Let’s look at another Early Methodist Preacher today. Christopher Hopper, one of Wesley's early preachers, had a ministry full of narrow escapes and strong resolve.
A call he couldn't shake off
Before Hopper became known as a preacher, he wrestled with whether he'd truly been called to it at all. He wrote candidly of that season of doubt: "I began now to consider what latitude I was in, and whether it would not be a point of wisdom to tack about and steer for some quiet harbour." Plenty of us know that temptation - to step back from something costly rather than press on through opposition. But Hopper kept praying it through, and he came to a decision: "I concluded my call to preach was consistent with Scripture, reason and experience." Once he was sure of that, nothing could talk him out of it again.
Escaping through a window
That certainty was tested almost immediately. Hopper describes a scene in which he was preaching amid a hostile crowd that was stirred up against him, and a peace-officer arrived intent on breaking things up. Rather than face a riot, Hopper simply slipped away in the confusion. He wrote it almost casually: "I stepped down, went through the midst of them, was conveyed through a window, and went quietly home, leaving the peace-officer and his gentlemen to end the dispute with loud words, hard blows, and bloody faces." So here was a man who knew when to stand his ground and when God simply wanted him out of harm's way.
Hauled before the court
Hopper's most serious trouble came later, when he was teaching school in the parish of Ryton while preaching on the side. He says that Satan stirred up the rector of Ryton and his curate against him, and Hopper found himself summoned to appear in court on the charge of teaching without a licence. It would have been easy for the authorities to end his ministry there and then. Instead, Hopper testified simply, "God raised me up friends who stood by me, and defended my cause against all my adversaries."
This reminds me of Paul! When he stood trial before Roman authorities with seemingly no one on his side, he wrote something similar: “At my first defence no one stood with me, but all forsook me... Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:16-17). Hopper's court in Durham and Paul's court in Rome were centuries apart, but the same God showed up in both.
Keep on in your calling
Sometimes we have this tendency to see opposition as proof we’ve missed God's will. Hopper's life teaches us otherwise. He faced mobs, courts and false accusations, yet never doubted his call after that early season of wrestling was settled.
If you're facing resistance for something you're convinced God has called you to, don't let the resistance itself be the deciding vote. Ask God for the same settled confidence Hopper found, and trust Him to raise up the friends and the escape routes you'll need along the way.
Christopher Hopper, an early Methodist preacher was hauled before a church court and chased by mobs, but found God faithful to defend him every time. A powerful word for anyone facing opposition to their calling.