Christmas Evans Part 11

We have said that no sermons are preserved; Elias himself regretted, in his advanced life, that some, which had been of a peculiar interest to him, had gone from him. Fragments there are, but they are from the lips of hearers. Many of these fragments still present, in a very impressive manner, his rousing, and piercing, and singularly original style; his peculiar mode of dealing at will, for his purposes of ill.u.s.tration, with the things of earth, heaven, and h.e.l.l.

Take one ill.u.s.tration, from the text, "_Shall the prey be taken from the mighty_, _or the lawful captive be delivered_?" "_Satan_!" he exclaimed, "what do you say? Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? 'No, never.

I will increase the darkness of their minds; I will harden more the hardness of their hearts; I will make more powerful the l.u.s.ts in their souls; I will increase the strength of their chains; I will bind them hand and foot, and make my chains stronger; the captives shall never be delivered. Ministers! I despise ministers! Puny efforts theirs!'

'_Gabriel_!' exclaimed the preacher, 'messenger of the Most High G.o.d: shall the prey be taken from the mighty?' 'Ah! I do not know. I have been hovering over this a.s.sembly. They have been hearing the Word of G.o.d. I did expect to see some chains broken, some prisoners set free; but the opportunity is nearly over; the mult.i.tudes are just upon the point of separating; there are no signs of any being converted. I go back from this to the heavenly world, but I have no messages to carry to make joy in the presence of the angels.'" There were crowds of preachers present. Elias turned to them. "'What think you? You are _ministers_ of the living G.o.d. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?' 'Ah! who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

We have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for nought; and it seems the Lord's arm is not stretched out. Oh, there seems very little hope of the captives being delivered!' '_Zion_! Church of Christ! answer me, Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? What do you say?' And Zion said, 'My G.o.d hath forgotten me; I am left alone, and am childless. And my enemies say, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.' Oh, I am afraid the prey will not be taken from the mighty-the captive will not be delivered. _Praying Christians_, what do you think? 'O Lord, Thou knowest. High is Thy hand, and strong is Thy right hand. Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down! Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee. According to the greatness of Thy power, preserve Thou them that are appointed to die. I am nearly wearying in praying, and yet I have a hope that the year of jubilee is at hand.'" Then, at this point, Elias a.s.sumed another, higher, and his most serious manner, as if about to speak to the Almighty; and, in quite another tone, he said, "What is the mind of the Lord respecting these captives? Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?" Then he exclaimed, "'Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.' Ah!" he exclaimed, "there is no doubt about the mind and will of the Lord-no room for doubt, and hesitation.

'The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.'"

This is the fragment of a sermon preached when Elias was about thirty years of age. Of course it can give but a very slender idea, but perhaps it shows something of the manner of the master. His imagination was very brilliant, but more chastened, and subdued, than that of many. His eloquence, like all of the highest order, was simple, and he trusted rather to a fitting word, than to a large furniture of speech. It is said that, to his friends, every sermon appeared to be a complete masterpiece of elocution, a nicely-compacted, and well-fitted oration.

Among the great Welsh preachers, David Davies, and Williams of Wern were, like Rowlands of Llangeitho, comparatively fixtures. Of course, they appeared on great a.s.sociation occasions. But John Elias, and Christmas Evans itinerated far, and wide. Unlike as they were in the build of their minds, and the character of their eloquence, they had a great, and mutual, regard, and affection for each other; and it is told how, when either preached, the other was seen with anxious interest drinking in, with the crowd, the words of his famous brother. Theirs are, no doubt, the two darling names most known to the religious national heart of Wales. To John Elias it is impossible to render such a mede of justice, or to give of his powers even so comprehensive a picture, as is attempted, even in this volume, of Christmas Evans.

