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BX 9100 .W54 1872 
 
 Williams, William, 
 
 Welsh Calvinistic Methodism 
 
WELSH 
 
 CALVlNISTIC METHODISM. 
 
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WELSH 
 
 CALVINISTIC METHODISM 
 
 Si l^i^torical fefeetct) 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 1872. 
 
PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY, 
 AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 / 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. . . . . • . ix 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Howell Harris— Daniel Rowlands — Howell Da vies, . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 William Williams— Peter Williams— Harris's ministry- 
 Rowlands at home — Llangeitho gatherings — Pilgrims 
 from Bala— A ship-load from Carnarvon— Exhorters— 
 Successes, ....... 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Attachment to the Church — Societies — Exhorters — Organiza- 
 tion — Overseers— Moderators — Districts — Reports of 
 Overseers — Rules for admission of Exhorters — Strict 
 discipline — Great poverty— Richard Tibbot, . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Harris mobbed at Newport and other places — Peter Williams 
 at Kidwelly — At Wrexham— In the dog-kennel— At 
 Trevriw — At Penrhos — The grey mare — Rowlands 
 mobbed at Llanilar — Mike and Dick — A persistent church 
 choir— Patent rattle— A small Gunpowder Plot— Lewis 
 Evan and the magistrate — Imprisoned — Morgan Griffith 
 h 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 arrested — Sent on board a man-of-war — A Sermon en 
 route — Furlough — Again sent away — Dies, . . 40 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 More persecution and oppression — William Pritchard — Hugh 
 Thomas hiding in caves — Edward Parry — Margaret 
 Hughes — Owen Thomas Kowland— Thomas Lloyd sold 
 up — Sale at Wrexham — Richard Hughes and the agent, 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The instigators of the persecution— False representations — 
 Sensible gentry — Mr. Lewis, Mr. Bulkeley, and the 
 strange preacher — A sermon at Llysdulas Hall and its 
 results — Mr. Bulkeley and Chancellor Wynne— Hugh 
 
 '■ Williams the blacksmith, and Hugh Williams, Esquire 
 —Mrs. Holland Griffiths— Young Holland Griffitlis's 
 opinion— Griffith John and his master, . . . 73- 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Checks to perseciition — Miracles or what ? — End of some of 
 Howell Harris's persecutors — The unfulfilled vow — 
 Chancellor Owen and his clerk — Sir^ W. W. Wynn — The 
 great prayer-meeting — Deliverance — Penryn — A plot to 
 pull down the chapel— How it failed — A feast, and how 
 it finished, . . . . . . .83 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Self-sacrificing zeal — Thomas Hughes and his wife — Another 
 Thomas Hughes — Examination by the Vicar of Conway 
 — A ruse — Conversion of a bully— Lowri Williams, "the 
 Apostle "—Griffith Ellis— Church of eight females- 
 Three sisters — Robert the shoemaker— Thomas Edwards 
 the turner — Catherine Owen's journeys to Llangeitho, . 90 
 
CONTENTS. Vii 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Contentions — Strong terms— The Disruption — " Harris's 
 people" and. " Rowlands's people"— H. Harris retires to 
 Trevecca— Building of the great house— The " Family " — 
 Daily sermons and services— Preaching on a sickbed- 
 Harris joins the militia with twenty -four of the '' Family" 
 —Made a captain— Preaches in regimentals at Yarmouth 
 and in the West— Return to Trevecca— Monthly sacra- 
 ment—Attachment to the Church, . , .109 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Rev. H. Venn on Trevecca— Lady Huntingdon and the Welsh 
 Methodists — A projected college — Rev. J. Berridge's 
 letter— Opening of the college at Trevecca— Qualifications 
 nd salary of head-master — First anniversary — The 
 ilvinistic controversy— Another anniversary— Fall of 
 the scaffold— Fireside talk— Death and funeral of Howell 
 Harris— Ultimate results of his withdrawal to Trevecca— 
 Another controversy— Expulsion of Peter Williams— A 
 I long drought— A great revival— Rowlands expelled from 
 
 the Established Church, . . . . .128 
 
 7 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Concerning Welsh revivals, . . . . .151 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Rev. T. Charles of Bala— At Llanddowror school— At Car- 
 marthen College— At Oxford— Ordination and first curacy 
 —Marriage and settlement at Bala— Circulating schools- 
 Sabbath schools— Letter from Mr. Charles - Owen Jones 
 and Robert Davies at Aberystwyth— A farewell meeting 
 and its eifects— Owen Jones at Llanidloes— At Shrews- 
 bury— Ebenezer Richard - Establishment of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society, . . . .102 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anomalous position of the Connexion — Scarcity of places for 
 the administration of the Lord's Supper — Dearth of 
 ordained ministers — Eev. N. Kowlands —Entertainment 
 of the idea of ordaining ministers— Opposition of the 
 clergy — Mr. Jones, Llangan — Mr. Griffiths, Nevern— Their 
 objections intelligible — Rev. J. Williams of Lledrod's 
 resolve— Mr. Charles and Mr. Ebenezer Morris — Decision 
 at the Bala Association — The same at Swansea — The first 
 two ordinations, . . . . . .180 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Results of the Ordination — Constitution, Rules, and Confes- 
 sion of faith — Home Missionary Societies for the English 
 districts— Colleges at Bala and Trevecca— Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society — General Assembly — Progress from 
 1850 to 1870, 197 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Sketches of ministers — Robert Roberts — John Elias — Eben- 
 ezer Morris— Ebenezer Richard— Conclusion, . . 216 
 
^■snroMTQ^'^i'. 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A History of Welsh Methodism was collected with 
 vast labour, and written in the language of the 
 Principality, by the late Eev. John Hughes of Liver- 
 pool, and published in three large octavo volumes, 
 containing about six hundred pages each, the last of 
 which came out in the year 1856. 
 
 This valuable work is greatly prized by a large 
 number of the Welsh people, but is well worthy of a 
 much wider circulation than it has hitherto obtained. 
 
 Though I have gathered considerable information 
 from other sources, the principal part of my labour in 
 the preparation of the following pages has consisted 
 in searching for materials in Mr. Hughes's great 
 treasury, arranging them in my own way, and writ- 
 ing them down in my own words. 
 
 I have not thought it necessary to enter into a 
 minute description of the state of the Principality 
 prior to the Methodist period, as the story which I 
 tell cannot fail to enable the reader to draw a cor- 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rect inference upon that subject for himself; but 
 there are certain statements mth reference to that 
 period made in the History of Protestant Noncon- 
 formHy in Wales, by the Rev. Dr. Rees of Swansea, 
 which I feel I ought not to leave unnoticed. 
 
 Dr. Rees gives statistics to show that there were 
 50,000 Nonconformists in Wales before Howell 
 Harris entered upon the work of an Evangelist.^ J 
 
 These statistics are partly based upon, and partly j 
 deduced from, returns collected about the year ^ 
 1715 by Dr. John Evans, and still preserved at Dr. 
 Williams's library in London. There is a table 
 given in four columns; the first containing the 
 names of churches, or pastoral charges, the second 
 those of their respective ministers, the third gives 
 the average number of attendants at each place, and 
 the fourth the social and political standing of those 
 attendants. 
 
 The number in the column in which the atten- 
 dants are classified does in no case come near the 
 number given in the preceding column as belonging 
 to the congregation named in the first column. 
 Thus, for example, at Abergavenny, the first place on 
 the list, we have 280 attendants, classified in the 
 next column as follows, — 1 esquire, 16 gentlemen, 7 
 yeomen, 63 tradesmen, 1 farmer, 7 labourers, mak- 
 1 Pages 286 to 291. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xl 
 
 ing in all 95; the remaining 185 I presume are 
 made up of the females, young people, and children 
 of the families belonging to that place of worship. 
 The list contains 7 1 pastoral charges, but there were 
 several from which no returns were obtained, and 
 Dr. Eees says : ^ — 
 
 " It will be observed that returns of the avera2:e 
 number of hearers have been received from only 58 
 of the places or pastoral charges named, and that 
 the aggregate amount of these is 20,007, or about 
 345 for each charge. By estimating the other 13, 
 which made no returns, at 345 each, which would be 
 rather below than above the mark (the author has 
 in the preceding paragraph given a reason for this 
 statement), the aggregate number would amount to 
 24,485. To this number again, at least 3000 should 
 be added, as the average of the attendants at the 
 Meetings of the Friends, who were then compara- 
 tively numerous and influential in several parts of 
 the Principality; thus the total would amount to 
 27,485. But as it is an admitted rule, in estimat- 
 ing the number of persons belonging to any place o. 
 worship, to regard the number of actual attendants 
 at any ordinary service, as only a little more than 
 one-half of the people who consider such a place as 
 their usual place of worship, we may safely calculate 
 1 Page 292. 
 
XU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that fifty thousand, or about one-eighth of the popula- 
 tion of Wales in 1715, were Nonconformists." 
 
 " Historians," says the author,^ " one after another, 
 have been misled by the account given by Mr. 
 Charles, of Bala, in the 'Drysorfa' for 1799, of the 
 weakness of Nonconformity in North Wales, and the 
 prevalence of irreligion and superstition there as late 
 as the year 1740. They have taken for granted 
 that that graphic and telling description of the state 
 of things in most parts of the North, was applicable 
 to the whole of the Principality, which was a most 
 unfounded assumption, quite as absurd as if a per- 
 son assumed that the majority of the population of 
 Ireland were Protestants, because it happens to be 
 so in some districts of the Province of Ulster. It 
 is well known that North Wales, in respect both of 
 area and population, constitutes only a little more 
 than one-third of the Principality, including Mon- 
 mouthshire; and at that time its Nonconforming 
 inhabitants scarcely amounted to one-twentieth of 
 the whole body of Welsh Nonconformists." 
 
 Wales, including Monmouthshire, according to Dr. 
 Eees, contained a population of 400,000, of which 
 he gives, say, 140,000 to North Wales, and 260,000 
 to the South, and since the Nonconforming inhabi- 
 tants of the former province " scarcely amounted to 
 
 1 Paore 305. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 one-twentieth of the whole body of Welsh Noncon- 
 formists," it follows that their number in the North 
 would be scarcely 2500, leaving 47,500 Noncon- 
 formists in the South, or considerably more than one 
 in every six of the whole population. Dr. Rees has 
 thus, by various processes of induction, addition, sub- 
 traction, and multiplication, ascertained that before 
 the beginning of the Methodist Revival there were 
 in South Wales and Monmouthshire as many as 
 47,500 Nonconformists ; and yet so little was the 
 influence for good that this great host exerted over 
 their fellow-countrymen, that earnest preachers of the 
 Gospel, who affectionately warned them to flee from 
 the wrath to come, were received in every neighbour- 
 hood with stones and brickbats, and met with the 
 worst treatment, as far as South Wales ^as con- 
 cerned, in some of those very localities where, accord- 
 ing to the statistics before us, Nonconformity had the 
 greatest number of adherents. 
 
 Dr. Rees brings a very serious accusation against 
 the fathers of Methodism. " It seems," says he, on 
 page 305, "that the early Methodists, either from 
 prejualce against their Nonconforming brethren, or a 
 desire to claim to themselves the undivided honour of 
 having evangelized the Principality, designedly misre- 
 presented or ignored the labours of all other sects." 
 If they had been capable of the baseness which the 
 
/ 
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 portion I have italicised of the above sentence sup- 
 poses them to have been, their history would not 
 have been worthy of being written, nor their names 
 of being remembered ; but those men of God were 
 infinitely above such littleness, and, happily, their 
 reputation is above being affected by this sweeping 
 and groundless charge. 
 
 Exception has been taken to a couplet in the Rev. 
 W. Williams's elegy on the death of Howell Harris, 
 where it is said that " neither presbyter, priest, nor 
 prophet was awake " when he went out to preach the 
 Gospel. The Rev. Griffith Jones was awake and 
 doing a great work long before Harris was heard of, 
 so were some other Episcopal clergymen, and so were 
 several Nonconformist ministers. The author of the 
 elegy knew this to be the case, and was well aware 
 that his readers knew it. It is evident, therefore, 
 that he meant his words to be understood not in an 
 absolute, but in a relative sense. Although a num- ^ 
 ber of earnest men were endeavouring to do good in ' 
 their various localities, the overwhelming majority 'li 
 of those who had undertaken the duties of watchmen 
 were fast asleep. i 
 
 But it should be borne in mind that at the be- f 
 ^ ginning of the Methodist Revival numbers of the 
 Nonconformists of Wales were Unitarians, and that 
 many more were tending fast in that direction. Dr. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 Eees assists us to form an estimate of the value to 
 evangelical religion of much of the great mass of 
 Nonconformity which he has brought before us. 
 
 " All the former controversies in which the Welsh 
 Nonconformists had been engaged, sink to nothing 
 in their importance and consequences when com- 
 pared with the GREAT Arminian controversy, 
 which began about the year 1729 " (seven years 
 before Harris began to preach). " Those were dis- 
 putes about mere non-essentials, and whatever evil 
 effects might have attended them at the time, they 
 soon disappeared ; but in this controversy, those 
 points which are regarded as the essential and 
 peculiar doctrines of revealed religion became the 
 subjects of discussion ; for though the advocates of 
 the new views, at first, only professed Arminian 
 sentiments, yet it was such a kind of Arminianism 
 that led them direct to Arianism, and ultimately to 
 Unitarianism. This unhappy agitation, in the course 
 of a few years, divided the Nonconformist body 
 into two hostile, antagonistic, and irreconcilable 
 parties." ^ 
 
 Thus, at the very time when the Methodist revival 
 began, the enemy was coming in like a flood, but the 
 Spirit of the Lord lifte l up a standard against him, 
 and numbers of the best Nonconformists, Indepen- 
 
 1 History of Protestant Nonconformity in Wales, page 297. 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dent ministers, and lay brethren of the same deno- 
 mination, rallied around that standard, so far as to 
 give to the Methodists their heartiest S5anpathy, 
 and all the aid in their power. But there were 
 others who stood aloof from the movement, and there 
 were some who even bitterly opposed it. " There 
 are more," says the Rev. Edmund Jones, the saintly 
 Independent minister of Pontypool, in a letter to 
 Howell Harris on the 7th of August 1741, — "There 
 are more of our Dissenting ministers who are friends 
 to the Methodists than you mention, this side of the 
 ■country, beside Mr. Henry Davies, Mr. Philip Pugh, 
 and myself, viz., Mr. Lewis Jones, Mr. Joseph Sim- 
 mons, Mr. Owen Rees, Mr. William Williams, Mr. 
 Cole, etc. ; but perhaps they will not act much. But 
 you know our Lord's saying, ' He that is not against 
 us is on our side ; ' and I cannot but observe that 
 they are our best men who are favourable to you, 
 and that they are for the most part dry and inex- 
 perienced, or Arminians, that are against you — at 
 least who are bitter." ^ 
 
 It is these " best men," saturated as they were 
 with the same spirit as the Methodists, that gave to 
 Welsh Independency a new life, and gave it the 
 impetus that made it the great power for good 
 that it has been ever since, and still by God's grace 
 
 1 Quoted in History of Protestant Nonconformity, etc., p. 369. 
 
1 INTEODUCTION. xvii 
 
 continues to be. The Independents of Wales have 
 adopted some of the peculiarities of Methodism, 
 which make a marked distinction between them and 
 their brethren in England, and which bring them 
 within a little of being Methodists themselves under 
 a different form of Church government. " The 
 Society^' says Dr. Eees, " or experience meetings, which 
 are peculiar to the Nonconforming churches of Wales, 
 and are regarded by the most spiritually-minded 
 members of all evangelical denominations as essential 
 to the well-being of the churches, is of Methodist 
 origin. So is also the Association, where twelve 
 or fifteen sermons are delivered in the open air 
 during two successive days, and where the congrega- 
 tions generally amount to five, ten, and even fifteen 
 thousand. The Associations, or ministers' meetings, 
 in Wales, previous to the rise of Methodism, were 
 similar to the county Associations in England, where 
 only one or two sermons were delivered. They were 
 comparatively cold and formal affairs, and excited no 
 particular attention in any locality. Lay and itine- 
 rant preaching, catechetical meetings, and Sabbath- 
 schools, though not originated by the Methodists, 
 were re-organized, improved, and brought to their 
 present state of eflSciency chief/ by them." ^ 
 
 The two denominations are kept apart by a slender 
 1 History qf Protestant Nonconformity in Wales, p. 395. 
 
XV111 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and not very high barrier of Church polity. They 
 preach the same doctrines, and in the same spirit. A 
 stranger could not, by listening to the best preachers 
 of each, ascertain to which of the two they belonged. 
 God has blessed both abundantly, and will yet bless 
 them, while they strive for a victory, not over one 
 another, but over ignorance, error, and sin, and 
 labour not for themselves, but for the kingdom of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 A few individuals in the Methodist body, in the 
 early part of its history, set themselves up as teachers 
 of Antinomian, Sandemanian, and some other strange 
 doctrines, which subverted the faith and corrupted 
 the morals of a small number, but as their vagaries 
 did not in any perceptible degree affect the Con- 
 nexion, nor, as far as I could ascertain, form a sub- 
 ject of dispute at any one of its Associations, I have 
 not thought it worth while to make any reference to 
 them in the ensuing pages. 
 
 The facts and incidents which I narrate have been 
 selected from a great many more of a similar chsr-^ 
 acter. There were many sufferings endured and 
 sacrifices made for conscience' sake which I have 
 not been able to detail, and many earnest and sUv<?- 
 cessful labourers, whose history the limits I had pre- 
 scribed for myself would not permit me to give. I 
 trust, however, that I have written enough to enable 
 
INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 the reader to form an accurate idea of the rise, pro- 
 gress, and character of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism ; 
 and I sincerely hope that the perusal of this narra- 
 tive may be the means of inducing some to emulate 
 the devout spirit and self-sacrificing zeal of those 
 heroes and martyrs whose story I have thus briefly 
 told. 
 
 Wm. WILLIAM8. 
 
 Crickhowell, November 9, 1871. 
 
PSIHCS?^ 
 
 ^1 
 
 PHSOLQQIQ&I 
 
 fT--rrv.^r.^ 
 
 WELSH METHODISM 
 
 A HISTOEICAL SKETCH. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Howell Harris— Daniel Rowlands — Howell Davies. 
 
 More than one hundred and thirty-six years ago, 
 on Lord's Day the 30th of March 1735, which was 
 the Sabbath before Easter, in the parish church of 
 Talgarth, in the county of Brecon, South Wales, the 
 officiating clergyman, whose name we have not the 
 happiness to know, gave notice to his hearers of his 
 intention to celebrate the Lord's Supper on the 
 Sabbath next following. " Seeing his people negli- 
 gent to come to the Holy Communion," he read the 
 " Exhortation " which has been appointed to be read 
 under such circumstances. In that Exhortation some 
 of the excuses which men are apt to make for not 
 coming to the Lord's Table are stated and replied to. 
 But the good clergyman, in the earnestness of his 
 soul, enlarged upon the form before him. " You 
 plead your unfitness," said he, " to come to the Holy 
 Communion. Let me tell you, that if you are not 
 fit to come to the Lord's Supper, you are not fit 
 A 
 
2 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 to come to cliurcli, you are not fit to live, you 
 are not fit to die." There was in the congregation 
 a young man, a native of the parish, who was at the 
 time about twenty-one years of age, and who was 
 so affected by these earnest words, that he at once 
 resolved to place himself among the communicants 
 on the following Sabbath. That young man was 
 Howell Harris, who, on many accounts, may be 
 regarded as foremost among the fathers and founders 
 of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism. He began forth- 
 with to prepare himself for the holy rite. On his 
 way home, he called upon a neighbour with whom 
 he had a quarrel, and made peace with him. During 
 the week he kept himself from his usual sins, and 
 from such vanities as he considered to be inconsistent 
 with a religious life. The following Sabbath came, 
 and he appeared at church, feeling thoroughly satis- 
 fied with himself and with the life which he had led 
 for a whole week. He considered himself, in fact, 
 to be a very good young man. But while kneeling 
 before the altar, and repeating after the clergyman 
 the following words of confession, " AYe acknow- 
 ledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, 
 which we, from time to time, most grievously have 
 committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy 
 Divine ]\Iajesty, provoking most justly thy wrath 
 and indignation against us. "We do earnestly repent, 
 and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings ; the 
 remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden 
 of them is intolerable," there suddenly flashed upon 
 his mind the conviction that he was speaking false- 
 
HARKIS S CONVERSION. 3 
 
 hood in the presence of God. It was not grievous to 
 him to remember his sins, nor did he feel them to be 
 any burden at all. The sudden terror that came 
 upon him had well-nigh compelled him to turn 
 away, when there came to his aid the remembrance 
 that he had sincerely resolved to amend his ways, 
 and so, trusting in himself still, he for the first time 
 in his life partook of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 The weeks that followed were weeks of earnest 
 conflict. He endeavoured to keep his "heart and 
 thoughts fixed on God ;" but it was all in vain, as 
 might have been expected, for he was attempting to 
 make the fruit good while the tree was evil. On 
 the 20th of April, a "Book on the Commandments, 
 written by Bryan Duppa," was put into his hands. 
 This he read ; and the more he read, the more he 
 saw the breadth of God's law and his own sinfulness 
 before Him. He was constrained to flee from him- 
 self, and his own amended life and good works, to 
 Christ to seek salvation. And he found it. When he 
 came to the Lord's Supper on the following Whit- 
 Sunday, the confession which in his mouth had been 
 false seven weeks before was now true. The remem- 
 brance of his sins was indeed grievous unto him now, 
 and the burden of them was intolerable ; but he was 
 enabled to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and in 
 Him he found rest to his soul. 
 
 The following November his friends sent him to 
 Oxford, " to cure him of his fanaticism." But it was 
 of no avail. There he found pleasure in nothing but 
 private prayer and the public means of grace. The 
 
4 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 immorality and ungodliness which he daily witnessed 
 vexed his soul. The prospect of worldly advance- 
 ment which a University education opened before 
 him he did not regard as worth a thought, and 
 earnestly did he pray God to deliver him from that 
 unhappy place. At the close of the term he left for 
 home, fully resolved not to return again to Oxford. 
 
 In a short time after his return from the Univer- 
 sity he began to go about from house to house to 
 warn and exhort his neighbours, not only in his 
 native place, but likewise in the surrounding parishes. 
 He thus began to preach without the remotest idea 
 that he was doing anything of the kind. He felt 
 that his neighbours were in danger, and all that he 
 did was to warn them of the alarming fact, and 
 earnestly urge them without loss of time to seek 
 salvation ; and not satisfied with speaking thus to 
 those whom he casually met, he called upon them 
 that he might speak to them at their homes. He 
 opened!^ day-school at the neighbouring village of 
 Trevecca, and availed himself of that opportunity to 
 speak to the children and young peoj^le who came 
 together to be taught. At the time there was a man 
 who went about the villages holding classes to teach 
 psalm-singing, and Harris followed him about from 
 place to place, that he might talk to the young people 
 who assembled on these occasions about the salva- 
 tion of their souls. By and by people began to 
 assemble in great numbers at the houses which he 
 visited, to hear him speak. Family gatherings be- 
 came congregations, and these congregations became 
 
A DAWN AT LLANGEITHO 5 
 
 SO large that there was not a place in the neighbour- 
 hood sufficiently commodious to contain them. His 
 speaking was accompanied by great power. God 
 gave testimony to the word of His grace. Many 
 confessed their sins, earnestly prayed for forgiveness, 
 made peace with each other, and forsook their wicked 
 ways. Family worship was established in many 
 houses, the churches of the neighbourhood were 
 crowded, and great numbers sought admission to the 
 Lord's Table. Thus began that mighty preaching 
 that roused Wales from the sleep of ages, and thus 
 was commenced the great Welsh Methodist revival. 
 
 But simultaneously with this, and quite independ- 
 ently of it, there was another beginning in the ad- 
 joining county of Cardigan. About forty miles, " as 
 the crow flies," from Talgarth, in a north-westerly 
 direction, and separated from it by ranges of wild 
 trackless mountains, is the little village of Llangeitho. 
 It lies in a somewhat narrow valley, on the banks of 
 the little river Ayron. The officiating clergyman in 
 the parish church of this place, at the time of whicH 
 we write, was the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, a young 
 man of twenty-two years of age. He was the son of 
 the former vicar of the parish, but his elder brother, 
 the Rev. John Rowlands, held the living now, and 
 Daniel was his curate. He had been permitted to 
 take Orders one year before the usual age, " in con- 
 sideration of his superior scholarship." From the 
 beginning he was a man of mark. He excelled in 
 reading the Lessons, and in athletic sports. He spent 
 a part of the Sunday morning in the former exercise, 
 
6 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 and a greater part of the afternoon of the day in the 
 latter. He did both well ; the great difference was 
 that the latter had more of his heart. He did the 
 one, for such was his duty ; and joined the young 
 men of the parish in the other, because he liked it. 
 He had an idea, however, of becoming a popular 
 preacher. There was a man in the neighbourhood 
 who stole the people. This was the Eev. Philip 
 Pugh, pastor of the Independent church at Llwyny- 
 piod, one of the very few dissenting ministers then 
 in Wales who were able to gather together a con- 
 siderable congregation, Eowlands wanted to know 
 the secret of the dissenter's popularity, and in think- 
 ing the matter over, he came to the conclusion tliat 
 it was because he " thundered." Thought he, " I 
 will thunder too, and see the effect ; " and he did so 
 most awfully. He chose for his texts such passages as 
 the following : " The wicked shall be turned into hell ; " 
 " And these shall go away into everlasting punish- 
 ment;" "For the great day of his wrath is come, 
 and who shall be able to stand V His sermons were 
 in character with such texts as these. He spoke of 
 the sinner's miserable condition, of death, of judg- 
 ment, and everlasting torments, with such eloquence 
 and power that the church soon became crowded 
 with attentive and awe-struck listeners ; and it has 
 been said that above a hundred of the congregation 
 were under deep impressions before the preacher 
 himself began to think seriously at all. 
 
 But his time came to be brought to a personal 
 knowledge of the truths which he so effectually 
 
GRIFFITH JONES. 7 
 
 preached; and it happened thus. For more than 
 twenty years before the occurrences which we 
 have just narrated, there lived and laboured in. the 
 parish of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire, an eminently 
 able and devoted clergyman — the Rev. (Griffith Jones, 
 who has been designated by some " the Apostle of 
 Wales," and by others " the Morning Star of the 
 Methodist Revival." Both appellations are amply 
 justified by the history of his laborious and emi- 
 nently useful life. Mr. Jones was in the habit of 
 administering the Lord's Supper monthly in his 
 church, and assembled as many of his parishioners as 
 were willing to attend on the Saturday preceding the 
 Communion Sabbath, when, in addition to reading 
 the Church Service, he catechised those who were 
 present in the leading truths of the Christian religion. 
 He was distressed by the ignorance manifested by 
 his. catechumens, and he traced that ignorance to their 
 inability to read the Word of God. This led him 
 to conceive the idea of establishing those " circulat- 
 ing charity schools," which proved such a blessing to 
 Wales, and which have immortalized his name. 
 Their sole object was to enable the people to read 
 the Holy Scriptures. As far as it was practicable, 
 pious men were employed as teachers, and the plan 
 was for each master to remain at a particular place 
 until he had taught a number of people to read, and 
 then to shift his quarters to some other district. 
 Hence they were called " circulating schools." There 
 were 215 of these schools in operation the year 
 before Mr. Jones's death : 128 in South Wales, and 87 
 
8 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 in the north; and it has been ascertained that as many 
 as 150,212 men, women, and children, between the ages 
 of six years and seventy, were in the course of twenty- 
 four years taught by their means to read the Bible in 
 the AVelsh language. In addition to the inability to 
 read, that was then so general in Wales, there was a 
 great scarcity of reading material. Mr. Jones did 
 much to supply this want by bringing out a number 
 of good books, as well as by procuring several editions 
 of the Bible in the language of the Principality. He 
 was efficiently aided in these undertakings by the 
 " Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." 
 
 Mr. Jones was in the habit of making occasional 
 excursions to various parts of the Principality to 
 visit his schools, and to preach in their behalf in 
 such churches as were open to him. Wherever he 
 preached, great crowds came together to hear, for he 
 was a mighty preacher as well as a great educationist. 
 On one of these occasions he came to Llanddewi 
 Brefi, a place about five miles from Llangeitho. 
 When he had commenced his sermon, he noticed 
 standing opposite him in the crowd a young man 
 of a proud and haughty bearing. His countenance 
 appeared to him to wear a scorning aspect, though 
 his dress indicated that he was a clergyman. He at 
 once lifted up his heart to heaven in prayer in his 
 behalf, entreating that that service might be the 
 means of converting his heart to God, and that He 
 might make him the instrument of saving many souls. 
 That prayer was abundantly answered. The young 
 man was no other than Daniel Eowlands of Llan- 
 
ROWLANDS AND PHILIP PUGH. 9 
 
 geitho, and he went home " a new creature." If he 
 had "thundered" before, he did so now with far more 
 earnestness, and therefore with greater effect. That 
 which he spoke now was not that which he had seen or 
 heard only, but that which he had likewise felt in the 
 depths of his own heart. His fame spread abroad, 
 and he was invited to preach in other counties. He 
 travelled through the country " thundering " until 
 the multitudes trembled in his presence, and shouted 
 and shrieked as if they felt themselves to be on the 
 very verge of perdition. 
 
 But while this was the means of awakening the 
 multitudes, there was something else necessary to 
 save them. They were deeply wounded, but left 
 without the balm that heals. Eowlands made known 
 to them their lost state, but said little or nothing of 
 the saving mercy of our Lord and Eedeemer Jesus 
 Christ and the riches of His grace. That excellent 
 Nonconformist minister to whom we have already 
 alluded — the Eev. Philip Pugh — saw this deficiency 
 in the ministry of his zealous young neighbour, and 
 was kind enough to teach him the way of God more 
 perfectly. "Preach the gospel to the people, my 
 dear sir," said he ; " apply the balm that is in Gilead 
 to their wounded spirits, and show their need of faith 
 in the crucified Redeemer." " I fear," said the young 
 minister, " that I do not really possess that faith my- 
 self." " Preach it," was the reply. " Preach it until 
 you feel it. It will come without fail. If you go on 
 preaching the law after this fashion you will kill half 
 the population, for you thunder those awful curses in 
 
10 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 such a terrible manner that it is impossible for any 
 man to stand before you." Mr. Pugh had sufficient 
 liberality thus to advise an Episcopal clergyman, and 
 the clergyman was sufficiently humble thankfully to 
 receive the word of exhortation from a dissenter. 
 
 From this time there was a great and happy 
 change in the tone of Eowlands's ministry ; now it 
 was as full of gospel as it had been before of law. 
 It became as remarkable for its sweetness as it had 
 been for its terrors, and as effectual to comfort as it 
 had been to alarm. ^Yhen he proclaimed free for- 
 giveness through the sufferings and death of the 
 Saviour of the world, sinners ready to perish felt 
 that there was hope even for them. In realizing that 
 hope, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory, and great numbers expressed their ecstatic joy 
 in shouts of praise. The deep wailings and despair- 
 ing sighs and groans of a few weeks past were now 
 replaced by glad shouts of " Halleluiah ! " " Gogo- 
 niant ! " " Diolch iddo byth ! " We are more than 
 half disposed to leave the last two exclamations un- 
 translated, for in the mouth of the Welsh worshipper, 
 when carried away with the mighty stream of his 
 emotions, they mean very much more than the Eng- 
 lish reader can conceive by being told that the words 
 which stand for them in his language are " Glory," 
 " Thanks unto Him for ever." At this time there 
 began at Llangeitho church those " rejoicings " which 
 have ever since, and especially on occasions of re- 
 vival, more or less characterized the worship of 
 Welsh Methodists. 
 
ROWLAND S'S PEE ACHING. 1 1 
 
 Mention is made of one notable Sabbath morninir 
 at Llangeitho, when there came a great tide, carrying 
 all before it. The clergyman was reading the Litany, 
 and as he read on his own soul was filled with strong 
 emotion. When he came to the words, " By thine 
 Agony and bloody Sweat ; by thy Cross and Passion ; 
 by thy precious Death and Burial; by thy glorious Re- 
 surrection and Ascension ; and by the coming of the 
 Holy Ghost," an overwhelming feeling passed through 
 the great multitude. Many fell on the floor of the 
 church, while others shouted through their tears the 
 appointed response, " Good Lord, deliver us." It is 
 but a very faint idea we can give the reader of the 
 character of Daniel Rowlands's preaching. We have 
 before us a small (Welsh) volume of his published 
 sermons. There are in it many passages of great 
 power, and which could not, when spoken by him, 
 otherwise than produce mighty efl'ects. He is preach- 
 ing, for instance, from Romans viii. 28 : "And we 
 know that all things work together for good to them 
 that love God." " Seeming evils," he says, " are 
 blessings. Their trials and afflictions work together 
 for their good. The cross is the path to the crown. 
 It is through much tribulation that we must enter 
 the kingdom of God. ' Thou broughtest us into the 
 net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou 
 hast caused men to ride over our heads ; we went 
 through fire and through water ; but thou broughtest 
 us out into a wealthy place.' Conflict is the way to 
 victory. Their falling into the net was their path 
 to liberty. The boast of the foe was the dawn of 
 
12 WELSH METHODISM, 
 
 their deliverance. Hark ! The enemies say, ' They 
 are in the net. Our feet are upon their necks. If 
 this is the way to life, they shall be long enough 
 before they reach it.' But what comes next % ' Thou 
 broughtest us out into a wealthy place.'" The 
 preacher speaks like a foe. The glance of his eye, 
 the whole expression of his countenance, and the 
 tones of his voice, are those of the bitter enemy. 
 The people are conscious that there is pending a 
 terrific conflict, upon the issue of which hangs their 
 everlasting destiny, and they are beginning seriously 
 to fear that the day is lost; when suddenly, and 
 quite in a different tone, there comes the triumphant 
 shout, " Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." 
 It is echoed by a hundred shouts of praise from the 
 great congregation, and it is some time before the 
 people are sufficiently calm to allow the preacher to 
 proceed. But this is only one wave. There comes 
 another, and after that another yet, and so on to the 
 end of the sermon. And sometimes the end was 
 very long before it came. On one Sabbath morning 
 Mr. Rowlands was preaching, and the people hanging 
 on his lips all unconscious of the flight of time, until 
 a ray of light coming in through the western window 
 of the church made them aware of the fact that the 
 sun was about to set. Such was the beginning of 
 the Welsh Methodist revival at Llangeitho. 
 
 There was yet another beginning which does not 
 seem to have had any connexion with either of the 
 wondrous events which we have just narrated. The 
 Rev. Griffith Jones, already mentioned, besides all 
 
HOWELL DAVIES. 13 
 
 his other labours, devoted a part of his time to the 
 instruction of youth. There was among his pupils a 
 Mr. Howell Da vies, a young man of good parts, and 
 of a serious turn of mind. Mr. Jones's ministry was 
 blessed to his conversion, and he resolved to devote 
 himself to the ministry of the gospel, and was ac- 
 cordingly ordained to the curacy of Llysyfran in 
 Pembrokeshire. On the Sabbath on which he was 
 ordained, Mr. Jones desired the congregation at 
 Llanddowror church to unite with him in earnest 
 prayer for their young friend who was that day 
 entering upon the work of the ministry. It soon 
 appeared that these prayers were heard in heaven. 
 Mr. Davies's ministry was with great power, and 
 multitudes came together to hear him, and were 
 blessed ; but there were influential parishioners who 
 could not endure that which was spoken, and by 
 their means he was dismissed from Llysyfran. 
 
 After this he travelled the country preaching in 
 churches or out of them as opportunity offered, and 
 the Lord blessed his ministry to the salvation of a 
 great many souls. When he administered the Lord's 
 Supper, it often happened that the churches were 
 too small to contain half the communicants. On 
 those occasions great crowds stood outside waiting 
 their turn, and the church had to be filled two or 
 three times before all had partaken. The reader 
 will not consider this at all strange, when we have 
 added that those sanctuaries were comparatively 
 small, and that Mr. Da vies had at one time more than 
 2000 communicants in the county of Pembroke. 
 
14 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Thus by means of these three young men, Howell 
 Harris, Daniel Rowlands, and Howell Davies, was 
 the great work begun. In three different counties 
 there sprang up simultaneously three distinct streams 
 of the water of life, the confluence of which formed 
 that mighty river which watered the whole of the 
 Principality, and made it blossom as the garden of 
 the Lord. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 William Williams— Peter Williams— Harris's ministry— Row- 
 lands at home— Llangeitho gatherings— Pilgrims from Bala— 
 A ship-load from Carnarvon — Exhorters — Successes. 
 
 Among the earliest and most important results of 
 the ministry of these young men, must be placed the 
 conversion of several who became efficient fellow- 
 labourers with them in the great work which they 
 had undertaken. One or two of these were so emi- 
 nent, and took such a prominent part in the Methodist 
 movement, that they are placed by common consent 
 among the fathers and founders of the Connexion. 
 HoAvell Harris was in the habit of attending the 
 parish church at Talgarth on Sabbath morning. At 
 the close of the service he usually went out and stood 
 on a tombstone, or on the wall of the churchyard, to 
 address the dispersing congregation. On one of 
 those occasions there stood among his audience a 
 young medical student from Carmarthenshire, who 
 was at the time pursuing his studies at the neighbour- 
 ing town of Hay. The words to which he then 
 listened were blessed to his conversion, and he even- 
 tually resolved to relinquish his medical studies and 
 to devote himself to the ministry of the gospel. 
 
 15 
 
16 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 This young man became one of the mightiest instru- 
 ments of the re^^val. He afterwards became known 
 as the Rev. "William "Williams of Pantj'celyn, eminent 
 as a minister of the gospel, but more eminent still as 
 the sacred poet of "Wales. Very often in those early 
 days was the smouldering fire which had been kindled 
 by the sermon fanned into a flame by a hymn of W. 
 "Williams's which was sung at the close. It is not 
 too much to say that his "Welsh hymns have never 
 been approached by the productions of any other 
 writer in the language ; and now that every denomi- 
 nation has its own hymn-book, the great majority in 
 each selection, including that of the Establishment, 
 are the hymns of "W. "NA^illiams, Pantycelyn. He 
 also wrote some English hjonns, several of which, such 
 as " Guide me, thou great Jehovah," and " O'er 
 those gloomy hills of darkness," are found in very 
 many selections in that language. 
 
 Mr. "Williams took Deacon's Orders in the Estab- 
 lishment in 1740, but his Church career was a short 
 one. In his first curacy he gave so much offence 
 that a representation was made to the Bishop, con- 
 taining no less than nineteen charges against him. 
 One of these was, that he did not use the sign of the 
 cross in baptism ; another, that he omitted some 
 portions of the service ; and another, that he did not 
 confine his ministrations to the church, but went out 
 to the highways and hedges and preached wherever 
 he could get people to hear him. "We have not been 
 able to ascertain what were the other sixteen, but it 
 is reasonable to infer that they looked in the same 
 
PETER WILLIAMS. 17 
 
 direction as the above three. When he came to the 
 Bishop fcr his Priest's Orders, he was peremptorily 
 refused, and he therefore withdrew from the Estab- 
 ment and gave himself to work among the Metho- 
 dists. 
 
 A somewhat later accession was that of the Eev. 
 Peter Williams, a native of Llaugharne in the county 
 of Carmarthen. He was from his early childhood of 
 a serious turn of mind, and was educated for the 
 ministry. While he was a student at Carmarthen 
 College, the renowned George Whitfield came to 
 preach to the town, and so full of prejudice was the 
 tutor against the " fanatical preacher," that he gave 
 strict orders that none of the students should go to 
 hear him. Four young men ventured to disobey 
 this injunction, and one of these was Peter Williams. 
 The sermon so deeply affected him, that he lost all 
 taste for his former amusements, and became so 
 earnestly religious, that he was thenceforth regarded 
 by his tutor and fellow-students as a " Methodist." 
 " And in their opinion," he writes, " that was sufii- 
 cient to cover me with eternal disgrace." He after- 
 wards took Orders in tl^e Church, and served several 
 curacies for exceedingly brief periods — for his earnest 
 ministry gave such universal dissatisfaction, that he 
 likewise was obliged to withdraw, and fully identify 
 himself with those despised people whose spirit he 
 had already so largely imbibed. These two young 
 men, W. Williams and P. Williams, though they 
 came a few years later on the scene than the three 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter, are always asso- 
 B 
 
18 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ciated with them as the reformers of Wales and the 
 founders of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism. 
 
 They were all young men, and so were AVhitfield 
 and his colleagues, by whose instrumentality the Lord 
 was, at the same time, carrying on a great work in 
 England. The labourers in the Principality knew 
 nothing of that which was done by their brethren on 
 the other side of the Severn, but by some means 
 reports of the former reached the ears of the latter, 
 and in 1738 Howell Harris, to his great delight, 
 received an encouraging letter from George AMiit- 
 field, and before the expiration of that year the two 
 met for the first time at Cardiff in Glamorganshire. 
 When the Welsh brethren were making preliminary 
 arrangements for their first " Association," which in 
 Wales means the same thing as a " General Assem- 
 bly " in Scotland, it was resolved to invite the Eev. 
 G. AVhitfield to attend. He acceded to the invita- 
 tion, and presided at the meetings of the Assembly. 
 This first Association of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists 
 was held at Watford, in the county of Glamorgan, in 
 the year 1742. Besides the chairman, there were 
 present Daniel Eowlands, Howell Harris, W. AVil- 
 liams, J. Powell, and other preachers and exhorters. 
 They were met to devise means to bring the numer- 
 ous converts which had been already made under 
 some spiritual supervision, and to concert measures 
 for the further extension of the great work ; and it 
 is worthy of remark, that all the leading spirits of 
 this important assembly were young men varying 
 from twenty-one to twenty-nine years of age. 
 
Harris's ministry. 19 
 
 Of the tremendous power of tlieir ministry it is 
 difficult now to form an adequate conception. Howell 
 Harris was a veritable Boanerges. We can judge 
 from his portrait that he was a person of most com- 
 manding presence. The owner of those flashing 
 eyes and firmly set mouth was not a man to be 
 trifled with. It was not seldom that thousands in 
 his presence experienced much the same sensations 
 as the assembly of Israel at the foot of Sinai. Often 
 were giants in iniquity, who had come for the express 
 purpose of disturbing the services, made to quail 
 before his fiery glance, or driven home trembling in 
 every limb after listening for a few minutes to the 
 thunder of his voice. A congregation of 2000 people 
 have been known to stand for upwards of two hours 
 in a drenching rain to hear him preach. It is said 
 that during the first few years of his ministry there 
 was scarcely one instance of his preaching without 
 being the means of bringing a number under con- 
 viction. For some time he confined his ministry to 
 his own neighbourhood. He was afterwards invited 
 to visit other counties, and soon he extended his 
 travels into North Wales, everywhere lifting his 
 voice like a trumpet against the prevailing irreligion 
 and sin, and apprising the crowds that assembled to 
 hear him of their impending doom. Everywhere he 
 found the people like those of old who dwelt in the 
 land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, by 
 the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the 
 Gentiles, sitting in darkness and in the region and 
 shadow of death ; but it was a most unusual thing 
 
20 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 for him to leave a town, village, or hamlet without 
 leaving behind him the nucleus of a religious com- 
 munity. His indomitable spirit triumphed over the 
 rough usage to which he was exposed by his burning 
 zeal for his Master's glory and the salvation of im- 
 mortal souls. And his sufferings were neither light 
 nor few. On several occasions, he, like another 
 apostle, was pressed out of measure, above strength, 
 insomuch that he despaired even of life when in the 
 hands of an infuriated mob ; but after barely escap- 
 ing alive, with torn raiment and a bruised and bleed- 
 ing body, he would again fearlessly face the storm. 
 He went to fairs, wakes, and revels to preach the 
 gospel, thus invading the kingdom of darkness, and 
 attacking sin on its own territories. The gentry 
 regarded him as a disturber of the peace, and 
 threatened him with legal proceedings. The clergy 
 looked upon him as a false prophet, and howe\^er 
 badly off they might be for sermons, were never at a 
 loss for a text when he was in the neighbourhood. 
 The mob regarded him as a defenceless individual, 
 whom they could have the inexpressible delight of 
 belabouring with impunity to their hearts' content 
 — and they often did so without mercy. But it was 
 useless to attempt by any such means to arrest him in 
 his mighty career. Often while he was addressing 
 an assembly in the open air did a magistrate appear 
 on the scene, commanding the crowd to disperse, and 
 enforcing his orders with the reading of the Eiot Act. 
 Harris would reply to the magnate by reading 
 the sentence pronounced by the Judge of all upon 
 
ROWLANDS AT HOME. 21 
 
 his o\vn guilty soul. When the rabble hooted him, 
 his voice was heard above their loudest howls, tell- 
 ing them of judgment to come. When dragged 
 about and beaten by a mob maddened by drink, and 
 by devils, he preached between the blows, and urged 
 his savage assailants to hasten their escape from the 
 stormy wind and tempest. Such is a faint picture 
 of this extraordinary man. He believed and there- 
 fore spoke, and with such power and effect that 
 many thousands in the Principality of Wales were 
 turned to righteousness. 
 
