in Swansea, where one of the Lampeter Brethren had let Henry and Starky preach to his congregation. Princeites who knew what they expected could not be counted because they discussed it in low voices and groups of two or three. In 1846 Henry was five years older than Jesus when He entered Jerusalem. Henry’s followers might have begun to doubt his Heaven on Earth had he not started building it by first gathering the most devoted into one place. As Brighton was a notorious haven for weekend adulterers he and Julia joined Sam and Mrs Starky in Belfield Terrace, Weymouth. To an adjacent house came Harriet, Agnes and Clara Nottidge, daughters of a London merchant who had retired with his family to Stoke. There the three sisters became such ardent Princeites that they had followed Henry to Brighton. In Belfield Terrace they joined the Princes and Starkys for breakfast and morning prayers, also for evening prayers and supper. Henry now commanded enough spare rooms to house all his richest followers and occasionally those with businesses outside Weymouth, but who occasionally needed strengthening by close contact with him. Two of these were William Cobbe and Hotham Mayber.
“I call our Belfield houses Agapemone,” he told them, “which is Greek for the dwelling place or abode of love. Here even we who are husbands and wives live in perfect spiritual harmony and happiness, quite free of fleshly sin because we are brothers and sisters whose only parent is Almighty God. But this little abode is the seed of something larger — a great estate with a mansion that can comfortably accommodate at least thirty gentry with as many servants. There must be gardens around the mansion and space for it to be made larger if that is needed, also an extensive home farm with cottages for labourers and other servants. You, Brothers Cobbe and Mayber, are of all men the most practical who have faith in me! Through you God has chosen the site of his New Jerusalem. Brother Mayber, that land you gave to our free church at Spaxton Bottom — can more be obtained?”
Mayber smiled and shrugged saying, “Apart from cathedrals, army barracks, royal palaces and dockyards there is no part of England that cannot be bought for ready money. The land at Spaxton is good agricultural land so cannot be bought cheap, but it has no mineral deposits and is far from any railway line, so will not be unusually dear.”
“There is a house near the church?”
“Yes, and unoccupied, but it is not much larger than Charlinch Rectory.”
“Brother Cobbe!” said Henry, “Survey the land round Spaxton Bottom, mapping buildings and farmlands needed by our estate. Consult with Brother Mayber in deciding its extent. The house near the church must be enlarged by adding wings. Design it beautifully. You are building God’s final earthly home.”
Stroking his beard thoughtfully Cobbe said, “We can do all that, Belovéd. I can ensure the mansion has gas lighting with every modern plumbing facility. But such building may cost almost as much as the land itself. Will Mayber and I offend the Holy Spirit if we ask — in all humility — for you to name purchase prices and construction costs we should not exceed?”
“The Holy Spirit is not offended by your question,” said Henry, smiling, “because it does not hear it. The Spirit merely requires you to survey the ground, map the estate and design a house fit for the Lord of All the Earth and His followers. The Spirit asks Brother Mayber to begin negotiating the purchase. Do not doubt that the Spirit will provide what we need to complete God’s Holy Work. Let us pray.”
They knelt with him in prayer then, glad and determined, went to do as he said.
Then Henry sent letters inviting all the Lampeter Brethren to a special conference in the Weymouth Royal Hotel, to stop them losing contact with each other. The mood of this well-attended meeting was at first cordial because so many Brethren were glad to meet again. They found themselves among many they did not know: excited, fashionable ladies and gentlemen, and common people in their best Sunday clothes. The Reverend George Thomas started the business of the day by mounting a platform and proposing that Henry James Prince be elected chairman, since he had called the meeting. Nobody opposed that; the motion was carried by a great show of hands. Henry mounted the platform and sat gravely behind a table there. From the floor of the hall Lewis Price now moved that George Thomas be the minutes secretary, a motion also seconded and accepted without opposition. Thomas, producing a notebook, mounted the platform and sat beside Henry who called the meeting to order and asked Brother Starky to open it.
Starky began by saying it was an overpowering honour for him to speak first, because of all ordained Lampeter Brethren he was certainly the last and least, having studied divinity at Cambridge — not Lampeter. For most of his life he had been a sick man, a wholly formal Christian, and a completely useless priest. He described at great length how his Belovéd Brother Prince had miraculously restored him to health and the love of Jesus, then described at greater length the mighty works of The Spirit in creating Charlinch Free Church and other wonderful Christian congregations in Stoke, Brighton and Weymouth. It was plain (he said) that an even mightier Work of the Spirit impended, and he demonstrated this with biblical quotations from the start of Genesis to the book of Revelations. But this Work must be wrought through a human instrument and where would such a Vessel of The Pure Spirit appear? Surely not in the corrupted Catholic Church, mighty and widespread though Rome still was. Surely not in the Churches of Czarist Russia and Greece, or the fragmented Protestant sects of Europe and America; nor could this saviour stand high in the Church of England, which was ruled by very worldly men. This Vessel could only appear among the Lampeter Brethren. He ended by saying, “I, Samuel Starky, firmly believe — indeed, I know — that this Vessel, this Man we call Branch foretold in the Scriptures, is among us here now. I hereby move that this meeting call upon that Man to reveal himself! Who will second my motion?”
Starky’s words excited all his listeners except Henry who sat behind the table with folded hands and downcast eyes. A great number now gazed at him, their right arms straining above their heads and shouting, “Yes yes!” “I second that!” “Hear hear!”, but most of the Lampeter Brethren present stared around as if lost or looked enquiringly at each other. The chairman raised his head, then his hand and there was silence. He said, “Does anyone oppose that motion?”
“May I say a few words?” said a voice from the floor. “Certainly,” said the chairman.
“Thankyou, Brother Henry. You will know that I am Laurence Deck, who attended our old college at Lampeter. You invited me here to discuss the present state of the Lampeter Brethren, and I am delighted to find us surrounded by so many from Brother Starky’s south coast congregation and probably your own. You did not ask the rest of we Brethren to bring members of our congregations, probably because we live far from Weymouth and our congregations are mostly too poor to travel. My accent tells everyone here that I am Welsh, and we Welsh greatly admire England’s love of fair play. I ask every honest English man and woman present, is it fair for them to help three or four priests outvote a larger number, simply because that larger number have brought no followers?”