THE SECOND WEEK.

I. NOVEMBER 7th.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary features of the first week, this eclipses it in many respects. Evan Roberts calls it the week of direct prayer. The ordinary prayer meeting was announced to be held at seven o’clock on Monday evening, and the old Moriah Chapel was filled to the door, a thing that never occurred in the history of its prayer meeting before. A great number from all denominations had come together. At eight o’clock, the missioner arrived. He opened the Bible, and read the last chapter in the Prophecy of Malachi. Having read, he commented on the former portion of it in a most starting and heart-stirring manner. The people will never forget the emphasis he laid on the sentences, ‘But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. And ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet in the day I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts’. Having spoken in this strain for some time, he was impelled to go and ask those who had not confessed Christ publicly to do so. Among others he asked one of the deacons of Moriah. ‘If I must,’ answered the deacon, ‘I shall do it after the singing is over.’ ‘You must’, said Roberts. Things are now developing rapidly towards a liberation of the spiritual forces of the people, and after a number confessed in compliance with Roberts’s request, the place became terrible. Almost all were moved to tears, and many cried loudly and wept in agony. A number began to pray for those who felt hard in the meeting, which was a new element. One minister broke out to sing the hymn, after-wards translated by the Rev, Robert Parry, B.A.. —

O! Rend
The veil that hides this Mount, and send
The Sun of Righteousness to end
The night extended o’er the hill,
Whereon the cruel nails He bore,
T’was love outpoured my pain to still. * ( Hymns of the Welsh Revival. Wrexham: Hughes & Son.)

One said he felt all the audience were praying for him, when he got up from his knee. Those present this night have no doubt but that they heard some powerful noise, and felt the place filled with the Divine Presence. The people one after the other fell in agony, because of their souls condition, and it was pitiful to see them. This state of things having continued for some time, Roberts said, ‘I am not going to pray any more lest the people will think that this wonderful influence comes through me.’ The minister referred to above was for hours on the floor within the deacon’s pew praying earnestly in great distress of soul. The next step is more wonderful stilt. Evan Roberts asked them to pray the Direct Prayer, as he calls it. ‘Send the Holy Spin now, for Jesus Christ’s sake.’ He prayed it firstly, then everyone in the meeting was to pray it in turn. When it was about half way the second time, the whole audience gave way before some irresistible influence, and now the state of things is beyond any description. Many groaned in agony, others sighed deeply, some shouted loudly. Pray for me, and a number wept sorrowfully for their sins. The deacon mentioned above was filled this night with the divine influence; and many broke out to pray, sing and speak without being asked, and it should be noted that this was the first night for the people to take part without anyone being formally requested. We cannot pass without mentioning another fact also, namely, in this meeting we hear for the first time in the Revival, the hymn of Dr. William Rees sung, and since then it has been the chief hymn of the great movement. The excellent translation of it by Principal Edwards, D. D., Cardiff, is — .

Here is love vast as the ocean,
Loving-kindness as the flood,
When the Prince of life our ransom
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Through heavens everlasting days.

About twelve o’clock the influence became intolerable for a time, and the meeting was boiling with fervour. It was three in the morning before any attempt at closing was possible. The letter, written by Roberts on Tuesday, shows that the outpouring of the Spirit was most powerfully felt in this meeting.

Another encouragement for the Revivalist in this service was a deputation from Brynteg Congregational Chapel, asking him to come there for a few nights, and, as the sequel shows, he accepted the invitation.

II NOVEMBER 8th.