 Eowlands was by far the greater preacher. Harris 
 never made a sermon. He made it a point to abstain 
 from formal premeditation, but spoke as he was 
 moved and enabled at the time. Eowlands, on the 
 contrary, carefully prepared, and his published ser- 
 mons are full of matter, and of matter forcibly and 
 eloquently arranged. He possessed extraordinary 
 powers of mind, and was a speaker of unsurpassed 
 eloquence ; but after all, the secret of his tremendous 
 power must be sought for in the depth and inten- 
 sity of his own religious convictions. On Sabbath 
 mornings he generally rose early, and as much as 
 possible avoided conversation, even with his most 
 intimate friends ; but on some occasions, when his 
 studies had been unsuccessful, it was difficult to get 
 him out of his bed in time for the service. He was 
 then " unwell, could not preach without any message 
 from God to the people." Sometimes his servant 
 had to help him in a half-fainting condition from 
 his house to the pulpit, but once there he was at 
 
22 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 home ; and it lias been observed tbat it was on such 
 occasions he usually preached with the greatest 
 power. The people could see that he intensely felt 
 all that he said. Once in his prayer before sermon, 
 while dwelling on the sufferings of the Saviour for 
 us, he seemed to have Him before his eye, and ex- 
 claimed, " Oh, those emptied veins ! Oh, that pallid 
 countenance ! " and then, overwhelmed by emotion, 
 he fainted away. After a while he recovered, and 
 mighty indeed was the sermon that followed. 
 
 Howell Harris's ministry for many years was 
 wholly itinerant, but Rowlands, having a regular 
 charge, confined his labours chiefly to Llangeitho, 
 though he made occasional evangelistic tours to other 
 districts, and from time to time visited every part of 
 the Principality. But his ministry at Llangeitho 
 alone exerted a mighty influence far and wide, for it 
 soon began to attract hearers from the most distant 
 parts of Wales. It was by no means an uncommon 
 thing to see as many as thirty of the people of Bala, 
 which is above sixty miles distant from Llangeitho, 
 among his congregation on Sabbath morning. Those 
 people started early on Saturday morning, each tak- 
 ing mth him the provision necessary for the journey. 
 There were well-known halting-places on the road, 
 — on the banks of streams, from which they could 
 moisten their morsel, and there they sat and re- 
 freshed themselves. They travelled far into the 
 night, got a few hours' rest in such places as they 
 could find, started again with the early dawn, and 
 were right glad if they could reach Llangeitho in 
 
LLANGEITHO GATHERINGS. 23 
 
 time for the morning service. On their pilgrimage 
 homewards they had something to talk of — the ser- 
 mons to which they had listened on the preceding 
 day; and often was the resting-place by the brook a 
 veritable Bethel, and echoed the sounds of joy and 
 praise. 
 
 On one occasion forty-five people from Carnarvon 
 went towards Llangeitho by sea as far as Aberys- 
 twyth, where they left the ship, intending to return 
 in the same manner. But by Monday the wind had 
 shifted, and they were obliged to walk the whole 
 distance, which could not be much short of a hundred 
 miles. On their journey homewards their large 
 number created quite a sensation in the towns and 
 villages through which they passed. At Aberdovey 
 they were recognised as " Methodists," and hooted 
 well as they passed. At Towyn, the population 
 came out to meet them, and attempted to prevent 
 them from passing through the place. At Barmouth, 
 which they reached against night, in a pelting storm, 
 some of them found accommodation in the town, while 
 others were lodged in farm-houses farther on. One 
 house in the town, at which they had been angrily 
 refused, took fire, and was completely destroyed 
 before the morning. Besuming their journey next 
 day, they had to pass through Harlech, and here 
 the people rose en masse to stone them. Some were 
 struck in their heads and badly wounded ; and one 
 man was so injured by a blow on his foot that he 
 was lame for weeks. This incident will give an idea 
 of the burning zeal of the early Methodists, and of 
 
24 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the inveterate hatred with which they were regarded 
 by the great mass of the people. 
 
 A large number of the early converts being men 
 of some talent, felt it to be their duty to preach unto 
 others that gospel which they had found so precious 
 themselves. They were for the most part men of 
 little education, who scarcely knew anything of any 
 book in existence but the Welsh Bible ; but they 
 preached wherever they could find an opening, and 
 were known and recognised, not as ministers, but 
 as " exhorters." Numbers of these, from every part 
 of Wales, congregated at Llangeitho on the monthly 
 Sabbath. The effect of this periodical contact with 
 the ministry of Rowlands was most beneficial to 
 themselves, and by their means his ministry told on 
 the whole of the Principality. They caught the fire 
 themselves, and, like Samson's foxes, spread it 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land. The 
 others whom we have named were young men of 
 precisely the same spirit with Harris and Eowlands. 
 It is not strange, therefore, that their labours pro- 
 duced great results. In 1742, six years from the 
 beginning of the movement, we find that there were 
 labouring in conjunction with the episcopally or- 
 dained clergy, who by this time had become ten in 
 number, as many as forty exhorters. We have no 
 more statistics of that date, but we find that by 1744, 
 two years later, there had been formed, in South 
 Wales alone, 140 "Societies," which in process of 
 time came to be designated " Churches." 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 Attachment to the Church— Societies— Exhorters— Organization — 
 Overseers— Moderators— Districts— Reports of Overseers — 
 Rules for admission of Exhorters— Strict discipline— Great 
 poverty— Richard Tibbot. 
 
 The men whom God in His Providence raised to 
 inaugurate this great movement had no idea that 
 the steps which they felt it their duty to take would 
 result in the rise of a new denomination. They 
 belonged to the Establishment, and had neither the 
 intention nor the wish to separate themselves from 
 it. Their fellow-countrymen were ignorant of the 
 first princijiles of Christianity, and they sought to 
 enlighten them. They were indifferent to religion, 
 and they sought to rouse them from their deadly 
 apathy. They saw that a great work required to be 
 done, felt themselves impelled to attempt it, and 
 entered upon it with a fiery enthusiasm. They 
 began by preaching to their immediate neighbours, 
 and the success of their efforts at home encouraged 
 them, while their sense of the wants of their country 
 impelled them to extend their labours to other dis- 
 tricts. Those who had the charge of religion had 
 suffered it to degenerate into superstition — a mere 
 round of religious rites heedlessly and hastily per- 
 
 25 
 
26 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 formed in the intervals of self-indulgence, and exert- 
 ing no influence at all over the every-day life of the 
 people. Those whose duty it was to rebuke sin 
 were themselves carried away by its mighty flood. 
 There were exceptions, but those were few, and for 
 the most part feeble. It was to correct those evils 
 that the " Fathers of Methodism" addressed them- 
 selves with self-sacrificing zeal and untiring perse- 
 verance. In going beyond their own parishes, and 
 intruding upon districts assigned to the care of others, 
 they acted irregularly ; but their apology is found in 
 the fact that those others, almost without exception, 
 neglected their solemn charge. They loved order, 
 but they loved Christ and immortal souls more, and 
 they sacrificed the lesser to the greater. They 
 sufi'ered not the laws of the Church to deter them 
 from pursuing that course which was dictated to their 
 consciences by the law of love. 
 
 Their ministry told upon thousands, and it was 
 soon found necessary, for the benefit of those numer- 
 ous converts, to form some kind of organization. 
 Accordingly, a " Society" was formed in each locality 
 where a few disciples could be brought together, and 
 each Society was placed under the charge of an ex- 
 horter. A number of those Societies were grouped 
 together into districts, and each district was placed 
 under the care of an " overseer." But they regarded 
 themselves, and the whole body that they thus formed 
 and controlled, as belonging to the Church, and were 
 therefore careful in all the measures they took to 
 avoid as far as possible giving off'ence to Church sus- 
 
BEGINNING TO ORGANIZE. 27 
 
 ceptibilities. In deference to this feeling, those who 
 preached without episcopal ordination were not 
 designated preachers, but " exhorters." The com- 
 munities of Christians that were gathered together 
 in the various localities were not designated Churches, 
 but " Societies." Those who were placed in charge 
 of them were not " ministers," nor yet " pastors," but 
 *' overseers," and the men who discharged the duties 
 devolving upon the deacons of the present day, were 
 ^'private exhorters," and sometimes "stewards of 
 Societies." The quarterly gatherings of the repre- 
 sentatives of the whole body were not Synods, but 
 " Associations." Eleven years had passed away after 
 the beginning of the movement before any place of 
 worship was erected ; and when it was found neces- 
 sary to make a move in that direction, our cautious 
 fathers seem to have been at a loss to determine by 
 what name to call the building. To call it a chapel 
 would clash with the Church, for there were numerous 
 chapels belonging to the Establishment ; and to call 
 it a " meeting-house " would savour of dissent, for 
 the few dissenting places of worship that were then 
 existing in Wales were called " meeting-houses." 
 To avoid danger on either side, it was necessary to 
 devise for it a name that was unknown to any exist- 
 ing ecclesiastical vocabulary. Accordingly, among 
 the minutes of an Association held at Porthyrhyd, 
 October 3, 1744, we have the following resolution : 
 *' Agreed that a House for Religious Puiposes be erected 
 at Llansawel." This resolution was not carried into 
 effect, for the first place of worship was not erected 
 
28 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 until three years after it was passed, and that not at 
 Llansawel, but at Builth, in the county of Brecon. 
 
 They continued for many years to communicate in 
 the Church, but it appears from a resolution, passed at 
 the first Association of the body, held at AValford, 
 January 5th and 6th, 1742, that some of the brethren 
 felt serious scruples on that subject. It was then 
 " resolved. That those brethren who feel an objection 
 to receive the Communion in the Church, on account 
 of the ungodliness of the ministers and of the other 
 communicants, and object likewise to communicate 
 with dissenters on account of their lukewarmness, be 
 requested to continue to communicate in the Church 
 until the Lord opens for them a clear way to leave its 
 communion." At a subsequent Association held at the 
 same place, October 3, 1744, a charge was brought 
 against one of the brethren who was an overseer, 
 Thomas Williams by name, that he had spoken 
 against Church-vestments, and especially against the 
 gown and cassock ; but upon his explaining that he 
 had never spoken against those things "in themselves," 
 only against " the idolatrous regard in which they 
 were held by some people," he was excused. They 
 were persecuted, as we shall hereafter show, in the 
 most merciless manner, only because they persisted 
 in adhering to the Church. The Act of Toleration 
 had been long in force, and gave ample protection to 
 Nonconformists ; but they endured persecution, they 
 suffered fines and imprisonment, and all manner of 
 bodily abuse, rather than avail themselves of the pro- 
 tection afforded by that Act, — for they were not will- 
 
ATTACHMENT TO THE CHURCH. 29 
 
 ing to declare themselves " dissenters." At an 
 Association held at Blaenyglyn, July 3, 1745, letters 
 were read from Brother John Richard and Brother 
 Richard Tibbot, in which they asked whether it 
 would not be better for them to place themselves 
 beyond the power of their persecutors by taking 
 licenses to preach, inasmuch as they were in immi- 
 nent danger of being taken away by force and sent 
 to the army if they ventured to public places to 
 preach the gospel. After some discussion, it was 
 resolved, " That to take a license to preach at the 
 present time, or, on the other hand, to forsake the 
 work, would be a dishonour to God ; that it is the 
 duty of those who are beyond the reach of danger 
 (ordained clergymen, it is presumed) to go to the 
 most public places, while others should go to less 
 public localities, employing at the same time all 
 legitimate means to secure their own safety, inas- 
 much as it is believed that this is a temporary trial, 
 and one not to be regarded in the light of a ' persecu- 
 tion.' " It was likewise resolved, " That if the per- 
 secution becomes general, and the preaching of the 
 gospel entirely forbidden, it will be necessary to 
 appeal to the Government, and if that fails, to the 
 Bishops ; and if our liberty be completely taken away 
 from us, it will then be clear that we must secede." 
 It would be easy to cite much more to the same 
 effect, but the above will suffice to illustrate the 
 extreme tenacity with which the early Methodists 
 clung to the Establishment. 
 
 At the same time they found it necessary to organ- 
 
30 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ize ; " Societies " were placed under the charge of 
 "private extorters and stewards." Over the differ- 
 ent districts some of the " public exhorters " were 
 placed in charge, and in that case they were " over- 
 seers." Over those overseers every district had its 
 moderator, while over all there was the general 
 moderator of the body. All this seems a little like 
 a hierarchy, but it was nothing of the kind. Mode- 
 rators were simply chairmen of meetings. The gene- 
 ral moderator had no more authority than the rest 
 of his brethren ; all that the office involved was the 
 chairmanship of the general meetings. The first 
 chosen to this office was the Eev. George Whitfield. 
 He accordingly presided at the Watford Association, 
 and at the few other meetings of the kind which he 
 was able to attend ; but Mr. Howell Harris was 
 chosen as his deputy, and was for a long time the 
 acting moderator of the Connexion. The following 
 is the first distribution of districts, etc. : — 
 
 1. Radnor and Montgomery — moderator, AVilliam 
 Williams ; overseer, Richard Tibbot. 
 
 2. Carmarthenshire and part of Cardigan — mode- 
 rator, Daniel Rowlands ; overseers, John Richard, 
 James Williams, William John, and David Williams. 
 
 3. Breconshire — moderator, Thomas Lewis; over- 
 seers, Thomas James and James Beaumont. 
 
 4. Pembrokeshire and the lower part of Cardigan 
 — moderator, Howell Davies ; overseers, William 
 Richard, Thomas Meyler, and John Harris. 
 
 5. Monmouth and Glamorgan — moderator, John 
 Powell; overseers, Morgan John, Thomas Williams, 
 
EEPOETS OF OVERSEERS. 31 
 
 Morgan John Lewis, and Thomas Price, to whom 
 was afterwards added John Belcher. 
 
 It will be seen that the above arrangement em- 
 braces only one of the counties of North Wales, 
 namely, Montgomeryshire. This county was con- 
 venient to Howell Harris's base of operations, and 
 was therefore visited frequently by him in the first 
 years of his ministry ; but it was not until a later 
 period that the work extended to the other districts 
 of the north. 
 
 The overseers were required to furnish a periodical 
 report to the Association of the districts or sub-dis- 
 tricts, as the case might be, under their charge, em- 
 bracing the numerical strength of each Society, and, 
 as far as they could ascertain, the spiritual state of 
 its individual members. The following is an ex- 
 ample : — 
 
 " Dear Brethren in the Lord,— This is to in- 
 form you what a wide door has been opened unto 
 me by the Almighty God in the Societies named 
 underneath, and what successful progress the gospel 
 makes among them. I verily believe that they excel 
 every other part which is known to me in the Prin- 
 cipality of Wales, in love to God and His gospel, in 
 their carefulness to walk in accordance with its pre- 
 cepts, as well as in their unity with each other : not 
 being persecuted or disturbed by any, excepting a 
 little persecution that happened lately at Lampeter, 
 in the county of Cardigan. While the members of 
 the Society were together singing psalms and praying 
 to God, a Justice of the Peace, with his servants, 
 
32 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 came upon them to disturb them, and the man who 
 was praying at the time was taken prisoner; but 
 through the providence of God the persecution has 
 somewhat moderated, and the prisoner has been set at 
 liberty, but the Justices continue their threatenings. 
 
 " Cayo Society contains 60 members, 27 of whom 
 enjoy liberty, the others are under the law. 
 
 " Talley Society contains 68 members, 24 of whom 
 have obtained deliverance through Christ, the others 
 are under the law. William John, exhorter; Thomas 
 Griffith, steward. 
 
 " Llangathen Society contains 1 4 members, 5 of 
 whom are free in Christ, and the others under the 
 law. Morris John, exhorter. 
 
 "Llanfynydd Society contains 54 members, 23 of 
 whom are free in Christ, and the others under the 
 law. Morris John is exhorter here also. 
 
 "Llansawel Society contains 47 members, 18 of 
 whom are free in Christ, and the others under the 
 law. Joseph John, exhorter, and John David, 
 steward. 
 
 " Cilycwm Society contains 2 6 members ; 9 free, 
 and the others under the law. John Thomas, ex- 
 horter, and Isaac David, steward. 
 
 " Lampeter Society contains 28 members; 13 free, 
 and the others under the law. 
 
 " David Williams, an exhorter at Llanfynydd, has 
 left me and gone to keep a school. Thomas John 
 has not been settled in any place. 
 
 " This from your fellow-traveller and unworthy 
 brother in Christ, James Williams." 
 
REPORTS OF OVERSEERS. 33 
 
 Sometimes these reports descended to even more 
 minute details. Take the following examples : — 
 
 " BuilthSociety — Thomas James, overseer; Thomas 
 Bowen, exhorter. 
 
 " Thomas James, a full and abiding testimony. 
 
 " Thomas Bowen, enjoying much liberty. 
 
 " Evan Evans, having obtained a testimony, but 
 weak in grace. 
 
 *' Sarah Williams justified, and coming out of the 
 furnace. 
 
 " Sarah Jones, a full testimony, but under heavy 
 bondage. 
 
 " Ann Baisdel, a sweet experience, but yet weak. 
 
 " Mary Bowen, seeking the Lord Jesus in earnest." 
 Etc. etc. 
 
 The following is from the report of another over- 
 seer, William Eichard, who had the charge of Pem- 
 brokeshire and part of Cardigan : — 
 
 " Dyffryn Saeth Society — 
 
 " Thomas David, believing, but subject to doubts, 
 through the power of temptation ; he desires and 
 longs for greater liberty. 
 
 " David Morgan has tasted much of the love of 
 God, believes daily, and his experience is very clear. 
 
 " David Eees, believing, but under many clouds ; 
 has passed through many temptations, but prevails 
 more and more. 
 
 " Jenkin John, under temptation for a season ; 
 dark and dry in his spirit. 
 
 " Jane John enjoys peace with God and goes for- 
 ward happily, leaning on her Beloved. 
 C 
 
 L h 
 
34 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 " Sarah Thomas, enjoying a clear testimony of her 
 salvation through Christ, but in many a battle with 
 sin. 
 
 " Ann David, under the law. 
 
 " Ann Jenkin, under conviction. 
 
 " Eliza Thomas, under convictions, but very dark 
 and very dry." Etc. etc. 
 
 Some may be led to infer, from there being such a 
 great number of exhorters at the time, that many of 
 them were self-appointed, — men who had taken it 
 into their heads to preach, and preached accordingly. 
 But it was not so. No one was permitted to hold 
 forth in public until he had been authorized to do so 
 by the Association, and that authorization was never 
 given but after the most careful inquiry into the 
 character and qualifications of each candidate. 
 
 At the Watford Association it was resolved, " That 
 no one is to be regarded as an exhorter among us 
 until he has been first proved and accepted, and that 
 no one go beyond the limits assigned to him without 
 previous consultation." The following resolution 
 was passed at a later Association : — " When any one 
 offers himself as an exhorter, he must first of all 
 exhort at the meetings of the church to which he 
 belongs — 
 
 "1. That he may have the approbation of one or 
 more experienced Christians who have often heard 
 him. 
 
 "2. To ascertain the opinions of three or four 
 public or private exhorters and ministers respecting 
 him. 
 
ADMISSION OF EXHORTERS. 35 
 
 " 3. He must undergo a searching examination as 
 to his grace, his calling, his qualifications, his gifts, 
 and his doctrine." 
 
 For a while they were obliged to exhort in and 
 about their own homes, that full proof might be had 
 of their ministry before they were permitted to travel 
 to distant places. 
 
 The authorization was not obtained as a matter of 
 course whenever applied for, and the examination 
 was something more than a mere matter of form. 
 \Ye quote a few resolutions passed with reference to 
 this subject at various Associations. 
 
 " That the following brethren be restrained until 
 the next Association, viz., James Tomkins, David 
 Prys, Richard Thomas, John David, John Watkin, 
 and Thomas Prys." 
 
 At the following Association it appears that John 
 David and David Prys were permitted to remain for 
 some time longer under probation, but the case of 
 the others was fir ally disposed of, for it was resolved, 
 " That James Tomkins, Richard Thomas, John Wat- 
 kin, and Thomas Prys be entirely restrained, as it is 
 considered that they have not been sent of God." 
 
 After those brethren had been authorized to ex- 
 hort, they were kept under strict supervision. The 
 overseers were required to keep their eyes on their 
 private character and public ministry, and report to 
 the Association. The following is extracted from 
 the report of Thomas James, one of the overseers of 
 the Breconshire district : — 
 
 " Builth — Thomas Bowen, exhorter. He preaches 
 
36 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the gospel in his life and conversation, and is greatly 
 blessed. 
 
 *' Llangamarch — Rhys Morgan, exhorter. A kind, 
 humble, and faithful man. 
 
 "Merthyr — William \Yilliams, exhorter. A kind 
 and humble Christian, and of clear sentiments." 
 
 Sometimes " reports " were received which were 
 not of such a pleasing character as the above. There 
 was one William Prys who was charged with spread- 
 ing doctrines of an Antinomian tendency. Among 
 other strange things, he asserted that he had not 
 sinned for some time, and that there was no sin either 
 in his understanding, his will, or his conscience, and 
 because he clung stubbornly to these views, he was 
 expelled, and the Societies were warned to beware of 
 his heresies, and the brethren to avoid his society. 
 " After long discussion and prayer," says the report, 
 " and with great solemnity, we turned him out, while 
 our hearts were overwhelmed with love to his soul 
 and jealousy for the glory of God, and full of fear 
 and anxiety for the safety of the flock." 
 
 There was another brother whose conduct had not 
 been blameless, and the following is the resolution 
 passed in his case : — " Howell Griffith having been 
 overtaken in a fault, but having manifested satisfac- 
 tory evidences of repentance, it was agreed that he 
 should be restored on trial, on condition that he 
 henceforth avoid that which has been the occasion 
 of his fall." 
 
 But purity of doctrine and blamelessness of 
 life were not all that was required in exhorters. 
 
STRICT DISCIPLINE. 37 
 
 They must be faithful and diligent in the discharge 
 of their duties, otherwise they would be brought 
 under discipline. At an Association held at Por- 
 thyrhyd, it was resolved, " That Brother Harris 
 should, in the name of the assembled brethren, ad- 
 minister a reproof to John Williams for his negligence 
 in watching over the Society under his charge, and 
 that he give him to understand that he shall be 
 expelled after another month of trial, unless he show 
 evidences of obedience and faithfulness." 
 
 All the moderators and overseers were expected 
 to attend every quarterly Association, or to send a 
 message explaining their absence, otherwise they 
 should hear from the brethren. At one Association 
 it was resolved, " That letters be written to Howell 
 Davies and John Harris, because they have not 
 sent to say why they are absent ; and that Thomas 
 Meyler be written to because he neglects attending 
 the Associations." 
 
 But how were these brethren to live 1 When they 
 attended meetings and went about the country 
 preaching the gospel, their own worldly affairs were 
 neglected, while those for whose benefit they minis- 
 tered had scarcely any notion at all of contributing 
 anything towards their support. The following is an 
 extract written to one of the Associations by a very 
 excellent man, John Eichard, overseer : — 
 
 " I have been in great distress during the last 
 quarter, so that I have not been able to visit the 
 Societies more than twice in the three months, in 
 consequence of my own illness, and that of my wife, 
 
38 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 and so far I am in too straitened circumstances to 
 be able to go about ; and yet, through mercy, I am 
 free in my spirit to go, if that will be to the glory of 
 God. The Lord has not left me in want of anything 
 since I threw myself into the arms of His provi- 
 dence. If He were to ask me now, ' Hast thou 
 wanted anything?' I could answer with the disciples, 
 ' Nothing, Lord.' " 
 
 After the reading of the above letter it was re- 
 solved, " That Brother John Eichard be requested to 
 go about as usual until the next Association, and 
 that in the meantime Mr. Harris visit the Societies 
 under his charge, with a view to induce them to bear 
 fruit to him." 
 
 The following resolution was passed at Trevecca, 
 October 18, 1744: — "That the brethren earnestly 
 exhort the people to walk worthily, and to hear fndt, 
 as there is a general complaint of great deficiency in 
 this matter." 
 
 There was in those days a very excellent and able 
 man, Richard Tibbot by name, whose whole time the 
 Societies required, but whose temporal necessities 
 they do not seem to have been in a position to 
 supply ; hence we find his case coming up frequently 
 at the Associations, and presenting a considerable 
 amount of difficulty. At the AVatford Association, 
 already referred to, it was resolved, " That Richard 
 Tibbot be appointed general visitor of the districts." 
 
 At a subsequent Association it was resolved, " That 
 Richard Tibbot open a school in Pembrokeshire." 
 
 Later, it was resolved, " That Richard Tibbot con- 
 
EICHARD TIBBOT. 39 
 
 tinue to work (with his hands) until he can get a 
 Welsh school." 
 
 April 18, 1744, it was resolved, "That Brother 
 Eichard Tibbot be requested to give himself entirely 
 to visiting all the Societies in Montgomeryshire once 
 every week." This was glorious, provided that the 
 Societies in Montgomeryshire furnished the good 
 brother with means to supply his bodily wants ; but 
 unhappily they did not, and consequently in the 
 following October Association it was resolved, " That 
 Brother Eichard Tibbot go to Brother John Eichard 
 to learn the trade of a bookbinder." 
 
 So it was at the time, and so it continued for 
 many years afterwards. Able men were willing and 
 anxious to devote all their time and energies to the 
 service of the cause, but the Societies were either 
 unable or indisposed to give them the means of 
 living, and they were therefore obliged to turn for 
 subsistence to other sources. This good man, after 
 itinerating for twenty-five years, settled down as 
 Independent minister at Llanbrynmair in Montgom- 
 eryshire, but at the same time he retained as long as 
 he lived his connexion with the Methodists. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTIONS. 
 
 Harris mobbed at Newport and other places — Peter Williams at 
 Kidwelly — At Wrexham— In the dog-kennel — At Trevecca — 
 At Penrhos — The grey mare— Rowlands mobbed at Llanilar 
 — Mike and Dick — A persistent chiirch choir— Patent rattle— 
 A small Gtmpowder Plot— Lewis Evan and the magistrate — 
 Imprisoned — Morgan Griffith arrested —Sent on board a man-of- 
 war — A Sermon en route — Furlough — Again sent away — Dies. 
 
 We have already intimated that those earnest 
 men were not permitted to pursue their work in 
 peace, and we shall devote a few of the following 
 pages to give the reader some idea of the strong 
 opposition they encountered, and the varied forms of 
 persecution which they were called to endure. We 
 have materials enough to fill a volume on this sub- 
 ject alone, but shall content ourselves with citing a 
 comparatively few instances, not exactly in the order 
 in which they occurred, but all relating to the 
 earliest days of Welsh Methodism. We have al- 
 ready alluded to the sufferings of Howell Harris. 
 It appears that he had to endure more personal abuse 
 than any of his brethren, aud probably the mob took 
 more liberty with him, because, unlike the other lead- 
 ing men in South Wales, he was not an ordained 
 
 40 
 
SUFFERINGS OF HOWELL HARRIS. 41 
 
 clergyman. On one occasion, having barely escaped 
 with his life from the hands of a mob in Monmouthshire, 
 he made in the direction of his home. About two 
 o'clock in the morning, and almost fainting from loss of 
 blood, he was able to reach a farm-house called Tory- 
 gaer, on the slope of the Black Mountain, just above 
 Crickhowell, occupied by a Mr. Walter Rumsey. He 
 knocked at the door and feebly asked for admittance. 
 Mrs. Rumsey heard and recognised the voice and at 
 once let him in. He presented a sad picture. His 
 clothes were torn, his face covered with blood, his 
 body bruised, and his head cut in no less than thirteen 
 places. Mr. and Mrs. Rumsey were zealous friends 
 of the cause for the sake of which he had thus severely 
 suffered, and all that the tenderest love could devise 
 was done in his behalf, but he was obliged to remain 
 under their hospitable roof for a week before his 
 strength was sufficiently recovered to enable him to 
 leave. 
 
 We shall give a few extracts in his own words, in 
 an Autobiography published in 1791 : — 
 
 " My life being now in danger in several places 
 by the mob, especially in February 1739, when 
 they found I could not be prosecuted as a rioter, 
 because it did not appear I disturbed the peace, yet in 
 Montgomeryshire, a knight, a clergyman, and two 
 justices, whilst I was discoursing, came, attended by 
 a constable, with the mob, and took cognisance of 
 me, and such as met together to hear my exhortation 
 in a place unlicensed ; then they began to charge me 
 with a breach of the Conventicle Act. I told the 
 
42 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 magistrate that I was a Conformist, and for that 
 reason not subject to the penalties of that Statute. 
 Then they said that they would consult the best 
 lawyers in order to know if there was a law to be 
 enforced against me, and if there was, that I might 
 expect to suffer its utmost extremity. My persecu- 
 tors thus continued to threaten me until Session 
 came on, at which time a lawyer was consulted, and 
 the case was dropped. 
 
 " After my dismission I went to Merionethshire, 
 where I trust the Lord blessed the seed sown to 
 some. In my return from thence I came by Dinas 
 Mawddwy, and discoursed there, and at the request 
 of a friend I went on to Machynlleth ; but at my first 
 entrance there, I found none were disposed to receive 
 me. However, I proposed to preach the gospel to 
 such as met in the street, being placed in an open 
 window or door in an upper room, but I was obliged 
 to desist by the noise of the multitude, who continued 
 hallooing, threatening, swearing, and flinging stones 
 or anything they could lay their hands on; and 
 especially by an attorney's coming up to me with 
 such rage and fury in his looks, and his mouth so 
 full of the language of hell as if his name was Legion, 
 and with him a gentleman and a clergyman in the 
 same spirit and language to head the mob. One of 
 them discharged a pistol at me. I received no hurt, 
 but was obliged to go among them into the street, 
 not expecting that I should escape alive, seeing every 
 circumstance threatened me mth death. But my hour 
 was not yet come ; though they used me ill, yet I was 
 
HARRIS MOBBED AT NEWPORT. 43 
 
 miraculously preserved ; and at last one of the mob 
 was disposed to fetch my horse, and as soon as I 
 mounted they observed which way I went and crossed 
 my road, and began again to throw sticks and stones at 
 me, till the Lord delivered me out of their hands. 
 
 " In the summer of 1740, as I went through Gla- 
 morganshire, I met with Mr. Seward at Cowbridge. 
 From thence he came on with me to Cardiff, and 
 then we went on comfortably together to Monmouth- 
 shire and preached at the several towns of Newport, 
 Caerleon, Usk, and Monmouth, when Satan was per- 
 mitted to rage against us in a most horrible manner. 
 At Newport the mob rushed on us with the utmost 
 rage and fury. They tore both my coat-sleeves, one 
 quite off, and took away my peruke, I being now in 
 the rain. 0, sweet bareheadedness — under the rep'oach 
 of Christ ! Having little silence I discoursed on, but 
 soon they hallooed again and pelted me with apples 
 and dirt, flinging stones in the utmost rage about me. 
 I had one blow on my forehead, which caused a rising, 
 with little blood. Many friends would have me 
 give over in the tumult, but I could not be free to 
 do that till the storm would be over, and God be 
 glorified over Satan. When we came to Caerleon 
 everything seemed calm and quiet, whilst Brother Se- 
 ward prayed and discoursed sweetly by the Market- 
 house ; but when I began to discourse after him, 
 then they began to roar most horribly, pelting us 
 with dung and dirt, throwing eggs, plum-stones, and 
 other hard substances even in our faces, and hallooed 
 so loudly as to drown my voice entirely. Brother 
 
44 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Seward had a furious blow on his right eye, which 
 caused him much anguish ; and as it affected his left 
 he was obliged to be led by the hand blindfold for 
 some days, till at last he became totally blind of it. 
 When we came to Monmouth, we had much the 
 same treatment as at Newport and Caerleon. It hap- 
 pened to be the horse-race there, and both high and 
 low were assembled against us. As I began to dis- 
 course on a table over against the Town-hall windows, 
 where the Duke of B. and Lord N., and a great 
 number of gentlemen and ladies, were at dinner, they 
 ordered a drum to be beat by our sides ; although the 
 Lord enabled me to bear my testimony against their 
 balls, assemblies, horse-races, whoredom, and drunken- 
 ness, the drum continued to beat, and the mob pelting 
 with apples, pears, stones, dirt, and a dead dog. 
 During this storm Brother Seward was much afraid 
 of hurt, yet he endured it with much calmness of 
 spirit, saying, ' Better endure this than hell.' Thus 
 all their opposition could not hinder our progress, 
 but in the strength of the Lord we went on from 
 conquering to conquer. . . . 
 
 "In the beginning of the year 1741 I went to 
 North Wales, and as I proceeded the enemy was 
 provoked at my attempt thus to propagate the gospel 
 in his territories, and resolved to make a stand against 
 me, and endeavoured as much as he should be per- 
 mitted to take away my life. Having been impor- 
 tuned to visit Bala in Merionethshire, and to proceed 
 to the north, though I had been there once or twice 
 before, after prayer and consultation I intrusted God 
 
HARRIS AT BALA. 45 
 
 with my life, relying on His faithfulness, and went 
 on. Accidentally, as I was near Bala, I overtook the 
 minister that belonged to that place, who cautioned 
 me to desist at my peril. I meekly replied I was fully 
 persuaded it was my duty — that I had no other in- 
 tention but to publish the glad tidings of salvation, 
 and would not wilfully offend any person. However, 
 he gave me very ill language, and came towards me 
 with a great club to strike me. I told him when I 
 was reviled I was taught not to revile again, and rode 
 on quietly. But when I entered the town I found a 
 numerous assembly waiting for me, and it was said 
 that all the county mob were met together purposely 
 to abuse and hinder me. At the request of my 
 friends I quitted the streets, and went into a house 
 to discourse. 
 
 " During all this I was happy in my soul, and full 
 of power and courage, my voice being lifted up like 
 a trumpet, so that people could hear in spite of all 
 the disturbance that was made at the door and 
 window, which was broken to pieces by the mob, and 
 thus I discoursed on for some time. But when the 
 mob, who had been preparing themselves for the 
 work by excessive drinking — it was supposed that 
 the minister had given them the drink — came among 
 the people, a friend desired me to leave off, though I 
 was yet full of power in my spirit ; yet, preferring 
 my friend's advice before the call in my own soul, I 
 ceased to speak, but I immediately felt the power 
 withdrawn from me, and then I understood that I 
 had done wrong. However, I retired to an upper 
 
46 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 room, but the mob, instead of withdrawing, appeared 
 to be more enraged. Some surrounded the house, 
 while others climbed to the top of it, threatening me 
 with instant death as soon as I should come out. 
 As night drew on I thought it my duty to go out 
 among them, committing myself to the hands of God, 
 but as soon as I went out of the house one seized me 
 by the handkerchief; by it giving way I was pre- 
 vented from falling to the ground. Another hit me 
 on the face, whilst others flung stones and dirt at 
 me. I then thought it was my lot to die Stephen's 
 death in the midst of them. I spoke to them and 
 prayed for them, but whilst I did this one desired 
 me to go away, telling me that I tempted the Lord 
 by staying there, and no sooner had I turned my 
 back on my enemies to go away, than I was some- 
 how left to myself, and sank under the waves, though 
 I was not afraid of death, knowing it was an entrance 
 to eternal rest ; having no fear of hell or doubt of 
 God's favour through the blood of Christ my Saviour; 
 yet being rather unwilling to die by the hands of 
 these villains, gave me some uneasiness. They still 
 inhumanly continued to beat me with sticks and 
 staffs, and to pelt me with stones, etc., until I fell 
 under their merciless feet, where they continued to 
 beat me until the Lord touched the heart of one of 
 them with pity, or fear of being prosecuted for kill- 
 ing me. He swore that they should beat me no 
 more, and rescued me out of their hands whilst they 
 were employed in giving my friends the like treat- 
 ment ; although they were able to make defensive 
 
PETER WILLIAMS AT KIDWELLY. 47 
 
 resistance, yet they imitated Christ the Lord, their 
 Master, in bearing all patiently, as I desired them to 
 do. So at last we came to our lodging, and dressed 
 our wounds, and there also I exhorted my fellow- 
 sufferers, and we rejoiced together that we were 
 counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake." 
 
 Writing to a friend in the year 1748, respecting 
 a recent journey in North Wales, he says, " I Avas 
 seven nights in succession during this journey with- 
 out undressing, and travelled a hundred miles from 
 the morning of one day to the evening of the next, 
 without having any rest, preaching at midnight or 
 in the early morning on the mountains. This I was 
 obliged to do to avoid persecution. The week before 
 my visit a man near Wrexham had been fined £20 
 by Sir W. W. Wynn, and several of the hearers had 
 had to pay five shillings each, and one ten shillings, a 
 sum which he had been obliged to pay once before. 
 This is the third time that the brethren have been 
 treated in this manner ; and on the last occasion 
 there was only one brother present praying with a 
 family." In this case the zealous magistrate overshot 
 the mark. Representations were made in high 
 quarters by the Countess of Huntingdon, and Sir W. 
 was obliged to return the fines, the number assembled 
 being too few to bring the case under the Conventicle 
 Act. A few months afterwards this merciless per- 
 secutor was killed by a fall from his horse. 
 
 Peter Williams was likewise oftentimes roughly 
 handled. At Kidwelly, within four miles of his 
 home, he attempted to hold a service in the open air 
 
48 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 on a Sabbath afternoon. A number of roughs as- 
 sembled together, and as soon as he began to pray, 
 they pulled him down and savagely beat him. When 
 he mounted his horse they led the animal to the 
 neighbouring marsh and compelled it to leap across 
 the dykes which abound there, promising themselves 
 the mighty fun of seeing the preacher tumbling over. 
 But he was too good a horseman to afford them that 
 kind of amusement. They afterwards dragged him 
 into the public-house, swearing that they would make 
 him drunk. This again proved fruitless labour, for in- 
 stead of drinking the beer which they continued to 
 put into his hands, he poured it into his boots. He 
 remained there a prisoner in the hands of the mob, 
 until some of his own servants, whom Mrs. Williams, 
 alarmed at his lengthened absence, had sent in quest 
 of him, came to his rescue. Preaching in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Wrexham, he was arrested by the orders 
 of Sir Watkin, and brought into his presence. We 
 have no account of the examination which he under- 
 went, but at the close of it he was committed to the 
 dog-kennel, where he had to remain for the night. 
 In the morning he was set at liberty, and bent his 
 steps towards the friendly roof of Moses Lewis, a 
 farmer in the neighbourhood. Here he was followed 
 by the constables who had arrested him on the pre- 
 ceding day, not, it is supposed, by the order of the 
 magistrate, but wishing to do a little business on 
 their own account. His host seeing them approach 
 the house, and suspecting their purpose, took posses- 
 sion of his watch. He was obliged to submit to be 
 
THE GREY MARE. 49 
 
 searched by these worthies, and they appropriated to 
 themselves all the money which they could find upon 
 him, which amounted to three shillings and sixpence. 
 Our readers will not be shocked when we say that 
 he took snuff. The constables took possession of his 
 snuff-box, but at his earnest entreaty were kind 
 enough to return it. Possibly they would not have 
 returned it unopened if they had only known that 
 besides containing a quantity of the sweet-scented 
 dust, it contained half a guinea. At Trevriw, near 
 Llanrwst, he was set upon by a great crowd, which 
 was headed by two "gentlemen," dragged into a 
 public-house, where he was kept prisoner from six 
 o'clock in the evening until two next morning, a butt 
 to the gibes and badinage of the rabble, and subjected 
 to the most disgraceful outrages. At length the two 
 " gentlemen " called for their horses and departed, 
 having first paid the score, including the cost of food 
 and lodgings for their victim. By and by the roughs 
 left, and the preacher, finding a clear coast, hastened 
 to make his escape, " sorry in his heart that he had 
 not been permitted to preach." 
 
 A rather ludicrous incident happened in connexion 
 with an attempt to disturb his preaching at a place 
 called Penrhos in Anglesea. A crowd of rioters had 
 assembled and were making for the place where Mr. 
 AVilliams was preaching. Among them was an 
 elderly man riding a grey mare and armed with a 
 bludgeon, as eager for the fray as any of the tumul- 
 tuous throng. When they came near the congrega- 
 tion, some one quite accidentally touched the grey 
 D 
 
50 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 mare in the vicinity of the crupper, and she resented 
 the insult with a tremendous fling, which produced 
 no little amusement. Another tried the experiment, 
 with the same result, and it all at once struck them 
 that it would be quite as good fun to tickle the 
 mare as to beat the preacher. To this they applied 
 themselves in good earnest. The infuriated animal 
 scampered off, plunging and kicking, followed by the 
 crowd, each eager to get one chance more to touch 
 the crupper, in spite of the angry protests of the 
 rider, who had as much as he could do to keep his 
 seat in the saddle, and the preacher and the few who 
 had come together to hear him were left in peace. 
 
 Daniel Eowlands was mobbed on some occasions, 
 but not so frequently as some of his brethren. AVhen 
 attempting to preach at Llanilar, in his own county, 
 a great crowd, under the leadership of Squire Jones 
 of Abermade, a mansion in the vicinity, assaulted 
 him so fiercely with stones, brickbats, and other 
 missiles, that he was obliged to desist and escape for 
 his life, exclaiming, " I bear in my body the marks 
 of the Lord Jesus." 
 
 He soon made another attempt, and on this occa- 
 sion the " Squire " did not put in an appearance, but 
 not willing that the service should pass undisturbed, 
 he treated two of his servants, a stalwart Welshman 
 named Dick James, and an Irishman named Mike 
 Daniel, to a liberal quantity of the drink, and sent 
 them to the place of meeting, with orders to give the 
 preacher a sound thrashing. When they came to 
 the spot they agreed to listen for a while before be- 
 
A PERSISTENT CHURCH CHOIR. 51 
 
 ginning their assault. It struck Dick that the 
 preacher was saying something very solemn, looking 
 very grave, and crying withal, which had the effect 
 of shaking him in his purpose. After a few minutes 
 says Mike, " Let 's at him now." " No," says Dick. 
 " Then I will go my own self and hit him," says 
 Mike. " If you do," says Dick, " I '11 hit you, and 
 such a blow that you shan't want another." The 
 service concluded in peace, and Dick and Mike re- 
 turned to their master. " Did j^ou beat him welH" 
 asked the Squire. "Not at all at all, Masthur," 
 replied Mike. "Why?" "Sure enough it was all 
 Dick's fault : he threatened to bate me instead of the 
 preacher," was Mike's reply. " How is this, Dick V 
 inquired the master. " Indeed, sir," replied Dick, 
 " when I came to his sight he looked so serious and 
 wept so uncommonly, that I could not think of hit- 
 ting him while he cried." "Ah, well," said the 
 Squire, " I see that you frightened him. He will 
 not be in haste to venture to this neighbourhood 
 again." 
 
 At Ne\^ in Carnarvonshire, a very original 
 device was had recourse to to prevent him from 
 preaching. The church choir were instructed to sing 
 the 119 th Psalm from beginning to end, and they 
 sang on for hours without intermission. Possibly 
 their music was none of the best, but it was less 
 painful to endure than stones and mud, and yet it 
 answered precisely the same j)urpose — for it effec- 
 tually prevented the preaching. 
 
 There was a good deal of ingenuity exercised in 
 
52 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 those days in devising means and methods to annoy 
 the preachers and their friends. WTien Peter Wil- 
 liams was with some friends passing through a little 
 town in Anglesea, most of the population followed 
 them, hooting and pelting them with stones and 
 other missiles. Some had bags loosely filled with 
 stones, and tied to the ends of stakes, which they 
 rattled away with all their might to frighten the 
 horses. 
 
 At a place in Denbighshire, on the road leading 
 from Wtherin to Llansanan, there was a Gunpowder 
 Plot on a small scale. An excellent man, named 
 Lewis Evans, had engaged to preach on a Sabbath 
 afternoon on a small mound in a field near the road- 
 side. A person happened to come to the place some 
 time before the hour for beginning the ser^dce, and 
 walking up and down he observed a singular-looking 
 bunch of straw coming up out of the ground. On 
 examination he found it filled with gunpowder, a 
 small train of which he traced to the top of the 
 mound where the preacher was expected to take his 
 stand. Here he found a hole two feet in diameter 
 filled with powder, and carefully covered over with 
 turf. He was no Methodist himself, nor a friend to 
 the Methodists, but he thought that he would like to 
 disappoint the ingenious plotters. He accordingly 
 scraped the powder from the hole, replacing the turf, 
 separated the train which led from the straw in 
 several places, and put himself in a convenient posi- 
 tion to watch the event. While the service was pro- 
 ceeding, he observed a man who was servant to a 
 
LEWIS EVANS AND THE MAGISTRATE. 53 
 
 solicitor in tlie neighbourhood, and dressed like a 
 waggoner, approaching the straw and setting it on 
 fire. There was a flash, but it was only " in the 
 pan." The seeming waggoner was greatly disap- 
 pointed, a feeling which very possibly was shared by 
 his master, while the preacher and his friends 
 escaped what might have been a very serious injury. 
 
 The above Lewis Evans was one of the mightiest 
 workers in the Methodist movement, and one of the 
 few of their number who suffered a lengthened im- 
 prisonment. On one occasion when he was preach- 
 ing at Bala, a magistrate residing in the neighbour- 
 hood sent officers to arrest and bring him into his 
 presence. He was ushered into the parlour, when 
 the following dialogue took place between the magis- 
 trate and himself : — 
 
 Magistrate. " Art thou the man who has been 
 preaching at Bala]" 
 
 Preacher. " Yes, sir ; it is I who have been giving 
 a word of exhortation to the people." 
 
