A History of Preaching Volume 1 by Edwards O. C.;

Author:Edwards, O. C.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2004-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL

Wales

Although the Evangelical revival is explained by some historians against the background of the industrial revolution, deism, Lockean psychology and epistemology, and the emergence of moralism and voluntary societies in the sphere of religion, its first manifestation was in one area of the British Isles least affected by all of these forces, Wales. Unlike the movement a century before among Scottish and Irish Calvinists, this one began (although it did not remain) within the established church. Nor was the Welsh revival unhoped for. The Reverend Griffith Jones of the parish of Llandowrer, who served as a sort of godfather for the movement, had been praying for it as far back as 1714. His own way of preparing the way of the Lord was to establish schools in which children could become literate enough to read the Bible in Welsh. He was able to found 3,225 such schools, in which 150,000 had learned to read before he died in 1761; he also distributed 30,000 Welsh Bibles.

Two young men in particular are credited with the first preaching of the revival. One of them, Howell Harris, was not ordained. After a dramatic conversion experience in 1735 when he was twenty-one, he went to Oxford with the ministry in mind, but he was so distressed by the low moral level of the university that he stayed only a few weeks. Returning home, he began a ministry of teaching and preaching. He became an overseer of some of Griffith Jones’s schools and began evangelizing from house to house, establishing societies of his converts.

Soon his witnessing attracted crowds, and he began preaching out-of-doors and itinerating between his congregations. Harris’s preaching drew power from his strongly emotional nature, a nature that also made him hard to get along with. In fact, at one time he dropped out of the Methodist conference for twelve years, establishing instead a community not unlike Zinzendorf’s Herrnhut at his home at Trevecka. Later, though, he became reconciled. Through him the Welsh revival was to influence the British revival, especially through his contacts with George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Lady Huntingdon.

The other young man, Daniel Rowland, was ordained in the established church and presented to the parish of Llangeitho, which served both as a base for his itinerate preaching and as a center for the revival. Although no direct influence has been traced, Rowland’s work bore many resemblances to the Scottish and Irish revivals of the previous century. Harris has left an account of the preaching in preparation for a celebration of the Eucharist in Rowland’s parish:

I was last Sunday at the Ordinance with Brother Rowlands where I saw, felt, and heard such things as I cant send on Paper any Idea of. . . . Such Crying out and Heart Breaking Groans, Silent Weeping and Holy Joy, and shouts of Rejoicing I never saw. Their Amens and Cryings Glory in the Highest &c would inflame your soul was you there. Tis very common when he preaches for Scores to fall

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