The old Moriah was overcrowded this night again, but there was a vast difference between the quality of the service and that of the previous night. It was so hard that the people could not pray as usual. One minister was for hours praying, and Evan Roberts prayed several times. Some others prayed twice and three times, but no spiritual influence was felt. The people and the missioner felt the influence coming near at times, but it receded afterwards. He induced them to confess Christ, and spoke strikingly on the ‘four depths’, but after all, heaven was as brass above them. Between three and four o’clock on Wednesday morning, many of the audience were on their knees, and some of the aged people left for their homes, and among them was Evan Roberts’s mother. He followed her in order to close the door. These weeks he could not bear the door open, as he felt the world entering at once. At the door, he asked his mother: ‘Are you going home now, mother?’ ‘Yes’, she answered. ‘It is better for you to come back’, said he ‘The Spirit comes nearer now’. ‘But,’ she replied, ‘the people are sleeping, and it will soon be time for them to go to their work. Some were literally sleeping, and snoring at the time; others were streaming with perspiration, owing to the mental and spiritual distress they were in. His mother went home, and undoubtedly with a heavy heart, owing to the hardness of the meeting and the strange method of her son. After many went out, the majority who remained were young people. Roberts called these together to the middle of the chapel, and there they wrestled with God for a considerable time. Shortly, the place became awful, owing to a sweeping divine influence, and he regards this as a most powerful meeting. Between six and seven on Wednesday morning, Dan and he arrived home, and went to bed, but between ten and eleven he was suddenly awakened by a voice, O! I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying. He swiftly got up, and leaped down-stairs, and saw his mother with clasped hands, closed eyes, and in great agony of soul. Having gazed upon her face, he diagnosed her case, and understood her burden. Thereupon, he threw his right arm around her, and swung the other out as if leading a tune, and sang, ‘Praise be to Him, Praise be to Him’. Mrs. Roberts pleaded most pitifully for light on things, and her son testifies that he knew the light was forthcoming. When she was relieved of her great distress, she made known the cause of it. ‘What weighed on my mind,’ she said, ‘after leaving the chapel, was the idea that Christ stood in the Garden in his agony, and I not staying in chapel until the end of the service.’

III NOVEMBER 9th.

Evan Roberts is at Brynteg Congregational Chapel tonight, in answer to the deputation that waited upon him on Monday evening. Before going to the meeting, he had a divine prayer meeting in the house of Mr. Daniel Davies, Loughor, and on the way to Brynteg he told Mr. Davies there was a glorious time before them that night. He stopped the Rev. Mr. Stephens from calling anyone to introduce the service, and told him that his difficulty would soon be not to get people to take part in the meetings, but to stop them. His letter of November 10th to Mr. Sydney Evans contains a comparatively full account of this night’s proceedings. Everything had a heavenly character from beginning to end, and one minister said that he never saw anything more like a transfiguration than some persons who came under the divine influence in the meeting. One woman shouted when the enthusiasm had run very high, ‘This is the result of three days praying,’ and another shy lady stood up and said, ‘I have a corner in the house where I pray daily, and because of that I am not afraid to face the public in this manner.’ The melting power of the singing was sweeping, and those present will never forget the tendering of —

‘Here is love vast as the ocean,’ etc.

which we shall henceforth call the Chief Revival Song. When a collection towards the Foreign Mission was made, some threw every penny in their possession into the boxes, and the young ladies who took the boxes round had been so much absorbed by the mighty influence of the service, that they could not count the money. Roberts remarked that he heard the sound of a good collection in the singing of ‘Calvary Summit’. At twelve o’clock, he opened the Bible, read a portion, and commented on it in a way that impressed the audience deeply.

IV. NOVEMBER 10th.

The revival meeting was held at Brynteg this night again, but the old chapel proved too small and they had to go to the new one, every comer of which was soon filled. At the same time, a meeting for the election of deacons was held at Moriah, and when the votes were counted, the people spoke freely of what God had done to them, and that without being asked — a thing they never used to do. This meeting having terminated, most of the people went to Brynteg. What a never to be forgotten night this was. At one time, the greater number of the audience had been completely carried away by spiritual emotion. Evan Roberts paraded back and fore along the aisle with the Bible in his hand. Those who were over-come by the holy influence went to the deacons pew, and many of the most intelligent persons who were present assure us that an influence came from them which was too much for the audience to bear. One got up in the meeting, and expressed the opinions of the people regarding Evan Roberts. He said that many thought that he was getting insane. But, he added, I saw many like him in the Revival of 1859, hence do not fear anything. The Revivalist laughed heartily when he heard that. Visitors came from afar this night to see and judge for themselves the quality of the Revival, and the mental condition of its leader. A number ran to the meeting in their working clothes, fearing that the chapel would be filled before they reached there if they went home for their food. One at least brought his ration with him, in order to go to his work the next morning from the meeting. To-night was the first time for a newspaper correspondent to visit the meetings. A short article had appeared in the Western Mail in the morning, and, consequently, the same firm sent a special correspondent to see for himself about the nature of the movement. This article being the first public notice of the Revival, we insert it here in full as it appeared (November 10th): —

A WONDERFUL PREACHER.

