BY GEORGE T. B. DAVIS

I have just returned from a two days visit to the storm centre of the great Welsh revival which is sweeping over Wales like a cyclone, lifting people into an ecstasy of spiritual fervour. Already over 34,000 converts have been made, and the great awakening shows no signs of waning. All observers agree that the movement is fully as remarkable as the memorable revival of 1859-60. It is sweeping over hundreds of hamlets and cities, emptying saloons, theatres, and dance-halls, and filling the churches night after night with praying multitudes. The policemen are almost idle; in many cases the magistrates have few trials on hand; debts are being paid, and the character of entire communities is being transformed almost in a day. Wales is studded with coal mines, and it is a common occurrence to have prayer meetings held a thousand feet underground amid the tinkle of the horses bells and the weird twinkle of the miners lamps.

Mr. Lloyd George, a member of Parliament, and the fore-most Welsh statesman of the day, speaks of the awakening as a great earthquake. He says:

All those who love Wales must wish the revival God-speed. It is certainly the most remarkable spiritual movement this generation has witnessed. Personally I believe it is destined to leave a permanent mark on the history of our country. The most important thing to urge in connection with it is that the religious leaders of Wales should see in time that the great forces which have been aroused into activity should not be wasted in mere outbursts of emotion. Let them in time overhaul their denominational machinery, and adapt it to the new and greater demand upon its resources which has been created by this remarkable upheaval, which seems to be rocking Welsh life like a great earthquake.

The leader of the revival is Mr. Evan Roberts, a young man only twenty-six years of age, who was a collier, and was later apprenticed to become a blacksmith. Then he felt a call to the ministry, and was a student in a preparatory school when the Spirit came upon him in such power that he felt impelled to return to his native village of Loughor and tell the people of God’s love for them. He did so, and, as he spoke, the fire fell from heaven upon the community. The people were so inflamed that they crowded church after church until four o’clock in the morning. The flame spread from district to district throughout South Wales with almost incredible swiftness, and soon scores of towns were being shaken by the power of God. From the beginning, however, Mr. Roberts has been the leader of the movement, and wherever he goes the revival reaches fever heat. The foremost Welsh news papers devote columns to his meetings daily, and his photographs and souvenir post-cards representing him are sold everywhere. Some idea of his sudden fame may be gained from the fact that sixty newspaper representatives endeavoured to interview him in two days recently.

It was my good fortune to take two meals with Mr. Roberts, and to attend three meetings he conducted. But let me give the readers of the Witness my impressions of the meetings and of Mr. Roberts in order as they were formed during the visit.

At noon on Tuesday I wired one of the leading Welsh newspapers, asking where Mr. Roberts would speak that evening. The reply came back that he would be at Swansea for the next two days. At 2 p.m. I left Liverpool with an American friend, and we arrived in Swansea at 9: 30 p.m. Hastening to a hotel we found it filled with visitors, who had come to catch the fire of the revival. A second place we found in a similar condition, but at the third place we secured accommodation, and then hastened to the church, which was fortunately situated in the down-town district. It was 9:45 when we reached the place, and even at that hour there were some scores of people in the street seeking admission. But the gates were closed and guarded by policemen, for the church was already packed to the doors. Going up to one of the policemen I whispered that I was an American journalist, and that my friend and I were from Chicago. These words acted like a magic charm, for he at once asked us to come to another gate, where we were speedily admitted and ushered into the building. My first impression! How am I to describe it? As we entered the door I beheld a room, meant to seat about 700 people, crowded to suffocation with about 1,500. But this was not the chief thing that attracted us. Up in the gallery a young lady — almost a girl — was standing, praying with such a fervour as I had rarely, if ever, witnessed before. One hand was upraised, and her tones were full of agonized pleading, and though it was in Welsh, so that I could not understand a word she uttered, yet it sent a strange thrill through me. Then a young man arose, and with rapt upraised face prayed as though he were in the presence of the Almighty. The entire atmosphere of the room was white-hot with spiritual emotion, and my chief thought was: This is a picture of what must have occurred in the early church in the first century of the Christian era.

A hymn was now started, and my attention was riveted on Evan Roberts, who stood in the pulpit and led the music with face irradiated with joy, smiles, and even laughter. What impressed me most was his utter naturainess, his entire absence of solemnity. He seemed just bubbling over with sheer happiness, just as jubilant as a young man at a base-ball game. He did not preach; he simply talked between the prayers and songs and testimonies, and then rarely more than a few sentences at a time. Imagine a Christian Endeavor meeting where those present are wrought up to a pitch of holy enthusiasm until they are literally on fire, and you will have an accurate picture of the proceedings at Trinity Chapel that night.

To my surprise the meeting terminated at 10: 30. The reason for this, it was explained, is that Swansea is a city of nearly 100,000 population, and the people must go to their work early the next morning; and also that Mr. Roberts was usually ending the meetings at about this hour so as to avoid a nervous collapse.

The next morning my friend and I went to the place where Mr. Roberts was staying, and were not only successful in securing a cordial interview, but were also invited to have luncheon with him. In appearance the young evangelist is of medium height, slender, brown-haired. He is extremely nervous in temperament, and his pallor showed the strain of the meetings upon him. When asked for a message for America, he grasped my hand, and gave me the following:

The prophecy of Joel is being fulfilled. There the Lord says: I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. If that is so, all flesh must be prepared to receive. (1) The past must be clear, every sin confessed to God, any wrong to man must be put right. (2) Everything doubtful must be removed once for all out of our lives. (3) Obedience prompt and implicit to the Spirit of God. (4) Public confession of Christ. Christ said, I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me. There it is. Christ is all in all.