Something like an ill.u.s.tration of the man may be gathered from an anecdote of the formation of one of the first Bible Societies in North Wales. It was a very great occasion. A n.o.ble Earl, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, was to take the chair; but when he heard that John Elias was expected to be the princ.i.p.al speaker, he very earnestly implored that he might be kept back, as "a ranter, a Methodist, and a Dissenter, who could do no good to the meeting." The position of Elias was such that, upon such an occasion, no one could have dared to do that; so the n.o.ble Lord introduced him, but with certain hints that "brevity, and seriousness would be desirable." The idea of recommending seriousness to John Elias, certainly, seems a very needless commendation; but when Elias spoke,-partly in English, and partly in Welsh,-especially when, in stirring Welsh, he referred to the const.i.tution of England, and the repose of the country, as ill.u.s.trating the value of the Bible to society, and some other such remarks,-of course with all the orator's piercing grandeur of expression,-the chairman, seeing the inflamed state of the people, and himself not well knowing what was said, would have the words translated to him. He was so carried away by the dignified bearing of the great orator, that he would have a special introduction to him at the close of the meeting. A day or two after, a special messenger came to invite him to visit, and spend some time at the house of the Earl. This, however, was respectfully declined, for reasons, no doubt, satisfactory to Elias, and which would satisfy the peer also, that the preacher had no desire to use his great popularity for his own personal influence, and aggrandis.e.m.e.nt.

After a life of eminent usefulness, he died, in 1841, at the age of sixty-eight. His funeral was a mighty procession, of about ten thousand persons. They had to travel, a distance of some miles, to the beautiful little churchyard of Llanfaes, a secluded, and peaceful spot,-a scene of natural romance, and beauty, the site of an old Franciscan monastery, about fourteen miles from Llangefni, the village where Elias died. The day of the funeral was, throughout the whole district, as still as a Sabbath. As it pa.s.sed by Beaumaris, the procession saw the flags of the vessels in the port lowered half-mast high; and as they pa.s.sed through Beaumaris town, and Bangor city, all the shops were closed, and all the blinds drawn before the windows. Every kind of denomination, including the Church of England, joined in marks of respect, and justified, more distinctly than could always be done, the propriety of the text of the funeral oration: "Know ye not that a prince and a great man has fallen?"

Of him it might truly be said, "_Behold I will make thee a new sharp thres.h.i.+ng instrument_, _having teeth_: _thou shalt thresh the mountains_, _and beat them small_, _and shalt make the hills like chaff_."

CHAPTER VII.

_CONTEMPORARIES-DAVIES OF SWANSEA_.

Traditions of his Extraordinary Eloquence-Childhood-Unites in Church Fellows.h.i.+p with Christmas Evans, and with him preaches his First Sermon-The Church of Castell Hywel-Settles in the Ministry at Frefach-The Anonymous Preacher-Settles in Swansea-Swansea a Hundred Years Since-Mr.

Davies reforms the Neighbourhood-Anecdotes of the Power of his Personal Character-How he Dealt with some Young Offenders-Anecdote of a Captain-The Gentle Character of his Eloquence-The Human Voice a Great Organ-The Power of the "Vox Humana" Stop-A Great Hymn Writer-His Last Sermon.

WE shall, in the next chapter, mention several names of men, mightily influential as Welsh preachers in their own country, and to most English readers utterly unknown. Perhaps the most conspicuous of these lesser known men is, however, David Davies, of Swansea. Dr. Thomas Rees, in every sense a thoroughly competent authority, speaks of him as one of the most powerful pulpit orators in his own, or any other, age; and he quotes the words of a well-known Welsh writer, a minister, who says of David Davies: "In his best days, he was one of the chief of the great Welsh preachers." This writer continues: "I may be deemed too partial to my own denomination in making such an observation. What, it may be asked, shall be thought of John Elias, Christmas Evans, and others? In point of flowing eloquence, Davies was superior to every one of them, although, with regard to his matter, and the energy, and deep feeling with which he treated his subjects, Elias, in his best days, excelled him." As to this question of feeling, however, the writer of these pages was talking, some time since, with Dr. Rees himself, about this same David Davies, when the Doctor said: "What the old people tell you about him is wonderful. It was in his voice-he could not help himself; without any effort, five minutes after he began to speak, the whole congregation would be bathed in tears."

