RICHARD RODDA
91
up the sash, and said, "I am here, and will soon be with you." When the time came, I went out in the strength of the Lord. Some of them pelted me with dirt and broken tiles ; but they neither hurt me nor hindered me. Before I ended my sermon some of the mob got a piece of wood dressed like a man. They put an old wig on its head, and danced it up and down before me, but I looked up to God and was preserved from levity. The next day I rode to the city of Hereford. The house we used to preach in being very small, and in an obscure part of the city, I resolved to preach out of doors here also. I stood with my back against St. Nicholas's Church. While I sung a hymn, numbers flocked together. Some made an attempt to throw a pail of milk over me, but others prevented them. However, before I had done, a wicked man gathered dirt out of a kennel, and threw it in my eyes and face. It so besmeared me that I could proceed no further. I spent the next year in Cornwall with great satisfaction. On Easter day, in the morning, I preached at Mevagizzey. The power of God was present. The cries and prayers of some and the praise of others, constrained me, two or three times, to break off preaching and join them in prayer and praise. Though I am no advocate for noisy assemblies, yet I think there are times when people cannot help roaring for the dis-