GREAT CROWDS OF PEOPLE DRAWN TO LOUGHOR

Congregation stay till Half-past Two in the Morning.

A remarkable religious revival is now taking place at Loughor. For some days a young man named Evan Roberts, a native of Loughor, but at present a student at Newcastle-Emlyn, has been causing great surprise by his extraordinary orations at Moriah Chapel, that place of worship having been besieged by dense crowds of people unable to obtain admission. Such excitement has prevailed that the road in which the chapel is situated has been lined with people from end to end.

Roberts, who speaks in Welsh, opens his discourse by saying he does not know what he is going to say but that when he is in communion with the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will speak, and he will be simply the medium of His wisdom. The preacher soon after launches out into a fervent and at times impassioned oration. His statements have most stirring effects upon his listeners, many who have disbelieved Christianity for years again returning to the fold of their younger days. One night so great was the enthusiasm invoked by the young revivalist that after a sermon lasting two hours, the vast congregation remained praying and singing until half-past two o’clock next morning. hop-keepers are closing earlier in order to get a place in the chapel, and tin and steel workers throng the place in their working clothes. The only theme of conversation among all classes and sects is Evan Roberts. Even the taprooms of the public-houses are given over to the discussion on the origin of the powers possessed by him. Although barely in his majority, Roberts is enabled to attract the people for many miles around.

He is a Methodist, but the present movement is participated in by ministers of all the Non-conformist denominations in the locality. Brynteg Chapel, Gorseinon, is to be the next scene of his ministrations.

A collection was made during this service, as on the previous night, for the Foreign Mission, and many gave all they had in their possession. In the meetings at Brynteg, Evan Roberts had a sufficient proof that things had turned on his side and that victory was his. In fact, this was a day of gladness to him. In the morning, he had received two calls to hold revival meetings. One came from two students at Ammanford Grammar School. They invited him, as the letter shows, on their own responsibility. The night they were in Moriah at one of Roberts’s meetings, the divine flame caught them, and they were anxious to set Ammanford on fire. This letter is a fair example of how the Revivalist captivated the young people who came in contact with him, and infused his spirit into them. The contents were as follows —

Gwynfryn
Ammanford,
November 9th, 1904.

Dear Brother,

The flame had reached here before we got home, but the Spirit does not descend in showers of blessings as with you there. We do not feel the same since we were at Loughor. Praying is easier for us, and we pray oftener. The reason for that is, that we have found the One we have spoken much of, but not having felt His power until now. The Spirit of Truth revealed Him unto us. We rejoice when unable to utter words. The author of all grace can spell our words. Last night we had a grand meeting at Bethany, Nantlais’s Chapel, and we are going to have one tonight. But we can positively say, that the light is only just beginning to shine here. Very weak we feel, and cannot say what we would wish. The Revival is not so accept-able as it should be with our fellow students in school. But, thanks be to heaven that some are convinced, but we want all the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, the country, and the world, to feel the power of God’s Spirit.

We feel that your presence here would certainly be a blessing and an inspiration. Is it possible for you to come? We should much like you to come some time between this and Sunday, or Sunday evening especially. A word from you is desirable before we arrange anything. Before closing we ask you to pray for us. O! for feeling the Spirit working so powerfully in Ammanford as at Moriah that night.

Yours brotherly,

W. A. Jenkins and D. G. Thomas

The other call came from the Rev. Joseph Lewis, the minister of Libanus (C.M.), Pontardulais, and this was the first written invitation he had from a Church, which makes it of great interest. This is Mr. Lewis’s note —

Libanus,
Pontardulais, R.S.O.,

Wednesday.

Dear Brother,

It is not a small joy for me to hear of your meetings, indeed, do come to Libanus for a night. Our need is great here, and I shall be glad if you would come. Send a word.

Affectionate regards,

Joseph Lewis

On Friday, November 11th, Evan Roberts answered —

Island House,
Loughor,

Friday.

Dear Mr. Lewis,

I cannot come to you this week, being that this place must be cared for. Perhaps it will be possible for me to come be you next week, for my friend Sydney Evans will be up here working at Libanus, Gorseinon. Hold prayer meetings until then, praying specially for a powerful out-pouring of the Holy Spirit. Also, let the children learn and pray this prayer. — ‘Send the Holy Spirit to Libanus for Jesus Christ’s sake.’

