'Y^ILE«¥lMII¥IEI^Sflir¥-

1934

LIFE AND TIMES OF
GRIFFITH JONES, LLANDDOWROR.

Eife anil Cimes
of
(S^rtffitt) Jones
sfometime K^ctor of
Elantmoioror

DAVID JONES, B.A.,
VICAR OF penmaenmawr; editor of "wales and the welsh church,'
author or the biographical sketch of the late dean edwards ;
"the welsh church and welsh nationality;" &c.
AND EDITOJt OF "Y CYFAILL EGLWYSIG."

" / hmve looked on the institution of Charity
Schools, -which of late years has so
universally prevailed through the whole
nation^ as the glory of the age ive
live in." — Addison.

ILondon
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
355an0Ot
JARVIS 6* FOSTER. LORNE HOUSE
MCMIZ,

a^^mor? of
9^'S #arent0.

"And herein is that saying true,
' One soweth and another reapeth . ' / sent
you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no
labour ; other men laboured, and ye are
entered into their labours.'" St. John iv. 37, 38.

PREFACE,
THE object of this volume has been explained
elsewhere, and little remains to be said
here. The author, however, would like to repeat
his conviction that the study of the religious history
of Wales in the eighteenth century is calculated
to serve important purposes. It offers subjects
for deep reflection to all, both Nonconformists and
Churchmen alike. To ponder over its lessons in
humble earnestness might, under God's blessing,
lead to an active desire for Christian reunion on
the part of those who are now in a state of separa
tion, and, we fear, sometimes of antagonism. The
religious condition of Wales can hardly commend
itself to those who are imbued with the spirit of the
Intercessory Prayer of Christ ; and there is some
ground for apprehension lest Welsh Christianity
should fail to maintain its efficiency, while it is
thus ^^ a house divided against itself." There may
be, and doubtless, there sometimes has been, a
kind of union worse than division ; but few will
deny that there is a union which, beyond all dispute
or comparison, is preferable to disunion. Towards
the attainment of that, it is the duty and privilege

Vlll PREFACE.
of every Christian teacher and worker to contribute
his share, however humble. It is the ideal state of
the Church militant ; it will be the actual state of
the Church triumphant.
Among the first steps necessary to bring nearer
the broken fragments of our Christianity, must be
placed a true estimate of the loss of power and
efficiency incurred by our present anomalous and
wasteful condition ; a due appreciation of both the
ideal and the practical value of unity ; the spirit of
discernment wherewith to determine the relative
importance of things that differ, and to guard with
jealousy that which is essential ; a disposition to
emphasise points of agreement rather than of
difference ; an earnest endeavour to approach the
question in the spirit of the Apostolic counsel :
' ' Lxt nothing be done through strife or vain-glory ;
but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better
than themselves i" a full recognition of the bond
and basis of union that already exist, and a godly
yearning for the restoration of a closer Christian
fellowship and communion among all that ^^ love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."
It must, however, be admitted that we are not
as yet "within measurable distance" of Christian
reunion, though both time and circumstances seem
ripe for a full and frank discussion of the subject.

PREFACE. IX
If brought about under healthy conditions, and by
the constraint of the higher impulses of religion,
it cannot be doubted that it would be followed
by incalculable blessings. Looking at it, as we
necessarily do here, from the point of view of the
reunion of Churchmen and Nonconformists, we
feel convinced that each side would greatly profit
by it, as each would contribute its own special
strength to the resultant Church. The freshness
and the vigour, the initiative and the elasticity, the
sense of the privileges and the responsibilities of
the lay members, which the Nonconformists would
bring with them, would be an unquestionable gain
to the Church of England ; while the respect for
order and authority, the conservative instinct
inherent in so ancient a body as that Church, and
the spirit of wise toleration and comprehensiveness
which a long experience has taught her, would, if
we mistake not, be joyfully welcomed by a large
number of thoughtful Nonconformists. Each
would, in some degree, supply the deficiencies of
the other ; and the fusion of the two elements,
under favourable conditions, could not fail to
strengthen our common Christianity, and to equip
it for the more effective discharge of the tremendous
responsibilities with which it stands face to face at
the present moment.

X PREFACE.
We believe that a better acquaintance with the
men and the movements discussed in this volume
may tend, in some measure, to soften the asperities
of religious life and controversy in Wales, and to
work in the direction of reunion. It will concen
trate attention on "the parting of the ways;" and
it may be well for us all to recollect why and how
they became divided. It will show, if we mistake
not, that there were no sharp contentions, leading
to abrupt separations from the Church, or disclosing
irreconcileable divergences from her doctrines.
The extract about to be given was an accurate
statement in the time of Griffith Jones ; and it
applies with even greater force to the Methodist
secession, which occurred seventy years later.
And if the Church can show that the original
causes of Dissent have very largely disappeared,
it is, theoretically, a distinct gain to the cause of
reconciliation and reunion ; though it is readily
admitted that the question is by no means so easily
solved as thus suggested, inasmuch as other
obstacles have arisen during the interval that has
since elapsed. Referring to the Dissenters of his
own day, Griffith Jones wrote that " it was not any
scruple of conscience about the principles or orders
of the Established Church that gave occasion to
scare one in te« of the Dissenters in this country

PREFACE. XI
to Separate from us at first, whatever objections they
may afterwards imbibe against conformity. No,
Sir, they generally dissent for no other reason than
,for want of plain, practical, pressing, and zealous
preaching, in a language and dialect they are able
to understand ; and freedom of friendly access to
advise about their spiritual state. When they come
(some way or other) to be pricked in their hearts
for their sins, and find, perhaps, no seriousness in
those about them, none to unbosom their grief to,
none that will patiently hear their complaints, and
deal tenderly by their souls, and dress their wounds,
they flee to other people for relief ; as dispossessed
demoniacs will no longer frequent the tombs of
the dead. For though the Church of England is
allowed to be as sound and healthful a part of the
Catholic Church as any in the world, yet when
people are awakened from their lethargy, and begin
to perceive their danger, they will not believe that
there is anything in reason, law, or gospel that
should oblige them to starve their souls to death
for the sake of conforming, if their pastor (whose
voice perhaps they do not know, or who resides a
great way from them) will not vouchsafe to deal
out unto them the bread of life."' The earnest and
devoted men, whose labours contributed towards
' IVelsh Piety, r740-4i, p. I2.

XII PREFACE.
the formation of Welsh Methodism, and imparted
a new life to the older Dissenting communions,
were firmly attached to the Church of England,
and regarded her to the last with tender affection.
And if the course of the evangelical revival brought
to light serious defects in the administration of the
Church, for which she has not yet paid the full
penalty, it also provoked suspicion, distrust, and even
active hostility on the part of some of the Dissenters
of that time. And even among the revivalists
themselves, a spirit of dissension broke out com
paratively early in the history of the movement,
and continued to mar its progress for many years.
Neither side, in truth, had a monopoly of Christian
virtues. Both the Church and Nonconformity
received an accession of spiritual power through
the revival, and both, alas ! impaired its efficacy
through the perversity and pertinacity of human
infirmities. We have, almost unconsciously, fallen into a
reverie on Christian reunion. But reunion in the
present temper of Christian bodies in Wales is
hardly possible ; neither is it perhaps advisable, 'as
it would apparently bring but little gain, and
might even bring loss. Reunion will doubtless
come in God's good time ; but it is not unlikely
that our share in its accomplishment will be limited

PREFACE. XUI
to the tedious and toilsome though essential
task of preparing the way for it — of rectifying
past errors, of atoning for past blunders, and of
exorcising the prevailing spirit of religious strife
and sectarianism. Meanwhile, there are great duties
lying hard at our doors. The pressing necessity
of meeting the growing indifference and irreligion of
our land requires no illustration or enforcement here;
it is recognized and lamented on all hands. And
the fact being so, the Church need not wait for the
arrival of reunion, before applying herself to a task
for which her position and her privileges render her
primarily responsible. Among her first and greatest
needs is the enlistment of the active and intelligent
sympathy of the great body of her own lay members,
and a well-defined sphere in which that sympathy can
be exercised effectively on her behalf. She has the
experience of a long past, with both its failures and
its successes, to guide her ; and we cannot help
thinking that she may profitably learn a lesson from
the State, at least in the matter of bringing her
organisations into better accord with the rights of
her lay members, and the altered conditions of the
times. The State has done this with incalculable
benefits. That what was suitable in the sixteenth
century is out of date in the twentieth, is no less
true than trite. The extension of political rights

XIV PREFACE.
in this country has been concurrent with the
development of loyalty and respect for law. The
sense of responsibility has increased with the
acquisition of power. Our monarchy exists to-day
in more than all its ancient prestige and authority,
and has suffered no diminution of its value as a
force in the government of ithe country through
the admission of the masses to a share in its dignity
and responsibility. It has fearlessly taken the
people into its confidence, and has been nobly
rewarded for the trust. Distribution of power has
resulted in the consolidation of empire. 'The
freedom of the subject guards the stability of the
throne. The analogy between the State and the
Church in this matter is both fair and forcible; and
the latter might, with unquestionable advantages,
follow the example set before it by the former. It
cannot be said that, at present, the laity of the
Church are in full possession of their rights, as
members of the Body of Christ. To admit them
without delay would probably result in a great and
immediate accession of strength and influence to
the Church, and would indubitably bring into
activity new forces which, in due time, would add
immeasurably to her popularity and efficiency.
The writer of the following pages has neither
authority nor desire to write an eirenicon ; but he

PREFACE. XV
has endeavoured throughout to maintain an eirenic
tone and temper. The period under review is not
one that a Welsh Churchman can look back upon
with complacency, or would specially select in illus
tration of the services which the Welsh Church
has rendered to the Welsh people. And, more
over, when an attempt is made to bring home the
charge of inefficiency against the Church, her
critics seldom fail to choose the eighteenth century
as furnishing the most flagrant instances of neglect
and incompetency. It is readily admitted that
there, are facts not a few in the history of that
period, which Churchmen find it impossible either
to defend or to excuse. But there are other facts of
substantial importance, which group themselves
around the names of Griffith Jones and his fellow-
workers, and which, when they are set forth in
their proper place and proportion, modify very
materially the portrait usually drawn of the Welsh
Church in the eighteenth century.
That the task attempted in this little work is
imperfectly done, no one is more ready to
acknowledge than the writer ; but if it helps to
promote the sacred interests of truth, it will so far
serve the purpose for which it was written. If it
enables the reader to form a fuller and juster esti
mate of the good and gifted man whose Hfe and

rvi PREFACE.
labours it attempts to set forth ; or if it succeeds
in showing that the Welsh Church, even in the
eighteenth century, was not altogether so unworthy
of her mission as she has been generally repre
sented, but that, even in that era of apathy and
neglect, she conferred great benefits upon the
Welsh people, and that there were many among
her clergy who grappled manfully with their duties,
under manifold and trying difficulties ; or if it
helps to impress upon the present generation of
Welshmen the fact that the religious awakening of
that age came, not as some unexpected, unasked-for
supernatural manifestation, but in response to the
prayers and preparations of faithful men, and that
spiritual forces are still the most powerful and
essential to purify and elevate the life of a people ;
or if it recalls to reflecting minds another fact of no
less significance, namely, that the moral and
intellectual progress which has marked the history
of Wales during rhe last hundred and fifty years,
received its original impulse from a movement, of
which the principal aim as well as the immediate
result, was the religious education of the people ;
or if it serves to remind the Church and the country
of their great indebtedness to the evangelical revival,
which saved our Christianity from drifting into
Arianism, or rationalism, and which, if it did not

PREFACE. XVII
actually avert,' certainly rendered impossible in
this country, such a revolution as that which, at
the close of the eighteenth century, devastated
France, and destroyed much that was precious,
along with what was worthless and noxious ; or if
it tends to bring home to the Christian conscience
in Wales the great hindrance to the success of the
Gospel occasioned by our divisions and dissensions,
and the imperative need of closing our ranks, in
order to meet the indifference and the unbelief
which appear as not unlikely to issue from the
present divided state of our Christianity ; or if it
serves, be it ever so little, to "turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the heart of the
children to their fathers j" if, in short, it contri
butes its share towards any of these ends, the writer's
purpose will not be unattained.
The author has spared no effort to obtain infor
mation at every possible source, and begs to record
his sincerest gratitude for the ready help he has
received. Among those who are no longer in the
land of the living to whom he is indebted, he
would gratefully mention the late Bishop of St.
David's, Dr. Basil Jones ; the late Archdeacon
Griffith ; the late Rev. J. B. Herbert, and the
» See The Evangelical Revival in the Eighteenth Century, by
Canon Overton; Longman, Green, & Co,, 1886, p. 140,

XVin PREFACE.
late Mr. Joseph Joseph, of Brecon. He also
gladly acknowledges his obligations to the autho
rities of the British Museum, for their most
courteous assistance in searching out Welsh Books
in that vast repository of literature ; to the Rev.
E. McClure, the editorial secretary of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for his kind
permission to search the Minutes and Abstracts of
Letters belonging to that Society; to Sir John
Williams, Bart. ; to the Rev. Thomas Jones, the
present rector of Llanddowror; to Mr. C. Morgan-
Richardson ; and lastly, to his friend and colleague,
the Rev. E. D. Lloyd, for help in drawing up the
Index, while the book was passing through
the press. In transcribing extracts, the writer
has not deemed it necessary to retain the archaic
orthography of some of the originals ; and he has
endeavoured, in almost every case, to give exact
and full reference to his authorities.

Penmaenmawr Vicarage, May, 1902,

CONTENTS. chapter I.
Introductory 1-26
CHAPTER IL
State of the Country at the beginning of the
Eighteenth Century 27-42
CHAPTER III.
Early Life and Labours - - 43-72
CHAPTER IV.
The Welsh Circulating Schools 73-89
CHAPTER V.
The Welsh Circulating Schools ; continued 91-120
CHAPTER VI.
The Welsh Circulating Schools; continued 121-144
CHAPTER VII.
Results of the Schools - 145-165
CHAPTER VIII.
Other Agencies and Movements 167-193
CHAPTER IX.
Ministerial and Literary Labours 195-233
CHAPTER X.
Grififith Jones and the Evangelical Revival in
Wales - 235-282

CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
THE religious history of Wales in the eighteenth
century has not yet been written. It deserves,
especially from Churchmen, far more serious atten
tion than it has hitherto received. It offers an
inviting and an instructive field of study, not only
to the historian, but to the ecclesiastical statesman,
and to the educational and religious reformer. It is
true that that field has already been ably explored
from sundry points of view ; but a painstaking and
exhaustive research into all the facts, and a due
estimate and co-ordination of the various forces which
were at work during that period, have yet to be
undertaken, before the student can obtain a fair and
full view of their conflict or co-operation, in the
production of those results, which began to assume
their ultimate form about the close of the century.
The spiritual, moral and educational condition of
the Welsh people at the commencement of the
century ; the first movement that was made towards
the revival of religion, and the removal of the general
ignorance which prevailed ; the great services which
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
rendered to the cause of education, and the dissemi
nation of religious literature in Wales ; the genesis
and progress of the evangelical revival ; the attitude

INTRODUCTORY.

towards it of the Bishops and Clergy, as well as of
Churchmen and Dissenters generally; the forces
that operated during its progress towards its partial
alienation from the Church within which it began,
until the final separation of the main body of the
Welsh Calvinistic Methodists in the early years of
the last century; the literary movements of the
second half of the eighteenth century ; the financial
poverty of the Church, clerical absenteeism and
pluralism, the bilingual problem, the occupation of
Welsh Sees and other high positions, as well as
many of the most important parochial benefices, by
Englishmen, in their bearing upon the life of the
Welsh Church during the period under review ;
these are some of the questions which demand a
careful investigation and an impartial treatment,
before a just and comprehensive view can be
obtained of the development of the religious condi
tion of Wales in the eighteenth century.
An attempt is made in the following chapters to
ascertain the position which Griffith Jones occupied,
and the part which he played in relation to these
questions. We are fully aware that the attempt can
at best be only a partial success, for he has now been
in his grave for well nigh a century and a half.
Apart from the information which can be gleaned
out of his own writings, all that can be authentically
known of him at this distance of time, as far as we
are aware, is almost entirely derived from a Sketch
of his life and character, consisting of twenty-four

SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 3
pages, and published in 1762, the year after his
death. The other early memoirs of his which we
have seen are little more than reproductions of this.
It would be unprofitable to enquire here, at any
length, into the question why a biography of so
remarkable a man was not published before the facts
of his life had faded from the minds and memories
of his countrymen. There may have been several
reasons for this, and among them the fact that,
after his death, those who were in full sympathy
with his principles rapidly declined in number and
influence within the Church, while the leaders of the
evangelical revival, who largely entered into his
labours, came to be looked upon by those in authority
with increasing suspicion and disfavour.
Be that as it may, the loss entailed by such an
omission or neglect is great and irreparable. We
should like to know all about one who played so
conspicuous a part in the history of his Church and
country. We are, however, fortunate in the fact
that most of his somewhat voluminous writings,
though scarce, are still accessible. Some of these,
and especially his letters, of which there are nearly
two hundred extant, either in print or in manuscript,
and his Welsh Piety, or the Annual Reports of his
Schools for twenty-four years, besides affording us
occasional glimpses into his personal and private
history, contain varied and valuable information on
matters of the highest moment, connected with the
educational and religious condition of his country-

4 INTRODUCTORY.
men in his time, and with his own efforts to improve
that condition. No other contemporary witness is so
competent. No one studied so anxiously the needs
of the people, or laboured so extensively to benefit
them. He lived through sixty years of the century,
and worked as a Clergyman for fifty-three years,
under nine successive Bishops of St. David's ; he was
a trusted correspondent of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge for forty-eight years, when he
was its principal agent in the noble work it did for
Wales ; he saw the first twenty-five years of the
evangelical revival, and was on more or less intimate
terms with its principal leaders ; his preaching
excursions and his Circulating Schools brought him
in contact with a large number of churchmen, both
clerical and lay, through the length and breadth of
the land ; and he was the means of circulating among
his countrymen an enormous number of Bibles,
Prayer Books, and useful religious publications.
He was "the greatest Welshman of the century ;"'
and when he gives his opinions on matters in which
he was interested, we know that they are based on
the intimate knowledge and experience of one who
held personal communications with fellow-labourers
in almost all parts of the country.
For these reasons, the force of which, we hope,
will appear in the following pages, the lessons
which may be derived from the life and labours of
Griffith Jones are of great and permanent impor-
I Dean Edwards, in Wales and the Welsh Church, p. 319.

CHARACTER AND LABOURS OF G. JONES. 5
tance. He was a remarkable man, and accomplished
a remarkable work. Unaided by the prestige of
high birth, academical distinction, or a position of
dignity in the Church ; criticised and opposed by
many of those who should have been his foremost
supporters ; scarcely ever free from the burdein , of
bodily suffering ; he laboured nobly for fifty-three
years in the ministry of the Church, till there were
but comparatively few parishes in the whole of the
Principality which had not directly felt the influence
of his life and teaching. He was, indeed, faithfully
supported by a small band of earnest and wealthy
friends, by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, and by many of the parochial clergy
and people, when once they began to realize the
great benefits that might be derived from his Schools.
But the main burden rested upon his own shoulders.
He was a man of manifold talent and capacity, of
strong and sturdy character, of fertile resources,
of inflexible purpose, and of indefatigable industry.
He was a man of gentleness and courage, of
discretion and decision ; and though he was, above
all things, a man of faith, his aims were always
practical. He did not work in the dark. He well
understood the magnitude of the task that was
before him, the nature of the opposition that he had
to encounter, and the type of men among his
brethren who, moved to an unworthy jealousy by
his success and popularity, and relying upon the
imperfect knowledge of the affairs of their dioceses

INTRODUCTORY.

possessed by the bishops, sedulously misrepresented
his principles and his methods. He complains also
of the hostility of those among the people who used
to make profit from the irreligious and profane
habits that had grown up in those days of ignorance
and profligacy, but whose vocation ceased to be in
demand under the influence of his Schools. These
things he saw and felt. But he was undaunted either
by the magnitude of the task, or the multitude of the
obstacles which arose in his path. He stood firm to
his purpose, trusting in God and in the righteous
ness of his position, and encouraged by the con
fidence of those who supported him through evil
and through good report. He exercised a noble
self-restraint linder trying circumstances. He said
nothing and did nothing that could be justly
construed into disloyalty or irregularity. He was
profoundly attached to Church order and authority,
while he was no less profoundly moved by a sense
of individual responsibility. He often found it
difficult, and almost impossible, to reconcile both
in the efforts he was making to serve loyally both
the Church and the spiritual interests of the people.
And when we bear in mind the opposition he met
with from an influential section of his brethren, and
the want of recognition and encouragement on the
part of the bishops on the one hand, and the great
demand for the Schools on the other, his success in
avoiding any serious collision with the authorities
of the Church can only be attributed to his con-

AIM OF THIS WORK. 7
summate tact and wisdom, though it must always
be remembered that he never forfeited the confidence
of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
which was a tower of strength to him throughout
his laborious career. His faith in God, in the
mission of the Church, and in the power of the
Gospel to fulfil the needs of his benighted country
men, remained immovable under all trials and dis
couragements. He lived to see his efforts crowned
with almost unparalleled success, and it is not too
much to say, that what is noblest and most perma
nent in the religious life of Wales to-day is due, in a
large measure, to the labours of this apostolic man.
In the following pages, our aim has been to
allow Griffith Jones, as far as possible, to tell his
own story; and whenever an appeal is made to
external testimony, we confine ourselves, for the
most part, to contemporary authorities. Our con
clusions may be often erroneous, but we have in
all cases endeavoured to supply the reader with the
data on which they are founded, so that he may be
in a position to form his own judgment. We have
come across very little to indicate the attitude of
Griffith Jones towards the Nonconformists of his
time, or theirs towards him. To state that he
received every sympathy and co-operation from them
in his great work, as has been frequently stated, is
almost as much in excess of all the contemporary
evidence that we have seen, as the statement, also
often made, that only a few of the clergy sym-

8 INTRODUCTORY.
pathised with him, comes short of ascertainable
facts. Griffith Jones himself alludes to the behaviour
of " some pious persons of a separate Protestant
Communion (divested of all bigotry and partial
regard to party interest)," as having "shown a
Catholic love and zeal to the advancement of our
holy religion in the Church of England, by the
ready and unasked-for contributions of some of
them;" and others as having "encouraged the
Schools to proceed in the method they are settled
in, that is, in everything agreeable to the rules of
the Church. "» On another occasion, he says that
"it is evident that the best and most Catholic
Christians of all denominations, though they differ
from others in some points, are not so forward for
promoting party interest as they are on all occasions
to assist and rejoice to see their Master's cause
thrive in the power of it, among those they disagree
with in lesser things. It would be ungrateful to
conceal such instances among Dissenters (though
not many) who have contributed to the present
undertaking." 3 From these extracts, it appears
that some, "though not many," of the Congrega-
tionalists were favourably disposed towards his
Schools ; but the Baptists were opposed to them,
and we learn from one of his correspondents that
they — the Baptists — "brought their incendiary on
° Welsh Piety, 1739-40, p. 7.
5 Welsh Piety, 1740-41, p. 12. See also the letter of "A learned
Dissenting minister " in the same number, p. 53.

CONDITION OF DISSENT IN i8TH CENTURY. 9
purpose to sow sedition among them." On the
number and spiritual condition of the Dissenting
bodies in Wales at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, we have lightly touched in the body of this
work. It has been contended by Dr. Thomas Rees,
and others after him, that the number of Dissenters
in Wales was larger at that period than is usually
believed. We can only repeat here that, if it was
so, the fact only increases their responsibility for
the moral condition of society at that time, which,
as is allowed on all hands, was unsatisfactory.
That there were earnest men among them is freely
admitted ; but the heavy indictment brought against
those to whom the interests of religion were specially
committed in those days, must in justice fall upon
them as well as upon Churchmen in due proportion
to their numbers.
It is, indeed, but too true that the general
character of pastors and people in those times, both
within and without the Church, was deplorably low.
Spiritual deadness and indifference prevailed almost
everywhere. The description given by Griffith
Jones and other good men of the period of which
we are writing, is sufficient evidence on this point.
There was profane swearing, desecration of the
Lord's Day, drunkenness and debauchery, scep
ticism and unbelief, and a profound ignorance of
almost the elementary principles of religion.
Griffith Jones himself speaks of the state of
things existing in his day as of " recent "

lO INTRODUCTORY.
growth. It was the result of the troubles and
confusions of the Civil War, and of the violent
reaction which set in after the Restoration. The
picture which those good men drew was, indeed,
a dismal one. But it was drawn by faithful
and fearless hands ; by men whose standard of
religion and morality was a high one. They were
thoroughly awakened themselves, and their great
purpose in life was to awaken others. Their
spiritual vision was keen ; their love of souls was
strong ; their appreciation of Gospel truth was
whole-hearted ; their conscience was enlightened
and tenderly responsive to the call of duty. And,
moreover, the ignorance and the rudeness which so
generally prevailed, threw into bolder relief the
corruptions of the age. There was no refinement
about them ; they stood out in their naked coarse
ness. And we are tempted to ask in passing. What
would be the attitude of those good men towards
the state of things among us now, were they to rise
from their graves, see things as they are with their
own eyes, and judge by their own standard ? It
may well be that they would find the superiority of
our religious condition by no means proportionate
to our self-complacency.
Though some of the later Nonconformist
writers have, as we believe, misunderstood or mis
construed some of the facts, by relying, it may be,
upon insufficient or untrustworthy evidence, it is
only right to state that, in their treatment of Griffith

MISSTATEMENTS. 1 1
Jones, they have invariably done justice to his
eminent character and abilities, and have ungrudg
ingly acknowledged his great services to the country.
But we believe that an appeal to trustworthy con
temporary sources of information, will correct several
impressions that have been produced respecting
some points in the career of Griffith Jones, and the
religious history of Wales in the eighteenth century.
It is not true, for instance, as we have already inti
mated, that the clergy were almost universally
opposed to Griffith Jones' Schools, and that only a
few of them were men of religious earnestness and
activity; 4 it is an exaggeration of the fact to say
that "the Nonconformists gave;him all the assistance
in their power;" 5 it is not true to say that, when
he was on his preaching tours during the Easter
and Whitsuntide holidays, he was ejected from
Parish Churches, and compelled to preach outside,
owing to the hostility ^ of the clergy of those
parishes, for it was not his habit to enter another
man's parish without invitation or permission ;
it is not true that the schoolmasters he employed
were mostly drawn from the ranks of Noncon-
formity7, because, it is alleged, he could find none
worthy or competent among Churchmen ; it is not
true to say that little or nothing had been done to
remove the ignorance and reform the morals of the
people, and to revive spiritual religion in the land,
* Enwogion y Ffydd, Div. i., p. ii8. ^ Rees' Welsh Non
conformity, p. 353. ^ib. 347. 7ib. 351.

12 INTRODUCTORY.
before the rise of Welsh Methodism about 1736.
Nor is it true to say, as has been contended by a
different class of modern writers, apparently from a
misunderstanding of the purport of Dr. Saunders'
work, published in 1721, namely, that the depressed
state of the Welsh Church in the eighteenth century
was principally due to the poverty of its revenues.
These allegations have been made, and some of
them have been so often repeated, that they have
come to be too generally believed among us. But
they are not only unsupported, but distinctly refuted
by contemporary evidence. We yield to no one
either in our respect for the great leaders of the
evangelical revival in Wales, or in our gratitude
for the blessings which that movement brought in
its train ; but it is neither necessary nor just to
vindicate their character, or to extol their labours,
at the expense of ignoring or depreciating the
labours of others.
Of the existence of what has been termed the
Anglicising policy in the Welsh Church in his time,
Griffith Jones bears ample testimony. He deplores
and deprecates it, and describes its results as inimical
to the influence of the Church, and to the spiritual
welfare of the people. It is almost the only subject
in the discussion of which his great self-restraint
threatened to desert him. His opposition to that
policy was one of the chief arguments urged
against him by his adversaries. It was not so
much the poverty of the Church, poor as she un-

CO-OPERATION OF CLERGY WITH G. JONES. 13
doubtedly was, that was responsible for her feeble
ness and inefficiency in those days, nor was it the
indifference and in competency of the rank and file of
the Clergy; but it was the want of leaders to sympath
ise with them, to guide and encourage them to make
due provision for the great educational and spiritual
needs of the people. It is on record that, in spite
of discouragements from influential quarters,
many of the Welsh Clergy nobly responded to the
invitations of Griffith Jones to introduce his Schools
into their parishes, though he was only an ordinary
incumbent, unknown to most of them. Their income
was, doubtless, miserably poor ; the great majority
of them had to serve two or more churches ; and
there is nothing to show that they received help or
guidance from the Bishops, who were oftener than
otherwise absentees from their Dioceses at this most
critical period in the history of the Church. But
notwithstanding these heavy drawbacks, we call
attention to the following interesting facts, derived
from Welsh Piety.
Of these Annual Reports of the Circulating
Welsh Charity Schools, there are twenty-four
numbers, in thirteen of which only are printed letters
from correspondents given. But those letters are
only selections in each case, from a much larger num
ber received by him in the course of the year. I n those
thirteen numbers, there are letters from nearly three
hundred different Clergymen, about 128 of whom
describe themselves as * Curates,' 104 as ' Vicars,'

14 INTRODUCTORY.
or 'Rectors,' and the remainder as ' Ministers.' This
is a fact of considerable importance, for more than
one reason. But we should by no means conclude
that there were only three hundred Clergymen among
Griffith Jones' correspondents. In the first place,
it is presumable that there were communications
from Clergymen among those with-held from publi
cation in the thirteen numbers of Welsh Piety in
which letters are printed. And in the second place,
no letters at all are published in the eleven remain
ing numbers of Welsh Piety, though we know that
they had been received as usual. If we reckon the
average number of Clergymen, whose names appear
for the first time in ten of the numbers wherein
letters with names and addresses are given, we find
that the average for each number is eleven. If, to
the above three hundred Clergymen, we add this
average of eleven for the years in which no letters
are given, as we may reasonably do, we have
over four hundred Clergymen in Wales, who co
operated more or less with Griffith Jones, in
supporting the Schools, and in securing their
efficiency. This is a creditable proportion of the
Welsh Clergy at that time. But it is a significant
fact, that we have been unable to discover among
the number more than two (both from the Diocese
of Bangor) who occupied dignified positions in the
Church. The above facts effectually dispose of the
charge of general apathy and indifference to the
spiritual welfare of the people, which has been freely

BISHOP W. MORGAN AND G. JONES. 15
preferred against the Clergy of those times. They
^Iso dispose of the fanciful theory that poverty
was the main obstacle to the efficiency of the
Church in the same period. It was not poverty,
but the want of leadership. It was the poorest
among the Clergy that saved the Church from
sinking into deeper depths at that critical periodi
These facts are incontrovertible, and the interests
of truth are not served by ignoring or concealing
them. The Welsh Church owes Griffith Jones a debt
which is incalculable, and second only to what it owes
Bishop William Morgan, the principal translator of
the Welsh Bible. There are several points of
similarity in the history of these two great benefactors
of their countrymen. Both sought to serve their
Church and country through the language ' under-
standed of the people ;' the one by giving them the
Bible in their own tongue, and the other by teaching
them to read and understand it. In the accomplish
ment of their respective tasks, both had to rely in a
great measure on the assistance of English Church-
' men, which was readily and generously granted to
them. Both had to carry on their labours in the face
of bitter opposition from those among their country
men who appear to have been more concerned in the
extinction of the Welsh language, than in the
efficiency of the Church and the salvation of souls,
and both met their opponents with almost identical

1 6 INTRODUCTORY.
arguments.8 But there is one striking contrast
in the respective careers of these men. William
Morgan was duly promoted in the Church for his
great services, whereas Griffith Jones received no
other reward than the privilege of serving God and
His Church. The Anglicising policy, which, in its
modern form, was only in its incipient state in the
time of the former, had grown into a dominant force
in the days of the latter.
Griffith Jones' labours were arduous and diffi
cult. This little work, we fain hope, will serve in
some measure, to give an idea of the man he was,
and of the work he did. The more we study and
understand him, the more attractive and commanding
appears his personality. Humble in spirit, broad
and tolerant in sympathy, and moved by lofty ideals,
he stood unflinchingly true to his principles. Upon
these he would fall back for comfort and courage,
when opposed by difficulties, or harassed by perse
cutions. 9 Far-seeing and consistent as a Churchman,
he was also an enlightened and an ardent patriot.
But he was neither merely for the sake of winning
the favours of patrons, or the applause of the people,
for he had to carve his way to success in the face of
"Compare Bishop Morgan's Letter of dedication to Queen Elizabeth,
prefixed to his translation of the Bible, and Griffith Jones' Letter in
Welsh Piety for 1740-41.
' " It is much more eligible to bear the undeserved reflection of
some perverse people, for being, as they call it, over-busy, than the
just reproach of one's own heart, for sloth and negligence." — Welsh
Piety, 1746-47. P- 5-

EXTENT OF HIS WORK. 1 7
opposition from both. His efforts brought him at
first more trouble than popularity, and they never
brought him promotion. But he chose his path
because it was the only o.ne in which he could
efficiently serve his Church and country. His
character and his career deserve the closest study of
those who aspire to benefit their kindred, of whatever
class or creed they may be. He did not live in the
nineteenth century, with its abundant facilities for
advertisement and communication, with its wealth
of resources, and with its means of influencing the
legislature in its demands for reforms. It is not
easy for us to form an adequate conception of the
difficulties he laboured under, of which the worst
have wholly disappeared from our path. And yet
he succeeded, almost single-handed, in bringing the
means of at least the most essential part of education
to the door of the vast majority of households in his
native Principality. We say advisedly, " the most
essential part." We have no wish to exaggerate
the nature or the extent of the education which was
imparted in his Schools. We know that it was
limited and rudimentary. But he had to clear the
ground ; he had to combat and conciliate prejudices;
he had to create a desire for knowledge in those
whom it was intended to benefit ; he had to
convince, not only the rich, but the poor, of
the utility of popular education ; and he had to
rouse a whole community from apathy and un
concern, to realize the fact that the paramount

1 8 INTRODUCTORY.
need of the hour was religious instruction. We say
again that he was nobly supported by a few influen
tial laymen, and by many of the clergy; but his
was the hand that guided and controlled the move
ment which, within the compass of a single genera
tion, established thousands of schools, and circulated
a great mass of religious literature throughout the
Principality. Though the education which he gave
was very imperfect, we repeat that what he supplied
was the most essential part. He educated the moral
principle, he trained and developed the spiritual
faculties, he awoke and illumined the conscience ;
and this he did by instructing the people in the
vital truths of the Gospel by means of sermons,
catechetical exercises, charity schools, and religious
publications ; and no education, however elaborate
and costly, can be sound or safe, in which this
element is ignored or neglected. And this, perhaps,
is the most impressive lesson which the present
age needs to learn at the feet of Griffith Jones.
As an instrument in God's hand, he brought to
bear on the degenerate life of the people the powers
of the world to come. That was his aim, and he
saw the Spirit of the living God moving power
fully among the dry bones of a decayed and decrepit
Christianity. " So I prophesied, as He commanded
me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army" — one hundred and fifty thousand souls,
besides those taught in the night schools, who,

EXTENT OF HIS WORK. 1 9
under his prophetic ministry, had learnt to read
the Word of God in their own tongue.
"And their works do follow them." He was the
precursor of those movements, and, in a sense, the
creator of those forces, which have most deeply
and beneficially affected Wales during the last
century and a half. He was the foremost among
the pioneers of Welsh popular education on an
extensive scale ; he was the father of Welsh
evangelical preaching; he gave a powerful impetus
to the revival of Welsh theological and devotional
literature, and thereby imparted a new life to the
Welsh language ; he did much to set forth our
noble Liturgy as a medium of true congregational
worship ; he introduced or restored Psalmody into
its rightful place in the service of the sanctuary ;
his compilation of Hymns for public worship was
the first published in Wales, if we except the
metrical version of the Psalms by Archdeacon
Prys, of which some ten or twelve editions, either
bound up with Bibles and Prayer Books, or issued
in a separate volume, had appeared between 1621
and 1727, and the Welshman's Candle by Vicar
Pritchard, of which no fewer than twenty editions,
in part or in whole, had been published between
1646, or two years after his death, and 1750; his
Manual of Family Prayers, his stirring Treatises on
the duty and privilege of domestic devotions, and
the extensive exarhple of his schoolmasters, who
were enjoined to establish Family Prayers in th^

20 INTRODUCTORY.
neighbourhoods where the Charity Schools were
set up, gave a great impetus to Family Worship,
which continued to be a distinguishing feature of
religious life in Wales from his time down to the
closing decades of the last century ; and his
Circulating Schools supplied both the model and
the materials for the earliest Welsh Sunday
Schools. It is also a significant fact that the most
eminent among the original leaders of the evan
gelical movement in Wales were natives of that
part of the country, where the influence of his
preaching and of his Schools was felt in the earlier
years of his ministry; and there is evidence that,
humanly speaking, they owed much of their
earnestness and efficiency in their evangelistic
labours to their personal contact with him and his
work. It is almost impossible to over-estimate the
extensive and far-reaching effects of his powerful
and many-sided ministry on the life of his country
men. The Welsh patriot and the Welsh Church
man owe him a debt of gratitude, which they can
pay him best by imitating his disinterested and
unselfish devotedness to duty, and by reverting to
the principles which guided and inspired his noble
life. It has been said that Griffith Jones gave much
of its force and materials to the Methodist schism
of 1811 ; but it is seldom remembered that he was
also largely instrumental in reviving and reinforcing
spiritual life within the Church, in rendering her

LESSONS OF THE PERIOD. 21
ministrations more efficient, and in strengthening
the things which remained. This is a fact of
essential importance in estimating his services to
the Church. It can hardly admit of doubt that, had
his efforts been heartily supported and supplemented
by those in authority, the subsequent history of
religion in Wales would have assumed a very
different aspect.' As it is, he stands forth both as
an example and as a warning.
The events of the period we are dealing with
constantly force upon our attention great principles
and large issues. They bring before us the exper
ience of the past, with both its admonition and its
encouragement. Nepotism, pluralism, absenteeism,
the appointment to the higher offices of the Church
of men who could not minister efficiently to the
people in their own language, and the unworthy
intrigues, by which grave injustice|was done to such
men as Griffith Jones, to whose faithful labours the
Church owes so great a debt ; these things are to-day
known of all. And they are tremendous sins against
the Body of Christ. Have we repented of them ?
Or have there been attempts at condoning, excusing,
or palliating them ?
" What, then, must we say of those, who — set in places
of advantage and privilege and honour, in His very Church
I An idea of the loss which the Church sustained through the
secession of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists in 1811, may be formed
from the fact that their ministers numbered only 76 in October, 1829
(see C-oleuad Cymru for December, 1829, page 372), while their number
in 1901, amounted to 823.