This great, and admirable man was born in the obscure little village of Llangeler, in Carmarthens.h.i.+re, in June, 1763. His parents, although respectable, not being in affluent circ.u.mstances, could give him very few advantages of education. Thus it happened that, eminent as he became as a preacher, as one of the most effective hymn-writers in his language, and as a Biblical commentator, he was entirely a self-made man. However, as is so often the case in such instances, his earnest eagerness in the acquisition of knowledge was manifest when he was yet very young; and he was under the influence of very strong religious impressions at a very early age.

Even when he was quite a child, he would always stand up, and gravely ask a blessing on his meals; and it is said that there was something so impressive, and grave, in the manner of the child, that some careless frequenters of the house always took off their hats, and behaved with grave decorum until the short prayer was ended. His parents were not religious persons, and, therefore, it is yet more remarkable that one day, while he was still in his earliest years, his father heard him fervently in prayer for them behind a hedge. It is not wonderful to learn that he was greatly affected by it. It does not seem that this depth of religious life accompanied him all the way through his boyhood, and his youth; but a very early marriage-in most instances, so grave, and fatal a mistake-would appear to have been the occasion of the restoration of his religious convictions. He was but twenty when he married Jane Evans, a respectable, and lovely young woman of his own neighbourhood; and now his religious life began in real earnest.

It is surely very remarkable, as we have already seen, that he, and Christmas Evans were admitted into Church fellows.h.i.+p on the same evening,-the Church to which we have already referred,-beneath the pastorate of the eminent scholar, and bard, David Davies, of Castell Hywel. The singularity did not stop here. Christmas Evans, and the young Davies, preached their first sermon in the same little cottage, in the parish of Llangeler, within a week of each other. The two youths were destined to be the most eminent lights of their different denominations, in their own country, in that age; but neither of them continued long in connection with the Church at Castell Hywel; and as they joined at the same time, so about the same time they left.

David Davies, their pastor, was a great man, and an eminent preacher, but he was an Arian, and the Church members were chiefly of the same school of thought; and the convictions of both youths were altogether of too deep, and matured an order, to be satisfied by the Arian view of the person, and work of Christ. Moreover, they both, by the advice of friends, were looking to the work of the Ministry, for which they must have early shown their fitness; and, as we have noticed in the case of Christmas Evans, there was a rule in the Church at Castell Hywel, that no one should be permitted to preach who had not received an academical training.

This, in addition to their dissatisfaction with services devoted chiefly to the frigid statements of speculative points of doctrine, or the ill.u.s.tration of worldly politics, soon operated to move the young men into other fields. Evans, as we know, united himself with the Baptists; Davies found a congenial ministration at Pencadair, under the direction of a noted evangelical teacher of those parts, the Rev. William Perkins.

There his deepest religious convictions became informed, and strengthened. Davies was always a man of emotion; it was his great strength when he became a preacher; and his biographer very pleasingly states the relation of his after-work to this moment of his life, when he says that, "Beneath the teaching of Mr. Perkins, a delightful change came over his feelings; he could now see, in the revealed testimony concerning the work finished by our Divine Surety, and Redeemer, enough to give confidence of approach 'into the holiest,' to every one who believes the report of it, as made known to all alike in the Scriptures. We may justly say, 'Blessed are their eyes who see' this; who see that G.o.d is now 'reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing unto men their trespa.s.ses.' They, indeed, see the heavens opened, and the angels of G.o.d ascending, and descending upon the Son of Man. They see that fulfilled which was set forth of old in vision to Jacob, the restoration of intercourse between earth and heaven through a mediator; and, in the discovery of it, they walk joyfully in the way of peace, and in the gracious presence of their reconciled Father."