 M. " Where art thou from '?" 
 
 P. " From the parish of Llanllugan, Montgomery- 
 shire." 
 
 31. " What is thine employment when thou art at 
 home 1" 
 
 P. " A weaver, sir." 
 
 M. " Hadst thou not enough work at home ]" 
 
 P. " Yes, sir, abundance." 
 
 M. " What for then didst thou come this wsljV 
 
 P. "To give a word of exhortation to my fellow- 
 sinners." 
 
54 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 M. " Thou art not wanted here. We have clergy- 
 men brought up at Oxford at great cost for the work 
 of preaching." 
 
 P. " There is enough work for them and me, for 
 the people in great multitudes go to ruin in spite of 
 us all." 
 
 M. " I shall send thee to prison for thy pains." 
 
 P. " My better has been in prison before me. 
 The Lord Jesus himself was put in prison after he 
 had come to the world to save sinners. The Lord 
 Jesus — " 
 
 M. " Stop ! Dost thou intend to preach in my 
 parlour]" 
 
 P. " I do not think that your parlour is too good 
 to speak in of the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Eventually the preacher was committed to Dol- 
 gelly jail, where he lay for six months. Some of his 
 friends, feeling that they ought to interfere in his 
 behalf, inquired into the case, found that the magis- 
 trate had overstepped his authority, and commenced 
 legal proceedings against him. It appears that the 
 great man himself made the same discovery, and 
 began to fear that a storm was brewing. He there- 
 fore hastened to Dolgelly to have an interview with 
 his prisoner. 
 
 " Well, Lewis," said he, " here thou art still." 
 
 Preacher. " Yes, sir ; here I am." 
 
 Magistrate. " And here thou art likely to be for 
 ever." 
 
 P. " No, sir ; neither you nor I shall be here for 
 ever." 
 
MORGAN GRIFFITH. 55 
 
 M. " If thou wert but to give me a little money I 
 could get thee out." 
 
 P. " Indeed, sir 1 I think that you ought to get 
 me out for nothing, for you had most to do in putting 
 me in." 
 
 31. " Tell me, are there many of you 1" 
 
 P. " yes, sir, a great number, and there will be 
 many more of us by and by." 
 
 M. " May you all be hanged by the same tree ! " 
 
 P. " You shall have been turned to dust, sir, long 
 before that happens." 
 
 The preacher was set at liberty " for nothing," the 
 magistrate, as it appears, bearing the expenses, and 
 the legal proceedings against the latter were stayed ; 
 but he was given to understand that a sharp eye 
 would be kept on his movements, and that he should 
 not be permitted to play such a freak again at so 
 little cost. 
 
 Another exhorter of the period was Morgan 
 Griffith, commonly known as Morgan the Sievemaker, 
 who lived near Pwllheli in Carnarvonshire. He 
 understood music, taught classes, and was leader of 
 the choir in his parish church. While discharging 
 this service it occurred to him that the kind of 
 singing in which he was engaged was not praise unto 
 God ; that he and his companions of the choir were 
 not singing in their hearts to the Lord, and that their 
 performance therefore was mockery and not praise. 
 This thought haunted him continually, and it so 
 affected him that he durst not say at the giving out 
 of the psalm, " Let us sing to the praise and glory of 
 
56 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 God." He applied himself earnestly to read the Bible 
 and to hear the Word preached when opportunity- 
 offered, and at length found rest to his troubled con- 
 science through the blood of Christ. About the 
 year 1744 he began publicly to exhort his neighbours 
 to flee from the wrath to come. But he lived in the 
 neighbourhood of one of the most furious persecutors 
 of the Methodists, a tyi^ant out and out, namely, the 
 Rev. John Owen, rector of Llanor and chancellor of 
 Bangor. Poor Morgan Griffith was not long before 
 he had to enter upon a course of suffering. On his 
 return home from a place where he had been preach- 
 ing, he was arrested and taken to Pwllheli, where he 
 was lodged in prison to await his examination. He 
 was at the time a widower with two children, one 
 of whom was a boy of eight years of age, and the 
 other a girl of six. A maternal uncle of the poor 
 motherless children took them to Pwllheli to present 
 them in court, hoping, simple man that he was, that 
 the sight of them and their helpless condition would 
 melt the magistrates' hearts. But he was mistaken. 
 The harmless little ones were the means of greatly 
 aggravating their father's case. A book was put in the 
 hands of the boy, and to the disgust of the bench he 
 was found to be able to read. The same experiment 
 was tried on the girl, and with the same result. This 
 was intolerable. It was evident that the man was a 
 disorderly person, and that he was bringing up his 
 children to the same ways with himself, and there- 
 fore he must by some means be got rid of There 
 were other Methodists examined at the same time. 
 
SENT ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR. 5 7 
 
 No law existed by which they could be committed 
 to prison, and merely to fine them for their breach of 
 the Conventicle Act would not answer the magis- 
 trates' purpose. But the Royal Navy was at the 
 time in need of sailors, and the whole batch were 
 sent on board a ship of war. They were taken 
 first to Carnarvon, and afterwards halted at Conway. 
 At the latter place it was for some reason a 
 holiday, and a large number of people assembled 
 before the place where the prisoners rested, anxi- 
 ous to catch a glimpse of them. Morgan Griffith 
 stood up and addressed the crowd, telling them 
 that he and his companions in suff'ering were there 
 not for murder or robbery or any other crime 
 against the laws of the country, but for reading the 
 Scriptures, praying together, and exhorting one an- 
 other in the interests of their souls ; and with great 
 earnestness he entreated them to consider their ways 
 and to turn to the Lord. " As for us," he added, 
 " our consciences are at peace, and we rejoice that 
 we are counted worthy to suff'er reproach for the 
 sake of Christ." Two young men among the audience 
 were impressed by this discourse, and became zealous 
 helpers in the cause of the gospel. 
 
 After remaining for some time on board ship, 
 Morgan Griffith and one of his companions were per- 
 mitted to return to their homes on furlough. It was 
 generally believed that they would have been allowed 
 to remain at home unmolested if they had only 
 refrained from the doings which had given off'ence to 
 the authorities. But refrain they could not; the 
 
58 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 word was in their hearts as a burning fire shut up in 
 their bones, and they were weary with forbearing 
 and could not stay. On one of the first Sabbaths 
 after their return, Morgan Griffith preached in the 
 neighbourhood, and his friend introduced the service. 
 They were consequently sent away before the expira- 
 tion of their furlough, and word was sent with them 
 to the commander of the ship, that they were dis- 
 orderly people, creating a disturbance in the country, 
 and that Morgan Griffith was the worse of the two. 
 The latter was told by the officers that they had had 
 complaints against him from Government that he 
 was a ringleader of seditious men, and that he must 
 put away his religious sentiments and practices, and 
 become a " quiet Churchman," otherwise he should 
 be shot. Time was given him to make up his mind 
 on the momentous subject. At the expiration of 
 that period he was asked what he had determined 
 to do, and this was his heroic reply : " I must obey 
 God rather than man. I give myself to the care of 
 Him who is able to keep that which is committed to 
 Him, and am determined that neither reproach nor 
 suffering shall induce me to dishonour my Master." 
 He was consequently placed at the end of the ship, 
 and a file of men were ordered to fire on him. The 
 poor exhorter had no idea but that he must die, but 
 his tormentors only intended it for a lark, and the 
 guns were only charged with powder. Possibly the 
 officers considered it a good joke, but it was, to say 
 the least, a very cruel one, and one that might have 
 ended in a catastrophe which would have made it an 
 
DEATH OF MORGAN GRIFFITH. 59 
 
 expensive one to themselves. From that day he was 
 treated with greater respect, but that respect came 
 too late, for he soon afterwards sickened and died, 
 abundantly enjoying in his last moments that peace 
 which passeth understanding. He had to die far 
 away from the helpless orphans from whom he had 
 been so ruthlessly torn ; but it is comforting to know 
 that a kind Providence took care of the little ones, 
 and that they never wanted any good thing. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 More persecution and oppression — William Pritchard — Hugh 
 Thomas hiding in caves — Edward Parry —Margaret Hughes — 
 Owen Thomas Kowland — Thomas Lloyd sold up— Sale at 
 Wrexham— Eichard Hughes and the agent. 
 
 Preachers and exhorters were not the only 
 sufferers in those troublous times. Those who re- 
 ceived them into their houses, as well as those who 
 were in the habit of attending on their ministrations, 
 were equally exposed to the displeasure of the great, 
 and the fury of the rabble. There was living at Glas- 
 fryn Fawr, near Pwllheli, a farmer who was somewhat 
 wealthy, and better educated than most of his neigh- 
 bours, of the name of William Pritchard. He was 
 a religious man before his neighbourhood had been 
 visited by any of the Methodist preachers, and his 
 conversion had been brought about in a remarkable 
 manner. On one Sunday evening, having remained 
 later than usual at a public -house where he had been 
 drinking with some of his wild companions, he missed 
 his way home. He wandered for a while in entire 
 ignorance of his own whereabouts, but at length see- 
 ing a light he made towards it, and had no sooner 
 reached the place than he understood where he was, 
 
WILLIAM PRITCHARD. 61 
 
 and at once he moved on in the direction of his own 
 residence. But he soon lost himself again, and 
 again found himself by the cottage from which the 
 light emanated. He looked in and saw the occupant 
 reading the Bible, and after some time he beheld 
 him fall on his knees to pray. William Pritchard, 
 who could hear every word that was uttered, stayed 
 to the end of the prayer, and then found his way 
 home without any further difficulty. Some of the 
 words to which he had listened clung to his mind, 
 made him feel unhappy, and he could find no rest 
 until he had been made willing to give himself 
 to the Lord. There was a small Independent church 
 at Pwllheli, and of this he became a member. It 
 was at his house that Howell Harris preached his 
 first sermon in that part of the country. He ad- 
 mired the zeal of the Methodists, and encouraged 
 and helped them in every way, but he thus brought 
 numberless troubles upon himself. It seems that he 
 was in the habit of occasionally attending the church 
 in wdiich Chancellor Owen officiated, and when re- 
 turning from the service on o^;ie Sunday, he was 
 asked how he liked the sermon. He answered that 
 he did not like it at all, and expressed it as his 
 opinion that the doctrines it contained were not in 
 accordance Avith the Word of God. These words 
 were carried to the ears of the Chancellor, and the 
 result was that William Pritchard was cited before 
 the Ecclesiastical Court of Bangor to answer for the 
 slander. With much difficulty and expense the case 
 was removed from that court to the county assizes, 
 
62 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 where it was decided in favour of the defendant. 
 But the vengeful Chancellor succeeded in inducing W. 
 Pritchard's landlord to turn him out of his farm, and 
 finding no other place in the neighbourhood, he was 
 obliged to remove to the Isle of Anglesea. Here he 
 settled in a farm called Plas-pen-mynydd ; but the 
 report that he was a man having embraced a strange 
 kind of religion, and followed some unheard-of prac- 
 tices, had reached the place before him, and he was 
 subjected by his new neighbours to numberless an- 
 noyances. Cattle were turned in his hay and corn 
 crops, his implements of husbandry were broken to 
 pieces, and his property damaged in every possible 
 way. But he still continued to seek his neighbours' 
 spiritual benefit. He had a cottage near his house 
 licensed for preaching, and made every eff'ort to get 
 the little building supplied with the ministry of the 
 gospel. The injury done to his property he suffered 
 patiently until one Sunday evening, when matters 
 reached an unbearable point. He was from home at 
 the time, but the report had gone abroad that he 
 had been seen returning on Saturday evening, and in 
 company with a preacher. Mrs. Pritchard was 
 within with an infant of three months old and a 
 young maid-servant, the other servants having gone 
 to church, when a great crowd assembled in front 
 of the house, and seeing Mrs. Pritchard shouted to 
 her, " We are come to kill thy Roundhead and his 
 preacher.'^ " If Roundhead you call him," she replied, 
 " he is not at home now." " It is a lie ! " they all 
 answered, but they did not think it proper to put it 
 
WRECK OF W. PRITCHARD'S PREMISES. 63 
 
 to the proof by searching the house, but broke all 
 the windows, and then entering the cow-houses and 
 stables, they broke stalls, mangers, racks, and every 
 other breakable thing which they could find. After 
 this they went into the barn, and mixed together all 
 the winnowed barley and oats which they found lying 
 there. When Mr. Pritchard came home, and saw 
 the wreck which had been made of his property, he 
 resolved that he would suffer such doings in silence 
 no more. He was well aware that a Roundhead had 
 but a poor chance of justice from the magistrates of 
 his own county, and therefore put the case in the 
 hands of an English lawyer who was known as a 
 friend of religious liberty. He gave this gentleman 
 a list of the leaders in the work of ruin about his 
 house, and an action for damages was brought against 
 these at the Shrewsbury assizes, and they were 
 obliged to pay in full for the mischief they had done. 
 But it was resolved that he should not remain in the 
 neighbourhood, and he had therefore to quit his farm. 
 It was but a short time that he was allowed to 
 remain at his next farm, but when driven from this 
 last, he was happy enough to meet with a landlord 
 who believed in liberty of conscience. The enemy 
 gained nothing by causing this good man to be driven 
 about thus from place to place. The things that hap- 
 pened unto William Pritchard fell out rather unto 
 the furtherance of the gospel, for wherever he Went 
 he was immediately followed by the Methodists. 
 
 At the time when Morgan Griffith was sent 
 on board a man-of-war, there was a friend of his 
 
64 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 named Hugh Thomas, against whom a warrant was 
 issued, but who managed to escape being arrested. 
 A religious friend of his who had been doing harvest 
 work for two successive summers at a farm called 
 Caeglas, near the foot of Snowdon, advised him to 
 flee thither, assuring him that the family at Caeglas 
 would not refuse to give him shelter. " The first 
 year I was there," said he, " I asked permission to 
 hold family worship in the house, and the people 
 did not know what I meant. They looked stupid 
 and confused ; but I did it every day, and was tole- 
 rated. The following year the Bible was brought 
 to me the first day, and I was asked to conduct 
 family worship regularly. I think that those people 
 would be disposed to give you protection." Towards 
 Caeglas therefore, Hugh Thomas bent his steps. 
 The place was about thirty miles from his home, and 
 he was obliged to start by night lest he should be 
 discovered. We give the sequel in his own words. 
 
 " When I had reached the place, and had told the 
 family my troubles, they showed every disposition to 
 afford me shelter ; but it was easy to see that 
 they were afraid, lest they should, in harbouring me, 
 bring evil upon themselves. In this perplexity it 
 was resolved that a bed should be fitted up for me 
 in a cave which was far up on the side of Snow- 
 don, where I should remain day and night, and 
 where the shepherd should bring me food daily in 
 going up the mountain to look after the sheep. 
 Here I remained concealed for several weeks : after 
 which I was permitted to sleep in the house, escap- 
 
HIDING IN CAVE. 65 
 
 ing to the cave every morning before the dawn, and 
 not returning until after dark. At length the vigi- 
 lance of the search for me having somewhat relaxed, I 
 was allowed to dispense with my hiding-place and to 
 remain in the house day and night. 
 
 " Meanwhile my wife did not know what had 
 become of me, and I had no means to know how she 
 fared ; and my heart being well-nigh broken with a 
 sore longing for seeing her, I resolved to go home. I 
 left Caeglas a little before night, in the hope of reach- 
 ing my house while it was yet dark. As I was 
 drawing near my own neighbourhood I was more 
 afraid lest any should see me and report my arrival. 
 I succeeded, however, in reaching home before day- 
 light. I spent the whole of the first day after my 
 arrival in bed ; but when night came I was afraid to 
 remain any longer in my own house, thinking that 
 very possibly it might have become known to some 
 people that I was there. I therefore, with the 
 assistance of a friend, made a hole in a high bank 
 which was covered with furze, and this I made my 
 refuge. Whenever I entered this cave I pulled a 
 quantity of furze after me against its mouth to con- 
 ceal it. My poor wife had not the means to support 
 me here in idleness ; I therefore employed my time 
 in making small nets for family uses, which she took 
 about the neighbourhood to sell, or to give in ex- 
 change for morsels of food. I went on thus for 
 some time before I ventured to sleep in my own 
 house ; and even then, I took care to return to my 
 hole every morning before daylight. At length the 
 E 
 
66 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 news came that Morgan Griffith's companions were 
 allowed to return to their homes. I then ventured 
 to show myself, and was permitted to remain in 
 peace." 
 
 Poor Hugh Thomas felt that his own case con- 
 trasted unfavourably with that of his friend Morgan 
 Griffith. " He faced the storm," said he, " but as for 
 me, my heart is sore now because I fled like Jonah." 
 It did not occur to him, perhaps, that he had been 
 given the honour of adding one to the number of 
 those worthies of whom it is written, that to escape 
 the fury of savage persecutors, "they wandered in 
 deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of 
 the earth." 
 
 At a farm called Cefnbyr in the parish of Llan- 
 sanan, Denbighshire, there lived a man named Ed- 
 ward Parry, who having been brought to know and to 
 love the gospel, offered an open door to its ministry. 
 Services were held at his house, which were attended 
 by a number of his neighbours. This gave ofience 
 to several, and especially so to the clergjrman of the 
 parish. The proprietor of Cefnbyr was made ac- 
 quainted with the conduct of his tenant, and the 
 result was, that the latter was given to understand 
 that if he did not refrain from harbouring those 
 strangers who tramped the country taking upon them 
 to preach, he should be turned out of his farm. This 
 was told him by his master, and his reply was, 
 " Your land, sir, is only temporal, while religion is 
 eternal." He refused to yield, and was expelled from 
 his home and obliged to leave the neighbourhood, to 
 
MARGARET HUGHES. 67 
 
 the great sorrow of the little flock who usually as- 
 sembled to worship at his house, and who felt that 
 his departure involved their utter deprivation of 
 those services which were to them the only social 
 means of grace. But it was not so. A widow named 
 Margaret Hughes, who held a farm in the vicinity, 
 ventured, with Edward Parry's fate before her eyes, 
 to open her house to receive the Methodist services. 
 Complaints were made to her landlord by the accuser 
 of Edward Parry, and she was served with a notice 
 to quit her farm. At the expiration of the notice, 
 however, no one came to take possession, and she 
 was therefore induced to remain, in the hope that her 
 landlord had relented. Probably he would have let 
 the poor widow alone if he had been let alone him- 
 self; but the indefatigable informer of the parish 
 would not let him rest until she had been ejected. 
 She was accordingly turned out with all her goods 
 and chattels, in the month of August, and having no 
 home to go to, she was obliged to take up her abode 
 under a temporary shelter thrown up in the corner 
 of a common in the vicinity, where she had to 
 remain till the close of the year. It was a wretched 
 home, which could not protect her or her little house- 
 hold from either Avind or rain ; but she bore it 
 bravely for the sake of Christ. And even here she 
 did what she could. Her poor habitation was made 
 a house of God, and the services which had been ex- 
 cluded with her from the comfortable home from 
 which she had been so mercilessly expelled, were 
 continued under her roof of twigs and branches. As 
 
68 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the winter advanced, a gentleman in the neighbour- 
 hood took compassion upon her, and allowed her ta 
 dwell in a house of which he was the owner, until 
 the following spring. 
 
 This was not all that Margaret Hughes had ta 
 suffer for the sake of the gospel. On one Sabbath- 
 day she went to Denbigh to hear a sermon at the 
 house of one Thomas Lloyd. While the service was 
 proceeding, a great crowd came up to the house,. 
 rushed in, and began to abuse the few worshippers, 
 so that they were obliged to escape for their lives. 
 They were pursued in the direction of Nantglyn, and 
 Margaret Hughes was overtaken, pulled off her horse, 
 and most brutally treated. Her clothes were par- 
 tially torn off her body, and it is not known to what 
 other lengths the ruffians would have proceeded if a 
 gentleman had not happened to pass at the time and 
 rescued her out of their hands. This kind gentle- 
 man charged her to make complaint to a neighbour- 
 ing magistrate, adding, that if he did not do his duty, 
 he would see him punished himself Some of the 
 actors in that dastardly outrage belonged to the 
 wealthy class, and were possibly called " gentlemen ; " 
 and it is some satisfaction to know that the proceed- 
 ings of that day turned out to be far more expensive 
 to them than they had anticipated. 
 
 Owen Thomas Eowland was a blacksmith living 
 at Llechgynfarvvy in Anglesea. In his youth he was 
 remarkable for his ungodliness, but he was induced 
 by a friend to accompany him to hear a sermon by 
 one of the Methodists. Owen did not at all enjoy 
 
OWEN THOMAS ROWLAND. 69 
 
 the early part of the service, and made an attempt 
 to go away, but the press was so great that he was 
 obliged to remain where he was to the end; and 
 from that day he was another man. He soon be- 
 came as remarkable for his religious zeal as he had 
 been for his wickedness. But those who had let 
 him alone in his ungodliness would not tolerate his 
 earnest religion, for he was not satisfied with quietly 
 and peaceably seeking the salvation of his own soul, 
 but he must likewise, to the great annoyance of some 
 of his respectable neighbours, exert himself might and 
 main for the salvation of others. The clergjonan of 
 the parish and a lady in the neighbourhood engaged 
 a poet to write a satire on the Methodists, in which 
 Owen Thomas Eowland was made conspicuously to 
 figure. The following is a free translation of one of 
 the stanzas : — 
 
 " The Blacksmith in pointing his nails, 
 Thinks in his heart no less 
 Than that he has more learning, and wisdom by far, 
 Than a host of the bishops possess." 
 
 A copy of these doggerel verses was left at every 
 house in the parish, and great was the excitement 
 which they produced. But the blacksmith was not 
 a man to be sung away from his religion, and there- 
 fore recourse was had to more stringent means. He 
 held a little land under Lord Boston, and he was 
 summoned into the presence of his Lordship's agent, 
 and was given to understand by that great man that 
 he must either break off his connexion with the 
 Methodists or give up his little farm. He chose the 
 
70 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 latter alternative ; but depriving him of his feAV fields 
 answered but little purpose, for he could not be 
 turned out of his smithy, and he continued to work, 
 to sing, to pray, and to exhort his neighbours as 
 before. But he was a man that must be got rid of, 
 and since there were no means by which he could be 
 turned out of his workshop, there was nothing for it 
 but to starve him out. Orders were accordingly sent 
 to all the farmers on the estate that they were not 
 to employ Owen Thomas Rowland on pain of losing 
 their farms. By this tyrannical measure he was 
 driven to the greatest straits, and to escape utter 
 starvation was obliged to leave the country. 
 
 Thomas Lloyd of Denbigh was the owner of the 
 house in which he lived, and because he made it a 
 house of God, he incurred the displeasure of his per- 
 secuting neighbours. They could not turn him out 
 of his habitation, but they seized all his furniture, 
 leaving him nothing but the bare walls, and sold it 
 publicly in the marketplace. The same thing was 
 done with the furniture of a house near Wrexliam, 
 where religious services were held. Every stick was 
 taken to the town and publicly sold, and the whole 
 of the proceeds was spent in drink. It was sport to 
 some of the magnates of those days to plunge inno- 
 cent families in the deepest distress, and to make 
 their little property afford to the ruffianly tools of 
 their despotism the means necessary for a "jollifica- 
 tion." 
 
 Possibly all this was done under colour of law, and 
 nothing was more easy. Complaint was made to a 
 
EICHAED HUGHES AND THE AGENT. 71 
 
 magistrate that a certain person held a "conventicle;" 
 the offender would be heavily fined, and the rest 
 followed as a matter of course. We could greatly 
 multiply instances of this nature, but it would be a 
 mere repetition to do so. Let it suffice to say, that 
 this kind of oppression was allowed to go on for 
 many years over a large portion of the Principality. 
 If it is martyrdom to suffer, and to suffer much, for 
 the sake of the gospel of Christ, the glorious host of 
 martyrs will be greatly increased from the ranks of 
 the Methodists of the last century. 
 
 But it was useless to attempt by any such means 
 to arrest the mighty stream. The Methodists were 
 like Israel in Egypt, — the more they were oppressed 
 the more they multiplied ; and they multiplied by 
 means of the oppression. Those who were driven 
 from their farms because they allowed preaching in 
 their houses, found farms in other localities where 
 earnest religion was unknown before, and were soon 
 followed there by the preachers. Though driven 
 from their homes for the crime of making them 
 houses of God, as soon as they found other houses 
 they did it again. Richard Hughes, a small farmer 
 in Anglesea, was a fair sample of hundreds of his 
 brethren. He was summoned with a number of his 
 Methodistical neighbours into the presence of his 
 landlord's agent and that of the clergyman of the 
 parish. The former held in his hand a paper con- 
 taining a list of the obnoxious tenants, and all those 
 unhappy people were given to understand that they 
 must either give up their Methodism or quit their 
 
72 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 farms. One of their number ventured to plead that 
 the law gave fall liberty to every man to worship 
 God according to the dictates of his own conscience ; 
 but the only reply he obtained was, that such were the 
 landlord's orders, and that these must be carried out. 
 Some of them gave way under the hard pressure, but 
 Richard Hughes was so overwhelmed with a sense of 
 the honour bestowed upon him in being thus called to 
 suffer for conscience* sake, that he clapped his hands 
 and shouted, " Blessed be God ! " " Hosanna to the 
 Son of David ! " This unexpected outburst frightened 
 the agent so much, that he let the paper to which 
 we have referred drop on the floor. The clergyman 
 stood it bravely, and attempted to prevent the noisy 
 Methodist from making such an uproar, but it was 
 of no avail. The more the reverend gentleman re- 
 monstrated, the louder did Richard shout " Hosanna 
 to the Son of David ! " At length he went out, 
 sapng as he went, " Farewell, dear brethren ; who- 
 ever is willing to sell an everlasting kingdom and a 
 glorious crown for a poor farm at a high rent, it is 
 not I ; no, by the help of the Brother born for ad- 
 versity — nOy never r And there were many and 
 many in those days who, in similar circumstances, 
 said again and again, " No, never" 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The instigators of the persecution— False representations— Sen- 
 sible gentry— Mr. Lewis, Mr. Biilkeley, and the strange 
 preacher— A sermon at Llysdulas Hall and its results— Mr. 
 Bulkeley and Chancellor Wynne— Hugh Williams the black- 
 smith and Hugh Williams, Esquire— Mrs. Holland Griflfiths — 
 Young Holland Griffiths's opinion— Griffith John and his 
 master. 
 
 Many of the Welsh magistrates and gentry were 
 sufficiently inclined of their own accord to persecute 
 the Methodists, but it must be said, that even when 
 they were themselves disposed to let them alone, they 
 were frequently moved to take severe measures 
 against them by the representations and persuasions 
 of others ; and it is painful to add, that those others 
 were, for the most part, the clergy of the Estab- 
 lished Church. There are not many instances of 
 services having been disturbed and preachers abused 
 and beaten by the mob, or of people haled before 
 the magistrates and fined, or turned out of their 
 farms on account of their Methodism, which could 
 not be traced to the influence and efforts of some 
 clergjonen. The invariable excuse for persecuting 
 them was, that they were "against the Church." But 
 it is not true that they were against the Church. 
 Wherever the truth was earnestly preached in the 
 
 78 
 
74 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 parish church, they gladly availed themselves of its 
 ser\dces, and the men whom for many years they 
 acknowledged as their leaders were nearly all epi- 
 scopally ordained clergymen. But many of the 
 clergy of the time were men of immoral lives, and 
 there were many more who were regarded by earnest 
 people as anything but able ministers of the New 
 Testament ; for although not chargeable with conduct 
 which might be regarded as unworthy of gentlemen, 
 they yet lacked the earnestness and the life which, 
 in their opinion, should characterize ministers of the 
 gospel. From these they consequently turned away, 
 and met in dwelling-houses and in barns to pray 
 together, and to exhort, admonish, and encourage 
 one another. The clergyman therefore felt insulted 
 when he found his parishioners neglecting his minis- 
 trations and showing a preference for those of the 
 blacksmith, the weaver, or the shoemaker. The 
 measures which he would take to put down that 
 which he looked upon as an opposition depended 
 upon his own character. He would head a rabble 
 to mob a preacher and scatter his hearers ; or per- 
 suade a magistrate to take legal proceedings against 
 the conventiclers ; or make representations to the 
 landlords of those people, with a view to induce them 
 to turn them out of their farms or habitations : he 
 would do either of those things, or the whole three, 
 according to the sort of man he was himself A 
 drunken clergyman would not mind doing the first, 
 and it was done by not a few, and the second and 
 third were done by a great many. 
 
MR, MARMADUKF GWYN. 75 
 
 False representations were made of those men and 
 of the services which they held. Church services 
 were only held by daylight, but those Methodists 
 frequently met in the evenings, and conducted their 
 services by candlelight. It was reported by their 
 enemies that they put out the candles after a while, 
 and that then followed the "dark prayer," which 
 came to be the general designation for Methodist 
 services ; and there were base things said of their 
 proceedings in the dark by men who ought to have 
 Imown, and who did know, better. 
 
 But there were some magistrates and landed pro- 
 prietors who had sense enough not to take those 
 slanderous reports on credit, but who examined the 
 matter for themselves ; and there were others who, 
 for a time, sorely oppressed the Methodists, but who 
 forbore, and even encouraged and helped them after 
 they had become better acquainted with their char- 
 acter. Mr. Marmaduke Gwyn, of Garth Hall, who 
 was a magistrate of the county of Brecon, had heard 
 such evil reports of Howell Harris, that he resolved 
 to avail himself of the first opportunity that offered 
 itself to have him arrested and sent to jail. Find- 
 ing that Harris was to preach at a short distance 
 from Garth Hall, he went to the place fully intend- 
 ing to carry out this resolve, and taking the Eiot 
 Act in his pocket for the sake of dispersing the con- 
 gregation. As he was leaving his house, he said to 
 Mrs. Gwyn, " I will hear what the man says before I 
 lay a hand upon him." So he did ; and the result 
 was, that at the close of the sermon he went up to 
 
76 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the preacher, shook hands warmly with him, apolo- 
 
 / gized for the mistake into which he had been led 
 
 S by false and malicious reports, and took him home 
 
 ( with him to supper. From that day Mr. Gwyn be- 
 
 I came the protector and friend of the poor persecuted 
 
 I Methodists, and eventually one of his daughters was 
 
 I married to the Rev. Charles Wesley. 
 
 An aged preacher was going about exhorting in 
 the neighbourhood of Amlwch in Anglesea, in the 
 year 1740, and was very roughly handled by the 
 populace. A magistrate in the -^dcinity, Mr. Lewis 
 of Llysdulas, heard of the poor preacher's troubles, 
 and sent for him to his house, where he invited a 
 brother magistrate, Mr. Bulkeley of Bryndu, to meet 
 him. The whole family were collected together into 
 the hall, and Mr. Lewis, addressing the stranger, said, 
 " We are here like the family of Cornelius, assembled 
 to listen to your sermon, and you must preach to us 
 now just as you are in the habit of preaching about 
 the country." The preacher obeyed, and at the 
 close of the sermon the gentlemen remarked to each 
 other, " If this kind of thing is all the crime of this 
 poor man, we must j^rotect him and silence his per- 
 secutors." So they did ; and an end was put for 
 the time to that kind of persecution at Amlwch and 
 its vicinity. 
 
 There was a dignitary of the Church known as 
 Chancellor Wynne living at Bodewryd in the same 
 county, who was greatly vexed in his spirit by 
 Methodistical services which were held at a house 
 called Careglefn, not far from his residence. The 
 
HUGH AND HIS MASTER. 77 
 
 house was the property of the above Mr. Bulkeley, 
 and the Chancellor sought to induce him to put an 
 end to the annoyance. A servant was despatched to 
 Bryndu with a letter to Mr. Bulkeley, asking him to 
 pull the house down if he could not put an end to 
 the services in any other way. Mr. Bulkeley replied 
 that he was very sorry that he could not accede to 
 the Eeverend Chancellor's request, and begged to be 
 allowed to commend to his attention the fifth chap- 
 ter of the Book of Acts, and especially the advice of 
 Gamaliel to the Sanhedrim of the Jews. He received 
 no more letters from the Chancellor. At Pentir-isaf, 
 Carnarvonshire, there lived a blacksmith named 
 Hugh Williams, who, after spending his early years 
 in ungodliness, was deeply impressed by listening to 
 one of the Methodist preachers, and from that hour 
 became a zealous and devoted disciple of Christ. 
 His landlord happened to be of the same name with 
 himself, only he was called Hugh Williams, Esquire. 
 The blacksmith was a special favourite with the 
 Squire, for he found him to be an honest, trust- 
 worthy, and industrious man. The change in the 
 former was for a while unnoticed by the latter, but 
 an Association was held at Beaumaris, and Hugh 
 could not resist the temptation to attend it. The 
 Squire soon found that Hugh had been absent from 
 his smithy, and, what was more important, he found 
 where he had been. Next day he was sent for to 
 the master's house, but before he had reached the 
 place, he saw him coming to meet him in a terrible 
 rage, and brandishing his staff in such a way as led 
 
78 • WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 poor Hugh to the conclusion that the first thing he 
 was going to have was a beating, whatever might 
 come next. He escaped, however, without blows, 
 but his master bitterly reproached him for his in- 
 2;ratitude after all the kindness that he had sho^\^l 
 him since he was a boy. Had not he been always 
 kind to him 1 and here he was, now changing his 
 religion and joining these Roundheads, Avithout as 
 much as acquainting him with his intention to do 
 so, or asking his permission. 
 
 " By your leave, master," said Hugh, " I have a 
 word or two to say." 
 
 "What have you to say?" replied the master. 
 " Have not I spoken the truth 1 If you have anything 
 to say, say it. Let me hear what it is." 
 
 " I acknowledge, sir," said Hugh, " that all you 
 have said is true. You have been very kind to me 
 from my childhood to this day, for which I feel very 
 grateful to you." 
 
 " Well," said the master, " and what next?" 
 
 " I need not tell you, sir," said Hugh, " that the 
 way in which I have lived since I have grown up is 
 well known to you. There was not a fair held within 
 reach, nor a revel, nor any other wicked and sinful 
 gathering, but that I was present, and yet you never 
 intimated to me that I was doing wrong ; but now 
 that I am seeking the good of my soul, you are 
 offended with me, call me by ill names, and threaten 
 to turn me out of my home. Oh, master ! I have 
 only one soul ; and the time that is left me to pro- 
 vide for its welfare is very short. And I am resolved, 
 
MR. HOLLAND GRIFFITHS. 79 
 
 if need be, to suffer being turned out of my habita- 
 tion rather than do wrong to my immortal soul." 
 
 This appeal was too much for the Squire. He 
 threw up his hands in amazement and exclaimed, 
 " Go ! and in the name of God I shall never molest 
 you." He was as good as his word ; Hugh was 
 allowed to remain in his smithy, and was as great a 
 favourite as ever as long as his master lived. At 
 Mr. Williams's death his estate fell to his brother, a 
 clergyman, and then the blacksmith was obliged to 
 leave. 
 
 After long seeking in vain for a place to live in, 
 he heard that a Mrs. Griffiths had a house and smithy 
 and a little land which would just suit him, to let at 
 Llanidan in the Isle of Anglesea. Thither he bent 
 his steps, and having obtained an interview with the 
 lady, preferred his request. One of her tenants was 
 already under notice to quit his farm on account of his 
 Methodism, and Hugh being aware of this fact, said, 
 " I must tell you the truth, madam ; I belong to the 
 people who preach in dwelling-houses." "Which 
 sect 1" inquired the lady. " I belong," said Hugh, 
 " to the Methodists." Upon this her son, Mr. Hol- 
 land Griffiths, appeared on the scene, and his mother 
 remarked to him, " I was about to let Tygwyn to 
 this man. He seems to me to be an honest man 
 enough, but he tells me that he belongs to the pe'ople 
 who preach in houses." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said the son, " what does that signify 'i 
 If I were not ashamed to do so, I would go to hear 
 them myself." 
 
80 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 "You would, Holland?" asked the mother in 
 astonishment. 
 
 " I would indeed," was the son's reply. " They are 
 a great deal better people than most who find fault 
 with them." 
 
 "Then if it is so," said the mother, "Hugh 
 Thomas must be allowed to remain in his farm after 
 all, and this man shall have Tygwyn." And so it 
 came to pass. 
 
 Griffith John of Ynysypandy, Merionethshire, was 
 a zealous Methodist, who kept his house open for 
 religious services, and occasionally preached himself. 
 But the meetings at Griffith's house were frequently 
 disturbed by the clergyman of the parish, who came 
 in making a great uproar, scolding by name those of 
 his parishioners whom he found present, and occa- 
 sionally making havoc among the plates and dishes 
 on the kitchen shelves. On one occasion he entered 
 during a prayer-meeting. A young man was at the 
 moment engaged in prayer, and the parson recognis- 
 ing his voice, shouted aloud, " Is it you, Jack V and 
 forcing his way to the worshipper, roughly grasped 
 his arm. Griffith John was a man of great physical 
 strength, but remarkable for his good temper. This, 
 however, was more than he could bear. He laid 
 hold of the reverend gentleman's arm with a mighty 
 grip, dragged him out of the house, and flung him 
 on the dunghill opposite the door. The clergyman 
 did not care to encounter that sort of thing any 
 more, and accordingly changed his tactics. He drew 
 up a memorial in which Griffith John was represented 
 
GRIFFITH JOHN AND HIS MASTER. 81 
 
 as disturbing the peace of the parish and opposing 
 the church and the laws of the land. To this docu- 
 ment he procured the signatures of some of his 
 parishioners, and it was sent to the poor Methodist's 
 landlord, Mr. Price of Ehiwlas, near Bala, where it 
 promised to produce the desired result, for Griffith 
 John immediately received notice to quit his farm. 
 The latter, understanding full well from whence the 
 storm came, had a memorial in his favour drawn up 
 and signed by a number of his neighbours, and with 
 this he resolved to go to Ehiwlas and see Mr. Price 
 for himself. He earnestly begged to be allowed to 
 retain his little farm, but his master replied, " You 
 shall not, Griffith, for I find that you disturb the 
 neighbourhood, and prevent people from going to 
 church." " In truth, master," said Griffith, " I 
 am not doing any such things." " It is useless your 
 denying," said the master ; " and you shall not on 
 any account live on my estate, for do you not hold the 
 dark prayer, and bring men and women together to 
 do mischief?" 
 
 " We are doing nothing of the kind, sir," was 
 Griffith's reply. 
 
 " What then ? You are in the habit of meeting 
 in the evenings'?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; we do sometimes meet after the work 
 of the day is over." 
 
 " And what is it that you do in those meetings ?" 
 
 " I will tell you, sir," said Griffith. " We read the 
 Bible and sing psalms. We exhort one another to 
 be honest and truthful, and to pay all rents and taxes. 
 F 
 
82 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 We pray for the Church, the King, and our country. 
 This indeed, sir, is what we do, besides exhorting 
 each other to cease from sin and to seek the favour 
 of God and everlasting Hfe ; and since we do no 
 injury to any man, T hope, sir, you will allow me to 
 remain in my farm." 
 
 " Well, Griffith," said the master, " if you promise 
 me that you will give up those meetings you shall 
 remain." 
 
 " Master ! " said Griffith in a determined tone, " I 
 cannot do that. If you were to give me the half of 
 your estate I could not make that promise. No, 
 never" 
 
 Mr. Price, who had been for some time melting, 
 was now completely vanquished, and bursting into 
 tears, said, " Go home, Griffith, go home. You shall 
 keep your farm; and when you come to Bala to 
 attend your Association, remember to bring your 
 horse to Rhiwlas." From that day Griffith John 
 was a great favourite Avith his master. On one 
 occasion when he wanted to see him on business, 
 Mr. Price was attending a magistrates* meeting at 
 Bala, but finding that his tenant was waiting out- 
 side, he went out to speak with him. On his return 
 he was asked by one of his brother magistrates who 
 his visitor was, and he answered that he was a 
 preacher. "Is he a great preacher V one of the 
 bench asked. " I do not know about that," replied 
 Mr. Price, " but I know one thing about him, — he is 
 a godly man." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Checks to persecution — Miracles or what ?— End of some of Howell 
 Harris's persecutors — The unfultilled vow— Chancellor Owen 
 and his clerk— Sir W. W. Wynn — The great prayer-meeting 
 — Deliverance — Penryn — A plot to pull down the chapel — 
 How it failed — A feast, and how it finished. 
 
 The more favourable light in which the Metho- 
 dists gradually came to be regarded by some of the 
 leading gentry of the Principality checked, as we 
 have seen, in a great measure, the persecutions to 
 which they had been exposed. But there were 
 other causes which mightily contributed to the same 
 effect. Certain occurrences took place from time to 
 time, and in various localities, which are so strange 
 that many will refuse to credit them, while they will 
 be regarded by some of those who believe that they 
 came to pass as the interventions of Divine Provi- 
 dence in behalf of persecuted Christians, and by 
 others as nothing more than strange coincidences. 
 We have not the least objection in the world to being 
 numbered among " those who have unlimited faith 
 in the miraculous," if by that phrase is meant a firm 
 belief in the power of God to perform a miracle 
 when that is necessary, in the present day as well 
 
84 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 as in the ages that are long past. But our present 
 duty is not to discuss the subject of miracles, nor to 
 defend our own particular views on that important 
 subject, but to relate facts, leaving it to our readers 
 to draw their own conclusions, only premising that 
 those which we lay before them are vouched for by 
 people whose evidence upon any other subject no 
 one would have hesitated to receive. 
 
 The man who threw the first stone into the house 
 in which Howell Harris preached at Bala, when 
 he suffered that brutal treatment which we have 
 already described, fell off his horse as he was return- 
 ing from a fair a short time afterwards, injured his 
 spine, and soon died. There was one who made a 
 desperate effort to push the preacher over a rock 
 into a pool six yards deep, and not long after he 
 fell over that very rock himself, and was killed on 
 the spot. Another, who was most active among the 
 mob, fell off his horse, fractured his skull, and in- 
 stantly died. Thus three of the most violent perse- 
 cutors on that memorable occasion had, before many 
 days had elapsed, died violent deaths. 
 
 There was a tenant of a Mrs. Lloyd of Gesail, 
 near Penmorfa, Carnarvonshire, who opened his 
 house for religious services, and had been allowed to'do 
 so unmolested for some time. At length there came 
 a clerg3Tnan, who had already distinguished him- 
 self for his anti-Methodist zeal, with his wife, to 
 pay a visit to Mrs. Lloyd. One morning while 
 he was staying at Gesail, he went out to call on a 
 brother clergyman who resided in the neighbour- 
 
CHANCELLOR OWEN AND HIS CLERK. 85 
 
 hood. In the course of their conversation the local 
 clergyman remarked to his visitor that there was a 
 tenant of Mrs. Lloyd's who had Methodist services 
 held in his house although he lived very near the 
 mansion, and that he was afraid that no one had 
 been kind enough to inform the lady of the man's 
 misconduct. " Then," said his visitor, " I shall not 
 eat my dinner to-day before I have informed her." 
 But he was never permitted to do so. When he 
 reached the house he was found unable to speak. 
 He never uttered a word again, and died in a few 
 days. We have spoken of Chancellor Owen of 
 Llanor as a fierce and merciless persecutor. He had 
 a clerk who was likewise a rhymer, and this worthy 
 was employed by him to compose a satirical poem 
 against the Methodists, which was printed and in- 
 dustriously circulated about the country. At a fes- 
 tive gathering which occurred soon afterwards, the 
 Chancellor introduced his clerk to the company as 
 the author of the song which they all so greatly 
 admired, and a collection was made on the spot for 
 the gifted rhymer, which amounted to fifty guineas. 
 Soon afterwards the master conceived a most bitter 
 and unaccountable enmity against the servant, and 
 one Sunday as they were leaving the service he rushed 
 upon him in the churchyard and commenced beating 
 him with all his might, charging him with having made 
 an attempt to murder him, hj throwing the church hell 
 on his hack The astonished clerk turned upon his 
 master, and there was a furious fight. The former 
 was of course dismissed from his office, soon 
 
86 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 managed to get through his fifty guineas, and spent 
 the remainder of his days in poverty and wretched- 
 ness. 
 
 Sir W. W. Wynn was the owner of an estate at 
 Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, and Methodism had made 
 considerable progress among his tenantry at that 
 place. AYe have already mentioned his having 
 been obliged to return some fines which he had 
 illegally imposed on some of the Methodists in the 
 neighbourhood of Wrexham, and it appears that this 
 had roused his ire to such an extent that he ex- 
 pressed the resolve that not a single member of the 
 " sect " should be allowed to reside anywhere on his 
 estates. Tidings of this reached the ears of the little 
 flock at Llanuwchllyn, and great was their distress 
 at the prospect which it held before them. They knew 
 their master too well to entertain the least hope that 
 any man would be able to shake the resolution 
 which was to them so fraught with disaster, and in 
 their trouble they resolved to lay their sad case 
 together before their heavenly Father. A special 
 prayer-meeting was held to ask Almighty God to 
 open for them a way of deliverance, and especially 
 to entreat Him for strength to be faithful to His 
 truth whatever might happen to themselves; and 
 they had not to separate without evidences which 
 satisfied them that He was willing that they should 
 thus approach Him, and that He would with the 
 temptation also make a way to escape, that they 
 might be able to bear it. In a few days the news 
 reached them that the great object of their dread 
 
A PLOT TO PULL DOWN A CHAPEL. 87 
 
 had fallen from his horse on the hunting-field and 
 had been killed on the spot. 
 