22 INTRODUCTORY.
itself — refuse to recognise their duties to the poor ; neglect
the ignorant and the sinful, for whose sakes they were given
these advantages ; forget to ' condescend to men of low
estate ;' and ' enjoy ' their benefice or their accumulation of
benefices, perhaps some thirty, forty, or fifty years, as though
it were only a just reward of their merits, or a fitting oppor
tunity of ' doing well unto themselves ?' What else can we
say — but that such conduct, in the individual, is fatal to his
o«n soul ; and in the body politic — if it should ever reach
such wide dimensions — is the symptom of a terrible disease,
which is sure to reveal ere long (as disease always does) the
existence of a new set of latent remedial laws. These laws
are restorative if possible. But if not, then they eflfect the
removal and destruction of what had become a source of
widespread infection. ' Where the carcase is, thither the
eagles are g.ithered together.' "'
The principle of continuity is one that has, of
late, taken a firm hold of Churchmen ; and it is a
principle of deep and far-reaching significance.
There is a continuity of responsibility. " T'Ae
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge." If our fathers did wrong in
the most sacred of trusts, we inherit their guilt, if
we have not confessed and renounced their mis
deeds. To be free for the future and its great
demands, we must put ourselves right with the
past, no matter what shame and humiliation it
may cost us.
And it is no less our wisdom to remember the
good hand of our God upon our forefathers. In
" Curteis' Bampton Lectures, 1890 j p. 342.

LESSONS OF THE PERIOD. 23
spite of the sad failings and failures of the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries, the faithful em
ployment of the system, the ministry, and the
message of the Church by earnest Churchmen,
brought down the blessing of God upon our
country. Catechising, religious instruction dili
gently and thoroughly imparted, the preaching of
the Gospel of repentance, faith, and obedience;
these were the simple, but divinely appointed means
that were used. There was much scepticism and
unbelief in the land ; but those men stopped not to
argue with unbelievers. They depicted sin in its
enormity ; and they preached Christ crucified in all
the fulness of His redeeming power. They were
intensely and uncompromisingly dogmatic. They
preached positive truth, and waited for the blessing
of the Holy Spirit. And they waited not in vain.
There is a continuity of privilege and blessing; and
among all the needs of the Welsh Church to-day,
there is none that is comparable to that of reverting
to the simple and strong faith which inspired and
sustained those apostolic men, who deemed the glory
of God in the salvation of souls to be the primary
and paramount object of the existence and the
organisation of the Church.
The thought of " home reunion," too, has been
frequently in our mind. In the religious move
ments of the period under review, we see at work
the causes of those separations which have since
crystallised into hard divisions. There are, we

24 INTRODUCTORY.
believe, preliminary conditions which are essential
to the restoration of a healthy and permanent
reunion. But as far as we can judge, there are few
signs as yet of the appearance qf those conditions
among the religious communities of Wales. A
great law of Church life and progress has been
violated. We are not here concerned with the
adjustment of responsibility. But neither side has,
as yet, shown much disposition to acknowledge its
own share of guilt in the matter. The spirit of
disunion and disintegration is to-day as strong and
active as ever in the Nonconformist bodies, as is
evidenced by the condition of every village and
hamlet in the land ; and before the Church can
consistently urge upon others the great duty of
reunion, peace and "unity of spirit" must be
restored within her own borders. There are, doubt
less, many thoughtful people among us who are
dissatisfied with the present state of things ; but
they have, as yet, scarcely formed for themselves
a public opinion. A due sense of the value of
unity, and a longing for reunion have still to be
created. The "spirit of unity" must be prayer
fully and sedulously cultivated, in the light of the
appalling waste of resources, both spiritual and
material, which our divisions entail upon us, and
above all, in the hallowed atmosphere of the Inter
cessory Prayer of our great High Priest.3
There are problems before the Church in Wales
3 St. John xvii.

NEEDS OF TO-DAY. 2$
to-day which press no less urgently for solution,
and which no less seriously demand wise treatment,
than those which confronted her in the eighteenth
century. The educational and social conditions of
the people differ widely, but the old tendencies of
human nature are still active. There are some
signs that the evangelical revival, which has domi
nated Wales for a century and a half, is becoming
a spent force, and there are few indications that
any other type of Christianity is taking its place.
Religion was once almost the only subject of
interest to Welshmen beyond their daily avoca
tions. But matters are widely different to-day.
Welsh life, in a literary, scientific, and commercial
sense, is rapidly expanding. Welshmen are coming
more and more into contact with the surging mass of
thought around and beyond them. The spell of
monoglot isolation has been broken. Their attitude
towards religion is changing, and, we fear, not
always for the better. Griffith Jones' remedy for
his time, whose essential needs were not dissimilar
to ours, was religious education, and catechising,
as the groundwork of successful preaching. The
religious education of the masses ; the reform of
the antiquated machinery of the Church, so as to
extend the privileges of the people, and quicken their
sense of responsibility ; an attitude of wise and warm
sympathy towards those national and social move
ments which are calculated to improve the working
classes; the due supply of a learned, spiritually-

26 INTRODUCTORY.
minded ministry, which will set forth the Gospel in
its power to solve the social, mental, and moral
problems which haunt and harass the age. These
are some of the questions that must be faced, if the
Church is to meet the demands of the times. Her
opportunity is before her. So it was in the
eighteenth century. Some of her members viewed
with stolid indifference the movement that was then
busily shaping her destiny, and testing the com
petency of her rulers ; some treated it with ridicule
and contempt ; and some calumniated and pursued
it with relentless hostility. Others there were who
welcomed it, strove to guide it, to restrain its
eccentricities, and preserve its current within the
Church where it had originated. They struggled
nobly and long for this end. But they were at last
overpowered by the forces of disintegration. The
movement, nevertheless, went on, and formed for
itself new channels. And once more, Wisdom was
justified of her own children.

CHAPTER II.
State of the Country at the beginning of
THE Eighteenth Century,
AT the beginning of the Eighteenth Century,
the British people were suffering from the
effects of a series of changes and revolutions which
ihey had passed through during the previous
century. Their struggles for constitutional gov
ernment had cost them dearly. They had groaned
under the extortions of the reign of Charles the
First ; they had experienced the horrors of a civil
war, and had ineffectually attempted, for the first
time in their history, to establish a republican form
of government ; they had faced the manifold dangers
of a violent reaction, which accompanied the re-
establishment of the monarchy, and the restoration of
the Church to the rights and privileges from which
it had been suspended during the Commonwealth ;
they had struggled through the reign of the idle,
cynical, and voluptuous Charles the Second, and had
emerged from a revolution, forced upon them by the
extravagant pretentions of a false and fanatical
despot. The power of the Church had, meanwhile, been
much weakened by two regrettable events, which
were doubtless occasioned by the distrust, the
suspicions, the heated partizanship, and the violent

28 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
passions excited by the quarrels and the contro
versies to which we have referred. In the year
1662, the Act of Uniformity was passed, the result
of which was the secession from the Church of a
number of Clergy, variously estimated at between
eight hundred and two thousand. Twenty-seven
years later, the secession of the Non-jurors took
place, when six Bishops and some four hundred
Clergy vacated their livings, on the ground that
they could not take the oath of allegiance to William
and Mary, In each case, the secession was
occasioned by conscientious scruples, and among
the seceders were many divines eminent for their
learning and piety, whose loss at such a time the
Church could ill afford.
"This two-fold drain upon the strength [of the Church]
could scarcely have failed to impair the robust vitality
which was soon to be so greatly needed to combat the early
beginnings of the dead resistance of spiritual lethargy." '
It was inevitable that the conflicts and the
controversies of the seventeenth century should
result in the moral degeneracy of the people ; and
it was, perhaps, but natural that those who were
directly responsible for their religious condition,
should themselves have become affected by the
worldliness and the spiritual deadness which pre
vailed. At any rate, such was the case. The
Church was slumbering; the influence of religion
was feeble ; the salt had lost its savour ; scepticism,
« Abbey & Overton, The English Church in the tSth Century, 1 887, p. 3.

GENERAL IGNORANCE. 29
impiety, and profligacy, were rampant. The forces
of unbelief and immorality were powerful and
aggressive; those of the Church were hesitating'
and ineffectual.
That this is no exaggeration of the state of
things in the country at large, at the beginning of
the eighteenth century, may be confirmed by ample
testimonies, of which only a few must be adduced
here. Bishop Butler, in the oft-quoted passage
from the Advertisement to his Analogy, which was
written in 1736, says :
" It has come, I know not how, to be taken for granted,
by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a
subject of inquiry ; but that it is now, at length, discovered
to be fictitious. And accordingly, they treat it as if in the
present age- this were an agreed point among all people of
discernment ; and nothing lemained but to set it up as a
principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were, by way
of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures
of the world." =
In 1 713, Bishop Burnet wrote the following
description of the candidates for Holy Orders, and
of the younger Clergy :
"The outward state of things is black enough, God
knows ; but that which heightens my fears rises chiefly Irom
the inward state into which we are unhappily fallen. Our
Ember weeks are the burden and grief of my life. The
much greater part of those who come to be ordained are
ignorant to a degree not to be apprehended by those who
are not obliged to know it. The easiest part of knowledge
is that to which they are the greatest strangers ; I mean the
• Butler's Works, Vol. ii. Oxford, 1807.

30 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
plainest part of Scripture, which, they say in excuse for
their ignorance, that their tutors at the Universities never
mention the reading of to them ; so that they can give no
account, or at least but a very imperfect one, of the contents
of the Gospels. Many cannot give a tolerable account of
the Catechism itself, how short and plain soever. The
ignorance of some is such that, in a well-regulated state of
things, they would appear not knowing enough to be
admitted to the Holy Sacrament. The case is not much
better in many, who, having got into orders, cannot make
it appear that they have read the Scriptures, or any one
good book since they were ordained. These things pierce
one's soul, and make him often cry out, " O that I had
wings like a dove, for then would I fly away, and be at rest."
Archbishop Seeker, in a charge delivered in
1738, says :
" In this we cannot be mistaken that an open and
professed disregard of religion is become., through a variety
of unhappy causes, the distinguishing character of the age.
Such are the dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the
higher part of the world, and the profligacy, intemperance,
and fearlessness of committing crimes in the lower part, as
must, if the torrent of impiety stop not, become absolutely
fatal. Christianity is ridiculed and railed at with very little
reserve, and the teachers of it without any at all."
" Throughout the whole of the eighteenth century,
almost all writers, who had occasion to speak of the general
condition of society, joined in one wail of lament over the
irreligion and immorahty that they saw around them. This
complaint was far too universal to mean little more than a
general, and somewhat conventional tirade upon the wide
spread corruption of human nature. The only doubt is
whether it might not in some measure have arisen out of a
keener perception on the part of the more cultivated and
thoughtful portion of society, of brutal habits which in

DECAY OF RELIGION. 3 1
coarser ages had been passed over with far less comment.
Perhaps also greater liberty of thought and speech caused
irreligion to take a more avowed and visible form. Yet even
if the severe judgment passed by contemporary writers upon
the spiritual and moral condition of their age may be fairly
qualified by some such considerations, it must certainly be
allowed that religion and morality were, generally speaking,
at a lower ebb than they have been at many other periods.
For this the National Church must take a full share, but not
more that a full share of responsibility. The causes which
elevate or depress the general tone of society have a corres
ponding influence, in kind, if not in degree, upon the whole
body of the Clergy."3
Similar complaints are made by leading Dis
senters of that time :
"How many Sermons," wrote Dr. Guyse, "one may hear
that leave out Christ, both name and thing, and that pay
no more regard to Him than if we had nothing to do with
Him." Dr. Watts says that in his day there was "a general
decay of vital religion in the hearts and lives of men, and
that it was a general matter of mournful observation among
all who lay the cause of God at heart."*
" The Puritans were buried and the Methodists were
not born. The Bishop of Lichfield, in 1724, in a Sermon,
said, ' The Lord's Day is now the Devil's Market-day.' And
the three dissenting bodies were lamenting that numbers of
their ministers were immoral, negligent, and insufficient. "s
3 The English Church in the 18th Century, by C. J. Abbey and
J. H. Overton. Longmans, &c., 1887, p. 25. The moral and spiritual
condition of the country and the slate of the Church in the i8th
Century, are exhaustively discussed in this valuable book. See also
A History of England in the iSth Century, by W. E. H. Lecky,
Longmans, &c., Chapter viii. ; and Curteis' Bampton Lectures,
Macmillan & Co., 1890 ; Lecture vii * .See Ryle's Christian Leaders,
Chapter i. 5 Tyerman, Life of Wesley, i. 61, quoted in Curteis'
Bampton Lectures, p. 343.

32 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Such was the state of things in England at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, and in Wales
it was no better. Besides the general causes which
have been already enumerated as contributing to
the decay of religion and morals in England, there
were other special causes which tended to produce
the same results in the Principality. The chief of
these special causes was the alien and often non
resident episcopate, ignorant of the language and
out of sympathy with the national temperament of
the people, which ruled the Church in Wales at
that period. A picture of the state of things in the
Diocese of St. David's at the beginning of the i8th
century has been left us by the Rev. Dr. Saunders,*
in a volume which was published in 1721, and
entitled, "A View of the State of Religion in the
Diocese of St. David's, about the beginning of the
i8th century, with some account of the causes
of its decay. Together with considerations of the
reasonableness of augmenting the revenues of
Impropriate Churches." What is said in this
volume of the state of the Church and religion in
• Dr. Saunders was incumbent of Blockley, Worcester, and
was admitted a corresponding member of the Society for Pro
moting Christian Knowledge in the Spring of 1709. That Dr.
Saunders was conversant in the Welsh language, and took an
interest in Welsh affairs, we find from the minutes of the S.P.C.K.
under January I, 1718-19, in which we have the following entry:
" Upon reading a letter from Dr. Saunders, Blockley, Worcester,
December 8, Ordered that Dr. Saunders be desired to signify, as soon
as he can, some of the instances he mentions, of alterations made in the
text of the new Welsh Bible."

DR. SAUNDERS' TESTIMONY. 33
the Diocese of St. David's at that time, was
doubtless more or less true of the other three Welsh
Dioceses. In his dedication of the volume to the
Prince of Wales, the writer expresses the hope that
His Royal Highness would feel it a "moving
spectacle to see, as it were, the whole frame of oiir
religion sinking, to see many parishes without
churches, many churches without pastors, and many
pastors without a maintenance ; for such are the
profane, the impious changes that the iniquity of
the times have brought upon us, [that] they are
grievous to mention." He tells us elsewhere that
the " Christian service is totally disused in some
places, there are other some that are said^to be half
served ; there being several Churches, where we are
but rarely, if at all, to meet with preaching, cate
chising, or administering of the Holy Communion.
In others, the service of the prayers is but partly
read, and that, perhaps, but once a month, or once
in a quarter of a year ; nor is it, indeed, reasonable
to expect that they should be better served, while
the stipend allowed for the service of them is so
small, that a poor Curate must submit to serve three
or four Churches for ;^io or jCi2 a year, and that,
perhaps, when they are almost as many miles distant
from each other. "7
The three principal causes to which Dr.
Saunders attributes the depression of the Church in
the Diocese of St. David's are, first the poverty of
»p. 42.

34 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
the livings, owing largely to lay impropriations,
secondly, the promotion of Bishops and Clergy who
were unable to minister to their people in the Welsh
language, and thirdly, the non-residence of the
Bishops and Clergy. Replying to the argument
that Bishops need not know the language, since they
delegate the practical part of the work to the
parochial Clergy, Dr. Saunders says :
" I think it is allowed that this privilege should not be
extended to the inferior orders, because it is alleged at least
'that it is a sufficient cause of refusal (when a clerk is
presented to a cure of souls in Wales) if he does not under
stand that language j' though if the reason of this sanction
be just, it is difificult to conceive why it should not hold
with regard to superiors as well as inferiors that hold them
selves engaged to ministerial offices ; and yet even with
regard to the latter, it has not been unusual with my Lords
the Bishops often to relax their power, and for the sake of
serving friends, often to be prevailed with to consider more
the incumbent's than the people's needs, by providing for
the maintenance of the one, not without manifest hazard of
the salvation of the other ; and what hard notions of a holy
Father's pastoral concern and love of souls are people apt to
entertain on such occasions ? How naturally are they
tempted to conclude that their pastors are not sent to learn
their language, nor to mind their souls, and to believe
uncharitably, contrary to St Paul's rule, that they seek "not
them but theirs — their own and not the things of Christ
Jesus i " 8
The earnest purpose of this excellent man, and
his desire to see the Church reformed, are manifest
on every page. °p- 42.

SIR JOHN PHILLIPS AND G. JONES, 35
" When I reflect thus upon the present sad and un
comfortable view of the Church here, , . . I cannot
but have a melancholy fear that the time which God intends
us for our trial is drawing to a period, and that the deplor
able state of the once renowned Churches of Asia is
hanging over our head, and that our present confusion looks
too much like the dark presages of the total removing of
our candlestick, the benefit whereof we have, alas ! too long
neglected, and made too little use of" 9
Other witnesses may be produced in confirma
tion of the same opinions. Sir John Phillips, of
Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire, in a letter to
Griffith Jones, the date of which is not given, wrote
as follows : " I believe there has scarcely been any
age, since the first publication of the Gospel, wherein
men talked and wrote more irrationally (that is, on
the subject of religion), and lived and acted more
immorally, than at the present time," Numerous
passages to the same effect might be quoted from
the writings of Griffith Jones himself, of which
one only will be given here. In a letter, dated Feb.
15, 1733, hewrites: " If we consider how numerous
and shameless, I may say, how common and
impudent the despisers and opposers of serious
piety are in our days, what shall we think but that
the enemy is coming in like a water-flood, and
threatens to overflow our land with a worse deluge
than that which drowned the world in the days of
Noah." In an interesting volume published in 1888 by
9 p. 18.

36 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
edited by the Rev. E. McClure, M.A., Editorial
Secretary, and containing the Minutes of that Society
for the first six years of its existence (1698- 1704),
together with abstracts of letters of Correspondents,
we have considerable light thrown on the state of
religion and morality in Wales. In a letter to the
Society, dated May 23, 1700, Dr. John Jones,' Dean
of Bangor, writes of the prevalence of "ignorance
and ill-practice" in the Diocese of Bangor. Under
date November 8, 1700, a lay correspondent from
Wrexham complains of " the corruption of the age,"
and writes of the urgent need of remedies. Another
correspondent complains of "the great ignorance
¦ John Jones was in 1689 appointed to the Deanery of Bangor,
where he continued till his death in 1727. We find from the minutes
of the S.P.C.K. that he took a keen interest in the spread of religious
education among the poor in the Diocese of Bangor. He contributed
handsomely towards the funds of the above Society, and used his
influence to procure books of devotion for the benefit of his monoglot
countrymen. We also find from his will, dated March 10, 1719, that
he left the sum of £50 each to seven parishes in the County of
Anglesey, to be held in trust by their respective rectors, the interest of
which was to be used to teach ten poor children in each parish, to read
the Bible and the Prayer Book in the Welsh language, and to instruct
them in the principles of the Christian religion according to the
Catechism of the Church of England. He left a similar sum for
similar purposes to two parishes in Merionethshire ; and four sums of
;iioo each to be given among four parishes in the County of Carnarvon,
the interest of which was to be used to teach twelve poor children in
each parish to read Welsh perfectly, and to train them in the Church
Catechism in Welsh, so that they might not only repeat it correctly,
but also understand it by means of an intelligible and godly explana
tion ; and that they may also be able to read the Bible and the Book of
Common Prayer plainly; and, if possible, to instruct them to some
extent in writing and arithmetic.

APATHY OF WELSH DISSENT. 37
and atheism of Wales, and of the contempt of the
Clergy, occasioned by the small provision for them."
Mr. Harries, of Llantrisant, Glamorganshire, says
that "the poor are numerous, lazy, and mutinous,
and so much addicted to sports, even in Divine
Service, that he has been forced to become Church
warden in order the better to restrain them."
That a spirit of indifference and formality had
crept over the few Dissenting congregations which
were scattered up and down the Principality at the
time'of which we are writing, can hardly be disputed.
So much is clearly implied in the writings of Griffith
Jones and Thomas Charles ; and William Williams,
of Pantycelyn, in one of his prose works, puts
the following words into the mouth of Philo
Evangelius :
" The people of the meeting-house, as well as the
people of the Church tolerated the ' play-mound ;' ignorance
had covered the face of Wales ; scarcely anyone stood up
against the corruption of the age, till at last light broke out
like the dawn in sundry parts of the world. . . . The
six Southern Counties (of Wales) embraced the Word early.
Old sentinels were roused from their slumbers. Sermons
were preached in the Churches every Sunday. The
Dissenters woke up. They wailed unto them, and some of
them wept ; they piped unto them, and some of them
danced." ^
The same conclusion is indicated by the
following extract from a letter to Howell Harris,
' Gweithiau William Willians, Pantycelyn. Cyf ii., page 470.
Newport, 1891.

38 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
dated August7, 1741, and written by Edmund Jones,
an eminent Dissenting minister at Pontypool :
" Many are they that hate me, and my friends are but
few ; yea, the labourers in my Lord's vineyard would not
allov? me even to glean after them. . . . Thus dissenters,
and those who were not for discipline dealt with me. . . .
I wish some of the sound dissenting ministers separated
from the erroneous and loose dissenters ; but perhaps it
will come to that. Both the ministers of Penmaen deny
that there is any need of discipline among them, and call
my attempts at discipline by the opprobrious names of rigid,
punctilious, and novel customs." 3
He further complains, however, that " bigoted
Churchmen, the Baptists, and even the Methodists,"
oppose him.
It has been somewhat vigorously contended
that the Dissenting congregations in Wales at the
beginning of the eighteenth century were by no
means so few as has been generally believed. If it
is true that they numbered about one-eighth 4 of
the population, then indeed this larger number
emphasizes the fact that their spiritual condition was
low, and increases their share of the responsibility
for the unsatisfactory moral and religious state of
the Welsh people at the period we are dealing
with. Dr. Thomas Rees, quoting from statistics
"collected with remarkable care and industry"
about the year 17 15 by Dr. John Evans, makes out
3 Life of Howell Harris, by H. T. Hughes, 1892. pp. 178 — 181.
* History of tfonconforinity in Wales, Vh. Thomas Rees, p. 292,
London, 1861.

DISCREPANCY OF NONCONFORMIST AUTHORITIES. 39
that there were seventy-one or more Nonconformist
congregations in Wales and Monmouthshire. This,
however, is quite inconsistent with returns made at
the same time by another Nonconformist authority.
In vol. ii. of The History of Dissenters in England
and Wales, by David Bogue and James Bennett,
published in 1809, we are informed on page 99, that
there were only forty-three Dissenting congregations
in Wales, excluding Monmouthshire, or fifty-one,
if we include those of that County. The discrepancy
between these two returns, compiled be it observed,
by Nonconformist statisticians, is no less than
twenty-eight per cent. Messrs. Bogue and Bennett
inform us that their list " was drawn up in the years
1 715 and 17 16, by Daniel Neal, the author of the
History of the Puritans. The character of the
man," they assure us, " is a voucher for its accuracy,
and it may be looked upon as the most faithful
statement which can now be given of the number
of the Dissenters at the close of the first period of
their history, "s
Such, on its darker side, was the moral and
religious condition of Wales at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. There was much indifference,
worldliness, incapacity, and gross neglect of duty,
on the part of the majority of the clergy, whilst, as
might be expected, the laity were generally sunk
in ignorance, superstition, immorality, and utter
s History af Dissenters, in 4 vols, by David Bogue and James
Bennett, vol. ii., pp. 97-99-

40 BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
unconcern about spiritual things. The plague had
spread among Churchmen and Dissenters alike.
But out of this darkness, light began to grow.
Good men, as we have seen, saw the state of cor
ruption which had overtaken society, and the
profound slumbers into which the Church had
fallen. And they felt and recognised their own
responsibility in the matter. This sense of
responsibility bore fruit in the establishment in
1698 of the venerable Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, "the direct antecedent of
which," we are told, "were, no doubt, the Religious
Societies founded in London and Westminster
about the year 1678, and the Societies for Reforma
tion of Manners which originated about 1691."*
The original objects of that Society were the
association of Churchmen from all parts of the
country for the purpose of ascertaining, realizing,
and reporting upon the ignorance and irreligion
that prevailed, and of adopting means and methods
for remedying them. It was passed at the Society's
meeting, held in April, 1699, that "every member
of the Society do subscribe" the following pre
amble: "Whereas the growth of vice and
immorality is greatly owing to gross ignorance of
the principles of the Christian religion, we whose
names are under-written do agree to meet together,
as often as we can conveniently, to consult (under
'A Chapter in English Church History. S.P.C.K. London,
1888. p. Ui.

THE S.P,C.K. 41
the conduct of Divine Providence and assistance)
how we may be able by due and lawful methods to
promote Christian Knowledge." The operations
of the Society were directed towards the erection
of " Catechetical Schools," the establishment of
lending Libraries in the several market towns of the
kingdom, and the distribution of good books and
healthy religious publications.? They originally
included within their purview, not only the United
Kingdom, but also the "plantations, especially the
Continent of North America, where the provision
for the clergy, we understand, is but mean ; " but
upon the undertaking of this latter obligation by
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which
was founded in 1701, that part of the Society's
design was dropped. The Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge paid due attention to the
needs of Wales, and generously helped those who
laboured to save its people from their benighted
condition, as we shall see more in detail when we
come to deal with the relation of Griffith Jones to
the Society. What part he bore, what means he
7 One of the earliest resolutions of the Society runs thus : —
" Whereas the growth of vice and immorality is greatly owing to the
gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion, we, whose
names are underwritten, do agree to meet together once a week, or as
often as we can conveniently, to consult how we may (with God's
blessing) be able to propagate Christian knowledge by encouraging
Charity Schools, distributing good books, and by such other lawful
methods as «hall be thought fit. And in order thereto do subscribe to
pay annually by quarterly payments the respective sums of money set
down against our names in the first column underneath."

42 BEGINNING OF THE BIOHTEENTH CENTURY.
used, and what support he received, in the noble
enterprize of rescuing his countrymen from their
moral and intellectual degradation, it will be our
endeavour to illustrate in the following pages.

CHAPTER III.
Early Life and Labours.
GRIFFITH JONES'' was a native of the
parish of Cilrhedyn, situated in the two
Countiesof Pembroke and Carmarthen, and was born
sometime in 1683, probably about the middle, or in
the latter half of that year. Neither the names of
his parents nor his birth-place are preserved. The
late Vicar of Cilrhedyn, the Rev. J. B. Herbert, in
a letter dated December i, 1894, wrote that "it is
certain that he was born in the Pembrokeshire
portion of the parish ; and local tradition has fixed
upon two places as his birth-place, namely Plas-
Uwyni and Gilfachgam." His parents were of a
respectable station in life, and were noted for their
Christian piety. He was not, apparently, their
only child, as he refers in his letters to a nephew of
his, the Rev. David Jones, incumbent of Llanllwcb,
with whom he used to exchange duties, and whose
Church Miss Bridget Vaughan, afterwards Madam
I "The Reverend Mr. Griffith Jones (the worthy, pious, charitable,
and faithful rector of this parish for 45 years, minister of Llandilo-
Abercowin for 50 years) was buried April nth. N.B. He was
christened at Cilrhedyn Church, May-Day, 1684; ordained deacon
September 19th, 1708. Ordained priest September 25th, 1 709.
Preferred to Llandilo July 3rd, 1711. Preferred to Llanddowror
July 27th, 1716. Died April 8th, 1761. Aged 77." Such is the entry
made in the Burial Register of Llanddowror Church, and kindly copied
by the Rev. Thomas Jones, B.A., the present rector of the parish.

44 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
Bevan, used to attend. It has been said that his
parents were Nonconformists ; but this is not
mentioned in any of the earlier memoirs we have
seen of him, unless, indeed, it is implied in the
scurrilous pamphlet written against him by the Rev.
John Evans, incumbent of Eglwys Gymmun, and
published in 1752. This pamphlet is so full of
falsehoods that no credit can be given to any of its
statements or insinuations, which are unsupported
by more trustworthy evidence. But whatever the
religious persuasion of his parents may have been,
to them belongs the honour of having given to
the world a son whose influence for good is
second to that of no one in the annals of his native
Principality. Our knowledge of his earlier years is scanty.
We should have been glad to know more of the
circumstances under which his early training was
carried on, what means of grace he attended, what
religious privileges he enjoyed. But we know that
he was brought up under the wholesome influence
of a religious home ; that his spiritual welfare was
the object of the care and solicitude of God-fearing
parents. Family prayers, Bible reading and
instruction, formed the atmosphere in which his
youthful character grew and developed. His own
experience of an early religious training, doubtless,
made him so earnest in after-life, in pressing upon
parents the duty of family devotions, and of bringing
up those committed to their charge in the nurture

A RELIGIOUS HOME. 45
and admonition of the Lord. There is no greater
earthly privilege than to begin life under the
influence of godly parents. It is a blessing, the
reality of which grows in intensity with the growth
of our years ; and even after they are taken from
us, their prayers, their godly conversation, the
fragrance of their devotions, and the calm strength
of their faith, seem to fill our life with a perpetual
sense of their presence, restraining us when we are
wayward, and stimulating us when we are slothful.
How beautiful and how touching are the words of
Tholuck to his departed mother: "Thy business
on earth was to watch over and pray for us ; and so
faithfully and so fervently was it done, that the
blessing of thine intercession is not yet exhausted,
but like a dew from God, will drop upon us as long
as we live."
The father of Griffith Jones died when he was
young, and the care of bringing him up devolved
upon a widowed mother. Thomas Charles, of
Bala, in a sketch of his life, published in 1809,=
concludes from letters which he had in his posses
sion, that, in the earliest part of his ministry,
Griffith Jones' conceptions of Gospel truths and of
the plan of salvation were somewhat hazy. But
this is not borne out by what is told us of him by
his earlier biographers. As we have seen, his
parents were noted for their piety ; and it is stated
of him that, during his school days, he was " of a
= Trysorfa Ysprydol, vol. ii.

