POPULAR BELIEF AND PRACTICE PAPERS READ AT ‘THE NINTH SUMMER MEETING AND THE TENTH WINTER MEETING OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY SOCIETY EDITED BY G. J. CUMING AND DEREK BAKER CAMBRIDGE| i q { 4 METHODISM AND THE MOB IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY by youn wasn ‘igocsmonemeat, bite prt of ts pepe to lore tome ofthe mons bb! ks topopy fr efiingead encoun hanced is ely hse awe a grow at eos $i paecton of Mendis tock many fora: Bebop he hares to ua were hoe let often recon ich ar te evctonosoety ‘Seeabes Bom tired job oho unnerving scl xian ‘ich nade Mintle a many lags and faa. The per esto sally Soe ia th Jaa of the method: pone, Hever, ethane by "ihe ub The mob" wasn dss tcmin det voor end hud Sige om ake of vag outa tErowing aoa to the Kees uta cow which cel soled srr in Bein 145 aad Novwch nse" iy Covered ati of ct. Mach oft tds oop, ‘ses of ova tte nds cotage eng aee as pty Talos damage, ike the breaking af windows. But or c= reuly # coped mom volallye Prachnphows #8 To, Seti Asbo, Wolverhampton, Nnewith and Choser were pulled down, nd oon seedy dag, aver oho go iy of poe pooln wee wand ortncied. Many pon rome toi dilen song thm, wee cacy Been and sone waned ot inst feria Af, He William Ser Bnd nd hon Ed bya rst ny ny, ps fot belt ve The nldge of hk nde, named by loeb od oa trlton ve che movant i eure of + taylogy od ba op tr inage of bras prative Mabodan wii ke he ing priv Chia alse nd epoved he pesy oft, more comforable geno “The sim of hs popes ogee co the usc sh vik, rahe tan to dct ets of ponent he nent eo {he movement oar no more hn fw tae enertions an E ARLY Methodism is oftn stadied as an example of «populaeJOHN WALSH ‘oma lage and complex cheme. Thereisno space hee for consideration (of regional vacabls (why, for instance, Scotland wat 2 peaceable 33 Trsland was bloody) or compaisons beeween rural and urban cases Te might help to bogin by porting these diturbancesinto soma kind of| perspective In theirestion of oatage te cal preachers and stil more later historians, have tended to over-emphasize the singularity of those violent incident. Ktakes only a canal perusal of dhe joumals of the brothers Wedey tose tht rioting wasacommonplac,almos taition- al means of group expression, whether asa form of bal provat like the com rot, or the roe of clouhworkees and eolirs which the Wes- Ieys observed-or of edcbration, like che noisy exuberance of crowds celebrating 2 military victory ot an election rele In the absence of ‘ficient police, publi order was dificult to maintain. Iwas notoriously sen fom loa! festive occasions lice wakes, Sy and revel which antracted much drankennest a well as some methodist preaching, and those who addeeved such exowds pt themelves dlibersty inco & ‘dangerous station. A good deal ofthe growth of early Methodism was in areas of eateredmatlement, like che north country dle, o¢ new indasteialsotdement ile hore round the Kingswood collie, where calor olin or squid eonditons removed the ssnciogs far ww ee tee nk med see te ae ‘path ‘The religiows nase of the perseation suffered by Wesley's follower did not make it unique. Through the series of “popsh plo alarunis in the seveatsath eentiry, t0 the Gordon Riots of 1780, ‘Roman Catholies had boan the vies of meb hysteria: indeed, some ofthe ely Methodist were stacked Deeaue they were believed to be pit nigue, Protestant Nonconformiss had undesgone the legal ‘petscution ofthe Clarendon Cade, and even after the Toleration Act syerenot exempe from the viglince of rows, asthe Sacheverel its, ‘he Jacobite its of 2725, and che Prey sot oF 1791 were to prove "The violent percenion of religious dissidents was sil alive in the ninctenth eentury in the shape of No Popery ezowde of sporaii, Tut asilts om neve sees sech a6 the Bible Christians, Primitive Methodiss and the Salvation Army. A nincteenthontury Bible CCirinian apo to the Ie of Wight aimed to have boen suck by cenongh wones and brickbats to buld a chapel. |, Wihow denying the el osty of many each on Methods ‘one might ses that accounts of them ar occasionally overdetwn by 1 [Weal it f ee Cin hrc eof Wg (se Newt ‘np au Methodism and the mab price accom! in thei homie prctios wo drama events forthe benef of an uleered sens poplar evngecisn hse wa oa ely ee noe) tendon fo “ovestate dangers ‘hate might magnify divers and to gives lite fis own ingeo fcr The mor idly sh pl ws dete tho more ak ingly could be poreyed the eid rovdenes which pred fithfl Chrisian Thee cm belie Jche oo cat mack of thea iy shown by crowds was intended to tron and inmate he thant nfl pips daige, Thre sees depany Boe teen the Heed thet hotel tc aned te snout of Injury they ely inetd, One doc the eal inet of the Thorpe woman wo rowed to wath ber ands inh it's ood of che preacher Thre ke tae wer ndereandaby ake ely by the persed who were ef and ontnombere they coud dy expected ocean tht heel destin was tthe sravcyrd hue the dackpond. OF che vsence sly ltd Corsdenble portion wa aimod at pychologel nmilason ether han conor injny his wa tho parpow of th tipping of eth the vling tn doghoap and kemels Un objet wa afc show of elas eength whih wos ike ach roe nto a prenca hat be wold peg hime never to rem to te pars rays much faethe fervour of the paces at t very eldom worked. Filly some thrateing or volt bchavion wr delibenly proves, dntnded wo ince conter-vileac in engry or pani ken indi dls which sigh hen jm the ready of the Tot Ac, «legal rovection, or might aa compromise the vic’ din to e- eens putes of chan love sod forbearance, Sony thie [Sse seeded moe of i eboeded fom tern editing dnd the cbviow chary ofthe vein. {fae caved tis lence? How could the ef of erly Matho- fas oars alin and prac love be newarded by such erly? “The ie racer thence were fn conten wih «simple dice Boll inepetion. Those who rnb Gods deen were sons of Bell "Sar lire’ he beat of the people’ aad living ‘jee aston in th evangelion of aman depsvie. Pee Sin the incviable faponte ofthe De when dred his songs by the runper el of the Gonpel, Modern ds of ‘pponton to Meo hve ened o fons hogely on te lier The Chisiae Ober Lot as) * [Te Jali Re] sb) ess el N Crsode Lndon a) pa 21s