Besides being in other respects of some importance, Whitefield’s letter will help the reader to understand Bennet’s subsequent career. It was not nine months since his marriage with Grace Murray; and, eighteen months after this, he stood up in the Bolton chapel, and said, “I have no longer any connection with Mr. Wesley. He denies the perseverance of the saints, and asserts sinless perfection. All of you, who are of my mind, follow me.” The society did so; for, out of a hundred and twenty-seven members, only nineteen remained faithful. He then went to Stockport, where, after preaching, he met the society, told them what he had done at Bolton, and added, “You must take either me or Mr. Wesley.” They all joined him, but one, Molly Williamson. He promised to preach to them every fortnight; but, within a year, utterly forsook them.[64] Here we have the first Methodist agitator. Bennet pursued his divisive career. On December 30, 1751, Thomas Mitchell preached at Bolton, after which Bennet met the shattered society, spoke bitterly of Wesley, and said he was a pope, and preached nothing but popery. Spreading out his hands, he cried, “Popery! popery! popery! I have not been in connection with him these three years, neither will I be any more.” Thomas Mitchell said, “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”; upon which a woman struck Mitchell in the face. The congregation was now in uproar, and Mitchell quietly retired. The day following, however, Bennet went to the quarterly meeting, and repeated to all the stewards of the circuit what he had said, on the previous evening, to the Bolton society. “His mind,” says Thomas Mitchell, “was wholly set against Mr. Wesley, and against the whole Methodist doctrine and discipline; and he had so infused his own spirit into the people in many places, that I had hard work among them. But the Lord kept my soul in peace and love. Glory be unto His holy name!”[65]