46 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
very serious turn of mind," and that, while his
school-fellows were engaged in " pleasures and
pastimes," he would withdraw into solitude for
meditation and prayer.
He proved early in life that he was possessed
of a strong intellect, quickness of apprehension,
a retentive memory, and an eager thirst for know
ledge, the rudiments of which he acquired in a
country school. His physical constitution was
never robust, though he is said to have shaken off
in his manhood some of the ailments from which
he had suffered in his youth. Very early in his
educational career, he evinced a strong desire to
enter the Christian ministry, and with the view of
preparing for that vocation, he was sent to the
Grammar School at Carmarthen. This school was
founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was
one of several educational institutions which were
established at that period for the benefit of Welsh
youths. At Carmarthen, he had the advantage of
receiving instruction from an eminent classical
scholar, under whom he attained "great proficiency
in the Latin and Greek languages, and in other
branches of learning." By means of these advan
tages, he qualified himself for the study of divinity,
which became henceforth his favourite subject, and
to the service of which he devoted the remainder of
his life. He became acquainted with the works of
the most eminent divines, both English and foreign.
There are no records to tell us at what date he

ORDINATION. 47
entered, or what time he spent at this school, but
if he was ordained directly from it, as is not un
likely, he must have remained in it for a consider
able number of years, for he did not receive his
deacon's orders till the 25th year of his age.
Griffith Jones received his deacon's orders on
September 19, 1708, from the hands of Dr. George
Bull, the learned Bishop of St. David's ; and his
priest's orders from the same prelate on the 25th of
the same month in the following year, in the chapel
of Abermarlais. Bishop Bull not only committed
to him the sacred deposit of ministerial authority,
but also gave him valuable "advices and cautions
which were always recent in his mind," and which
caused him ever after to retain the most vivid
recollections of his ordination day, and the most
profound respect for the bishop, whose writings
were among his favourite studies.3 It was a
favourable moment for those "advices and cau
tions " to produce their due impression on a mind
so tender, so receptive, and so well-prepared. He
had been nurtured in a religious home, his thoughts
from his youth up had been strongly inclined to
the Christian ministry, and his education had been
directed with the view of qualifying him for it.
And now, when he is about to undertake its
responsibilities, at a time when his countrymen were
steeped in ignorance and vice ; while the majority
3 The only direct reference to Bishop Bull in the writings of Griffith
Jones we have found is a passage in a letter dated January 6, 1733.

48 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
of their pastors were asleep, his Father in God
uses the great influence of his position, his
learning, and his piety, to deepen his sense of
the solemnity of the office to which he was
called. And who knows but that the noble
perseverance in well-doing which characterised
him in after life, and his unwavering attachment
to the Church under the cold treatment which
he received from those in authority, and under
the cruel calumnies of some of his brethren,
were due to the fatherly counsel and caution,
received at the most impressive moment of his
life, from the great and good Bishop Bull? Be
that as it may, it is certain that the influence of
those set over us, especially on the solemn day of
ordination, is an important factor in making or
marring the ministry of the Church.
It has been supposed that he was ordained to
the Curacy of Cilrhedyn, and that he spent some of
the first months of his ministerial life in that his
native parish ; but we have been unable to find any
early authority for this. It is, however, certain
that not long after his ordination, he became Curate
of Laugharne, in the County of Carmarthen, where
he remained till his appointment, in 1711, to the
incumbency of Llandilo- Abercowyn, in the same
County. To the scene of his labours, he brought
no academical distinctions, not even a college
degree; neither does it appear that he enjoyed the
patronage of influential people. He had to rely

MINISTRY AT LAUGHARNE. 49
for success upon his native talents, his devotion to
duty, his trust in God, his lofty conception of the
ministry, and the consecration of his gifts to its
work. During his stay at Laugharne, he applied
himself diligently to study, as well as to the practical
work of the Church. His sermons were full of
evangelical truth ; his delivery was earnest and
persuasive. His ministry created a profound
spiritual awakening in the parish, and his fame
quickly spread throughout the surrounding district.
In the inscription on the mural tablet erected to his
memory in Llanddowror Church, it is recorded that
" from his first admission into Holy Orders, he de
voted himself wholly to the duties of his sacred
calling, which he continued faithfully and conscien
tiously to discharge throughout the course of a
long life." This monument was erected, and the
inscription was probably drawn up by the clever
and accomplished Madam Bevan, who "received
her first serious impressions "4 under his sermons,
attended his ministry more or less regularly till his
death, carried on a constant correspondence with
him on the greatest and weightiest subjects, sup
ported and sustained him in the arduous labours
of his life with her prayers, her influence, her
counsel, and her means, shared his reproach, his
anxieties, and his triumphs, and, in his last and
lonesome days, afforded him shelter and comfort in
her own home, where he died in 1761. Nobody,
* Christian Guardian, Sept. 1809, p. 334.

50 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
therefore, knew him better; nobody sympathized
more profoundly with the aims and objects of his
life; nobody appreciated more cordially his personal
worth, or rejoiced more unfeignedly at the success
which attended his efforts on behalf of the religious
welfare of his countrymen.
In the year 171 1, on the 31st of July, Griffith
Jones was promoted to Llandilo-Abercowyn, in
Carmarthenshire, a benefice which was, and is still,
we believe, in private patronage. This may appear
at first sight an early promotion, as he had been
barely three years in Orders. But it was by no
means a preferment to be coveted, as the population
of the parish could not have been large, while the
value of the living must have been very small, as
the tithes, commuted at ;^6o in 1833, were not
restored by Mr. Geers till the year 1720.S It may
be observed that private patronage in this, as in
other instances in those days, conferred lasting
benefits on the Church in Wales. Both Llandilo
and Llanddowror, to which Griffith Jones was
preferred five years later, were in private patronage;
and there is nothing to indicate that he was offered
any other preferment during his eminently labour-
ious and successful ministerial career of fifty-three
years. Private patronage offered him advantages
which were denied to the evangelical leaders that
came after him, and carried on his work in the Princi
pality. He was not only a beneficed clergyman,
s Diocesan History of St. David's by Archdeacon Bevan, p. 226.

IVATE PATRONAGE. 5 1
but his fame and success soon secured for him the
patronage of powerful laymen, while they were only
curates, wholly dependent for their position upon
the goodwill of their ecclesiastical superiors. Daniel
Rowland was curate to his brother, and afterwards
to his own son ; Howell Harris, who was only a
layman, was refused ordination after repeated
applications to the Bishop;* Peter Williams and
Thomas Charles were ultimately unable to obtain
curacies in Wales. Few things can be more pathetic
than the insightwhich Charles gives in his letters and
diary into the mental and spiritual struggles he went
through, when, on the one hand, he saw the most
pressing necessity of awakening his countrymen
from their spiritual apathy, and on the other, failed
to obtain a curacy where he could be at liberty to
* " Howell Harries is also stated to have been refused ordination
altogether, after two applications ; it is singular that he should omit all
reference to such an important fact in his ' Autobiography,' and that
we should learn it second-hand from Whitefield's Journal." — Dio
cesan History of St. David's, by the Venerable Archdeacon Bevan
1888, p. 218. It is scarcely possible that Archdeacon Bevan could have
read Howell Harris' " Autobiography," when he penned the above
sentence. There is more than a " reference to such an important fact "
in the "Autobiography," of which we have two editions before us as we
write, published respectively in 1792 and in 1838. On page 41
of the former, and on page 32 of the latter, we find these words :
"After my release [at Monmouth], I was more confirmed in my mind
that my mission was of God ; especially since I had so many times asked
to be ordained, and had been refused ; and without their having any
other reason against me, than that I was going about preaching without
Holy Orders." See also A Library of Christian Biography, 1840, vol.
xii., p. 125 ; Sir Thomas Phillips' Wales, 1849, p. 121 ; Harris' Life
and Times by Morgan, 1852, p. 40.

52 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
preach the word in its fulness and power.7 How he
waited upon God ! How he held back and hesitated
before entering on irregular paths ! How his heart
burned within him for an opportunity to exercise his
ministry in conformity with Church order and
discipline ! But he was branded as a Methodist ;
he was turned out of one curacy after another, and
at last, was compelled, either to remain silent, or to
fulfil his mission outside the Church. He chose the
latter course to the incalculable loss of the Church,
and it can hardly be denied that the principal share of
the blame rests upon the authorities of the Church
in those days.^ It is interesting to note in this
connection that David Griffiths of Nevern, and
David Jones of Llangan, both eminent leaders of
'See Morgan's Life of Charles, 1831, pp. 212, 229, 230.
'* Mr. Charles, whilst curate of Llanymawddwy, about the year
1783, set himself to " put down some bad practices that prevailed in
that parish, and began to renew the old custom of Catechising ; hut
being looked upon as an innovator, he was complained of by his parish
ioners to their non-resident Rector, and by him dismissed the curacy.
Being suspected of Methodism, at that time very unpopular in those
parts, he was unable to obtain any other curacy ; and finding himself
at length precluded from all hopes of preferment, and almost all oppor
tunity of usefulness in the Church, he yielded to the solicitations of the
Methodists, and joined that body, though in heart, he still clung to the
Church, as he shewed by his practice in regard to Baptism and the
Lord's Supper. On a similar suspicion of favouring Methodism, Mr.
Simon Lloyd, after serving many curacies, was refused institution by
Bishop Horseley to the Cure of Llanuwchllyn, to which he had been
presented by the patron in 1803 ; and he too joined the Methodists.
The exclusion of these two men in this Diocese, like that of Peter
Williams, the eminent Bible commentator, in St. David's, was a serious
blow and injury to the Church." — History of the Diocese of St. Asaph,
by the Venerable Archdeacon Thomas, 1874, P- 144-

ELECTED CORRESPONDENT OF S.P.C.K. 53
the Evangelical movement in Wales in the i8th
century and the beginning of the 19th, owed their
Church preferments to lay patronage, the former to
the Lord Chancellor, through the influence, it is said,
of Mr. Bowen of Llwyngwair, and the latter to Lady
Charlotte Eden, a friend of Lady Huntington.
Griffith Jones was offered work among the
Indians in the Colonies, under the auspices of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and it is
said that he accepted the offer and began to qualify
himself for the task. But we are not told when, or
under what circumstances, the offer was made, nor
have we any means of knowing the reason which
led to the abandonment of his decision. It may be
that his health was too precarious, or that the
urgent needs of his countrymen constrained him to
remain at home. In 17 13, he was elected cor
responding member of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, a high testimony to the
esteem in which he was held, considering that he
had only been five years in Orders. That Society,
as we have already seen, began early to direct its
attention to the spiritual and educational needs of
the Principality, and numbered several Welshmen
among its most active supporters. It will, we
think, be interesting to our readers if we give here
a few extracts from the Society's minutes, in order
to show what it was doing at the time we are
writing of to further the revival of religion and the
reformation of manners among the Welsh people.

54 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
One of the most regular attendants at its meetings
from its first foundation to his death in the early
part of the year 1736, was Sir John Phillips, of
Picton Castle, who was also an intimate and con
stant friend of Griffith Jones. Sir John was a
member of the House of Commons, and is said to
have introduced a Bill into Parliament "to naturalize
foreign Protestants. " 9 He was formally elected
member of the Society on the 5th April, 1699 ; "he
put his signature to the preamble, along with
others, and paid his subscription of ;^5. His name
is also mentioned as a subscriber of ;^io under date
of December 7 of the same year. Among the cor
respondence of the Society, November 29, 1699, we
find a communication from Mr. Alfred Bowen to
Sir John Phillips, informing him that "the clergy
are zealous to promote reformation, and intend to
unite very speedily," and that "the gentry have
begun to subscribe towards the design of the
Schools." Under date of December 21, we find the
following resolution entered on the minutes of the
Society : " Resolved that the thanks of this Society
be given to Sir John Phillips for the noble and
Christian example he has shown in refusing a
challenge after the highest provocation imaginable,
and that the Lord Guilford be pleased to acquaint
him therewith." The challenge was offered, it
appears, by Mr. Harcourt, clerk of the peace for
Middlesex. Another influential member of the
' A Chapter in English Church History, p. 2.

WELSH PUBLICATIONS OF S.P.C.K. 55
Society was Dr. John Evans, "auditor S.P.G. 1701,"
as he is described in the notes to the Journal of the
S.P. C.K.I He was interested in the Principality
and knew Welsh, as we find that a resolution was
passed on the 3rd of December, " that Dr. Evans be
desired to write to Mr. Richard Gunnis, in Wales,
to acquaint him that the Society will entertain him
as their clerk," and another on the 24th of February,
1701, in which he was requested " to bring to the
next meeting a list of such Welsh books as are
proper to be sent to the correspondents in Wales,"
and "to find out a fit person to translate into Welsh
the following books and papers, viz. : ' A persuasive
towards the observation of the Lord's Day ; ' ' The
Caution against Swearing ; ' ' The Caution against
Drunkenness;' 'A Rebuke to Uncleanness.'"'^
' A Chapter in English Church History, p. 2.
" The following is the list submitted : — i. Bishop Jewel's Apology.
2. Dent's Plain Way to Heaven. 3. Practice of Piety. 5. Archbishop
Usher's Method of Self-examination. 6. A Discourse to the same
purpose, originally in Welsh, by Mr. Owen, then sequestered Vicar of
Wrexham. 7. Brough's Devotion. 8. Quadriga Salutis, by Dr. Powel,
originally in Welsh, and translated by him into English. 9. Whole
Duty of Man. 10. Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, ii. Mr. Gouge's
Book. 12. Shepherd's Sincere Convert. 13. Several Small Tracts by
Morgan Lloyd, originally in Welsh. 14. Hanes y Ffydd, originally in
Welsh. 15. Bishop Griffyth on the Lord's Prayer and on the Creed,
originally in Welsh. 16. Bishop Kenn on the Catechism. 17. Oxford
Catechism. i8. Bishop Williams' Catechism. 19. Plain Man's Way
to Practise and Worship. 20. A Dialogue between a Protestant and a
Papist. 21. Christian Monitor. 22. Dr. Sherlock on Death. 23.
Bishop Prideaux's Euchologion. 24. Vicar Pritchard's Poems. 25.
Answer to the Excuses for not coming to the Sacrament. 26. P'oulk
Owen's Collection of Religious Poems. 27. Thos. Jones' Collection
of Religious Poems. 28. Familiar Guide. 29. Help to Beginners.

$6 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
The names of other Correspondents and mem
bers of the Society interested in Wales, will come
before us as we proceed to indicate briefly what
means had been taken, up to 1713,10 revive religion
and disseminate religious knowledge in the Princi
pality. In the transactions of the Society, we have
a great deal that bears upon this question, illustra
ting both the spiritual needs of the people at the
time, and the fact that there were clergy and laity
in all parts of the country anxious to supply those
needs. The contrary of this fact, namely that the
clergy and laity of the Church in Wales in those
times were almost universally indifferent andcorrupt,
has been maintained by most of those who have
hitherto professed to give an account of the religious
condition of the Principality in the eighteenth
century. That there were glaring administrative
abuses, and gross neglect of duty prevailing in the
Church of those days we are prepared to admit ;
but that things were as bad as they are generally
depicted is not borne out by facts. The following
extracts, which could be considerably multiplied,
speak for themselves, and show that many Church
men were ready both to acknowledge that there was
great need for reformation, and to use such means
as they could to promote it. The Society made
30. Ashton's Method of Daily Devotion. 31. Pastoral Letter. 32. Dr.
Beveridge's Sermon. 33. The Best Companion. 34. A Discourse of
Prayer, originally in Welsh. 35. Bishop Taylor's Holy Living.
36. Christian Guide. 37. The Best Guide. A Chapter in English
Church History, p. 117.

S.P,C.K. AND WALES. 57
every effort to secure Correspondents in different
parts of the country, to whom they communicated
their readiness to assist in founding Charity Schools,
disseminating religious publications, establishing
lending libraries for the use of the Clergy, and in
encouraging the formation of societies for mutual
help and counsel.
In December, 1699, we find that Dr. Robert. Wynne
of Gresford, and Mr. John Prices of Wrexham, had com
municated the letter of Dr. Evans to their respective local
Societies, with the result that those assembled in Wrexham
' rejoiced at the contents of it,' and that the Clergy to whom
Dr. Wynne communicated it, ' were well pleased with the
contents of it,' their union being to the same excellent
purpose, and that they had agreed upon two particulars : (i)
To bring an account of what practice each member observed
in his parish contrary to the rubrics and canons; and (2)
that each person make a notitia of his parish. In the same
month, communications are received by the Society (i) from
Mr, Robert Wynne, Rector of Llanddeiniolen, near Bangor,
to the effect that ' the Bishop of Bangor had given a strict
charge to his Clergy to meet frequently,' and had given them
direction to that purpose. That the Clergy of each Deanery
should unite ; and (2) from Dr. John Jones, Dean of Bangor,
from Beaumaris; 'that he has set up schools for the poorer sort
at his own charge, but of late their poverty is so great that
they cannot allow themselves time to learn ; that he has
made it his business to recommend Dr. Bray's design, but
taxes, want, and poverty is the constant answer; that there
3 Writing on February i8th, 1700, Mr. Price informs the Society
" That the Clergy in Denbighshire and Flintshire have associated
according to the Bedfordshire model ; that they resolved to rectify what
was amiss in themselves with respect to the rubrics and canons. To
send for a considerable number of small books."

58 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
are very few deluded people in those parts, and that ignor
ance and unconcernedness are the reigning diseases.' In
the following January, Mr. John Davies of Bodelwyddan,
writes ' that the Clergy had met and agreed to the same
articles with those at Wrexham ; only deemed it proper to
remove their monthly lectures from place to place to receive
the Sacrament, and make a collection for the poor, and
distribute the alms every meeting. The Circular^ letter
was communicated to all the Clergy there present.' In
February, Mr. James Harries of Llantrisant, Glamorganshire,
informs the Society ' that he hath put up two schools, and set
up Catechetical lectures in his parish, and hopes his example
will obtain through the whole country.' Mr. Harries was a
very zealous and active member of the Society, and his
name comes before us frequently in the Correspondence,
Writing on March i, 1699, he 'signifies his earnest desires
that the design may be successful, and promises to do what
in him lies to forward it ; says he will communicate the
papers which shall be sent him by this Society to his brethren
of Monmouthshire, &c., so soon as he shall receive them, that
he has begun Catechetical lectures in the several chapels of
his great parish, and hopes to carry them on, together with
the schooling of poor children.' In a communication dated
June 2 1 St, 1700, he writes ' that the design of this Society
was misrepresented by some officers of the Consistory Court
of Llandaf, as a contrivance to render a Convocation useless,
and to weaken the jurisdictions of the Episcopal Office, and
particularly that of their Courts. That he hopes to set up a
meeting of the Clergy every fortnight, that he will send to the
Bishop for his leave,' &c. Under date of June 12, 1701, he
? Two Circular letters had, up to this time, been issued by the Society,
in both of which its aims are fully set forth. They are printed on pages
36 and S3 of A Chapter in English Church History, being Minutes and
Correspondence of the S.P.C.K. for the years I(S98-I704, from which
our quotations for those years are derived.

S.P.C.K. AND WALES. 59
sends the following • letter to the Society : ' Recommends
Mr. George Howells, a justice of peace, a and very zealous
person, as a lay Correspondent with the Society. Says that
Catechetical lectures are promoted in divers places. That
the Psalms of David have been set to good tunes by some
private hands, and able ministers have taught them to the
people with great advantage That several of his parish
ioners who are above five miles distant from the Church, do
neither frequent his nor any other assembly. That upon
discourse with the most sensible of them, he finds a spice of
of atheism or indifferency runs through the family, and has
done so for some generations.' Writing again on the loth of
August of the same year, he says that ' John Arnold, Esq.,
a justice of peace in Monmouthshire, would be very zealous
in promoting the business of reformation, if he had any of
the Society's papers relating to the suppression of vice and
immorality; and if he was writ to, has promised to correspond
with theSociety. Complains that the greatage and distance of
their Diocesan is an hindrance to them in the carrying on
their good designs, and that he has not exercised his episcopal
function, especially in Ordination and Confirmation of
children, for several years, which omission he wishes the
Archbishop would please to supply.'
On February i6, 1699, Mr. John Edwards, from
Llwydiarth, Montgomeryshire, writes ' that Dr. Wynne, the
Chancellor, approves of the design, that the Rural Dean of
Pola had summond his Clergy by a Circular letter, that they
had met and resolved on particulars conformable to their
brethren at Wrexham, too tedious here to insert ; that they
intend to hold their meetings at two market towns alternately,
that in the whole Deanery there is but one Free School
endowed for poor children to learn to read, &c.; complains
of the great number of the poor, and how difficult it will be
to raise a fund for their education; gives a great character
of Mr. Vaughan of Llwydiarth, a gentleman with whom he
dwells; obliges his Curate to teach the youth of the parish

6o EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
where he resides not ; and in his other parish he has made
some advances towards settling a Free School, which will be
opened after Easter ; desires every clergyman in his neigh
bourhood may have the printed account of the Society and
the Bedfordshire letter ; saith that it is not difficult to put
in practice the design of reformation in those parts, the
Bishop of the Diocese being the general patron ; desires Dr.
Evans to write to the Rural Deans to forward the work."
Mr. Arnold Bowen of Llangan, Pembrokeshire, writing
March 4, 1699, 'Saith he had communicated the second
Circular letter of this Society to the Clergy at their monthly
lecture, February 29th past, in the town and county of Haver
fordwest ; when the clergy then present, eight or nine in
number, formed themselves into a society, seven of whom
subscribed an obligation in this letter recited, that some
scruple the design for want of the mandate of their diocesan,
who, he saith, hath rather discouraged piety, &c., by
ridiculing their monthly lectures, &c. ; that they have
drawn up a scheme for taking subscriptions for Schools,
whereunto most of the justices subscribed at their Quarter
Sessions, and that the roll were sent into the several
parishes; and hopes that Schools may be erected in the
most convenient places of the county, and that Sir John
Phillips' presence is much wanting to promote it ; doubts
not of success, if the next Diocesan patronizes these
designs.' Mr. Thomas Thomas of Carmarthen, writing July
20th, 1 700, says ' That the Magistrates of the County had,
pursuant to an instrument signed in Quarter Sessions, put
the laws in execution against profaneness, &c. and wrought
a visible reformation in the country. They obliged likewise
the officers and some of the chief inhabitants in every parish
to give informations, and got them to sign an instrument to
that purpose. That the Clergy in that County are associated,
have distributed many good books, and revived catechising.
Suggests that a method of setting up a small school in every

S.P.C.K. AND Ml'AtES. 6x
parish should be proposed to the gentry.' Writing again on
May 19, 1 701, he says that 'there is but one Society of the
Clergy consisting of 1 1 persons; no libraries; few monthly
Sacraments ; no Papists ; and but few Quakers. There are
some Societies for reformation of manners which have been
so successful that drunkenness, swearing, profanation of the
Lord's Day, &c., are generally suppressed, and the state of
religion very much mended ; no discouragements but the
want of a good Bishop which he heartily prays for,' &c.
Mr. Lloyd of AUt y Cadno, a lay Correspondent of
the Society from Carmarthenshire, writes on August i, 1700,
' That the Clergy and members of his Society are much en
couraged by their correspondence with this Society. . . That
some of the prime Clergy are cautious about associating ;
he supposes they delay it till the Bishop is appointed. That
some cavil at the word association, and that has retarded
several gentlemen. That they are so dispersed that they
have few meetings unless accidentally, and some promise
to do their duty without entering into any Society, and
those that have entered themselves do meet once a month
or six weeks. That the proceedings of the Quarter Sessions
hath had a visible effect on the gentry. That the design of
Schools is most likely to take effect, when the manners of the
people are reformed, which they are now endeavouring.'
Mr. William Younge, another lay Correspondent from
Wrexham, writing November 8, 1700, and 'speaking of the
corruptions of the age and their remedies, saith discipline
must be restored, catechising seriously applied to, and the
magistrate be vigorous and resolved in punishing vice. That
in Wales there is great want of Schools, and that in Wrexham
some gentlemen have promised to assist with their purses
and hopes others will follow the example."
Mr. John Price of Wrexham, in a communication
dated October 4, 1701, ' says that he has made strict inquiry
after Boreman (a fellow that imposed on the Lord Bishop
of London and Dr. Bray, being a concealed Papist, in the

6a EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
business of the Protestant Missions into North America),
but cannot yet hear of him. That as to their Society, they
find the gentry hearty and zealous enough in the matter of
Schools ; that he has one School set up already in his parish,
and a promise of subscriptions for more when they can have
fit persons to undertake the work, for that at present they
are in great want of persons thoroughly qualified for so good
and necessary an employment.'
The entries in the Society's minutes referring
to Wales become fewer and shorter as we go on,
but none the less instructive. We can only afford
to give a few more examples in this chapter. They
relate for the most part to the establishment of
Parochial Schools, the publication and distribution
of books, and the establishment of clerical libraries
in each of the four Welsh Dioceses, a project which
enjoyed the approval of the Welsh Bishops.
Liberal contributions towards these libraries were
received from England, as was the case in later
years, when funds were collected towards several
editions of the Welsh Bible.
Under date of May 27, 1708, the following minute' is
recorded : ' Another [letter] from Mr. Pember of Prender-
gast, who writes that Sir John Phillips has ordered Schools
to be set up at Maenclochog and Penally, in Pembrokeshire,
besides those mentioned in his former letters ; and that Mr.
Laugharne pays for the teaching of ten poor children of the
parish of St. Bride, and of six children in the parish of
Marloes, and buys books for them; also that twenty-four
children are now taught at Llanychaer, the master's salary
amounting to j£S 15 o per annum.'
Under December 1 2th, 1708, Mr. J. Harries 'thanks

S.P.C.K. AND WALES. 63
the Society for the packet he has received ; that he is sorry
the Welsh Prayer Book is so incorrect ; that the Bishop of
Hereford was moved by it, and is now printing a very correct
edition which will be on better paper, with a better letter, in
octavo at about eighteen pence (?) value ; that a School of
about thirty boys was set up in that town, and taught in the
method recommended by the Society.'
December 19, 1709, William Lewis at Towyn, Merion
ethshire, 'thanks the Society for the packet he had received;
that he had dispersed the packet of last year to such good
effect that a Charity School of 15 children taught to read
and write is set up at Towyn upon a subscription of
;^5 12 o per annum.'
November, 17 10, ' John Vaughan, Esqre., of Derllys,
earnestly recommends it to the Society to make application
to the present Bishop of St. David's to publish the late
Bishop's (i.e. Dr. Bull's) intended circular letter, with such
alterations as he should think fit. He desires to know
whether the Society had ordered an advertisement relating
to the Young Christian's Library. That two eminent divines
in that County desire to be corresponding members of the
Society, viz., Mr. David Havard, Vicar of Abergwili, and
Mr Floyer, Vicar of Llandilo ; that one Mr. Evans, a
Dissenting minister, did teach twelve poor children in
Carmarthen, and since there is exception taken at the mention
of It, in the account of the Schools, Mr. Meyrick's School of
20 boys " clothed " may be inserted in the room thereof.
That he should be glad to see a tract composed to excite the
Clergy to read prayers with greater devotion and delibera
tion.' In the same year Mr. Thomas Owen, Oswestry,
informs the Society that there were in the Bluecoat School
at that town thirty poor children, taught by a mistress, the
boys to read and say their catechism, and Lewis' explanation
upon it, by heart for 7/6, and another teaches [them] to
write and cast accounts for 2/6. The girls are taught to

64 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
read, say their catechism, knit, sew, and spin for lo/- each.
That the subscriptions and offertory amount to about ;£i8
per annum. Lending Libraries, chiefly for the use of the
Clergy, as already mentioned, were established in
the four Welsh Dioceses at this time, through the
generosity of the Society and its supporters.
Among its minutes for the year 1709, the following
entries occur : "Bangor Lending Library sent to
Chester to be forwarded to Bangor. Valued at ;^6o
5j. id." " Lending Libraries prepared by order of
the Society. One sent to Cowbridge, diocese of
Llandaf, valued at ;^66 i2j. od. One ready to be
sent to the city of St. Asaph, valued at ;^66 31. ^d"
The above extracts give us an idea of what was
done during the first twelve years of its history by the
Society and the local organisations it called forth,
for the revival of religion and the dissemination of
religious knowledge in the Principality. It illus
trates the fact that, even at that time, there were
earnest men in the country, who felt and recognized
the need of a reformation, and were ready to employ
all the means in their power to promote it. The
work was taken up by representatives of all classes.
The Clergy met together for mutual counsel and
encouragement ; the magistrates used their influ
ence, and rich people gave their money ; Charity
Schools were put up for the education of the poor,
and wholesome literature was supplied by the
Society for distribution. The organisation had

PROMOTION TO LLANDDOWROR. 65
already spread over a great part of Wales, when
Griffith Jones was admitted by the Society as one
of its corresponding members in 17 13. He was
singularly fortunate in being surrounded by
influential neighbours, who were in thorough sym
pathy with the movement. Sir John Phillips, and
his son, Mr. Thomas Phillips, vicar of Laugharne,
Mr. John Vaughan, of Derllys,s Mr. Arnold Bowen,
Mr. Lloyd, Allt y Cadno, and Mr. Thomas, vicar of
Carmarthen, were all corresponding members of
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Griffith Jones was promoted to the Rectory of
Llanddowror in 1716, by Sir John Phillips of Picton
Castle, "entirely," we are informed by hisearliestbio-
grapher, "on account ofhis learning and piety, with
out solicitations from Mr. Jones himself, or any ofhis
friends. "6 Sir John Phillips had already proved him
self an earnest Churchman, anxious for the spiritual
welfare of his countrymen, and had ample oppor
tunities of knowing the merits of Griffith Jones, who
apparently had been curate to his son, the Rev.
Thomas Phillips, for two or three years at Laugharne.
He was married to Sir John's half sister; but we
5 Prefixed to an edition of Vicar Pritchard's Canwyll y Cymry,
published in 1714, by Thomas Durston, Shrewsbury, and signed John
Rhydderch, is "an address to the Rev. and Hon. John Vaughan, Der
llys, Carmarthenshire, thanking him for having helped forward the
production of the book, and also of the Dwy folder Gymmunol, appended
to it." See " Vicar Pritchard," by Mr. John Ballinger, Y Cymmrodor
xiii. 1899, p. 21. The "Rev." is probably a mistake, or there may have
been two of the same name, father and son, one a clergyman, and the
other a layman. ^Sketch of his Life and Character, 1762, p. S-

66 EARLY LrFE AND LABOURS.
have been unable to ascertain the date of his
marriage, or, indeed, but very little that is definite
concerning his married life. His wife died on the
5th of January, 1755, at the advanced age of 80,
while his own death occurred on the 8th of April,
1 76 1, at the age of 78. She was, therefore, about
eight years his senior. We have no means of
knowing anything of her character or disposition ;
but it is natural to conclude that she shared the views
of her brother and her husband. It appears from a
few passages of the latter's letters to Madam Bevan,
that Mrs. Jones was always in delicate health. In
a letter dated October 2, 1736, he says that his " poor
wife complains much of her usual pain ;" and
in another dated December 5, 1737, he writes that
she " has been extremely bad with a cough, which,
with a fit of scolding, reconciled her to take some
medicine, and she is much the better for it."
Few details appear to have been preserved to
us respecting his life and work at Llanddowror
between 1716 and 1732. His name occurs a few
times only during those years in the minutes of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His
Correspondence with Madam Bevan, or what has been
preserved of it, begins in the year 1732, and the
first published annual account of his Circulating
Schools appeared in 1738. We are therefore left
mostly to conjecture as to what occupied his attention
during those years. But we may be sure that he
was diligent and faithful in the discharge of his

PAROCHIAL WORK AND STUDY. 67
parochial duties, and a useful member of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge in its generous
efforts to benefit his countrymen. And we may
further reasonably surmise that he utilized this
period in studying theology, and in accumulating
that great store of knowledge which his subsequent
writings so abundantly proved that he possessed.
Both his letters and his publications give evidence
ofhis wide acquaintance with the writings of eminent
divines, and of his skill and power in the exposition
of Gospel truth, both in its doctrinal and practical
aspects. For every reformer that must succeed,
there must be a period of preparation ; and we doubt
liot but that it was the diligent use which Griffith
Jones made of the first twenty years of his minis
terial life, which enabled him to bring through the
press so many valuable books and pamphlets in
later years, when his hands were so full of the work
of organizing and controlling the vast and compli
cated machinery of the Circulating Schools. We
only know of one literary work that he brought
through the press at this time, namely, an
abbreviated and compressed translation of The
Whole Duty of Man, "for the benefit of the poor,"
&c., which was published at Shrewsbury in 1722.7
Of his labours as a Correspondent of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge during these
years, the minutes of the Society bear some witness.
Under date of July 23, 1712, it is stated that he
' See Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, p. 331.

