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Beaten by the Mob

"I should have mentioned that I had several times before desired you to let me go, but in vain; and that when I attempted to go with Richard B., the mob immediately followed, with oaths, curses, and stones; that one of them beat me down to the ground; and when I rose again, the whole body came about me like lions and forced me back into the house.

"While you and I went out at one door, Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Colbeck went out at the other.  The mob immediately closed them in, tossing them to and fro with the utmost violence, threw Mr. Grimshaw down, and loaded them both with dirt and mire of every kind; not one of your friends offering to call off your bloodhounds from the pursuit.

"The other quiet, harmless people, who followed me at a distance to see what the end would be, they treated still worse; not only by the connivance, but by the express order, of your deputy.  They made them run for their lives, amidst showers of dirt and stones, without any regard to age or sex.  Some of them they trampled in the mire and dragged by their hair, particularly Mr. Mackford, who came with me from Newcastle.  Many they beat with their clubs without mercy.  One they forced to leap down (or they would have thrown him headlong) from a rock, ten or twelve feet high, into the river.  And when he crawled out, wet and bruised, they swore they would throw him in again, which they were hardly persuaded not to do.  All this time you sat well pleased close to the place, not attempting in the least to hinder them.

"And all this time you were talking of justice and law!  Alas, Sir, suppose we were Dissenters (which I deny), suppose we were Jews or Turks, are we not to have the benefit of the laws of our country?  Proceed against us by the law, if you can or dare; but not by lawless violence; not by making a drunken, cursing, swearing riotous mob both judge, jury, and executioner.  This is flat rebellion against God and the King, as you may possibly find out to your cost."

 

Defending Field Preaching

Between four and five we set out from Roughlee.  But observing several parties of men upon the hills and suspecting their design, we put on and passed the lane they were making for before they came.  One of our brothers, not riding so fast, was intercepted by them.  They immediately knocked him down, and how it was that he got from among them he knew not.

Before seven we reached Widdop.  The news of what had passed at Barrowford made us all friends.  The person in whose house Mr. B. preached, sent and begged I would preach there; which I did at eight, to such a congregation as none could have expected on so short a warning.  He invited us also to lodge at his house, and all jealousies vanished away.

Sunday, 28.--I was invited by Mr. U., the minister of Goodshaw, to preach in his church.  I began reading prayers at seven; but perceiving the church would scarcely contain half of the congregation, after prayers I went out, and standing on the churchyard wall, in a place shaded from the sun, explained and enforced those words in the second lesson, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" [Acts 26:38].

I wonder at those who still talk so loud of the indecency of field-preaching.  The highest indecency is in St. Paul's Church, when a considerable part of the congregation are asleep, or talking, or looking about, not minding a word the preacher says.  On the other hand, there is the highest decency in a churchyard or field, when the whole congregation behave and look as if they saw the Judge of all and heard Him speaking from heaven.

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CCEL
This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
at Calvin College. Last updated on March 22, 2000.
Contacting the CCEL.
Calvin College