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Revival and Revolt.
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Revival and Revolt. DR. HENRY JONES'S MESSAGE TO WALES. At a public meeting in connection with the North Wales quarrymen's Labour Day at Carnarvon on Monday, Dr. Henry Jones, of Glasgow, spoke for nearly two hours. His address was devoted to the Revival, with occasional incursions into politics. He regarded himself as probably the only one present who had not seen the Revival, except through the medium of the Press and in letters from friends, and in some respect that was an advantage. The Revival brought Wales to judgment, and it was a very serious day for the Welsh nation. Their most pressing duty was to consider how to turn the Revival to the best advantage. It had been suggested to him that there was need to counsel the young men to respect their leaders and pastors. Let them not think that because they were now exultant and zealous they were better men than those who had borne the burden and heat of the day for many years. There was some degree of truth in the belief of the English and Scotch people that the Welsh were too emotional, but there was also a time in the history of the English people when religious questions possessed their whole life- the time when Cromwell and the Puritans laid down the foundations of religious liberty. Even in these days the English people had lost their self-possession over victories which were con- cerned only with the spilling of blood. Under the spell of ardent zeal Wales had secured for itself laws to provide for the well-being of its people. It still clamoured for a more peaceful Sunday, a more enlightened people, and greater religious freedom, and was it not a pity that the nation was not permitted to follow after its own ideals when it did no harm to anybody else ? They would then become more loyal members of the Empire, an Empire for which no less than Englishmen they had lost their blood. The Government Condemned. The present Government had insulted not only the Welsh, but also the English. He referred not to the Education Act -which had in it some good things, but which was also unwise and unjust, because it trampled upon the consciences of people-but to the Act for coercing county councils. Never before had such an Act been put on the Statute Book of a free country. It deserved the condemnation of Conservatives no less than of Liberals, because it was opposed to the principles of the British Constitution, and had the political vision of England been as clear as that of Wales the people of England would not have permitted the passing of such an enactment. The Govern- ment expected Wales to fight the cause of the two countries. He was proud that Wales was prepared to take the field. Let them see to it that victory was emblazoned on their banner. In another portion of his address Professor Jones warned the Welsh people against the intermixing of superstition with true religion. Phenomena which had been seen by pious people of all ages had all a natural origin. They had heard of strange lights in the heavens. Had those lights redeemed anybody's character, enlightened the mind, or forgiven sin ? Even if the lights had existed, they were not spiritual. He would rather look for their origin to Him who had suspended the stars in the heavens. As an outcome of the Revival, let the schools be thrown open in the evenings, and let even chapels be available, for all things calculated to cultivate the mind and raise the people's affections above the sordid attractions of public-houses and other questionable resorts. Let them also set their faces against proselytism, which was immoral and dangerous, from whatever direction it came. Before the conclusion of the address a quarry- man, as if by a sudden impulse, went forward, dropped on his knees, and uttered a fervent prayer for the progress of the Revival movement. Dr. Jones immediately gave way, and afterwards resumed without alluding to the interruption. He was warmly thanked for his address.
ARCHDEACON BRUCE ON THE WELSH…
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ARCHDEACON BRUCE ON THE WELSH REVOLT. At Newport, on Monday, the Venerable Arch- deacon Bruce commenced his spring visitation to the clergy of the archdeaconry, and delivered his charge, in the course of which he referred to the Welsh Revolt. He said he did not propose to deal with the general position created by the sustained campaign against the Education Act. A review of the painful incidents of the past year, taken together and coupled with the fact that certain lines of cleavage which declared them- selves at an early stage among the opponents of the Bill had since broadened and deepened, emphasised in the strongest way the necessity for a strong and united policy on the part of the Church, and for an uncompromising insistence on the demands that such of the rights and liberties as remained to her under the Act should be recognised and conceded to her. That the Default Act should have become necessary, and that it should have been necessary to put it in force, was, perhaps, the most painful and humiliating incident in the whole of the unfor- tunate controversy. But the Church had no share in that humiliation, save in so far as it reflected on the common citizenship of a great and law-abiding people. The Act was delibe- rately invoked, and when passed was deliberately challenged, with the inevitable result. He did not know whether they were to connect Mr. Lloyd-George's new concordat, recently proposed by the Carnarvonshire Education Committee to the Diocese of Bangor, and incidentally, as he assumed, to the whole of Wales, with the threatened enforcement of the Defaulters Act, or whether it was to be taken seriously at all. A preliminary question to its discussion was What security could be given by Mr. Lloyd-George that the arrangement he proposed should be legally binding and permanent ? The necessary security could only be obtained by Act of Parlia- ment. On the -face of it, the offer Mr. Lloyd- George made had a great deal to commend it to their serious consideration. Its terms were sup- ported by every Church layman on the com- mittee, including the recognised leader of the Church party. They all expressed the earnest hope that the clerical managers of the schools would accept terms which they declared to be eminently satisfactory. Terms practically identical had frequently been suggested in in- fluential Church quarters as containing a prac- ticable and reasonable basis for compromise, and it was, at least, a sign of the times that such an offer should come at this juncture from Mr. Lloyd-George.
