Page 38 - 14 Later English Reformers

touched me with a straw.”—John Wesley,

Works, vol. 3, pp. 297, 298.

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 Methodists, to

assemble at a given time and place. These