IN the days of the primitive Church it was considered necessary that a full and authentic record should be written concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost, and all the mighty workings which followed His descent into the upper room at Jerusalem.

When the right time comes such a treatise concerning the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in Wales in 1904-1905 will be found necessary, for Wales is “making history “—Divine history—these days. Doubtless, also, the Lord Himself is preparing a “Luke” for this service !

In view, then, of future history, it becomes the bounden duty of each one with authentic information to contribute his or her quota to the common fund. Such a duty lies on me because I have for the past few years been on the “watch-tower,” watching the movements of God, and I may not withhold from the Church of God what my eyes have seen of His “mighty works” preparing and leading up to this awakening, which we trust and pray may be the beginning of the wider fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel.

The greater part of all that I have written in the following pages is from first-hand information, which has come in such a way that I could not fail to see the Lord directing it to me for the purpose of this story, and I am greatly indebted to the clergy, ministers, and others, who have sent me various accounts of the work, in some instances having to translate from Welsh to English—demanding no little labour and time in the midst of other pressing claims. I have thought it best to omit all names with the exception of those already publicly connected with the Revival, although I recognize that in the days of Pentecost the story was told in all its simplicity of truth— with no thought of honour to the instruments of God as “they rehearsed all things that God had done with them.”

To obtain a wide vision I have also sought to write from the view-point of the Mount of God. The Spouse in Canticles cries to the sister-bride, “Come with Me (and) look from the top.” May we heed His call, and” ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and “stand in His holy place,” whence we may watch in the world” The voice of the Lord hewing out flames of fire,” and “breaking the cedars.” But it is obvious that the following pages cannot possibly unfold all that the Lord has wrought in the prayer-movement, or His inner workings in the Principality of Wales. Indeed, the story of His marvellous workings in each of the few centres I have briefly referred to would easily fill a chapter of themselves.

I have only placed on record what I know of some of the springs of the Revival—springs to a great extent hitherto unseen by the world, and I do this not only for the sake of future history, but because it is of the most vital importance that the people of God should discern the true inwardness of God’s workings, lest they be occupied with the outward manifestations, and seek to copy that which only can be produced by God Himself when His people obey the conditions of blessing. With this special object in view I have chosen, out of the quantity of material in my hands, to record those instances of the working of God which emphasise the aspect I have enlarged upon in my last chapter, i.e., that God works from the midst of a Spirit-filled people out upon the world. If the “Revival Dawn” in Wales is to increase to noon-day power, all who long for world-wide Revival must see to it that they hasten the day by personally entering the Spirit-filled life, whilst congregations must seek—what may never have entered their minds before as possible—to have their “Pentecost.”

As I close I cannot refrain from referring to a “romantic coincidence” which has come to me personally within the last year in the renewal of my childhood’s friendship with Dr. Cynddylan Jones. As a girl of fourteen I was the little companion of Dr. Jones and my father, who together were convalescents in a Hydropathic Establishment near Bath, after serious illness. My father was taken to the heavenly home, and Dr. Jones was left to continue his ministry for God, little dreaming that the child who played around him in those days would, in later years, have the privilege and joy of linked service with him in telling the story of a great revival in their native land

May the Eternal Spirit use the messages toward the fulfilling of His desire to lead the Church of God back to Calvary and to Pentecost. Then shall “the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

Jessie Penn-Lewis

GREAT GLEN, NEAR LEICESTER, April, 1905.