NELSON 9 J
have.' The hona^man was not dismissed, nor again asked to -work on Sundaj^, nor were any of his fellow- Avorkmen." Immediately after his conversion he wrote to his wife, who was in the country, and to all his kin- dred, explaining his new method of life, and exhorting them to adopt it. Soon after he went to visit them at Bristol, and was met with considerable opposition. But he was only the more encouraged to holy living, and faithfully studied the sacred writings to fortify himself in his new opinions. Ere long his friends were con- verted, and he held meetings in his house, reading, ex- horting, and praying with such of his neighbors as would come to hear. The number soon increased so considerably that he was oljliged to stand in his door in order to reach all who were within the house and in the yard. In a very short time the character of the com- munity began to change ; ale-houses were deserted, and six or seven converts made weekly. But not only the people had changed. Nelson himself had become an- other man ; his sermons from being quite private had become public; indeed, he had become a preacher, and one of such power that Wesley, when hearing of the success attending Nelson's modest labors, set out at once to visit and direct him. Nelson was made one of \yes- ley's helpers, and the band of rustic followers one of his united societies. Thus Methodism started in Yorkshire, and thus opened the career of one of the ablest lay- preachers in modern times. Nelson's labors were so successful that Wesley invited him to leave his home and assist in spreading Methodism in other parts of England, and soon he became almost as abundant in labors and sufferings as the Wesleys, and his influence over the working classes equal to that of John Wesley himself. Not even Whitelield possessed more power over the common people. Indeed, " without Nelson and similar lay-preachers, Methodism could not have been sustained as it was. The souls which the lead- ers of the movement saved, were by these more care- fully matured" (Skeats, p. 372, 373). Nelson's good- sense, cool courage, sound piety, and apt speech secured him success wherever he went. He spread Methodism not only in Yorkshire, but in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, and other counties. He was a man of such genuine spirit and popular tact that his worst opposers usually became his best friends. Like Wesley and Whitefield, he was persecuted and annoyed by the es- tablished clergy and their tools. His house at Bristol was pulled down; at Nottingham squibs were thrown in his face ; at Grimsby the rector headed a mob to the beat of the town drum, and, after supplying them with beer, called upon them to " fight for the Church." Fight- ing for the Church meant the demolition of the house in which Nelson was living, and its windows were forth- with pulled down and the furniture destroyed (Nelson's Journal, p. 92). But the preaching of the Yorkshire mason soon stopped all such proceedings. The drum- mer of Grimsby, who had been hired by the rector to beat down Nelson's preaching on the day after the riot, was one of the witnesses of its power. After beating for three quarters of an hoigr he stood and listened, and soon the tears of penitence were seen rolling down his cheeks. Such was Nelson's power over his audience. The clergy, determined to stay his influence, finally caused him to be impressed into the army, on his return to Bristol, as a vagrant, without visible means of living. Though he protested and tried to prove this charge un- just, he was yet taken and made a soldier. But even in his bonds Nelson did not cease to preach ; and when he was forcibly compelled to wear the uniform, he boldly declared that he despised war, and that no one could ever compel him to enter any other service than that of the Prince of Peace, to whom he had dedicated himself. He remained a preacher even amid the din of arms, ad- monished his comrades against cursing and other sins, distributed tracts among them, and appointed prayer- meetings. All this involved him in new sufferings and persecutions, and he finally sank in the midst of this ill-
3 NELSON
treatment ; and when, in order to save his life, it became necessar)' to dismiss him in 1744, he again resumed evangelizing labors, but died before the close of that year. See Stevens, Hist, of Methodism, i, 136, 176, 193, 205, 227, 249 ; ii. 153 ; Southey, Life of Wesley, cliap. xiv; Skeats, Hist, of the Free Churches of Eng. p. 373; Hurst's Hagenbach, Ch. IJist. of the 18th mid 19lh Cen- turies, i, 453 sq. ; Porter, Compendium of Methodism, p. 43 sq. See also his own Journal. (.L H. W.)
Nelson, John (2), D.D., an American Congrega- tional minister, was born in Worcester, IMass., in 1785, and graduated at Williams College. In 1813 he was or- dained pastor of the Congregational Church in Leicester, where his whole ministerial life, extending over a period of fifty-eight years, was passed. He died Dec. C, 1871. From 1844 he had a colleague, and for eighteen years previous to his death was an invalid. See Appletou's Annual Cyclnjxedia, 1871, p. 591.