Preacher ; particularly of zeal, diligence, and punctuality in the work ;
GATHERING STORMS
5. That if we should ever disagree in our judgement, we will refer the matter to Mr. Perronet.
6. That we will entirely be patterns of all we-expect from every Preacher ; particularly of zeal, diligence, and punctuality in the work ; by constantly preaching and meeting the society ; by visiting yearly
Ireland, Cornwall, and the North; and in general by superintending the whole work, and every branch of it, with all the strength which God shall give us.
We agree to the above written, till this day next year, in the presence of Mr. Perronet.?
The good points in this agreement will be seen at once; as will the wisdom of the limitation clause.
When we remember that Charles Wesley was gradually retiring from the itinerant work, the picture of him as a ' General Superintendent ' raises conflicting thoughts.
Soon the whole burden of responsibility would rest on the shoulders of his brother.
John Wesley saw that fact clearly, and we do not wonder that he signed the agreement with reluctance.
On Sunday, August 7, we catch sight of Thomas Mitchell, whose 'talents for the ministry were but small.'
Charles Atmore says, 'He was a very plain, honest, pious man.'
He spent nearly forty years in the ministry.
'The Lord was with him, and proved to the comfort and salvation of many that He had sent him.
He was born in the parish of Bingley, a town now well known as ' The Throstle-nest of England.'* When he was twenty years old he enlisted for a soldier at the time when the landing of the Young Pretender filled the country with terror.
In 1746, when the scare was over, he obtained his discharge.
Hearing William Grimshaw preach, his eyes were opened to the need of salvation, and he learned that it was to be obtained by faith.
He sought the Saviour and found Him.
Then he was filled with a passion for the salvation of others, and rejoiced with the exceeding joy of the man who leads sinners to Christ.
Grimshaw encouraged him to preach.
Speaking to him, and to Paul Greenwood, a preacher who is described by Atmore as 'a man of great simplicity and uprightness of heart,'
Grimshaw one day said, ' If you are sent of God to preach His gospel, all hell will be up in arms against you.
Prepare for the battle, and stand fast in the good ways of God.'
The prophecy was fulfilled.
On August 7 Thomas Mitchell was at 1 Whitehead's Life of John Wesley, ii. 269-270.
See Mr. Halliwell Sutcliffe's By Moor and Fell in West Yorkshire, 97.
GATHERING STORMS
ah Wrangle, in Lincolnshire.
Under the direction of a clergyman the mob rose and an assault was made which occupies a conspicuous place in Methodist history.
The clergyman stayed in his house, but messengers kept him acquainted with the progress of the fight, and received his instructions.
The story can be read in the Lives of Early Methodist Preachers'.
Even to this hour it is impossible to read it without indignation.
Mitchell and five more Methodists were flung into a pool of standing water.
When Mitchell tried to get out he was pitched in again.
The water was up to his neck.
He was ordered to go through the pool seven times.
He did so; and then he was allowed to come out.
After a time the mob came and carried him to a great pond, ten or twelve feet deep, railed in on every side.
Four men seized him by his legs and arms, swung him two or three times, and then threw him as far as they could into the water.
He lost his senses, and felt nothing more.
He says, 'But some of them were not willing to have me drowned.
So they watched till I came above water; and then, catching hold of my clothes, with a long pole, made shift to drag me out.'
Mitchell lay senseless for some time.
The mob left him.
When he became conscious he found that two men were standing by him.
One of them, having compassion on him, helped him to his feet, and then led him to a little house, where he was quickly put to bed.
But the mob came to the house, pulled him out of bed, carried him into the street, and 'swore they would take away one of his limbs' if he would not promise that he would never come to Wrangle again.
He told them he could promise no such thing.
But the man who had shown him kindness, holding him fast, promised for him; and the mob for a time dispersed.
His friend took him back again into the house and once more put him to bed.
We have no record of the name of this man ; we will number him among the ' Good Samaritans' who pity the sufferings of the helpless when priests pass by on the other side.
Some members of the mob went to the clergyman once more to ask him what they must do with their victim.
He told them they must take him out of the parish.
Obedient 1Tives of Early Methodist Preachers, i. 248-250.
The Vicar of Wrangle, in 1751, was the Rev. Richard Baily, who died in 1776.
W.H.S. Proceedings, iv. 178.
GATHERING STORMS
to his direction, they went to the house and took him out of his bed a second time.
His clothes were wet, and had been covered with paint in the course of the assault.
But an old coat was found, put on him, and the mob marched him out of the parish.
Then they set him on a little hill; and, after shouting three times, 'God save the King, and the devil take the preachers,' they left him.
He was penniless and friendless ; his strength was nearly gone; he had much ado to walk, or even tostand.
' But,' says he, ' from the beginning to the end my mind was in perfect peace.
I found no anger or resentment, but could heartily pray for my persecutors.