It was after this period that the first sermon was preached, in the cottage to which we have alluded. "The humble beginning of both Davies, and Evans, naturally reminds us," says Davies' biographer, "of the progress of an oak from the acorn to the full-grown tree, or that of a streamlet issuing from an obscure valley among the mountains, and swelling, by degrees, into a broad, and majestic river." David Davies soon became well known in his neighbourhood as a mighty evangelist.

Having grounded his own convictions, and even then possessed of a copious eloquence, it is not wonderful to read that dead Churches rose into newness of life, and became, in the course of time, flouris.h.i.+ng societies. He was ordained as a co-pastor with the Rev. John Lewis, at Trefach. The chapel became too small, and a new one was built, which received the name of Saron. He became a blessing to Neuaddlwyd, and Gwernogle; his words ran, like flames of fire, through the whole district. It is said that his active spirit, and fervent style of preaching, gave a new tone to the ministry of the Independents throughout the whole Princ.i.p.ality. Hearers, who have been unaccustomed to the penetrating, the quietly pa.s.sionate emotionalness of the great Welsh preachers, can scarcely form an idea of the way in which their at once happy, and invincible words would set a congregation on fire.

The beloved, and revered William Rees, of Liverpool, in his memoir of his father, gives an ill.u.s.tration of this, in connection with a sermon preached by Mr. Davies; and it furnishes a striking proof of the force of his eloquence. The elder Rees speaks of one meeting in particular, which he attended at Denbigh, at the annual gathering of the Independents. A minister from South Wales preached at the service with unusual power, and eloquence. Among the auditors, there was a venerable man, named William Lewis, who possessed a voice loud, and clear as a trumpet, and who was, at that time, a celebrated preacher among the Calvinistic Methodists.

The southern minister, in full sail, with the power of the "_hwyl_"

strong upon him, and the whole congregation, of course, in full sympathy, all breathless, and waiting for the next word, came to a point in his sermon where he repeated, says Mr. Rees, in his most pathetic tones, the verse of a hymn, which can only be very poorly conveyed in translation:-

"Streams from the rock, and bread from heaven, Were, by their G.o.d, to Israel given; While Sinai's terrors blazed around, And thunders shook the solid ground, No harm befell His people there, Sustained with all a Father's care, Perversely sinful though they were."

The drift of the pa.s.sage was to show that the believer in Christ is just as safe amidst terrors from within, and without. The sentiment touched the electric chord in the hearts of the mult.i.tude. Old William Lewis could bear it no longer. Up he started, unable to conceal his feelings.

"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" he exclaimed; "blessed be His name! G.o.d supported His people amidst all the terrors of Sinai, sinful, and rebellious though they were. That was the most dreadful spot in which men could ever be placed; yet, even there, G.o.d preserved His people unharmed. Oh, yes! and there He sustained me, too, a poor, helpless sinner, once exposed to the doom of His law, and trembling before Him!" No sooner had the old man uttered these words, than a flame seemed instantaneously to spread through the whole congregation, which broke forth into exclamations of joy, and praise. But the preacher, who had kindled this wonderful fire, and who could do such things! For some time, Mr. Rees was unable to find out who it was; and it was the younger Rees, long the venerable minister in Liverpool, who discovered afterwards, from one of his father's old companions, that it was David Davies, from the south,-he who came to be called, in his more mature years, "The great Revivalist of Swansea."

For, after labouring until the year 1802 in the more obscure regions we have mentioned, where, however, his congregations were immense, and his influence great over the whole Princ.i.p.ality, he was invited by the Churches of Mynyddbach, and Sketty-in fact, parts of Swansea-to become their pastor; and on this spot his life received its consummation, and crown.

When Mr. Davies entered the town, it was a remarkably wicked spot; the colliers were more like barbarians than the inhabitants of a civilized country. Gangs of drunken ruffians prowled through its streets, and the suburbs in different directions, ready to a.s.sault, and ill-treat any persons who ventured near them. They were accustomed to attack the houses as they pa.s.sed, throwing stones at the doors, and windows, and could scarcely open their mouths without uttering the most horrid oaths, and blasphemies. It seems almost strange, to our apprehensions now, that the presence of a preacher should effect a change in a neighbourhood; yet nothing is more certain, than the fact that immense social reformations were effected by ministers of the Gospel, both in England, and in Wales.

