Not satisfied with this, they hurried him off to another magistrate. A
few friends followed, but were soon beaten back by a Walsall mob, which
rushed upon them like wild beasts. All but four of Wesley's friends were
vanquished. These stood by him to the last. One of these was a brave
woman whose English blood boiled over. She is said to have knocked down
four Walsall men one after another, and would have laid them all
sprawling at her feet had not four brawny men seized her and held her
while a fifth beat her until they were quite ashamed to be seen--five
men beating one woman!
The mob tried to throw Wesley down, that they might trample him under
their feet. They struck at him with clubs, and must have nearly killed
him had they hit him. They cried, "Knock his brains out!" "Drown him!"
"Kill the dog!" "Throw him into the river!" One cried, "Crucify him!
crucify him!"
During all this Wesley was calm. It only came into his mind, he says,
that if they should throw him into the river it might spoil the papers
in his pocket. He finally escaped out of their hands, and, meeting his
brother at Nottingham, Charles says that he "_looked_ like a soldier of
Christ. His clothes were torn to tatters." Subsequently the leader of
that mob was converted, and being asked by Charles Wesley what he
thought of his brother, "I think," said he, "that he was a _mon_ of God,
and God was with him, when so many of us could not kill one _mon_!"
While preaching at Roughlee a drunken rabble assembled, led on by a
godless constable. Wesley was arrested and taken before a magistrate. On
the way he was struck on the face and head, and clubs were flourished
about his person with threats of murder. The justice demanded that he
promise not to come to Roughlee again. Wesley answered that he would
sooner cut off his head than make such a promise. As he departed from
the magistrate the mob followed, cursing him and throwing stones. Wesley
was beaten to the earth and forced back into the house. Mr. Mackford,
who came with Mr. Wesley from Newcastle, was dragged by the hair of his
head, and sustained injuries from which he never fully recovered. Some
of the Methodists present were beaten with clubs, others trampled in the
mire; one was forced to leap from a rock ten or twelve feet high into
the river, and others escaped with their lives under a shower of
missiles. The magistrate witnessed all this with apparent satisfaction,
without any attempt to stay the murderous tide.
[Illustration: SAMUEL WESLEY'S GRAVE, UPON WHICH JOHN PREACHED HIS
FAMOUS SERMON.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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