But I knew not what to do, or where to go.'
Then he remembered that some of 'our friends' lived three or four miles off.
He was weak and ill; but, putting his trust in God, he set out.
At length he got to the house and received a, Methodist welcome.
He rested four days with his friends, and his strength was 'tolerably restored.'
Then he went out again to face furious mobs.
It was reward enough to be able to record that in this time of persecution he had brought many to the saving knowledge of Christ.
Atmore says that Thomas Mitchell's talents for the ministry were small, but the Lord was with him.
This was proved by the great success of his preaching.
Looking into those far-away times he seems to us one of the heroes of the army of God.
On August 15 John Wesley, having received an account of the Wrangle riots from some persons who had come up to London from Lincolnshire, wrote a letter to Mr. Baily.
From it we learn that an appeal against the conduct of the mob had been made by the local Methodists to a Justice of the Peace.
He would give them no redress.
Instead of affording them protection he informed the applicants that the treatment they had received was ' good enough for them,' and if they went on in the same way 'the mob should use them so again.'
Wesley's letter made no impression on the vicar; but the threat of an appeal to the Court of King's
Bench worked wonders.
When Wesley visited Lincolnshire the next year he preached at Wrangle.
He expected some disturbance, but found none.
He gives this explanation:
'The light punishment inflicted on the late rioters (though their expense was not great, as they submitted before the trial) had secured peace ever since.
Such a mercy it is to
GATHERING STORMS
execute the penalty of the law on those who will not regard its precepts!
So many inconveniences to the innocent does it prevent, and so much sin in the guilty.'
The Wrangle riots evidently produced a significant change in the sentiments of Wesley concerning appeals to courts of law.
William Myles, in his Chronological History, says that it was in 1751 that ' disputes began in the Connexion respecting our union with the Church of England.'
He suggests the following causes of these disputes:
'1. Many dissenters had been converted to God by the preaching of the Methodists.
They joined the Society, and some of them were made leaders, and also became preachers.
These, though men of real piety, retained something of their old prejudices against National
Church establishments.
2. Some who were originally Churchpeople changed their sentiments on account of the illiberal treatment they met with from some of the clergy of the Established Church, and also from the want of piety among the people.
3. Some of the preachers also were rather intemperate in their zeal in pointing out the crimes of wicked ministers."* When we remember the array of clerical mobleaders, and their fierce assaults on the Methodist people, we readily admit the remarkable restraint displayed by Myles when he wrote the foregoing sentences.
But as a revelation of the state of feeling in the Methodist Societies in 1751 they possess considerable value.
On August 17 John Wesley was in London.
He called on Ebenezer Blackwell in the city, whom he had not seen for a long time.
The banker was looking thin and pale.
Wesley, who strongly believed in the good effects of fresh air and exercise, told him that he was setting out for Cornwall with Mrs. Wesley on the Monday, and asked him to accompany them.
He did so, and received great benefit from his tour.
He was obliged to get back to business, and left them before they returned.
We mention the fact chiefly because this journey marks the first occasion on which Mrs. Wesley accompanied her husband on his travels among the country Societies.
It was not until October 21 that they got back to London.
In closing our records of this crowded year it is essential that we should relate an incident which occurred on December
30, as it subsequently produced decisive effects on the relations 1 Journal, iv. 20.
3 Chronological History, 72.
GATHERING STORMS
then existing between John Wesley and John Bennet.
On that day we find that Thomas Mitchell was in Bolton.
He had been among the Lancashire Societies, and had been much troubled by finding them in a disturbed condition.
He says, 'The poor people were in the utmost confusion, like a flock of frightened sheep."
The breach between John Wesley and Bennet had become wider ; and we must admit that Bennet's work among the Societies had been injurious to Wesley's influence.
When Mitchell reached the Acresfield Room he found Bennet there, and desired him to preach; but he declined.
There have been several versions of what happened — when the preaching service was over; so it will be best to quote Mitchell's exact words.
At the close of the service Bennet met the Society, 'and said many bitter things of Mr.
Wesley.
He then spread out his hands, and cried, " Popery !
Popery!
I will not be in connexion with him any more."
I could not help telling him, " The spirit in which you now speak is not of God.
Neither are you fit for the pulpit while you are of such a spirit.'""
While I was speaking, a woman that stood by me struck me in the face with all her might.
Immediately all the congregation was in an uproar; so I thought it best to retire.
Afterward I believed it was my duty to expostulate with him ; but it did not avail.
It seemed to me that all love was departed from him.
His mind was wholly set against Mr. Wesley, and against the whole Methodist doctrine and discipline; and he had infused his own spirit into the people in many places; so I had hard work among them.'
Some weeks elapsed before John Wesley heard of this unfortunate scene.
We must reserve comments on it until our next chapter.
1 Early Methodist Preachers, i. 250-251.