Mr. Davies had not long entered Swansea before the whole neighbourhood underwent a speedy, and remarkable change. He had a very full, and magnificent voice; a voice of amazing compa.s.s, flexibility, and tenderness; a voice with which, according to all accounts, he could do anything-which could roll out a kind of musical thunder in the open air, over great mult.i.tudes, or sink to the softest intonations, and whispers, for small cottage congregations. It was well calculated to arrest a rude mult.i.tude. And so it came about that Mynyddbach became as celebrated for the work of David Davies, as the far-famed Llangeitho for the great work, and reformation of David Rowlands. The people poured in from the country round to hear him. Then, although very tender, and genial, his manner was so solemn, and he had so intense a power of realizing, to others, the deep, and weighty truths he taught, that he became a terror to evil-doers.

It is mentioned that numbers of butchers from the neighbourhood of Cwmamman, and Llangenie, were in the habit of attending Swansea market on Sat.u.r.days. Some of them, after selling the meat which they had brought, were accustomed to frequent the public-houses, and to remain there drinking, and carousing until the Sunday morning. It is a well-known, and amusing circ.u.mstance, that, in the course of a little time, when proceeding homewards on their ponies, if they caught a glimpse of Mr.

Davies coming in an opposite direction, they hastily turned round, and trotted off, until they could find a bystreet, or lane, to avoid his reproving glances, or warnings, which had the twofold advantage of pertinency and serious wit, conveyed in tones sufficiently stentorian to reach their ears. And there was a man, proverbially notorious for his profane swearing, who plied a ferry-boat between Swansea, and Foxhole; whenever he perceived Mr. Davies approaching, he took care to give a caution to any who might be using improper expressions: "Don't swear, Mr.

Davies is coming!"

And there is another story, which shows what manner of man this Davies was. One Sat.u.r.day night, a band of drunken young men, and boys, threw a quant.i.ty of stones against his door, according to their usual mode of dealing with other houses. While they were busy at their work of mischief, he suddenly opened the door, rushed out, and secured two or three of the culprits, who were compelled to give him the names of all their companions. He then told them that he should expect every one of them to be at his house on a day which he mentioned. Accordingly, the whole party came at the appointed hour, but attended by their mothers, who were exceedingly afraid lest the offending lads should be sent to prison in a body. Instead of threatening to take them before the magistrates, Mr. Davies told them to kneel down with him; and having offered up an earnest prayer, and affectionately warned them of the consequences of their evil ways, he dismissed them, requesting, however, that they would all attend at Ebenezer Chapel on the following Sunday.

They were, of course, glad to comply with his terms, and to be let off so easily. In after years, several of them became members of his Church, and maintained through life a consistent Christian profession. "And one of them," said Dr. Rees, when writing the story of his great predecessor, "is an old grey-headed disciple, still living."

Such anecdotes as these show how far the character of the man aided, and sustained the mighty power of the minister. Our old friend, the venerable William Davies, of Fishguard, says: "I well remember Mr. Davies of Swansea's repeated preaching tours through Pembrokes.h.i.+re, and can never forget the emotions, and deep feelings which his matchless eloquence produced on his crowded congregations everywhere; he had a penetrating mind, a lively imagination, and a clear, distinctive utterance; he had a remarkable command of his voice, with such a flow of eloquence, and in the most melodious intonations, that his enraptured audience would almost leap for joy."

Instances are not wanting, either in the ancient, or modern history of the pulpit, of large audiences rising from their seats, and standing as if all spellbound, while the preacher was pursuing his theme, and, to the close of his discourse, subdued beneath the deepening impression, and rolling flow of words. Perhaps the reader, also, will remember, if he have ever been aware of such scenes, that it is not so much glowing splendour of expression, or the weight of original ideas, still less vehement action, which achieves these results, as a certain marvellous, and melodious fitness of words, even in the representation of common things.

