Opposition to Methodism came swiftly and early. Anti-Methodist sentiment in Oxford and resistance to the early zealotry of the preachers has already been mentioned. But much of the opposition came from bishops concerned about a seemingly untethered movement within the Church that was not directly answerable to its leaders or from small communities who saw the Methodists and their practices as divisive or even dangerous.
It’s easy to see Wesley and his preachers as benevolent figures simply trying to share the good news. And they were definitely that. But in eighteenth-century Britain, most people lived in small towns with very tight – and often historic – connections. So we must imagine how jarring it might have been for an outsider, a lay preacher, itself an oddity, sent to their town by a distant figure (i.e. Wesley), to preach sermons apart from the church that appear to challenge established parish clergy, many of them having served their communities for decades. On top of this, these preachers then set up small groups for members only, requiring a ticket for admittance, making many suspicious of their activities.
Sometimes, local clergy challenged these preachers themselves, often from their pulpits. At other times, the people of a town or village (sometimes encouraged by local authorities) would rise up as a mob and run the Methodist preachers out of town, pelting them with whatever they could throw. They imagined that they were upholding the peace, or even thwarting an invasion. Church bells were rung in some places after mobs sent the Methodist preachers and their followers packing, an act that, according to Henry Rack, “suggested triumph after repelling an invasion – which is probably how it was regarded.”
Some of these mobs become legendary.
Continue reading at Firebrand here.
Ryan Danker is the director of the John Wesley Institute, publisher of Good News magazine, and associate lead editor of Firebrand.
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