pain from either of the blows than if they had 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 open violations of both human and divine law were allowed to pass without a reprimand . A systematic persecution was carried on against a people whose only fault was that of seeking to turn the feet of sinners from the path of destruction to the path of holiness .
Said John Wesley , referring to the charges against himself and his associates : " Some allege that the doctrines of these men are false , erroneous , and enthusiastic ; that they are new and unheardof till of late ; that they are Quakerism , fanaticism , popery . This whole pretense has been already cut up by the roots , it having been shown at large that every branch of this doctrine is the plain doctrine of Scripture interpreted by our own church . Therefore it cannot be either false or erroneous , provided the Scripture be true ." " Others allege , " Their doctrine is too strict ; they make the way to heaven too narrow .' And this is in truth the original objection , ( as it was almost the only one for some time ,) and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand more , which appear in various forms . But do they make the way to heaven any narrower than our Lord and His apostles made it ? Is their doctrine stricter than that of the Bible ? Consider only a few plain texts : ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , and with all thy mind , and with all thy soul , and with all thy strength .' ' For every idle word which men shall speak , they shall give an account in the day of judgment .' ' Whether ye eat , or drink , or whatever ye do , do all to the glory of God .'
" If their doctrine is stricter than this , they are to blame ; but you know in your conscience it is not . And who can be one jot less strict without corrupting the word of God ? Can any steward of the mysteries of God be found faithful if he change any part of that sacred depositum ? No . He can abate nothing , he can soften nothing ; he is constrained to declare to all men , ' I may not bring down the Scripture to your taste . You must come up to it , or perish forever .' This is the real ground of that other popular cry concerning ' the uncharitableness of these men .' Uncharitable , are they ? In what respect ? Do they not feed the hungry and clothe the naked ? ' No ; that is not the thing : they are not wanting in this : but they are so uncharitable in judging ! they think none can be saved but those of their own way .'" -- Ibid ., vol . 3 , pp . 152 , 153 .
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