I'm continuing through Lives of Early Methodist Preachers this week, and today we’ll look at John Nelson - a stonemason born in 1707, brought up in the same trade as his father.
Nelson was a man who couldn't find peace. As a boy he was, in his own words, "horribly terrified with the thoughts of death and judgment." That fear followed him into adulthood. He moved from Yorkshire to London and back again, searching for something he couldn't name, trying Dissenters, Roman Catholics and Quakers along the way, hoping one of them held the answer his soul was asking for. It wasn't until he came under Wesley's preaching that his restlessness finally came to an end.
Preaching through violence
Nelson began preaching himself, and opposition followed him everywhere. One of the most striking scenes in his account takes place at Manchester Cross, where a mob turned on him mid-sermon. He was struck with a stone that cut his head open. Most men would have stopped there. Nelson didn't. The book records simply that he "went on preaching with the blood running down his face."
Later, at Monyash in the Peak District, a drunken clergyman and a crowd of lead miners tried to shout him down, overturn his chair and drag him from the pulpit. Nelson didn't back away. He looked the man in the eye and said, "Sir, you and I must shortly appear at the bar of God, to give an account of this night's work." That stopped the man cold. He let go of Nelson's collar, took his Bible, and challenged him to preach from a verse of his own choosing. By the end, the very man who'd been trying to silence him was heard saying, "That is right, that is true," while others in the crowd stood in tears.
Why he could stand firm
Now remember, this was the same man who once couldn't shut his eyes at night for fear of judgement. So his courage in the marketplace is striking - the Lord who had settled his own troubled conscience was the same Lord he now trusted to stand with him against a mob.
You may never face a mob with stones, but you'll likely face your own version of Manchester Cross - a family member who mocks your faith, a colleague who rolls their eyes at your convictions, a crowd that would rather you stayed quiet. What we learn from Nelson isn't that opposition will always end in tears and repentance the way it did at Monyash. Sometimes it won't. But his example does show what it looks like to keep speaking the truth in love even while blood runs down your face, trusting the same God who once settled your own restless heart to hold you steady in front of others.
Take courage, as you stand for the Lord today, like Nelson did!
Meet John Nelson, a Yorkshire stonemason turned early Methodist preacher who faced mobs and violence yet refused to be silenced. A powerful true story about standing firm when opposition comes for your faith.