But to return to Mr. Davies. Davies of Fishguard, aforementioned, gives an ill.u.s.tration of his preaching: "The captain of a vessel was a member of my Church at Fishguard, but he always attended Ebenezer, when his vessel was lying at Swansea. One day, he asked another captain, 'Will you go with me next Sunday, to hear Mr. Davies? I am sure he will make you weep.' 'Make _me_ weep?' said the other, with a loud oath. 'Ah!

there's not a preacher in this world can make _me_ weep.' However, he promised to go. They took their seats in the front of the gallery. The irreligious captain, for awhile, stared in the preacher's face, with a defiant air, as if determined to disregard what he might say; but when the master of the a.s.sembly began to grow warm, the rough sailor hung down his head, and before long, he was weeping like a child." Here was an ill.u.s.tration of the great power of this man to move, and influence the affections.

As compared with other great Welsh preachers, Davies must be spoken of as, in an eminent manner, a singer, a prophet of song, and the swell, and cadences of his voice were like the many voices, which blend to make up one complete concert. He was not only a master of the deep ba.s.s notes, but he had a rich soprano kind of power, too; for we read that "when he raised his voice to a higher pitch than ordinary, it increased in melody, and power, and its effects were thrilling in the extreme; there were no jarring notes-all was the music of eloquence throughout." This must not be thought wonderful-it is natural; all men cannot be thus, nor all preachers, however good, and great. There are a few n.o.ble organs in the world. The organ itself, however considered, is a wonderful instrument, but there are some built with such extraordinary art that they are capable of producing transcendent effects beyond most other instruments.

Davies, the preacher, was one of these amazing organs, in a human frame; but the power of melody was still within his own soul, and it was the wonderful score which he was able to read, and which he compelled his voice to follow, which yet produced these amazing effects.

Surely, it is not more wonderful, that the human voice should have its great, and extraordinary exceptions, than that most wonderful piece of mechanism and art, an organ. We have the organs of Berne, Haarlem, and the Sistine Chapel-such are great exceptions in those powers which art exercises over the kingdom of sound; their building, their architecture, has made them singular, and set them apart as great instruments. But even in these, who does not remember the power of the _vox humana_ stop?

We apprehend that few who have heard it in the organs of Berne, or Fribourg, will sympathise with Dr. Burney's irreverent, and ridiculous condemnation of it, in his "History of Music," as the "cracked voice of an old woman of ninety, or Punch singing through a comb." Far from this, the hearer waits with intense anxiety, almost goes to hear this note, and realizes in it, what has been said so truly, that music, as it murmurs through the ear, is the nurse of the soul. But all organs have not the _vox humana_ stop, nor all preachers either. The human voice, like the organ, is a mighty instrument, but it is the soul which informs the instrument with this singular power, so that within its breast all the pa.s.sions seem to reign in turn. Singular, that we have thought so much of the great organs of the Continent, and have listened with such intensity to the great singers, and have failed to apply the reflection that the greatest preachers must be, in some measure, a combination of both.

Davies was one of those preachers, without whose presence the annual gatherings, in which the Welsh especially delighted, would have been incomplete. On such occasions, he was usually the last of the preachers-the one waited for. As the service proceeded, it naturally happened that some weariness fell over the a.s.sembly; numbers of people might be seen in different parts, sitting, or reclining, on the gra.s.s; but as soon as David Davies appeared on the platform, there was a gathering in of all the people, pressing forward from all parts of the field, eager to catch every word which fell from the lips of the speaker.

When a great singer appears at a concert, who of all the audience would lose a single bar of the melody? He gave out his own hymn in a voice that reached, without effort, to the utmost limits of the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude, though he spoke in a quiet, natural tone, without any exertion. He read his text deliberately, but in accents sufficiently loud to be heard with ease by ten thousand people. What is any great singer, without distinctness of enunciation? And distinct enunciation has always been one of the strong points of the great Welsh preachers.