68 EARLY LIFE AND LABpURS.
received books from the Society. On September lo,
1 7 19, it was "further reported that they had con
sidered of Mr. Griffith Jones' letter from Llan
ddowror, ... for the loth of April last, and
that they are of opinion that two or three dozen
Bibles in Welsh, of the new edition, be allowed
him on the terms he proposes, out of the Society's
stores, provided they be disposed of to the poor
people only without advantage." These Bibles,
we may reasonably conclude, were required for the
use of his own people, as he had not as yet begun
to labour beyond the limits of his own parishes.
There is one interesting fact connected with him
at this time, for the preservation of which we are in
debted to the Society for Promoting Christian Know
ledge. Inthe minutes of the Society fortheyear 1733,
under date of April 3, we have the following entry :
" Sir John Phillips reported that he had received of
benefactions to the Saltzburgers, namely, from the
Rev. Griffith Jones of Llanddowror, in Carmarthen
shire, a collection of ;^69 y. "jd." And under
June 5, of the same year, another entry is made :
"Further collection for the Saltzburg emigrants
from the Rev. Griffith Jones of Llanddowror of
£8 2s. 6d." This sum of ;^77 6s. id. was a noble
contribution in those days from a poor Welsh
parish towards the relief of sufferers in a foreign
country. But who were those sufferers ? Saltzburg
is an Austrian city. The occasion of the emigration
mentioned in the entry was a persecution by Von

S.P.CK.'S WORK IN WALES. 69
Firmian, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Saltzburg, of Protestants who lived in that city
and the surrounding district. When an edict of
expulsion was issued against them by the said Arch
bishop, in 1727, they appealed for protection to
the King of Prussia, " who procured for them per
mission to sell their goods and emigrate ; and in
1731 and 1732, Saltzburg parted to Prussia with
about 30,000 industrious and peaceful citizens.
About 6,000 of these came from the Capital. "^
The Society itself was busily multiplying its
efforts at this time, to supply Wales with religious
literature, to establish Schools for the poor, and to
help and encourage those who were doing their duty.
Its correspondents were becoming more numerous,
as its work was extending. And the fruit of its
labours began to appear in the increasing demand
for Bibles in Wales, to meet which the Society had,
in the Spring of 17 14, under its consideration a
proposal to bring out a new edition of the Welsh
Bible. On the 13th of May, the Committee reported
" that they recommend it to the Society to think of
proper persons to solicit benefactions in and about
London to the proposal for printing the Bible in
Welsh ;" and in reference to this, they record in
the minutes of June that "Mr. BasSett, the Queen's
Printer, had attended them and signified that he
had considered the proposal for printing the
Welsh Bible, and that the lowest price he could
' Encyc. Brit., Vol. xxi., p. 240, &;c.

70 EARU^ LIFE AND LABOURS,
undertake to print it [for] was five shillings each copy
in quires (subsequently reduced to four shillings
and sixpence), or six shillings bound in calf."
The Society renewed their order to Mr. Treasurer,
" to subscribe for lOO copies^^in quires on the
terms of the proposal, the advance money to be
paid when the first sheet is printed off." This was
the first edition of the Welsh Bible printed under
the auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. It was brought out under the care of
the Rev. Moses Williams, at that time Vicar of
Llanwenog, in Cardiganshire, "a gentleman of
good literature, who well understood the British and
the learned languages. "9 We do not know the
number of copies printed on this occasion ; but the
edition was soon exhausted, as another was printed
in 1727. Besides the Bible and the Prayer Book,
other religious publications were issued at this time
by the Society for the benefit of Wales. We find
theCommittee ordering the purchase of two thousand
copies of a translation of Dr. Gibson's Family
Devotions at ;^io 15J. od. They also distributed
the Husbandman's Manual, the Book of Homilies,
and Companion to the Altar, which had been
translated into Welsh ; and it is interesting to note
that they entertained at this time the proposal of
translating into English Vicar Pritchard's Welsh
Poems. Under date of January 24, 1724, it was
9 See Dr. Llewelyn's Versions and Editions of the Welsh Bible,
1788, p. 52.

S.P.CK.'S WORK IN WALES. 71
recorded that Mr. Moses Williams had promised
to recommend the translating of Mr. Pritchard's
Welsh Poems to the Rev. Mr. Morgan, Curate
of Matchin, in Essex. ' A suggestion was made at
the same meeting by the Bishop of St. David's,
' ' whether it would not be proper for the Society to
take measures for encouraging a new impression of
those Hymns in Welsh for the use of the people in
Wales, they being now out of print, or very scarce."
This was referred to a Committee. At a subsequent
meeting, specimens of Mr. Morgan's translation
were submitted, and highly approved of ; while the
Bishop of St. David's reported that the Bishops of
St. Asaph and Bangor were willing to promote a
new (Welsh) edition of Vicar Pritchard's Poems.
The minutes of the Society supply us also with
evidence which shows that schools for the poor were
established wherever it was found possible, and we
find that their promoters had occasionally to clothe
some of the children who attended them. It was
¦ The following note in manuscript is attached to a copy of the 1745
edition of Mr. Morgan's translation of Bishop Green's Meditation, &c. :
" John Morgan, M. A., was a native of Llanfyllin, Diocese of St. Asaph,
Co. Montgomery. Having been curate of this parish, he published in
Welsh a translation of Bishop Green's Meditations on Death, Judgment,
Heaven, and Hell, for the use and benefit of his former parishioners in
1714, being at that time vicar of Matchin, Co. Essex. He died there
27th February, 1732. He made the gravel walk and planted the yew
tree, now, in 1835, flourishing in Matchin Churchyard. H.H.E." It
appears from Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, p. 281, that the first Welsh
edition of Bishop Green's little work was issued in 1707. We do not
know what became of Mr. Morgan's translation of Vicar Pritchard's
Poems, of which the only English version we know of is the one made
by the Rev. W. Evans, Vicar of Llawhaden, and published in 1771.

72 EARLY LIFE AND LABOURS.
principally the colossal work which he accomplished
in connection with this branch of the Society's opera
tions that rendered the name of Griffith Jones
famous for all time. For it must not be forgotten that
he looked upon his Welsh Circulating Schools as
part of the Society's work in Wales. In his third
Letter to a Friend, dated October ii, 1739, he says
that the design ofhis Schools " is formed to serve no
other end but the honour of God, the advancement
of our holy religion, and the spiritual welfare of our
poor fellow-creatures through their and our common
Lord and Saviour, and [they are] carried on as part
of the laudable, but more extensive, labours of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." To
his work in connection with these Schools we shall
now direct our attention.

CHAPTER IV.
The Welsh Circulating Schools.
IGNORANCE is the mother and nurse of
impiety," wrote Griffith Jones in one of his
powerful letters " to a Friend," in which he explains
the needs, the methods and the objects of his
Schools. Wales had lapsed into the most profound
ignorance during the latter half of the seventeenth
century, and ignorance had brought in its train the
usual deplorable consequences to morals and
religion. That a better state of things, at least with
regard to the education of the people, existed in
Wales in the latter part of the sixteenth century,
and the earlier part of the seventeenth, we know
from trustworthy witnesses. To cite only one.
Humphrey Llwyd, an eminent Welsh antiquarian,
wrote in 1568, that :
"Of late, however, the [Welsh people] are applying
themselves to settle in towns, learn mechanics, engage in
commerce, cultivate the soil very successfully, and under
take all other public duties equally with Englishmen, and
even surpassing them in this matter, that no Welshman is so
poor but that he sends his children to school to be educated
for some length of time, while he sends those who make
good progress in their studies to the Universities, compelling
them to apply themselves principally to the study of law.
Hence it is that the majority of those who follow the legal
and the ministerial professions in this realm are Welshmen.
And few you will find among the common people who cannot

74 WELSH CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
read and write their own language, and play on the harp
after their manner."'
All historians agree in testifying that among the
special characteristics of the Welsh people are their
thirst for knowledge, and their aptitude for learning.
And this testimony is amply confirmed by the
history of Griffith Jones' Circulating Schools, as
will be seen when we come to deal with their
progress and results.
The causes that moved him to establish and to
extend these Schools were the ignorance and the
irreligion of his countrymen, and the sense of his
own responsibility. In the first of his Letters to
a Friend, dated March 30, 1738, while referring to
the great importance of Catechising, he proceeds :
" In this way, Sir, it came to be discovered here, how
deplorably ignorant the poor people are who cannot read,
even where constant preaching is not wanting, while
catechising is omitted. This melancholy discovery of the
brudsh, gross, and general ignorance in things pertaining to
salvation, g&ve great thoughts of heart, and painful concern ;
the case being the same, if not worse, in most other places
as here, and difficulties being found in teaching knowledge
to those who cannot read, after many years' practice of the
above method, it occurred at length to wish for rather [than]
any hopeful prospect to set up, Welsh Charity Schools."
In the second of these letters he writes thus :
" The work is great, and requires the joint endeavours
I Commentarioli, ed, 1572, pp. 49, 50. See rhe whole passage
translated in the Author's Welsh Church and Welsh Nationality.
Bangor, Jarvis & Foster, p. 33.

IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE. 75
of many, according to their several capacities. It cannot
be innocently omitted by any. The necessity of doing all
that can be [done] is very urgent and pressing ; for it must
be done, or multitudes of precious souls will be undone for
want of it ; which I wish may not only stir up many to
join you in all the branches of your laudable employments
this way, but excite all serious men to engage their most
importunate prayers for the success of it ; and may divine
grace awaken the gratitude of those who receive the benefit
thereof to praise the Lord.
" I have next a disagreeable, and perhaps an insuper
able task, to let you know, Sir, how void of that necessary
Christian knowledge the generality of all people are in this
country. A melancholy consideration ! I cannot dwell long
upon it. It is incredible to all (who do not frequently and
thoroughly examine the people, to know by experience) how
little it is that prodigious numbers know of the essential
doctrines and necessary duties of religion ; and therefore
wretchedly depraved and vicious ; having hardly any better
account to give of God and His perfections, of Christ and
His Gospel, of the terms of Salvation, or of their own
spiritual state, and of the duties they owe to God and man,
than if they had not been born in a Christian country.
And indeed, how can they know these things, except one
teach them ? It is but few, very few in comparison, that
could escape this deplorable ignorance, when the parents
cannot teach the children, and have not wherewith to give
them any schooling ; and therefore in many parts here (as I
informed you. Sir, some time before), few can say the Creed
and the Lord's Prayer, and others say them so corruptly as
scarce to be understood, not knowing a letter in a book of
their own, or any other language. A worthy correspondent
wrote me word lately, that a large parish in his neighbour
hood, where he desired a Welsh School, had not twelve
people in it who could read the Word of God in any
language; which shows that some method to redress this

76 WELSH CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
grievance is no less necessary here (but I hope from the
favourable disposition of the poor towards the present
attempt of the Welsh Charity Schools is likely to be more
successful) than in either of the Indies. But we are to pray
' that God may encourage and prosper all means of grace
and knowledge everywhere.' "
The means of Education in Wales at this time
were, of course, very inadequate. There were about
twenty-five or thirty Grammar Schools which had
been established at various dates from the thirteenth
century downwards. To most of these schools, a
number of boys were admitted practically free of
charge, and by means of the education received at
them, many Welsh lads had risen from time to time
to positions of eminence and trust. It is, however,
very probable that the general decay and depression
of the times had affected them injuriously, and had
caused them to fall into a state of comparative
inefficiency. But besides these old Grammar
Schools, other schools more elementary and acces
sible to the people had, in 1675, been established in
fifty-one of the principal towns of Wales, by Mr.
Thomas Gouge, assisted by Dr. Tillotson,* after
wards Archbishop of Canterbury, and other friends
of Wales. An aggregate of about a thousand
children attended these schools, in which instruction
was given in the English language. These
endeavours stimulated other Welsh towns to make
similar provisions for elementary education. It is
a Not Archbishop Tenison, as asserted by Achdeacon Bevan,
Diocesan History of St. Davids, S.P.C.K., p. 194.

SCHOOLS ERECTED IN WALES IN 1675. 77
to this movement that Sir Thomas Phillips refers in
his excellent work on Wales, when he says that " it
was in Wales that a systematic attempt was first
made to provide schools for the poor by the volun
tary subscriptions of individuals."3 It should also
be mentioned that the Society formed by Mr. Gouge
and his associates, had for its object, besides the
education of children, the circulation " of the Holy
Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, and other
good books in the Welsh language. "4
" The following engagement was entered into by the
Associated Members : Whereas there are 2000 copies of a
treatise called the Practice of Piety, formerly translated into
Welsh, as also some thousands of other licensed Welsh
Works, and of our Church Catechism, and a Practical
Exposition, now printing, the buying of which to be freely
given to poor families in Wales, would be a singular work
of charity, leading to the good of many hundreds who other
wise might be destitute of the means of knowledge ; and in
regard that few poor children are there brought up to
reading, it would be another good work of charity to raise
and maintain several Schools for teaching the poorest of
Welsh children to read English, and the boys to write and
cast accounts, whereby they will be enabled to read our
English Bibles and treatises, to be more serviceable to the
country, and to live more comfortable in the world ; we,
therefore, whose names are under-written, do promise to
contribute, during our pleasure, towards the printing and
buying the fore-mentioned treatises, as also towards the
teaching of poor Welsh children to read English, to write,
and cast accounts, in such towns where Schools are not
=¦ Wales, by Sir Thomas Phillips, 1849, p. 255.
'¦ib p. 256.

78 WELSH CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
already created by the charity of others ; provided that this
charitable and pious work be ordered and managed by Dr.
Tillotson, Dean of Canterbury, and the rest whose names
are under-written : — John Tillotson, Benjamin Whichcote,
Simon Ford, VVm. Bates, Wm. Outrain, Simon Patrick,
Wm. Durham, Ed. Stillingfleet, John Meriton, Hezeciah
Burton, Richard Baxter, Thos. Gouge, Matthew Poole,
Ed. Fowler, Wm. Turner, Rich. Newman, James Reading,
Thos. Griffith, John Short, Wm. Gape, Thos. Firmin."5
These efforts, though very inadequate, were not
quite so insignificant as they appear at first sight,
when we bear in mind that the population of Wales
at that time could not have much exceeded four hun
dred thousand. We have no means of knowing what
number of the schools established by Mr. Gouge and
his friends were in existence when Griffith Jones
commenced his Circulating Schools ; but it is not
improbable that some — perhaps many— of them had
fallen into disuse. Serious efforts had also been
made to bring education within reach of the children
of the poor by the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, which, as we have seen, commenced
its labours in 1698, and embraced among its pur
poses the erection of Catechetical Schools wherever
it was found possible. This work of the Society
was prosecuted with vigour. In the first circular
letter issued to their Correspondents by the Com
mittee, in less than a year after its establishment,
they state that " the success of this undertaking
(whereby the education of above two thousand poor
5 ib. p. 256.

SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED BY S.P.C.K. 79
children is already taken care for) encourages them
to hope that, if the like industry and application
were observed in the other parts of this Kingdom, the
children and youth might be universally well prin
cipled, and the growing generation make a conscience
of fearing God. "6 During the early years of the
Society, we find in its minutes frequent mention of
these schools; but after the year 1720 or so, reference
to them is very seldom found, not, we believe,
because the work of establishing and maintaining
these schools became in any way arrested, but
because the Society had to turn its attention to other
needs, such as the publication of Bibles, Prayer
Books, and religious books, the demand for which
was created by the Charity Schools. Two schools
were set up in Llantrisant, Glamorganshire, in
1699 ; another was set up in the Rural Deanery of
Welshpool in the same year; and another in
Wrexham in 1701, as we have seen.
Under date of October 9, 1708, we find that Mr.
Edmund Meyrick had " given two houses in that
town (Carmarthen ?) for the use of a Schoolmaster,
and the public library for ever, and endowed the
school with ;^22 per annum during his life." Under
February 17, 1709, it is recorded that Mr. Thomas
Lloyd of Rhosycrowther, in Pembrokeshire, reports
that the school at Pembroke had decreased from
seventeen to eight children, and that a school was
set up in another place by a worthy gentleman,
" 4 Chapter in English Church History, S.P.GK., p. 37.

8o WELSH CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
and was maintained by him. A school was set up
in Towyn, Merionethshire, in 1709, and another in
Oswestry in 17 10.
We conclude from these extracts that a con
siderable number of Charity Schools, in connection
with the movement initiated by the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, must have been
established in Wales at the time when Griffith Jones
commenced his great work. But his Welsh Cir
culating Schools were different in several respects
from these. These were conducted in English,*
his in Welsh ; these were designed for children,
his for men and women of all ages, as well as for
children ; these were parochial and permanent, his
were circulating. He derived much help and
encouragement from the Society and its great
labours, but he worked on a somewhat different
plan. He had the advantage of living, as we
have seen, within easy reach of several of the most
influential members of the Society, and in a neigh
bourhood where it carried on some of its earliest
and most successful operations in Wales.
Under the date of June 15, 17 10, it is recorded
that Sir John Phillips informs the Committee that
* See, however. Chapter in English Church History, p. 289. Mr.
Price of Wrexham, writing on the aglh of April, 1700, says, among other
things, that the Clergy in Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Montgomery
shire, " agreed lo endeavour to set up free Schools for the poor children,
and accordingly were making notitias of their parishes, and that they
find it most convenient to set up Welsh Schools, that being the language
which the parents best understand."

ORIGIN OF THE SCHOOLS. 8l
a friend of his in Carmarthenshire intended to put
forty guineas out at interest, the profit of which he
designs to apply to support a Charity School in
the Parish of Llanddo\^ror, in the same county,
This was six years before Griffith Jones was ap
pointed rector of that parish, and three years before
he became a Correspondent of the Society. It was
probably this School which, under the fostering
care of Griffith Jones, grew subsequently into an
institution for training masters for the Welsh
Circulating Schools, and even for preparing Can
didates for the Ministry.
The origin of these Schools, and the causes
which led to their establishment, as well as their
aim, and the method of conducting them, are
abundantly and repeatedly explained by Griffith
Jones himself. In a letter dated March lo, 1738,
from which we have already quoted, he writes : —
" The occasion which (through the grace of God) led
gradually to the thought of them, was a catechising exercise
after the second lesson in Divine Service upon Saturdays
before Sacrament Sundays, when several adult people, as
well as the children (particularly such as desired to partake
of that blessed ordinance) were examined, not only
in the Catechism, but also in a system of divinity, and
discoursed with in an easy, familiar, and very serious way,
about every answer they made, explaining it clearly to their
understanding, and strongly applying [it] to their con
sciences. But the greatest part of those who most wanted
such kind of instruction, and the application of it, stood
off ; being old in ignorance, they were ashamed to be thus

82 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
taught and catechised publicly ; while many others, after a
proper and friendly way of dealing with them about it,
submitted to the method willingly, and at length would not
be content without it. In compassion to the poor (yet
precious) souls of others, public notice was given in Church
on Sunday to summon them, I mean all the poor people, to
come thither, at the same time with the rest, to receive a
dole of bread provided for them with part of the money
the communicants gave at the Sacrament. Being come
together and placed orderly in a row to receive the bread,
a few plain and easy questions were asked them, with great
tenderness and caution not to puzzle or give them cause to
blush, having instructed and made private interest with the
best disposed of them beforehand to lead on and encourage
the others. This being repeated once a month, the number
of the elderly Catechumens increased, and all came willingly,
giving opportunity to proceed from easier to harder ques
tions, and by degrees to teach them in all knowledge
needful to Salvation, and cheerfully learning by heart two
or three verses out of the Holy Scriptures, [such] as would
be given them to be repeated at next catechising. This
was designed to fix better in their memories the doctrines
and duties such texts of Scripture contained in them ; and it
pleased God to give such a blessing, that they all improved
much, and many of them became visibly conscientious in a
good conversation and all religious duties. . . . The first
attempt [to set up Welsh Charity Schools] was tried about
seven or eight years ago, with no other fund to defray the
expense of it than what could be spared from other occa
sions out of a small offertory by a poor country congregation
at the blessed Sacrament, which being laid out first to erect
one, and then a little time afterwards two Welsh Schools,
answered so well that this gave encouragement to attempt
setting up a few more ; and Divine Providence was not
wanting to bring in benefactions to support them. It
pleased God to increase their success and number all along

AIM OF SCHOOLS. 83
to this time, insomuch that, this last winter and the present
spring, the number of these Schools has amounted to seven
and thirty, several of them having two, and some three
masters, who are obliged to keep a methodical list of the
names, places of abode, ages, quality, calling and condition
in the world, dispositions and manners, progress in learning,
&c., of all the men, women and children that are taught by
them. ... By the best calculation on a transient view,
the number taught in these Schools, within the counties of
Carmarthen, Pembroke, Brecon, and Cardigan, since last
September (inclusive of such as are now learning), makes at
at least two thousand four hundred. Very few of these
could say so much as the Lord's Prayer when they came
first to School, and many of them could, in six or eight
weeks' time, not only read tolerably, but repeat by heart all
the Church Catechism in their native Welsh language, and
make pretty good answers to plain and familiar questions
concerning all the necessary points of faith and practice in
a system of divinity, which the masters are to instruct them
in for some hours every day, about the time of morning
and evening prayer."
It should be remembered that the ultimate
aim of these Schools was the revival of true re
ligion in the land. Griffith Jones always selected
his instruments and adapted his means with this
purpose in view. As ignorance is the "mother
and nurse" of vice and corruption, so true know
ledge is the mother of virtue and godliness. These
are the principles upon which he worked through
out his life. He was persuaded, with the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, from which
he largely derived his ideas and his resources,
"that the growth of vice and debauchery is greatly

84 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
owing to the gross ignorance of the principles of
the Christian religion," and that the careful in
struction of the people in those principles was the
primary and principal remedy for the diseases and
disorders that afflicted society.
In the early part of the year 1736, Griffith
Jones sustained a heavy loss in the death of his
friend and patron. Sir John Phillips, who had been
his principal supporter in his great undertaking.
Referring to that event in a letter to Madam Bevan,
he writes :
" Although I much desire to express my utmost grati
tude for the very obliging letter of Monday, yet the first
account in it of Sir John Phillips' departure from us, and leav
ing the work he was engaged in, whose zeal and management
was so necessary towards the success of it, gives me so great
a concern, if not an insuperable grief, that I can write but
little. A sore breach this ! We may justly say a great man
is fallen in our Israel, a great and general loss to all the
world ! Both the Indies will feel it. The persecuted
servants of Christ, when they fly to England for refuge, will
be distressed to hear he is dead. ... I hope, dearest
Madam, and my remaining friend, you will allow me to
intimate how much I grieve for the loss of one who, in the
possession of great affluence and plentiful fortune, sufficient
to command all the pleasures that sensuality could possibly
propose, would yet renounce all this to follow the strict
rules of piety. . . Ah ! that head is now to be laid low
that was so accurate a judge of the principles, practices, and
writings of men. Ah ! that mouth is now closed that was
wont to be always full and ready to speak of his God, and
of heaven, which is now his home. Ah ! a guardian angel
is lost that I know was always upon the watch to discover

DEaI'H of sir JOHN PHILLIPS. 85
everything that was offered to the public in prejudice to the
Church or State. I grieve to think how much his society,
his friends, and his associates in the several Societies he was
concerned in, will miss him ; the best part of whom will
think it no disparagement to own that he was both the
spring and guide of their laudable actions. ... I cannot
help being in grief for him ; not because I have suffered
the greatest loss that ever befel me with regard to any worldly
advantage (for he did not design that, nor did I expect
it), but with regard to the encouragement and countenance
he gave the cause that I am resolved, by the grace of God,
to continue embarked in as long as I live.' I say, dear
Madam, I cannot help being in the greatest grief at his
death, not so much for my own as for the general loss it is
likely to be to the interest of religion in all parts of the
world, where anything in England could be done to promote
it. . . . But he is gone, . . and is attended with the largest
train of good works of any I had the happiness to know,
which are gone unto the other world. ... I shall be afraid
to see him, if I be not found in the blessed Jesus, of Whom
he talked so often to me." Writing three days later to the
same correspondent, he says : " You are bravely resolved to
stand in the breach that is made, which gives new life to
my fainting hopes ;" and again, on the 31st of January, he
says : " My long and intimate acquaintance with him gave
me opportunities to know he was but man, though an un
common one in his rank. It has also been often observed
to me that he was kind enough in not making a better
provision for me. But alas ! they little considered that he
did me an infinitely greater kindness than the greatest
preferment could amount to, and utiderstood I had no
inclination to it. And if I had, I am sure his instructive
conversation must have been very much lost upon me. I
only mention this to let you know that it is not for any
personal loss, so much as for the public, that I do and am
likely long to lament his death."

86 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS .
This was a truly noble friendship, based
upon the highest Christian principles, and free
from the slightest suspicion of selfishness. These
extracts show what is, indeed, abundantly evident
elsewhere, that, in all his great labours, Griffith
Jones was animated by the highest motives. The
thought of working for promotion, or of adapting
his principles or conduct with the view of seeking
favours in high places, was abhorrent to his mind.
His ambition was to succeed in his great under
taking. "If I was qualified for it, as I am not,"
he wrote in 1744, " I would certainly desire no
greater preferment in this world than to be a suc
cessful advocate for the poor in the great concern
of their salvation ; for the poor in general, and not
for my own poor countrymen only."?
But men of different principles and of a different
stamp were promoted to positions of responsibility
and influence in the Church, who won their way,
not by successful work, but too often by disparaging
those whose labours wereastanding reproach tothem.
He envied them not, but sorrowed over the fact that
they stood in the way of all improvement, both
spiritual and administrative. He was doubtless
well aware that it would have been useless for him
to complain, as it was as true then as at any time
in the history of the Welsh Church, that "a Welsh
Clergyman, writing upon the subject, exposes
himself to the poisoned arrows of those who seek
9 Welsh Piety, 1743-44. P- I3-

MINISTERIAL PROMOTION. 87
to defend an iniquity by imputing to its assailants
selfish motives." I
The following extracts on the subject under
consideration are interesting. Writing to Madam
Bevan on the 2nd of January, 1735, he says :
" My friend thankfully embraces the kind offer of your
interest for him, but with entire resignation, I hope, to Divine
disposal whether it will succeed or not. It is fit we should
do so in everything ; but more especially should ministers
stay for Providence to open their way, that the Master of
the vineyard may place them at work where He pleases.
We see that those who run before they are sent, do com
monly make more haste than good speed. If men did not
consult their ease and worldly interest in choosing their own
places, but with an upright heart and view refer themselves
to Him that knows best how to dispose of them, then it
might be hoped that God would be with them in a more
signal manner. To be found willing and qualified, to be
able and faithful, is what we should busy ourselves most
about, and wait on God to direct our labour, and to assist
and prosper us in it.
"But, dear Madam, it is with great grief and lamentation
that we have to consider how much this godly simplicity
and singleness of heart, how much this zeal and regard for
God, is now lost among us ! The success is wont to be
accordingly. The ministry produces little or no fruit. Most
men seek their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ. It
is in their own things they desire and obtain success;
which yet is surely a very poor success, since it cannot but
be attended with a Divine curse. This is too melancholy a
consideration to entertain you with any longer. I am
appreheesive, in some degree, how much my heart should
' Dean Edwards, Wales and the Welsh Chi^rch,

88 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
be afflicted with it. The Lord assist and teach me in the
use I ought to make of it."
Again, in a letter dated January 8, 1737, he
refers to the same subject :
" I have still the same wishes alive within me, which
formerly I often spoke of to you, that the Clergy, though
they should be those of the lowest rank and meanest circum
stances, and though not above half-a-dozen in number, would
join to carry on weekly lectures in one another's parishes.
As faith, which carries all with it, cometh by hearing, I
would promise myself the comfort of seeing more success
from this than from all other methods, while other methods
at the same time are not to be neglected. I am sure this
would be to the improvement of the Clergy so engaged, as
well as of those that would hear them. But alas ! a new
lesson is to be learned first, namely, to live by faith as well
as to preach the doctrines of it ; and three great things are
first to be conquered, namely, the desire of preferments,
the fear of man, and the ambition of living in favour with
the gentry and superior clergymen. And yet, for all the
obstructions which stand in the way, my wishes refuse to
desist desiring it. If you will double the strength of this
my wish by joining yours, who can tell what the issue will
be, though perhaps it may not be seen in the lifetime of.
Madam, your obedient servant, &c."
From such passages as these, which could be
easily multiplied, it is evident that he well under
stood the nature of the opposition he had to battle
with, and the motives which arrayed some of his
brethren against him, and deterred more from
co-operating with him. In passages like the fol
lowing, which occur not infrequently in his letters.

MINISTERIAL PROMOTION. 89
he explains and defends his own attitude with noble
frankness, and sometimes with caustic irony :
" The fear of man restrains too many from exerting
themselves in behalf of the Saviour's cause, whereas the
fear of God should have the strongest influence. But
religious singularity in a censorious and corrupt age, so
forward to apply ludicrous names and wrong imputations to
everything that is serious, cannot be ventured upon without
more than common fortitude. Consider, should we be
discouraged by what the world will say of us, if we do our
duty ? Or, rather, should we not consider what our Lord
and Master will say, and how He will deal with us if we
do it not ? Should we not think sedately how much more
eligible it is to be censured and condemned by men for
doing what we most certainly ought to do, than to fall under
the just condemnation and curse of God in the face of the
whole world at the latter day, for the shameful neglect of
it ? Or, if we are afraid that even such of our mother's
children as may be slow in their motions, will be angry with
us, and prejudice our superiors against us, if we offer to
move a step before them ; I say, if we fear their displeasure
with a view of securing their interest for our promotion in the
Church, I am afraid that, in this case, it is not thoroughly
considered that we ought resignedly and patiently to wait
His time and Providence to employ us when and where He
pleases, and to leave it to the Master of the vineyard to
assign our place and wages. Flattery and servile com
pliances, or obsequious conformities, as well as bribery in
money and other presents, to procure spiritual and eccle
siastical promotions and dignities, are in the opinion of the
ancients no less than simony; and then follows perjury
when we lay our hands on the Bible to swear ourselves clear
of it, as every minister at his insdtudon to a Church
Benefice is obliged to do." =
» Letter to a Clergyman, pp. 70, 71, 1745.

CHAPTER V.
The Welsh Circulating Schools. — Continued.
THE method of establishing and conducting
these Schools is, as already intimated, fully
and repeatedly explained by Griffith Jones, in his
Annual Reports, called Welsh Piety, which were
published from 1738 to 1760.' We are fortunate
enough to possess a complete copy of these reports
in three well-bound octavo volumes, each of which
bears the autograph " B. Bevan," which we believe
to be that of Madam Bevan. They contain ample
materials for a biography of Griffith Jones during
the most laborious and interesting half of his
ministerial life, while they afford us the fullest and
most accurate information that we can probably
possess, of the religious condition of Wales in the
first half of the eighteenth century. These three
volumes contain an aggregate of 1340 pages, and a
brief description of their contents will not be un
interesting to our readers, as it will give them an
idea of the nature of our chief source of information.
The first sixty-eight pages of the first volume are
occupied by Three Letters to a Friend, " by a Clergy
man of Wales, being an account of the rise, method,
and progress of the Circulating Welsh Charity
Schools, with the nature and antiquity of the
British language, and objections against con-
' Their pnblication was continued till the death of Madam Bevan
in 1777.

92 THE CIRCULATING SHOOLS.
tinning the use of it considered." There are
also, in the same volume "An address to
the charitable and well-disposed in behalf of the
poor in the Principality of Wales," published in
1741, and " A Letter to a Clergyman," in defence of
the Welsh Schools, published in 1745. This latter
fills eighty-eight pages. The remainder of the three
volumes is made up of the Annual Reports of the
Schools. Each of these Reports consists, in the first
place, of a short preface, written most probably by
Sir John Thorold,' whose name appears under that
for the year 1745- 1746. Sir John was a steadfast
friend of Griffith Jones, and supported him most
generously with his purse and his influence. In the
second place, we have a long Letter of Griffith Jones
to a Friend, who was none other than Sir John
Thorold, in which the writer enlarges upon the
need of teaching and catechising the people, and
¦ Sir John Thorold was probably a member of the S.P.C.K. The
name of a Mr. Thorold appears in the minutes of that Society as early
as 1701-2. We find communications from him referred to in
the minutes in 1746-49. In the Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon,
vol. i- p. 77, he is referred to as her friend and the friend of her deceased
husband. " He was one of the first members of the Methodist Society
in Fetter Lane, and, with Sir John Phillips, of Picton Castle, also a
member of the same Society, very useful in aiding and encouraging the
labours of Mr. Whitefield and the Wesleys. He was a correspondent
of the celebrated Griffith Jones, whom he assisted in the establishment
of his Welsh Schools, and of Dr. Doddridge, and a letter from him to
Wesley appears in an early volume of the Methodist Magazine. His
death, which occurred in 1748, was a great loss to the early Methodists."
On page 72 of the same volume, we find Lady Huntingdon, in a letter
to Mr. Wesley, dated January 15, 1746, writing of a " Mr. Jones" who
" has been with me for some weeks, and has been very acceptable and
useful to many," which refers possibly to GriflSth Jones.

WELSH PIETY, 9 J
sets forth the aims, the methods, and the progress
of the Schools. In these letters he combats objec
tions that were preferred against the Schools, from
which he vindicates them with conspicuous ability.
In the third place, we have a table, giving the
places where the Schools were established, together
with the number of scholars that attended each
School. And in the fourth place, in thirteen of the
24 numbers of Welsh Piety, he gives extracts
from letters received in the course of the year from
correspondents who took an interest in his Schools,
and superintended them in their respective parishes.
Of these extracts, which are most instructive, there
are over six hundred in these volumes, and he tells
us in someof the reports, that he had received during
the year several hundreds more of such letters. ^
The greater part of those published are from Clergy
men ; others are signed by Clergymen and Laymen,
and a few bear as many as twenty or more signa
tures. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the
importance of these letters. They form a great
volume of evidence on the moral and educational
condition of the Principality in the middle of the
eighteenth century, given by a large number of eye
witnesses, who lived in all parts of the country, and
were in the best possible position to judge. The
significance of such evidence will appear when we
proceed to point out the progress and the results of
the Circulating Schools.
" See Welsh Piety, 1741-42, p. 61.