 Some years after the event which we have just 
 related, an effort was made by a little band which 
 had been gathered together at Penryn, in the same 
 county, to build a place for worship. When they 
 had finished it up to the roof, they found the greatest 
 difficulty in procuring slates to cover it in, for all 
 the proprietors in the neighbourhood had agreed 
 not to let them have any on their property. The 
 Ffestiniog quarries were within a few miles, but 
 were closed to them, and not a slate could they have 
 on any terms, and the building, therefore, remained 
 for some time unroofed. At length they were en- 
 abled to get over their difficulty by the kindness of 
 another Sir Watkin, who was a man of a very 
 diff'erent spirit from his persecuting sire. He gave 
 them permission to search for slates on his property, 
 which was lying at some miles' distance. It was 
 very rough and uncouth material that they suc- 
 ceeded in finding, and so rugged and mountainous 
 was the spot where it was found, that the chapel 
 people had to convey it to its destination on the 
 backs of horses ; but they pushed on through all their 
 difficulties, and the little chapel was completed. The 
 persecutors were annoyed, but not disconcerted. If 
 the Methodists had succeeded in completing their 
 chapel, it would not cost much labour to pull it 
 down, and this they resolved to do. A day was 
 fixed for this act of Vandalism, but, on the evening 
 of the preceding day, the man who was to take the 
 
88 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 lead in the bad business suddenly died, and the rest, 
 having lost their leader, had not strength of heart 
 enough to proceed, and the chapel was left in peace. 
 But there was a wealthy woman in the place, a rela- 
 tive of the deceased man, who was by no means 
 willing to let the Methodists have their way. Little 
 would they be the better of their chapel unless they 
 could hold services in it. It had been built for 
 preaching, and she would take care that no one 
 should preach in it in peace as long as she lived. 
 Such was the resolution that she expressed, and she 
 did her utmost to give it effect. A sermon was 
 announced at the chapel, and the report of it reached 
 the lady's ears. She accordingly hired a number of 
 strong men, who were likewise men of Belial, to go 
 to the place, disperse the congregation, and send the 
 preacher about his business; and it was arranged 
 that, after having done all this, they were to go to 
 her house to dinner. The morning came, and the 
 preacher and a few people assembled together to 
 hear the Word, but scarcely had the proceedings 
 commenced when there came upon them the lady's 
 hired host, who soon broke up the meeting and 
 chased the preacher away. Having done this, they 
 retired to the house of her who had employed them 
 to enjoy the promised feast. There were great pre- 
 parations, in which, as it seems, the mistress herself 
 took an active part ; but before it was complete a 
 disaster took place which made the house anything 
 but a house of feasting. By some mismanagement 
 on the part of the lady herself, or some of her assist- 
 
MIRACLES, OR COINCIDENCES ? 89 
 
 ants, the contents of a large boiling pot were poured 
 over her person, and she was scalded so severely 
 that she almost immediately died. 
 
 " But are we to rush to the conclusion that these 
 and similar events were the interpositions of Pro- 
 vidence •? Is a man able to know good or evil, love 
 or hatred, by all that is before him 1 Do not the 
 same things happen to the evil and the good 1 Have 
 not preachers died in the pulpit? And have not 
 good Christians expired in the very act of prayer 1 
 AVhen one reflects on the innumerable things which 
 continually happen, such coincidences are perhaps 
 fewer and less remarkable than a fair calculation of 
 chances would warrant us to expect." Perhaps it 
 is so. We have not had much experience in the 
 calculation of chances, and have not much faith in 
 the process ; but events of the kind which we have 
 narrated affect our story, not according to the light 
 in which they are regarded in the present day, but 
 according as they were looked upon at the time in 
 which they happened. We are getting quite familiar 
 with modes of expression and of thought which the 
 Welsh people of those days had never heard of. 
 Whatever we may think of those occurrences, the 
 poor persecuted Methodists of that time had no 
 doubt but that they were the interventions of their 
 God in their behalf; and their enemies and perse- 
 cutors had, to say the least, grave suspicions that 
 such was the case, and therefore thought it safer to 
 let them alone. 
 
CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 Self-sacrificing zeal — Thomas Hughes and his wife— Another 
 Thomas Hughes — Examination by the Vicar of Conway— A 
 ruse — Conversion of a bully — Lowri Williams " the Apostle " 
 —Griffith Ellis— Church of eight females— Three sisters— 
 Eobert the shoemaker — Thomas Edwards the turner — Cathe- 
 rine Owen's journeys to Llangeitho. 
 
 The indomitable zeal of the Methodists, their 
 hearty consecration to the work of their Master, 
 and the mighty influences which attended their 
 ministry, at length completely did away with that 
 which the occurrences which we have narrated in 
 the preceding chapter only served to check. Not 
 only were their preachers remarkable for their zeal 
 and devotedness, but also the private members, both 
 men and women, were characterized by the same 
 spirit. There were a great many small farmers, 
 farm-labourers, artisans, and women in the humblest 
 walks of life, who saw no sacrifice too great to make 
 for their Lord, and who made every other considera- 
 tion subservient to His cause and the salvation of 
 their neighbours. 
 
 There was a Thomas Hughes living near Llan- 
 gollen, who was a poor man, but a zealous and de- 
 
 90 
 
THE GOSPEL ABOVE WEALTH. 91 
 
 voted Christian. His wife was of the same spirit 
 with himself, and she had a brother who was older 
 than herself by many years, and who was the owner of 
 considerable property. This gentleman regarded her 
 religion with much disfavour, and made several at- 
 tempts to dissuade her and her husband from attend- 
 ing the Methodist meetings. He thought that he 
 had a powerful auxiliary in the " almighty guinea," 
 but had the disappointment to find all his efforts, 
 even with that assistance, proving of no avail. He 
 told his sister, that if she and her husband gave up 
 their Methodism he w^ould leave her the whole of 
 his wealth, but that otherAvise she should not have a 
 shilling. " Never mind, brother," was her reply ; 
 " if you only gave me three halfpence I would give 
 two of them towards the cause of Christ, and keep 
 only the third for myself" In great anger he de- 
 clared that she should never have a penny after 
 him ; and such no doubt was his intention, but his 
 poor sister was not called upon to make the sacrifice, 
 for he died suddenly and intestate, and she inherited 
 all the wealth she had been so willing to forego for ■ 
 the sake of the gospel. 
 
 Another Thomas Hughes lived at Moughtry, in 
 Denbighshire, who was in very humble circumstances, 
 but a man of great Christian energy and zeal. He 
 was an exhorter of small talent and slender know- 
 ledge ; but his sense of the darkness and danger 
 in which his neighbours lay constrained him to 
 labour, in season and out of season, to see if he could 
 by any means save some of them. He occasionally 
 
92 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 went to Conway to exhort, where he stood forth in 
 the street, or under the old walls of the town, or 
 anyAvhere that he could get a few people to stand 
 and listen. But the clergyman of the place and 
 others would often disturb him in these efforts to do 
 good ; and at length, seeing that he persisted in in- 
 truding himself and his doctrines into the town, the 
 reverend gentleman gave orders that he should be 
 arrested and brought before him. There were many 
 of the Established clergy of those days who had but 
 very little religion ; but we would fain hope that there 
 were not many who had as little common sense as 
 the then vicar of Conway. When the poor exhorter 
 was brought into his presence, the following dialogue 
 took place : — 
 
 Clergyman. " You ought to be a learned man to 
 go about to preach, and able to answer deep ques- 
 tions." 
 
 Exhorter. "What questions, sir?" 
 
 Cler. " Here they are, — those which were asked 
 me by the Lord Bishop. Let 's see whether you 
 will be able to answer them. — Where was St. Paul 
 bornr' 
 
 Ex. " In Tarsus." 
 
 Cler. "Hem; I see that you know something 
 too. — Well, can you tell me who took charge of 
 the Virgin Mary after our blessed Eedeemer was 
 crucified ? " 
 
 Ex. "John." 
 
 Cler. " Well. Once again : Who wrote the Book 
 of Revelation 1 Answer that if you can." 
 
 / 
 
THOMAS HUGHES'S EXAMINATION. 93 
 
 Ex. " John the Apostle." 
 
 Cler. " Ho ! you seem to know a good deal after 
 all." 
 
 Ex. " Perhaps, sir, you will allow me to ask you 
 one or two questions'?" 
 
 Cler. "0 yes, only they must be religious ques- 
 tions." 
 
 Ex. " What is holiness 1 and how may a sinner 
 be justified before God ] " 
 
 Cler. "Ho! we have no business to bother ourselves 
 with such things ; and you have no business to put 
 such questions to a man in my position. Go out of 
 my sight this minute." And to the men who had 
 brought him, " Take care that you do not bring such 
 men into my presence any more." 
 
 After this interview Thomas Hughes was allowed 
 to pursue his labours at Conway in peace, and this 
 encouraged him to extend them to other quarters. 
 There was a place called Towyn Ferry lying about 
 midway between Conway and Llandudno, the in- 
 habitants of which were steeped in ignorance and 
 sin, and our exhorter resolved to make an attempt 
 upon it. He got a report circulated in the neigh- 
 bourhood that a sermbn would be preached at a 
 place where crowds of the people usually assembled 
 to play, on the next following Sunday afternoon. 
 The report, as it appears, said nothing at all as to 
 who the preacher was to be, or where he was to 
 come from. When the time arrived, he went to the 
 place accompanied by a religious friend, and he 
 found there a great number of people, some pursuing 
 
94 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 their games, and others looking out for the preacher. 
 The appearance of things was by no means promis- 
 ing, for there were several heaps of stones put up in 
 readiness for the stranger's reception as soon as he 
 made his appearance ; but Thomas Hughes being un- 
 known in the neighbourhood, and as unclerical in his 
 garb as any among the crowd, no one for a moment 
 suspected that he was the man, and he laid himself 
 down on the grass among the rest and entered into 
 conversation with them. After a time, and when 
 their patience was beginning to fail, he stood up 
 and said, " Well, lads, there is no sign at all of a 
 preacher coming ; very likely the man has heard 
 that we were going to stone him, and that he won't 
 come after all. Let one of us go on the top of that 
 heap of stones and exhort, and the rest sing ; would 
 not that be first-rate play'?" 
 
 " Capital," said a bully, who was the recognised 
 leader of the crowd. " Go you now on the heap 
 and preach to us." 
 
 " Yes will I," said Thomas Hughes ; " but what 
 shall I do for a book 1 " 
 
 " I have a book," said the friend who had accom- 
 panied him to the place, handing him a Bible. 
 
 " Very well," said the exhorter. " I am willing 
 to try ; but mind you, you must be civil, and not 
 laugh if I make some blunders." 
 
 " I '11 make them civil," said the bully. — " Listen 
 here, lads : whoever dares to laugh, / '// put one of 
 these stones into his head." 
 
 " Stop you," said Hughes, " the first thing to do 
 is to pray, is it not I" 
 
LOWRI WILLIAMS " THE APOSTLE." 95 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the bully, "and I'll be clerk. 
 I '11 stand before you and you shall use my shoulder 
 for a pulpit." 
 
 Prayer was offered, and that in right earnest, and 
 which elicited at its close several favourable remarks 
 such as " Pretty well indeed !" " 'Pon my word, as 
 good as a parson ! " 
 
 The preacher proceeded to read his text, when the 
 bully shouted, "Hold on, you fool! let's sing first." 
 And they sang a AVelsh hymn after a fashion. Then 
 came the sermon, which was listened to most atten- 
 tively, and one at least of the hearers, and he the 
 bully and extempore clerk, left the place a changed 
 man. 
 
 There was a poor woman named Lowri Williams, 
 who with her husband was living at a fulling-mill, 
 called Pandy Chwilog, near Pwllheli. The husband 
 was not a decidedly religious man, but he encouraged 
 ]\Iethodistical services by attending them with his 
 wife, and for that reason they were turned out of 
 their home. But Providence led them to another 
 " Pandy " in the parish of Maentwrog, Merioneth- 
 shire. -This was called Pandy'r-ddwyryd, which, 
 being interpreted, means the fulling-mill on two 
 streams. Here they were at a great distance from 
 the religious means which the wife so greatly loved. 
 The two nearest places at which they were held 
 were Brynengan on one side and Bala on the other, 
 and the former of these was at a distance of fifteen 
 and the latter eighteen miles. By dint of much 
 labour Lowri Williams succeeded in getting preachers 
 
96 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 now and again from great distances to hold services 
 at her own house. Their ministry and her godly- 
 conversation were blessed to the conversion of a num- 
 ber of people. A Society was formed in the place, 
 numbering eight members, who continued for a time 
 to be called " The Noah's ark family." This was a 
 small beginning, but the increase was truly mar- 
 vellous. The earnest prayers and persevering zeal 
 of this humble woman were the means of establish- 
 ing in the north-western portion of Merionethshire 
 no less than eighteen churches, and those before she 
 was called to her rest had so increased as to number 
 together about a thousand communicants. It is not 
 strange, therefore, that to this day she is designated 
 " Lowri Williams the apostle." There were places 
 in a neighbouring wood where she spent much time 
 alone, wrestling with God, and it is said that there 
 were red paths, leading from her house to those 
 Peniels, where many a time she had prevailed and 
 carried away with her a blessing for her own soul 
 and for her perishing neighbours. She would not 
 let any living man alone. As sure as any one talked 
 with Lowri Williams he would have to listen to 
 something about his own soul and about Him who 
 came to seek and to save that which was lost, and 
 often were her words a blessing to those to whom they 
 were spoken. On one occasion a young man who 
 was on his way to one of the merry-makings which 
 were then so frequent in Wales, called at her house 
 to inquire for the safe place to cross a neighbouring 
 stream. She accompanied him out and gave the 
 
GRIFFITH ELLIS. 97 
 
 necessary directions, Just as she was turning back 
 she asked him, " Now, my young man, are you in 
 the habit of inquiring the way to everlasting life 
 sometimes on the Sabbath 1 " " No, never," was the 
 reply; "I do not care at all about such things." 
 " Then," said she, " come here to my house at such 
 a time, and there will be a man showing the way to 
 heaven." "Not I, indeed," said the young man, 
 and away he went to his amusement. But Lowri 
 Williams had spoken, and her words did not usually 
 fall to the ground. She had prayed, and her prayers 
 were not often left unanswered. The words cleaved 
 to the young man's conscience, and he found himself 
 constrained to go to her house at the appointed time 
 to hear about the way to heaven. From that time 
 he became himself a traveller in that way, and God 
 made him an eminently useful one. Griffith ElHs, 
 for that was the young man's name, joined the com- 
 pany of eight in the Httle church, and so made 
 them one too many to be called " The Noah's ark 
 family " any longer. He proved a great blessing to 
 his district, and travelled frequently and far to pro- 
 cure preachers to proclaim the everlasting gospel 
 to his perishing neighbours. His lofty piety and 
 holy conversation made him the terror of all the 
 sinners in his neighbourhood, and even the clergy- 
 man of his parish, much as he loved cock-fighting, 
 would never venture to meet him with a cock under 
 his arm. It mattered nothing whom else he would 
 come across ; he would walk along bearing his game 
 bird without the least shame or fear, but if he caught 
 G 
 
98 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 a glimpse of Griffith Ellis coming to meet him, one 
 of two things would surely happen, — either the re- 
 verend gentleman would turn round and walk hastily 
 away, or the captive bird would be set at liberty. 
 The times of which we write produced a great 
 number of such men as Griffith Ellis, scattered over 
 the whole surface of the Principality, and it is the 
 weight of their character that completely crushed 
 persecution. Their eminently pure, unselfish, and 
 godly life caused a whisper in the consciences of the 
 people, which made itself known as the voice of God, 
 and which said, " Touch not mine anointed, and do 
 my prophets no harm." 
 
 There are many and many instances in which the 
 earnest and persevering efforts of a very few even- 
 tually resulted in the establishment of strong and 
 flourishing churches. Let us give a few examples. 
 
 TonyrefaH is a lonely hamlet of the parish of 
 Llantrissant, in Glamorganshire, and situated in a 
 deep glen some five or six miles from the little town 
 which gives the parish its name. On a mountain, 
 which rises from the village towards the south, and 
 which is known as Peterstone Mountain, there was 
 an annual gathering, which in ^Yales went by the 
 name of " Mabsant," which, being interpreted, means 
 " The son of a saint." From the name we infer that 
 in its origin it was a religious gathering, and that its 
 object was to celebrate the anniversary of the patron 
 saint of the parish church ; but it had become the 
 source of sin and immorality. It extended over 
 several days, and great numbers came together from 
 
A SERMON ON A MOUNTAIN. 99 
 
 the surrounding districts to eat, drink, dance, and 
 play ; but they seldom separated without a consider- 
 able amount of fighting ; and the great day of the 
 feast was Sunday. An eminent clergyman, who was 
 as remarkable for his preaching power as for his 
 Methodism, had been presented to a living about 
 eight miles to the south of this scene of riot. This 
 was the Reverend David Jones of Llangan, of whom 
 by and by we shall have much more to say. Mr. 
 Jones conceived the idea of going to the Peterstone 
 " Mabsant " to preach the gospel ; and so effectual was 
 his ministry that an end was put to the dancing and 
 the games, and the annual festival became an annual 
 sermon, which was continued for many years on the 
 same day and the same spot. There lived at a com- 
 fortable little mansion known as " CoUenau " (The 
 Hazels), near Tonyrefail, a gentleman of the name 
 of Mr. Evan Pritchard, whose love for rural plea- 
 sures had induced him to refuse a University educa- 
 tion with a view to the ministry in the Church. On 
 one occasion he and Mrs. Pritchard resolved to go to 
 Peterstone to hear the renowned clergyman. They 
 were both prejudiced against him on account of his 
 Methodism ; but that prejudice was not sufficient to 
 restrain their curiosity to see and hear him. He 
 preached from Rev. vi. 17: " For the great day of 
 his wTSLth is come ; and who shall be able to stand ?" 
 A thrill of fear passed through the lady's soul at the 
 announcement of the text, and that feeling greatly in- 
 creased during the sermon which followed ; and Mr. 
 Pritchard himself was likewise deeply affected. After 
 
100 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the service they went on towards Cowbridge to visit 
 Mrs. Pritchard's mother. They were gloomy enough 
 as they rode along ; but the lady found a crumb of 
 comfort, which she sought to impart to her husband, 
 in the hope that, after all, there was not such a verse 
 in the Bible as the clergyman had taken for his text, 
 and that it was only his Methodistical device to 
 frighten people. Anyhow, she had been frightened 
 enough, and attended a ball at Cowbridge, in the 
 hope that it would be the means of dissipating her 
 painful feelings. But it proved to be a miserable 
 ball. The louder the merriment, the unhappier she 
 became; and very unhappy she and her husband 
 continued to be until a few weeks afterwards they 
 heard another sermon, which, by the blessing of God, 
 was the means of leading them to seek rest in the 
 Lord Jesus. After this religious services were held 
 at Collenau ; and those being blessed to the conver- 
 sion of several of the neighbours, a little church was 
 formed in the house. After some time, in conse- 
 quence of the severe illness of Mr. Pritchard — an 
 illness from which he never recovered, — the services 
 were removed to a house in the village, where, for a 
 while, the cause wore a very prosperous aspect ; but 
 in the course of time the death of some, and the 
 removal of others from the neighbourhood, reduced 
 the church to eight members, all of whom were 
 females. Under such discouraging circumstances, it 
 would not have been strange if the little community 
 had dissolved itself; but the sisters clung together, 
 and held their weekly " Societies " among themselves, 
 
TONYREFAIL. 101 
 
 at which Mrs. Pritchard discharged the duties of an 
 elder, while Jane Morris led the singing, and Mary 
 James, who excelled in the gift of prayer, opened 
 and closed the meetings. On the Sabbaths, and 
 whenever besides it was practicable, some minister 
 or exhorter was obtained to preach. By and by the 
 church began again to grow, several men joined it, 
 and among them one David Evans, an exceedingly 
 gifted young man, who proved of great service to the 
 cause, and who in process of time married one of the 
 young sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had a numer- 
 ous family ; and one of the youngest of their sons is 
 now living, and has been for many years one of the 
 most talented and popular among the ministers of 
 the Calvinistic Methodist Connexion. The Eeverend 
 William Evans of Tonyrefail is now verging on 
 eighty years of age, but is still a mighty preacher. 
 A few weeks ago, on the 7 th of June 1871, we had 
 the pleasure of hearing him preach in the open air 
 to a very large congregation, within a few yards of 
 the spot where Howell Harris first breathed the 
 spiritual life. He had a complete mastery over his 
 subject and his audience ; his spirit seemed to burn 
 with the love of Christ and of souls ; while his 
 silvery voice made the welkin ring. The faithful- 
 ness of the eight sisters bore abundant fruit, for 
 there has been for very many years, and is now, 
 at Tonyrefail, for the neighbourhood, a numerous 
 church. 
 
 We give a still more remarkable instance of great 
 results arising from the faithfulness of a small num- 
 
102 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ber. The Eev. W. Davies of Neath had been in- 
 vited to preach at a small chapel at a considerable 
 distance from his home, where, on his arrival, he 
 found three unmarried sisters, somewhat advanced in 
 life, occupying together an adjoining house, and in 
 very humble circumstances. In this house he was 
 entertained, and humble enough was his fare. A few 
 people came together to hear the sermon, and Mr. 
 Davies preached with great pleasure to himself and 
 to his audience. After the service he inquired of 
 the sister who attended on him what was the num- 
 ber of the church. " There are only we three," was 
 the reply. " We are trying between us to keep up 
 the cause. One of us cleans and opens the chapel ; 
 another attends to the preachers' horses; while I 
 have the honour of attending on the preachers them- 
 selves. "We hold a Society in the chapel once a 
 week, and leave the door open to any who may Avish 
 to join us." When Mr. Davies was about to leave, 
 she tendered him sixpence for his services. At first 
 he declined to receive it ; but she pressed him, say- 
 ing, that it had been dedicated from their small 
 means unto the Lord, and that they were very sorry 
 that their deep poverty made it impossible for them 
 to devote more to the same purpose. After some 
 years Mr. Davies visited the place again, and found 
 the church increased to 180 members. Eeligion was 
 with those people the one great business of life, to 
 which every other consideration must be made sub- 
 servient j and they made very light of every obstacle 
 that was thrown in their way to the enjoyment of 
 
EGBERT LLOYD THE SHOEMAKER. 103 
 
 its privileges, or the discharge of its duties. Eobert 
 Lloyd was a journeyman shoemaker living at 
 Rhuthin, in Denbighshire, and was very popular 
 in the town in consequence of the kindness of his 
 disposition and the extent of his intelligence. He 
 seems to have been the oracle of the place, and it 
 was a very common occurrence, when a difference 
 of opinion upon any subject arose between men who 
 were much higher in station than himself, for the 
 disputants to refer the matter to " Robert the Shoe- 
 maker." He could read English well, and was able 
 to give the last news of the war that was then 
 raging between England and France. This made 
 him a general favourite, but there was one draw- 
 back, and that was that he was a Methodist. His 
 master greatly valued him as a skilful and conscien- 
 tious workman, but he was bitterly opposed to his 
 religion. There was a small church then formed at 
 a place some three or four miles from the town, and 
 of this little community Robert was a member. 
 They met weekly for spiritual conversation, and, in 
 consequence of the great distances at which some of 
 their number resided, it was found necessary to hold 
 those meetings at mid-day, and on those days Robert's 
 master usually gave him some work of great urgency, 
 on purpose to prevent him from going to the service. 
 He was too religious either to disobey his master 
 or to lose the opportunity to meet his brethren to 
 worship God, and he would, therefore, on those occa- 
 sions, rise at one or two o'clock in the morning, and 
 never fail to finish his allotted task in time for the 
 
104 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 service. But his mother was as opposed to his 
 religion as his master, and it sometimes happened, 
 when he went home from his work, that he could 
 find neither his coat nor his hat, both having been 
 hid by the old lady, to prevent her son from going 
 to the meeting of " The Eoundheads." But Eobert 
 could not be hindered by his mother's device any 
 more than by his master's. When the search for 
 his hat and coat would prove fruitless, as it often 
 did, the only difference it made was, that the young 
 shoemaker would then appear among his brethren 
 in his paper cap and shirt-sleeves. On one occasion, 
 when on his way to Bontuchel to hear a sermon, he 
 was met by one of his neighbours, a man of wealth 
 and position, who remonstrated mth him on the 
 folly of attending such meetings, adding, that it was 
 a pity that such a respectable and intelligent young 
 man as he was should demean himself by mixing 
 with such a poor lot as the Methodists, and urg- 
 ing him to withdraw from them altogether, and 
 to live like a man among his neighbours. A discus- 
 sion ensued, which resulted in the gentleman's going 
 mth Eobert to hear the sermon, and a very effectual 
 sermon to him it proved to be. He returned to his 
 home in great distress, and on that night he could 
 not help relating to a friend who slept with him 
 some of the dreadful things the preacher had said. 
 On the following night, when they were retiring 
 together to rest, the friend said to him with great 
 earnestness, — " Upon my soul, if you mention any- 
 thing of that which you talked about last night, I '11 
 
DEARTH OF PREACHEKS IN THE NORTH. 105 
 
 pay your skin to-morrow. I was so desperately 
 frightened by what you said after the preacher, that 
 I could not sleep the whole of the night." But the 
 sermon had reached the hearts of both, and they 
 soon became the companions of Eobert Lloyd in his 
 journeys to the services, and zealous members of the 
 same community. 
 
 For many years there was in North Wales a great 
 dearth of preachers. In the South, as we have seen, 
 ten episcopally ordained clergymen had at an early 
 13eriod joined the Methodist movement, several of 
 whom made frequent journeys into distant localities 
 to preach the gospel, and there soon arose a large 
 number of " Exhorters," many of whom were men 
 of great preaching power. But in the North it was 
 very different for a long time. It was chiefly through 
 the evangelistic labours of preachers from the South 
 that the churches in the northern province of the 
 Principality had been formed ; and, though the mem- 
 bers of these churches regularly met together for 
 mutual prayer and edification, it was to the South 
 they had for a number of years to look for preachers, 
 and many and long were the journeys made by those 
 zealous brethren and sisters for that purpose. They 
 derived spiritual edification themselves from the con- 
 verse of each other, but they ardently thirsted for 
 the salvation of their neighbours, and they saw no 
 labour too arduous to undertake, and no sacrifice too 
 great to make, in order to secure the preaching of 
 the gospel in their respective localities. They had 
 unbounded faith in the power of the ministry, which 
 
106 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 they had found so efficient towards themselves. 
 They were firmly persuaded, if they could only 
 secure a visit from a preacher of the gospel, that the 
 Spirit of God would accompany his ministry, and 
 that some of their neighbours would be saved ; and 
 it was very rarely that they were disappointed. 
 When the cry, " Come over and help us ! " went 
 from them towards the South, there went forth 
 another cry to Heaven from the depths of their heart. 
 It was, " Come, breath, from the four winds ! " 
 When the preacher came, he went forth like Ezekiel 
 in the Spirit of the Lord, and the hand of the Lord 
 was upon him, and therefore it is not strange that 
 there should have been a noise and a shaking, and 
 that many who had been so far dead in trespasses 
 and sins were made partakers of the life of God. 
 
 At Caergwrle, in Flintshire, there lived a good 
 man named Thomas Edwards, but who was known 
 among his neighbours as Thomas the Turner. Being 
 a bachelor, and an industrious man, it seems that he 
 had been able to save some money, and this he laid 
 out in the building of a small chapel. The only 
 assistance he had towards the erection was the sum 
 of five shillings from one Ithell Hill. He made 
 several journeys to Llangeitho, a distance of more 
 than a hundred miles, to procure preachers for his 
 little sanctuary. When they had come, it was very 
 rarely that he had the pleasure of listening to their 
 ministry, for the rabble would gather around the 
 door and make a great disturbance, and it was as 
 much as he could do to prevent them from rushing 
 
THOMAS THE TUENER. 107 
 
 in to abuse the preacher. He was able to manage 
 the outside mob pretty tolerably, for he was a man 
 of great physical power, — and this satisfied him, while 
 he hoped that the preacher, by the blessing of God, 
 would be able to do something greater and better 
 inside. But he had a way to compensate himself 
 for these deprivations. The preacher was on a tour, 
 and only took Caergwrle in his way, preaching two 
 or three times a day as he went along. Thomas 
 would follow him from place to place as long as his 
 money held out, and when that was exhausted he 
 would return home and work away at his trade, 
 while waiting for the blissful time when another 
 preacher would pass. 
 
 But all were not like Thomas the Turner. When 
 he had five-and-twenty shillings in his pocket it 
 was all his own, and he felt in his conscience, when 
 his wealth had so increased, that it was full time 
 for him to start south to look for a preacher, and 
 if he found it all gone by the time he returned, he 
 had only to go to his lathe for more. Those who 
 were not so favourably circumstanced usually made 
 a subscription to enable one of their number to go 
 to Llangeitho against the great monthly gathering, 
 where there would be an abundance of preachers 
 and exhorters, in order to invite some of them to 
 take a tour through portions of the north. This 
 was the custom at Berthengron in Flintshire. The 
 subscription usually amounted to about twenty shil- 
 lings, and Catherine Owen, the wife of John Owen, 
 who was himself a humble exhorter, was generally 
 
108 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the chosen messenger of the Church. "With that 
 small sum in her pocket this woman would start on 
 her pilgrimage of upwards of a hundred miles of 
 roMQ-h roads and bleak mountains. She made that 
 journey seven times, and on several occasions re- 
 turned jubilant, having not only heard Eowlands, 
 and enjoyed the delightful feasts of Llangeitho, but 
 having likewise secured promises of visits to the 
 north from as many as fifteen preachers. 
 
 Such were the men and women of those days : 
 such their zeal for the cause of Christ, their self- 
 sacrifice and entire consecration to His interests. 
 The result was only such as might have been ex- 
 pected. The Word of the Lord grew and multi- 
 plied, and in almost every district throughout Wales 
 great multitudes were converted to the faith. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Contentions— strong terms— The disruption—" Harris's people " 
 and " Rowlands's people "— H. Harris retires to Trevecca- 
 Building of the great House— The " Family "—Daily sermons 
 and services — Preaching on a sick-bed — Harris joins the 
 militia with twenty- four of "the Family "—Made a captain- 
 Preaches in regimentals at Yarmouth and in the west — Re- 
 turn to Trevecca — Monthly sacrament — Attachment to the 
 Church. 
 
 We have now to turn from this scene of earnest 
 labour and triumphant success to another, which we 
 cannot contemplate but with painful feelings. Up 
 to the year 1750 the career of the Calvinistic 
 Methodist body had been one of success. Perse- 
 cution had in a great measure ceased, and outward 
 opposition had been prevailed over ; but about that 
 time there arose a contention within the body itself 
 which threatened it with utter ruin. Harris and 
 Rowlands were regarded as the leading men of the 
 Connexion, but which of the two was the leading 
 man was a point which was not determined, and a 
 point about which few, if anybody, cared. Between 
 those two men a serious dispute arose, which had 
 the disastrous result of dividing the Connexion for 
 many years. It was not a dispute on the question, 
 
 109 
 
110 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 " Who shall be greatest ?" as some have ground- 
 lessly insinuated, nor was it on a personal matter at 
 all, but on a question of doctrine, and not of doctrine 
 either, properly speaking, but about the words in 
 which a doctrine, which each of them believed with 
 all his heart, ought to be expressed. There is no 
 truth which those brethren held with a firmer and 
 deeper conviction than that of the proper Deity of 
 our blessed Eedeemer ; but the terms in which that 
 great truth was taught by Rowlands and others 
 were too indefinite and colourless to satisfy Howell 
 Harris; while he, on the other hand, employed 
 terms and expressions which to his brethren sounded 
 harsh, if not irreverent. A few passages from Harris's 
 Diary will help the reader to form an idea of the 
 nature of the misunderstanding between those apo- 
 stolic men, which began as early as 1745, and came 
 to an open rupture in the year 1751 : — 
 
 "In the year 1743, the glory of the Divinity of 
 Jesus Christ was more deeply impressed on my soul 
 than ever. The more I meditate on that text, 
 * G-reat is the mystery of godliness : God was mani- 
 fest in the flesh,' the more the glory thereof shineth 
 on my soul. I had also much help to see more of 
 the glory and wonders of the Divinity of Christ by 
 reading a tract called ' A Sling and a Stone.' I now 
 was brought to see more and more wonders in His 
 infinite incarnation, life, blood, death, and resurrec- 
 tion." 
 
 In 1746 he writes, " As my spirit increased more 
 and more in beholding the glory of that God-man, 
 
THE BEGINNING OF STRIFE. Ill 
 
 whom I now beheld clearly the wonder of all worlds, 
 the terror of devils, the delight of angels, and the 
 real and only hope of poor sinners, then I began to 
 find great opposition to my preaching his Godhead 
 and death, especially in Wales. This opposition 
 gained ground, and I began to be openly opposed, 
 and also by many who called themselves my spiritual 
 children. But the year following (1747) the enmity 
 grew stronger against the preaching of God's humilia- 
 tion and death ; still I bore all in the hope of seeing 
 this storm ceasing, as I had seen many others. I 
 now also beheld very evidently a tendency in the 
 ministry to please men, and to appear wise and 
 popular in the world, and a greatmany of my nearest 
 friends both in England and Wales losing their 
 former simplicity, although the number of teachers 
 increased daily. I found also that the spirits of 
 many grew whole, great, and proud, and would not 
 take the word of reproof or exhortation, although 
 they called me their father, and (I) really was so, as 
 I began the work in this last revival, especially in 
 Wales, though I have spent a great part of my time 
 in England, to spread abroad the fame of the dear 
 Saviour. ... As the Lord himself sent me round 
 the country at my first setting out, and gave me a 
 desire to please Him only, and helped me to speak 
 plain truths, so at this time a necessity was laid upon 
 me to preach that great truth which He revealed to 
 my own soul, viz., the wonderful condescension and 
 mystery of God in our nature reconciling the world 
 to Himself, not imputing their sins ; that He was 
 
112 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 God in the womb of Mary, when He assumed our 
 nature, laying in Himself the foundation of our salva- 
 tion and deliverance, and was the supreme God in 
 His poor birth and swaddling-clothes, and in all His 
 sufferings ; that He was the great I A^i, the Alpha 
 and Omega, and that there is none other God but 
 He ! There are three Persons, but one God, and 
 those who worship another god besides Him do so 
 worship an idol, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily. And when the time came 
 to make an atonement for our sins; when He, 
 the great sacrifice, was raised on the altar of the 
 cross, all nature — earth and hell was in an uproar or 
 confusion. The sun was darkened, the earth trem- 
 bled, the dead awoke and were raised, that all might 
 inquire what is the cause and meaning of all this — 
 ' 'Tis THE MIGHTY Maker DIES ! ' — Dr. Watts. 
 
 " I went on thus some years through Wales bear- 
 ing my testimony to those truths in the face of carnal 
 professors, Arian and Sodnian, who all railed against 
 me. Although it proved to be an occasion of much 
 murmuring, contention, and division, yet I am in a 
 lively hope that the Lord will bless His own truths 
 in His proper time ; it may be when I am gone." 
 
 The great truth of which Howell Harris speaks as 
 having been revealed to his soul, is now held in the 
 Welsh Calvinistic Methodist body as the main foun- 
 dation on which the whole fabric of Christianity 
 rests ; but there is not one amongst us who would 
 express it in the same words as he did, nor one whose 
 feelings would not be shocked by hearing it so ex- 
 
STRONG TERMS. 113 
 
 l)ressed. It strikes us that he began to preach with 
 a very incomplete knowledge of Christian doctrine. 
 The burden of his ministry for years was, " Escape 
 to the refuge ! " The world was perishing in sin. 
 His soul within him longed to save it from its ter- 
 rific doom, and he devoted himself with fiery zeal and 
 tremendous energy to that great object. Gradually 
 the distinctive doctrines of the gospel began to dawn 
 upon his mind, and foremost of all the great funda- 
 mental truth of the Divinity of our Redeemer, and 
 he regarded it as having been revealed to his own 
 soul. Most probably he was under the impression 
 that his brethren were still as ignorant of it as he 
 had been so far himself. This is by no means an 
 uncommon thing. Wales has in our days been 
 visited from time to time by zealous evangelists and 
 revivalists from beyond the Severn; and we have 
 heard some of those good brethren insisting with 
 great vehemence on very rudimentary truths, which, 
 to themselves, were evidently recent discoveries, but 
 which to most of their hearers were old, familiar, and 
 much-valued friends. 
 
 The probability is, that Howell Harris, after these 
 great truths " were revealed to his own soul," began 
 to preach them in a manner that implied that they 
 were unknown to his brethren, and it is certain that 
 he expressed them in terms that were, to the wisest 
 and best among them, offensive. Rowlands and 
 others could have taught him the way of God more 
 perfectly had he been willing to be instructed ; but 
 it is evident that he suspected them of not being quite 
 H 
 
114 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 sound in the faith. They did not preach that God 
 had died ; they were even unwilling that he should 
 say so, and that went far with him to prove that they 
 did not really believe that He who died was a Divine 
 Person. 
 
 The contentions of those years have not been pre- 
 served on record, but there are allusions to them here 
 and there in Howell Harris's Autobiography. In 
 1746 he writes : " Yet we proceeded in Wales, not- 
 withstanding the great jars and disputes that arose 
 amongst us." There are allusions to the same pain- 
 ful state of things made by others ; but there is no 
 history of those disputes that could throw complete 
 light upon them. During the first years of the 
 movement, the fathers were engaged at their Asso- 
 ciations in organizing means and measures for the 
 consolidation of the churches and the spread of the 
 cause, and of those we have ample records; but 
 when misunderstandings arose, the Associations be- 
 came the scenes of disputes and contentions, and of 
 these we have no minutes at all. 
 
 It was at an Association held at Llanidloes, in the 
 year 1751, that the disagreement, which had been 
 raging with more or less violence for several years, 
 - culminated in a separation. At that time it could be 
 said of Harris and Rowlands, as it had been said 
 before of two other apostles, " And the contention 
 was so sharp between them, that they departed 
 asunder one from the other." It does not appear 
 that the great mass of the people knew much of the 
 subject in dispute between them ; but they of neces- 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 115 
 
 sity took sides, and did so, most probably, according 
 to their personal preferences. Most of the preachers 
 went with Rowlands ; but the people clung to one 
 or the other according to the esteem in which each 
 was held by them. The body was divided into two 
 jDarties, known respectively as " Harris's People," and 
 "Rowlands's People;" and for a number of years a 
 most unhappy spirit prevailed between those two 
 sections. Let us give an instance : — Edward Parry 
 of Brynbugad, Denbighshire, was one of the exhorters 
 who adhered to Howell Harris. At the time of the 
 disruption he gave up preaching himself; but he 
 received " Harris's People " to preach and hold ser- 
 vices at his house. His father lived in the adjoin- 
 ing house ; and he, being on the other side, opened 
 his door for sermons and services by " Rowlands's 
 People ; " and so strong was the bad feeling between 
 those two parties, that not any of the one ever at- 
 tended the services of the other. This is an extreme 
 case; but there are instances of the same kind all 
 over the country. The consequences were most dis- 
 astrous. Many of the exhorters ceased from their 
 exhortation. Many of the members returned to the 
 Establishment, and others joined Dissenting com- 
 munities ; while the churches everywhere, torn by in- 
 ternal dissensions, were brought to the very brink of 
 ruin. It seemed for some years as if the work which 
 had begun so mightily, and prospered so greatly, was 
 coming to naught. 
 
 Howell Harris was an extraordinary man, and he 
 did many extraordinary things. The step which he 
 
116. WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 took at this time astonished a great many of his 
 friends, and is now regarded by some as the grand 
 mistake of his life. He gave up the work of an 
 itinerant evangelist and confined himself almost ex- 
 clusively to his own home, preaching daily to those 
 who would come together to hear him. Great num- 
 bers coming from a distance, and wishing to remain 
 near enough to Trevecca, to enjoy his constant min- 
 istrations, led to another strange step. He built a 
 large house, into which was gathered a numerous 
 family from all parts of Wales, and which in some 
 respects was like a monastic institution. We give 
 a few extracts from his "Biography," which was 
 " collected by his successors," and published at Tre- 
 vecca, with his Autobiography as " The second part," 
 in the year 1791. Those "successors," like Harris 
 himself, wrote in English, and therefore we are not in 
 any danger of doing them injustice by translation. 
 
 "After seventeen years of hard labour in the 
 Lord's work through Wales and great part of Eng- 
 land, Mr. Harris settled at Trevecca, where he spent 
 the greatest part of his time in his own house; 
 though he made several journeys from thence in the 
 following years. A few of those who received a 
 blessing through his ministry in former years began 
 to gather to him there ; and as he preached to them 
 two or three times a day, they earnestly desired to 
 stay there with him. The ardent desire of" these 
 sincere people he could not withstand, and thus in 
 April 1752 he laid the foundation of the present 
 
THE TREVECCA HOUSE. 117 
 
 building at Trevecca, though he had at that time 
 neither friends nor money. He set about it purely 
 in faith, relying on the Lord and His promise ; hav- 
 ing an impression in his mind for some years past 
 that he should build a house for God. And he set 
 about it in the full persuasion that the same God, 
 who had sent him at first in an uncommon manner 
 to awaken the country, also laid this undertaking 
 upon him. He himself writes thus concerning it : — 
 * I was impelled to build by the same Spirit which 
 sent me about to preach, and at a time [when] I was 
 far from being provided with money and friends ; 
 for the latter had deserted me, and instead of the 
 former I had demands upon me, and about forty 
 workmen to pay and maintain ; and yet I made use 
 of no means to get one shilling, but an humble plead- 
 ing of, and confiding on, the promise, on which I 
 trust my all, as both for temporal and spiritual 
 things.* 
 
 " But soon after he began to build, some people 
 came to offer their work, and to help him., that they 
 might have a more convenient opportunity to be 
 under his care, and profit by his ministry daily. 
 Thus the family began to be gathered together this 
 year. Mr. Harris had at this time a severe fit of 
 sickness; but yet, though very weak, he would 
 preach to the people till he was seemingly ready to 
 die from fatigue, being not able to move himself from 
 the chair he used to sit in and speak from, but we 
 were obliged to carry him in it into his room. At 
 
118 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 other times, when he recovered a little, he would call 
 the family to his bedroom, and would exhort them 
 from his bed for a long while, — the Divine blessing 
 attending it to their souls. He continued some months 
 in this fit of sickness, expecting to go home to his 
 dear Lord and Saviour ; as he himself expresses it : 
 ' I was all this time in continual hopes of going home 
 to my dear Saviour, and expecting it with solicita- 
 tion.' And yet all this while he continued to dis- 
 course daily to the people, as one already in the 
 suburbs of heaven. 
 
 " In the year 1753, a part of the building being 
 finished, a great number of people flocked to him 
 from all parts, many of them under conviction, merely 
 to hear the Word, and others partly from curiosity, 
 the report of Mr. Harris's preaching daily at Trevecca 
 having spread throughout all Wales. Satan also 
 began to rage and set the whole country as it were 
 in an uproar, inventing all manner of lies, etc., that 
 originated in their various ideas of the aim of the 
 multitude crowding to that place. However, the 
 people continued to come there from all parts of 
 Wales, some staying for a time, others returning 
 home, partly because their circumstances did not 
 admit of their staying at present, — partly complain- 
 ing, some of the fare, others that the preaching 
 and discipline were too hard, and that Mr. Harris 
 was an intolerable reprover, etc. ; yet, for all this, 
 many settled there this year, especially single per- 
 sons, both men and women, giving themselves to 
 the Lord and His work, because they believed it was 
 
THE " FAMILY " AT TREVECCA. 119 
 
 a part of the Lord's work, and suited to tlie rules 
 laid down in the Bible. 
 
 " At the end of this year, and the beginning of 
 the year 1754, there was a settled family at Trevecca 
 of about a hundred persons, besides those coming 
 and going, as we hinted before ; and Mr. Harris took 
 upon him the sole care of their spiritual and tem- 
 poral concerns, having nothing outwardly adequate 
 to provide for such a family, nor any manufactory 
 set up, but only a couple of small rented farms, and 
 a little quantity of wool bought for the women to 
 spin, to get their maintenance by. It is a difficult 
 thing to imagine what straits Mr. Harris went 
 through at this time concerning the outward care 
 of the people only, besides the care of their souls, 
 preaching publicly and exhorting privately daily, 
 watching many nights to pray and wrestle with the 
 Lord, and, as soon as the family arose in the morn- 
 ing, preaching again, exhorting them for hours to- 
 gether without having had any rest in bed, but yet 
 with fresh power and spirit from the Lord. Of this 
 we are living eye-witnesses. 
 
