As there were channels through which the Divine Powers were mediated to others in ancient times — prophets and seers — and as there have been men of vision in every age since Apostolic times, so there was a leader in this Welsh Revival, although he was hardly thought of as such, and he himself, certainly, did not think of himself as a leader. But he was, without doubt, a chosen vessel, more sensitive than the rest of his fellows to the promptings and stirrings and guidance and power of the Divine Spirit.

He was a young man of twenty-six years of age by the name of Evan Roberts, a native of a West Wales mining village. He was as self-effacing a young man as ever breathed, with no arrogance at all, absolutely unspoiled, concerned only about the effectiveness and progress of the great work in which he was greatly privileged to participate. He had been a coal-miner and a blacksmith and had given up manual work and entered a school for the training of preachers only six weeks before he found himself touring the length and breadth of the land.

Over and over again, at all the places he visited, he was most careful to emphasize the importance of ethical values in religion. He could be terrifically and scathingly sarcastic against those who thought of their religion in terms of fine feelings and ecstatic experiences merely, which, of course, are the peculiar dangers that meet an emotional people. He saw very deeply into these matters; he saw, for instance, that it is only as the Divine is in the ethical that the ethical can really be true and effective; he made it clear that it is not a “something” — call it what we will — that tells us to do this and eschew that, but a “Some-one,” no one less than the Eternal God in the power of the Holy Spirit. The “something” belongs to the language of ethical philosophy, while the “Some-one” belongs to the language of Christian theology and experience.

Revivalists and evangelists, with rare exceptions (such an exception as Dwight L. Moody certainly was) are often accused of having very little to say; that is, very little that is of great importance. But this young man, Evan Roberts, as soon as he began to speak, clearly impressed one with the fact that he was using his mind, and that it was a mind singularly steeped in Christian doctrine as well as in the ethical teaching of Jesus Christ. It was evident to the most superficial listener that here was a man who knew what it was to agonize in prayer and a man who carried the burden of the needs of the people on his heart. Though he did not for a moment condemn the fine feelings and ecstatic experiences that came to men as they allowed themselves to be influenced by the Holy Spirit of God, he nevertheless made it abundantly clear that without the practical, courageous, and persistent application of the Christian ethic to every phase of human life, however trivial and ordinary, no person could even begin to call himself a Christian.

In the wake of this strong, positive Gospel teaching, the strangest and most incredible things took place. Old feuds were settled; men who had not spoken to one another for years, even though they might be members of the same Christian church, stood up in a meeting, confessed their stubbornness and sin and deplored the fact that their shameful and criminal obstinacy had been poisoning their lives and causing great unhappiness in their families for years and years. They confessed these things in the presence of the whole congregation; that is, in the presence of people who were fully aware of all these scandalous dissensions; and there they were gripping one another’s hands and asking for one another’s forgiveness. The converts of the Revival were pouring into the shops to settle old accounts and to pay old debts and many a collier did a more honest day’s work than he had ever done before!

The Christian, surely, has every right to enjoy the greatest and richest experiences, for by the surrender of his human will to the guidance and power of the divine will, he is in touch with all that is finest in the history of the race and everything that is best in the nature of human personality, since all the noblest spirits, whether they knew it or not: were divinely-inspired men and women. But unless the Christian gives himself without reserve to the task of cooperating with the divine Spirit and also with his fellow-Christians, who possess and enjoy the same exalted aspirations and experiences as himself, in applying the teaching of the Christian faith to all kinds of problems and situations, in a very short time he is more than likely to lose his fine feelings and consequently his rich experience.

Probably this is one of the great weaknesses of all religious revivals and all movements that cause stirring and upheaval. Only a few here and there seem to have enthusiasm enough to go on with the stern business of living according to the vision that came to them in and through the new movement; only a few here and there keep on with the difficult task of relating truth to life.

In November and December of 1904, over eighty thousand were converted and for the next twelve or eighteen months others were added to the Church daily. It was not the fault of Evan Roberts if a great many of those who were converted in the revival failed to grasp the idea that life is an entity, and that religion is in no way compartmental. Over and over again, this young man of God insisted with intense earnestness that the Christian religion is a life to be lived, and that the words of the Great Master are to be translated into all kinds of noble and loving deeds and relationships.

It is not surprising that after nearly two years of this life of extremely agonizing prayer and intercession — a great many, if not most of his nights were spent, not in sleep but in heart-rending prayer — and in travelling all over Wales with nightly meetings, many of these extending into the early hours of the morning, Evan Roberts became completely exhausted. Indeed, he suffered from nervous exhaustion for the rest of his life (he died on January 29, 2025). But this dedicated young man was probably the most fully-committed instrument that was willing to be used by the Eternal God for the awakening of the Welsh people that that land has ever had. And today all over the world there are Welsh people — and those of many other nations besides — who never stop thanking God for the wonderful time of refreshing that came to them from the presence of the Lord in 1904 / 1905. And their daily prayer is that God may raise another such prophet as Evan Roberts, one equipped for this modern and very different age.