94 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
The greater portion of these Annual Reports,
which vary in length from thirty to over a hundred
pages, is occupied by Griffith Jones' Letter to a
Friend, in which he assumes, almost always, an
apologetic tone. He had to struggle hard against
apathy, suspicion, and prejudice. He had to defend
himself against ignorance, misunderstanding, and
misrepresentation. He had to bear the odium
which fell upon him through the occasional indis
cretion of his schoolmasters, and through the
irregular actions of the early Methodists, with whom
his detractors unjustly sought to identify him. But
the worst opposition he had to contend against
came from those who ought to have been foremost
in supporting him ; the men who had forgotten, or
misconceived, or wilfully neglected, the sacred
obligations which the Church laid upon them, of
employing her ministry and her resources in
educating the people, and awakening them from their
spiritual deadness. With the exception of one
scurrilous pamphlet, to which we have already
alluded, his enemies have not, as far as we know,
left behind them any literature from which we may
learn their objections to his means and methods.
Perhaps they were conscious of the futility of those
objections, and wisely preferred that they should
perish with their own names. Be that as it may,
his own letters do not leave us in the dark as to the
nature of those objections. Attempts were evidently
made to create prejudice against his Schools in the

OBJECTIONS TO THE SCHOOLS. 95
minds of the English people, so as to dry up
channels from which he derived much ofhis support.
In his third letter, dated October ii, 1739, and
again in his letter prefixed to Welsh Piety for
1740-41, he alludes to these attempts, enumerates
the objections seriatim, and replies to them at length
and with crushing effect. The student of Welsh
Church history is only too familiar with these
objections. " The objection raised against this method in England,
where our best friends are (as you. Sir, in a most friendly
manner give me to understand) amounts to this. That these
Welsh Charity Schools are means to continue the use of the
Welsh tongue, and to keep the natives in ignorance of the
English. It is urged that the Irish is abolishing, by means
of the English Charity Schools in the Highlands of Scotland,
and beginning to be so by the same institutions in Ireland ;
and that the Bishop of Man has found means to bring the
Manks into disuse; and why should the King's subjects in
Wales be the only persons with whom little or no pains are
taken to make them learn the English tongue ?...."
" This being the objection in its full strength, before I
speak about it, I shall beg leave to premise that I am not at
present concerned what becomes of the language abstractedly
considered; nor design to say anything merely to aggrandise
or advance its repute. The thing to be cleared up is, whether
the chief and greatest end of all, viz., the glory of God,
the interest of religion, and the salvation of the poor Welsh
people, is most likely to be promoted by continuing or
abolishing it."
Griffith Jones' words, in reply to this question,
are too lengthy to be quoted here. In the first

96 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
place, he argues, as Bishop William Morgan,
Morus KyflBn, and others had argued a century
and a half before him: " How can the design of
destroying the British tongue be accomplished,
except the present stated worship of God, and all
manner of preaching, teaching, catechising, or
other instructions from conversation and books in
Welsh, as well as the Welsh Schools, be discoO'^
tinned ? What length of time, I may well ask,
how many hundred years, must be allowed for the
general attainment of the English, and the dying
away of the Welsh language ? which (as I am to
show hereafter) has hitherto survived some thou
sands. And, in the meantime, while this is adoing
(whether now or hereafter), what myriads of poor
ignorant souls must launch forth into the dreadful
abyss of eternity, and perish for want of knowledge?
And who will answer for this?"
In the second place, he refers to " some advan
tages peculiar to the Welsh tongue favourable to
religion, as being perhaps the chastest in all Europe.
Its books and writings are free from the infection
and deadly venom of Atheism, Deism, Infidelity,
Arianism, Popery, lewd plays, immodest romances,
and love intrigues ; which poison the mind, captivate
all the senses, and prejudice so many (conversant
with them) against their duty to God, and due care
of their own souls ; and which, by too many books
in English and some other languages, are this day
grievously propagated." And referring to those

WELSH LANGUAGE. 97
"poor Welshmen " who had migrated for employ
ment to English towns, he says, " How poorly
qualified are these to benefit by an English sermon!
 And this, and worse than this, is the
case of those who live in or near our few English
towns here, who cannot, properly speaking, be said
to know any language at all, when they have lost
their Welsh ; none to understand the Word of God
in ; insomuch that, if the Welsh tongue be taken
from our common people, the Sacrament of Baptism
had as good be taken away also, by which alone
then they could be entitled to the name of
Christians." In the third place, he deals with scathing
severity with the appointment of clergymen whose
knowledge of Welsh was imperfect, to the cure of
Welsh parishes.
" It is a great hardship upon some clergymen to be
made pastors of Welsh congregations, when they are not
qualified to officiate in that tongue. It is not my present
business to inquire who this is owing to ; but be they
who they will, and how little soever they lay it to heart for
the present, they will hereafter find themselves answerable
to a grievous charge. This has, in too many places, reduced
the country into heathenish darkness and irreligion (and,
what some are apt to declaim against as more damnable)
into different communities and separations from the
Established Church. By means of these clergymen offi
ciating in English to Welsh congregations, we may say, a
trial has been made, in some sort, whether the people
would learn their language, and forget their own, till they
have almost forgotten the name of Christ. The sheep could

98 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
not know their shepherd's voice from first to last ; and must
therefore perish, or go astray for want of pasture. . . .
It cannot justify EngUsh preaching that there may be one
or two, or a small number, who understand the language,
when all the rest of the parish know nothing of it; nor
excuse an incumbent to devolve the whole of the work on
his curate, because he knows not the tongue himself, which
he is bound, by the laws of God and man, to study and
minister in, or to disengage himself from the obligation
thereof Nor yet can it be a sufficient pretext of discharging
the duty in Welsh, that an almost unintelligible translation
should be made of an English sermon, heaping together a
collection of words from a dictionary, which could make
but an unsavoury discourse in any language, while it
egregiously wanted both grammar and common sense ; and
all, because they would not be at the pains to study the
language ; which they should either not scruple to do, or
not pretend to fill a place of such important trust, which
they are altogether unqualified for. I wish these clergy
were more suitably preferred ; and those whose province it
is to dispose of the cure of souls would do well to think of
this as a business of the last consequence."
Another objection preferred against his Schools was
that they tended to promote Dissent : — " I should really,"
he says, "be ashamed to mention the next objection, if
some people did not scruple to make it. I little expected
that any would have front enough to say that teaching the
poor to read would make them Dissenters. A high com
pliment (though not intended) to those who separate from
us ! ...
" To trace the footsteps which lead to dissension a little
higher. Since it is vain to conceal what none are ignorant of,
except those who have it in their power to reform it, I cannot
but lament an imposition of the worst consequence in the
world, which our learned and worthy diocesans in this country
are sometimes liable to, by the misrepresentation that is

CAUSES OF DISSENT. 99
often laid before them of several things, especially in matters
of ordination. Their dioceses being large, and lying remote
from the scene of important affairs, which require their
attendance for a considerable part of the year, and the
common people being of a different language, and unable
to make known their grievances, their Lordships are there
fore obliged to credit the testimonies, and to see with the
eyes of others. But, alas ! treacherous eyes that wretchedly
betray their head ! As many report of others, and likewise
recommend candidates for the ministry, by no other rule
but according as they are affected, or agree together in
politics, and other opinions or morals, several well-disposed
and laborious men in the ministry, very loyal and well-
affected to the present government in Church and State,
have suffered not a little in this way. The minds of their
superiors being thus rendered unfavourably disposed
towards them, some very hopeful persons have met with
great difficulties, if not rejected, when they offered them
selves for Holy Orders, and others observing these dis
couragements, have been driven to seek imposition of
hands in another community, whereby Dissenters have
gained some popular and useful ministers, and the people
have followed them ; whilst too many others, unworthy the
sacred function, get admittance into it, by the interest and
recommendations of those who care not what indignity they
reflect thereby upon venerable characters.
" Among other necessary qualifications in a steward of
the mysteries of God and holy things, no doubt but the
grace of God and a holy disposition are the chief, and should
therefore most carefully be inquired into ; for if an unfit
pilot be appointed to conduct a ship, who will be charged
with the damage it sustains by his disqualification ? It is
well known that ministers thus unqualified, whatever other
accomplishments they may have, will neither labour heartily
themselves in a cause they do not love, nor forbear looking
with an evil eye on their fellow servants, whose diligence is

100 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
their reproach. If they have art and interest enough to
engross and abuse the ear of a superior Order, such as
endeavour to be more industrious, in order to save both
themselves and those that hear them, must expect no better
treatment than they would certainly deserve, if they lived
the idle and corrupt lives of their accusers. As the work
of the ministry, almost all of it, in this country devolves
generally on the lowest class of the clergy, curates and
meanly-beneficed ministers, many of them (I bear them
witness) would bestir themselves to labour more abundantly
in the ministry if they durst ; but a zeal (however right and
regular) which yet exposes them to ill-natured reflections
and resentments' is too frightful a thing to venture upon.
For nothing would be more heinously provoking than this
to some patrons, and others who love to live undisturbed
and at their ease, which tends not a little to the decay of
religion in general, and the interest of the Church of
England in particular. It is no secret [that] several profane
profligates have confessed their infidelity and sensual
liberties to be owing to the very bad opinion they took up
of some clergymen, whom they concluded had no more of
the Christian faith in reality than they ; otherwise they
would \\z\t preached a.nd. practised in a much better manner.
The inferior and better-disposed people make no such ill-use
of a corrupt ministry. They only turn to those who will
condescend to explain sacred things to their capacities, and
with becoming zeal and earnestness, apply them to their
consciences. "... If ministers, not qualified with the grace of
God, would not do very great hurt, surely they could do but
little good. How unfit are they to reprove the faults of
others, who will not reform their own ? ... Or will they
be painful and diligent to instruct the ignorant in the
Church Catechism, and its principles, whose hearts are set
only upon its revenues and perquisites ? Instead of pro
viding proper food for their flocks, they will be looking out

ILL-QUALlFIfiD MINISTERS. lOt
for greater preferments for themselves ; too justly compared
by a very devout divine to crows, which, when boys pick
out their eyes, fly up higher and higher, till at last they drop
down dead. When they happen to come to their Churches
and see them empty, they will not fail to rail and declaim
most terribly against those whom they force to dissent from
them, till they_/f.« their aversion and increase their number.
For when they pour out dreadful anathemas, moderate
people are frightened away, and are sometimes heard to
whisper. We will not hear this man again; whilst many profane
and immoral persons are suffered to soothe themselves with
false hopes under the specious pretence of being good Church
men. This is not surmising what may be, but is matter of
fact, which is always allowed to be the most substantial
evidence. And would to God there were not too many
living instances to prove that from hence come the desolation
of Zion, and the letting in a deluge of irreligion, vice, and
confusion, that is like to carry all before it, if not remedied
in time." " It is too visible (whether it be innocent or
criminal to mention it) that the present state of the Church
affords but a melancholy prospect. Who can behold it
without tears, or contain the grief without crying out ? . . .
I mean not to offend anyone, nor ought I to be thought an
enemy for speaking the truth, which my real love and desire
of seeing religion revived in the Established Church do
wrest from me, I am too much a mourner for these things,
to be able to hold my peace when a proper occasion presents
to vent my grief. Everyone knows and condemns the
corruption privately, and are apt to censure all that are
accessory to it, and some, perhaps, unjustly ; but they wisely
consider the danger of speaking out. There is proud flesh
in the sore that will not endure to be touched. Complaints
will always exasperate the guilty. Criminals are too weak
to hide their resentments, though they discover themselves
by it. Great discouragements ! But as matters mend not
by concealing, I have ventured the indignation of such as

102 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
find themselves to be the men I complain of. Those that
endeavour to discharge their duty (for several such we
have, God be praised), have nothing to do with it, and ought
not to be angry that I expose myself to seek their defence,
success, and encouragement. And I must solemnly declare,
that I am far from designing to give any peopleia handle to dis
parage the sacred characters of anyone of our good prelates,
whom I revere inferior to no man living, and whom we cannot
duly regard and love without being displeased with those
(whether laity or clergy), who abuse their good-natured
credulity, in recommending wrong persons to the ministry,
and excluding their betters ; and by wrong informations
misguiding their favours, to the great grief of good and
laborious ministers, and encouragement to the idle and
vicious. I cannot, indeed, help fearing that our Right
Reverend and Ghostly Fathers may possibly sin through
excess of tenderness, towards those who deserve their severe
rebukes ; as good old Eli, who, though an eminent saint
and ruler in Israel, yet offended herein, and by too much
lenity, brought ruin and infamy upon himself and family,
for the iniquity of the priests, his sons, which he reproved
not, as he ought to have done."3
These extracts give us the views of Griffith
Jones on the administration of the Church in his day,
and the causes of Dissent in Wales, and no witness
could be more competent or trustworthy. He had
been accused by his enemies of promoting Dissent,
and he turns the tables with crushing effect on his
accusers. It is a sad picture that he draws, and it will
be recognised in some of its details in the conduct
of the incumbent of Eglwys Gymmun towards Peter
Williams and towards Griffith Jones himself.
^Letter to a Friend, Welsh Piety, 1740-41, pp. 4-10.

UNSATISFACTORY STATE OF THE CHURCH. 103
Bishops being obliged to see with the eyes of others,
who were flatterers and self-seekers, and this leading
to the admission of bad and the rejection of good
candidates for the ministry ; hirelings creeping into
high positions in the Church through sycophancy,
calumny, and cunning intrigue ; these things
bearing their natural fruits in the infidelity and
profligacy of one class, and in the alienation from
the Church of another; the curacies and poor
benefices, which offered no temptation to the
ambition and rapacity of the hirelings, being left
in the hands of men who had a higher sense of their
vocation, and who were thus instrumental in saving
the Church in Wales almost from extinction ; the
worldly wisdom of those who felt and privately
acknowledged the prevailing abuses, but would
not complain, owing to their dread of official
displeasure ; the impotent rage of men, who, when
they happened to go to their Churches, found that
their unfitness and unfaithfulness had succeeded in
emptying them ; the bitter persecution endured by
honest men who ventured to point out abuses in
the Church, and endeavoured to remedy them ; all
this is very interesting, but very sad. It makes
us cease to wonder that the Church has suffered
grievously. The other objections made to his Schools with
which Griffith Jones deals in the same letter are — that
they promoted Methodism ; that there was no such
great necessity for religious instruction which the

I04 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
Schools were designed to provide ; and that the people
were not so deplorably ignorant and destitute of
Christian knowledge, as was implied in what he said.
Inalmost everyone of his annual Letters, he alludes
more or less pointedly to the opposition he had to
contend with. In a letter dated August i6, 1739,
he complains that the enemies of the ' design '
"seem to be under a difficulty to find a plausible
pretext to oppose it, without exposing themselves ;
insomuch that I cannot hear of any here, except
persons of abandoned characters who speak against
the Welsh Charity Schools. And it is only one
instance of this that has appeared openly, which
happened last Spring, when two of the Welsh
masters met with very strange treatment. But as
this sufficiently exposed the persons concerned as
actors therein, it had no other influence upon the
Schools (as everybody knew the characters of their
opposers) but to recommend them, and moved
some with compassion to relieve the masters
(when the little money they had for their sub
sistence had been illegally taken from them)
who went on in their business, and prospered in
it. "4 He writes elsewhere of " violent enmity,"
and of "malicious slanders and calumnies,"
which were directed against him. He does
not tell us from whom the opposition came.
The most explicit information on this matter
which we have seen from his pen, is contained
'See also Welsh Piety, 174 1-2, p. 6.

CLERICAL OPPOSITION TO THE SCHOOLS. I05
in a letter, written to Madam Bevan, and dated
July 29, 1736.
" I could not help amusing myself this morning (my
cough obliging me to be up early), how much my late
friends have endeavoured to possess the Bishop and Chan
cellor with prejudice against me ; yet, through the over
ruling power of Divine Providence, which was the only
refuge I had to fly to, I have the same unscrupulous free
dom to go on in the Lord's work, without disobeying any
absolute command of the Bishop ; and although my poor
endeavours are left to stand alone, without any encourage
ment, or rather under great discouragement from my
brethren the clergy ; yet this, methinks, is an advantage to
make me proceed with so much more sincerity with respect
to God. And I must gratefully acknowledge, too, that the
comfort derived from those dear Christian friends, whom
Divine goodness has raised up for me, does more than
counter-balance the discouragements of the strange looks,
the unchristian censures, and the plottings of my adver
saries. It will not be in their power to make me feel any
sufferings, unless they could put a stop to my poor endea
vours ; which will never be, as long as the great God has
any work for me to do."
This letter was written in the early history of
the movement, and we have reason to believe that
the opposition to them grew weaker and less
general, as they became more numerous and better
known. Writing in Welsh Piety for 1745-1746, he
says : " I am glad to inform you that I am spared
the trouble of answering such objections as are
wont to be started by unthinking or misinformed
people, against all religious undertakings at the
first appearance of them. I think these -Schools

Io6 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
have now got above, and quite vanquished all this.
The mouths of gainsayers seem to be shut, having
no evil thing to say of them ; at least, I do not hear
of anything about them, that is, or can be justly
censured." This seems evidence that opposition to his
Schools had, in a great measure, subsided after ten
or fifteen years of steady work. And yet, six years
after these words were written, a neighbouring
clergyman wrote the pamphlet already referred to, in
which he brought the vilest accusations against
Griffith Jones, and his conduct of the Schools.
His motives, his character, his actions, and the
results of the Schools are so violently assailed that
the writer could have had no other aim than to crush
him. In this he ignominiously failed, and only
succeeded in winning for himself the reprobation of
posterity. The Rev. Evan Evans {leuan Brydydd
Hir), a Welsh clergyman, in a letter of dedication
to Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, prefixed to the
author's Volumes of Sermons published in 1776,
asserts that the writer of the pamphlet alluded to
was " hired by the bishops " to blacken the
character of Griffith Jones. There is no positive
evidence, as far as we know, to confirm this testi
mony ; nor is there anything to prove another
allegation that has been frequently repeated, that
Griffith Jones was involved in a law-suit in the
Bishop's Court for twenty years. 5
s Lecky's History of England in the 18th Century, vol. iii., p. 105.

ATTITUDE OF THE BISHOPS. IO7
In his allusions to the Bishops, Griffith Jones
is always decorous and respectful, as became a
loyal Churchman. Whenever he can, he quotes
their authority on behalf of his methods, and he
gives copious extracts from their charges and their
writings in justification of his Catechetical Schools.
But from all that can be gathered from his writings,
their attitude towards these Schools was an attitude
of indifference and unconcern, rather than of active
hostility, although he seems to have won their con
fidence, if not their support, after some twenty years
of successful labours. He believes apparently that
they were the misguided victims of untrustworthy
and unscrupulous advisers. The following extract
is instructive :
" You may possibly imagine. Sir, that I reflect on
magistrates and bishops ; far be it from me to mean anyone
but those whom these reflections belong to. You know,
Sir, I was born a Welshman, and have not unlearned the
simple honesty and unpoliteness of my mother tongue ; nor
acquired the oiliness of the English language, which is now
refined to such a degree, that a great part of it is near akin
to flattery and dissimulation. But in my way of expressing
myself, I declare I mean not to reflect upon anyone of our
worthy magistrates, or truly reverend ministers, or any other
that make conscience of discharging their duty ; much less
any of our bishops, whom I revere as much as it is possible
for anyone to do ; many of whom, I am persuaded, suffer
the plentiful reflections bestowed upon them, for no other
cause but for not rectifying disorders which never came to
their knowledge, nor punishing faults they were never
informed of. And everybody thinks a detection of false

ro8 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS .
recommendations, information, and visitation presentments
to be of too dangerous a nature ; and so the imposition will
always go on. It is much too easy to give you an hundred
instances of this; but one may serve to explain my meaning.
Some years ago, I happened to meet, in my travels through
another diocese, with a Churchwarden going to the Bishop's
Triennial Visitation Court, with his presentment in his
pocket, wherein he gave his clergyman a good character ;
but .'said privately he was not a gentleman of wonderful
virtue, or famous for Christian morality. The several
particulars which he mentioned of him, unbecoming the
sacred profession, were such as I choose not to repeat ;
which, he said, were very well known to everybody but the
bishop (as afterwards I found to be true). Upon asking
the warden why he did not present him for all this, as he
was obliged to do by his oath, he said he did not know
whether there was an oath in the case or no ; for if there
was, it was in English, which he did not understand ; but
that he would as soon hang, or banish himself from the
country, as he would present him for these crimes, because
his minister, he said, had drawn up the presentment him
self, and was a bottle companion to the top gentry of all
the diocese, and did not want interest enough with the
clergy, all of whom he could easily influence to revenge his
quarrel upon the poor warden ; and by whose friendship his
minister would be sure to gain more credit than he with
the bishop." So far from this being an isolated instance, he
assures his correspondent that " our Church groans under
the burden of this corruption." ^
"To labour in vain is, indeed, discouraging;
and success begets envy." This is how he was
compelled to account for the opposition he met
with. There was no other way. He worked on
' Letter lo a Clergyman, pp. 50-52. 1745.

SCHOOLS CONDUCTED ON CHURCH LINES. I09
Strictly Church lines. His aims were the renewal
of Church life, the salvation of souls, and the glory
of God. He earnestly desired that his efforts might
result in checking the evils and disorders that
threatened to involve Church and State in ruin.
He was conscious of the integrity of his motives,
the efficacy of the means he employed, and
the reasonableness of his position. He, there
fore, goes on, regardless of suspicion and mis
representation. " Good undertakings should not
be deserted for the ill-will of bad men ; in the end,
they seldom speed the worse for it." He believed
that God would stand by him, as long as he was
working for right ends on right principles.7 As
one of his biographers says, he was always " the
strict Churchman." It is no wonder that he was
keenly disappointed at finding his efforts frowned
upon by Churchmen. " Indeed, Sir," he writes in
1744, " I must own freely it is beyond my imagina
tion how it is possible to find any colourable
pretence to object against them (i.e., the Schools),
without either alleging false facts or magnifying
the accidental faults or indiscretion of some or
' " The affair of the Welsh Schools, it is hoped, will have some
good effect, if an unworthy man is not too much seen in it. Providence
setting them up and favouring them with firiendly reception, is some
hopeful symptom, under many threatening aspects. I wish there was
a hundred for every one, and a hundred-fold success attending each of
them. They are the likeliest means to prepare men's minds to
receive saving knowledge now, when the standing order for instruction
seems to have fallen under a general and heavy curse and judicial
lethargy." Letter to Madam Bevan, January 6, 1738.

no THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
Other employed about them ; which does not imply
an excess of charity, or the kindliest disposition
towards them." He had every reason to expect
the cordial co-operation of his fellow-Churchmen.
"The means and methods of carrying on the
design neither are nor can be liable to objection,
since we proceed therein in everything agreeable
to the rules and doctrines professed and taught in
our Established Church." 7 The Schools entered
no parish except at the invitation or by the permis
sion of the parochial clergyman. "These Schools
never intrude, or force themselves, but are given
where desired." ^ The masters employed, who
" were the best-disposed members and communi
cants of the Church of England that we can find
willing and qualified for this service," were to be
the clergyman's choice, if possible, and were to work
under his direction and supervision. " The School
masters are commonly of their (i.e., the clergy's)
own choice and appointment ; the care and conduct
of the Schools and Schoolmasters being always
submitted to them." 9 He was fully alive to the
necessity of caution in the selection of masters, for
" it cannot be with the grain of a good conscience
to employ immoral persons to teach poor people
religion. I cannot and dare not prostitute any part
of the charity of good people in this matter." If
masters were found in any way unworthy, they
' Welsh Piety, 1739-40, p. 22. " Letter ii, August 16, 1739.
» Welsh Piety, 1747-48; p. 18.

RULES FOR CONDUCTING SCHOOLS. Ill
were to be summarily dismissed, and others
appointed in their place. They were to conduct
the Schools according to a definitely prescribed
method. " Where a Charity School is wanted and desired, or
likely to be kindly received, no pompous preparations or
costly buildings are thought of, but a church or chapel, or
untenanted house of convenient situation, is fixed on ; and
public notice is given immediately, that a Welsh School is
to begin there at an appointed time, where all sorts that
desire it are to be kindly and freely taught for three months
(though the Schools are continued for three months longer,
or more, when needful ; and then removed to another place
where desired). The people, having no prospect of such
an opportunity but for a short limited time, commonly
resort to them at once, and keep to them as closely and
diligently as they can, though some can afford to come but
every other day, or in the night only, because the support of
themselves and families requires their labour. The masters
are instructed, hired, and charged to devote all their time,
and with all possible diligence, not only to teach the poor
to read, but to instruct them daily (at least twice every day)
in the principles and duties of religion from the Church
Catechism, by the assistance of such explanations of it as
they and the scholars are provided with, which they are not
only to repeat out of book, but also to give the sense thereof
in their own words, with a Psalm and prayer night and
morning after catechising. Every master is also obliged to
keep a strict account of the names, ages, condition in the
world, and progress in learning, of all the scholars ; and of
the books they learn, and the time or number of months,
weeks, and days that everyone of them continued in the
School ; that the masters may be paid accordingly. This
account every master is to bring in writing at the end of

112 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
three months, with proper certificates of the truth thereof,
and of their own behaviour, signed by such clergymen as
condescended to inspect them, as well as by several other
creditable persons living near the Schools." •
He tells us elsewhere that the clergy were
desired to see, so far as they were able, that the
masters and scholars give diligent attendance to
their business, and behave well and regularly in
everything; that they resort devoutly to the public
worship on Sundays ; that the scholars be taught
to say their prayers and graces before and after
meat ; that they resort to say their Catechism to
their parish minister as soon as they have learned
it, which they should do in two months at farthest
(many have learnt it sooner), and that their masters
by no means omit, nor yet slightly perform their
duty of pressing them to turn unto God, through
faith in Christ, that they may obtain His grace to
renew their hearts and pardon their sins ; dissuading
them in a particular manner from the reigning
vices of the neighbourhood, and earnestly exhorting
them to a devout life and conscientious discharge
of their relative duties, and the worship of God at
home.-" Such was the plan on which he carried on his
Schools. It is reasonable to conclude that, among
the conditions upon which they were granted, was
a strict compliance on the part of the local managers
Welsh Piety. 1742-43, pp. 5, 6.
' Jfelsh Piety, 1739-40. p. 13.

EXTENT OF SCHOOLa II3
and masters with the above directions, which, it is
not unlikely, were printed as rules for theguidance
of those concerned, as he repeats them in several
of his Annual Reports in almost identical words.
He informs his friend regularly that the Schools
worked well, and though the organisation became
cumbrous, complicated, and extensive, he seldom
complains that their management gives him
trouble. The work he carried on was colossal,
and, when all things are considered, its success was
marvellous. In the Report for 1747-48, he states
that "these Charity Schools have now spread them
selves so far over the Principality, that some of them
are set up in every County of South and North
Wales, the County of Flint only excepted." With
trifling exceptions, their operations were confined
to South Wales up to the year 1 742, and it was not
until the year 1746 that they reached much beyond
Montgomeryshire in North Wales. From the latter
year, when they were first established in Anglesey,
to 1759-60, they visited as many as fifty-three places
in that county, in some of which they worked for
eight,, though not consecutive, terms of three or
six months each. This gives us an idea of the
extent which they covered. They were carried on
at a time when both education and religion had
fallen very low, which rendered it difficult to obtain
asufficient supply of suitable masters for them, and a
due appreciation of their benefits on the part of the
people. They had to win their way against much

114 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
prejudice and opposition. But in spite of these
formidable difficulties and obstacles, their success
was unquestionable, and was due, in a large
measure, to the tact, the wisdom, the ability, and
the energetic zeal of Griffith Jones, who had his
hand on every pulse of the movement, though it
should always be remembered that he was nobly
supported throughout by generous and powerful
friends, as well as by the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, without whose assistance,
almost one-half, and that not the least important
half, of his work could not have been accomplished.
Besides the day Schools, the masters were
employed in keeping night Schools wherever it
was practicable. In 1738, he says that the most
convenient time of the year for the Schools was
generally between September and May, and that
the shortness of the day at that season was no dis
advantage, for they commonly came together
"for four or five hours in the night ; and several
labourers whom the pressing necessities of their
poor families will not admit to attend the Schools
by day, do, in some places, constantly resort to
them by night ; as a considerable number of very
poor (and lately very profane) people did in our
Welsh City of St. David's ; and instances of this
we have also in other Schools." This was early
in the history of the movement. At the end
of the first printed Report issued in the same year,
we have the following note: " Most of the masters

NIGHT SCHOOLS. I15
instructed, for three or four hours in the night or
evening after School time, about twice or thrice as
many as they had in their Schools by day, who
could not attend at other times ; which are not
included in the number above." The " number ''
referred to here was that of the scholars for the
year, viz., 3912. This note is significant, as it
bears upon the usual calculation of the aggregate
number of scholars that profited by the Circulating
Schools during the lifetime of their founder. That
aggregate is taken from the annual returns made
to him by the local managers of the Schools. But
those returns were made with regard to the Day
Schools only, and did not include attendants at
the Night Schools. When, therefore, it is said
that over 150,000 souls received instruction at these
Schools during his lifetime, it must be borne in
mind that no account is taken of those who were
taught at night, the number of whom would doubt
less swell the above total very considerably. There
is abundant evidence in his Annual Reports,
especially in the communications from the local
correspondents, that these night Schools were very
general, and doing excellent work. In the Report
for 1750-51, for instance, he states that "many
adult persons, not less than thirty in one School,
have lately learned to read by applying themselves
to the schoolmasters in the evenings, after their
labours for the day were over." Referring to the
same subject in the Report for 1742-43, he writes ;

Il6 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
"Some thousands more [i.e., than the number
given in the Report] have been stirred up to learn
of one another at home, whose strait circumstances
would not permit them to be long, or at all, in
School." Judging from the allusions made to them
in letters from Correspondents, these night Schools
appear to have been a sort of combination of singing
and catechetical classes, Sunday Schools, and
prayer meetings.
The Schools were highly appreciated, eagerly
sought after, and attended at great sacrifice, when
once their aims were understood. Writing in 1738,
he says that winter is the most favourable time to
carry on the Schools, because, among other
reasons, "servants can more easily find labourers
to serve cheaper in their room while they are at
School in the winter than they could do at any
other season." And again, in 1741-42, he says
that " More Schools would have been desired, and greater
numbers would have come to most of them, but that the
poor wanted bodily necessaries. Such as were able to work,
and could find employ, used in some places to labour two
or three days in the week, to earn a little bread ; and others
begged it, that they might maintain themselves in School,
so long as their slender provision lasted ; and some applied
themselves to learn at nights, after the labour of the day
was over. So very great are the necessities, and the desire
of the poor to receive instruction, that to impartial judges it
must appear uncommon cruelty to debar them of it.'' Again,
in 1 744: "The poor people desire and thirst for the knowledge

GENERAL APPRECIATION OF THE SCHOOLS. 1 17
of God, and flock in great numbers to these Schools in
several places, . . , when they can hardly get bread enough
to satisfy their hunger, and were never oppressed with so
much poverty before in this country in the memory pf man.
They resort to these Schools notwithstanding this, to be taught
and instructed how to serve God, without any other visible
inducement than having their teaching gratis. Many of
them, in several parts of South Wales, have joined together
to petition that they might have a Welsh School to instruct
them. In some places they have moved the compassion of
their ministers to bespeak a School for them, which has
always been complied with, and some of those good
ministers improved the Schools to very good purpose."
These extracts are only specimens of many
similar ones which might be made, both from his own
Letters to a Friend, and from those of his correspon
dents, and which testify that these Schools were
everywhere in great demand, and were eagerly
resorted to by the people.
He relates many pathetic incidents which he
received from his correspondents, and others are
given in their printed letters. Parents saw their
children learning to read and to repeat theCatechism,
and wept with sorrow at the reflection of not having
themselves in their youth received similar advan
tages. Other parents learned to read, and received
instruction at home from their children, who had
been taught at School. " It has been taken notice
of more than once that many above fifty, and some
above sixty, and even seventy years of age, have in
some places attended these Schools, and learned to

Il8 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
read with their spectacles on. Some have learned
at home of their children, what their children them
selves learned at School." 3
" In most of the Schools, the adult persons make about
two-thirds of the number taught in them. In some places,
several, who for old age are obliged to wear their spectacles,
come into them. I am informed of two or three women,
aged about sixty, who knew not one letter before, but
attended constantly every day, except sometimes when they
were obliged to seek abroad for a little bread. . . . Nor have
there been wanting some blind persons to attend the Welsh
Schools near them ; particularly one poor blind young
woman, who made great proficiency in Christian Know
ledge." ¦• In a letter of a later date, he mentions three old
persons about seventy years of age, and one " full seventy-
three,'' who attended one of his Schools. " And I cannot
but say," he writes again in 1744, "that I thought it remark
able that several ancient people, who came to these Charity
Schools, and could not distinctly see the letters without the
assistance of their spectacles, have wept bitterly that they
had not the same offer of being freely taught when they
were younger, and of a better capacity to learn ; but I think
all of them have gone through the difficulty, and have
attained to read. One woman, sixty-seven years old, who
is now learning, and several others, less ancient people in
the same School, discover excellent dispositions, and make
very speedy progress. I hope all of them will be furnished
shortly with the Holy Scriptures." s The Curate of Gelli-
gaer, writing on the 30th of December, 1758, says: "It
may give you some pleasure to be informed of a poor old
blind woman, above eighty years of age, pretty near the
School, that is now instructed in the principles of the
3 Welsh Piety, 1752-53, p. 12. '¦Letter to a Friend, August
16, 1739, P- *6. 5 Welsh Piety, 1743-44, P- 9-

.CO-OPERATION OF CLBRGV. 119
Christian religion. This poor creature, out of curiosity at
first, desired to be led into the School to hear the children.
After she had heard them catechised and their answers, it
had such an effect upon her that she also desired to be
instructed (that is, to be catechised) with them. Accord
ingly, the schoolmaster took so much pains with her that
he taught her to repeat the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles'
Creed, and the Ten Commandments, and several other
necessary questions in the principles of religion." Writing
of the children attending School, the Curate of Llangian,
Carnarvonshire, says : " I can assure you, Sir, I am credibly
informed that these little adepts, on Sundays at home, teach
their aged parents the way to heaven."
It is obvious, from what has already appeared
in these pages, that Griffith Jones could not have
carried on these Schools, on anything like the
extensive scale he did, or on the principles which
he laid down, without the cordial co-operation of
the clergy. That co-operation must have been
practically co-extensive with the Schools. It is
necessary to call special attention to this, as it has
been too often and too confidently asserted that he
received little but opposition from his clerical
brethren. Such a sweeping charge is emphatically
and abundantly refuted by the contents of his annual
Reports. The success of the Welsh Charity Schools
was largely due to, and joyfully welcomed by
hundreds pf parochial clergy, without whose co
operation the vast majority of them could neither
have been established nor maintained. If the
correspondence which he published in his reports

I20 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
were analysed, it would be probably discovered that
over ninety per cent of the communications which
he gives are signed by parochial clergymen. It is
true, indeed, that he almost invariably implies that,
to his great sorrow, and to the serious loss of their
parishioners, many of the incumbents held aloof from
the movement, and he expresses his desire that the
number of those who supported him should be
multiplied ; but he seldom omits to show his grati
tude to his more earnest brethren for their counten
ance. Referring to this subject in Welsh Piety for
1754-55) he writes :
"Nor should I omit acknowledging my obligations to the
clergy, who deserve well of this design, by their endeavours
to promote it, not only by subscribing towards it, as some
have kindly done, but likewise in exerting themselves to
explain to the poor the dreadful danger of their heathenish
and wilful ignorance, and urging most earnestly the indis
pensable necessity of acquiring Christian knowledge;
pressing them to accept Christian instruction gratis, when
opportunity offers ; and often visiting the Schools, stirring
up the teachers to care and diligence, and catechising their
scholars both at School and publicly at Church, to the
edification of the hearers."