 " As to outward matters the Lord has been with 
 him in a surprising manner. Frequently, when a 
 call for payment came to him, he had no prospect in 
 the world how to discharge the debt but applying to 
 the Lord in prayer and pleading His promise, and 
 that he did not bear these burdens /or himself, but 
 for Him, and therefore relying upon Him that he 
 would certainly help and carry him through. And 
 very often the Lord answered him in an unexpected 
 
120 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 manner, by sending some person or other with as 
 much money as he wanted, either as an acknowledg- 
 ment for the benefit received from his work, or as 
 a loan. Thus the Lord never forsook him, as he 
 writes : — ' Being often in straits concerning temporal 
 things, wanting twenty, or fifty, or even a hundred 
 pounds, and having nowhere to turn to for assistance 
 but to the promise, the Lord not relieving till the 
 last pinch, and then appearing from a quarter that 
 none could ever imagine, some bringing, and some 
 sending me, £10, or £20, and even £100, though 
 living at the distance of seventy or eighty miles, 
 being compelled so to do only by the AVord sound- 
 ing in their conscience night and day, and no man 
 in the world knowing or imagining anything of it. 
 Thus the Lord appeared for me many times. This 
 seems strange to many, and well it may : yet it is 
 real truth.' 
 
 " In the year 1755 several families came to 
 Trevecca, especially from North Wales, some to live 
 in the family, and others to farms in the neighbour- 
 hood, that they might have a more convenient oppor- 
 tunity of attending Mr. Harris's preaching. Many 
 of them had substance ; others were poor, and having 
 many children, were obliged to be assisted. Mr. 
 Harris wrote thus about that time : — ' No sooner 
 was a great part of the building finished, but there 
 appeared presently here and there a family, which 1 
 neither thought of nor sent for, nor could expect. 
 Therefore it appears evident to me that not man, 
 but the Lord, hath done great things for us. Many 
 
HARRIS'S " EXHORTEES." 1 2 1 
 
 people continued to come here, notwithstanding 
 crosses and trials, to a place represented by all in 
 the blackest manner, being drawn only by love to 
 the truth, and the force of the Lord's voice they 
 found to their hearts through my ministry, freely 
 leaving their country and all that was dear to them, 
 working and living hard, and leaving it wholly to 
 me to order them, both in their work and fare. 
 There are now above one hundred persons, old and 
 young, that board, work, and sleep in the house, 
 amongst which are ten families ; and ten families live 
 out in farms in the neighbourhood/ 
 
 " At the end of this year there were about 120 
 persons in the family, besides those families in the 
 neighbourhood that belonged to it. Mr. Harris 
 preached publicly two or three times daily to the 
 family, besides keeping private meetings with one 
 part or other of them an hour every day of the 
 week. They gave themselves thus to the Lord, and 
 to His servants by the w^ill of God, as the Holy Ghost 
 directs us to do (2 Cor. viii. 5). From the beginning 
 of this work the Lord had moved and fitted two or 
 three ' Exhorters' as assistants to Mr. Harris, to 
 exhort both at home and abroad ; and by this time 
 the Lord had raised others as helpers, both in the 
 ministry and government of the family." 
 
 Some of the " Exhorters," above alluded to, were 
 not very successful in their labours " abroad." They 
 went out to preach at fairs and merry-makings, as 
 their leader had once done, but soon found, to their dis- 
 may, that not one among them was a Howell Harris. 
 
122 WELSH METHODISM. • 
 
 About the end of 1759 Howell Harris did another 
 strange thing. We shall let his " successors" and 
 himself tell the story in their own words : — " To- 
 wards the end of this year, when the nation was 
 alarmed with an invasion intended from France, 
 Mr. Harris showed much concern about the welfare 
 of the kingdom in general, and our rights and privi- 
 leges^ both public and private. About that time 
 some of the gentlemen of the county offered him a 
 commission in the Breconshire militia, and he then 
 ansA^ered that he would not agree with the offer but 
 upon condition that they would give him liberty to 
 preach the gospel wherever he should go ; and told 
 them further, that his chief motive and concern in 
 that affair was the danger he saw to the liberty 
 of the gospel, and of our privileges being taken 
 from us ; and having been for many years in danger 
 of his life for preaching the Word of God in many 
 places, he was now willing to lay down his life, if 
 occasion required, to defend it ; but that if he should 
 serve as a soldier for King George, he must have 
 liberty to preach the gospel of King Jesus. The 
 officers assenting to these motives, and insisting 
 upon his accepting the office, he replied again that 
 he must pray to the Lord for knowledge of His mind 
 and will, and have the consent of his large family, 
 to which also they made no objection. 
 
 " Thus, after waiting on the Lord in prayer, he 
 
 was fully persuaded in his mind, that the same 
 
 Spirit of God who sent him at first to preach the 
 
 ■|[)Word in an uncommon manner, would send him 
 
HARRIS A CAPTAIN IN THE MILITIA. 123 
 
 now in the like extraordinary way to defend it, and 
 to offer his life for the truth he preached, and the 
 liberty we enjoy in this kingdom. He laid the 
 matter thus before the family, imj^loring the assist- 
 ance of their prayers how to act in this critical 
 affair, and also asked whether any of them had an 
 inclination to go for the Lord's sake with him, to 
 offer their lives in defence of the gospel. The matter 
 was then further considered, and laid before the 
 Lord in prayer by the whole family, and all con- 
 sented that Mr. Harris should go, believing it to be 
 the will of God. Many also of the men were willing 
 to go with him and to lay down their lives for the 
 precious Word of God, if occasion required, and the 
 rest of the family willingly resigned him and the 
 men who intended to accompany him. 
 
 " Mr. Harris, having settled all at Trevecca, and 
 delivered the affairs of the family into the hands of 
 trustees, went intending to serve the Lord and his 
 king even unto death, together with twenty-four 
 men of the family, twelve of them as volunteers at 
 ]\Ir. Harris's own cost, — arms, clothing, and main- 
 tenance for three years. They embodied with the 
 Breconshire Militia in the beginning of the year 
 1760. Mr. Harris received an ensign's commission 
 at his entrance into the battalion, but afterwards 
 was made a captain. Before we proceed we must 
 insert a few lines, that he himself wrote at this 
 time on the value of the Word of God, the Bible : — 
 
 " ' I am resolutely and coolly determined to go 
 freely and conscientiously, and die in the field of 
 
124 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 battle in defence of the precious Word of God, the 
 Bible, against Popery. Who can sufficiently set 
 forth the value of a Book wherein God speaks, and 
 that to all ranks, degrees, ages, and languages of 
 men 1 Who can set it forth in its own real and majes- 
 tic glory 1 the infinite and unfathomable depth of 
 glory, and Divine wisdom and love that are in it ! 
 The glory of the sun is nothing in comparison to the 
 glory of this valuable treasure, which is indeed the 
 image of God Himself drawn by Himself A Book 
 which He has made the standard, touchstone, and 
 rule to try even His own work by ; whereby all 
 spirits, doctrine, ministry, and church discipline, 
 all faith, love, truth, and obedience are proved ! A 
 Book that God has referred all men to, from the 
 monarch to the peasant : the universal Teacher of 
 all men ! Here is the seed whence the Church and 
 her faith are begotten, and herein is she purified 
 and nursed. Here is the believer's armoury. Herein 
 is the true inefi'able light of the world. Herein the 
 unerring Father and Teacher of all speaks, both to 
 young and old, high and low, rich and poor. Here 
 man's pride is humbled, his wounds searched, the 
 Saviour revealed, and declared to be made ours. 
 ... the ineffable Treasure ! No wonder so 
 many thousands triumphed in dying for the precious 
 Bible ! Now I go freely, without compulsion, to 
 show the regard I have for the privileges we enjoy 
 under our best of kings, — our inefi'able privileges, 
 especially the precious gospel of our Saviour, con- 
 
" PREACHING IN REGIMENTALS." 125 
 
 tained in the whole Book of God, which now is 
 openly read throughout the kingdom ; every person 
 being suffered to exhort his neighbour without 
 molestation. Now I commit my family to the Lord, 
 and am going with a part of it, who freely offered 
 their lives on this occasion, to defend our nation 
 and privileges, and to show publicly that we are 
 dead to all things below, or at least, that we can 
 part with all for our dear Lord and Saviour, even 
 with life itself, and that we seek a city above, Heb. 
 xiii. 14.' 
 
 " The first route which Mr. Harris and the militia 
 had, was in the spring of the year 1760, to Yar- 
 mouth, a seaport town in Norfolk. It pleased the 
 Lord, as soon as they arrived at Yarmouth, to open 
 a door for him to preach there and at other places, 
 in his regimentals, every evening to many hearers, 
 who seemingly attended to the Word, and a blessing 
 rested upon some souls there. 
 
 " The following winter they returned to Brecon 
 by another road, which gave him an opportunity to 
 preach in other towns, and as they made Brecon 
 their head-quarters for that winter, he had an oppor- 
 tunity to be a part of his time, now and then, at 
 Trevecca with his family. The following summer 
 they took another route, to the west of England, 
 so that he had a new field for preaching the gospel. 
 Then they settled for a while at Bideford and Tor- 
 rington, where he met vnth. a kind reception, and 
 many hearers. In the summer of 1762 he went to 
 
126 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 several other populous towns in the west, as Barn- 
 staple, Plymouth, etc., where he continued to preach 
 the gospel at every opportunity. 
 
 " After being thus three years in the militia, the 
 war over, and a treaty of peace concluded, he and 
 his little company returned to Trevecca, after show- 
 ing his faith and love to the Lord Jesus, and also 
 his love and loyalty to his king and country. He 
 spent the remainder of his life at Trevecca with 
 his large family, except only some few rounds he 
 took, now and then, to preach both in England and 
 AVales. 
 
 "In the year 1764 he agreed with the vicar to 
 have a monthly Sacrament at our parish church, 
 which had only been administered four times a year 
 before. On Sunday February the 6th 1764, we re- 
 ceived the first monthly sacrament, and he wrote 
 thus : 
 
 " ' This was a great day indeed, — the first day we 
 had the Communion according to our wish and 
 request; and this privilege has been given us in 
 answer to our prayer, and is a further open proof 
 of our Saviour's love to us. "VVe were happy in the 
 morning in exhorting, and went happily together 
 to the public service, and, I trust, in one spirit to 
 the Lord's table.' 
 
 " The 19th of this month our people sat for the 
 first time in the gallery of the parish church, to 
 sing, and ever since continue to do so every Sunday. 
 . . . And as the late revival in religion began in 
 the Established Church, we think it not necessary or 
 
CHURCH COMMUNION. 127 
 
 i^rudent to separate ourselves from it ; but our duty 
 to abide in it, and to go to our parish church every 
 Sunday, to join in the prayers, to hear the reading 
 of God's Word, and to use the ordinances. We find 
 that our Saviour meets us there by making them a 
 blessing to our souls." 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Eev. H. Venn on Trevecca — Lady Huntingdon and the Welsli 
 Methodists — A projected College — Rev. J. Berridge's letter — 
 Opening of the College at Trevecca — Qualifications and salary 
 of Head-master — First anniversary — The Calvinistic contro- 
 versy—Another anniversary — Fall of the scaffold— Fireside 
 talk — Death and funeral of Howell Harris— Ultimate results 
 of his withdrawal to Trevecca — Another controversy — Expul- 
 sion of Peter Williams— A long drought— A great revival- 
 Rowlands expelled from the Established Church. 
 
 Whatever may be thought now of the institu- 
 tion at Trevecca, it is certain that there were many 
 among the best people of those days who did not 
 regard it with disfavour. The. Reverend Henry 
 Venn, author of The Complete Duty of Man, and one 
 of the most eminent of the early Methodistical 
 clergymen, visited the place in 1769, and we give 
 his impressions of it in his own words : — " Happy 
 Trevecca ! Howell Harris is the father of that 
 settlement, and the founder. After labouring for 
 fifteen years, more violently than any of the servants 
 of Christ, in this revival, he was so hurt in body as 
 to be confined to his own house for seven years. 
 Upon the beginning of this confinement, first one 
 and then another, whom the Lord had converted 
 
 128 
 
LADY HUNTINGDON IN WALES. 129 
 
 under his word, to the number of near a hundred, 
 came and desired to live with him, and that they 
 would work and get their bread. By this means, 
 near one hundred and twenty — men, women, and 
 children, from very distant parts of Wales — came 
 and fixed their tents at Trevecca. We were there 
 three days, and heard their experience, which they 
 spoke in Welsh to Mr. Harris, and he interpreted to 
 us. Of all the people I ever saw, this Society seems 
 to be the most advanced in grace. They speak as 
 men and women who feel themselves every moment 
 worthy of eternal punishment, and infinitely base; 
 and yet, at the same time, have such certainty of 
 salvation through the second Man, the Lord from 
 heaven, as is indeed delightful to behold. My heart 
 received a blessing from them and their pastor which 
 will abide with me." ^ 
 
 The Countess of Huntingdon had been long ac- 
 quainted with Howell Harris, and other leading 
 Welsh reformers. Her Ladyship, in 1748, had ac- 
 companied several of these men on a tour through 
 parts of Wales, of which we have the following 
 account in her Life and Times :^ — 
 
 " About the month of May 1748, Lady Hunting- 
 don and her daughters, accompanied by Lady Anne 
 and Lady Frances Hastings, left Bath on a tour 
 through Wales. It is a matter of regret that so 
 little information can now be obtained of her Lady- 
 
 ^ The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, vol. i. 
 p. 482. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 84. 
 
 I 
 
130 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ship's journey into a part of the kingdom where she 
 was destined in after years to reap a harvest so 
 abundant. 
 
 " From the scanty materials, however, which re- 
 main, an imperfect and irregular journal, in the 
 handwriting of Lady Frances Hastings, we are in- 
 formed that Lady Huntingdon was met at Bristol 
 by Mr. Howell Harris, Mr. Griffith Jones, Mr. Daniel 
 Eowlands, and Mr. Howell Davies, all of whom 
 accompanied her into the Principality. They appear 
 to have travelled slowly, taking short stages every 
 day. For fifteen days successively two of the min- 
 isters that accompanied her Ladyship preached in 
 some town or village through which they passed, 
 by which means the seed of Divine truth was widely 
 scattered over a large extent of the country. In 
 Cardiganshire her Ladyship was visited by the Eev. 
 Philip Pugh, a Dissenting minister, eminent for his 
 piety, diligence, and success. On their arrival at 
 Trevecca, they were joined by several of the awak- 
 ened clergymen, particularly Mr. William Williams, 
 Mr. Thomas Lewis, Mr. Penry Baillie, Mr. John 
 Powell, and Mr. Thomas Jones ; also by some of the 
 exliorters, or lay preachers, and some pious and 
 laborious Dissenting ministers, amongst whom Mr. 
 John Watkins, Mr. Lewis Jones of Glamorganshire, 
 and Mr. Lewis Eees from North Wales, were the 
 most notable. Her Ladyship remained a few days at 
 Trevecca, which exactly twenty years after became her 
 chief residence and scene of action. Whilst there, 
 they had preaching four or five times a day, to im- 
 
MR. BERRIDGE's letter ON COLLEGES. 131 
 
 mense crowds who had collected from all the adja- 
 cent country. ' The divine influence of the Spirit 
 of God,' says Lady Frances, 'was very evidently 
 aff'orded with his Word, and many were added unto 
 the Lord's people.' " 
 
 Howell Harris was likewise for many years one 
 of her Ladyship's regular supplies in London, 
 Brighton, and other places. In the year 1767, Lady 
 Huntingdon conceived the idea of establishing a 
 college or " seminary," as it was called at the time, 
 for the purpose of preparing earnest and devoted 
 young men for the ministry of the gospel. It was 
 not intended to confine the benefits of this school of 
 prophets to any particular denomination; on the 
 contrary, the young men who were trained in it 
 were at liberty to take orders in the Establishment, 
 or to join themselves to any other section of the 
 Christian Church, according as they were led by the 
 providence of God, or by their own inclinations. 
 Her Ladyship consulted a great many of her minis- 
 terial and other friends, with reference to this im- 
 portant project, and as is usual in such cases, was 
 encouraged to persevere in her intention by some, 
 and dissuaded from it by others. Among the latter 
 was the Rev. J. Berridge, whose characteristic letter in 
 reply to her Ladyship we take the liberty to insert : — 
 
 " The soil you have chosen is proper. Welsh 
 mountains aff'ord a brisk air for a student, and the 
 rules are excellent ; but I doubt the success of the 
 project, and fear it will occasion you more trouble 
 than all your other undertakings besides. Ai^e we 
 
132 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 commanded to make labourers, or to * pray the Lord 
 to send labourers"? Will not Jesus choose and teach 
 and send forth His ministering servants now, as He 
 did the disciples aforetime, and glean them up when 
 and where and how He pleaseth 1 The world say- 
 No, because they are strangers to a Divine commis- 
 sion and a Divine teaching. And what if these 
 asses blunder about their Master's meaning for a 
 time, and mistake it often, as they did formerly 1 
 No great harm will ensue, provided they are kept 
 from paper and ink, and from a white wall and char- 
 coal. Do you like to see cade-lambs in a house, and 
 suckling with a finger, or to view them skipping 
 after the dam in their own proper pasture 1 We 
 read of a school of prophets in Scripture, but we do 
 not read that it was God's appointment. Elijah 
 visited this school, which was at Bethel, and seems 
 to have been fond of it, yet the Lord commands him 
 to fetch a successor, not from the school, but, as the 
 Eomans fetched a dictator, from the plough. Are 
 we told of a single poaching prophet that was taken 
 out of this school 1 Or do we find any public em- 
 ployment given the scholars, except once sending a 
 light-heeled young man, when light heels were need- 
 ful, with a horn of oil to anoint Jehu 1 (2 Kings 
 ix.) That old prophet, who told a sad lie to another 
 prophet, was of this school, and might be the master 
 of this college, for he was a grey-headed man 
 (1 Kings xiii. 11). While my heart is thus prattling 
 to you very simply, like a child, it stands in no fear 
 of offending you ; and if your project be right, the 
 
COLLEGE AT TREVECCA. 133 
 
 Master will keep you steadfast, and you will only 
 smile at my prattling. Indeed, I am the most dubious 
 man in the world about my own judgment, and will 
 stickle for nothing excepting to live to and trust in 
 my Lord." ^ 
 
 Her Ladyship fixed upon Trevecca for her College, 
 and we suppose that her reason for making that 
 choice was, that the students might have the ad- 
 vantage of Howell Harris's earnest ministrations. 
 The building was prepared by him. He repaired 
 and enlarged Trevecca House, " an ancient structure, 
 supposed to have been part of an old castle erected 
 in the reign of Henry the Second. The date over 
 the entrance, now almost effaced, is 1176. This 
 building was opened as a college for religious and 
 literary instruction, and the chapel dedicated to the 
 preaching of the everlasting gospel on the 24th of 
 August 1768, the anniversary of Lady Hunting- 
 don's birth-day, by the Rev. George Whitefield, who 
 preached from Exodus xx. 24, * In all places where I 
 record my name, I will come unto thee and bless 
 thee;' and, on the following Sabbath-day, he ad- 
 dressed a congregation of some thousands in the 
 court before the College. His text on this occasion 
 was, — ' Other foundation can no man lay than that 
 is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' "When speaking of 
 the dedication of the College, Mr. AVhitefield says, 
 ' What we have seen and felt at the College is un- 
 speakable.' " ^ 
 
 ' Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon, vol. ii. p. 92. 
 2 Ibid. p. 93. 
 
134 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 The Eev. J. Fletcher of Madeley was chosen Pre- 
 sident of the College; and Mr. Easterbrook, after- 
 wards the Vicar of the Temple and Ordinary of 
 Newgate, " a deeply pious and useful man, an able 
 preacher, and a bold defender of the truths of 
 Christianity," the first Master. The latter does not 
 appear to have remained at Trevecca more than a 
 few months ; and a Mr. Jones, who had been one of 
 the Masters at Kingswood school, applied to Mr. 
 Fletcher for the appointment. A short extract from 
 the reply of the President to this gentleman will 
 give the reader some idea of the character of the 
 College, and of its promoters : — 
 
 " The first and grand point to be kept in view at 
 Lady Huntingdon's College, is to maintain and grow 
 in the spirit of faith and power that breathes through 
 the Acts of the Apostles, and was exemplified in the 
 lives of the primitive Christians. The first and grand 
 qualification required in a person called to be at the 
 head of such a College, is, then, a degree of faith 
 and power from above, with an active devotedness 
 to God and His cause. The Master who is there at 
 present seems, on account of his youth, to be deficient 
 in point of Christian experience ; nor is he a proper 
 master of the Greek, nor even of the harder classics, 
 so that he can hardly maintain his superiority over 
 those who read Cicero and Horace.-^ Whether this 
 inconveniency. Sir, would be avoided, suppose you 
 were to succeed him, I cannot judge by your letter. 
 
 1 We do not know the name of this gentleman, but he seems to 
 have been only appointed ^ro tem. when Mr, Easterbrook left. 
 
THE HEAD MASTER. 135 
 
 He is also unacquainted with Divinity and the 
 Sciences, of which it is proper he should give the 
 student some idea ; and how far you may excel him 
 in these points, Sir, is not in my power to determine. 
 He hath twenty-five guineas a year, with his board, 
 room, and washing. I dare say the generous foundress 
 would not hesitate to raise the salary of a master of 
 superior merit, though she hopes none would under- 
 take that province for the sake of money. The 
 variety of classes demands great assiduity and dili- 
 gence in the master. I would not, therefore, advise 
 any one to engage without a proper trial. ... I 
 think that, if upon consulting with the Lord in 
 prayer, and with Mr. Maxfield in conversation, you 
 find your heart free to embrace so peculiar an oppor- 
 tunity of being useful to your generation, it might 
 be best to come and see how you like the business, 
 and how it agrees with you ; and should not matters 
 prove agreeable on either side, I dare say Lady Hunt- 
 ingdon will pay your expenses to Talgarth and back 
 again." ^ 
 
 In August 1769 the anniversary of the opening 
 of the College was held, and this was a great occa- 
 sion. " On Friday the 18th, Mr. Daniel Eowlands, 
 Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. W. Williams, arrived at the 
 College, and, on the following morning, Mr. Row- 
 lands preached in the chapel to a crowded congrega- 
 tion, on the words, ' Lord, are there few that be 
 saved V In the afternoon the Lord's Su23per was 
 
 1 Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon, vol. ii. p. 97. 
 
136 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 administered, when Mr. Fletcher addressed the com- 
 municants and spectators in a very close and pointed 
 manner. Power from on high accompanied the 
 Word, and rendered it effectual to the conversion 
 of many. Mr. AVilliams then gave out the hymn, 
 * Come, let us join our cheerful songs/ etc., which 
 was sung with the most lively feelings of devotion. 
 Abundance of people being gathered together, Mr. 
 Howell Harris stood in the court and gave a solemn 
 warning to a large congregation from these awful 
 words : ' The time is come that judgment must 
 begin at the house of God.' 
 
 " On the 1 9th Mr. Shirley and several exhorters 
 and lay-preachers arrived at Trevecca. The next 
 day, being Sunday, a very numerous congregation 
 assembled in the court, the chapel being much too 
 small to contain the half of the people. Public ser- 
 vice commenced at ten o'clock. Mr. Fletcher read 
 prayers, and Mr. Shirley preached on ' Acquaint thy- 
 self now with him, and be at peace.' At one the 
 sacrament was administered in the chapel. Mr. 
 Eowlands and Mr. Fletcher alternately addressed the 
 communicants during the distribution of the elements, 
 and Mr. Williams closed the solemnity with a suit- 
 able address to the awakened and unawakened. In 
 the afternoon, Mr. Fletcher stood in the court and 
 applied the words of the apostle — ' I am not ashamed 
 of the gospel of Christ,' — to an immense congrega- 
 tion, many of whom appeared to receive the word 
 with gladness. When the sermon was concluded, a 
 hymn was sung, and Mr. Eowlands explained and 
 
FIRST ANNIVERSARY. 137 
 
 enforced, in the Welsh language, those solemn words, 
 ' It is appointed unto men once to die.' 
 
 " From this time to the day of the anniversary, 
 people flocked from all parts to Trevecca. Mr. 
 Howell Harris, and several of the Welsh exhorters, 
 assisted the clergymen assembled at the College, so 
 that there was preaching twice every day. On 
 Wednesday the 23d, Mr. Wesley, accompanied by 
 Mr. Howell Davies and Mr. Peter Williams of 
 Carmarthen, arrived at Trevecca. Mr. Wesley 
 preached on that day ; and in the evening, at Mr. 
 Harris's desire, gave a short exhortation to his 
 family. 
 
 " At an early hour on the morning of Thursday 
 the 24th, the Lord's Supper was administered by 
 Mr. Wesley and Mr. Shirley, first to the clergymen 
 assembled at the College, then to students; after 
 which the Countess of Huntingdon, the Countess 
 Buchan, Lady Anne Erskine, Miss Orton, and other 
 members of her family received. An amazing con- 
 course of people being collected from all parts, the 
 public service commenced at ten o'clock. Mr. Howell 
 Davies and Mr. Daniel Kowlands read the prayers, 
 with appropriate lessons selected for the occasion ; 
 after which Mr. Fletcher preached an exceedingly 
 lively sermon in the court, the chapel being far too 
 small to contain the congregation. When he had 
 finished, the Eev. W. Williams preached in Welsh 
 till about two o'clock. At two they all dined with 
 Lady Huntingdon, and baskets of bread and meat 
 were distributed amongst the people in the court. 
 
138 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 many of whom had come from a great distance. 
 Public service commenced again at three o'clock, 
 when Mr. Wesley preached in the court, then Mr. 
 Fletcher. About five the congregation was dis- 
 missed. Between seven and eight the love-feast 
 began, during which Mr. Shirley, Mr. Davies, and 
 Mr. Eowlands gave short exhortations ; and Mr. 
 Peter Williams and Mr. Howell Harris engaged in 
 prayer."^ 
 
 Of these manifold and prolonged services Lady 
 Huntingdon writes : — " Truly our God was in the 
 midst of us, and many felt Him eminently nigh. The 
 gracious influence of His Spirit seemed to rest on 
 every soul. Many with whom I have conversed ex- 
 perience a spring-tide of sensible comfort, and strong 
 joy, and vehement longings after more communion 
 with Him, especially in the means of grace. Though 
 necessarily much hurried with outward things, my 
 mind was preserved in peace. I enjoyed a divine 
 composure, a heavenly serenity of soul ; while my 
 communion was with the Father and the Son. Words 
 fail to describe the holy triumph with which the 
 great congregation sang — 
 
 * Captain of Thine enlisted host, 
 Display thy glorious banner high,' etc. 
 
 It was a season of refreshing from the presence of 
 
 the Lord, — a time never to be forgotten." ^ 
 
 Daniel Rowlands, William Williams, Howell Davies, 
 
 and Peter Williams, as we see, take an active part in 
 
 , ^ Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon, vol, ii. p. 98, 
 2 m^^ p, 100. 
 
THE CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY. 139 
 
 these services. Here are Howell Harris and his dear 
 old friends together again, after an estrangement of 
 eighteen years. The sore had been completely healed, 
 for these good brethren had by this time discovered 
 that there were no substantial reasons after all for 
 their separation. 
 
 Some time after the anniversary services which 
 we have just described, the Eev. Joseph Benson was, 
 by the recommendation of Mr. Fletcher and Mr. 
 AVesley, appointed head-master of the College ; but 
 he only continued in that position for nine months. 
 The great Calvinistic controversy began in 1770, and 
 he was dismissed in consequence of the part which 
 he took in relation to the celebrated *' Minutes " of 
 the Wesleyan Conference of that year. His dismissal 
 was soon followed by the resignation of Mr. Fletcher 
 as President. From this time there was a complete 
 separation between Mr. Wesley and his people on 
 the one hand, and the Calvinistic Methodists on the 
 other. There was an effort made to effect a recon- 
 ciliation, which at first promised to be successful ; 
 but it completely failed, and there ensued a long 
 and bitter controversy. The two eminent brothers, 
 Eichard and Rowland Hill, Augustus Toplady, and 
 John Berridge, entered the arena on the Calvinistic 
 side, against the brothers John and Charles Wesley, 
 Mr. Fletcher, and two or three more, on the other. 
 The titles of some of the pamphlets which were then 
 written prove that the writers had not engaged in the 
 controversy in the best and mildest spirit ; and there 
 were passages in those books themselves which were 
 
140 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 more remarkable for their vigour than for Christian 
 charity, and which the authors on either side would 
 have been glad to be able to withdraw, when the 
 heat of the battle had passed. This controversy did 
 not at all affect Wales, inasmuch as all the AVelsh 
 Methodists adhered to the Calvinistic side; and 
 therefore it does not appertain to us further to en- 
 large upon its history. The College continued at 
 Trevecca until after the death of the Countess of 
 Huntingdon in 1791, when it was removed to 
 Cheshunt. Up to that time anniversaries continued 
 to be held in August each year, and to draw together 
 great crowds of people. The Eev. Augustus Top- 
 lady, in a letter to his friend Mr. Hussey, gives an 
 interesting account of one of those meetings which 
 he attended in 1774. We give an extract : — 
 
 " The night I left town, the Worcester coach, in 
 which I went, broke down, but not one of us received 
 the least injury. I have a still greater deliverance 
 to acquaint you with, even such as, I trust, will 
 never be blotted out from my thankful remembrance. 
 On the anniversary day in Wales, the congregation 
 was so large that the chapel would not have con- 
 tained a fourth part of the people, who were sup- 
 posed to amount to three thousand. No fewer than 
 thirteen hundred horses were turned into one large 
 field adjoining the College, besides what were sta- 
 tioned in the neighbouring villages. The carriages 
 also were unusually numerous. A scaffold was erected 
 at one end of the College court, on which a book- 
 stand was placed by way of pulpit ; and from thence 
 
ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY. 141 
 
 six or seven of us preached successively to one of the 
 most attentive and most lively congregations I ever 
 beheld. When it came to my turn to preach I ad- 
 vanced to the front, and had not gone more than 
 half through my prayer before sermon when the 
 scaffold suddenly fell in. As I stood very near the 
 highermost step, and the step did not fall with the 
 rest, Providence enabled me to keep on my feet, 
 through the assistance of Mr. Winkworth, who laid 
 fast hold on my arm. About forty ministers were 
 on the scaffold and steps when the former broke 
 down. Dear Mr. Shirley fell undermost of all, but 
 received no other hurt than a very slight bruise on 
 one of his thighs. A good woman, who, for con- 
 veniency of hearing, had placed herself under the 
 scaffold, received a trifling contusion on her face. 
 No other mischief was done. The congregation, 
 though greatly alarmed, had the prudence not to 
 throw themselves into outward disorder, which, I 
 believe, was chiefly owing to the powerful sense of 
 God's presence, which was eminently felt by most of 
 the assembly. 
 
 " Such was the wonderful goodness of the Lord to 
 me, that I was not in the least disconcerted on this 
 dangerous occasion, which I mention to the praise of 
 that grace and providence, without which a much 
 smaller incident would inevitably have shocked every 
 nerve I have. About half a minute after the inter- 
 ruption had commenced, I had the satisfaction to 
 inform the people that no damage had ensued, and, 
 removing for security to a low^er step, I thanked the 
 
142 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Lord with the rejoicing multitude for having so 
 undeniably given His angels charge concerning us. 
 Prayer ended, I was enabled to preach, and great 
 grace seemed to be upon us all." ^ 
 
 The same eminent man gives an insight into the 
 character of the conversation which the assembled 
 friends held together around the hearth at the close 
 of each day. The following we give as examples : — 
 
 " ' The Spirit of God can convert men without the 
 Bible, but the Bible cannot convert without the 
 Spirit.' — Mr. Shirley in conversation at Trevecca this 
 day, August 29, 1776." ^ 
 
 " * The sanctifying principle of grace in the heart 
 may be compared to a candle in a lantern, which 
 transmits its light through the lantern, though in 
 and of itself the lantern still continues what it was 
 before, a dark body.' — Lady Huntingdon in conversa- 
 tion at Trevecca, August 29, 1776."^ 
 
 " ' If comfort fails, God's faithfulness does not. 
 What though your pitcher is broke % The fountain 
 is still as full as ever.' — Rev. Peter Williams at 
 Trevecca, August 1776."* 
 
 It was such talk that those good people had among 
 each other when they " unbent" after the labours of 
 the day. 
 
 Howell Harris had more than three years before 
 this time been called to his rest. He died triumph- 
 antly on the 21st of July 1773, and his funeral 
 was a " great mourning" of the Methodists. Lady 
 
 1 Posthumous Works of Rev, A . M. Toplady, p. 586. 
 
 2 Ihid. pp. 175, 176. 3 jud. 4 lud. 
 
RESULTS OF THE DISRUPTION. 143 
 
 Huntingdon says that " there were present no less 
 than twenty thousand persons," and that there were 
 " some special seasons of Divine influence both upon 
 converted and unconverted." His withdrawal to 
 Trevecca was a strange proceeding, and in some re- 
 spects an unhappy one, and yet it proved in the 
 result to be the best for the benefit of the Connexion, 
 and, as we take it, of the Principality. Had he, 
 after the final disruption at Llanidloes, continued to 
 itinerate, and to plant and organize churches all over 
 the country, as he had done before, there would have 
 been inevitably two distinct, and, for a long while, 
 antagonistic, denominations. As it was, there were 
 for a time two sections, known as " Harris's People," 
 and " Rowlands's People," who, as we have seen, were 
 not remarkable for their love to each other. His 
 continued itinerancy would have perpetuated, and 
 most probably intensified the evil ; but he withdrew 
 to Trevecca and left the field to his brethren. He 
 was followed there by perhaps altogether a couple of 
 hundred people from all parts of Wales. Those, we 
 may naturally conclude, were drawn to him, some 
 by personal attachment, and some by sympathy with 
 his manner of setting forth the truth. They were 
 no doubt the most zealous of those who were re- 
 garded as " Harris's People." Their withdrawal, 
 therefore, from the various congregations, was the 
 withdrawal of an element of discord, and the with- 
 drawal from the whole of Wales of the people who 
 had sufficient zeal and ability to keep up another 
 denomination. Some of those who remained behind 
 
144 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 returned to the Establishment, and others joined the 
 Independents; but the great mass adhered to the 
 Connexion, and by and by forgot all past disagree- 
 ments. The " family" at Trevecca soon ceased to 
 be replenished from the country, and therefore of 
 necessity became smaller and smaller as its members 
 one by one passed away, and, long before the whole 
 of them had been taken home, the remnant had be- 
 come part and parcel of the Connexion from which 
 they had withdrawn themselves. 
 
 Some years later there arose another contention, 
 which, although it did not affect the Connexion to 
 anything like the same extent as that which had 
 occasioned the withdrawal of Howell Harris, resulted 
 in the expulsion of one of the earliest and most elo- 
 quent of its preachers. We have already spoken of 
 the labours of the Eev. Peter Williams, and of the 
 persecutions he endured in going about to preach 
 the Gospel. This excellent man conceived the idea 
 of publishing a Welsh edition of the Bible, with 
 marginal references, and explanatory and practical 
 observations at the close of each chapter. He ap- 
 plied himself to this task, and in the year 1770 a 
 quarto edition of 8600 copies was brought out. 
 Nine years later another edition of 6400 was pub- 
 lished. Nothing of the kind had ever been attempted 
 in Welsh before, and though several have since fol- 
 lowed in the same track, this Book has hitherto kept 
 the lead by far of all others in popularity. Seve- 
 ral editions have been published since the author's 
 death — four or five at least within our own memory. 
 
ANOTHER CONTROVERSY. 145 
 
 one a handsome folio published in London by Fisher 
 above forty years ago, and another, handsomer still, 
 published quite recently by " The London Printing 
 and Publishing Company — Limited." Li fact, Peter 
 Williams's is the Family Bible of the Welsh people. 
 The Welsh bride in the humblest walks of life does 
 not feel that her little room has been completely fur- 
 nished, until she has, lying on her chest of drawers, 
 a well-bound copy of " Peter Williams's Bible." 
 
 But the appearance of the first edition of this 
 great work was the beginning of contention between 
 the author and his brethren, because he had, in his 
 " observations " on the first chapter of the Gospel of 
 John, enunciated views which they regarded as un- 
 sound, and as at least tending towards Sabellianism, 
 on the doctrine of the Trinity and the Eternal Son- 
 ship of our Redeemer. The passages objected to 
 only appeared in the first edition, and are to the 
 following effect : — 
 
 *' ' In the beginning was the Word.' Let us observe : 
 There was not a beginning before the Word, but the 
 Word was in the beginning. The mind of God is 
 the same as His will, and His will the same as His 
 Word, for He does not change, and He willed, before 
 either the world or an angel was in existence, to 
 give Christ to be the Head of the Church. Therefore 
 God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost from eternity, 
 in His own everlasting will ; not ' as a necessary 
 mode of existence, if no man were to be saved, or 
 no sinner were to be sanctified,' as some unwisely 
 say, but because He willed to save and to sanctify. 
 
 K 
 
146 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 For Christ in whom, above all, the wisdom of God 
 is manifested, was the Father's delight daily in the 
 beginning of His ways, and is the Alpha and Omega 
 of all His works. Agreeably with which will, the 
 Lord, in the fulness of times, was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us, and some beheld His glory, and 
 believed that Jesus is God ; not ' God by appoint- 
 ment,' as some vainly talk, but that He is the only 
 true and living God, for the Scripture testifies that 
 the man Jesus is the eternal Father." 
 
 From the above extracts it appears that Mr. 
 Williams regarded the Trinity of Persons in the 
 Godhead, not as the necessary mode of the Divine 
 existence, but as the result of the Divine will, as 
 much so as the incarnation of the Second Person, — 
 that He is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost not in 
 His own nature, but because He has willed to be so, 
 that man might be saved. In the " Vindication " 
 which he published some years after the beginning 
 of the controversy, he expressed precisely the same 
 sentiments, as will be seen from two short extracts : — 
 
 " I dare not say that a Trinity is necessary to the 
 existence of God, as some presumptuously assert, 
 but I do say, and believe, that a Trinity is essen- 
 tially necessary to the revelation of God unto the 
 heirs of eternal life." — " Let us remember that the 
 names Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are given, not 
 to signify a mode of existence, but a mode of opera- 
 tion, and especially in the work of Eedemption." 
 
 This is at least so like Sabellianism that it would 
 be difficult for plain people to see a difference. Dr. 
 
SABELLIANISM. . 147 
 
 Evans, in his Sketch of the Denominations of the Chris- 
 tian JVorkl, the first edition of which was published 
 when the controversy we are speaking of was at 
 its height, says, " The Sabellian reduces the three 
 Persons in the Trinity to three Characters or Relations. 
 This has been called by some a Modal Trinity, and 
 the persons who hold it Modalists. Sabellius, the 
 founder of the sect, espoused the doctrine in the 
 third century. Of his tenets the accounts are vari- 
 ous. Some say he taught that the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Spirit were one subsistence, and one Per- 
 son, with three names ; and that in the Old Testa- 
 ment the Deity delivered the law as Father, in the 
 the New Testament dwelt among men as the Son, 
 and descended on the apostles as the Holy Spirit." 
 The author adds, no doubt with special reference to 
 this controversy, " This opinion gains ground in 
 the Principality of Wales." ^ 
 
 The controversy extended over several years, but 
 it was not until Mr. Williams had published an 
 edition of "John Canne's Bible," in 1790, that mat- 
 ters came to a crisis. Here he had taken the liberty 
 of introducing several changes into the text, and 
 some of his brethren charged him with making these 
 alterations for the express purpose of favouring his 
 own views. The AVelsh Bible is not a translation 
 from the English, as some of our good friends on 
 the other side the Severn have said and written, 
 but from the original languages. It differs mate- 
 rially from the English version, and, as we think, for 
 1 Art. " Scvbellius," p. 97. 
 
148 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the better. " John Canne's " was an English Bible, 
 and Mr. "Williams, in many instances, thought it 
 right to adhere to the English rendering. There is 
 one instance in which this was done, which seems to 
 give some ground to the charge which his brethren 
 brought against him. In Heb. v. 9, it is said in the 
 Welsh version, that our Eedeemer "was made the 
 author of eternal salvation to all those who obey 
 him j " but the English version says that He " be- 
 came " so, and Mr. Williams gave the English ren- 
 dering. Great and bitter were the contentions that 
 followed, and the result was, that this eminent man 
 was, in his old age, expelled from the Connexion in 
 which he had so long, and faithfully, and success- 
 fully laboured. 
 
 The Calvinistic Methodists of those days regarded 
 the views enunciated by Mr. AVilliams as serious 
 errors, and yet they bore Avith him for many years ; 
 but since he persisted in refusing to retract any- 
 thing that he had said or written, they felt it to be 
 their duty to do as they did, and, painful as the 
 duty was, they discharged it. It was a sad thing 
 to do, but, under the circumstances, we are unable 
 to see how it could have been avoided. We have 
 not the least shadow of a doubt that the upright 
 and conscientious old minister and his equally con- 
 scientious brethren now see eye to eye. 
 
 The rupture between Howell Harris and Daniel 
 Eowlands was followed by a long season of spiritual 
 drought in that part of the Connexion which had 
 adhered to the latter. During the fifteen years that 
 
EAIN AFTER DROUGPIT. 149 
 
 had passed since the beginning of the movement, 
 there had never been wanting conclusive evidences 
 that the Lord was blessing His own Word. Great 
 awakenings were taking place, here and there, all 
 over the PrincipaHty, which made that period one 
 of uninterrupted progress. But now everything 
 seemed to have come to a stand. The Gospel was 
 preached, and other means of grace continued to be 
 employed, but there was no awakening anywhere ; 
 sinners were not converted, and many of those who 
 had been once regarded as saints were falling away. 
 Large numbers continued to assemble at Llangeitho 
 on the Communion Sabbath, but even there the re- 
 freshing showers of former years had ceased to 
 descend. In North Wales, as well as in the South, 
 all was alike dead. No new ground was gained, no 
 new churches formed, most of the existing ones 
 were dwindling away, and some ceased to exist at 
 all. Thus it continued for eleven years, but in 
 1762 the Lord was i^leased again to visit His people. 
 At that time a great awakening occurred in many 
 places throughout the Principality. Preachers and 
 exhorters were again endowed with the power which 
 they seemed, for a time, to have for ever lost ; 
 Christians began again to feast on the joys of salva- 
 tion; thousands were converted to God, and the 
 brethren who had been estranged from each other by 
 the painful disputes of past years, were now rejoicing 
 together in the glorious triumphs of the Eedeemer's 
 cause. Daniel Kowlands had so far been allowed to 
 retain his curacy at Llangeitho, and had the drought 
 
150 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 which we have spoken of continued it is not likely 
 that he would have been disturbed ; but the great 
 re^dval of 1762 drew towards him the unfavourable 
 notice of the authorities, and he was turned out of 
 the Church in 1763. The people went out with 
 him, and a spacious chapel was built for him a short 
 distance from the parish church, and here he con- 
 tinued to labour with great earnestness and success 
 until, full of years, he was called to his reward in 
 1790. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Concerning Welsh Revivals. 
 