The afternoon and evening meetings we attended were very largely like the first one, save that in each meeting the mood of Mr. Roberts was different. At the afternoon meeting, while describing the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, he broke down and sobbed from the pulpit, while scores in the building wept with him. The meeting had been announced to begin at 2 p.m. but before 12 the building was packed, although it was at the edge of the city. It was with the utmost difficulty, aided by the police, that your correspondent and his friend squeezed themselves in at the rear door, and then we stood near the pulpit scarcely able to move an arm. The air was stifling, but the people minded this not a whit. They had forgotten the things of earth, and stood in the presence of God. The meeting began about noon, and went on at white heat for two hours before Mr. Roberts arrived, ending at 4: 30 p.m.

At the evening meeting Mr. Roberts was silent much of the time. For full twenty minutes he sat or stood motionless with closed eyes. But the meeting went on just as fervidly as though he were speaking. It was strange indeed to hear someone praying undisturbed while a hymn was being sung; or to hear two, three, or four engaged in prayer at the same time; yet, as has been so often remarked, there was perfect order in the midst of the seeming disorder. It was the Lord’s doing, and it was marvellous in our eyes! Presently a young girl — not over sixteen years of age — arose in the gallery, and began to pray. I understood not a word she said, but in a few seconds, in spite of myself, the tears were streaming down my cheeks. I looked up, and lo! old gray-haired ministers of the gospel were likewise weeping. There was a something in the very tones of her voice that lifted one above the world, and pierced to the core of ones heart. I learned later that she was pleading with God that certain people might be reconciled with her. She loved them, but they did not love her, and she pleaded that they might be led to do so that night.

It was nearly 10 p.m. when the most thrilling and beautiful incident of our visit occurred. A respectably dressed young man of about nineteen came down from the gallery, crying like a child, the tears streaming down his face as he tottered through the aisle towards the ‘set fawr’. He was nearly fainting when he got to the entrance to the big seat, and he threw his arms around the neck of the Rev. William James, the pastor of Ebenezer, which is the church he attends.

Pray for me! Pray for me! he shouted, as he embraced the minister, who was moved to tears. The young man dropped into a chair. Mr. Roberts, who had been sitting on a chair in the pulpit, was on his feet. Something seemed to have told him what was the matter, and his face beamed with joy. Down the pulpit stairs he proceeded, and, on reaching the young man, threw his arms around him in a most affectionate manner. Mr. Roberts talked to him, and in a few minutes both were on their way to the pulpit. The young man was in first. What a change! The symptoms of being over-come had disappeared. His face had never worn a brighter appearance! Is mother here? Is mother here? he shouted. A voice from the back of the chapel answered, Yes! Yes! She’s here!

At this point everyone in the audience was so deeply touched by the affecting scene that there was scarcely a dry eye to be observed. Someone started the Welsh hymn which is always sung when a person yields completely to God, and which has become the chant of victory of the revival, In thrilling and triumphant tones they sang fervently:

Diolch Iddo, diolch Iddo, diolch Iddo,
Byth am gofio, llwch as llawr.

Which being interpreted means —

Praises, praises, praises to God
Who has remembered such as we are.

When all was quiet, he said, Mother, I have had to give in! Yes, indeed! I tried to refuse, but I was compelled to submit!

A little later on he was calling for others to surrender, as it was grand. He would not give his mother any more trouble! The mother broke into prayer, and when her son recognised her voice, he shouted, Well done, mam! (Well done, mother.)

It is little wonder that Gipsy Smith, a promment English evangelist, after spending a Sunday in the midst of the revival witnessing the remarkable scenes, said:

My visit to Wales last Sunday deepens my conviction that the movement now passing over Wales is a great and blessed Scriptural revival, and ought not to be called The Welsh Revival, but The Religious Revival, for I believe it will shake England, and why not the world? This is the Acts of the Apostles up-to-date.

Numerous accounts have been given of the beginning of the mighty awakening, no two of which agree. Some attribute it to a young girl who spoke at a Christian Endeavor meeting with such fervour that her hearers were melted into tears, and the flame started there. Others declare that it began when Evan Roberts went back to his native town of Loughor two months ago, and set it on fire with his Spirit-filled preaching to accept Christ. But the fact is that the revival broke out in a score of places almost simultaneously, and Evan Roberts and the other young and fiery evangelists who have arisen during the last few weeks are largely the products rather than the causes of the awakening.

The true origin of the movement is probably to be found in the prayer circles which have honeycombed Wales for the last eighteen months. The people who had banded themselves together were crying out mightily for a revival, and God at length graciously answered the prayers of His saints And it is interesting to Americans to know how the prayer circles were started. A lady living in Australia read a book by Dr. Torrey in which he reiterated the statement that we must pray through. At that time Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander were conducting their great revival in Melbourne, the success of which was largely due to the 2,000 prayer circles which existed throughout the city. Shortly afterward the lady came to England and was the means of starting thousands of prayer circles throughout the United Kingdom, the object of which was to pray for a world-wide revival. The answer has come in part in the Welsh awakening, and may God speed the day when the fire will spread over all the United Kingdom, and over America, and throughout the entire world!

— From New York Weekly Witness.