Trials And Triumphs
In January, 1741, at the town of Bala, Harris was savagely assaulted. The local clergyman, in what he called an effort 'to defend the Church' , opened a barrel of beer on the main street and used it to entice a mob to attack the evangelist. The fury of the persecutors was such that one of them fell into a fit from the transport of his passion. Another was loud for hurling Harris from the top of a rock into the lake hard by. The women also were as fiendish as the men, for they besmeared him with mire, while their companions... belabored him with their fists and clubs... inflicting such wounds that his path could be marked in the street by the crimson stains of his blood. The enemy continued to persecute him... striking him with sticks and staves, until overcome with exhaustion he fell to the ground... They still abused him, though prostrate; until one of his persecutors... perhaps apprehensive of a prosecution for murder if the abuse were pro longed, became his rescuer and... d...