Yours in the Lord,

Evan J. Roberts

This day he worked hard in writing letters to different persons, as is shown by the epistles found in subsequent chapters. These letters did much to spread the Revival fire.

V. NOVEMBER 11th.

Old Moriah was over crowded before the time of commencing, and hence they had to go to the new chapel, which will hold about 650. This was soon filled. The singing, while going from one chapel to another, stirred the whole neighbourhood. Many ministers came to this meeting from Llanelly, Pontardulais, Llwynhendy, Gowerton, and Gorseinon. The prominent feature of the service was the terrible bending of a great number of the people, and many were surprised at the scenes. Some were on their knees for a long time, unable to utter a word, owing to their souls distress and agony. Others did their best to help, and lead them out of their pitiful state. Some fell helplessly under the powerful, divine influence, and others cried groaningly, so that one could hear them from a great distance. Yonder one gets up to pray for the drunkards with such power, as to make the place awful to be in it; in another part, a young girl shouts. “What of heaven if it is so good here! In the deacons pew behold Evan Roberts with the perspiration streaming down his face, and praying in divine agony for God to glorify His Son, and save sinners. The ministers looked surprisingly at the scenes, and only one of them had the courage to utter a word in the great commotion. One girl was awfully terrified by the sighing, the groaning, and the shouting for forgiveness, which characterised one part of the meeting. The young man with an impediment, mentioned by Evan Roberts in his letter to Sydney Evans on November 7th, created a sensation, and filled the audience with sympathetic emotion, when making an effort to say ‘The devil was with me today, and I told him to mind his own business. When attempting to utter it, his sister would say it for him, but at last he got over it himself, and how relieved were the people! Things went on in this boiling spiritual condition until five o’clock on Saturday morning.

After the meeting closed, Roberts called together a number who had remained in the chapel, to teach them how to deal with those in distress. Put one hand on their shoulder, he said, and the other hand in their hand. Ask them to pray God to forgive their sins for Jesus Christ’s sake. Then ask them, do they believe in God; and if they will say they do, ask them to thank God for that. His request was complied with in many cases, and those thus helped out of their distress would look as if transfigured. All the meetings were overshadowed by this in intensity of spiritual enthusiasm. People could not retain a penny of what they had, when the collection for Foreign Missions was made. Many elements met to make this a powerful meeting, such as the previous nights wonderful service, the article in the Western Mail on Thursday, the great number of strangers, and a reconciliation meeting which had taken place earlier in the day. A number of religious and respectable girls in the vicinity had not been on speaking terms with one another for some time owing to some disagreement in the past, but at all differences were swept away in the above meeting, and they embraced each other in forgiveness. They came to Moriah that night in this feeling, and took part with an easy conscience, and their influence defies all description. Taking this meeting as a whole, its fervour is beyond the power of any writer to give a true conception of it.

VI. NOVEMBER 12th.

The Western Mail published a long article on the previous night’s meeting. The article on Thursday drew the attention of many to the unique character of the services, but this made a very much deeper impression on its readers. Obvious it is, that the writer is under some unction, and that he writes in sympathy with the deepest spiritual strata of the service. In virtue of his religious instincts and intuitions, he has perceived below all the seeming imperfections of the enthusiastic audience. These results have encouraged Evan Roberts in a marked degree.

He was otherwise encouraged this morning also by receiving, through the Rev. Daniel Jones, his minister, an invitation from Trecynon, Aberdare. Brynsion (C.M.) had been disappointed, owing to a minister withdrawing his engagement, and, consequently, the Pastor, the Rev. John Morgan, wrote for Evan Roberts as follows: —

Brynerig,
Trecynon,
Aberdare,

11/11/04.

Dear Mr. Jones,

I understand that there is a young preacher by the name of Evan Roberts commencing to preach among you, and, according to the report of the Western Mail yesterday, creates a great stir in your midst. I am very grad to understand this. May the fire and the influence spread all over our country. We at Brynsion have been disappointed at the last minute by the brother we expected next Sunday, November 13th, and it is a special Sunday here. Can you succeed in getting him (Evan Roberts) to come to us to the above place, Sunday. Indeed, do your best. I should like to have a wire back at once in order to be certain that he will come. Of course, as for you, we fear that you could not come, or else there would be a hearty welcome for you here. If one or the other of you can come, all very well. You will be paid for the wire immediately.