CHAPTER VI.
The Welsh Circulating Schools. — Continued.
INTO the management and extension of the
Circulating Schools, Griffith Jones threw his
whole energy from the beginning. He was con
vinced that they were the best means for compassing
the revival of religion. He cherished them with
fond affection, and expected great things from them.
But he was obliged to be watchful and cautious in
establishing them, and in guarding himself against
imposition. In a letter to Madam Bevan, written
in the year 1736, he says :
•' Having by yesterday's post received a letter from the
Curate of Devynock, about having a Welsh School there,
and suspecting his design to be no more than getting a
little money by being master of it, I have written him a long
letter this night, directing him to make earnest proposals
about it from the pulpit and otherwise, to raise contributions
from the wealthy men there to defray the expense of
teaching ; and, to encourage him and them, I will endeavour
to stretch beyond present ability to supply the poor with
little books to learn ; and that if it should be in my power
to supply the poorest or the best qualified with some Bibles,
they should not want them. I believe he and they cannot
with credit refuse the proposal." A school was established
in Devynock in 1738, with no scholars. In the same
letter he writes : " I think to be on horseback to-morrow by
daybreak, for Llanfyrnacb, to meet two clergymen concerned
in the Schools — Brock of Nevern, and Thomas of Punches-
ton. And I hope to be favoured this week by you with

122 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
a good account of your Schools in Llandilo and Llandebie.
The Lord will surely bless your soul for the encouragement
of them everywhere. I hope the great commotion that
is now made about them will stir up the minds of those
who cannot go to school, to learn at home."
From these extracts we see that he was a
thorough business man ; that he maintained, as far
as possible, a personal supervision over his Schools,
that he did what he could to test the sincerity of
those who asked for them, and to secure that his
efforts should be locally seconded and supplemented.
His task was a difficult one. He had to be
careful on the one hand not to disappoint, or to
offend the amour pn-opre of those who applied for
the Schools; and on the other, not to abuse the
confidence of his generous supporters. As implied
in one of the last extracts, some of the poorer clergy
received small gratuities for teaching in these
Schools, and others for inspecting them. In a letter
dated January, 1737, he writes :
" Mr. Thomas of Puncheston was here this day in
relation to the Welsh School Paid him as much, or rather
more, than he desired, viz., two guineas, as part of his due,
as his quarter is not out. He has not brought his account ;
when he does, I will pay him to the full. I have paved the
way for to go to examine his School without offence, for
which I am glad ; for I cannot be satisfied without knowing
what is everywhere done with the Charity I am trusted
with." He took part wherever he could in establishing
and superintending his Schools. In a letter written

BSTABLISHUENT OF SCHOOLS. ta3
January gth, 1737, he tells his correspondent that
he was engaged to be at Kilgeran on St. Paul's
Day, "where probably I may open a new Welsh
School, having this day received a letter from thence
about both, I mean a sermon and a School."
Writing again on the 13th of December, in the
same year, he says :
" Opportunities- of service increase every day. Such
favourable dispositions appearing to encourage a Welsh
School at Blaenglyn Fawr. I have done all that was
possible to patch up books to have it opened to-morrow.
A person from that neighbourhood having been here about
it last Sunday night ; as was also Jenkin, master at Llan-
Uwch, who, I suppose, sets out this morning to bring
me tidings of ten Schools in Pembrokeshire. I gave him
yesterday the best instruction I could towards setting them
in a good way .... Books are much wanted."
He attended to such matters of detail as the
best mode of publishing a school in the neighbour
hood where it was to be introduced :
" Experience has not yet taught me a better method for
setting up a Welsh School than to have it published in
several Churches around the place it is intended to be
in, that teaching and books will be given gratis for three
months to as many as will accept of the offer, letting them
know that they are not to expect such an offer again. And
this has been very successful to procure a greater number of
scholars." '
He had reason to be satisfied with the progress
of the Schools as early as this, for he further observes
' Letter to Madam Bevan, Secpmber f6, i23|6r.

124 THE aRCULATING SCHOOLS.
in the same letter : "Can we possibly do otherwise
than observe how remarkably our gracious God has
answered our poor prayers, by bringing us into a way
of being abundantly serviceable in the best employ
ment; and, as far as I am hitherto convinced, into
the likeliest methods of compassing our ends, and I
hope, in some large measure." Writing again in
January, 1738, he says : "There is reason to hope
that the methods now used will prepare several for
conversion when visiting times will come. I cannot
think the Holy Spirit would set the work on foot if
He did not design to make it successful to promote
the salvation of some." It will have been seen from
the foregoing extracts that he was largely assisted
in his great undertaking by Madam Bevan, whose
counsel and encouragement he constantly sought,
and never sought in vain, in the difficulties that
beset his path.
Though he was a sturdy defender of his native
language, and a strong advocate of having the
ministrations of the Church performed in that
language, wherever the higher interests of the
people required it, he welcomed with equal joy the
opportunity of establishingEnglish schools wherever
the people preferred the English language. In
Welsh Piety for 1742-43, he writes :
" We have instances now of encouraging success among
the poor ignorant people in the English part of Pembroke
shire, where two English Charity Schools were set up for
some months last summer, in the method of the Welsh

ENGLISH SCHOOLS. I&5
Charity Schools ; where they prospered far beyond what
could be hoped for at first. They were soon crowded with
scholars, both young and adult, who made a great and
speedy progress, not only in reading English, but likewise
in knowledge of the Christian belief and doctrines."
Again, in Welsh Piety for 1 745-46 : " In compliance
with very earnest and repeated importunities of many,
I have set up of late some English Charity Schools,
in such small districts of this country where the
people speak the English tongue, though very corruptly ;
and likewise some schools of mixed English and Welsh
Scholars, on the borders of these districts. Many more such
schools are desired ; but at present, I am not sufficiently
provided with means to encourage them. It is the single
business of these, as well as the Welsh Schools, to teach the
scholars the Word of God, to pray in the name of Christ, to
learn the Church Catechism, and the principles of religion,
with some Psalm tunes. We do not meddle with teaching
any of them writing and cyphering, which would require
more time than their circumstances, and more expense than
my little cash can afford."
The aim of Griffith Jones' Schools, as we
have often observed, was the religious instruction
of the people. For the successful attainment of
this, he lays repeated emphasis on the duty of
catechising. He deeply lamented the general
disuse into which it had fallen in his day, and
maintained that the low condition of religious know
ledge and practice in the country was largely due
to its neglect. It was its revival in his own parish
that first revealed to him the gross ignorance that
prevailed, even among those who regularly attended

IS6 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
divine service ; and the discovery then made roused
him to do all in his power to impress upon the
clergy and others the due importance of catechising.
In order to help those who were engaged in the
work, he published in five parts a volume of 620
pages, being an elaborate exposition, in the form
of questions and answers, of the Church Catechism,
which forms a " Complete Body of Divinity," as
has been justly remarked. It may be added that
he published an abridged edition of this for the use
of the more ignorant class of scholars that attended
his Schools. In 1749, he published an able and
spirited Welsh pamphlet of forty-five pages, in
which he traces the history of catechising, and
urges its importance on the clergy, parents, and
heads of families. In a note prefixed to his work
on the Catechism, he advises that heads of families
should ask two or three questions at a time out
of it to the members of their households, when
assembled together on Sunday nights, and at other
times when convenient ; and he lays special stress
on such subjects as "the Baptismal Vow," "Salva
tion through Jesus Christ," "faith," "repentance,"
"Prayer," "the Lord's Supper," and " the duties
of children and servants." " And," he adds, "if
the clergy will be good enough to do the same, or
adopt any other method they think best of catechis
ing, on Sundays at the evening service, I hope they
will see the benefit of it to their unspeakable
comfort," Ip Welsh Piety and elsewhere, he

IMPORTAN<S OF CATECHISING. I27
appeals with urgency and earnestness for the
restoration of catechising to its rightful place in the
parochial system, and enforces his appeals with un
answerable arguments drawn from Holy Scripture,
the Prayer Book, and the writings of eminent
Church divines. " We [the clergy] are obliged by
our most solemn ordination vows to catechise, at
least the younger part of the congregation ; we are
frequently exhorted to do so by our diocesans, and
some times censured and condemned for neglecting
it, even by those whose fault and neglect it is that
we cannot do it.^" He insists that preaching is of
very little good while catechising is neglected.
" England, and Wales, too, for the greatest part, are full
of preaching ; but for all this, the tide of corruption does
not abate, but seems in most places to flow in upon us
more and more. And what method then had we best try to
redress these grievances, but to erect Catechetical Schools
everywhere, in as many places as may be ; not to teach the
Catechism by rote only, but likewise to explain, enforce, and
apply daily and fervently, the truths and duties contained
therein, in a familiar and easy way, till it be well understood,
affectionately engaging and teaching the catechumens to be
constant and earnest in their prayers for the grace of
God and His blessing." 3
"Serious men in the ministry," he says elsewhere,
" have experienced and complained much of it, that without
catechising (which is not very practicable, while the people
cannot read) preaching is in a manner lost and thrown
away upon them ; which I could exemplify (if you can
excuse it. Sir), from what was related to me some time ag^
' Welsh Piet^ : i-f^2-^^. 3 Welfh Piety •, i^S-46- p. 21,

128 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
by a clergyman of considerable note, and more than common
diligence in his function. He told me he had studied
to frame his sermons for several years in the plainest
language he was able; and being called to a sick man,
of good sense in his business, who desired to receive
the Sacrament, and expressed great hopes of his own
salvation, and blessed God that he had been to hear
the best sermons twice every Sunday for many years
together, the Clergyman asked him, upon this occasion,
some easy questions ; as particularly, what the Bread
and Wine in the Lord's Supper signified, which he was now
about to receive, as he had done often before ; but he could
make no answer. Asking him farther, through whose merits
he hoped to be saved, and some other plain questions,
he could answer none of them, but endeavoured to excuse
himself because he was not book-learned ; upon which the
clergyman asked him who was the minister whose good
sermons he had been so constant a hearer of for so
many years ; You, says the sick man, and I am sure, says he,
no man could preach better. Which, said the clergyman
(in relating of this to me) astonished me very much, that
any of my hearers should remain so ignorant, after all my
pains in studying and preaching the plainest sermons
possible for a great many years together. But, Sir, it is
matter of much greater astonishment that this lamentable
case is much too general to be true of one or two only in a
parish. What if many parishes cannot afford an instance
or two to the contrary ? This is very sad, yet too certainly
true, especially in this country, where non-residences,
plurality of curacies, English preaching to Welsh congrega
tions, abound so much ; and, alas ! the want of proper
dispositions to wish for success, and some places left almost
without any preaching at all. I can, therefore, see no
probability to lay the foundation of that knowledge and
reformation we so much want, without such a method as
you, Sir, and other kind benefactors do now encourage

IMPORTANCE OF CATECHISING. 129
among us. It is my humble opinion that all gentlemen, as
well as the clergy, who have the interest of religion at heart,
would do well, or can hardly do better than, by exerting
themselves to promote catechetical exercises in churches,
schools, and families, and also in all religious Societies.
As to the first of these (I mean catechising in the Parish
Churches), I am glad to tell you. Sir, that our Right
Reverend Bishop of this Diocese, in his late Visitation
Charge to his Clergy (among many other good instructions),
very heartily recommended catechetical evening lectures
on Sundays and Holidays ; which I pray God to bless with
success, and reward his Lordship for it ; and I am sure I
can answer for myself, and some others, that we shall be
always forward, in the most sincere, grateful, and public
manner, to acknowledge all such marks of his Lordship's
zeal to revive the now much-impaired Christian religion
among us. And as to schools, families, and societies, even
in this last, whereof we hear you have considerable numbers
at this day in England (may God direct and prosper them
to His own glory, and the good of many souls) for the sake
of the young, the ignorant, the inexperienced, and
unstable, explanatory catechising, together with prayer.
Psalmody, conference, and brotherly exhortations, would be
the safest and most edifying method to improve them in
such sound, useful, practical, experimental and thorough
knowledge as might serve for a clue to guide them through
all conditions, temptations, and duties of the Christian
life, &C."'* We insert the above somewhat lengthy quota
tion for more than one reason. It brings vividly
before us the unsatisfactory condition of Christian
knowledge in Wales at the time when Griffith Jones
commenced his Circulating Schools ; it enumerates
? Letter, August i6, 1739. pp. 16-18,

13° THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
some of the causes which paralyzed the efficiency
of the Church in the discharge of her mission ; it
points out the means which, in the writer's opinion,
were necessary to redeem the country from practical
heathenism, and to save the Church from fully
deserving the charge of negligence and failure,
and among those means, it lays special em
phasis upon regular catechetical instruction and
close intercourse with the people, as an essential
part of parochial ministrations. Some of the
methods recommended in the above passage, such
as "societies," "conferences," and "brotherly
exhortations," were viewed in those days with
suspicion, if not actually proscribed, by those in
authority. But Griffith Jones looked upon them as
opportunities for the personal instruction of the
people in the vital truths of religion; and had they
been generally sanctioned and adopted, there can
be little doubt that they would have greatly
strengthened the Church's position. And, besides
being of historical interest, his opinions and ex
perience of the importance of catechising have lost
none of their force and applicability in our own
time. In addition to the establishment and superin
tendence of the Schools, Griffith Jones had to
procure Bibles, Prayer Books, and other literature,
necessary to carry on the campaign against ignor
ance and irreligion, in which he was engaged. His
Schools soon created a great demand for these, and

WELSH BIBLE OF 1718. 13I
a deep and widespread desire to have the Holy
Scriptures in Welsh made itself felt. As we have
already seen, the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge had begun to work in this direction,
before he was able to look much beyond the limits
of his own parish. In the year 1718, the Society
brought out an octavo edition of the Welsh Bible,
and the Book of Common Prayer bound up with it.
It was edited by the Rev. Moses Williams, Vicar
of Devynock, a man of acknowledged literary
abilities. In 1727, another octavo edition was
brought out, again under the editorship of Mr.
Williams. Proposals for bringing out the edition of
17 18 were embodied in a circular printed in 17 14, and
signed by the Bishops of Bangor, Llandaff, St.
Asaph, Hereford, St. David's, and Worcester.
The circular ran as follows : s
" Whereas there has been, for some years past, a great
scarcity of Bibles in octavo in the British or Welsh tongue,
the former editions in that volume being long since out
of print, and the folio edition being for the use of Churches,
and not for the convenience of private persons ;
"And whereas there are in the four Welsh Dioceses
upwards of five hundred parishes, in which the generality of
the people understand no other language, and are in greater
need than ordinary of having the Bible and other religious
books in their own tongue, because they are, in many
places, too often destitute of the benefit of public worship,
and of instruction from the pulpit, there being so many
s MS. 14,952, Brit. Mus. p. 8. This copy was lent to Richard
Morris, apparently for transcription, "by the Rev. Mr. Broughton,
Secretary to the Society," i.e., to the S.P.C.K.

132 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
sinecures and impropriations in that country, and the
provision for the incumbent or curate so very small in
some places, that the allowance for several Churches will
scarce afford a maintenance for one man ; and whereas
there are also above 6000 Welsh in Pennsylvania, and other
parts of his Majesty's dominions in America, where these
Bibles are very much wanted ;
" It is therefore proposed to publish a new edition
of the Welsh Bible in octavo from the folio edition printed
at Oxford 1690, with a translation of the English Index
printed in quarto 1702 ; as also a new edition of the
Common Prayer Book, with the singing Psalms and
39 Articles annexed, from the late edition in folio at
London ; and to print them both in the same volume and
character with the edition of 1677, that such as have been
used to those Bibles, may the more readily find out the
Scripture in these.
" But whereas such an edition (by reason of the great
expense) cannot well be undertaken by any printer or
bookseller, without some assistance to defray the charge
thereof; it is therefore proposed to raise money for the
advancing this work, by subscriptions, and the charitable
contributions of well-disposed persons.
"It would be superfluous to use any arguments to
engage such to promote so pious an undertaking ; their zeal
for God's glory and the good of souls ; their sense of
the inestimable benefit of God's Word, which they enjoy;
and their compassion for those who are deprived of it,
and live in great ignorance, will be sufficient motives to
persuade them.
" For these reasons, we who are more particularly
concerned for the promotion of God's glory, and the edifica
tion of the British people of the Principality of Wales, have
thought fit, not only to encourage this good undertaking
with our own subscriptions, but earnestly to recommend it

WELSH PUBLICATIONS OF S.P.CK. I33
to the clergy, gentlemen, and other well-disposed persons in
our respective dioceses."
About two hundred and fifty copies are sub
scribed for in this Circular, of which one hundred
are ordered by the Society fOr Promoting Christian
Knowledge. We have been unable to ascertain the
number of copies printed in the editions of 1718 and
1727. From the minutes of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge during the years 1726 to 1740,
we learn that a large number of religious books in
Welsh, such as the Book of Homilies, the Whole
Duty of Man, Family Prayers, the Husbandman's
Manual, and other smaller pamphlets, as well as
Bibles and Prayer Books, were distributed by the
Society in the four Welsh Dioceses. In July, 1736,
a letter is read from Griffith Jones to the Committee,
requesting that the cost of binding three hundred
and fifty Welsh Bibles be granted him by the
Society, and this request is agreed to, the cost of
binding being ;^ii 13^. ^d. On September 14th
of the same year, the Committee, at his request,
agreed to send him " on the Society's terms, " five
hundred Psalters in Welsh, with the Welsh Alphabet
bound with it, and also a dozen copies of Bishop
Burnet's Pastoral Care. Other similar requests
follow, and are granted to him. In the following
year, the Society sets apart " ;^50 towards buying
Bibles, New Testaments, and Common Prayer Books
for the use of the poor. " Griffith Jones, writing from

134 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
Bath, which he used to frequent, probably for the
sake of his health, sends the Society a communica
tion dated jjMay lo, 1737, "Signifying that, as he
finds the impression of the New Testament in
Welsh impracticable by reason of the greatness of
the expense, he therefore proposes that the ;^5o of
Sir John Phillips' legacy be laid out in five hundred
Welsh Bibles, including the Old and New Testa
ments, and Singing Psalms, which he will bespeak
of Mr. Mount as soon as he has the Society's
approbation, and will be answerable for the rest of
the charges. " This request is granted, subject to the
approval of Sir Erasmus Phillips and his brother.
We find the Society again recording their desire
"to help him as far as their funds allow." On
January 3rd, they further promise to bind two
hundred and seventy Welsh Bibles for him, " if
Mr. Jones will purchase them at two shillings and
sixpence each." Other minutes in the Society's
records testify both to his importunity and
to their liberality. In 1738, he was requested
to signify to the Committee " what care is
taken to instruct the children of the Welsh Schools in
the English language." His reply to this question,
if he made any, is, apparently, not recorded among
the Society's transactions. In August, he sends Mr.
Thorold a table containing the number of Schools,
and of scholars in each of the Welsh Counties, the
aggregate for that' year being 3,912, together with
a brief account of the scholars, their ages-, condi-

S.,P.C;K. AND WELSH BIBLES. 135
tions, &c. This communication is entered on the
minutes of the Society on August 28, 1739. In
March, 1740, it "is agreed that the Welsh Bibles
remaining in store be given to Mr. Jones of Llan
ddowror to be distributed as he shall see occasion."
In the year 1746, a new octavo edition of the
Welsh Bible was brought out by the Society. The
"curator" of this edition, as well as the next one
which was issued in 1752, was Richard Morris, a
native of Penrhoslligwy, in Anglesey, and, at that
time, chief clerk in the Navy Office. It was printed
at the Cambridge University Press, and consisted of
fifteen thousand copies. The cost of bringing it out
amounted to ;^6,ooo, of which ;^6oo was subscribed
in Wales, and the rest in England. The book was
sold for three shillings and sixpence, while theSociety
gave the binding, s Reports of donations towards
this impression appear constantly at this time in the
minutes of the Society. Griffith Jones bore his
share in the work of collecting funds towards these
editions. Under April 22, 1746, we find the fol
lowing record: " Mr. Thorold to Mr. A. D. Deane,
;^558 15^'. 6fi?., in East India Bond and interest, on
account of the Welsh Bible, from the Rev. Griffith
Jones, pursuant to an order of the Committee
of the Welsh Bible of the 15th instant." Whether
this sum was collected by him or was given
through him by a friend or friends, or came
5 A Chronological Account of the several Editions of the Holy
Scriptares in Welsh. MS. 14,952. Brit. Mus.

136 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
from his own private means, we are not able
to determine. The records of the Society bear
ample testimony that both the Committee and
Griffith Jones worked together nobly in the distri
bution of these editions of the Bible, as well as
other religious publications. We find him receiving
five thousand Welsh Church Catechisms several
times, fifteen thousand copies of the Collect for the
Second Sunday in Advent, four hundred of the
Welsh Bibles "allotted to him," &c. In the
minutes of the Society for March 7, 1748, it is
recorded that a copy of the Welsh Bible was pre
sented to the Prince and Princess of Wales, through
the hand of Sir William Irby. On March 23, 1749,
it was agreed upon to forward the following letter
to the members of the Society in Wales, "as
occasion called : "
" Sir, — In answer to yours of  , I am ordered by
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to acquaint
you that it gave them a great deal of pleasure to find the
people so desirous of having the Bible in their own language.
But the demands already made upon them are so great that
they cannot possibly get a sufficient number bound, to
supply those demands in less than four months, in which
time you may expect such a proportion to be disposed
among you as the Society can supply.
" However, for your further satisfaction, I can inform
you that the Society has a design to go on as soon as they
can, not only with another edition of the Bible in Welsh
more suitable to common use, but also with an edition of
Prayer Books and [New] Testaments in the same language.''
On the 23rd of December, 1760, the Society

S.P.CK. AND WELSH BIBLES. I37
drew up an address to the King on his accession to
the throne. Among other things, they inform his
Majesty of their efforts to provide the people with
religious publications, and have reason to hope
that their distribution of Bibles, Prayer Books, and
religious tracts "hath greatly contributed to confirm
the faith and improve the morals of our fellow-
subjects, and ' particularly, from a compassionate
and Christian regard to the wants of our poor
brethren in Wales, we have printed and dispersed
thirty thousand Bibles in Welsh, that the poor
inhabitants of that country might have the Holy
Scriptures in their own tongue."
The assistance which the Society gave to
Griffith Jones was as ungrudging as it was indis
pensable. Writing as early as 1738, he says :
" By the great favour of the honourable Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge to this branch of your
laudable designs, we have been enabled to procure at great
expense (notwithstanding your kind assistance therein) nine
hundred and forty Welsh Bibles since last summer, besides
Psalters and Church Catechisms, and about thirteen thousand
other books, many more thousands being still wanting, not
for the Schools only, but for the use of other people who
learn to read of one another at home, which, with the
salaries of all the masters for teaching, and being also
obliged to supply the urgent temporal necessities of some of
the scholars, to prevent the famishing of their bodies (while
endeavours are used to save their souls), have increased the
expense of this year to a very extraordinary pitch."
In illustration of the great demand for religious

138 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
literature created by the Schools, we make the fol
lowing quotation from Welsh Piety for 1742-43,
page 2 :
" Besides about four thousand Welsh Bibles, and near as
many thousand Welsh Psalters, bought at different times, and
many more thousands of the Church Catechisms in Welsh,
which were purchased for the poor (being much favoured
therein by the worthy Society for Promoting Christian Know
ledge), 1 say, over and above all this, it has been found neces
sary to be at the pains and expense of writing and printing
several other Welsh tracts for their use, as four thousand
two-penny books of Prayers ; four thousand four-penny
books concerning 'the nature and necessity of sound
Christian knowledge;' four thousand eight-penny books
'of the Duty of Householders, and of Family Worship;'
four thousand twelve-penny books of ' Directions about the
decent and spiritual performance of Divine Worship, with
various form of prayer in Scripture expressions, suitable to
all occasions;' twelve thousand six-penny books of 'A plain,
full, and Scriptural Explication of the Baptismal Vow and
the New Covenant, as contained in the first part of the
Church Catechism ;' eight thousand twelve-penny books
of the like ' Explication of the Apostles' Creed ; ' four
thousand nine-penny books of ' Singing Psalms, &c.' And
it is to be noted that such a number of all these Welsh
books have been sold at the prices mentioned, to people
that were able to buy, as defrayed the expense of printing
them, with a considerable overplus to the School cash;
insomuch that many thousands of these books have been
given to the poorest, to encourage them to read, without
any diminution of, or deduction at all from, any one of the
benefactions given to the Schools, except such sums as by
the donors were expressly given for books. It is likewise
not unfit to be known that the several benefactions (which
chiefly came from England) for these last six years, towards

S.P.C.K. AND WELSH PUBLICATIONS. 139
the support of the Charity Schools only, do not amount in
the whole to two thousand pounds ; which amply justifies
what was said in a former account, that at least eight or ten
poor persons are taught for every twenty shillings given to
that purpose." It should be noted that all the Welsh books
and tracts enumerated in the above extract were
written or compiled by Griffith Jones himself. In
Welsh Piety for 1747-48, he writes again : " Many
thousand books of several sorts, to the value of five
hundred pounds and upwards, have been provided
this year, whereof some are sold at half price, and
the rest dispersed gratis." He adds his " public
acknowledgment" of "two very generous presents,
given for my own use."
The following " Notice to the Welsh Circula
ting Schools," printed in an edition of Griffith
Jones' work on the Church Catechism, will show
the conditions on which Bibles were granted to the
poor, as well as the care with which he distributed
the gifts entrusted to him :
" That the poor people, who are well-conducted, and
wish to have Welsh Bibles gratis, and are of proper age and
of earnest disposition to make the best use of them, should
produce a certificate from their parish minister, testifying
that they can read Welsh perfectly, and that they resort to
their minister to say the Catechism and learn the Exposition
of it ; and that they conduct themselves becomingly, and
severally make the responses, and say the ' Amen ' at the
end of the prayers in Church, according to the devout
custom of all the primitive Christians in the ancient Church.
Also, the age and condition of such poor people, together

I40 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
with their addresses, should be noted down in the certi
ficate. On these terms, as many Bibles as possible will be
distributed gratis."^
The financial burdens occasioned by such an
organisation as this must have pressed very heavily
upon him. In the year 1740-41, the number of
Schools amounted to 1 50, and he tells us that some
times two, or even three, masters were employed in
one School. This would bring the number of masters
to considerably over two hundred for that year. But
besides the salaries of teachers, he had in some
places to hire rooms for holding the Schools, while
he had also to make occasional contributions towards
"giving bread" to some of his poor scholars, to
hire messengers and inspectors, and to make dona
tions to some of the poorer clergy who assisted him
in various ways. In Welsh Piety for 1747-48,
page 2, he writes thus on this subject :
" Some money must be paid for the carriage of books to
those distant places where the Schools are ; some gratuities
are given to poor clergymen for catechising, and for in
specting the conduct of them ; and I am to acknowledge
with great thankfulness that some benefactions have been
sent for that particular purpose, which have been laid out
accordingly. However, it has been found urgently needful
to employ also some other persons of integrity, to inspect
the progress of the Schools, the behaviour and accounts of
the masters, and to see that they duly catechised their
scholars every day."
When we add to these expenses the cost of books,
' Brit. Mus. 872. 1. 14. The Volume referred to bears no date.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT. I4I
we have some idea of the heavy financial burden
that constantly pressed upon him.
As regards the sources whence he derived
support, he tells us that he had little to expect from
his own country, as most of the people were unable
to contribute, while the remainder were unwilling.
" Yet," he writes elsewhere, "there have not been
wanting here some friends, hearty friends to this
cause, as many as they are ; but I could mention
this with regard to persons of rank or ability, almost
in the singular number ; and some few others of
inferior circumstances, as servants and poor trades
men, have contributed according to their ability."
The very first financial support came to him from
what " could be spared from other occasions out of
a small offertory by a poor country congregation at
the Blessed Sacrament." We learn also from some
of his correspondents that offertories were made
towards the movement in some of the parishes which
profited by it. In referring to "such English
benefactors as are kindly disposed towards it," he
says that many of them were unknown to him. A
list of his contributors and supporters is given in
Welsh Piet'y,7 and includes about a score of names,
' The following names are recorded in Welsh Piety, as contributors
to the Welsh Circulating Schools, and, especially in the case of those
who were residents in Wales, as fellow-labourers with Griffith Jones
in soliciting subscriptions, distributing literature, and superintending
the Schools generally: Sir John Thorold, Bart., Cranwell, Lincoln
shire; Sir John Phillips, Bart., Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire ; Mrs.
Bevan of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire ; Sir Francis Gosling, Knight,
and Alderman of London ; Rev. Dr. Hales, Teddington, Middlesex ;

142 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
most of whom were clergymen, and over one-half
from Wales. But the principal part of the burden
was doubtless borne by his intimate friends, such
as Madam Bevan, Sir John Phillips, and Sir John
Thorold. While his labours were steadily multiplying
and extending, and his manifold responsibilities
rapidly increasing, the country was going through
a period of depression and much poverty. He
constantly alludes to this in his Annual Reports.
In Welsh Piety for 1746-47, page 8, he writes :
" Considering the growing poverty, and the many
distresses of the poor in this country at present, by scarcity
of money and the breaking of farmers, who must thereby
be unable to employ the poor tradesmen and labourers, it
will be necessary to give many more books than formerly."
In his previous Report, he had said that "all the lower
ranks of people here being reduced in circumstances, the
commodities which some have for market lie upon their
hands ; many of them have been obliged to quit their
farms, and several so very poor that they cannot attend the
Schools without being assisted in their maintenance."
Again in 1747-48, he writes that "a most formidable poverty
Slingsby Bethel, Esq., M.P. for the City of London ; Dr. Hartley,
Bath ; Rev. Dr. Stonehouse, Northampton ; Rev. James Hervey,
Weston Favel, Northampton; William Butler, Esq., Buerton, Cheshire;
Rev. James Sparrow, Bath ; Thomas Jones, Esq., Westminster ; Rev.
William Wynne, Lasynys, Merionethshire ; Rev. Thomas Ellis, Holy
head, Anglesey ; Rev. Robert Williams, Treasurer of Bangor Cathedral;
Rev. David Morris, Rector of Festiniog, Merionethshire; Rev. Andrew
Edwards, Rector of Dolgelley; Rev. Humphrey Jones, Llanfwrog,
Anglesey ; Rev. David Lloyd, Llangerniew, Denbighshire ; Rev. John
Edwards, Vicar of Cwm, Flintshire ; Rev. John Kenrick, Vicar of
Llangerniew, Denbighshire.

BAD TIMES. 143
is increasing among the low rank of people in this country,"
and that such of the poor people as are "able to work,
usually receive the value of their labour in bread-corn, being
seldom paid in money." A correspondent, writing from
Carnarvonshire in 1754, complains that "the market is
here very high, and drives the poor to beg their bread
about the country, and leave the School to be filled with
such only as are not able to go far from home."
But in spite of difficulties that pressed him on
every side, and were such as would have daunted a
man of less faith and courage, he trusted in God and
persevered. Nor did he trust in vain. ' ' Though there
is still no settled fund," he writes in 1746, "and
some times not stock enough in hand to defray half
the expense of the current year ; yet the spontaneous
subscriptions, or free-will offerings of some bene
volent persons or other, have never hitherto failed
to come in time, to pay off fully and punctually all
debts contracted for this good undertaking."
We insert another striking extract from the
same letter, as furnishing proofs of Griffith Jones'
immovable confidence in the righteousness of the
cause he had espoused, of the principles which
guided him, and of the methods he employed ; his
trustful dependence upon God both for the means
of sustaining the work, and for its success ; his
insight into the feelings and apprehensions of his
friends ; the strength of his convictions, his force
of character, and his invincible determination to go
on with the movement, in the face of all obstacles
and discouragements.

