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The Great Controversy 1888
hands. Although many strove to lay hold on my collar or clothes, to
pull me down, they could not fasten at all; only one got fast hold of the
flap of my waistcoat, which was soon left in his hand; the other flap,
in the pocket of which was a bank-note, was torn but half off. A lusty
man just behind, struck at me several times, with a large oaken stick;
with which if he had struck me once on the back part of my head, it
would have saved him further trouble. But every time the blow was
turned aside, I know not how; for I could not move the right hand nor
the left. Another came rushing through the press, and raising his arm
to strike, on a sudden let it drop, and only stroked my head, saying,
‘What soft hair he has.’ ... The very first men whose hearts were turned
[259]
were the heroes of the town, the captains of the rabble on all occasions,
one of them having been a prize fighter at the bear garden.
“By how gentle degrees does God prepare us for his will! Two
years ago, a piece of brick grazed my shoulders. It was a year after
that the stone struck me between the eyes. Last month I received one
blow, and this evening two; one before we came into the town, and
one after we were gone out; but both were as nothing; for though one
man struck me on the breast with all his might, and the other on the
mouth with such force that the blood gushed out immediately, I felt no
more pain from either of the blows than if they had touched me with a
straw.”
The Methodists of those early days—people as well as preachers—
endured ridicule and persecution, alike from church-members and from
the openly irreligious who were inflamed by their misrepresentations.
They were arraigned before courts of justice—such only in name, for
justice was rare in the courts of that time. Often they suffered violence
from their persecutors. Mobs went from house to house, destroying
furniture and goods, plundering whatever they chose, and brutally
abusing men, women, and children. In some instances, public notices
were posted, calling upon those who desired to assist in breaking
the windows and robbing the houses of the Methodist to assemble
at a given time and place. These open violations of both human and
divine law were allowed to pass without a reprimand. A systematic
persecution was carried on against a people whose only fault was that
of seeking to turn the feet of sinners from the path of destruction to
the path of holiness.