Hence, from this reason, he was always impressive, and he seldom preached without using some Scriptural story, which he made to live, through his accent, in the hearts of the people; ill.u.s.trative similes, and not too many of them; striking thoughts, beneath the pressure of which his manner became more and more impressive, until, at each period, his hearers were overpoweringly affected. Every account of him speaks of his wonderfully impressive voice; and all this gained additional force from his dignified bearing, and appearance, which took captive, and carried away, not only more refined intelligences, but even coa.r.s.est natures, while the preacher never approached, for a moment, the verge of vulgarity. Contemporary preachers bore testimony that when the skilful singer had closed his strain, the people could not leave the spot, but remained for a long time after, weeping, and praising.

We have said, already, that Mr. Davies was one of the Welsh hymn-writers; eighty of his hymns are said to be among the best in the Welsh language.

He was a strong man, of robust const.i.tution, but, it may be said, he died young; before he had reached his fiftieth year, his excessive labours had told visibly on his health, and for many months before his death, he was strongly impressed with the idea that the time of his departure was at hand. He died in the year 1816. The first Sabbath of that year, he preached a very impressive sermon, from the text, "Thus saith the Lord, This year thou shalt die."

His last sermon was preached about three weeks before he died, when he also administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and gave the right hand of fellows.h.i.+p to thirteen persons, on their admission into the Church. He spoke only a few words during the service, and in those, in faltering accents, told his people he did not expect to be seen amongst them any more. And, indeed, there was every indication, by his weakness, that his words would be fulfilled. Every cheek was bedewed with tears.

The hearts of many were ready to burst with grief; for this man's affections were so great, that he produced, naturally, that grief which we feel when the holders of our great affections seem to be parted from us.

He went home from this meeting to die. The struggle was not long protracted. On the morning of December 26th, 1816, he breathed his last.

On the day of the funeral, a large concourse, from the town, and neighbourhood, followed his remains to the grave. These lie in a vault, which now occupies a s.p.a.ce in the centre of the new chapel, reared on the site of that in which he ministered so affectionately; and over the pulpit, a chaste, and beautiful mural marble tablet memorialises, and very conspicuously bears the name of David Davies. Of him, also, it might be said: "_The Lord G.o.d hath given me the tongue of the learned_, _that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary_."

CHAPTER VIII.

_THE PREACHERS OF WILD WALES_.

Rees Pritchard, and "The Welshman's Candle"-A Singular Conversion-The Intoxicated Goat-The Vicar's Memory-"G.o.d's better than All"-Howell Harris-Daniel Rowlands at Llangeitho-Philip Pugh-The Obscure Nonconformist-Llangeitho-Charles of Bala-His Various Works of Christian Usefulness-The Ancient Preachers of Wild Wales characterised-Thomas Rhys Davies-Impressive Paragraphs from his Sermons-Evan Jones, an Intimate Friend of Christmas Evans-Shenkin of Penhydd-A Singular Mode of Ill.u.s.trating a Subject-Is the Light in the Eye?-Ebenezer Morris-High Integrity-Homage of Magistrates paid to his Worth-"Beneath"-Ebenezer Morris at Wotton-under-Edge-His Father, David Morris-Rough-and-ready Preachers-Thomas Hughes-Catechised by a Vicar-Catching the Congregation by Guile-Sammy Breeze-A Singular Sermon in Bristol in the Old Time-A Cloud of Forgotten Worthies-Dr. William Richards-His Definition of Doctrine-Davies of Castell Hywel, the Pastor of Christmas Evans, and of Davies of Swansea-Some Account of Welsh Preaching in Wild Wales, in Relation to the Welsh Proverbs, Ancient Triads, Metaphysics, and Poetry-Remarks on the Welsh Language and the Welsh Mind-Its Secluded and Clannish Character.