144 THE CIRCULATING SCHOOLS.
" These Schools were at first begun, and have hitherto
all along been carried on, by remarkable instances of Divine
Providence in favour and support of them. There was no fund
or foundation to encourage the beginning of this undertaking,
besides an absolute assurance that it was the good Word of
God, and the indisputable essentials of His holy religion,
that were sincerely intended to be taught by it to poor,
ignorant souls. It was this which gave an humble degree
of confidence to hope for the blessing of God on the weak
and friendless attempt, uprightly intended for the glory of
His holy name. And though it was a work of expense, it
was very evident, notwithstanding, several friends could not
be very safely consulted about it, because in all likelihood
they would embarrass it with discouragements, from the
seeming improbability of being able to support it. How
ever, upon repeated trials, it pleased kind Providence that
this discouragement, and fear of insufficiency to defray the
expense of the attempt, began by degrees to wear off. For
by the friendly influence of Divine goodness, benefactions
(several of which were from persons unknown) have always
been very seasonable and very liberal ; or else the great
charge of so many Schools, and of so many thousand poor
souls annually taught in them for so many years, as you
may find in the close of the following account, could not
possibly have been supported." ^
' Welsh Piety, 1745-46. pp. I, 2.

CHAPTER VII.
Results of the Schools.
WE shall now turn our attention to the results
which followed these Welsh Charity
Schools, as seen in the altered conditions of Church
life, and of Society at large. By their fruits ye
shall know them is the Divine test of movements
and institutions, as well as of individual lives. Of
the success which attended these Schools, there is
abundant evidence of various kinds, and from
numerous witnesses. They answered the purpose
for which they were instituted. And this was both
an ample reward for the time and expense, pare
and anxiety, which their founder bestowed upon
them, and more than sufficient compensation for
the ill-natured criticism and bitter hostility which
they kindled against him and his friends. For it
must be remembered that those who were associated
with him in his labours, came in also for a share of
the odium which fell upon him. Even his faithful
friend and coadjutor, the accomplished Madam
Bevan, did not escape. In allusion to this, he
penned the following passage in a letter written to
her, dated October ii, 1735: " I am sorry for
the trouble you meet with from, I must say, a
person of uncommon ill-nature, and shameless
inveteracy ; for I dare affirm that none but one
deeply leavened with something worse than what I

146 RESULTS OF THE SCHOOLS.
can find a name for, would set himself to oppose a
person so obliging and so zealously engaged in the
best interest. But though I am concerned at this,
I cannot wonder at it ; your designs are too good
to expect any other than the rage of the prince of
darkness ; and his subjects he will stir up to form
against them all the opposition that may be."
But in the face of opposition and difficulty, he
persevered with unabated zeal and effort, and his
friends retained their confidence in him. The
movement grew in influence and popularity, as well
as in volume. Misunderstandings were cleared,
calumnies were exposed and refuted, and prejudices
abated, as the methods and principles of the Schools
became better known. Some of the clergy freely
acknowledged that at first they entertained strong
suspicions against his Schools, but that, on be
coming better acquainted with them, became their
firmest friends. "Whole congregations in some
parishes, where the poor scholars have been publicly
examined, have expressed great satisfaction at the
unexpected proficiency they had made in a short
time ; and some clergymen have frankly owned
that they were greatly prejudiced in their opinion
against the Welsh Charity Schools, till they had
happened to be present when some of the scholars
were examined ; and then they themselves earnestly
desired Schools for a quarter or half a year in their
own parishes."" " Welsh Piety, 1741-42, p. 7.

REVIVAL OF CHURCH LIFE. I47
In the words of one of Griffith Jones' biographers,
the results of these Schools showed themselves
"All over the Principality in an increased thirst for
knowledge, and what is of more importance, in raising the
tone of religion. The Sabbaths were spent in reading, and
a devout attendance at the house of the Lord, instead of
the dancing and merry-making they used to spend those
sacred hours in. The harpers and fiddlers became useless.
Some of them were so far convinced of their wickedness as
to refuse their attendance on Sundays, and some became
even teachers in the Schools. Such characters had been
hired by the year to play by the joint contributions of young
people ; ^ and some of them, seeing that their ways of
iniquity were lost, became outrageous enemies to the
Schools. But the general voice of Society soon silenced
objections." 3
It was doubtless "the general voice of Society,"
added to the support of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, and of the few powerful
friends who stood by him, that thwarted the designs
of his enemies, who endeavoured to bring into dis
repute and ruin both him and his work. The facts
mentioned in the extract we have just made, as well
as others of similar import, are abundantly attested
by the published letters of the local correspondents
of the Schools, whose testimonies prove beyond
dispute that a great reformation of morals, and a
revival of Church life and spiritual religion, followed
* " I had consented with one or two jovial young men to pay a
musician for the season, as they used to say, that is, at Easter, Whit
suntide, &c. , and during the time of vacation from School, when we
intended to divert ourselves with dancing," &c. — Autobiography of
Peter Williams. ' Sketch, &c., by Rev. E. Harries.

148 RESULTS OF THE SCHOOLS.
in the track of these Schools. The Holy Scriptures
are read ; the Church Catechism is learnt, repeated,
and understood ; the custom of catechising after the
Second Lesson at the evening Service is revived ;
the congregations increase and join in the responses;
Psalm tunes are learnt and sung ; and the Lord's
Table is better and more devoutly attended. Nor
are the results less observable outside the Churches.
Family worship is extensively set up ; profane
language becomes less common ; habits of drunken
ness and profligacy are diminished ; the haunts of
vice are deserted ; the Schools and the Churches
are frequented. These signs of reformation are
reiterated again and again by the correspondents of
Griffith Jones. He sometimes publishes their letters,
and at other times summarises the information con
tained in them, in his own annual Letter.
In Welsh Piety for 1740-41, he writes: "It is well
attested by proper and credible witnesses, that by means of "
the Welsh Charity Schools " many parish Churches, almost
empty before, have been filled with large congregations, the
number of Communicants much increased, very many
householders have set up the worship of God in their families,
a remarkable reformation is seen in many neighbourhoods,
and many thousands of young and old people have been
taught to read, and to say the Church Catechism, and
willingly repeat it before the congregation to their parish
minister ; several of whom could not truly say the Lord's
Prayer before; and all this in a short time, and (compara
tively) with a small expense.''
In Welsh Piety for 1741-42, he writes : "I have received
a very remarkable account from one part of the country (too

GRIFFITH JONES SUMMARIES. 1 49
long to be inserted) that the Welsh Schools have been
eminently successful, through the blessing of God, to effect
a very great reformation and visible appearance of serious
godliness in many, where all other means and methods had
been tried before, without being able so much as to civilize
the disorderly rabble of the place, as I may justly call them in
their unreformed state." Again, in Welsh Piety iox 1742-43 :
" A Clergyman wrote me word that the poor people and
children who had been in the Welsh Charity Schools out of
his two parishes, had been called together in order to be
examined before the congregation, who were in all one
hundred and eight persons, thirty-seven of them old people ;
and that they were examined for two hours and upwards,
and gave account of what they had learned, to the great
satisfaction of all the gentlemen and others that were present.
These poor people, less than twelve months before, he says,
could neither read nor answer any question at all in religion ;
and the Welsh Schools, as he adds, had done more good in
a few months than his constant preaching had been able to
do for all the time he had been there. I could produce
many attestations from Clergymen, gentlemen, and others,
concerning the improvement in knowledge, reformation of
manners, visible appearance of serious piety, and greater
regard than before for public worship, which have been
promoted, through the blessing of God upon the Welsh
Charity Schools, more or less in all places where they have
been." Again, in the following year, he writes that " some
worthy ministers have lately certified that their Churches
and Communions were fuller, and that their preaching is now
better understood by the poor and low ranks of people,"
&c. In the same letter, he mentions incidents reported in
letters "received since I began to write," wherein it is certified
that " some very young children are sometimes overheard
talking together very seriously about their salvation through
Jesus Christ; and that the parents of a child about six
years old, declared to their neighbours that they were never

150 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
under such shame and confusion about their ignorance and
neglect of God's worship, as when they heard their little
child telling them very gravely one night, after he was come
from school, ' You must not go to meal without Grace, nor
to bed without prayer.' ... I am told just now that a
reformation is coming on by means of a Charity School,
lately set up in a place very notorious for profane swearing
and drunkenness ; and that several persons have received
reproofs in a kind manner from the young scholars. A
person who went lately to another school writes me word
that he was greatly and very agreeably surprised to find the
scholars, in so short a time, give so good account of the
principles of religion out of the Church Catechism, and the
Explanation of it, giving also the meaning and sense of
everything in their own words.'' " Such has been the happy
effect of these endeavours, through the blessing of God, as
I have been credibly certified by persons of undoubted
veracity, living near these schools, that many have been
reclaimed from their vicious practices of horrid and
customary swearing, drunkenness, and other debaucheries.
A visible reformation and serious regard for piety has been
observed in very many families and neighbourhoods, where
there was no appearance of it before. Several reverend
clergymen, who inspected these schools, have given it under
their hands, that the scholars performed beyond their expec
tation, and that they and their parishioners received no small
satisfaction when the Welsh scholars were publicly examined
at the parish Church before the congregation  Some
other clergymen have written to me, signifying that, before
the coming of these schools into their parishes, there was
hardly one in their congregations that could answer the
responses in divine service ; but that now there are, to their
great joy (to use their own words), very many that carry
their books with them to Church, who read the Psalms, and
answer all the reponses perfectly well. "3 In another of his
' Welsh Piety, 1744-45.

GRIFFITH JONES' SUMMARIES. 151
Annual Reports, he writes in a similar strain : " I will
instance briefly in one school only, which was a very full
one, set up in a place so notoriously infamous for profane
swearing, that all the children, even the youngest of them,
were generally guilty of it. This gave the master great
concern. He tried all means to break them of so odious a
habit. He spoke to them in a friendly manner about it,
and sometimes had recourse to a little correction. He gave
them Scripture verses to learn by heart every night,
concerning the vices they were guilty of, and the duties they
owed to God and man. This conduct succeeded so well, by
the blessing of God, that after some weeks, not a single
oath of any sort was to be heard among them. When the
small-pox was in the neighbourhood, about forty of them
sickened of this distemper, and nine of that number, from
five to nine years old, died, and I am informed in a manner
that gave great comfort and admiration to those about them ;
showing an awakened concern for their souls, and expressing
great hopes of mercy for the sake of Christ their Saviour.
When they were alone, they were overheard repeating the
Catechism, and the verses they had learned by heart, and
at other times, praying earnestly."*
The letters from correspondents, which are
published in Welsh Piety, abundantly confirm the
above extracts. They were written, for the most
part, by clergymen, who cannot be suspected of
exaggerating the good results of the Schools, for
any selfish purpose or worldly advantage. For, in
the first place, the Schools did not enjoy the
patronage of those in authority, and some times
met with opposition from the people for whose
benefit they were held ; and, in the second place,
' Welsh Piety, 1747-48.

152 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
they considerably increased the labours of the
parochial clergy wherever they were established.
It must, therefore, be owned that it was from a
desire to benefit their people and to perform more
efficiently and faithfully the duties of their sacred
office, that those many clergy who welcomed them
to their parishes, supported them so heartily, and
spoke so well of them. And this is a matter of
considerable importance. We can only give here
a few, out of a very large number, which prove
incontestably that it is far from true to say, as has
been too often said, that nearly all the clergy of
those days were worldly minded, idle, and utterly
indifferent to the spiritual welfare of their people.
It is probably true that the majority of the Welsh
clergy were willing, at that time, to follow the lead
of any one who would help and encourage them in
providing better means for the instruction of their
people, and the revival of spiritual life in the
Church ; and it is certain that they received but
little encouragement and guidance from those who
were officially placed over them. In our opinion,
it reflects no little credit on the Welsh clergy of
those days that, under the circumstances, so many
of them followed so faithfully the lead in this great
work, of one of their brethren who occupied merely
an ordinary position in the Church.
Of the Welsh Piety for 1740-41, extracts of
letters from correspondents number about eighty,
and fill some fifty-six pages. We shall select only

TESTIMONY OF CORRESPONDENTS. 153
two. The first is from the Rev. P. Thomas, curate
of Gelligaer, in Glamorganshire, dated July i6,
1 74 1. He enumerates the reforms effected by the
Schools under four headings.
" I. Our Churches in general in this neighbourhood are
now near as full again of auditors as they used to be before
those Welsh Charity Schools circulated about the country.
Their ministers endeavoured before, both by fair and rough
means, to bring the people under the droppings of the
sanctuary, but all in vain ; yet now (blessed be God) our
solemn assemblies are thronged ; and what is more to be
taken notice of, there is a visible change for the better in
the lives and behaviour of the people ; which induces me to
hope that God pours down His blessing in great abundance
upon this new way (if I may so call it) of reviving religion
among us. As by learning to read they are taught to read
their Master's Will with their own eyes, as well as to hear it
with the ear, it is hoped that the advantage they receive by
both senses, will doubly increase their love and affections to
God and His holy ways.
''2. We have now a Monthly Communion about us
here in several Parish Churches, where, within very few
years past, it could hardly be administered so often as thrice
a year, for want of persons to receive it. But (thanks be to
God) I hear there are near six score monthly communicants
in one of these parishes at present, viz., Eglwys Helen,
where, not long since, they wanted a convenient number to
minister the blessed Sacrament on one of the three solemn
Feasts of the year. Am also informed that the commu
nicants increase monthly at Bedwas, Mynyddislwyn, and
Bedwellty in Monmoutshire, and in several other parishes
distant from me, where the Schools have been for one or
two quarters, &c.
" 3. It was difficult for the poor to find fit persons,

154 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
according to the excellent institution of our Church, to
stand godfathers and godmothers to their children when
they brought them to be baptised ; as few made conscience
of receiving the Lord's Supper, indeed very few could give
a tolerable account of it, nor of the Creed and Ten
Commandments, nor of the very plainest principles of the
Christian religion. They could neither answer the easiest
questions about them, nor yet submit to instruction. But
now, blessed be God, since these Schools came about, they
seem to be quite altered and of another disposition : are
desirous to be taught, and bewail their ignorance, insomuch
that we have several families now where the parents and
their children, or the masters and their servants, examine
one another in practical points of divinity, and question each
other in the Church Catechism, and often spend their spare
hours in reading and praying. And the poor people who
stood Sureties at the font when they knew not what they
did, now understand something of their duty, are stirred up
to put their god-children to the Welsh Schools, and to give
them what poor assistance they can in meat or clothes
towards their support therein.
" 4. The Welsh Schools have been the means, under
God, to reform the profanation of the Sabbath Day, which
the generality of the common people formerly spent in
tippling, gaming, &c., notwithstanding all the good laws in
force against it. Many of them at present are as fervent
for the sanctification of it, as before they were in profaning
it ; for, as then they assembled together for their plays and
diversions, without much interruption, neighbours associate
now on the Lord's Day evening to read their Bibles or
other good books, and to repeat what they remember of the
instructions given them from the pulpit in the morning;
singing Psalms and praying with their families, which,
before they were taught to read, they neither did nor could
do. They gratefully own the light and reformation they
are now blessed with, to be owing (next under God) to the

TESTIMONY OF CORRESPONDENTS. 15 J
charitable supporters of these Schools, which they acknow
ledge to be the most beneficial charity that ever could be
offered towards promoting religion among the poor and
ignorant, &c." 5
The next quotation shall be one from the pen of
Mr. Marmaduke Gwynne, of the Garth, Brecon-
shire, who was a county magistrate of an honour
able family, and "an ornament to his county and
profession," as Griffith Jones styles him. It was
this influential correspondent that, "being alarmed
at the reports he had heard of Howell Harris, . . .
and regarding him as an incendiary in Church and
State," went to one of Harris' meetings with the
Riot Act in his pocket, with the view of dispersing
the congregation ; but having heard the sermon, he
was greatly impressed, and entreated the evangelist
to accompany him to Garth to supper.^ The
following extract from a letter from Mr. Gwynne
to Griffith Jones, dated October lo, 1740, bears
evidence of his religious earnestness :
" When we were talking about a world which is invisible
to the natural eye, we entertained ourselves with giving
thanks and praises to the great God, for the extraordinary
success the method of setting up Charity Schools has had,
which is visible by seeing the effects thereof. For our
Churches hereabout, which formerly used to be very thin,
have, of late years, full congregations, and the communi
cants at the blessed Sacrament of our dearest Lord's Supper
are increased accordingly. I shall take care to see that the
excellent rules you sent me be strictly observed. And I
s Welsh Piety, 1740-41. pp. 76-79-
' Memoirs of Howell Harris, \sy John Bulmer. p. 27.

IS6 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
hope some others, after they have had from me the perusal
of your printed letter, will be pleased with your blessed
undertaking."? Of the Welsh Piety for 1746-47, letters from
correspondents occupy sixty pages. The first
is from the Rev. Robert Lloyd, minister of
Devynock, who writes on the i6th of December,
1746: " The Welsh Charity School at Illtud, in this parish,
under the care of T. D., has been blessed to the very
great improvement of the children there, who, though
most of them were but young, and never had learned
a letter before, will now read with great perfection,
and give very satisfactory answers to most questions
in the principles of our holy religion ; say their Catech
ism very perfectly, and have got by heart a good deal
of your Explanation thereof This exceeding sweet and
comfortable beginning has so wrought upon the parents
that they are very desirous of having the School for another
quarter, to be taught by the same master. For his humble
and Christian behaviour, and his great diligence in instruc
ting the children, have so won the affections of many that
were at first very indifferent about the School, and stopped
the mouths of the gainsayers, that none can be more proper
to be employed in the farther teaching of it, if it may be
granted for one quarter more. I can only assure you that
this account is given you with as strict an eye to truth as
possible, having myself watched with great closeness over
every part of the master's conduct ; I mean his conduct
both as a Christian and schoolmaster; and make it therefore
my humble and hearty request he may be employed here
for some time more." The Rev. David Havard, curate of
Llandyssul, writes on the 25th of May, 1747 : "Since the
' Welsh Piety, 1740-41, p. 86. Several other letters by Mr.
Gwynne are inserted in Welsh Piety.

TESTIMONY OF CORRESPONDENTS. 157
time you were pleased to bestow the fifty Welsh Expositions
[i.e., of the Catechism] to the poor of our parish, Mr.
Thomas, the vicar of the parish, and myself did distribute
them to the poorer sort that would learn them, especially to
the Scholars of the Welsh Charity School. I may boldly
say that the Welsh Charity School did more good in our
parish than all our preaching for many years, for now the
people bring their children to Church to be catechised
every Sunday evening, twenty or thirty at a time." The
vicar of two large parishes in Glamorganshire, the Rev. D.
Price, Llangyfelach, writes on the 9th of September, 1747 :
" I have observed that the parents of such children as were
taught to read, and have learnt some portions of the Exposi
tion on the Church Catechism, seem more civilized in
outward behaviour, and more frequently attend the public
service ; which I impute more to their being shamed by
their own children of their former neglect, than to any
impression that might be made upon them by all I could
say ; that some of the adult scholars, seldom seen before in
Church, are now at least in appearance attentive hearers ;
and that others of them, who frequently joined in all other
offices of Divine worship, and yet continued in the total
omission of the Sacrament, are become monthly communi
cants. These present good effects, and many more, which,
by the Divine blessing on this pious and charitable under
taking, may be hoped in time to come, encourage my
importunity for a Welsh School in each of my parishes, for
my farther assistance in the ministry." The Rev. J.
Thomas, rector of Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, who had
inspected several Schools in his district, bears, among
other things, the following testimony to the masters of the
Schools : " They have not only behaved as sober and pious
Christians, but have been indefatigably industrious in the
management of their Schools, brought up all their scholars
beyond expectation to read in a short time, taught them
all the Church Catechism by heart, and most of them to

158 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
understand the sense and meaning thereof, as the Baptismal
Vow, the Creed, the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer,
and the Sacraments. They not only attended the Church
of England themselves, but brought their pupils there to
be openly catechised along with them, as I have been well
informed ; and had some of them constantly, who were in
my parish, attending the Divine service and Sacraments,
with a decent and devout behaviour, and brought their
scholars to be duly catechised by me. They were not only
free from Methodism, but showed a great dislike to those
that followed that way." The Rector of Llangerniew, in
Denbighshire, writing on the 14th of September, 1751,
reports that there were forty boys and girls in his School
during the summer quarter, and adds : " Some of them I
have heard read the Bible perfectly well, and, to my very great
satisfaction, have five or six young lads that seldom fail
attending morning and evening service on Sundays, and
make all the responses audibly and distinctly; and so
diligent, yea, so indefatigable, is the old man, the teacher,
amongst them, that I never once surprised him as doing
nothing, or absent from his charge and employment. . . .
One time of many, I came upon them at prayers in the
Litany, which all, from the biggest to the least, answered
devoutly, and was, methought, a lovely scene or sight ; they
seemed even beautiful in their rags, while they thus learned
to put on Christ Jesus. Good Sir, for my own part, I am
entirely of opinion that no better method could be thought of,
as for promoting mutual instruction, so Hkewise for inflaming
mutual zeal. Of this I could give some instances, particu
larly of a lad about eight or nine years old, that has learnt
to read perfectly well ; and now the School being gone too
far for him, and some others to follow, his wonted play
fellows come to him, as for play, so also to learn their book
and Catechism. This same lad, when a little brother of
his lay a-dying, got up at midnight undesired, and
with his book in hand, fell upon his knees and read

TESTIMONY OF CORRESPONDENTS. 159
a prayer or two for him, and when he had done,
fell a-weeping. Is this lad. Sir, entitled to one of the Welsh
Bibles of the next impression ? And pray, when are they
to come out ? for I am constantly solicited by some one or
other of my parishioners on the account." The Rev.
Thomas Ellis, Vicar of Holyhead, wrote, in a letter dated
February 27, 1752 : " It gives me pleasure to find by the
printed certificates for the two last years that not one of the
said Schools fails of doing good service to religion, better
and more lasting service perhaps than is done by any other
means. The exceeding great usefulness of the said Schools,
for promoting the knowledge and practice of the true
religion among those that would otherwise be in great
danger of continuing strangers to both, is now become un
deniable throughout Wales from sufficient testimony and
experience." This correspondent complains that North
Wales was backward in contributing towards the support of
the Schools, which showed, in his opinion, " such a want
of zeal and spirit in a good cause as casts a reproach upon
our country." The Rector of Llanllechid, Carnarvonshire,
in a communication dated April 22, 1752, stated "that the
master behaved regularly, soberly, and carefully," and that
he instructed the children in the Catechism, and singing of
Psalms, as well as in reading the Welsh language. " The
benefit," he adds, which " great numbers have received
from this Charity is already very plainly to be seen, as many
of them make the regular responses at Divine service, a
thing not known before in this parish. They also sing
Psalms very well while the master assists them, and will in
a little time be able to do it without any instructor."
The Incumbent of Llanengan, in the same county, writes
on the loth of June, 1755 : "That these Schools, guided
by Divine Providence, have greatly revived the decayed
spirit of Christianity in the hearts of people, is visible
from their eagerness, poor as they are, to procure Welsh
Bibles and other good books; a passion so dead a few

l6o RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
years ago, that one might fancy himself now transported to
another climate."
These extracts, which could be indefinitely
multiplied, speak for themselves.^ They prove
that the Schools of Griffith Jones were creating a
widespread thirst for knowledge, and a spirit of
religious earnestness in the country. He could
write of them in 1752 as follows :
" I have now before me about two hundred certificates
or letters, received this year about them, from clergymen
and others, all but few personally unknown to me, several of
which I beg leave to annex to this account. Were I to
trouble you with all such testimonies as have been sent me
about them from all parts where the schools have been from
the beginning, the number would amount to near two
thousand ; some hundreds of extracts out of them have, at
several times, been made public already. All good men,
I trust, will justly admit the joint evidence of such a cloud
of witnesses to be sufficient to vindicate, and I hope to
recommend, these little nurseries to the charitable consi
deration of well-disposed Christians."
The uniform testimony of his numerous cor
respondents for over twenty years amply justified
him in using the following words in 1759:
" The utility of such schools becomes more and more
conspicuous, in so much that they have lately been received
into some very dark parts of the country where they had
never been before, and where they have been blessed with
surprising success. The ignorant poor creatures at first,
having been long habituated to their shameful ignorance,
treated religion and the offer of Christian instruction with
' It should be borne in mind that a considerable number of the
letters from Correspondents are subscribed by laymen.

THE NUMBER TAUGHT. l6l
ridicule and scoffings ; but soon after some schools had been
opened, it pleased God to work such a wonderful awakening
among them, that they bestirred themselves with great
concern about the salvation of their souls. Men, women,
and children flocked to the schools ; old as well as young
submitted to be catechetically instructed. It was very
delightful to hear of so great a change among them, as that
the daily worship of God, in the morning and evening, was
set up in many families. Several such refreshing instances
of divine blessing attending this work of charity, have greatly
encouraged your ancient, humble servant, though under
many infirmities, to proceed in it again, as we hope it may
incite others to contribute toward it."
That the schools were instrumental in teaching
a very large number of Welsh people to read their
own language, is abundantly proved by what has
been already shown. The number of those who
attended the day schools in his life-time amounted
to over 150,000, while those who attended the
night schools were twice as numerous, in many of
those places where the schools were established.
We are further told that many learnt at home. "It
should also be kept in mind," writes Judge Johnes
in his admirable essay on the Causes of Dissent in
Wales, "that the number of scholars just given
applies merely to those who frequented the schools
in the day time; Griffith Jones informs us
that those who received tuition by the night visits
of the schoolmasters were twice as numerous a
class as the regular day-scholars. Nor are these
details in any respect a matter of vague conjecture,
as one of the duties of the schoolmasters was to

l62

RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.

keep a minute account of the names, dispositions,
and progress of their pupils." " This was certainly
a degree of success which the most sanguine friends
of the institution could hardly have anticipated ; we
can only justly appreciate its real extent when we
recollect that the population of Wales during
this period continued, on an average, between
400,000 and 5oo,ooo."9 In Welsh Piety for 1777,
the year in which Madam Bevan died, a statement
is given " of the number of Schools established by
Griffith Jones and Mrs. Bevan, and the number of
scholars instructed in them from the commencement
in 1737, till the death of that lady in 1777, a period
of forty years." The total number of schools was
6,465 and of scholars 314,051.' It was a magnificent

9 Causes of Dissent in Wales^ by Judge Johnes, p. 27.

"Year

Year

A.D.

Schools. Scholars.

A.D. Schools.

Scholars.

1737 •

37

2,400

1759 ... 206 ..

8.539

1738 ¦

71

.. 3.981

1760 ... 215 ..

8,687

1739 •

71

.. .1,989

1761 ... 210 ..

8,023

1740 .

150

.. 8,767

1762 ... 225 ..

9,616

174I .

. 128

7.995

1763 ... 279 ..

11,770

1742 .

~ 89

5.123

1764 ... 195 ..

9.453

1743 •

75

4,881

176S .. 189 ..

9,029

1744 .

74

4,253

1766 ... 219 ..

10,986

1745 ¦

120

•• 5.843

1767 ... 190 ..

8,422

1746 .

116

5.635

1768 ... 148 ..

7,149

1747 ¦

no

S.633

1769 ... 173 •.

8,637

1748 •

. 136

6,223

1770 ... 159 ..

9,042

1749 •

142

6,543

I771 ... 181

9.844

1750 .

130

6,244

1772 ... 219 ..

12,044

I751 .

. 129

5.669

1773 •¦• 242 ..

13,20s

1752 .

• 130

5.724

1774 ... 211 ..

11,685

1753 ¦

134

.. 5."8

1775 ... 148 ..

9,002

1754 •

• 149

6,018

1776 ... 118

7,354

I7S5 ¦

. 163

7,015

1777 •• 144 •¦

9,576

1756 .

. 172

7,064

1757 •
220
9,037
Total 6,465
314.051
1758 •
218
9.834
TESTIMONY OF DR. T. LLEWELYN AND MR. MALKIN. 163
work. It is no exaggeration to say that in a little
more than a generation, the great majority of the
population of Wales was directly affected by these
schools. And their beneficial results were un
questionable. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Llewelyn, a
learned Nonconformist minister, in his Tracts, &"c.,
printed first in 1769, says :
" Reading among the lower class of people, is become
much more common and general in that country {i.e Wales)
now than formerly. Since the year 1737, 220,000 persons
and upwards, we are informed, have been taught to read in
one particular sort of schools, called Circulating Welsh
Charity Schools, first set up by the late Rev. and truly pious
Griffith Jones, and since his death, supported by the volun
tary contributions of well-disposed persons."
Another indirect testimony to the good effects
of these schools may be cited here :
"Another reason why the people are more respectable
and better informed than might be expected in a district
apparently little calculated for the progress of improvement,
is that the advantages of decent education have been longer
established in Wales than in most parts of England. I do
not mean to affirm that at the present moment the Welsh
peasantry are better taught than the English, because the
instruction of the poor has of late been taken up in England
by persons of condition ; and the benevolent institutions of
this country, when once their necessity is felt and acknow
ledged, are seldom allowed to relax in their progress towards
universal utility. But I apprehend our middle-aged and
elderly poor to be much more ignorant than the middle-aged
and elderly poor of Wales, at least in that part with which I
am acquainted ; and a certain portion of knowledge having
descended hereditarily from father to son for several

164 RESULTS OF SCHOOLS.
succeeding generations, it is more firmly rooted and more
generally spread than where it is of very recent acquirement,
though the immediate opportunities are superior. It has
been urged as an objection to Sunday and other day schools
with us, that the children unlearn at home with their ignorant
parents, faster than the efforts of their instructors can induce
them to learn ; but this objection would rarely be found to
apply in the Principality. There are few persons in the
towns who are unable to read ; and even in the villages, and
the more mountainous parts, schools are very common, and
in many instances, of ancient establishment. Where there
is no hall, as before described, and especially in the
mountains, the school is kept either in the Church porch, or
in the body of the Church."^
It is to the Schools of Griffith Jones that Wales
owes, if not the conception, at any rate the means
of establishing Sunday Schools, and the fact that
our Welsh Sunday Schools have, unlike those of
England, been always largely attended by adult
pupils, goes far to prove that they are the successors
of the Welsh Circulating Charity Schools ; and
Thomas Charles of Bala, who took a leading part in
founding Welsh Sunday Schools, acknowledges, in
a communication to the Hibernian Society, dated
January 4, 181 1, that " the Circulating Day-Schools
have been the principal means of erecting Sunday
Schools ; for without the former, the state of the
country was such that we could not obtain teachers
to carry on the latter. Besides, Sunday Schools
• The Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales, &'c.,by
Benjamin Heath Malkin, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., 2nd Ed. 1807. Vol. i.
p. 104.

GAELIC SCHOOLS. 165
were set up in every place where the day-schools
had been. "3 The Schools of Griffith Jones became
also the model of the Gaelic Schools, established
early in the nineteenth century in the Highlands of
Scotland, for the purpose of teaching the inhabitants
of those parts to read their own language. " The
Scotch Society, when speaking of the past exper
ience of such schools in Wales, pronounced the
plan peculiarly suited to the mountainous nature of
both countries, and to have widely diffused the
ability to read, and conveyed, with much celerity,
from one valley to another the elements of instruc-
tion."4 ^ Memoir of Charles, by Rev. E. Morgan, 2nd Ed., 183 1, p. 363.
? Wales, Ss^c, Sir Thomas Phillips, 1849, p. 274.

CHAPTER VIII.
Other Agencies and Movements.
SUCH were the principles and the methods by
which the Circulating Schools were conducted,
and such were the results which followed them.
They met with undoubted success. But it is not to
be supposed that they were the only agency within
or without the Church in Wales in the eighteenth
century, which was working for the enlightenment
of the people, and the revival of religion. We do not
here propose to indicate the efforts which were made
by Noncomformists in this direction, as it would
take us beyond our limits. But it will be expedient
in this chapter to take a brief general survey of
what, apart from the Circulating Schools, Church
men were doing for the promotion of religion and
literature in the country.
We have already referred to the attitude of the
Bishops in Wales towards the Circulating Schools.
It is true that they were members of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which never
relaxed in its support of Griffith Jones, while they
gave their countenance and their contributions
towards publishing Welsh Bibles and Prayer
Books, and other devotional works, such as the
Book of Hom.ilies, Vicar Pritchard's Poems, and
The Whole Duty of Man, which is evidence that

1 68 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
they took an interest in the welfare of the Welsh-
speaking population, which included the vast
majority of those committed to their charge. And
this only makes it the more puzzling to find no evid
ence that they gave their sanction or support to the
Welsh Circulating Schools. At one time, indeed,
Griffith Jones seemed to think that he was on the
point of realising his most fervent hope,' namely,
that the Bishops would give their countenance to
the movement. In Welsh Piety for 1748-49, he
wrote : " We are very highly obliged, as I am
given to understand, to our most worthy and right
reverend Diocesans, who are pleased to speak kind
things, and approve of the Welsh Schools, and
recommend them, because they are now, as the
expression goes, under the appointments and
directions of the parochial clergy ; and, indeed,
they were never designed to be otherwise, where
they please to take the care of them. It will be our
duty to be more express in our most grateful
> " That this design may be advanced and improved to the greatest
advantage it is capable of, it is very much wished that my Lords, the
Bishops in Wales, would deign to patronise the Schools, by enjoining
the clergy to encourage, regulate, and catechise them, and such as have
been taught in them, as often as may be ; which would not only remove
groundless prejudices, but likewise mightily assist the catechumens to
keep in remembrance and improve what they had already learned.
This would raise an emulation in others to learn, and could not fail to
edify the whole congregation. How greatly it would contribute to
revive religion in the Church of England, and remove the indefensible
reproach and scandal which arise from their gross immorality and
ignorance in the things of God, if those who have been baptised
members of her, were thus taught and pressed to live worthy of her
Communion !" Welsh Piety, 1740-41, p. 29.