HOW REVIVALS HAVE BENEFITED…
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HOW REVIVALS HAVE BENEFITED WALES. A Welsh Member's Testimony. Mr. William Jones, M.P., occupied the chair at a lecture given on Good Friday night at the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel, Llandudno, by Mr. R. R. Hughes (Treborfab), of Blaenau Festiniog, on The Religious Revivals of the Past." The hon. member called attention to the permanent advantages which the Welsh people had derived from the former Revivals. There were three that he noted. The first of them, which occurred in the eighteenth century, was practically the awakening of the religious consciousness of the nation, and it left to them their glorious hymnology, which might be said to be unparalleled in European literature. The second Revival, at the beginning of the nine- teenth century, crystallised their theology and literature, while that of 1859 brought in its wake their political emancipation and the rennaissance of their educational activities. In all of these three Revivals, which were evan- gelical, the trend of the religious aspect was towards the salvation of the soul. This present day Revival seemed to be a gathering of the forces of the early three into a permanent influence for the salvation of the whole man. Whereas the earlier movements emphasised the individual, the present manifestation appeared to be more democratic, and took in all the social life of the nation, thus reverting to the early days of Christianity, when the Church was not so much emphasised as the Kingdom of God. Consequently one might infer that this Revival might well become the rediscovery of the Kingdom of Heaven. We had a more practical application of religion to everyday life, teaching the due importance of the physical conditions as well as of the intellectual and spiritual, the drawing of the churches into more intimate and closer relations. Hence the supreme necessity of providing institutions in connection with the various churches to perform for portions of the community functions not performed for them by the home and society at large. In a thoroughly mixed population in- stitutions in connection with the churches were essential. They would work by every method- social, educational, literary, recreative. By this Revival, too, woman had come to her own. Another aspect of it was the stratification of the lay element, in contradistinction with the sacer- dotal or priestly element, in our religion.
DR. AGAR BEET CRITICISES EVAN…
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DR. AGAR BEET CRITICISES EVAN ROBERTS. The Rev. Dr. Agar Beet, professor of sys- tematic theology, of Richmond College, London, last week paid a visit to Llangollen, where in years gone by he occupied a position in con- nection with the local Wesleyan body. His visit has caused great interest amongst the religious bodies of the town and district, and there was a crowded gathering in the Memorial Hall on Sunday afternoon, when he lectured on Theology and Biblical Study." At the close of his address a member of the audience asked Dr. Beet what he had to say regarding the claims of Mr. Evan Roberts. Was not the Spirit as directly manifested to-day as in the past, and was he not able, under the Spirit's guidance, to speak infallibly ? Dr. Beet said that the Spirit of God does not make men infallible. He did not think that the Apostles were infallible; and he felt that this young man, Evan Roberts, of whom they heard so much and for whom they thanked God, had said a good many things which he (Dr. Beet) was exceedingly sorry to hear. When he said that the Holy Spirit had told him not to go to Cardiff, for example, he did a very wrong thing. Do not let them desecrate the Holy Spirit. It seemed to him that, in spite of man's fallibility, on the whole they would be rightly guided, although recognising that their human guide was not infallible. A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian had an interview with Dr. Beet regarding the claims of Mr. Evan Roberts and the mysterious lights, of which so much has been heard recently in the district. Dr. Beet said he certainly resented the evangelist's claim to infallibility. When he professed to receive messages direct from the Holy Spirit he got on to very dangerous ground. He thanked God for Evan Roberts and the Welsh revival. There was no questioning the fact that it was a great spiritual wave that might achieve inestimable good. Many of the students from his college had participated in it, and been great gainers thereby. But, and this was a point he desired to emphasise, religion, like everything else, had a tendency to run to seed, and he was afraid this was a truth applica- ble to their young friend Evan Roberts. He (Dr. Beet) had had a wide experience of young evangelists he was able to read the signs of their work, and he had not infrequently found that when a man reached the stage at which Evan Roberts had now arrived, and made the professions for which he was responsible, he was getting on to the down grade, and the decline of his usefulness as a missioner had begun. He was sorry for it, but he could not regard the con- stant statements attributed to him that he was commanded by the Spirit to do this or to do that otherwise than as a very unfavourable sign. Asked for his views regarding the Egryn "lights," Dr. Beet said: "All I can say is that I should have to see these lights and to hear these angelic choirs in order to believe the story."