 We have seen and heard much of revivals within 
 the last few years. A great awakening took place 
 in America in the year 1858, and it visited this 
 country, and spread more or less throughout the 
 British Islands in the years 1859 and 1860. Since 
 that time it has been usual to hold what are called 
 " Eevival Services." Possibly there is not a neigh- 
 bourhood in the kingdom where these are unknown. 
 Series of prayer-meetings are held, in which earnest 
 prayers are offered to God to revive His work, and 
 stirring appeals are addressed to men. urging them 
 at once to come to Christ and accept the proffered 
 salvation. We have had professional " Eevivalists" 
 going about to hold these services, and some of those 
 good people advertised as converted colliers, con- 
 verted shoemakers, or converted something else. 
 Some of them were men of sufficient spiritual dis- 
 cernment to ascertain the exact number who, at a 
 particular service, had been brought under convic- 
 tion. We have heard the converts classified after 
 the following fashion : — " Wednesday evening — 
 
 161 
 
152 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 twenty-four cried for mercy, and eighteen found 
 peace." Far be it from us to say anytliing un- 
 charitable or unfriendly of attempts to get up a 
 revival, for we reckon that every religious service 
 ought to be an effort in that direction. We have 
 seen some of those revival meetings followed by un- 
 mistakeably beneficial results, and have seen some of 
 them turning out very flat afi'airs indeed. A popular 
 minister once related to us how he had produced a 
 revival, and sought to impress us with the idea that 
 it was a very simple process, and such as we our- 
 selves could very easily carry out ; but we wish our 
 readers to understand that revivals which we have 
 to speak of as having taken place in Wales were 
 very diff'erent from all this. The jjhrase which we 
 have quoted above about a certain number crying 
 for mercy, etc., is an importation from England, and 
 we believe we are right in saying that it has not 
 hitherto been translated into the Welsh language. 
 Those revivals usually occurred, not as the result of 
 any predetermined and sjDecial effort to produce them, 
 but in the ordinary means of grace, and were fre- 
 quently unexpected by the great mass of the congre- 
 gation. As it was on the day of Pentecost, when 
 the disciples " were all with one accord in one place, 
 suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a 
 mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where 
 they were sitting," it has often happened in Wales. 
 When the congregation had assembled together to 
 hold the usual service, and while that service was 
 proceeding in the usually quiet manner, the preacher 
 
KEVIVALS. 153 
 
 would suddenly find himself under some w/msual in- 
 fluence — felt at liberty to relinquish the string of his 
 discourse, and to utter words which were not on his 
 paper, and thoughts which had not occurred to him 
 in his study. Some of the oldest brethren and sisters 
 would soon recognise the sound. John would remark 
 to his brother Simon, " It is the Lord!" and possi- 
 bly follow the glad announcement with the shout, 
 -^_J^ Gogoniant ! " to which Simon would respond with 
 / " Diolch iddo byth ! " Presently the whole congre- 
 Hf /gation was ablaze. Christians shouted for joy that 
 ^- ■' their good Lord had again visited them, while num- 
 bers who had been so far indifferent to their souls' 
 salvation would send forth the distressing cry, " What 
 shall we do to be saved 1" It was no transient feel- 
 ing. It would be present at the next service, and 
 the next afterwards, and for months to come. It 
 would spread to the adjoining districts, perhaps over 
 the whole country, and possibly over the greater 
 part of Wales. There is a wild and mountainous 
 tract of country lying between the counties of Brecon 
 and Cardigan, where, for many miles in every direc- 
 tion, there are no human habitations, save here and 
 there, in a deep dingle, just one house, the residence 
 of the sheep-farmer, with three or four small culti- 
 vated fields in its immediate vicinity, and at some 
 distance up the slopes of the mountains an occasional 
 shepherd's hut. Crossing the range there is a bridle- 
 road leading from Llanwrtyd Wells, in the valley of 
 the Irvon, to Tregaron, in the valley of the Teivi — 
 a distance of about eighteen miles " as the crow 
 
154 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 flies," but of considerably more as the rider must 
 travel. It is a magnificent ride, through scenery of 
 the wildest grandeur. From the highest points in 
 his progress the traveller will descry nothing but a 
 sea of mountains, some rounded, and some rugged 
 and precipitous, extending in every direction — bluff 
 after bluff, and precipice beyond precipice, and, as it 
 seems to him, interminable. Here are the " Wolves' 
 Leaps," where the Irvon, before it has become a river, 
 has worn its rocky channel to an enormous depth, 
 and rushes and gurgles in the dark caverns and 
 recesses beneath, while the rocks on the surface on 
 both sides nearly touch each other. Here, too, are 
 the " Cock's Paces," where the Towy, many miles 
 before reaching the plain, does the same thing on a 
 greater and grander scale. Here, likewise, near the 
 spot where the Dothia and the Towy rush, with a 
 deafening roar, into one another's embrace, and more 
 than half way up a rugged and rocky cone, is " Twm 
 Shon Cati's Cave," from whence, a couple of centuries 
 ago, that celebrated outlaw was wont to issue forth, 
 to spread terror and rapine through the surrounding 
 districts. It is not a mountain at all that one tra- 
 verses here, but a country of mountains. It is a path 
 that a stranger would better not attempt alone, for 
 the chances are that he would soon find his way into 
 some place from which it would be exceedingly 
 difiicult to find his way out, and he might shout 
 until he could do so no longer without making him- 
 self heard by any human being. In the heart of 
 this wild district there is a comfortable chapel, into 
 
REVIVALS. 155 
 
 which worshippers gather from distances varying 
 from two to eight miles. We attended a service in 
 this chapel on a Sabbath morning some years ago. 
 The building was filled with attentive worshippers, 
 and the adjoining yard was occupied by some fifty 
 or sixty ponies, that had borne as many people to 
 the place. The first Methodists preached in the 
 farm-houses among those mountains, and God bore 
 witness to the Word of His grace, and a church was 
 formed in the year 1747, which sometimes held its 
 meetings at a homestead called Cwmdu, and some- 
 times at another called Bronyrhelem. 
 
 In the year 1779 a remarkable awakening began 
 in this out-of-the-way place. A homely exhorter, of 
 very ordinary preaching talents, but of great piety, 
 Jack Edward Watkin by name, was preaching at 
 the place on a Sabbath afternoon, when suddenly 
 the fire kindled, and numbers who had been so far 
 hearers only became deeply concerned for their ever- 
 lasting safety. Daniel Rowlands heard the glad 
 tidings, and he resolved to ascend the mountain to 
 see this thing which the Lord had wrought. He 
 preached, and the power was still present, and even 
 mightier than on the preceding Sabbath. On his 
 return home he said to his friends, " It is a heath 
 fire and will spread abroad." And it did spread 
 from these dreary mountains to the valleys and 
 plains around, until it had reached many and far- 
 distant localities in South and North Wales, and 
 thousands were brought earnestly to seek everlasting 
 life. 
 
156 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 One of those great revivals began at Llangeitho, 
 not in the public service, but in several families 
 in the neighbourhood simultaneously. When the 
 brethren worshipped God with their own households, 
 they felt a gracious and mighty influence descend 
 upon their souls. They carried the fire with them 
 to the chapel, where it became a blaze which spread 
 far and wide through the surrounding country, and 
 resulted in the salvation of many souls. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Charles refers in a letter to a 
 revival which took place in 1791, in the following 
 terms : " Here at Bala we have been blessed with 
 a great, mighty, and glorious outpouring of the 
 Spirit upon the congregation, and especially upon 
 the children and young people. Scores of the wild- 
 est and most thoughtless young men and women 
 have been converted. The convictions are manifest 
 and deep, and in the case of some persons so mighty 
 that they are brought to the very brink of despair. 
 Their comforts likewise are similar. If the Lord 
 will please to continue to work as He has done for 
 some weeks past, the kingdom of the devil will be 
 in ruins. ' Go onward ! Go onward, thou King of 
 Glory ! ' is the earnest prayer of my soul day and 
 night. I verily believe that the Lord intends to 
 give a terrible shake to the kingdom of darkness, 
 for He takes away its pillars. Some of those who 
 were foremost in the service of Satan, and in rebel- 
 lion against God, are now foremost in seeking liberty 
 through the blood of the Lamb. It is easy work to 
 preach the Gospel here at the present time. Divine 
 
DAVID MORRIS. 157 
 
 truths lay hold on the minds of the people, in their 
 own greatness and importance. Divine rays and 
 irresistible power accompany all the truths that are 
 delivered. It is delightful to see how the most 
 stubborn hearts are bent, and the hardest melted. 
 I would not have died without seeing what I have 
 lately seen — no, not for the whole world. The free 
 schools are greatly blessed. The children, who were 
 like pearls hid in the dust and mire, now shine with 
 great brilliancy and beauty. Little children from six 
 to twelve years of age are melted and overcome. 
 Their little minds are full of spiritual things 
 night and day. All this is undeniable fact; I do 
 not use exaggeration, but, on the contrary, have 
 only selected a small part of that which is. The 
 Lord has done great things for us, and to Him be 
 the praise ! " 
 
 Besides those seasons of refreshing which spread 
 thus from place to place, there were frequently 
 mighty influences descending on particular services, 
 and making one sermon the means of conversion to 
 great numbers of souls. There are many instances 
 of such sermons in the early history of Welsh 
 Methodism ; sermons long remembered in the loca- 
 lities in which they were delivered and the fame of 
 which has been handed down from generation to 
 generation, to the present day. 
 
 There was a preacher living at Lledrod, in Car- 
 diganshire, and afterwards at Twrgwyn, in the 
 same county, whose ministry was frequently owned 
 in this remarkable manner. His name was David 
 
158 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Morris. His son, Ebenezer Morris, of whom we 
 shall yet have occasion to speak, far surpassed him 
 in preaching talent, but the father was a man of 
 note, and especially made so by the mighty power 
 of God which frequently attended his ministry. 
 He made frequent visits to North Wales, preach- 
 ing two or three times a day as he went along, and 
 some of those evangelistic tours were remarkably 
 successful ; so much so that there was scarcely a 
 sermon delivered by him that was not the means 
 of conversion to some souls, and in several instances 
 to a great number. On one of those journeys he 
 preached at a place near Rippont Bridge in Anglesea, 
 from the words, " What shall it profit a man, if he 
 gain the whole world, and lose his own soul 1 " A 
 wonderful influence descended upon himself and 
 upon the congregation. His heart within him melted 
 with compassion towards the lost souls before him, 
 and he burst into a loud and dolorous shout, while 
 every line of his countenance expressed the deepest 
 and most intense feeling — " bobl y goUedfaivr f — y 
 golled fawr ! " The English for which is — " ye 
 people of the great /o5s— the great loss ; " but that 
 does not convey half the idea. The people bent 
 before him like reeds before a mighty tempest; 
 multitudes joined the neighbouring churches under 
 impressions received from that sermon, and it is 
 talked of to this day in the locality as " the sermon 
 of the great loss." 
 
 There are some who are wise enough to account 
 for all this on natural principles. They are by no 
 
MISTAKES. 159 
 
 means the discoverers of the theories which they 
 enunciate on this subject. There were remarks made 
 on the Revival, in the days of Daniel Rowlands, 
 equally wise, enlightened, and intellectual with those 
 which are made in the present day. It is easy to 
 say that " it was all excitement." There was excite- 
 ment, we admit, and much of it ; but we scarcely be- 
 lieve that there is any one prepared to say that there 
 was none on the day of Pentecost. But to say that 
 it wae all excitement is quite another matter, if by 
 that it is intended to imply that it was a momentary 
 feeling, which passed away without leaving any last- 
 ing beneficial effect on those who experienced it. 
 There is abundant and conclusive evidence in thou- 
 sands of instances, that that idea is quite a mistaken 
 one. There may be different opinions as to the pro- 
 priety of those manifestations. The Rev. Rowland 
 Hill, during one of his visits into Wales, witnessed 
 some of these scenes, and said, " I like the fire ; but 
 don't like the smoke." It was prettily said, and 
 quite in character with many of the other sayings of 
 that eminent man ; but perhaps it would have been 
 too difficult, under the circumstances of the time, to 
 get the one without the other. It is possible that 
 the people allowed themselves to be too much excited, 
 — that they ought not to have shouted, and that it 
 was very blameworthy in them to jump. We are not 
 at all disposed to argue that point ; but it is certain 
 that thousands of those who were thus excited, and 
 who expressed their feelings in cries of distress, and 
 in shouts of gratitude, underwent at the time the 
 
160 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 great change, and proved themselves for the remain- 
 der of their lives to be new creatures. 
 
 The idea has gone abroad that the preachers of 
 those days encouraged such manifestations, and made 
 every effort in their power to produce them. Some 
 excellent men seem to have been under the impres- 
 sion that the preacher had only to say " Shout," and 
 that the people shouted ; and to say " Jump," and 
 that they jumped accordingly. Dr. Evans, in his 
 Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World, 
 designates one of his " Denominations " " Jumpers." 
 He gives a description which, no doubt, was satis- 
 factory to himself, of what he calls " this kind 
 of worship." He administers a very just castiga- 
 tion on the miserable thing which his own imagina- 
 tion, or that of his informant, had created ; and while 
 admitting that " there were some sincere and j^ious 
 persons to be found among this class of people — men 
 who think they are doing God service, while they 
 are the victims of fanaticism," he generously declares 
 that " these are the objects of compassion ;" and it is 
 comforting to find him expressing his conviction that 
 " they doubtless will find it in God." 
 
 But it is all an absurd caricature. It is a mistake 
 to assert that these manifestations were only known 
 in Wales ; and another mistake to intimate that they 
 were regarded by the founders of Welsh Methodism 
 as necessary accompaniments of true religion. It is 
 true they were defended, or rather apologized for, by 
 W. Williams of Pantycelyn ; but how 1 Not by at- 
 tempting to show that they were necessarily connected 
 
^' FIRE AND " SMOKE. 161 
 
 with earnest religion, but by endeavouring to prove 
 that they were not inconsistent with it. David 
 leaped before the ark, and so we onay do ; but there 
 was no attempt made to show that we ought to do 
 so. We are not greatly in love with these things 
 ourselves ; and yet these cold times make us feel 
 that, if we could only get the " fire," we would not 
 very strongly object to a little of the " smoke." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Rev, T. Charles of Bala— At Llanddowror school— At Car- 
 marthen College — At Oxford — Ordination and first curacy — 
 Marriage and settlement at Bala — Circulating schools — Sab- 
 bath schools —Letter from Mr. Charles— Owen Jones and Robert 
 Davies at Aberystwyth — A farewell meeting and its effects — 
 Owen Jones at Llanidloes — At Shrewsbury — Ebenezer Richard 
 — Establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
 We have already referred to the Rev. Thomas 
 Charles of Bala, and have given an extract from a 
 letter which he wrote on the revival in the year 
 1791. It was six years before that letter was writ- 
 ten that he had joined the Connexion. He was the 
 son of a farmer in the parish of Llanvihangel, Car- 
 marthenshire, and was born October 14, 1755. His 
 parents intended him for the ministry, and when he 
 was between ten and twelve years of age he was sent 
 to a school that was held in the neighbouring village 
 of Llanddowror, where the Rev. Griffith Jones had 
 so long and devotedly and successfully laboured. Mr. 
 Jones had gone to his rest some five years before the 
 young lad joined the school ; but the influence of his 
 work and of his character was still present in the 
 place, and the mind of Thomas Charles was deeply 
 impressed by it. The conversation of an old dis- 
 ciple of Griffith Jones, named Rhys Pugh, was greatly 
 
 162 
 
MR. CHARLES OF BALA. 163 
 
 blessed to him. He was led to make a public pro- 
 fession of religion ; and while yet a boy he intro- 
 duced family worship into his father's house. When 
 he was fourteen years old he was sent to the Presby- 
 terian College at Carmarthen, where, to preserve 
 himself from the bad influences of association with 
 the careless and the indifferent young people around 
 him, he gave as much as possible of his time to the 
 reading of religious books. On the 20th of January 
 1773, when he was in his eighteenth year, he heard 
 Daniel Eowlands ; " and that day," he writes, " will 
 be memorable to me as long as I live. From that 
 day I found a new heaven and a new earth to enjoy. 
 The change experienced by a blind man on receiving 
 his sight is not greater than that which I felt on that 
 day." 
 
 In his twentieth year he went to Oxford, and three 
 years later he received Deacon's Orders and was ap- 
 pointed to a curacy in Somersetshire. There was a 
 friend of his, the Eev. Simon Lloyd, living at Bala, 
 who, like himself, was of a Methodistical turn, and 
 he paid him a visit in the interval between his ordi- 
 nation and his settlement in his curacy. The two 
 friends took a tour together of several weeks, taking 
 Llangeitho in their way that they might have the 
 treat of hearing Daniel Rowlands, and finished their 
 journey at the house of Mr. Charles's father. During 
 their stay there, the young clergyman had the privi- 
 lege of preaching at the church of his native parish. 
 We know not how long he retained his Somerset- 
 shire curacy, but a portion of that time was spent by 
 
164 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 him at Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree. An 
 event had however transpired during his visit to 
 Bala which gave direction to the whole of Yixs future 
 life. "While there, he became acquainted with a 
 young lady in the place, a Miss Jones, and that ac- 
 quaintance led in process of time to her becoming 
 Mrs. Charles. After his marriage he made his home 
 at Bala, and served several curacies for short periods ; 
 but in every case his Methodism was objected to, and 
 he was consequently dismissed. He offered to serve 
 gratuitously in a neighbouring church, but was 
 refused. The doors of the Establishment having 
 thus closed against him, he resolved to cast in his lot 
 with the Welsh Methodists, and this was done in the 
 year 1785. The Connexion had now existed for 
 nearly half a century, but the accession of Mr. Charles 
 to the number of its ministers cannot but be regarded 
 as an era in its history, for in the event it exerted a 
 mighty influence on its destinies, and contributed in 
 no small measure, by the grace of God, to make it a 
 greater blessing to Wales than it had ever hitherto 
 been. Daniel Eowlands, after he had heard him 
 preach for the first time at an Association at Llan- 
 geitho, only expressed a small part of the truth when 
 he said, " Mr. Charles is the gift of God to North 
 Wales." 
 
 He was an eminent preacher, and there are many 
 instances in which his ministry was accompanied 
 with great power, and it is certain that it was made 
 the means of turning many to righteousness ; but it 
 is in another department of the work of the Lord 
 
CIRCULATING SCHOOLS. 165 
 
 that his labours were most abundant, and stood forth 
 in the greatest prominence. In going about to 
 preach from place to place, he was struck with, and 
 greatly distressed by, the great ignorance of the 
 people everywhere. He found that there was scarcely 
 a neighbourhood in which one out of every twenty 
 of the population could read the Word of God, while 
 there were some localities in which it was difficult to 
 find a single person who was able to do so. He ap- 
 plied himself to remedy this deplorable state of things 
 with all his heart and soul. He resolved to attempt 
 the establishment of circulating schools similar to 
 those which had been established many years before 
 by the Eev. Griffith Jones of Llanddowror. Mr. 
 Jones's schools had proved a great benefit ; but they 
 had been confined chiefly to South Wales, and had 
 by this time, twenty-five years after the good man's 
 death, nearly all disappeared. The plan was to send 
 a teacher to some locality where he would stay long 
 enough to teach as many as were willing to learn, 
 young and old, to read Welsh, and then to remove 
 him to some other neighbourhood. Mr. Charles 
 applied in every direction for help to put this idea 
 in practice. He began with only one teacher, but as 
 assistance from friends far and near flowed to him 
 in greater and still greater abundance, he was before 
 long enabled to increase the number of his agents to 
 twenty. In acknowledging a subscription from a 
 lady in England towards this object, he wrote in 
 1796, "In travelling through difl'erent parts of the 
 country more than nine years ago, I found that ex- 
 
166 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 tensive districts in the mountainous parts of North 
 Wales were sunk in the deepest ignorance. The 
 number of those who were able to read were very 
 few, and equally few were those who had the Word 
 of God in their houses. I seriously began to con- 
 sider how it would be possible to remove so great an 
 evil, and I could think of no other plan which was 
 likely to answer the purpose than to set schoolmasters 
 to work according to the aid which I would receive, 
 and send them to dark districts to teach freely all 
 who would come to them, to read the Bible in their 
 own language, and to instruct them in the first prin- 
 ciples of the Christian religion. By the help of kind 
 friends to whom I made known this plan, it was set 
 on foot, and has succeeded far beyond my expecta- 
 tions. The demand for schoolmasters has gone on 
 increasingly, and there is a manifest change in the 
 sentiments and morals of the people where those 
 schools have been at work. I established Sabbath 
 and night schools for the sake of those who were too 
 much engaged or too poor to avail themselves of the 
 day schools. The attempts which I have made in 
 this direction have been marvellously successful. 
 The country is filled with schools of one kind or 
 another, and all are taught simultaneously. And 
 there are blessed results following the instruction, — a 
 great and deep interest in spiritual things has been 
 awoke in many localities ; many have been made 
 sensible of their sinful state and of their need of 
 Christ, and are now, I have every reason to believe, 
 His faithful followers. The schools have now been 
 
ABUNDANT LABOURS. 167 
 
 ill operation for nearly ten years, and the results are 
 similar in a greater or less degree. The number of 
 teachers have been increased or diminished according 
 to the means at my disposal. All that I get for my 
 ministry I devote to this purpose, while the wants 
 of my own family are provided for by the industry 
 of my dear wife. At present I pay £12 per annum 
 to each schoolmaster. They remain in the same 
 place from six to nine months, and are then removed 
 to another locality. We find that nine months is amply 
 sufficient to teach the children to read their Bibles 
 fluently in the Welsh language. I visit the schools 
 myself, when I catechise them publicly, and have 
 the unutterable pleasure of seeing the general aspect 
 of the country marvellously changed. The desert 
 blossoms as a rose, and the dry land has become 
 streams of water. By means of the schools, and 
 the preaching of the Gospel, religious knowledge 
 spreads in every direction. Bless the Lord, my 
 soul ! " 
 
 It was no light labour that devolved on Mr. 
 Charles in connexion with this great movement. 
 He had to find localities to receive the schools as 
 well as suitable teachers for those localities, and 
 there were not a few whom he was obliged to in- 
 struct himself, before they were qualified to teach 
 others. He had to be president and sole teacher of 
 what was in effect a Normal College, as well as gene- 
 ral superintendent of a large number of schools 
 spread far and wide throughout the country ; and he 
 had to be secretary, treasurer, committee, and col- 
 
168 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 lector of the fund which was necessary to keep this 
 vast machinery from coming to a stand. But this 
 was not all. Teachers and children cannot make a 
 school without books ; and where were they to come 
 from 1 Mr. Charles found it necessary to write and 
 bring through the press three elementary spelling 
 and reading books and two catechisms. One of the 
 latter, The Instructor in the Princifles of the Christian 
 Religion, has passed through a great many editions, 
 and continues to this day to be extensively used in 
 the Principality. 
 
 He exercised great care in the selection of his 
 masters. He sought men of moderately good parts ; 
 but they must be humble men, well conducted, of 
 winning ways, — and not proud, lazy, or talkative ; 
 but above all they must, as far as could be judged 
 by their life and conversation, be godly men. 
 
 Mr. Charles would, first of all, fix upon a locality 
 in which to establish a school, and would then visit 
 the place, call a meeting of the inhabitants, and 
 impress upon their minds the importance of having 
 their children taught to read the Word of God, 
 and then signify his intention to send a teacher 
 among them, who, without fee or reward, would in- 
 struct all who were willing to come to him on week- 
 days, or in the evenings, or on the Sabbath-day. 
 In conclusion he would urge the parents to send 
 their children to school, promising to give books 
 gratuitously to all those who were too poor to pur- 
 chase them. The master was instructed not to re- 
 ceive any money on account of the children whom 
 
SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 1 6 9 
 
 he taught — not to be burdensome to any of the 
 parents — not to go to any house to eat and drink 
 unless he were specially invited, and was expected, 
 when he remained at any house for a night, to read 
 and pray with the family before going to rest, and 
 also before he left on the following morning. He 
 was likewise instructed to lead the conversation to 
 his own special employment, and to be careful not 
 to let it drift into vain and useless talk. These 
 schools continued in operation for upwards of twenty 
 years, and it is not strange therefore, that, with such 
 means and such men, " the whole aspect of the 
 country was marvellously changed." 
 
 It was in the year 1782 that the Sabbath-school 
 was begun at Gloucester by Mr. Kobert Raikes, and 
 it was only a few years later when a similar institu- 
 tion was inaugurated in Wales in connexion with 
 Mr. Charles's circulating schools. His teachers gave 
 instruction on the Sabbath to those who were unable 
 to attend in the week ; and those schools were the 
 means of qualifying great numbers throughout the 
 country to become in their turn teachers themselves. 
 Mr. Charles saw this advantage, and was not slow in 
 availing himself of it. He advocated the establish- 
 ment of a Sunday-school in connexion with every 
 congregation, and though he was opposed at the out- 
 set by many conscientious brethren, who regarded 
 teaching people to read as " work," and therefore a 
 thing forbidden by the commandment of God, his 
 mild spirit and kind persuasions ultimately pre- 
 vailed. Schools sprang up thickly in every direction, 
 
170 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 and from that day to this the Sabbath-school has 
 been one of the most important and efficient means 
 of grace in the Principality.-^ 
 
 We want at this point to give to those of our 
 readers who are unacquainted with Wales some idea 
 of the AYelsh Sabbath-school, for it is a very different 
 affair from anything called by that name which they 
 can find in England. It is not an institution of 
 teachers and children merely, but a meeting where the 
 great bulk of the congregation connected with the 
 particular place of worship to which it belongs 
 assemble together to instruct one another in Divine 
 things. It is very frequently the case that the first 
 evidence of a change in a so far thoughtless man, is 
 his beginning to attend the Sunday-school. The 
 majority of attendants are above fifteen years of age, 
 and they range between that and eighty or ninety. 
 Of course the children of the congregation attend, 
 but they are outnumbered in most cases by the 
 seniors. We could take our reader to many a school 
 in Wales where he would find more pairs of spectacles 
 than in any ten in the metropolis together. There 
 is a female class in the corner of the room, the 
 teacher of which is a matron of seventy-two. Per- 
 haps she has been there every Sabbath, with very 
 few exceptions, for the last forty years. Her dear 
 old teacher went to heaven twenty years ago, and 
 
 1 Jenkin Morgan, a sclioolmaster and exhorter, had taught a 
 number of people on the Sabbaths at Tynyfron, Crawlom, Mont- 
 gomeryshire, as early as the year 1770 or 1771 ; but since that was 
 an isolated effort it cannot be regarded as the beginning of the 
 Sabbath-schools. 
 
A WELSH SABBATH-SCHOOL. 171 
 
 she has occupied her place ever since. The class is 
 numerous, and her oldest pupil is perhaps eighty-five 
 years of age, and her youngest approaching sixty. 
 Of course she is under no necessity to teach them to 
 read ; that they have been able to do for many years, 
 — indeed long before we were born ; but they read a 
 portion of the Word of God together, and then talk. 
 A thought has occurred to one of them in reading, 
 another to another, and each in her turn expresses 
 her thought. Possibly the conversation drifts more 
 in the direction of experience than in that of exegesis, 
 but it is by no means uncommon for the whole host 
 of spectacles to be considerably dimmed, and for the 
 dear old sisters to go home more refreshed than they 
 have been under many a sermon. There is a class of 
 men of similar ages in the other comer, who possibly 
 will go deeper into doctrine than their sisters opposite. 
 Then there are classes of middle-aged, and of young 
 people of both sexes, discussing, it may be, " The 
 faU of man," " The universality of the Flood," " The 
 journeys of Israel," " The travels of St. Paul," " Jus- 
 tification by faith," " The difference between regene- 
 ration and adoption," or any other imaginable biblical 
 or theological subject. It is this that accounts for 
 the fact that such a large number of the common 
 people in \Yales are so much at home in the Holy 
 Scriptures, and so well versed in theological know- 
 ledge. We do not mean to assert that all the Welsh 
 people are thus, nor even the greatest part of them, 
 but we believe we are right in saying that it is so in 
 the case of a larger proportion of the working classes 
 
172 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 than in any other part of the kingdom. Some time 
 ago we passed three working men, we believe they 
 were colliers, sitting together on a heap of stones by 
 the roadside, and earnestly discussing the question 
 " How to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the 
 responsibility of man." It struck us at the time 
 that people of that class do not usually discuss such 
 subjects anywhere out of \Yales. Perhaps we were 
 mistaken ; but we are certain that they would not 
 have done it, and would not have been able to do it, 
 in Wales, if it had not been for its peculiar system 
 of conducting the Sabbath-school. 
 
 To Mr. Charles belongs the honour of having been 
 the father and founder of the Sabbath-school in 
 Wales. It was the circulating day and evening 
 schools which he had established and kept in opera- 
 tion by an enormous amount of labour and self-sacri- 
 fice, that produced a class of men and women capable 
 of instructing others. It was he that urged that class 
 to utilize the powers and capabilities which they had 
 thus acquired for the benefit of their neighbours, 
 young and old, by collecting them together to teach 
 them on the Sabbath ; and it was he who, by his 
 unflagging perseverance, and kind and winning ways, 
 completely overcame the strong prejudice against that 
 kind of " work," that was felt by a great many earnest- 
 minded people. But he was followed by many other 
 zealous and successful labourers in the same field, 
 one or two of whom we will take the liberty of in- 
 troducing to our readers. 
 
 Owen Jones was born at Towyn, in Merioneth- 
 
OWEN JONES. 173 
 
 shire, in the year 1787. When between seven and 
 eight years of age, he was sent to school to a Mr. J. 
 Jones, Penypark, who seems to have been a very 
 efficient schoolmaster, and who was withal an 
 earnestly religious man. He took a great liking to 
 young Owen for his quickness in learning, and espe- 
 cially for the readiness with which he would at any 
 time drop his play in order to accompany him to a 
 religious service. After having been for some years 
 under Mr. Jones's instruction, the lad was sent for a 
 short term to a school in England. Soon after his 
 return home, the master of a free school at Towyn 
 had occasion to leave for a time, and young Owen 
 Jones was requested to take charge of his pupils 
 during his absence. Though only a boy himself, he 
 accepted the work, and did it well. During the brief 
 period of his oversight of this school he adopted the 
 custom of examining the children every evening on 
 the subjects which they had studied during the day, 
 and there he discovered in himself, and began to 
 make known to others, that power for which he be- 
 came afterwards so renowned, — the power to convey 
 instruction by means of questioning his pupils. We 
 hesitate not to say that Owen Jones was the greatest 
 catechist that Wales ever produced. 
 
 Soon after this he was apprenticed to a saddler at 
 Aberystwyth, and it was in that town that he began 
 his marvellous career in connexion with Sabbath- 
 schools. In the year 1799, the Rev. Mr. Williams, 
 a clergyman of the Church of England, and a zealous 
 advocate of Sabbath-schools, paid a visit to Aberys- 
 
174 TVELSH METHODISM. 
 
 t-wyth. During his sojourn in the place, he was 
 distressed to see a great number of people of all ages 
 loitering about on the Lord's Day, and he resolved 
 to gather as many of them as he could together, to 
 give them religious instruction. He prevailed upon 
 a number of them to assemble in a room which he 
 hired for that purpose, and he taught them for two 
 Sundays. But he was only a visitor in the place, 
 and when the time of his brief sojourn was coming 
 to its close, he looked about him for some one to 
 cany on the work which he had begun. He was 
 directed to a young lad named Eobert Da-s-ies, who 
 was already connected with a small school, which 
 had been for some time carried on in the town by 
 the Methodists. Young Davies readily consented 
 to do what he could, but before entering upon the 
 work, he sought and obtained the assistance of his 
 friend and cousin, the saddler's apprentice. It was 
 generally anticipated that the work which had been 
 successfully begun by the good clergyman would soon 
 collapse in the hands of two boys. But those were 
 not ordinary boys. It flourished greatly under their 
 care, and soon began to attract large numbers of all 
 ages. Finding the Sabbath hours too short to do 
 aU that was in their heart to do, they conducted 
 classes in several houses in rotation on every evening 
 in the week but Saturday. Owen Jones's lively 
 method of teaching, and his tact in catechising the 
 children, attracted the notice and won the admira- 
 tion of aU classes throughout the town. Neither of 
 the cousins had at the time made a profession of 
 
A FAEEWELL :^rEETIXG. 175 
 
 religion, but they always opened and closed the 
 meetings of their school with prayer. By and bye, 
 however, they became both deeply impressed with 
 the importance of personal religion, and offered them- 
 selves, and were gladly accepted, as members of the 
 Methodist Church. The deep earnestness which had 
 thus possessed their own souls soon spread to many 
 of those who were under their charge. But while 
 Owen Jones was thus in the full tide of usefulness, 
 he received an intimation from his father that he 
 must leave Aberystwyth and return to Towyn. The 
 prospect of leaving his beloved work was to him a 
 most painful one, and that of losing him was equally 
 so to hundreds at Aberystwyth ; but there was no 
 help for it. An evening was fixed for him and the 
 scholars to take leave of each other, and that proved 
 an evening long to be remembered. He offered up a 
 prayer at the opening of the meeting, and a mighty 
 prayer it. was. Earnestly, even agonizingly, did he 
 plead with God for his own Hfe and that of his dear, 
 dear scholars, and there descended an overpowering 
 influence which spread through the place, and ex- 
 tended to the crowd which had assembled outside. 
 About eighty members were added to the Church at 
 Aberystwyth, who had been brought under impres- 
 sions on that memorable evening. The awakening 
 which thus began mightily spread to the neighbour- 
 ing districts. "We give an extract from a letter 
 which appeared in the Evangelical Magazine for May 
 1805, from the Eev. T. Charles :— 
 
 " I am glad to say that there is a happy revival 
 
176 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 of religion in some parts of Wales. At Aberystwyth 
 and the neighbouring districts there is a general and 
 mighty awakening ^mong the young people and chil- 
 dren, and some hundreds have joined the religious 
 societies in those parts. I was lately at an Associa- 
 tion of the Calvinistic Methodists at Aberystwyth, 
 and it was estimated that the multitude assembled 
 together amounted to, at least, twenty thousand. It 
 was a happy sight to a Christian. The sermons were 
 with the demonstration of the Spirit and with power. 
 There were hundreds of children from eight years old 
 and upwards to be seen in the congregation, listen- 
 ing with as much attention as the most earnest 
 Christians, and bathed in tears. This work began 
 in a Sunday-school which was conducted by two 
 young men. Soon after the commencement of this 
 school, both teachers and scholars were brought 
 under deep impressions, and the work has now spread 
 over a district extending fifty miles in length and 
 twenty in breadth. In going along the road, it is 
 pleasant to hear the ploughmen and the lads who 
 drive the horses singing hymns at their work. There 
 is nothing else to be heard all over the country. 
 This I can testify with gratitude and joy." 
 
 When the day came for Owen Jones to leave 
 Aberystwyth, he was escorted by aU the scholars, 
 together with a large number of men and women, 
 some miles from the town; and when this great 
 escort could proceed no farther, and the poor sor- 
 rowing lad was obliged to trudge on alone, they 
 followed him with their eyes to a considerable dis- 
 
AFFECTING SEPARATION. 177 
 
 tance, and saw him fall on his knees to pray three 
 times before his path had taken him out of their 
 sight. When he was eighteen years of age we 
 find him at Llanidloes, and hard at work instructing 
 and catechising the young. While residing at that 
 town, he visited several places in the surrounding 
 districts in pursuit of his great object, and extended 
 his labours as far as Ehayader, where he succeeded 
 in planting a large and flourishing Sunday-school. 
 When he found parents indisposed to send their 
 children to be instructed, he would ask permission 
 to bring a number of his young folks to their house, 
 that he might catechise them in their hearing, and 
 that they might see what progress they were making 
 in religious knowledge. This device scarcely ever 
 failed to succeed. 
 
 When in his twentieth year he came to Slirews- 
 bury, and his first care in that town was to gather 
 the Welsh people together to receive instruction ; and 
 not finding sufficient materials among his own 
 countrymen, he resolved to try what he could do for 
 the English, and by going about from house to house 
 he succeeded in establishing an English Sunday- 
 school, numbering between a hundred and a hundred 
 and twenty children, which he conducted with great 
 success as long as he remained at Shrewsbury. 
 When he left the place, his school was taken charge 
 of by the Eev. Mr. Nunn, incumbent of St. Chad's, 
 and became the beginning of the Sunday-school con- 
 nected with that church. 
 
 When Mr. Jones married he settled at Gelli, in 
 M 
 
178 • WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Montgomeryshire, and became a popular preacher 
 of the Gospel ; but it was as an organizer of schools 
 and a catechist of the children that he excelled to 
 the end of his life ; and whenever he came on his 
 evangelizing mission to any locality, his visit never 
 failed to give new life to the Sunday-school. 
 
 Another zealous and successful labourer in the 
 same field was the Eev. Ebenezer Eichard of Tre- 
 garon. The enthusiasm of this great and good man 
 in the cause knew no bounds, and the excellent 
 " Eules " for the conducting of Sabbath-schools and 
 Sabbath-school unions, which he wrote and pub- 
 lished, as well as his unceasing and affectionate ad- 
 vocacy everywhere of the claims of this beneficent 
 institution, resulted in invaluable blessings not only 
 to Cardiganshire, but likewise to the whole of South 
 Wales. Will those of our readers who do not call the 
 Principality their own dear country, pardon us if we 
 say that England is indebted to the Welsh Sunday- 
 school for one of its most glorious institutions, and 
 that the world is indebted to it for one of its great- 
 est blessings 1 We believe that we are fully war- 
 ranted in saying that such is the truth. Before the 
 beginning of the Sabbath-school movement the 
 number of Bibles in the country was too few for 
 each of those who were even then able to read to 
 have a copy. What then must have been the state 
 of the case after readers had been multiplied more 
 than a hundredfold? There was quite a famine 
 in the country — a famine for the possession of the 
 Word of the Lord. Mr. Charles applied to the 
 
THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 179 
 
 " Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge," and 
 succeeded in obtaining from that excellent institu- 
 tion a grant of ten thousand Welsh Bibles. But 
 what were they among so many 1 Another applica- 
 tion was made to the same Society, and then another ; 
 but in vain. Every effort to procure any more 
 supplies from that source proved unavailing. The 
 promptitude with which the Society had responded 
 to the first application conclusively proves that it 
 was not from any unwillingness on its part to help 
 the Welsh people, that future applications were un- 
 successful. 
 
 Mr. Charles was thus constrained to cast about for 
 some other means to supply the great and increasing 
 want of his country. He went to London to con- 
 sult a few friends with a view of establishing a 
 Society to supply AVales with the Holy Scriptures. 
 Most of our readers, we presume, are aware of the 
 fact that it was at a meeting which had been called 
 together to consider that subject, it was resolved 
 immediately to establish " The British and Foreign 
 Bible Society." Before that Society had been in 
 existence ten years it had supplied Wales with a 
 hundred thousand copies of the Word of God. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Anomalous position of the Connexion — Scarcity of places for the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper — Dearth of ordained 
 ministers — Kev. N, Eowlands — Entertainment of the idea of 
 ordaining ministers — Opposition of the clergy— Mr. Jones, 
 Llangan — Mr. Griffiths, Nevern— Their objections intelligible 
 — Rev. J. Williams of Lledrod's resolve — Mr. Charles and Mr. 
 Ebenezer Morris — Decision at the Bala Association — The same 
 at Swansea — The first two ordinations. 
 
 The first ten or twelve years of the present cen- 
 tury was the most critical period that the Welsh 
 Methodist Connexion ever passed through. Its 
 position with regard to the Establishment from the 
 beginning of its existence was an exceedingly ano- 
 malous one, and it was becoming increasingly so as 
 it increased in numbers, and as its first founders 
 were one after another passing away. It was not 
 a Dissenting Body, and it took great pains to 
 impress upon the world that it was not anything 
 of that kind. But what was it 1 Was it a part 
 of the Establishment ? It regarded itself in that 
 light, but the Establishment did not recognise it. 
 Several of the clergymen who were at its head 
 had been turned out of the Church for their Metho- 
 dism, and their brethren who were allowed to 
 
 180 
 
ANOMALOUS POSITION. 181 
 
 retain their place in the Establishment found their 
 position anything but comfortable. In going beyond 
 the limits of their own parishes, and ministering in 
 unconsecrated places, they transgressed the laws to 
 which they were amenable, and might any day be 
 called upon to suffer the penalty. And these 
 brethren, while subject to the courts and the laws of 
 the Establishment, assisted, indeed took the leading 
 part, in constituting courts, and framing laws and 
 regulations which the Establishment did not recog- 
 nise. All the members of the Methodist body re- 
 garded themselves as members of the Established 
 Church ; but there were multitudes belonging to 
 that Church who would not on any account have 
 been received, as they were, into the Methodist body. 
 We have seen how careful they were to avoid, as far 
 as possible, everything that looked like seceding 
 from the Church. When they built a place of wor- 
 ship, it was called " a Society house," or " a house for 
 religious purposes," or anything else which they could 
 think of that was most likely to make the impression 
 that they had no desire to secede from the Church. 
 They communicated in the Established Church ; 
 but in very many instances the clergyman of their 
 own parish was not such as they felt at liberty to 
 receive the Communion from, and many of the com- 
 municants were not such as they felt at liberty to 
 communicate with. Was it right, they could not 
 help asking, that, after withdrawing from the un- 
 godly and immoral people of their neighbourhood, 
 they should meet them again at the Lord's Table '? 
 
182 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 In some instances, after the brethren of the Metho- 
 dist Society had expelled a member for immorality, 
 they would have the mortification of meeting him 
 again at the Communion in the parish church. To 
 avoid such offences they had either to remain for 
 many months, and in some cases for years, without 
 the privilege of partaking of the Lord's Supper, or to 
 travel many miles in order to obtain it. The Metho- 
 dist clergymen, as those of their ministers who had 
 been episcopally ordained were designated, were few 
 in number, — about sixteen in South Wales at the 
 close of the last century ; but most of those confined 
 themselves to their own parishes, and for many years 
 there were only six other places in the whole of 
 South Wales where the Methodists were in the habit 
 of solemnizing the Lord's Supper. Some of those 
 were places belonging to the Establishment, such as 
 Gyfylchi Chapel in Glamorganshire, and Llanlluan 
 Chapel in the county of Carmarthen, and some were 
 " Society houses " to which the privilege had been 
 extended by the favour of the Association. In North 
 Wales there was a still greater dearth of clergymen, 
 — three being the largest number of this class that 
 had ever existed together in that portion of the 
 Principality. A great number of able preachers had 
 by this time risen in the body ; but they were not 
 ordained. Sometimes an ordained clergyman and 
 an unordained exhorter would preach in succession 
 to the same audience ; the former inside, and the 
 latter outside the church. There was a room built 
 against Gyfylchi Chapel, near Neath, and a door 
 
THE IDEA OF OEDAINING MINISTEES. 183 
 
 was opened leading from it into the chapel. Clergy- 
 men officiated in the chapel, but exhorters in the 
 room; and when two of these different classes of 
 teachers met, as it frequently happened, the former 
 would address the audience from the pulpit, and the 
 latter from the doorway, taking great care that his 
 feet should stand within the room. 
 
 All these privations and inconveniences suggested 
 to some of the brethren the idea of ordaining ministers 
 of their own ; but it was not without fear and trem- 
 bling that this thought was first expressed. It would 
 be a momentous step ; in fact, nothing less than a 
 secession. Nearly all the Episcopal clergymen met 
 the first proposals in that direction with the most 
 determined opposition. Nathaniel Rowlands, a son 
 of the great reformer of Llangeitho, had married the 
 daughter of Howell Davies, the great reformer of 
 Pembrokeshire, and he seems to have supposed that 
 being son of one of those eminent men, and son-in- 
 law of the other, gave him the right to rule in the 
 Connexion which they had done so much to bring 
 into existence and to foster. We have not been able 
 to find out that he possessed qualifications to exer- 
 cise dominion ; but it is certain that he did rule with 
 a high hand for some time in the Associations of 
 South Wales. Although a large number of chapels 
 had by this time been erected in the south, there 
 were only some three or four in which permission 
 had been obtained to solemnize the ordinance of the 
 Lord's Supper, and Mr. Rowlands opposed with all 
 his might every attempt to increase the number of 
 
184 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 those privileged places of worship. At an Associa- 
 tion held at Carmarthen, there was something like a 
 scene in connexion with a request for leave to com- 
 municate in the chapel of that place. Mr. D. Charles, 
 brother of Mr. Charles of Bala, who was a deacon of 
 the Church, and who afterwards became an eminent 
 minister, rose up and said, " The church in this place 
 has requested me to ask permission to commemorate 
 here the death of our Redeemer." Upon this Mr. 
 Nathaniel Rowlands sprang to his feet, and said in a 
 determined voice, " You shall tiot ; Llanlluan Chapel 
 is sufficiently near for you." This chapel was ten 
 miles off. " I ask again," said Mr. Charles, " shall 
 we have this privilege % "We are permitted to preach 
 Christ, to believe on Him, to profess Him ; shall we 
 commemorate His death for us f " You shall not 
 in this place," said N. Rowlands. " It so happens," 
 said Mr. Charles coolly, " that it was not your per- 
 mission that I was requested to ask." Things 
 were beginning to look serious, when the Rev. David 
 Jones of Llangan got up and exclaimed, " You shall, 
 dear David, you sliall. When do you wish it to be % 
 I will come over myself to assist you." And so in 
 process of time it came to pass ; but this concession 
 on the part of the eminent clergyman of Llangan 
 brought upon him, on the spot, a furious onslaught 
 from Nathaniel Rowlands. It could not but be ex- 
 pected that this man would have determinedly op- 
 posed any step of the kind which we have above 
 indicated; but in the year 1807 a charge of mis- 
 conduct was brought against him, and this led to 
 
MR. JONES OF LLANGAN. 185 
 
 his expulsion from the Connexion over which he 
 wanted to be king. Mr. Jones was Vicar of Llangan, 
 in Glamorganshire, and had settled in that place in 
 the year 1768. His ministry soon began to attract 
 gi^eat congregations, and it was not long before 
 Llangan became that which Llangeitho had been for 
 many years before, — the centre of great gatherings 
 from the surrounding districts, especially on the 
 Communion Sabbath. He did not confine himself to 
 his church, but went about doing good, preaching in 
 the surrounding villages, and taking occasional tours 
 to distant parts of the Principality. He was inti- 
 mately acquainted with the Countess of Huntingdon, 
 and it was by her influence that he had been pre- 
 sented to his living. He paid periodical visits to 
 London to preach in her ladyship's chapels, and in 
 other places, and was one of the most zealous and 
 active among the founders of the London Missionary 
 Society. On the second anniversary of that great 
 Institution he was appointed to preach the anniver- 
 sary sermon at Zion Chapel. This was on the 13th 
 of May 1796, and two months before the first batch 
 of missionaries sailed for the South Sea Islands. 
 Wherever he preached he drew together a great 
 concourse of people, and his ministry was generally 
 overpowering in its effects. His first visits to North 
 Wales were made before the scum of the people had 
 quite given up mobbing Methodist preachers, and 
 disturbing their services ; but the mild accents of 
 his voice never failed to melt the hearts of even 
 those who had come within its reach for the purpose 
 
186 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 of making a disturbance. He once preached at an 
 Association at Ehuthin, where a disturbance had been 
 planned, which was to be led by a burly butcher. 
 Mr. Jones's text was, " Ko man ever spake like 
 this man." The butcher stood to listen, and, as he 
 listened, his courage to attack the preacher was 
 getting smaller and smaller, and at length he ex- 
 claimed, "By ! no man ever spake like ?/o% either. 
 
