One of the fierc­est ri­ots Charles Wes­ley ev­er faced was that at De­vizes in Feb­ru­a­ry, 1747. The Rev. John Mer­i­ton, a cler­gy­man from the Isle of Man, who died in 1753 and spent his last years in ac­com­pa­ny­ing and help­ing the Wes­leys, was his com­pan­ion. The mob sur­round­ed the house where they were stay­ing, broke the win­dows, tore down the shut­ters, blocked the door with a wagon. Next day they poured wa­ter on the house with a hose. A con­sta­ble car­ried this off, but they ob­tained the larg­er en­gine, flood­ed the rooms, and de­stroyed the fur­ni­ture. The mob un­tiled the roof that they might get hold of the Meth­od­ist preach­er. At last the friends mount­ed their horses, and were es­cort­ed out of the town by the con­sta­ble and his posse. ‘We rode a slow pace up the street, the whole mul­ti­tude pour­ing along on both sides, and at­tend­ing us with loud ac­cla­ma­tions. Such fierce­ness and di­a­bol­i­cal mal­ice I had not seen in hu­man fac­es. We felt great peace and ac­qui­es­cence in the hon­our done us, while the whole town were spec­ta­tors of our march.’ When they reached Wrex­al, ‘We joined in hearty prais­es to our De­liv­er­er, sing­ing the hymn, “Wor­ship, and thanks and bless­ing,” &c.’