Like the other Methodist clergymen, Mr. Bateman had to encounter considerable opposition; but this is not the place to pursue his history.
To return to Whitefield. When preaching his first sermon on Hampton Common, Gloucestershire, a young man, Thomas Adams, prompted by curiosity, came to hear him. Adams was converted, and, being converted himself, he endeavoured to convert his brethren. For some time past, he had been one of Whitefield’s preachers,and had been eminently successful “in Hampton,[62] and the adjacent country, in calling sinners to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” Having formed a society at Hampton, Adams, on Saturday, July 9th, was quietly singing and praying with its members, when, all at once, the house was surrounded with a mob, which, for weeks past, had “breathed out threatenings and slaughter against” Adams and his friends. Adams, in a letter to Whitefield, shall tell his own story.
“The mob, which consisted of near a hundred persons, were now about the house, making a terrible noise, and swearing prodigiously. I went down to them, and opened the door, and asked them what they wanted. I told them, if they wanted my life, I was willing to deliver it up for Jesus’ sake; but withal I desired to know why they either disturbed me or sought my life; for I was not aware that I had given them any just cause for either. Some of them said I had, by bringing in false doctrine, and impoverishing the poor. I told them, that they could prove neither, and that their accusation was really false. They seemed somewhat at a stand; when about five of them began to be more exasperated, and took me, in order to throw me into a lime pit. I told them, they need not force me, for I was willing to suffer for Jesus’ sake. But while they were pushing me along, some neighbours took me in their arms, and carried me into one of their houses.
“On Sunday morning, about twenty of the Society met again. We spent the morning in prayer. In the evening I preached; when in came the mob, demanding me to come down. I asked, by what authority they did so? They swore they would have me. Then said I, So you shall. So they took me to the lime pit, and threw me in. I told them, I should meet them at the judgment. They let me out, and I came home, and kneeled down with the people there, and prayed to God, and praised Him. After that, I exhorted them from 1 John iii. 1–3. When I was concluding, in came the mob again, and took me to a brook to throw me in there. I told them the law was against them, but I was willing to suffer anything for Christ. They said, if I would forbear preaching for a month, they would let me go. I told them, I would make no such promise. So forward I went. One of them threw me in, and I went to the bottom; but I came up again, with my hands clasped together. One or two of them jumped in, and took me out. Then another pushed me in again, and much bruised and cut one of my legs against a stone. I came home talking to them. Many advise us to prosecute them; but, if they are quiet, I am content, and can say from my heart, ‘Father, forgive them.’ I should be glad if you would be here on Sunday next.”
It so happened, that Whitefield could not be there “on Sunday next,” for he had to preach four times at Bristol fair; but he set out on Wednesday, July 20th, and five days afterwards wrote as follows:—
“Hampton, July 25, 1743.
“On Thursday last, I came here, and expected to be attacked, because the mob had threatened, that, if I ever came again, they would have my black gown to make aprons with. No sooner had I entered the town, than I heard the signals, such as blowing of horns and ringing of bells, for gathering the mob. My soul was kept quite easy. I preached on a large grass plot, from these words, ‘And seeing the grace of God, he exhorted them with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord.’ As it happened, I finished my sermon and pronounced the blessing, just as the ringleaderof the mob broke in upon us. One of them, as I was coming down from the table, called me a coward; but I told him they should hear from me in another way. I then went into the house, and preached upon the staircase to a large number of serious souls; but the troublers of Israel soon came in to mock and mob us. As you know, I have very little natural courage; but I leaped downstairs, and all ran before me. However, they continued making a noise about the house till midnight, abusing the poor people as they went home, and broke one young lady’s arm in two places. They threw brother Adams a second time into the pool, by which operation he received a deep wound in his leg. They wheeled young W—— H—— in a barrow to the pool’s side, lamed his brother, and grievously hurt several others. Hearing that two or three clergymen were in the town, one of whom was a justice of the peace, I went to them; but, instead of redressing, they laid the cause of all the grievances at my door. By the help of God, I shall persist in preaching myself, and in encouraging those who, I believe, are truly moved by the Holy Ghost. I know of no law of God or man against it. As I came out from the clergymen, two of the unhappy mobbers were particularly insolent, and huzzaed us out of the town.”
To avoid a recurrence to these disgraceful proceedings, it may be added, that Whitefield and his friends commenced an action against five of the ringleaders of the mob; that they were tried at the Gloucester Assizes on March 3, 1744; and that they were found guilty.Whitefield, immediately, wrote a full account[63] of the whole affair, and, from that account, the following extracts are taken:—
“Several of our brethren, both in England and Wales, have received much damage, and have been frequently in great hazard of their lives. Wiltshire has been remarkable for mobbing and abusing the Methodists; and, for about ten months past, it has also prevailed very much in Gloucestershire, especially at Hampton. About the beginning of July, 1743, for several days, the mob at Hampton assembled in great bodies, broke the windows of Mr. Adams’s house, and assaulted the people to such a degree that many expected to be murdered, and hid themselves in holes and corners, to avoid the rage of their adversaries. Once, when I was there, they continued from four in the afternoon till midnight, rioting, giving loud huzzas, casting dirt upon the hearers, and making proclamations, ‘thatno Anabaptists, Presbyterians, etc., should preach there, upon pain of being first put into a skin-pit, and afterwards into a brook.’ At another time, they pulled one or two women down the stairs by the hair of their heads. On the 10th of July, they took Mr. Adams out of his house, and threw him into a skin-pit full of noisome things and stagnated water. They also put one of our friends, named Williams, into the same pit twice, and afterwards beat him, and dragged him along the kennel. They likewise led Mr. Adams a mile and a half to Bourn brook, and threw him in, and so injured his leg, that he went lame for near a fortnight.
“Both the constables and justices were applied to, but refused to act; and seemed rather to countenance the mobbing, hoping, thereby, that Methodism would be put a stop to, at least, at Hampton. For a season, they gained their end. There was no preaching for some time, the people fearing to assemble on account of the violence of the mob.