 Never in my life before have / been so completely 
 mastered." Complaints were made against him more 
 than once to his bishop, and, on one occasion, at a 
 visitation at Cowbridge, he was called to account 
 for his irregularities. The bishop earnestly remon- 
 strated with him, and begged him to desist in future 
 from those Methodistical practices. Mr. Jones was 
 very sorry that he could not yield to the persuasions 
 of his superior, but he really could not. He must 
 go about to preach the Gospel to perishing sinners ; 
 and, as to preaching in unconsecrated places, he did 
 not believe that any place was unconsecrated. His 
 belief was, that when the blessed Saviour had put 
 His foot on this earth of ours, He had consecrated 
 every inch of it. That bishop was too good and 
 kind a man to wish to do any injury to the earnest 
 evangelist, and finding that he was prepared to suffer 
 any pains or penalties rather than give up his Metho- 
 distical ways, he only begged him to be careful not 
 to intrude into two particular parishes in the Yale 
 of Glamorgan, adding, that the clergymen of those 
 parishes were very much annoyed by his interference 
 with their charges. This Mr. Jones readily pro- 
 
MR. JONES'S REMONSTRANCE. 187 
 
 mised to do, regarding of course the prohibition to 
 go to those parishes as good as a license to go to all 
 the world besides. When this interview was over, 
 there were many who were astonished, and some not 
 a little chagrined, to see the bishop walking along 
 the street with Mr. Jones leaning on his arm. 
 
 The loving and liberal spirit of this great and 
 good man made him immensely popular among all 
 the Methodists, especially in South Wales ; and this 
 was a very serious difficulty, perhaps indeed the 
 most serious of all, in that portion of the Principality, 
 that was lying in the way of the ordination of 
 ministers. It was well known that he was opposed 
 to it, and the friends felt a great disinclination to 
 take any step that would be painful to the feelings 
 of the good, kind Mr. Jones. There were other 
 clergymen who stormed and threatened — that the 
 brethren did not much mind ; but Mr. Jones wept 
 and entreated, and that was something serious to 
 withstand. " I have risked my bread," said he at 
 one Association where this subject was discussed ; 
 " I have risked my bread in order to be with you, 
 and with you so far I have been permitted to be ; 
 but if you are resolved thus to break up the cause, 
 you shall, as far as I am concerned, go along by 
 yourselves; I will remain with you no longer." 
 Again and again he entreated the brethren not to 
 take such a step while he lived, and if a sense of 
 duty to God and to the thousands who were de- 
 prived of religious privileges had constrained them 
 to deny the request of one whom they so greatly 
 
188 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 loved, it would have been with the deepest sorrow ; 
 but the Providence of God spared them and him the 
 trial which seemed inevitable, by taking Mr. Jones 
 to his rest some time before the step had been fully 
 decided on. He died in perfect peace at his own 
 residence, Manorowen, on the 12th of August 1810, 
 in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 
 
 There was another clergyman in Pembrokeshire, 
 the Rev. D. Griffiths of Nevern, whose high posi- 
 tion in society, extensive family connexions, great 
 preaching talents, and blameless character, gave him 
 great influence in the Methodist Connexion. He 
 determinedly opposed the ordination of ministers, 
 and not always, perhaps, in the best temper. The 
 subject was brought before an Association held at 
 Cardigan, by Mr. Evan Davies, one of the deacons of 
 that county. Mr. Davies had attempted to broach 
 the matter at a previous Association, but had been 
 summarily put down. As soon as he began to speak 
 on this occasion, Mr. Griffiths stood up and said 
 with great warmth, " Turn out that man who follows 
 the Associations to create a disturbance, and injure 
 the cause — out with him ! " " Mr. Griffiths," was 
 Mr. Davies's cool reply, *' the chariot of God is 
 going onward. Beware of standing in its way, 
 lest you be crushed, as it happened to that prince 
 in the gate of Samaria." There were not a few 
 painful scenes, which we do not care to describe, 
 at the Associations and Monthly Meetings of those 
 days, in which the chief actors were the deacons, or, 
 as they were then called, leaders, who desired the 
 
INTELLIGIBLE OBJECTIONS. 189 
 
 change, and the ordained clergymen who opposed it. 
 Most of the preachers were in favour of it, but they 
 were under a necessity to keep comparatively silent, 
 for any warm advocacy on their part would be 
 naturally regarded as the result of a desire for the 
 honour it would confer on themselves. 
 
 We are not at all disposed to find fault with the 
 Episcopal clergymen for opposing the measure that 
 was now in contemplation. Most of them retained 
 their places in the Church, but had suffered not a 
 little in consequence of their Methodism. They 
 were for the most part able men, and therefore more 
 likely than many to obtain preferment in their own 
 Church ; but they had sacrificed every such pro- 
 spect to their attachment to the Methodist body. 
 They considered that body as a part of the Church, 
 and regarded their labours in its behalf in the light 
 of labours for Church extension. This was their 
 excuse to their bishops, to their Episcopal brethren, 
 and to their own consciences, for persisting in prac- 
 tices which they admitted to be irregular. But the 
 ordination of ministers by the body itself would 
 place them in an entirely new position, and oblige 
 them either to give up their connexion with people 
 whom they greatly loved, and relinquish labours to 
 which they were strongly attached, or leave the 
 Establishment. They could not remain ministers of 
 the Church and ministers of that which would now 
 be an avowedly Dissenting denomination. It was 
 the necessity of the case that had brought matters 
 to this painful crisis. The body had become by far 
 
1 90 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 too numerous to be supplied with ordinances by the 
 few Episcopal clergymen who had identified them- 
 selves with it. The people had become many thou- 
 sands, scattered over the whole of Wales, and the 
 great majority of them would prefer communicating 
 in the Dissenting Chapel to receiving the ordinance 
 from such men as the greater number of the then 
 parish clergy were. They must either have minis- 
 ters of their own, or suffer a most important ordin- 
 ance, which the Redeemer had instituted in His 
 Church, to fall into comparative desuetude, or offend 
 their consciences by receiving the ordinance from 
 ministers whom they regarded as anything but ear- 
 nest servants of Christ, and in company with people 
 whom they knew to be ungodly, or go over to the 
 Nonconformists. Some Churches had already taken 
 the last course — had ordained ministers for them- 
 selves, and from that day become independent 
 Churches. But the body decided upon taking the 
 first of the courses which we have indicated, and it 
 is to its having done so it is indebted for its separate 
 existence. But let not our brethren of the Estab- 
 lishment imagine that, if that step had not been 
 taken, the Church would have been one whit stronger 
 in Wales at the present day than it is. There is 
 one Dissenting denomination the more, and, as we 
 believe, a greater number of religious people in con- 
 sequence ; but if that had not been, it is the other 
 Dissenting denominations, and not the Church, 
 that would have been more numerous. The position 
 of the Church has been made, not by any steps 
 
MR. WILLIAMS OF LLEDROD. 191 
 
 which have been taken outside of it, but by the 
 character of its own ministers. 
 
 There were a few clergymen who had already 
 either been compelled to relinquish their connexion 
 with the Establishment, or had left it of their own 
 accord, and had fully identified themselves with the 
 Methodists ; and there were others who did so when 
 the decisive moment came. Among the latter was 
 the Rev. John AVilliams, the parish minister of 
 Lledrod, in Cardiganshire. He was a good and 
 earnest man, and does not seem to have ever been 
 strongly opposed to the ordination, and whatever 
 objections he had felt to it were completely over 
 come at an Association which he attended at Bala. 
 On his way home from this assembly he resolved, 
 after a severe mental struggle, to cast in his lot with 
 the Methodists, and to throw himself on the Provi- 
 dence of God for the means of subsistence; after 
 this, he reasoned and preached in favour of the con- 
 templated movement. To some of the members 
 who opposed it he said, " You are strange people ; 
 you are not satisfied with a regular clergyman, and 
 a Dissenting minister won't do for you : nothing wiU 
 satisfy you but an expelled parson." 
 
 Mr. Charles was at first opposed to this step, but 
 he was gained over at the same Association as Mr. 
 Williams. He was chairman at the time, and the 
 subject was discussed with some warmth on both 
 sides. Mr. Ebenezer Morris was present, and while 
 the discussion was going on, he rose from his seat and 
 stood leaning against one of the pillars that sup- 
 
192 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ported the pulpit. At the j&rst pause every eye was 
 turned towards him. For a while he remained 
 silent, but at length said, with his deep, solemn, and 
 commanding voice, " I have a question to ask the 
 chairman." After another pause he went on. "I 
 am here representing hundreds of people in this 
 congregation and elsewhere, and I call on Mr. Charles 
 to answer me, adjuring him to give an honest and 
 straightforward answer to my question — Which is 
 the greatest and most important work 1 Is it the 
 preaching of the Gospel or the administering of the 
 ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper 1" Mr. 
 Charles rose at once from his seat, and answered, 
 " The greatest work is preaching the Gospel." 
 " Then," exclaimed Ebenezer Morris, " we are one. 
 Satan had thought to divide us, but thanks be unto 
 God, we are one." With these few words, slowly 
 and solemnly uttered, a thrill of feeling passed 
 through the whole congregation, and all felt that the 
 struggle was over. And so it was. It was unani- 
 mously resolved to proceed, and to send a letter to 
 the brethren in South Wales announcing the decision 
 which had been arrived at, and inviting them to 
 take the same course. The subject was accordingly 
 brought before an Association held at Swansea in 
 the year 1810, where there was a long, and, on the 
 part of one or two, rather angry discussion. Mr. 
 Eowland Hill was present, and warmly and elo- 
 quently advocated the ordination, and it was even- 
 tually resolved to indorse the decision arrived at by 
 the brethren in North Wales. Pursuant to this 
 
THE FIKST ORDINATIONS. 193 
 
 resolution, eight brethren chosen from among the 
 preachers of North Wales were ordained at an Asso- 
 ciation held at Bala, on the 20th of June 1811, and 
 thirteen chosen from among those of the South, were 
 ordained at an Association at Llandilo Fawr in the 
 month of August in the same year. The brethren 
 from the North were Thomas Jones and John Davies, 
 Denbighshire ; John Elias and Eichard Lloyd, An- 
 glesea ; Evan Kichardson, Carnarvonshire ; John 
 Roberts, Merionethshire ; Evan Griffiths and William 
 Jones, Montgomeryshire. Those ordained in South 
 Wales were, from Carmarthenshire, John Evans, 
 David Rees, Arthur Evans, and David Charles. The 
 first of these had previously received Deacon's Orders 
 in the Church of England, and the last was brother 
 of Mr. Charles of Bala. From Breconshire there 
 Avere James James, David Parry, and Evan Evans ; 
 from Cardiganshire, Ebenezer Morris, John Thomas, 
 and Ebenezer Richard ; from Pembrokeshire, Evan 
 Harris ; from Glamorganshire, Hopkin Bevan ; and 
 from Monmouthshire, John Rees. 
 
 We have before us a report of the proceedings at 
 the former of these solemn occasions, which we sub- 
 join :— 
 
 " Mr. John Evans of Bala, the oldest and one of the 
 most respected preachers in the Connexion, commenced 
 the service by reading the third chapter of the Second 
 Epistle to Timothy, making appropriate remarks on 
 the qualifications which, in that chapter, are pointed 
 out as requisite in ministers of the Gospel, and then 
 offered prayer in a very devout and solemn manner. 
 N 
 
194 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 The Eev. Thomas Charles then read the names of the 
 persons who had been chosen by the monthly meet- 
 ings of the several counties. Having done so, he 
 asked the representatives of the different churches, of 
 whom about three hundred were present, whether they 
 wished him to put a few questions to the brethren 
 who were to be ordained, on the fundamental articles 
 of the Christian religion, and if that was their desire 
 he requested them to signify the same by raising 
 their hands, which all immediately did. Then he 
 submitted the following queries to those who were 
 about to be set apart, and obtained highly appropriate 
 and satisfactory answers : — 
 
 " What are your views of — 
 
 " 1. The Being of God and His attributes 1 
 
 " 2. The Trinity 1 
 
 "3. The Word of God? 
 
 " 4. The decrees of God, and Election ? 
 
 " 5. The Providence of God over the world ] 
 
 " 6. The Fall and Corruption of Man ? 
 
 " 7. The Moral Law 1 
 
 "8. The Person of Christ^ 
 
 *' 9. The Offices of Christ 1 
 
 "10. The Sacrifice of Christ and Redemption 1 
 
 "11. Justification 1 
 
 " 12. The Person of the Holy Ghost 1 
 
 " 13. The Work of the Holy Ghost in the plan of 
 Salvation 1 
 
 " 14. The Call of the Gospel 1 . 
 
 "15. Perseverance in Grace ] 
 
 "16. The Resurrection? 
 
MODE OF PROCEDURE. 195 
 
 "17. The general Judgment? 
 
 " 1 8. Which are the ordinances of Divine appoint- 
 ment ? 
 
 "19. What are your views regarding Baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper : their end, their use, and 
 their signification 1 
 
 " 20. Do you sincerely approve of the present 
 order of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexion ? 
 
 "21. Do you intend, as far as lies in you, to pre- 
 serve the unity of the Connexion in the manner in 
 which the Lord has so greatly prospered it ? and do 
 you purpose to withstand all useless and contentious 
 debatings which have a tendency to create strife 1 " 
 
 Having obtained their solemn and enlightened re- 
 plies to these questions, he asked the representatives 
 whether they chose these brethren to administer the 
 ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper among 
 them; and if they did, to signify the same by hold- 
 ing up their hands. This was done by all present, 
 without exception. 
 
 " He then asked the brethren, whether they as- 
 sented to the call of the Connexion, and whether 
 they willingly yielded themselves to be faithful, 
 laborious, and diligent, to feed the flock of God, by 
 devoutly administering the ordinances according to 
 the assistance which they should receive of God. 
 
 " They answered in a humble and serious manner, 
 that they did, and earnestly desired the prayers of 
 the whole Connexion in their behalf. 
 
 "The venerable brother, Mr. Robert Jones of 
 Carnarvonshire, gave them in conclusion a word of 
 
196 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 exhortation, and offered up an earnest prayer appro- 
 priate to the occasion." 
 
 The same method was observed, and the same 
 questions asked, by Mr. Charles, at the ordination 
 of the thirteen South-Walian brethren a few weeks 
 later, but the devotional portions of the service, on 
 this latter occasion, were conducted by two Episco- 
 pally ordained clergymen, the Eevs. John Williams, 
 PantyceljTi, and John Williams, Lledrod, who had 
 now, like Mr. Charles, finally seceded from the 
 Establishment. 
 
 Ordinations in the Welsh Methodist Connexion 
 are to this day conducted in the same manner, and 
 have come of late years to be attended by vast 
 congregations. Often have we found them " seasons 
 of refreshing," and furnishing evidences which to us 
 were most conclusive and satisfactory, that they 
 obtained the sanction of the Great Head of the 
 Church. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 Results of the ordination —Constitution, Rules, and Confession of 
 Faith— Home Missionary Societies for the English districts- 
 Colleges at Bala and Trevecca— Foreign Missionary Society- 
 General Assembly — Progress from 1850 to 1870. 
 
 Those who opposed tlie ordination of ministers 
 were under the impression that that step would 
 lead to very disastrous consequences. They were 
 themselves attached to the Establishment, and sup- 
 posed that the great mass of the people were more 
 like them in this respect than they really were. 
 The Episcopally ordained ministers had great influ- 
 ence over the Connexion. They were much re- 
 spected and loved by the brethren universally, but 
 it was more on account of their personal worth than 
 on account of the precarious tie which held them 
 to the Estabhshment. There was scarcely one of 
 them who had not suffered, in one way or another, 
 in consequence of his Methodism. It was well 
 known that they would be more respected by men 
 of position and authority in their own Church, and 
 would be much more likely to obtain preferment in 
 it, if they were to withdraw altogether from the 
 despised sect, and this consideration endeared them 
 still more to the people. It was to the men that 
 
 197 
 
198 AVELSH METHODISM. 
 
 people were attached, and not to the Church, and 
 some of the very reasons for their attachment to 
 the former could not otherwise than lead to un- 
 favourable impressions with regard to the latter. 
 Their love to these sufferers was such, that they 
 could not feel any strong attachment to the system 
 which was at the source of their sufferings. 
 
 When the ordination was fully decided on, seven 
 out of the ten Episcopally ordained clergymen, who 
 had so far laboured with the Methodists in South 
 Wales, -v^dthdrew from them altogether, and among 
 these there were a few of great ability and extensive 
 influence ; but notwithstanding the withdrawal of 
 these eminent men, the great mass of the j)eople 
 everywhere adhered to the Connexion. Mr. Jones 
 of Llangan, as we have seen, attracted to his church 
 an enormous congregation. On the monthly Sab- 
 baths several hundreds were in the habit of assem- 
 bling from the surrounding country to partake of 
 the Lord's Supper. Mr. Jones was called to his 
 rest only a few months before the final step was 
 taken. But what of his flock 1 Did they continue 
 in their attachment to the Church after he had 
 gone ? Quite otherwise. We are well acquainted 
 with Llangan, having been born and brought up 
 within two miles of the place. At the time of our 
 earliest recollection there was a small congregation 
 assembling there, for the clergyman was somewhat 
 of a Methodist, and held "societies" and prayer- 
 meetings, but the churches of the surrounding 
 parishes were nearly empty. Our o^^m parish church 
 
RESULTS OF THE ORDINATION. 199 
 
 was scarcely ever attended by more than the vicar, 
 the clerk, and a couple of old women, while that 
 of an adjoining parish was often for several weeks 
 together without any service at all. But what had 
 become of Mr. Jones's large congregation ? AVe 
 knew scores of them personally, and well remem- 
 ber the tears which some of them were wont to 
 shed when they spoke of him or repeated some of 
 his sayings ; but as far as we can recollect there 
 was only one of the whole number, a good old 
 sister, who kept up her connexion with Llangan 
 church, while all the rest were connected with 
 the Methodist chapels in the neighbourhood, such 
 as Bridgend, Pencoed, Aburthin, Lisworney, and other 
 places, and this was generally the case all over the 
 country. 
 
 There were exceptions, however, and those were 
 chiefly in Pembrokeshire, and in the southern por- 
 tion of Cardiganshire. In those districts the great 
 bulk of three or four congregations withdrew to the 
 Church, and the chapels in which they were in the 
 habit of assembling, to hold societies and prayer- 
 meetings, and to hear the Word from the mouths of 
 " exhorters," were lost to the Connexion. 
 
 Three of the Episcopal clergymen in South Wales 
 remained with the Methodists, namely, the Eevs. 
 Howell Ho wells of Trehill, John Williams of Lledrod, 
 and John Williams, the son of the eminent reformer 
 and hymnologist, Wm. AYilliams of Pantycelyn. In 
 North Wales there had never been more than three 
 of this class connected with the body, namely, the 
 
200 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 Eevs. T. Charles of Bala, Simon Lloyd of the same 
 place, and William Lloyd of Carnarvon ; and all 
 these continued to adhere to it. 
 
 Welsh Methodism emerged from this important 
 crisis in its existence different, in several respects, 
 from what it was before. It was a little, but very 
 little smaller, and a trifle less aristocratic, for it 
 had lost several wealthy and influential families in 
 different parts of the country ; but it was very much 
 more compact, and more free. The men who now 
 came to the front had already proved themselves to be 
 able ministers of the New Testament ; and they subse- 
 quently proved themselves competent to lead the 
 Connexion, by the blessing of God, to usefulness and 
 success. They watched over the churches, they 
 travelled from place to place to preach the Gospel, 
 they threw their hearts and souls into their great 
 work, and their ministry was accompanied by rich 
 outpourings of the Holy Ghost. God was bearing 
 witness to the word of His grace ; and in a few years 
 the losses which had been sustained at the time of 
 their ordination had been far, and very far, more than 
 compensated. The leading men of the great Associa- 
 tion were no longer mth them — the fathers had gone 
 to their eternal rest, and some of their most pro- 
 minent leaders had now withdrawn from them ; but 
 there were among themselves men whom God had 
 raised to be masters of the Assembly, and very fre- 
 quently and conclusively was He pleased to give unto 
 them evidences of His own presence. When those 
 great men were removed, there were others equally 
 
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 201 
 
 able and devoted to take their places, and thus it was 
 that the Connexion went on increasing in numbers 
 and in influence ; and thus it is that it has continued 
 to progress up to the present day. 
 
 When Harris, Rowlands, and their coadjutors com- 
 menced their evangelistic labours, they had not the 
 remotest idea of forming a separate Christian de- 
 nomination, and therefore it is that the body, which 
 was brought into existence by the blessing of God 
 on their ministry, found itself without a constitution, 
 and without any rules or regulations for its govern- 
 ment. It has all these now, but they were not made 
 at once. They have rather grown from time to 
 time, as the various circumstances through which the 
 body has passed have shown the necessity for them. 
 The form it has assumed may be designated a modified 
 Presbyterlanism. Each church manages its own affairs, 
 admits or expels its members by the vote of the 
 majority of those who belong to it ; so far it is Con- 
 gregational. But there is an appeal from the de- 
 cision of the individual church to the Monthly Meet- 
 ing of the county to which it belongs, and then there 
 is an appeal from the decision of the Monthly Meet- 
 ing to the Quarterly Association of the province. 
 Matters relating to South Wales are finally disposed 
 of by tiie ^5-Quth AVales Association, and so of the 
 North ; but a fe>y:^ years ago a General Assembly of 
 the whole Connexia{i was established, and the two 
 Associations may agrt^e to refer matters to that body, 
 which meets once a year, for final decision. Churches 
 nominate their own deacpns or elders by the vote of 
 
202 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 the majority ; but they can only be appointed with 
 the sanction of the Monthly Meeting of their county, 
 and by delegates sent by that body to the place for 
 that purpose. Monthly meetings never interfere 
 with the internal affairs of individual churches, 
 unless their members fail to agree among themselves, 
 or 23ermit some manifest irregularity. Ministers can 
 only be ordained with the approval of one of the 
 Associations, North or South. They are nominated 
 by delegates of the counties to which they belong at 
 one Association, and if approved of are ordained at 
 a subsequent one. These representative meetings are 
 made up of ministers and deacons, and generally the 
 latter preponderate in numbers. There is no rule 
 made to preserve " the balance of power " in this re- 
 spect, and happily there has not hitherto appeared 
 any necessity for it. All the chapels are the pro- 
 perty, not of the congregations worshipping in them, 
 but of the Connexion. A constitutional deed has 
 been enrolled in Chancery, securing to it the posses- 
 sion of all its places of worship, and all the leases 
 and other transfers of property are drawn up in 
 accordance with the provisions of that deed. Many 
 of the chapels are in debt, but there is not one of 
 them mortgaged ; the security to the creditor in each 
 case being a note of hand, signed by persons ap- 
 pointed to do so by the MontbV Meeting of the 
 county to which the chapel bek^^igs. These are the 
 parties who are under the I-^^^^ responsibility, but 
 the whole community is uncl-^^^^od to be moralhj re- 
 sponsible for the debt of e"^^ chapel. 
 
CONFESSION OF FAITH. 203 
 
 All this, as we have intimated, did not come at 
 once. " Eules regarding the proper mode of con- 
 ducting the Quarterly Association " were drawn up 
 by Mr. Charles, and agreed upon in 1790. The 
 " Order and Form of Church Government, and Eules 
 of Discipline," were first published in 1801 ; but it 
 was not until the year 1823 that the Connexion 
 drew up in form and published its " Confession of 
 Faith." The subject had been mooted in 1821, and 
 after it had been discussed in several Associations, it 
 was resolved to convene a meeting of delegates from 
 North and South Wales in connexion with an Asso- 
 ciation at Aberystwyth on the 11th of March 1823, 
 to revise and amend, should it be deemed necessary, 
 such " Eules" as had been already promulgated, and 
 to draw up a " Confession of Faith." We have 
 before us the minutes of that important meeting, 
 from the pen of the late Eev. Ebenezer Eichard, the 
 secretary at the time of the South Wales Association, 
 and of which the following is a translation : — 
 
 " The delegates from North and South AVales 
 began to assemble on Monday evening the 10th, but 
 they did not enter upon their important work until 
 Tuesday the 11th, when they assembled at the house 
 of Mr. Eobert Davies, Dark Gate Street, in a very 
 convenient and commodious upper room. The pro- 
 ceedings commenced with reading and prayer by 
 John Eoberts, Llangwm. The committee was com- 
 posed of the following brethren, viz. : The Eeverends 
 John Williams (moderator), Ebenezer Morris, David 
 Charles, Thomas Jones, John Eoberts, John Elias, 
 
204 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 John Humphreys, and Michael Eoberts, with Hum- 
 phrey Gwelchmai and Ebenezer Eichard as secretaries. 
 " First, the rules and objects of the private societies 
 were taken into consideration, and after having been 
 carefully and deliberately considered, and after a few 
 changes and abridgments were made in them, they 
 were unanimously adopted. Next, our brother, J. 
 Humphreys, read a sketch which had been written by 
 him of the rise and progress of the Connexion ; and 
 this, with some slight alterations, was agreed upon." 
 We have this sketch lying before us, and it com- 
 prises about eighteen pages duodecimo. 
 
 " Then the constitution of the body, written by 
 Mr. David Charles, was read, and, with some modi- 
 fications, adopted. 
 
 " The meeting then entered upon the considera- 
 tion of the Confession of Faith. The portion from 
 North "Wales was read by the brother, John Elias, 
 and that from the South by Ebenezer Eichard. Every 
 point and article was considered with the greatest 
 solemnity, deliberation, and minuteness. In proceed- 
 ing, selections, additions, abbreviations, and altera- 
 tions were made according as it was deemed most 
 suitable and necessary, until the whole of the articles 
 had been gone through ; and all were unanimously 
 adopted without wrath or doubting. 
 
 " Then it was resolved that the whole should be 
 read at the general meetings of the Association, 
 at two o'clock on the 13th, and at eight on the 
 1 4th ; the rules and constitution of the body to be 
 read by Ebenezer Eichard ; John Elias to read that 
 
ENGLISH-SPEAKING DISTRICTS. 205 
 
 portion of the Confession of Faith which had been 
 prepared in North Wales, and Ebenezer Eichard the 
 portion prepared in the South. This was done as 
 resolved, and the body unanimously, and with the 
 completest and most pleasant harmony, adopted the 
 whole Avithout as much as one dissentient voice or 
 one objection. Blessed be the Lord God of 
 Israel." ^ 
 
 This " Confession" comprises forty-four articles, 
 and is in every important feature in unison with the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith and the Articles of 
 the Church of England. 
 
 The whole of the Welsh-speaking portions of the 
 Principality had by this time been pretty well filled 
 with the Gospel, but those districts in which the 
 English language prevailed continued in very much 
 the same state as all Wales had been before the 
 days of Howell Harris. 
 
 It is a curious fact that there are tracts of country 
 lying far away from the border, where nothing but 
 English has been spoken for several generations. 
 The hundred of Castlemartin, the borough of Pem- 
 broke, the towns of Haverfordwest and Tenby, with 
 considerable portions of the hundreds of Narberth 
 and Roose, all in the south of Pembrokeshire, and 
 comprising almost a third of the area of that county, 
 have a population as English as Derby or Dorset. 
 It is the same with Gower, in the west of Gla- 
 morganshire; that peninsula lies between the 
 Bristol Channel and the Bury estuary, from Swan- 
 1 Old Minutes, etc., Dryscyrja for 1869, p. 166. 
 
206 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 sea to the Worm's Head, and is about eighteen miles 
 in length, and varying from four to six in breadth, and 
 comprises sixteen parishes. These two spots, separ- 
 ated alike from each other and from England by 
 many miles of country occupied by Welsh-speaking 
 populations, have each been designated " Little Eng- 
 land beyond AVales." The people are supposed to 
 be of Flemish extraction, and their presence in these 
 parts is thus accounted for : — " About the year 1110 
 Henry I. admitted into England great numbers of 
 Flemings, who by the inundation of the sea in their 
 own country were compelled to seek elsewhere for 
 new habitations. He planted them at first in the 
 waste parts of Yorkshire, but upon the complaints 
 made to him after his return from Normandy, he 
 removed them to the country conquered from the 
 Welsh, about Eoose and Pembroke. Their posterity 
 continue there to this day, retaining so much of their 
 old customs as to distinguish them plainly from the 
 Welsh, and to show that they are of foreign extrac- 
 tion." ^ 
 
 According to Caradock of Llancarvan, Gower was 
 peopled with English from Somersetshire. " Swan- 
 sea Castle was built in the year 1099, by Henry 
 Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, who, acting on the 
 system of the other Norman freebooters of the age, 
 made war upon the sons of Caradock ap Jestyn, who 
 then held the district of Gower, in order to enrich 
 himself with the spoils he might be able to wrest 
 from them. After the subjugation of Gower, he 
 1 Asliburton's History of England, p. 119. 
 
THE ENGLISH WAVE. 207 
 
 brought over a colony of English settlers from 
 Somersetshire, to whom he gave a large proportion 
 of the lands. Their descendants yet remain here, 
 separated by their language and manners from the 
 native population."^ 
 
 Monmouthshire is regarded as an English county, 
 but whatever faults it has are generally put down 
 against Wales. The Chartist riots of 1839 occurred 
 in Monmouthshire, and resulted in a serious conflict 
 at Newport, where several lives were lost. . We 
 believe that none took part in the affair but the 
 people of that county, and yet that mad movement 
 was designated at the time, and continues to be 
 designated, "the Chartist riot in Wales." On the 
 western side of this county the people talk Welsh, 
 and on the eastern, English; but the former lan- 
 guage continues gradually, but steadily, to recede 
 before the latter. The whole of Eadnorshire and a 
 part of Breconshire in South Wales have become 
 English-speaking, and so have portions of Mont- 
 gomeryshire, Denbighshire, and Flintshire in the 
 North. The English wave having rolled over the 
 border, is steadily progressing westward, and it is 
 generally anticipated that it will by and bye have 
 inundated the whole of Wales, and completely ex- 
 tinguished the dear old language of the country ; we 
 are afraid that this will come to pass, but it will not 
 be just now, nor for many years to come. 
 
 Home Missionary Societies were established in 
 
 the early part of the present century for the benefit 
 
 ^ Description of South Wales, hy fhA Rev. T. Kees, 1819, p. 726. 
 
208 AYELSH METHODISM. 
 
 of these Anglicised districts. Isolated efforts were 
 made in North Wales as early as 1808, by Mr. 
 Thomas Edwards of Liverpool, and others, and in 
 1813 a Society was formed "for the propagation of 
 religious knowledge on the borders of Offa's dyke." 
 That Society still exists under the name of " The 
 North Wales Home Mission," and employs from 
 fifteen to twenty missionaries to labour among the 
 people of the English-speaking districts. 
 
 The first impulse in this direction in South Wales 
 was given by the Eev. D. Charles of Carmarthen, 
 who, on his annual visits to the mineral springs of 
 Llandrindod, Eadnorshire, was distressed in witness- 
 ing the ignorance and ungodliness of the surrounding 
 population. By his efforts Mr. George Griffiths of 
 Llandilo was settled as a missionary at Penybont : he 
 only remained for a few months, and was succeeded 
 by the Eev. D. Morgan, afterwards of Welshpool, 
 whose stay was almost equally short. In 1821 the 
 Eev. D. Howells of Swansea, now the oldest minister 
 in the Connexion, was appointed to the station, and 
 continued to labour on it with great devotedness 
 and marked success for seven years. These efforts 
 began in 1819, but it was not until some years 
 later that the South Wales Home Missionary Society 
 was formally established. One of its first mission- 
 aries was Thomas Phillips of Llandovery, who was 
 settled at Hay, at a salary of £30 a year, and who 
 afterwards became widely known as the Eev. Dr. 
 Phillips of Hereford, the indefatigable and marvel- 
 lously successful District Secretary of the British 
 
HOME MISSIONS. 209 
 
 and Foreign Bible Society. The South Wales Home 
 Mission has now under its charge twenty English 
 Stations, containing about thirty places of worship, 
 but Penybont, and several other places which it 
 once assisted, have now become self-supporting. 
 
 The field of these Societies' operations continues 
 to enlarge with the spread of the English language. 
 There is likewise a continuous stream of English 
 people coming over to the manufacturing districts 
 and large seaport towns, which makes it necessary to 
 provide religious means in the English language in 
 those places. This is done largely by other denomi- 
 nations, and the Calvinistic Methodists are making 
 strenuous efforts in that direction. The latter labour, 
 in this respect, under the disadvantage of not having 
 " brethren in England " on whom to fall back for aid. 
 They have expended an enormous sum, we believe 
 more than a quarter of a million sterling, upon places 
 of worship within the last twenty-five years, and 
 there remains a heavy debt on many of those sanc- 
 tuaries. This incubus is being gradually removed, 
 and when it is gone, the Connexion will find no 
 difficulty in making all the necessary provision to 
 meet the spread of the English language. In the 
 meantime, the need of such efi'orts is becoming in- 
 creasingly felt, and there is more being done in the 
 two provinces of the Principality than, under the 
 circumstances, could have been expected. 
 
 The Welsh Methodist Connexion existed for up- 
 wards of a century without a College of its own, 
 though it never was without some men who had 
 
210 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 received a collegiate education. For many years it 
 had among its ministers a few who had been trained 
 for the Establishment. Some were educated at the 
 Countess's College at Trevecca, and afterwards at 
 Cheshunt, while others went for a time, either at 
 their own expense or by the assistance of kind 
 friends, to superior schools at Chester, Liverpool, 
 and other places. There were a great many in the 
 Connexion who, to say the least, were not favourably 
 disposed towards a college-training for ministers, and 
 they found some apology for their feelings in the 
 fact that some of their most popular and efl&cient 
 preachers were not collegians. They were men who 
 had studied hard, and had acquired by their own un- 
 aided exertions more of those qualifications which 
 are essential to the efi&cient discharge of the duties of 
 the ministry, than some who had received a collegiate 
 training. While they themselves deplored their want 
 of early advantages, there were not a few of their 
 brethren who thought that they did quite as well, if 
 not better, without them. But early in the present 
 century, the want of an institution for the training 
 of ministers became increasingly felt ; and the first 
 movement towards securing that object was made in 
 North Wales, in the year 1817. It was resolved to 
 open an academy at Llangollen ; a house was taken 
 for the purpose, and Mr. Owen Williams, a very pious 
 and talented young man from Anglesea, who had dis- 
 tinguished himself as a scholar, was chosen to be the 
 tutor. He was sent to Hoxton Academy to more 
 fuUy prepare himself for the important charge ; but 
 
BALA COLLEGE. 211 
 
 while assiduously pursuing his studies at that place, 
 he was taken ill and died. Some years later, Mr. 
 Evan Eowlands, a young man of earnest piety, good 
 education, and superior talents, was chosen for this 
 purpose. He went to Belfast to complete his studies; 
 but the brethren were again doomed to disappoint- 
 ment, for Mr. Rowlands's health broke down, and he 
 was taken away. 
 
 After many unsuccessful attempts on the part of 
 the Connexion to procure this first requisite of a 
 College, the Great Master was at length pleased to 
 provide tutors in every way qualified for the work. 
 The Rev. Lewis Edwards, M.A., who had studied 
 and taken high honours at Edinburgh, was led to 
 settle at Bala, through marrying the grand-daughter 
 of the renowned Thomas Charles. Her brother, the 
 Rev. David Charles, B.A., returned from Oxford 
 about the same time, and the two brothers-in-law 
 joined to open " The Welsh Calvinistic Methodist 
 Theological Institute," at Bala, in 1837, and the 
 North Wales Association, held at Carnarvon in Sep- 
 tember 1839, adopted this Institute as a College for 
 the Connexion, and decided upon rules for its man- 
 agement and measures for its supj)ort. 
 
 The few survivors of the Trevecca " family," who 
 were now the owners of the " house " which had 
 been built by Howell Harris, presented this com- 
 modious edifice to the South AVales Association for 
 the purpose of a College, and efi*orts were therefore 
 made on the part of the brethren in the south to 
 have the Institution that was at Bala removed to 
 
212 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 this place ; but the northern friends could not be 
 brought to assent to this proposal, and it was ulti- 
 mately agreed that Mr. Edwards should remain at 
 Bala, and that an'additional College should be opened 
 at Trevecca, to be presided over by Mr. Charles. 
 Soon after his departure for the south, the Eev. John 
 Parry was appointed to succeed him at Bala. That 
 Institution has been growing in importance from 
 year to year, and is still carried on successfully under 
 the charge of Dr. Edwards and Mr. Parry. For 
 many years it was supported by annual subscriptions 
 from individual friends and collections in the churches; 
 but these sources of revenue proving uncertain and 
 precarious, the Eev. Edward Morgan of Dyffryn sug- 
 gested that a fund, which would be adequate for the 
 permanent endowment of the College, should be at 
 once collected. It was acknowledged by all that this 
 was a grand idea; but then came the question, Where 
 was the man to be found that would put it in practice 1 
 Mr. Morgan undertook the gigantic task, and in 
 about five years collected £25,000 from the Calvinistic 
 Methodists of North Wales and of three or four large 
 towns in England. When this had been done, it was 
 resolved to collect another fund to erect a College 
 building worthy of the Institution and of the Con- 
 nexion to which it belonged. This edifice cost about 
 £8000, and Mr. Morgan had succeeded in collecting 
 the greater part of this additional sum, when he was 
 called to his rest, on the 9th of May 1871, and when 
 he was only fifty-three years of age. Few men 
 devoted as much time and energy as he to the out- 
 
TREVECCA COLLEGE. 213 
 
 ward interests of the Connexion ; and yet he preached 
 as if all his mind and soul had always been entirely 
 concentrated on the studying of sermons. For many 
 years he struggled against very bad health, but his 
 indomitable spirit raised him above all difficulties 
 and disadvantages. Battling for breath, he worked 
 on and worked hard, and continued to do so to the 
 very last. 
 
 The College at Trevecca was opened in 1842, and 
 Dr. Charles conducted it alone for twenty years. 
 His self-sacrificing zeal and unwearied application 
 to the onerous duties of his position, made that 
 College a great blessing to the Connexion in South 
 Wales. In the year 1862 Dr. Charles found it 
 necessary, to the regret of the friends, to resign the 
 presidency of the College, and as it was resolved not 
 to open it again without two tutors, the difficulty of 
 coming to a satisfactory arrangement in this matter 
 led to its being closed for more than three years. 
 There was one highly-qualified tutor whose services 
 could be secured, but the difficulty was to find a 
 second. At length all difficulties were surmounted 
 and the College was re-opened in September 1865, 
 with the Eev. William Howells, then of Liverpool, 
 as president, and the Rev. J. Harris Jones, Ph.D., 
 as classical tutor. The College remains under their 
 able superintendence, and is eminently successful. 
 Before the institution at Trevecca was first opened, 
 a fund of six thousand pounds was collected in 
 South Wales towards its support; but the success 
 of Mr. Morgan led the South- Walian friends to re- 
 
214 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 solve to raise their fund to an equal amount to that 
 of Bala, and this is now being successfully carried 
 out by the Eev. Edward Matthews of Cardiff, the 
 Moderator for the present year of the General 
 Assembly. 
 
 The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists were among the 
 most zealous of the friends and supporters of the 
 London Missionary Society from its very beginning; 
 but in 1840 they resolved to establish a Foreign 
 Missionary Society of their own. They fixed upon 
 two fields of operation, one on the Kassian Hills in 
 Bengal, and the other in Brittany. The Eev. 
 Thomas Jones was the first sent to Kassia. He 
 found tribes of people without any form of religion 
 and without a written language, but he soon mas- 
 tered their tongue and reduced it to waiting. 
 Though some unhappy circumstances led to the 
 withdrawal of Mr. Jones from the Society a few 
 years before his death, he proved himself a most able 
 and zealous worker. He was followed by the Eev. 
 William Lewis, who laboured with much success 
 among these tribes for twenty years. He has now 
 retired to his native country in broken health, but 
 has since his return completed the translation of the 
 whole of the New Testament into the Khassee lan- 
 guage. Several other missionaries have gone out to 
 the same field, and, though the mission has met 
 with some serious difficulties, God has blessed it 
 with remarkable success. There are now on those 
 hills five missionaries, fourteen native teachers, and 
 fourteen churches, connected with which there are 
 
FOREIGN MISSIONS. 215 
 
 between five and six hundred communicants, and 
 candidates, while there are about eight hundred chil- 
 dren in the schools. 
 
 The Eev. James Williams was sent out to Brit- 
 tany, and settled at Quimper, where he laboured 
 hard for many years as minister, colporteur, or any- 
 thing else that could further the interests of the 
 Gospel. A chapel was built at Quimper and another 
 at r Orient. Mr. Williams's state of health compelled 
 him some time ago to retire, but the mission is still 
 carried on, and M. Brand labours now at the former 
 place and M. Eouffet at the latter. There are on 
 the two stations between ninety and one hundred 
 communicants. 
 
 We have spoken throughout of two Associations, 
 one in North Wales and the other in the South. 
 Those have been to all intents and purposes two 
 separate organizations, quite independent of each 
 other. Ministers from the South would attend the 
 North Wales Associations, and vice versd ; but the 
 brethren from one province did not feel that they 
 had a right to take part in the business delibera- 
 tions of the other. The two sections felt that they 
 were one, and neither would take an important 
 step without consulting the other ; but there was 
 no meeting held at which the whole body was re- 
 presented. For a long time this deficiency was felt, 
 and a few years ago measures were taken to supply 
 it. After a conference of ministers and others from 
 the two provinces, and a lengthened correspondence 
 between the different Associations, it was resolved 
 
216 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 to establish a General Assembly of the whole Con- 
 nexion, to hold its meetings alternately in the 
 North and the South. The first meeting was held 
 at Swansea, in May 1864, and the eighth at Liver- 
 pool, in May 1871. This annual gathering is 
 becoming increasingly important, and will, no doubt, 
 ultimately become that which their General Assem- 
 blies are to the other Presbyterian bodies — the 
 legislating body for the whole Connexion. 
 
 One hundred and thirty-five years have now 
 passed away since the rise of Welsh Methodism, 
 and we are glad that we can state that the Con- 
 nexion as it increases in years does not show any 
 symptoms of decay. Its progress during the last 
 twenty years of its existence has been more marked 
 than in any similar period from the beginning. 
 The following figures will show the advance which 
 it has made during that period : — 
 
 
 1850. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 Ministers, .... 
 
 172 
 
 419 
 
 247 
 
 Preachers, .... 
 
 194 
 
 354 
 
 160 
 
 Chapels and preaching places, 
 
 848 
 
 1,126 
 
 278 
 
 Communicants, 
 
 58,678 
 
 92,735 
 
 34,057 
 
 Truly can we say, "The Lord has done great 
 things for us." There remains yet much to be 
 done, but He is among us still, and with Him all 
 things are possible. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Sketches of ministers — Robert Roberts — John Elias— Ebenezer 
 Morris — Ebenezer Richard — Conclusion. 
 
 Before laying aside our pen, we should like to 
 enable our readers to form an idea of some of those 
 men whom Grod raised at the most critical period of 
 the history of Welsh Methodism, and whose ministry 
 was blessed by His Spirit to make such a wide and 
 lasting impression upon the Principality. And here 
 there is a serious difficulty meeting us at the very 
 outset. They are so many, that it would require a 
 large volume to give even a brief sketch of their 
 history. A list of the names of those who have 
 occupied an important place in the Connexion, and 
 have done a great work in its behalf, would itself fill 
 several pages. We will select a few of the most pro- 
 minent, and our readers will please understand that 
 they represent a great many more whose names we 
 are compelled to leave unmentioned. Our purpose 
 will be answered better by giving a comparatively 
 lengthened account of three or four, than by devot- 
 ing half-a-dozen lines each to forty or fifty. 
 