Warmest regards,

Yours truly,

JOHN MORGAN.

In the afternoon, Evan Roberts wired to Mr. Morgan that he was coming, and also to Mr. Josiah Williams, Newcastle Emlyn — “At Aberdare tomorrow; pray earnestly.”

Now, we shall proceed to the account of the strangest day in the history of Loughor. Some devotional solemnity has possessed the inhabitants, and all the talk is of the Revival. Prayer meetings are held in some houses in the town all day long. The longing of the people for the salvation of their relatives and others is uncontrollable. Two girls determined to go to Gorseinon to hold open air meetings close to some of the public-houses, soon they are surrounded by a band of enthusiastic sympathisers; and many were drawn out from the hotels, some of them accepting Christ, and repenting of their sins. On a place called Kingsbridge Common, not far from Loughor, a number of gypsies encamped, and it struck some of the young people to go and offer Christ to them. At first, the gypsies looked at them with a degree of suspicion, but to their credit, it must be said that they soon dispensed with it, and heard the gospel gladly. The Holy Spirit descended powerfully on the meeting, and some of the gypsies confessed Christ. To show their sympathy towards these poor creatures, the young people made a collection and handed it to them, and thereby confirmed the dwellers of the tents of their sincerity and good-will. Before the evening meeting a band of young men went over to Gowerton to hold an open air service, and that made a deep impression on the village. Strange to say, not a word is heard this day about Evan Roberts getting insane. By this time there are scores in the same condition as he, and, consequently, they can well understand him. The people do not want to speak of anything today but their own conversion, their spiritual condition, and the conversion of others. They have left themselves free to speak of their sins, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.

As pointed out, the Western Mail article had aroused the whole surrounding country, and brakes and traps drove into the town early in the afternoon, and the new chapel was overcrowded long before the time the meeting had been announced.

Seeing no hopes of getting all the people into the chapel, Evan Roberts requested that the old chapel should be opened, and asked his friend, Sydney Evans, who had returned that day from Newcastle Emlyn, to go there with the people who were outside. This edifice was again crammed in a few minutes. Many of the young ladies who were full of the Revival went there to help. Sydney Evans related the visit of himself and many others to Cardigan, to hold an open air meeting in the Fair; and he was followed by a man describing a vision he had had and a pitiful appeal from a girl for prayer on behalf of her sinful brother. What next? The audience is in an indescribable state of spiritual commotion. Things are in the same state in the new chapel. Many who came there to criticise and scoff were carried away completely by the irresistible influence of the meeting, and gave themselves up to Jesus. Among them was a Government official, who a few nights previously went to Brynteg to see Evan Roberts, the lunatic. That night, Roberts gazed at him, and his piercing eye left a deep impression on his mind. To-night he is wholly conquered. In this meeting the voice of Sam Jenkins, or the Welsh Sankey as he is called, was first heard in the Revival. Since, he has been of great service. He failed to restrain his feelings, and broke out to sing on the gallery

‘Saved by grace’

The words were repeated very many times. For the first time in the Welsh Revival, too, this night

‘Throw out the life-line’ was sung.

Evan Roberts was brimming with joy in the service, and said that God had brought Sydney Evans home to care for the meetings by the time he was leaving. It was past five o’clock Sunday morning when the people dispersed, and Roberts was not in bed at all, although he had to start for Aberdare in the morning. The two chapels were so filled at two o’clock Sunday morning that persons could not push their way in and out in an urgent case of running for a doctor. All the grocer’s shops in the town were cleared of everything that was in an eatable state, and people who had come from a long distance had lost all consciousness of time, and felt no inclination to go home. Taking in this meeting and the whole of Saturday, we can say that this day liberated all the spiritual power in Loughor to its utmost extent, and it was the means of spreading the fire to the surrounding districts. Those who came to the meeting from different towns and neighbourhoods were most of them filled with a desire to experience the same thing in their respective churches, and in a few days their desire was realised.

This morning Evan Roberts received a letter from Mr. W. D. Davies, a student at Newcastle Emlyn, on behalf of the young people of Bethel Church, expressing their joy at his success. This encouraged him very much.