 There was one in North Wales who had died nine 
 years before the Connexion ordained its own minis- 
 
 217 
 
218 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 ters, and who, if he had lived, would have been 
 among the first to be selected for that purpose. This 
 was Egbert Egberts of Clynog, in Carnarvonshire. 
 He was originally a slate-quarryman, and afterwards 
 a farm-servant, before he became a preacher of the 
 Gospel. AA^ien sixteen years of age he was brought to 
 know the truth under the ministry of Mr. Jones of 
 Llangan, and began to preach when he was five-and- 
 twenty. In his youth he contracted a severe cold, and 
 this brought on a disease which so affected his spine 
 as to make him quite deformed ; but his face continued 
 a thing of beauty and power. His course was very 
 brief, for he died in his fortieth year ; but it was 
 one of great brilliancy and tremendous might. 
 Nature had made him an orator of the first order, 
 and grace made him an able minister of the Gospel 
 of Christ. His commanding voice, intense earnest- 
 ness, and many tears, gave him an irresistible influence 
 over his audiences. His sermons moved him to the 
 very depths of his nature, and therefore it was that 
 he so mightily moved others. " Tell me," said one 
 young man to another, who was standing by and 
 listening to Eobert Eoberts, " tell me, is he a man, 
 or is he an angel 1 " " An angel," was the other's 
 reply. " Oh, well ! " said the first, " how much 
 better than a man an angel can preach ! " When 
 preaching on another occasion, and carrying the con- 
 gregation along with him, he suddenly paused, and 
 beckoning with his hand as if to command silence, 
 he said, in a lowered tone, " Hush ! hush ! hush ! 
 What is this sound that I hear V Another moment's 
 
ROBERT ROBERTS. 219 
 
 pause, and then came the great shout like a clap of 
 thunder, " Upon the wicked will he rain snares, fire, 
 and brimstone, and a horrible tempest ; this is the 
 portion of their cup." The effect was overpowering. 
 He had the power to describe things in such a vivid 
 and graphic manner as to make his hearers feel as if 
 they were then passing before their eyes. There is 
 a great storm. A small ship is tossed upon the 
 waves. The mariners pull this way and that way to 
 no purpose. A man is thrown overboard. He is 
 swallowed by a whale, and then the sea-monster 
 rushes through the deep, marking its course with a 
 great line of foam, and in its manner shouting, 
 " Clear the way for the King's messenger ! " while 
 Jonah is inside, crying, " Temple ! temple ! temple ! " 
 When he failed to enjoy liberty in preaching, and 
 the people seemed heavy and inattentive, he would 
 stop in the middle of his sermon, and lift up a 
 prayer to God for help and light. On one occasion, 
 when the service was dragging heavily along, he 
 paused, and stood like a man astonished ; then lift- 
 ing up his hands towards heaven, while tears ran 
 down his cheeks, he cried, " God, draw aside the 
 veil ! Draw aside the veil ! " And it was drawn 
 aside. An overwhelming influence descended upon 
 himself and the congregation, until at length, almost 
 overcome by his emotions, he cried, " God, re- 
 strain ! restrain ! Close the curtain a little ! It is 
 too much for us to bear ! " 
 
 "We have before us a characteristic letter written 
 by him to a friend just after his return from London, 
 
220 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 where he had been supplying the Welsh congrega- 
 tion in 1791. The following is an extract : — 
 
 "At Shrewsbury we mounted the wild coach, 
 which seemed to be made to fly by the galloping of 
 the swift-footed horses. I thought that those ani- 
 mals were shouting in their way, ' London ! London ! 
 Let 's hasten to be there !' I was poorly on my 
 journey, in consequence of the rapid motion of the 
 coach ; but I was enabled to reach the end. 
 
 " I was in the great city for eight Sabbaths, and I 
 think I can humbly say that the Lord helped me in 
 the work. I feel it to be a great, great thing to be 
 sometimes a few moments in God while speaking to 
 the people, and can easily understand that I am of 
 no use whatever anywhere else. 
 
 " As to the hearers, they were very numerous. If 
 you had seen them, I know you would have won- 
 dered to behold such multitudes of "Welsh people 
 assembled in London. 
 
 " While there I heard many of the English preachers. 
 In listening to them it is such thoughts as these that 
 passed through my bosom : ' Behold wood and fire, 
 but where is the Lamb of the burnt-offering V ' Be- 
 hold an altar, behold a sacrifice, but where is the 
 fire V ' Behold Whitfield's pulpit, but where is his 
 God V Sometimes such lamentations as these would 
 resound between the lobes of my heart : * Oh un- 
 happy assemblages ! Is it the vibrations of organ- 
 pipes that you have found instead of the voice of 
 Almighty God?' Who is that whom I see rising 
 above the crowd with his head as white as Snowdon 
 
JOHN ELIAS. 221 
 
 after a snow-storm, and clothed in shining black? 
 He begins to address the people as if speaking in his 
 sleep, and tells them that if they have any fears with 
 reference to their state, it is because they are too 
 unbelieving ; and if they feel within them the mo- 
 tions of sin they must take comfort, for it has always 
 been so with godly people. Is not this too much 
 like lightly healing the bruise of the daughter of my 
 people, and crying Peace, peace, when there is no 
 peace 1 From such cold, carnal way of speaking and 
 hearing, good Lord deliver us ! And yet I take com- 
 fort, for God has some oxen in London that pull a 
 red furrow through the consciences of their hearers. 
 May the Lord add to their number ! Amen." 
 
 John Elias was one of the first batch who were 
 ordained in North Wales, and perhaps it is not too 
 much to say that his sermons made a greater impres- 
 sion on the Principality than those of any other man 
 who ever lived in it. He was a native of Carnarvon- 
 shire, but on his marriage settled in Anglesea, where 
 he spent the remainder of his life. His parents were 
 in humble circumstances, but greatly respected by 
 their neighbours ; and his paternal grandfather, who 
 lived with them, was a member of the Church of 
 England, and a very good and devout man. He 
 took great pains to train the child in the right way, 
 impressing upon his mind the evil of speaking bad 
 words, swearing, taking the Lord's name in vain, 
 and telling falsehoods, and teaching him to keep the 
 Sabbath and to revere the ordinances of worship. 
 By the faithful and persevering efforts of his good 
 
222 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 grandfather, John was able to read fluently while 
 yet a little child. On one occasion they went to- 
 gether to hear a Methodist preacher, who did not 
 arrive until the time when the service had been 
 announced to commence had long passed. The old 
 gentleman became impatient, and, addressing his 
 little grandson, said, " It is a pity that the people 
 should be idling thus. Go up, John, and read a 
 chapter to them;" and suiting his action to the 
 words, he pushed the lad up into the pulpit and 
 closed the door after him. The - boy, with much 
 diffidence, read a portion of the Sermon on the 
 Mount, but, after reading on for a while, he ventured 
 to withdraw his eye and to look aside, and lo ! to 
 his great dismay, there was the preacher waiting 
 outside the pulpit-door. He suddenly closed the 
 book and quietly slipped down -stairs. This was 
 John Elias's first appearance in the pulpit, and no 
 one dreamed at the time that he would ever be such 
 a power in it as he afterwards became. He began 
 to preach in 1794, when he was about twenty years 
 of age, and it was very soon made evident that he 
 was in truth a man of God. A very shrewd and 
 popular preacher of those days, David Cadwalladr, 
 remarked, after he had heard him the first time, — 
 " God help that lad to speak the truth, for he '11 
 make people believe him." He became immensely 
 popular at the outset of his ministry, and that popu- 
 larity never waned. It was not to seek popularity, 
 however, that he set out, but to serve his Master, 
 and to serve him especially by trampling down un- 
 
A CRUEL AMUSEMENT. 223 
 
 godliness. When he settled in Anglesea, that island 
 had been already to a great extent blessed by the 
 Gospel, but it still retained not a few of the relics of 
 its former barbarism. He proclaimed war to the 
 death against every one of these, and won over them 
 a complete victory. Wherever there was held a 
 periodical assembly of sinful men for ungodly pur- 
 poses, Elias would go there with all the zeal and the 
 power of his namesake of olden times, and invariably 
 his God would thrust the enemy from before him, 
 and give him the power to accomplish its destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 On Whitsunday in each year a great concourse 
 of people were in the habit of assembling to burn 
 ravens' nests. These birds bred in a high and pre- 
 cipitous rock called "Ygadair" (the chair), and since 
 they were supposed to prey on young poultry, etc., 
 the people thought it necessary to destroy them. 
 But they always did it on the Sabbath, and in the 
 most savage and revolting fashion. The nests were 
 beyond their reach, but they suspended a fiery fagot 
 by a chain. This was let down to set the nests on 
 fire, and the young birds were roasted alive ! At 
 every blaze which was seen below, the triumphant 
 shouts of the worse than brutal crowd would rend the 
 air. God hears the young ravens when they cry, and 
 they did not cry without cause on the rocky coast of 
 Anglesea. When the savages had put the poor birds 
 beyond the reach of their cruelty, they usually turned 
 on each other, and wounds and bruises, broken heads 
 and broken bones, were frequently some of the re- 
 
224 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 suits of the day's " amusement." Elias resolved to 
 make an attack on this revolting scene. He accord- 
 ingly went to the place and proclaimed the wrath of 
 God Most High against those who thus polluted His 
 day and trampled upon every precept of His law, 
 and with such effect as to fill the guilty crowd with 
 terror; and the hideous custom was put an end 
 to for ever. 
 
 At Rhuddlan, in Denbighshire, there was an 
 annual fair held on the Lord's day, in the season of 
 harvest. It was chiefly for the sale of scythes, 
 reaping-hooks, rakes, etc., and for the hiring of 
 labourers for harvest-work. Elias went to the place 
 to make a determined attack on this wicked assem- 
 blage. He stood on the horse-block, by the " New 
 Inn," in the very thick of the fair, surrounded by all 
 the implements of husbandry, and began the service 
 amid the sound of harps and fiddles. He prayed 
 with great earnestness and many tears, and took for 
 his text the Fourth Commandment. The fear of God 
 feU upon the crowd, harps and fiddles were silenced, 
 and scythes, sickles, and rakes disappeared from the 
 scene. The people stood to listen, and while they 
 listened they trembled as if Sinai itself with all its 
 thunder had suddenly burst upon them. One man 
 who had purchased a sickle let it fall to the ground, 
 thinking in his heart that the arm which held it had 
 withered, and was afraid to pick it up again lest the 
 same thing should happen to the other. He lost 
 his sickle, but on that day he found salvation. The 
 Sabbath fair was never afterwards held, and many 
 
J. ELIAS S ORATORY. 225 
 
 were brought, through that marvellous sermon, to 
 seek the Lord. This happened in the year 1802, 
 when the preacher was only twenty-eight years of 
 age, and there were many such customs and such 
 assemblages which received their death-blow from 
 John Elias. 
 
 He preached much in the open air, for it was not 
 often that a building could be found large enough to 
 contain the multitudes that would assemble to hear 
 him. It was not a reed shaken with the wind nor yet 
 a man clothed in soft raiment that they went out to 
 see, but a prophet, and a very great prophet indeed. 
 Referring to his oratorical powers, the late Rev. J. 
 Jones, rector of Nevern, and one of the most eminent 
 of the Welsh bards of his day, says in a letter to 
 the author of Eliasia : " For one to throw his arms 
 about is not action; to make this and that gesture is 
 not action : action is seen in the eye, in the curling 
 of the lip, in the frowning of the nose, in every 
 muscle of the speaker. Mentioning these remarks 
 to Dr. Pughe, when speaking of Elias, he said that 
 he never saw an orator that could be compared to 
 him ; every muscle was in action, and every move- 
 ment that he made was graceful, and highly oratorical. 
 ... I never heard Elias without regarding him as a 
 messenger sent from God. I thought of the apostle 
 Paul when I listened to him, and as an orator I con- 
 sidered him fully equal to Demosthenes."^ 
 
 For many years he held the foremost place at the 
 Associations. Those great Assemblies meet in the 
 1 Eliasia, by Bledd>Ti, p. 50. 
 P 
 
226 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 open air, and are attended by congregations varying 
 from 5000 to 30,000, according to the locality in 
 which they are held. We should like to picture to 
 our readers one of those meetings in the days of 
 John Elias. A large raised and covered platform is 
 erected on one side of a field ; on this stands the 
 preacher, while on either side, and behind him, sit 
 some fifty or sixty of his brethren. Five or six 
 services are held, on two succeeding days, and there 
 are two sermons at each service. In front of the 
 platform stand the great crowd, extending so far 
 back that the first feeling of the preacher is that of 
 despair of being able to make them all hear his voice. 
 Elias generally preached last at ten o'clock on the 
 second day, " the great day of the feast." While 
 the minister who precedes him is preaching there 
 are thousands who listen with rapt attention ; but 
 there is a restless semicircle in the outskirts of the 
 crowd ; some are walking to and fro, while others 
 are standing in groups, and conversing. Beyond 
 them are many lying on the grass, and beyond 
 those there are some reclining against the hedge on 
 the farthest side of the field. The first sermon 
 finishes, and Elias stands up : he gives out a few 
 lines of a hymn to sing, and his voice at once reaches 
 the most distant of the loungers. The assembly 
 very soon begins to contract itself; as he proceeds 
 with his sermon the people come closer and yet 
 closer together; there is no more walking to and 
 fro, and no more conversing — not even a whisper — 
 but all are listening as if for life. As the preacher 
 
D. CHARLES ON ELIAS. 227 
 
 waves his hand, the crowd is swayed backwards and 
 forwards, as a field of corn is swayed by a gentle 
 breeze ; copious tears are falling, there are not a few 
 sobs and cries, and when he finishes his sermon the 
 multitude find themselves wedged together as near 
 the platform as they can possibly stand, having been 
 for the time unconscious of everything in heaven 
 and on earth but the everlasting truths to which 
 they have just listened. Nor was this a transient 
 feeling. Many and many were on those occasions 
 turned to righteousness. The Eev. D. Charles of 
 Carmarthen says : — " In all my journeys through 
 "Wales I have never heard of any other preacher 
 whose ministry has been so widely blessed to the 
 conversion of sinners as that of John Elias. Almost 
 in every neighbourhood, village, and town, some 
 persons may be met with who ascribe their conver- 
 sion to impressions received under one of his ser- 
 mons." He died at his residence, Y Fron, Anglesea, 
 on the 8th of June 1841, in the sixty-eighth year 
 of his age. 
 
 We pass to the South, and bring before our readers 
 one of the first group who were ordained at Llandilo 
 in 1 8 1 1 , namely Ebenezer Morris. He was the son 
 of the David Morris of whom we have already spoken, 
 and was born in the year 1769. The father was, in 
 one particular, like Eglon, king of Moab, — a very fat 
 man ; and the son, though he never approached him 
 in this respect, was himself large, and decidedly cor- 
 pulent. He began to preach in 1788 at Trecastle, 
 in Breconshire, where he had gone to teach a school ; 
 
228 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 but a little more than a year after he had begun, he 
 returned to his home in Cardiganshire. About a 
 twelvemonth after his return his father died, in the 
 forty-seventh year of his age, and great and general 
 were the lamentations that were made for him ; but 
 it soon became evident that the son was qualified by 
 the great Head of the Church to more than supply 
 the loss that had been occasioned by his departure. 
 A plain old exhorter in Glamorganshire, Jenkin 
 Tliomas, said to him while he was yet young, " When 
 you first came this way, you rode your father's great 
 horse ; but I see you have quite as big a horse of 
 your own. Take care that you don't fall, my dear 
 
 Ebenezer Morris's private life was a reflection of 
 the Gospel which he preached. His character was 
 without spot or blemish, and sparkled with every 
 Christian virtue and grace. He was neither gloomy 
 nor morose, but free, open, and cheerful, and enjoyed 
 a pleasant chat with a friend as much as any one ; 
 but he had the sternest sense of right, and we 
 believe we can safely say that there never lived a 
 man who was more completely than he under the 
 dominion of his conscience. 
 
 The Calvinistic Methodists of those days had not 
 learnt to believe that those who preach the Gospel 
 should live by the Gospel, and it is rather slow pro- 
 gress that that great truth is making even now in 
 some localities ; but at the time of which we speak, 
 good people were so deeply impressed with the privi- 
 lege conferred on those who were permitted to preach 
 
EBENEZER MORRIS. 229 
 
 the Gospel, that they were exceedingly careful not to 
 deprive them of the full enjoyment of it by remunerat- 
 ing their labours, and consequently their best and 
 greatest preachers were obliged to have recourse for 
 the necessaries of life to some worldly business. 
 Some of them kept shops, or rather their wives did, 
 while they themselves devoted their whole time to 
 the work of their Master. The memory of those 
 holy women is worthy of being held in the highest 
 veneration ; for while the churches and the country 
 enjoyed the ministry of their husbands, it was their 
 self-denying labours behind the counter and else- 
 where that furnished their families with the means 
 of support, and stood between them and any worldly 
 cares which might interfere with their great work. 
 
 Ebenezer Morris held a farm, and in his case the 
 farmer was in every respect worthy of the preacher. 
 His worldly transactions strove together with his 
 ministry for the faith of the Gospel. He wanted to 
 buy a cow, and finding one for sale which he thought 
 would suit him, he at once bought it at the price 
 named by the owner. A few days afterwards, Mr. 
 Morris found that the price of cattle had gone up 
 considerably, and meeting the previous owner of the 
 animal, he said to him, " Look here, I find that you 
 gave me too great a bargain the other day. The 
 cow is worth more than I purchased her for. Here 
 is another guinea ; take that. There, I think we 
 are now about right." One of his admirers offered 
 him a valuable freehold farm as a present, but he 
 respectfully declined the gift ; and when a friend 
 
230 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 asked him his reason for refusing such an advan- 
 tageous offer, his reply was, " I did not like to take 
 it away from the rightful heir." Some people may 
 be disposed to call this " softness ; " but it was recti- 
 tude of principle. He was by no means a " soft " 
 man in the sense in which that word is frequently 
 employed; but while he was too shrewd to allow 
 any one to take an unfair advantage of him, he was 
 too honourable and magnanimous, too much above 
 everything mean, little, and selfish, to profit at the 
 expense of other people. Guineas and farms weighed 
 with him as nothing in the balance against the strict- 
 est righteousness and truth. 
 
 In the pulpit, his fine majestic presence, powerful 
 and commanding voice, complete mastery over the 
 most appropriate words, and tremendous earnestness, 
 made him one of the most effectual preachers that 
 "Wales ever knew. His delivery was inimitable. A 
 single word from his mouth would often roll over the 
 people like a mighty wave. It might be the word 
 *' eternal," and he would say it over again and again, 
 and afterwards, " Eternal ! Eternal ! Eterna-AL ! " 
 and on and on, six or seven, or perhaps more times, 
 and it was as if some new light on the eternal flashed 
 into the minds of the hearers each time the word was 
 repeated. It rang in their ears, and sank into their 
 hearts, and left an impression which it was easy to 
 recall in after years, when all the sermon but that 
 one word had been forgotten. " Look at that mn- 
 dow," said an aged deacon in North AVales to a min- 
 ister who had come to preach at the chapel to which 
 
E. MORRIS AT CAPELNEWYDD. 231 
 
 the former belonged, " Look at that window. It was 
 there that Ebenezer Morris stood when he preached 
 that great sermon from the words, ' The way of life 
 is above, to the wise, to escape from hell beneath,' 
 and when all turned pale in listening to him." " Ah," 
 said the minister, " do you remember any portions 
 of that sermon V " Remember 1 " said the old deacon, 
 " remember ! my good man, I should think I do, and 
 shall remember for ever ; but there was no flesh here 
 that could stand before it." "What did he say]" 
 asked the minister. " Say 1 my good man ! " replied 
 the deacon, " Say 1 why, he was saying, ' Beneath ! 
 beneath ! beneath ! Oh, my people, hell is beneath ! 
 beneath ! beneath !' until it seemed as if the end of 
 the world had come upon all in the chapel and out- 
 side." We have heard others attempting a similar 
 style, but it would not do, for they were not Ebene- 
 zer Morrises. 
 
 At an Association at Capelnewydd in Pembroke- 
 shire, he preached from Prov. iv. 1 8, and so mighty 
 was the power of God which was then present, that 
 upwards of a hundred joined the churches of the 
 neighbourhood, and many more joined others at a 
 distance under impressions received from that ser- 
 mon. The Rev. W. Hughes, vicar of Caerwys, Flint- 
 shire, who was present on that occasion, says, " I was 
 only about twelve years of age when I first heard 
 Ebenezer Morris, at an Association at Capelnewydd, 
 and now, after many years have passed away, I can 
 say that that sermon was a flood of overwhelming 
 eloquence. The efi'ect produced upon the large con- 
 
232 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 gregation was thoroughly electrical. Great numbers 
 were bathed in tears, while others were joyfully- 
 shouting * Hosanna ! ' To myself it was that which 
 the mount of transfiguration was to Peter. It was 
 good for me to be there." 
 
 " I heard him afterwards," adds the same reverend 
 gentleman, " when I was at school at Cardigan. Eis 
 appearance in the pulpit was majestic, and all his 
 actions were becoming the orator. The black velvet 
 cap which he wore made him look like a bishop 
 in his mitre. His manner made me think of the 
 boldness of Luther, the perspicacity of Calvin, and 
 the fervour of Knox. His sermons were not a mere 
 voice ; but there were found in them the depth of 
 Chalmers, combined with the glowing eloquence of 
 Stowell. His favourite subjects were the eternal 
 purposes and love of God ; the lost state of man 
 through sin ; redemption through grace, and regene- 
 ration and sanctification through the influences of 
 the Holy Ghost. He knew how to pass mightily 
 through the fire and smoke on Sinai, and would 
 carry his hearers as if in his arms, and show them 
 the New Jerusalem. His great standpoint was 
 Calvary, and his darling theme the cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 At an Association at Carnarvon he was appointed 
 to preach at ten o'clock, after the Eev. John Evans 
 of Llwynff'ortun. Mr. Evans was remarkable for his 
 mild persuasive manner. He was a good man, and it 
 was for goodness he searched everywhere, and it was 
 upon that he delighted to gaze. We have heard him 
 
AN EFFECTUAL APPEAL. 233 
 
 expatiate with surpassing pleasure on "the multitudes 
 of good people that were in the world ; many in the 
 Church of England and other Protestant denomina- 
 tions ; many in the Greek Church, and many, no 
 doubt, in the Church of Eome." We never heard 
 him quote a divine without designating him " that 
 great and good man." His remarkable facility of 
 expression, unlimited command of words, loveable 
 appearance, and evangelical spirit, gave him generally 
 a complete mastery over the crowds who listened to 
 him ; and often have we seen the great majority of 
 his audience bathed in tears. But on the occasion 
 of which we speak, though the great mass of the 
 congregation heard him with delight, there were 
 many on the outskirts of the crowd who continued 
 restless and disorderly throughout his sermon. 
 Among these were some who called themselves 
 " gentlemen," who had ridden into the field, and con- 
 tinued while Mr. Evans was preaching, to pace their 
 steeds up and down among the people. Ebenezer 
 Morris stood forward and took for his text Leviticus 
 xvii. 11, "For it is the blood (Welsh, ''this Mood") 
 that maketh an atonement for the soul." When he 
 had read the text, he fixed his eyes on the " genteel" 
 equestrians before him, and in a loud commanding 
 voice said, " Gentlemen ! be so good as to be quiet 
 for a little while to listen to the Word of God. I am 
 going to speak of the soul, and of the way to make 
 atonement for the soul, and you have souls." They 
 did remain quiet, and listened attentively throughout 
 the sermon. He spoke of the soul of man ; of that 
 
234 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 soul as guilty before God ; of all things on earth as 
 insufficient to make atonement for the soul, and of 
 the precious blood of Christ as all-sufficient for that 
 pur^^ose. He led his hearers to the valley of Achor, 
 and they felt that they were there, but he showed 
 them even there a door of hope, and shouts of joy at 
 the prospect of deliverance arose from every part of 
 the field. It is believed that some hundreds were 
 converted under this sermon. For several weeks 
 great numbers sought admission into the surrounding 
 churches, who all ascribed the change in their minds 
 to the feelings produced by hearing of " this blood." 
 One woman who had pushed into the crowd " was a 
 sinner," but the blood of which she heard was 
 sprinkled upon her conscience, and she spent the 
 remainder of her life to adorn the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 On an Easter Monday there were open-air services 
 held at Ystrad, in the valley of the Aeron, Cardigan- 
 shire, and Mr. Morris preached both morning and 
 afternoon. The platform faced the inn of the place, 
 and the people stood on the plain between. An 
 English family happened to be staying at the inn 
 and occupying an upper room which looked out on 
 the congregation. In the afternoon, while Mr. Morris 
 was preaching, they sat in their window, and seemed 
 greatly amused with the proceedings that were going 
 on underneath. The preacher saw them, and at once 
 turned to English and spoke a few earnest and affec- 
 tionate words in that language. At the close of the 
 sermon a messenger came from the inn asking him 
 to tea " with the gentleman and lady up-stairs," and 
 
AT WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE. 235 
 
 the event gave good reason to believe that the latter 
 at least became from that day a new creature. 
 
 The Eev. Rowland Hill had fixed upon a young 
 Welsh Methodist preacher of great talent, Mr. Theo- 
 philus Jones, as his resident assistant at Wotton- 
 under-Edge, and applied to the Association of South 
 Wales for two ministers to take the leading part at 
 his ordination. The Reverends David Charles of 
 Carmarthen and Ebenezer Morris were appointed for 
 that purpose, and, as the day of the ordination was 
 drawing nigh, Mr. Hill promised his friends some 
 amusement from the Welsh accent of one of the 
 ministers who were about to visit them. He re- 
 ferred to Mr. Morris, for Mr. Charles spoke English 
 " like a native." The day came, and the ministers. 
 Mr. Morris prayed at the opening of the service, and 
 no one was able to think of his " Welsh accent," for 
 God was there. Mr. Charles delivered the charge 
 to the minister from Acts xx. 26, 27, " Wherefore I 
 take you to record this day, that I am free from the 
 blood of all men : for I have not shunned to declare 
 unto you all the counsel of God." The charge was 
 worthy of the occasion, and of the man who deli- 
 vered it. He was indeed a " master of assemblies." 
 The Rev. William Howells of Longacre, who was 
 himself for many years one of the most popular of 
 the ministers of the metropolis, was wont to say, that 
 for originality of conception and depth of thought, 
 ]\Ir. Charles was the greatest preacher he had ever 
 heard. He was followed by Mr. Morris, who spoke 
 to the Church from Ps. 1. 5, " Gather my saints 
 
236 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 together unto me, who have made a covenant with 
 me by sacrifice." He at once laid hold of the hearts 
 and consciences of his hearers, and spoke of the day 
 of judgment with such power, that many in the 
 place felt as if that day had already come, and 
 several gentlemen were so affected that they fainted 
 away. Mr. Hill sat behind the preacher weeping, and 
 saying now and then through his tears, " Amen ! " 
 " Go on, brother ; give it them right well ! " It is 
 said that Mr. Hill, on subsequent visits to Wot- 
 ton, when he found the people heavy and inatten- 
 tive, was in the habit of saying, — " "Well, we must 
 have the fat minister from Wales here to rouse you 
 again." 
 
 Mr. Morris's influence for good in his own 
 country was immense. A neighbouring magistrate 
 addressing him, said, " We are under great obliga- 
 tions to you, Mr. Morris, for keeping the country in 
 order, and preserving peace among the people. 
 You are worth more than any dozen of us." On 
 one occasion he was summoned to a court of justice 
 to give evidence in a disputed case, and as the Book 
 was handed to him that he might take the oath, the 
 presiding magistrate exclaimed, — " No, no I There is 
 no necessity that Mr. Morris should swear at all ; his 
 word is quite enough." But he was taken away in 
 the midst of his days. On a visit to London in the 
 spring of 1825, to supply at the Welsh Chapel, he 
 caught a severe cold, and was only able to preach a 
 few times after his return home. He was soon con- 
 fined to his house, and then to his bed, where he lay 
 
EBENEZER EICHARD. 237 
 
 in "perfect peace" until the 15tli of August in the 
 same year, when he fell asleep in the fifty-sixth year 
 of his age. " I remember well," says Mr. J. Thomas, 
 Twrgwyn, " the day on which Ebenezer Morris died. 
 It was the time of harvest ; and the sad news spread 
 to the fields, and most of the reapers dropped their 
 sickles and fell on their faces to the earth, weeping 
 aloud. Oh the mourning that spread through the 
 whole country ! Never did I see such a crowd at 
 any other funeral, and on no other occasion did I 
 hear such lamentations." ^ 
 
 Ebenezer Richard was a native of Pembroke- 
 shire, but had settled at Tregaron, in Cardiganshire, in 
 1809, and had therefore been a fellow-labourer with 
 ]\Ir. Morris for sixteen years. He attended the 
 funeral of his beloved friend, and returned home 
 cast down in spirit ; but there was yet one man in 
 the county of whom he could think as able in some 
 measure to fill up the great chasm which the depar- 
 ture of Ebenezer Morris had left. This was David 
 Evans of Aberayron. About eight o'clock on the 
 Sabbath after the funeral, Mr. Eichard was in his 
 room preparing to go out to preach at a chapel at 
 some distance, when a stranger came to the door 
 requesting to see him. When he came down, the 
 man said, " I am come, sir, to ask if you will 
 please attend my master's funeral on Wednesday 
 
 1 We are indebted for most of the above facts to an able 
 article on *' Ebenezer Morris " from the pen of the Rev. Roger 
 Edwards of Mold, and which appears in a recent number of 
 Y Gwyddoniadur Cymraeg (Welsh Encyclopaedia), a most valu- 
 able work now in course of publication by Mr. Gee of Denbigh. 
 
238 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 next 1 " " Who is your master 1 " asked Mr. 
 Eichard, in great agitation. "Mr. David Evans," 
 was the reply. He almost fainted on the spot and 
 retired to his room, where he spent the morning in 
 weeping and prayer. In the afternoon, the Rev. J. 
 Williams, of Lledrod, who was to preach at Tregai^on 
 in the evening, came to the house, and Mr. Richard 
 was apprised of his presence. He went down, and 
 as he entered the room the venerable clergyman rose 
 to meet him, and the two men flung themselves into 
 one another's arms, and wept on one another's necks, 
 sobbing aloud, and unable to utter a ' word. Mr. 
 Williams was the first to speak. " Eben, dear ! " 
 said he ; " Eben, dear ! what shall we do now?" ^ 
 
 As Elisha was to Elijah, so was Mr. Richard to 
 Mr. Morris. The work of the departed prophet 
 devolved upon the surviving one, and he did it faith- 
 fully and well. He was a complete man, and useful 
 everywhere and with everything. To preach in 
 the great assembly with demonstration of the Spirit 
 and with power — to feed the flock of Christ — to 
 organize and conduct every good and benevolent 
 movement — to catechise the children, and to do 
 everything belonging to the work of a minister — 
 all these gifts and offices were his, and Wales, 
 though eminently blessed with great and good men, 
 has seen but a few who were equal to Ebenezer 
 Richard. But his sun likewise went down while it 
 
 1 Memoir of the Rev. Ebenezer Richard, hy his Sons, E. W. 
 Richard and H. Richard. The latter is now M.P. for Merthyr 
 Tydvil. 
 
CONCLUSION. 239 
 
 was yet early. He died at his home, which he had 
 only reached the day before from the visitation of 
 the churches of his district, on the 9th of March 
 1837, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. 
 
 There are many more we would have been glad 
 to bring before our readers. We would speak of 
 Evan Eichardson, the gentlemanly schoolmaster and 
 eloquent preacher of Carnarvon, who taught pupils 
 to live, and lived to preach the gospel of Christ ; — 
 of Thomas Richard, the brother of Ebenezer, who 
 appeared like a prince among his brethren, and was 
 all that he appeared to be ; — of William Morris, of St. 
 David's, whose every sermon was a string of spark- 
 ling gems ; — of John Jones, of Talysarn, whose lofty 
 poetic strains and charming eloquence would rivet 
 the attention of large crowds, sometimes for two 
 hours together ; — of his brother David Jones, almost 
 his equal in power, but his superior in pathos ; — of 
 John Hughes, the fine preacher, and the accomplished 
 author of Metlioclistiaeth Cymru ; — of the seraphic 
 Henry Rees, who in nothing was a whit behind the 
 very chiefest of these apostles, and was only taken 
 to his rest three years ago, after blessing Wales for 
 half a century ; — of Thomas Phillips, who chose for 
 his motto the words, "Bibl i bawb o bobl y byd,"^ 
 and did more, perhaps, than any living man towards 
 putting that motto in practice, and was removed in 
 the autumn of 1870; of — . But we forbear. There 
 are many, many more names rising before our mind. 
 They are a great cloud from which countless blessings 
 Anglice, " A Bible foi' each of the people of the world." 
 
240 WELSH METHODISM. 
 
 were rained on our dear country. But now they are 
 all gone. It is comforting to feel that there are 
 some of like spirit still left among us, and it gives 
 stronger comfort to know that He who anointed 
 them has an inexhaustible supply of that Spirit. 
 May He abundantly descend on the existing and 
 on the rising ministry ! It is that only that can 
 enable us to retain the ground which our fathers 
 won with their sword and their bow, and to march 
 on to greater and still greater victories over un- 
 godliness and sin. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Amusemeut, A cruel, . . .223 
 Anomalous position of the Welsh 
 
 Methodist Body, . . . .180 
 Assembly, The General, . . .215 
 Association, The first, held at Wat- 
 ford, IS 
 
 Description of an, . . . 226 
 
 Bala, Establishment of the College 
 
 at, 211 
 
 Berridge, The Rev. John, his Letter 
 
 to Lady Huntingdon, . . .131 
 Blacksmith, Hugh the, and his 
 
 Master, 77 
 
 Bulkeley, Mr., and Chancellor 
 
 Wynne, 76 
 
 Charles, Rev. Thomas, of Bala, . 162 
 
 takes orders in the Church, . 163 
 
 settles at Bala, . . .164 
 
 joins the Methodists, . . 164 
 
 institutes circulating Schools, 165 
 
 manifold labour's of, . . 167 
 
 and Sabbath Schools, . . 169 
 
 his share in the Institution of 
 
 the Bible Society, . . .179 
 Charles, Rev. David, his ordination, 193 
 his efforts in behalf of Home 
 
 Missions, 208 
 
 at Wotton-under-Edge, . . 235 
 
 his estimate of John Elias, . 227 
 
 Church government. Form of, . 201 
 Communion, Earnest invitation to 
 
 the, 1 
 
 Controversy, The Calvinistic, 139 
 
 Da vies, The Rev. Howell, . . 13 
 
 Davies, Robert, teaching at Abery 
 
 stwyth, 
 
 Disruption, The, 
 
 Disastrous eflFects of, 
 
 Healed, .... 
 
 Districts, Moderators and Over 
 
 English-speaking, in Wales, 
 
 Elias, The Rev. John, . 
 Ellis, Griffith, .... 
 Evans, Lewis, the exhorter, before 
 
 the magistrate, 
 
 committed to prison, 
 
 The Rev. W., of Tonyrefail, 
 
 Exhorters, Rules for the admission 
 
 of, 
 
 Strict supervision over, . 
 
 Poverty of, . . 
 
 Faith, Confession of. 
 Feast, Disastrous end of a, 
 
 Griffiths, The Rev. D., of Nevem, 
 Griffith, Morgan, examined at 
 
 Pwllheli, .... 
 
 sent on board a man-of-war. 
 
 Trial and triumph of, 
 
 Gwyn, Mr. Marmaduke, and Howell 
 
 Harris, 
 
 Harris, Howell, his preparation for 
 the Lord's Table, 
 
 his first communion, 
 
 his conflict and conversion 
 
 sent to Oxford, 
 
 begins to preach. 
 
 174 
 114 
 115 
 139 
 
 30 
 
 205 
 
 221 
 97 
 
 53 
 54 
 101 
 
 34 
 35 
 37 
 
 203 
 
242 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Harris, Howell, character of his 
 
 preaching, 19 
 
 his indomitable spirit, . . 20 
 
 mobbed at Newj^ort, . . 43 
 
 nearly killed at Bala, . . 45 
 
 disagi-eement with his brethren, 112 
 
 retires to Trevecca, . .116 
 
 builds Trevecca house, . . 117 
 
 his " Family," . .119 
 
 a Captain in the Militia, . 123 
 
 preaching e?i ro?(<e, . . .125 
 
 returns to Trevecca, . .126 
 
 Death of, 142 
 
 Howells, The Rev. H., of Trehill, 199 
 Hughes, Margaret, Persecutions 
 
 suffered by, G7 
 
 Richard, and his landlord's 
 
 agent, 72 
 
 Mrs., and her wealthy brother, 91 
 
 Thomas, examination by the 
 
 vicar of Conway, ... 92 
 his successful ruse at Towjm 
 
 Ferry, 93 
 
 Huntingdon, The Countess of, and 
 
 the Welsh Reformers, . . .129 
 
 her tour in Wales, . . .129 
 
 her CoUege at Trevecca, . . 133 
 
 James, Thomas, Overseer's Report 
 
 to the Association, ... 33 
 John, Griffith, exhorter, threatened 
 
 with expulsion from his farm, . SI 
 
 conquers his landlord, . . 82 
 
 Jones, The Rev. G., catechising his 
 
 parishioners, .... 7 
 
 his circulating schools, . . 7 
 
 Jones, Owen, teaches at To\vj'n, . 173 
 his Sabbath school at Abery- 
 stwyth, 174 
 
 his farewell meeting and its 
 
 results, 175 
 
 his escort, .... 176 
 
 founds Sabbath-schools at 
 
 Llanidloes, etc., . . . .177 
 
 at Shrewsbury, . . .177 
 
 Jones, Rev. David, of Llangan, . 185 
 
 his sermon at Rhuthin, . . 186 
 
 admonished by his Bishop, . 186 
 
 Jones, Rev. Da-vid, of Llangan, his 
 
 great influence, . . . .187 
 his death, . . . .188 
 
 Llangeitho, A dawn at, . 
 
 rejoicings at, . 
 
 great gatherings at, 
 
 Llanuwehllyn, Remarkable prayer- 
 meeting at, 
 
 Lloyd, The Rev. Simon, of Bala, . 
 
 William, of Caernarvon, . 
 
 Thomas, of Denbigh, sold up, 
 
 Robert, the shoemaker, . 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 22 
 
 86, 
 163 
 200 
 
 70 
 103 
 
 "Mabsant," Rev. D. 
 
 mon at a 99 
 
 Magistrates, sensible, ... 76 
 
 Ministers, The idea of ordaining, . 183 
 
 Opposition of the clergy to the, 187 
 
 Discussion at Bala on the sub- 
 ject of, 191 
 
 Discussion at Swansea, . .192 
 
 The first ordination of, . . 193 
 
 Results of the ordination of, . 199 
 
 Missions, Home, ..... 207 
 
 Foreign, 214 
 
 Morgan, The Rev. Edwd. of Dyff- 
 
 ryn, 212 
 
 Morris's, David, sermon on "The 
 
 great loss," ..... 158 
 
 The Rev. Ebenezer, . . 227 
 
 at Wotton-under-Edge, . . 235 
 
 North Wales, Dearth of preachers 
 
 in, 105 
 
 Nunn, Rev. Mr., takes charge of 
 Owen Jones's Sabbath-school at 
 Shrewsbury, . .177 
 
 Occurrences, Strange, ... 84 
 
 Organization, First steps towards, 26 
 
 Owen, Chancellor, and his clerk, . 85 
 
 Catherine, her long journeys 
 
 in quest of preachers, . . .107 
 
 Plot, A small gunpowder, . . 52 
 Prayer, The " dark," ... 75 
 Pritchard, William, ... 61 
 Mr. and Mrs., of TonjTefail, . 99 
 
INDEX. 
 
 243 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Prys, William, exhorter, 6xpelled 
 for antinomianism, . . .36 
 
 Rain after drouglit. 
 
 Revivals iu Wales, .... 
 
 on the mountains, . 
 
 at Llangeitho and Bala, . 
 
 Mistakes about, 
 
 Rinhard, William, Overseer's report, 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer, 
 
 Roberts, Robert, of Clynog, . 
 
 Rowland, Owen Thomas, expelled 
 from his farm, .... 
 
 starved out of the parish, 
 
 Rowlands, Rev. Daniel, . 
 
 preaching for popularity, 
 
 conversion of, . 
 
 instructed by the Rev. Philip 
 
 Pugh, 
 
 his preaching, .... 
 
 mobbed at Llanilar, 
 
 his great influence and suc- 
 cess, 
 
 his expulsion from the Estab- 
 lishment, and death. . 
 
 Sabbath-school, The liist in |^ 
 Wales, .... 
 
 Description of a Welsh, 
 
 Sabellianism, . . . , 
 
 11 
 
 50 
 
 24 
 150 
 
 170 
 
 note. 
 
 170 
 
 147 
 
 Seward, Mr., dangerously injured 
 
 by a stone, 44 
 
 Sisters, Three zealous, . . .102 
 Supper, the Lord's, Scarcity of 
 places in which to administer, . 182 
 
 Talgarth Church, Monthly commu- 
 nion at, 126 
 
 Thomas, Hugh, hiding in caves, . 64 
 Ton>Tefail, a Church of females at, 100 
 Topiad}', Rev. A. M., at Tre- 
 
 vecca, 140 
 
 Trevecca, The Countess of Hunting- 
 don's College at, . . . ,133 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Trevecca, Rev. J. Fletcher president 
 
 of, 134 
 
 First anniversary of, . . 135 
 
 Fireside talk at, . . . 142 
 
 Opening of the present college 
 
 at, . .... 213 
 Turner, Thomas the, self-sacrificing 
 
 zeal of, 106 
 
 Venn, Rev. Henry, on the Trevecca 
 
 "family," 128 
 
 Vow, An unfulfilled, ... 84 
 
 Wesley, Rev. John, at Trevecca, 
 Whitfield's, Rev. George, first visit 
 
 to Wales, .... 
 
 at Trevecca, ... 
 
 Williams, Rev. W., of Pantycelyn, 
 
 his conversion, ... 
 
 his hymns, 
 
 refused priest's orders, and 
 
 joins the Methodists, . 
 Rev. Peter, obliged to leave 
 
 the Establishment, 
 
 mobbed at Kidwelly, 
 
 committed to a dog-kennel 
 
 Wrexham, .... 
 
 ill-usage of, at Trevriw, . 
 
 publishes the Welsh Family 
 
 Bible, .... 
 charged with holding erroneous 
 
 views on the Sonship of our Re- 
 deemer, and the Trinity, 
 
 contentions with his brethren. 
 
 expulsion of, . . , 
 
 Lowri, "the apostle," 
 
 Rev. John, of Lledrod, his re 
 
 solve, 
 
 Rev. John, of Pantycelyn, 
 
 at 
 
 Youth of the founders of Method 
 
 IS 
 133 
 
 145 
 147 
 148 
 
 191 
 199 
 
 18 
 
 Youthful Sabbath-school teachers, 174 
 
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 the Bible. 
 
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 6. THECHILDREN OF BLACKBERRY HOLLOW. 
 
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 ' 31. GLEN ISLA. By Mrs. Drummond. 
 
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 33. LOUISA MORETON; or, '^Children, obey your Parents 
 
 ;l in all things." By the same. 
 
 34. THE WILMOT FAMILY; or, "They that deal 
 
 truly are His deli.s^ht." Bj' the same. 
 
 35. SOWING IN TEARS, AND REAPING IN JOY. 
 
 By Fraxz Hofkmaxn. Translated from the German by Mrs. Fabrk. 
 
 36. BESSIE ON HER TRAVELS. By Joanna H. 
 
 Matthews. 
 
 37. LITTLE NELLIE ; or, The Clockmaker's Daughter. 
 
 38. THREE LITTLE SISTERS. By Mrs. Marshall, 
 
 Author of " Daisy Bright." 
 
 39. MABEL GRANT. A Highhmd Story. 
 
 40. THE RETURN FROxM INDIA. By the Author of 
 
 " Hilda and Hildebrand," «tc. 
 
 41. THE COURT AND THE KILN. A Story founded 
 
 on the Church Catccliisin. 
 
 42. SILVER SANDS; or, Pennic's Romance. By G. E. E. 
 
 CrAMI'TOX. 
 
 43. LIONEL ST CLAIR. By the Author of "Herbert 
 
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 1. DERRY. A Tale of the Revolution. By Charlotte 
 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 2. THE LAND OF THE FORUM AND THE 
 
 VATICAN. Bv the Rev. New.m.-vn H.-\li, LL.B. 
 
 3. THE LISTENER. By Caroline Fry. 
 
 4. DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE EAST ; or, Illus- 
 
 trations of Bible Scenes. By the Rev. Hor.\tius Bonar, D.D. 
 
 5. BEECHENHURST. A Tale. By A. G Author of 
 
 "Among the Moimtains," etc. * 
 
 6. THE HOLY WAR. By John Bunyan. 
 
 7. THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. By John Bunyan. 
 
 8. THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BIBLE; Their 
 
 Scenes and their Lessons. By the Rev. John Macfarlaxe, LL.D. 
 
 9. THROUGH DEEP WATERS; or, Seeking and 
 
 Finding. An Autobiography. 
 
 10. HOME AND FOREIGN SERVICE; or, Pictures 
 
 in Active Christian Life. 
 
 11. LIFE. A Series of Illustrations of the Divine Wisdom 
 
 in the Forms, Structures, and Listincts of Animals. By Phillip H. 
 GossE, F.R.S. 
 
 12. LAND AND SEA. By P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. 
 
 13. JOHN KNOX AND HIS TIMES. By the Author 
 
 of " The Story of Martin Luther," etc. 
 
 14. HOME IN THE HOLY LAND. By Mrs. Finn. 
 
 15. A THIRD YEAR IN JERUSALEM. A Tale 
 
 Illustrating Incidents and Customs in Modern Jerusalem. By Mrs. Finn. 
 
 16& 17. THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 By P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. First and Second Series. 
 
 18. BYEWAYS IN PALESTINE. By James Finn, Esq. 
 
 F.R.A.S., late H INI. Consul of Jerusalem and Palestine. 
 
 19. HEADS AND TALES ; oi-. Anecdotes and Stories of 
 
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 less distu:guished men. Selected and written by Aua.m White, Duddingston. 
 
 20. BLOOMFIELD. A Tale by Elizabeth Warren, 
 
 Author of " John Knox and his Times," <S:c. 
 
 21. TALES FROM ALSACE; or. Scenes and Portraits 
 
 from Life in the Days of the Reformation, as drawn from old Chronicles. 
 Translated from the German. 
 
 22. HYMNS OF THE CHURCH MILITANT. Edited 
 
 by the Author of "The Wide Wide World." 
 
 23. THE PHYSICIAN'S DAUGHTERS; or. The 
 
 Spring Time of Woman. By the Author of " Wandering Homes and their 
 Influences," &c. 
 
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Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 01129 8835 
 
 
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