EPISCOPAL ADMINISTRATION. 1 69
acknowledgements for this favour to our superiors,
when we obtain their leave to do so." It does not
appear, however, that their Lordships gave him
leave to make use of their names, otherwise we may
be sure that he would have promptly done so, both
in gratitude for their support, and in the interest of
the schools. It is to be feared that their knowledge
of both the condition of their dioceses, and of the
benefits that were derived from the schools, was
insufficient to enable them to estimate at their true
value, the reports made to them by the opponents
of these schools, which fell on unfortunate
times, as regards Episcopal rule ; for it was at least
equally true of the Welsh Bishops as of the
English, that " towards the middle of the century,
and on to its very close, there was an undoubted
lowering in the general tone of the Episcopal
order. "^ The great and good Dr. Bull, between
whom and Griffith Jones strong feelings of mutual
respect had existed, and whose opinions of Vicar
Pritchard's character and services to religion, were
so high as to have induced him to express his
desire to be buried at Llandovery by his side, had
died in 1710; and it does not appear that any of
his successors in St. David's in the eighteenth
century, did much to help the Church in the
diocese. Dr. Humphreys of Bangor, at the
beginning of the century, as we have already seen,
¦Abbey and Overton, The English Church in the Eighteenth
Century, p. 24.

170 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
Stimulated his clergy to associate themselves toge
ther for the purpose of improving the educational and
religious condition of the diocese, on the principles
adopted and recommended by the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge. He was a
patron of learning ; and we are told that Ellis
Wynne and Edward Samuel, both eminent Welsh
authors in after-life, were induced by his counsel,
and perhaps by his assistance, to prepare for Holy
Orders. Dr. Beveridge, soon after his appointment
to St. Asaph in 1704, applied himself to restore
discipline among his clergy, which, since the days
of Dr. William Lloyd, had become lax. He revived
"the custom of public catechising, which had of
late fallen into neglect ; and with a view to promo
ting its efficiency, he drew up and published for the
use of his clergy his Plain and Easy Exposition of
the Church Catechism." z A Welsh translation of
this little work was published in 1707. The
administration of Bishop Fleetwood, who entered
on his work in the same diocese in 1708, was
characterised by much energy and earnestness.
" His charge for 17 10, which was very explicit on the
duties of the clergy, wardens, and people, and has been
described as ' an admirable epitome of the discipline of the
Church,' was, contrary to the usual custom, printed and sent
round to the clergy sometime before his visitation. From
it we further learn that there were two abuses which he
^ A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph, by the Venerable Arch
deacon Thomas, 1874 ; p. 129.

EPISCOPAL ADMINISTRATION. 17I
set himself resolutely to correct, viz., the non-residence of
' some rectors who thought themselves at liberty to absent
themselves because not tied by oath to canonical residence
as vicars were,' but which he declared to be contrary to the
Act of 21 Henry VIII.; ' and the disuse, in some places, of
a weekly sermon for one every fortnight or three weeks.'
insisting that there must be a sermon every Lord's Day
throughout, he left it to the discretion of the minister
whether it should be in English or Welsh ; but added his
disapproval of the conduct of those who gave an English
one to favour one or two families in the parish, when the
rest were Welsh."*
These were bright instances ; but unfortunately
for the Church in Wales, her chief pastors during
the remainder of a century so pregnant with issues,
seem to have taken little active interest in her
welfare. " Passing on from the parochial clergy to the bishops,
we find that they were, for the most part, men of mark,
both for learning and piety ; but they were the victims of
the baneful system of translation, under which their tenure
of the See was too short and precarious to enable them to
acquire much personal influence, or to carry out large
measures of reform ; and they were frequently absentees in
consequence of their holding English preferments in order
to eke out their incomes. There were as many as seventeen
bishops appointed to the See [St. David's] in the course of
this century, twelve of whom vacated it by translation.
Even in Saunders' time, ' invidious remarks were made that
the bishops only accepted the post by way of earnest or
insurance of some other bishopric ;' and yet the system had
not then reached its full development."s
"• Lb. p. 131. i Diocesan History of St. Davids, by Archdeacon
Bevan, 1888, p. 208. Published by the S.P.CK.

172 OTHER AGENCIES .\ND MOVEMENTS.
These words were written of the Diocese of
St. David's, but matters were not mugh better in
the other three Welsh Dioceses ; and we beg
leave to state that a heavier indictment of Church
administration in Wales at that time, than that
which is made in the last quotation, it would be
hardly possible to formulate. In order to realize
its full weight, it must be borne in mind that the
Bishops were willing "victims of the baneful
system of translation," and that it was by no con
straint or compulsion that they added English
preferments to their Welsh bishoprics. And the
fruits, which ripened as the century grew, became
bitter in the early part of the nineteenth. The
contrast between the attitude of the Welsh
people towards the Church at the beginning of
the eighteenth century and the beginning of
the nineteenth, can hardly be exaggerated. The
following figures, which are taken from the History
of Dissenters, by David Bogue and James Bennett,
are highly significant. In the year 17 16, there
were about 1,150 Dissenting congregations in
England and Wales, of which 53 only, or 4*2 per
cent., were in Wales. But in 18 10, or thereabouts,
out of the 2,002 Dissenting congregations in
England and Wales, 419 belonged to Wales, or
nearly 21 per cent. Monmouthshire is included in
Wales in both cases. At the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the Church in Wales enjoyed
exceptional opportunities. She had retained the

WALES IN THE BEGINNING OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 1 73
strong and steadfast attachment of the people to
wards her, which had so distinguished them through
out the Cromwellian period. The relation which
subsisted between the great landowners and their
tenantsanddependents,even at that time, was largely
characterised by the spirit of the Feudal System.
It appears to be true that more than a " few Welsh
Squires "6 were prepared in 1746 to risk their all
for the Pretender, had he succeeded in carrying
out his intention of marching his army into Wales ;
and "the traditions that linger still among the
Welsh hills show that Jacobite principles were not
confined to the landowners, but also prevailed
among the peasants and farmers." ^ When the
parsons and the squires opposed the revivalists,
under the conviction that the latter were bringing
troubles upon the Church, they had no difficulty at
first in persuading the people to join them in per
secuting the itinerant preachers.
" What, then, were some of the chief causes that have
led to such a contrast as we see now existing ? Many of
the causes were, no doubt, common to England and Wales,
and have left bitter fruits there as well as here ; but one, at
least, with results of its own, was peculiar to the Principality;
I mean, of course, the language, which presented, it must
be admitted, a grave barrier to the free intercourse of the com
ponent parts of the Kingdom, and was a drawback to the
' " Wales," in the Story of the Nations Series, by Prof. O. M.
Edwards, p. 384.
' See an able Paper in the Cambrian Journal, 2nd Series, Vol. iv.,
1864, on " David Morgan, the Welsh Jacobite," who suffered death
for his principles.

174 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
worldly advancement of the monoglot Welshman. But how
was it faced ? Was it by carefully selecting for their spiritual
guidance and oversight the best material their council
afforded — men of the stamp of the earlier Tudor Bishops,
such as Davies, Morgan, Parry, Griffith, and Lloyd ; and
providing for their further instruction in the language of
business by means of week-day Schools ? Alas ! no ; and
incredible as it may seem, from 1727 to 1870 — for a period
of 150 years — no Welsh-speaking Bishop presided over
this diocese ; ^ not one who could administer confirmation
in the language alone understood by the monoglot catechu
men, or could take part efficiently in any other office of the
Church in the Welsh tongue. And it was no better in the
other three dioceses  One of its first fruits
was to check and almost extinguish a feature which had
honourably distinguished the Welsh clergy of the past,
namely, their zeal for the publication of books in the
vernacular for the enlightenment of their countrymen, and
to hand over the powerful instrument of the press to those
who have not been slow to use it to the Church's detri
ment." 9
But notwithstanding the want of encourage
ment on the part of the official leaders of the
Church, much was done by Churchmen in the
eighteenth century, even apart from Griffith Jones'
Schools, to promote Welsh literature and educa
tion. We have already referred at some length to
the movements that were under the auspices of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, both
in the establishment of Charity Schools, and in the
dissemination of Welsh religious publications.
There is no reason to believe that the movement,
* St. Asaph. ' Diocesan History of St. Asaph, by Archdeacon
Thomas; 1888; p. 99. Published by the S.P.C.K.

PRYS'S PSALMS AND PRITCHARD'S POEMS. 1 75
in which Griffith Jones took the leading part,
absorbed any of the Schools which had been
started early in the century. With regard to
religious literature in the vernacular, there were
doubtless thousands of copies of excellent publica
tions scattered up and down the country at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, which had
been issued in the previous one. The metrical
version of the Psalms by Archdeacon Prys, who
had rendered valuable assistance to Bishop Morgan
in the translation of the Welsh Bible published
in 1588, had been issued either separately, or
bound up with Bibles and Prayer Books, for a
hundred years before the Circulating Schools were
set up, and some ten or twelve editions of this
popular work were thus circulated. The effects of
the celebrated Vicar Pritchard's sermons were deep
and widespread in the neighbourhoods where he
laboured. He drew immense congregations when
he preached in the Parish Churches of Llandovery
and Llanedi, of which he was incumbent ; and
when he officiated at St. David's Cathedral, of
which he was Chancellor, it is said that he was
obliged to erect a movable pulpit in the church
yard, as even the venerable Cathedral Church itself
could not hold the vast multitudes that thronged to
hear him. But it was through his homely but
powerful poems that he exercised the most lasting
influence over his countrymen." They were learnt
I Vicar Pritchard himself said that "set preaching did little good,
while a snatch of song was always listened lo."

176 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
and repeated all over the Principality, until com
paratively recent times. Between 1646 and 1750,
about twenty editions of these poems, in part or in
whole, were circulated.^ The good which they did
in those times is incalculable. It has been sug
gested that the 1630 edition of the Welsh Bible
was brought out through the exertions of the Vicar,
and that he was also the author of Carwr y Cymry
{The Lover of Welshmen), an excellent little book
of 135 pages, which was first published in 1631.3
Other devotional works, mostly translations,
such as Practice of Piety, translated by Rowland
Vaughan, of Caergai, Pilgrim's Progress, trans
lated by Stephen Hughes, with many more works
of a like nature, had been printed and circulated in
the seventeenth century. In the third year of the
eighteenth appeared the first edition of the Visions op
the Sleeping Bard by Ellis Wynne, based, it is said,
on the work of Quevedo, and written in nervous
classical Welsh. This book has exercised a deep
and lasting influence on religious thought in Wales.
Its author was also the translator of Jeremy Taylor's
Holy Living, first published in 1701 ; and, at the
request of the Welsh Bishops, he superintended
a new edition of the Welsh Prayer Book in 1710.
He died in 1732, and was followed in the benefice
" See an exhaustive article on "Vicar Pritchard," by Mr. John
Ballinger, in the Cymmrodor, Vol. xiii., 1893.
3 Y Ficer Pritchard, Beibl 1630, a Charwr y Cymry, gan Mr,
][vor James, Traethodydd, Mawrth, 1893.

EDWARD SAMUEL AND THEOPHILUS EVANS. 1 77
of Llanfair, in Merionethshire, by his son William
Wynne, who appears on the list of those who were
authorised to receive subscriptions in aid of the
Schools of Griffith Jones, and was one of the Cor
respondents of these Schools, two letters from him
appearing in Welsh Piety for the year 1752-53.
William Wynne held, in addition to Llanfair, the
rectory of Llanaber in the same county, and it would
seem that his younger brother, Edward, acted as
his curate in this latter parish, and was also a Cor
respondent of Griffith Jones, a letter of his being
published in Welsh Piety for 1751-52. One of
Griffith Jones' Schools was held in Llanaber Church
in 1 75 1-2, with 29 scholars, and another in Llanfair
in the following year, with 24 scholars. In this
latter year, a School was also held in Llanaber
Church with 30 scholars, and another in the village
of Barmouth in the same parish, with 35 scholars,
which is evidence that the sons of the celebrated
Ellis Wynne, of Lasynys, were warm supporters
of the Circulating Schools.
Another eminent man of letters in the ministry
of the Welsh Church at this time was Edward
Samuel, Incumbent of Llangar, in Merionethshire.
He was a writer of elegant Welsh, and a bard of
no mean order. Most of his prose works were
translations, and among them was that of Grotius'
De Veritate &c.
Theophilus Evans, Vicar of Llangammarch,
and afterwards of St. Dayid's, Brecon, was a

1 78 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
learned man, and an able Welsh scholar. He
became vicar of the former parish in 1738, and
in Welsh Piety for 1739-40, Llangammarch appears
in the list with a School of 71 scholars. He was
made vicar of St. David's in 1739, and a School
was set up in Brecon town in 1742. In 1745-46,
there were two Schools in the parish of Llangam
march, with a total of 87 scholars. Theophilus
Evans was the author of The Mirror of the First
Ages, in which he "told his countrymen their early
history, how great they had been, how many lands
they had governed, and how much they had lost.
The imagination of children by many a mountain
hearth was fired by the visions they saw in the
Mirror. The supine inaction of the first half of the
eighteenth century was the seed time of many
ideas." 4 Theophilus Evans also wrote the History
of Modern Enthusiasm, in which he makes a
vigorous onslaught on the eccentricities of sectaries
in all ages ; and though he includes among them
Wesley and Whitefield, and their followers, whom
he describes in no measured terms, he does not
appear to have made a single direct reference to
the Welsh Methodists, who had been in existence
for twenty years when he issued the second edition
of this work in 1756. This omission is remarkable,
and difficult to account for. He also brought
out, in 1722, a translation oi the Beauty of Holiness,
* Prof. O. M. Edwards, in Wales, " Story of the Nations "
Series ; p. 384.

MOSES WILLIAMS AND GORONWY OWEN. 1 79
by Thomas Bisse, D.D., brother of Phillip Bisse,
Bishop of Hereford, and formerly of St. David's.
This little work consists of four sermons, in
explanation and defence of the Book of Common
Prayer as a manual of Public Worship. At the
beginning of the volume, a list is printed of nearly
150 subscribers, and it is noteworthy that the name
of Griffith Jones, Rector of Llanddowror, appears
among them, as do also the names of his friends
and neighbours, John Vaughan, Esq., of Derllys,
and the Rev. Thomas Phillips, Vicar of Laugharne.
Moses Williams, sometime Vicar of Devynock,
Breconshire, was another eminent scholar and
antiquarian of this period. Though he removed
to London in 1724, he continued to enrich Welsh
literature, and to benefit his countrymen in various
ways till his death in 1742. He brought through
the press, as already mentioned, the two editions of
the Welsh Bible, which were published under the
auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, in 1718 and 1727 respectively, in the
orthography and arrangement of which he effected
important emendations.
The celebrated prie.st and poet, Goronwy Owen,
lived in the same period. He was a brilliant but
unfortunate genius. Born of poor parents, and a
native of Anglesey, he was befriended by powerful
patrons, and was enabled to enter the University
of Oxford, where he showed such talents as a
linguist that Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London,

l8o OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
pronounced him to have been "the most finished
writer of Latin since the days of the Roman
Emperors." s To his great joy, he was ordained
s Works of Goronwy Owen, by Rev. Robert Jones, 1876 ; Vol. ii.
p. 7. Goronwy Owen was also proficient in the Hebrew and
Chaldee languages, and we find from his letters that he was anxious
to obtain books for the purpose of learning Arabic and Syriac. As
an illustratiou of the popular opinion respecting the great facility of
acquiring languages which he possessed, it may be mentioned that he is
said to have learned Arabic in three weeks, and to have gained a fluent
knowledge of the Irish lang\iage in a very short time. (See Gronoviana,
Llanrwst, i860, p. xx.) In spite of the fact that the study of Oriental
languages was neither a paying nor a fashionable pursuit at that time,
we have come across the following instances of natives of the Princi
pality who had gained practical knowledge of some of those languages,
which goes to confirm the reputation of Welshmen for linguistic
capacities. Goronwy Owen himself, in a letter to Richard Morris,
dated August 15, 1752, while referring to books in Arabic and Hebrew
which he possessed or wanted, says that he " would be glad to know
who the Jenkin Thomas is, who understands so well the Oriental
languages." In the minutes of the S.P.C.K., under date of March 5,
1723-4, an entry is made to the effect that a " Mr. Jezreel Jones was
asked what he would take for assisting in correcting the translation of
the Bible into Arabic. Mr. Jones gets two shillings a sheet according
to his offer far correcting such proofs. He says he is sorry he cannot
do it for nothing." In a review in the Guardian for May 16, 1894,
page 745, of ' Travels in India a hundred years ago,' containing
Notes and Reminiscenses of Thomas Twining, formerly a civil servant
of the East India Company, the following information may be found :
" Young Twining left London to take up his appointment at the age of
sixteen. His only preparation for the work before him appears to have
been comprised in a few lessons in Persian, from a poor Welshman
named Llewellyn, whom his parents had discovered in an obscure Court
in Fleet Street, the study of Oriental languages being evidently at that
time by no means a lucrative or dignified pursuit." The names of
Jenkin Thomas, Jezreel Jones, and Llewelyn are, like that of Goronwy
Owen, unmistakably Welsh, and it is not improbable that their posses
sors were men of humble origin, while it is not a little remarkable that
they found means to become proficient at that time in some of the
Oriental languages. It is worth noticing in this connection that Sir
William Jones, "one of the most distinguished linguists and Oriental

LEWIS, RICHARD, AND WILLIAM MORRIS. l8l
to a curacy in his native parish, which, it appears,
was directly under the bishop's charge. But his
joy was short-lived, as, in three weeks, the Bishop
told his chaplain who had given the curacy to
Goronwy Owen, presumably in the absence of the
bishop, that he was obliged to accommodate a
young clergyman "of a very great fortune, "^ who
had for a long time been importuning the bishop
to secure a curacy for him. There was nothing
for the young bard to do but to seek for a curacy in
England, which he did. But he was not happy,
and he continued to move from place to place,
writing beautiful poetry, and longing to return to
his native country, which he never did. The sub
sequent history of this marvellous man is truly
pathetic. The three brothers, Lewis, Richard, and
William Morris, of whom more presently, did their
best to befriend him. Natives of a parish close
to his own, and, like him, born of humble parents,
they knew him from their boyhood, and when,
through their remarkable talent and industry,
they rose to positions of influence in the world,
they did their best to help him. But it was in vain.
One of them, William Morris, was a Collector of
Customs at Holyhead, and succeeded in interesting
the Rev. Thomas Ellis, incumbent of that parish,
scholars that England has produced," was also a Welshman on his
father's side, and belonged to the same period, but unlike those above
mentioned, he was a man of good birth, and enjoyed the highest
educational advantages.
' These are the words of Goronwy Owen himself.

l82 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
in the welfare of Goronwy Owen. It is interesting
to note that Mr. Ellis was a constant correspondent
and a valued supporter of Griffith Jones. He
offered to assist the bard in publishing his great
poem on the Judgment Day, which ranks among
the finest epics in the Welsh language ; but he
could not persuade him to do anything for himself,
and after a good deal of correspondence, the matter
fell through. Goronwy Owen finally left this
country for America, and little was subsequently
heard of him. But his literary remains are among
the most precious treasures in the Welsh language.
The eldest of the three brothers just mentioned,
Lewis Morris, set up a printing press in Anglesey,
by means of which he brought out several Welsh
books.7 But he subsequently sold it to Dafydd
Jones, of Trefriw, who was himself a promoter of
Welsh literature. Lewis Morris was a Welsh
poet, an able critic and antiquarian, and left behind
' It is said in Diddanwch Teuluaidd that the printing press was
set up in Bodedern, and that " a little book called Ymarfer o
Lonyddwch (Practice of Quietness), and a few small other things,
were printed there. Mr. Lewis Morris proposed to print a book called
Tlysau'r hen Oesoedd (Gems of ancient Times) ; but the project did
not succeed ; it does not appear that more than one part was printed."
p. xxiii. This latter may be seen in the British Museum (872. 1. 18) ;
but it is said on that copy that it was " printed in Holyhead, in
Anglesey, 1735," and not in Bodedern. It is a quarto volume of 15
pages. It is said of Lewis Morris that, for a short time in his younger
days, he followed the trade of a cooper, his father's occupation, and
that he could construct a harp and play on it, build a ship and steer it,
compose a poem (cywydd) and sing or recite it with the harp. Diddanwch
Teuluaidd, 2nd Kdition, 1813, p. xxii. The first edition of this work
was broui;ht out in 1763, under the editorship of Hugh Jones, Llangwm.

EVAN EVANS. 1 83
him a mass of Welsh manuscripts, which even
tually found their way to the British Museum.
Richard Morris, his brother, was appointed chief
secretary in the Navy Office, and continued his
powerful patronage of Welsh literature throughout
his life. As we have seen, he superintended the
two editions of the Welsh Bible, towards which
Griffith Jones did so much to obtain subscriptions,
namely, the editions of 1746 and of 1752 ; and he is
said to have generously offered to help Peter
Williams to bring out his annotated edition of the
Welsh Bible. He also supported the parishioners
of Trefdraeth, in his native county, in their opposi
tion to the institution of the Rev. Dr. Bowles, an
English clergyman who knew no Welsh, but had
been appointed in 1766 by the Bishop of Bangor,
to take charge of a parish in which the services of
the Church had to be conducted in the Welsh
language. The parishioners were successful in
their appeal at law.
The Rev. Evan Evans {leuan Brydydd Hir)
was another gifted Welsh churchman of this period.
He was a pupil of Edward Richard, of Ystrad-
meurig, who was himself a writer of exquisite
Welsh lyrics, and the founder of a Grammar School
in his native parish, which has done noble work in
the interest of education. Evan Evans matriculated
at Merton College, Oxford, in 1751, but owing to
res angusta domi, was unable to proceed to his
degree. He was sometime afterwards ordained to

184 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
a curacy in Cardiganshire, his native county. He
was a poet of considerable merit, and a keen anti
quarian, but was apparently too much bent on his
studies and researches into the antiquities of his
country, to be of much practical use as a parochial
clergyman. He was a correspondent of Richard
Morris, and of his two brothers, and also of
Thomas Percy, then Bishop of Dromore and
a student of Celtic antiquities, whose letters to
Evans may be seen in a volume by the latter,
entitled "Some specimens of the Poetry of the
ancient Welsh Bards," first published in 1764.
The edition now before us is a reprint of this,
without date, and consists of three parts, the
first in English, the second in Latin, and the third
in Welsh, together with an appendix of seventy-
eight pages, containing matter of a cognate nature.
Evans wrote a good deal of poetry, much of which
is admirable, and he left to Mr. Paul Panton, of Plas-
gwyn, Anglesey, who greatly befriended him in his
later years, about one hundred volumes of manu
script, consisting partly of original, but mostly o^
transcribed matter, relating principally to the
history and the antiquities of Wales. He was also
a correspondent of William Wynne, Rector of
Llangynhafal, Denbighshire, who was himself
a painstaking student of British antiquities, a
cultured poet, and left behind him Welsh poetry
of superior merit.
These names are among the most prominent

• selectIoIis Of welsh poetry. 185
Welsh Churchmen of the eighteenth century,
whose literary productions form both some of the
signs of an intellectual awakening, and some of the
forces which contributed to its development. There
were others of scarcely less eminence, who wrote both
prose and poetry, and contributed their share to the
work. It has been observed that there is no part of
the United Kingdom in which so large a proportion
of the lower classes are devoted to intellectual
pursuits as in Wales.^ This is true, and we shall
not go far wrong if we say that this fact, if it did
not altogether originate, received at least a great
impetus in the intellectual awakening of the people
in the eighteenth century with which we are dealing,
and in the creation of which the Schools of
Griffith Jones had a considerable share. Several
volumes containing selections of Welsh poetry were
published in this century, the contents of which,
though of varying merit, are of an edifying, and
generally of a religious character. As early as the
year 1721, a volume of religious poetry, containing
one hundred and seventy-four pages, and entitled
Difyrwch Crefyddol, was published by a Church
layman, John Prichard Prys, of Llangadwaladr,
Anglesey. These poems are a kind of sermons in
rhyme, each of which is headed by a text from
Holy Scripture.
Another collection of three hundred pages from'
old Welsh poets was made in 1770 by another lay-
^ t5ean Edwards, Wales and the Helsh Church, p. 221, 1888.

l86 other AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
man, Rhys Jones of Llanfachreth, Merionethshire;
another of three hundred and eighty-six pages was
made by Jonathan Hughes of Llangollen, also a
layman, in 1778 ;and in the following year, another
volume of five hundred and fifty pages of a similar
character was published by Dafydd Jones of Trefriw,
already mentioned as having purchased the printing
press of Lewis Morris. These collections, which
by no means exhaust the list, consist of carols,
poems, and songs, for the most part of a distinctly
religious character, and eminently suited to a people
that have always been noted for their attachment to
poetry and music. The demand for them was
largely created by the charity schools, at which
thousands of Welsh people of all ages were taught
to read their own language, and to understand the
fundamental principles of religion. The demand
became more general as the century grew, and as
the movement increased in force and volume. The
schools, the catechetical meetings, the pulpit, and
the press had their share in its development ; and
under the combined influence of these forces, which
acted and re-acted on each other, a great change
took place in the country. The village square and
the village green were forsaken for the Churches
and the Schoolrooms ; "rustic carnivals" gave way
to religious assemblies ; and the profane songs and
interludes, accompanied by the fiddle and the harp
in the drunken revelries of those times, were
exchanged for the Psalm, the hymn, and the carol.

LITERARY SOCIETIES. 187
It was an intellectual as well as a spiritual revival,
and it grew in power and extent, till it either con
quered or converted most of its opponents, and
became the dominant influence in the land.
The clergy whose names we have mentioned
helped the movement, not only by their literary
productions, but doubtless by their parochial
ministrations also, for their writings prove them to
have been, for the most part, men of high principles
and earnest purpose. And in such sources of
information as we possess, we find the names of
many others, who, as parish priests, were earnestly
grappling with their duties under the heavy burdens
of poverty and pluralism. No account of their
labours has been handed down to us, and we only
come across them accidentally ; and we doubt not
but that there were faithful men in the ministry
of the Church in those days, of whose good works
no record has been preserved by man. We see
some of them in the correspondence and diaries of
Howell Harris ; some in quotations from con
temporary sources given in such works as Rees'
History of Welsh Nonconformity ; 9 and many may
be found among the correspondents of Griffith
Jones. But some there doubtless were whose names
are only " written in the Lamb's book of life."
Another movement, belonging to the latter
half of the eighteenth century, was the Establishment
of learned Welsh Societies, which had their head
s' See, for instance, pp. 315, 386, of that work. Ed. 1861.

l88 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
quarters in London, and the first of which, the Cym-
mrodorion Society, was founded in 1751. " Its origi
nators were principally members of the Society of the
Ancient Britons ; among others, was the celebrated
Richard Morris, brother of the other Morrises of
literary celebrity; he sat as president in 1752, and
we find some letters to him addressed in that capacity
by the no less celebrated Goronwy Owen. Before
their dissolution in 1787, they had numbered among
their members nearly four hundred individuals,
distinguished in some branch of Welsh learning." '
The Cymmrodorion Society was re-established in
1820. In 1770, the Society of the Gwyneddigion
was formed. Membership in this latter was
restricted at first to natives of North Wales, as its
name implies, but that arrangement was soon
abandoned, as a South Wales member was elected
Chairman in 1775. The objects which these
Societies were designed to promote were the
cultivation of the Welsh language, the study of
Welsh history and antiquities, the encouragement
of Welsh education, the revival and perpetuation
of Welsh customs, the preservation of Welsh
manuscripts, and the publication of Welsh literature.
Among their first fruits was the publication in
1789 of the works of Dafydd ap Gwilym,* an
» The Origin and Progress of the Gwyneddigion Society, by
William Davies Leathart, Hon. Sec, and Librarian ; 1831, p. 10.
2 For an able critique of Dafydd ap Gwilym and his Poetry, see
the Quarterly Review for October, 1901, which is understood to be
from the pen of a well-known Welsh scholar.

LITERARY SOCIETIES. 1 89
eminent Welsh poet who flourished in the middle
of the fourteenth century ; oi the Cambrian Register,
a journal which came out at irregular intervals,
three volumes only of which were issued, in
1796, 1799, and 18 18 respectively ; and of the
Myfyrian Archaeology of Wales, which was
published in 1801-7, in three large volumes, and
consists of three divisions, the first containing
selections from the Welsh Bards, from the earliest
period to the fourteenth century, which had
remained till then only in manuscripts. The
second division consists of " historical documents,"
and the third of "a collection of aphorisms,
proverbs, ethical triads, &c." These three publica
tions were probably the joint production of Dr.
Owen Pughe and Mr. Owen Jones {Myfyr), both
of whom were members of the Gwyneddigion, the
latter having been elected its first chairman in
1 77 1. It was also about this time that Dr. O.
Pughe published his Welsh-English Dictionary.
Mr. Owen Jones was a great collector of Welsh
manuscripts, of which he left behind him one
hundred volumes, containing 35,500 pages, which
the Cymmrodorion purchased from his widow about
the year 1824, intending to publish them, it is said,
as a continuation of the Myfyrian Archaeology of
Wales. This latter work was brought out at the
sole expense of Mr. Owen Jones, who was a native
of Denbighshire, but in later life carried on an
extensive business as a furrier in Th3,|ne5 Street,

igo OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
London. It was in reference to this that a writer in
the Quarterly Review about that time, said to be
Robert Southey, penned the following remarks.
"The praiseworthy and patriotic exertions of
individuals may cause the Welsh nation to blush.
When a foreigner asks us the names of the nobility
and gentry of the Principality, who published the
Myfyrian Archaeology at their own expense, he
must answer, none of them, but Owen Jones, the
Thames-Street furrier." 3
In 1795, the establishment of the Cymreig-
yddion took place, its object being the cultivation
of the Welsh language, andan offshoot of which was
another, called Caradogion, formed shortly after, for
the purpose of encouraging the cultivation of the
English tongue among Welshmen who resided in
London. " This Society," writes the historian of
the Gwyneddigion, "existed for many years, and
much talent was elicited in its progress ; it was
here that many made their first essay in public
speaking, who have since figured in assemblies of
a more important cast."
A resuscitation of the Eisteddfod, after a long
period of suspense, took place in 1798, when it was
held at Caerwys, in Flintshire, under the auspices
of the Gwyneddigion Society. " It commenced on
the 29th of May, in the ancient Town Hall, under
the same roof that sheltered their ancestors 231
years before, when assembled on a like occasion,
3 The Origin and Progress of the Gwyneddigion, &c., p. 13.

LITERARY SOCIETIES. I9I
by virtue of a Commission from Queen Elizabeth,
viz., 26th of May, 1567." 4 In looking over the
lists of the names of those who supported these
movements, wefind onlya few members of the Welsh
aristocracy, a class which, by their writings and
their influence, had so powerfully patronised Welsh
literature in the sixteenth century, and the early
part of the next. A great change had taken place
in this respect. It was the beginning of a new era
in Welsh literature, when it found its contributors
and promoters, almost exclusively, among the
middle and lower classes.
The Societies to which we have briefly drawn
attention were instrumental in associating together
a large number of Welshmen, and in encouraging
them to promote the laudable objects enumerated
above. They contributed substantially to the
revival of interest in the history, the literature, and
the antiquities of their native country, and gave to
study and research in those fields, as well as to
education in a more general sense, an impetus
which has not yet spent its force. This intel
lectual and literary movement coincided, as we
have seen, with a powerful religious revival.
The condition of things thus existing, though
on a much smaller scale, might be said to
bear some analogy to what had taken place
in the sixteenth century, when the revival of
literature and religion went hand in hand, and
4/*. p. 28.

192 OTHER AGENCIES AND MOVEMENTS.
resulted in the intellectual and spiritual emancipa
tion of many peoples. These two forces, the
intellectual and the spiritual, act and react on each
other. It is often impossible to determine which
is the cause and which the effect. The quickening
of the spiritual faculties acts as a stimulant on
the mind, while the due cultivation of the intellect
brings light to the conscience. They should never
be divorced in education, for man is a moral as
well as a rational being. Religion without know
ledge is apt to degenerate into superstition or
fanaticism, and bare mental culture may result in
mere egotism, cold, cynical, and selfish.
But it must not be understood that, during
the second half of the eighteenth century, the pro
moters of Welsh literature on the one hand, and
those who rejoiced in a religious revival on the
other, always sympathised with each other, or acted
in concert. They rather co-existed than coalesced.
Nay, more; there was some degree of mutual dis
like and distrust. There was a class among the
Methodists who viewed higher education, and the
promotion of secular literature, with something like
aversion, and we believe that that aversion con,
tinned to be a stumbling-block to the progress of
ministerial education among them till late in the first
half of the nineteenth century ;5 and it is certain
that some of the promoters of Welsh literature and
s For instances of this aversion, see Life and Letters of the lafe Dr.
l^ewis Edwards^ lately published.

THE LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 1 93
learning, to whom we have already referred, treated
the Methodists with undisguised contempt.^ It
was the common misfortune of these movements
that there was no greater sympathy between their
respective promoters, the result of which, had it
existed, would have been beneficial to both. But
in spite of mutual suspicion and distrust, they
were unwitting, we had almost said unwilling,
allies, in bringing about the spiritual and intel
lectual enfranchisement of the people. And almost
to the close of the eighteenth century, both derived
most of their support from Churchmen.
'See, for instance, a writer in the Camtrian Register, Vol. ii.,
p. 431.

CHAPTER IX.
MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
WE now return to Griffith Jones and his
labours. A considerable amount of space
has been devoted in previous chapters to the Welsh
Circulating Schools, principally because it was by
means of these that the subject of these pages was
enabled to render his greatest service to religion
and to his country. It was not his fault that the
Church, of which he was so devoted and worthy a
minister, did not reap the full benefit of them. His
labours in conection with that movement were
almost unexampled in the history of education,
when all things are considered. He guided it for
thirty years. It grew under his hands from a small
beginning into a vast organisation, till it covered
almost the whole of twelve counties. His schools
found their way into the remotest parts of North
Wales. They reached the farthest limits of
Anglesey, as well as the mountainous districts of
Merioneth and Carnarvon. The labours that
devolved upon him in connection with such a
vast and complex movement were indeed great.
He had to hold regular communications with the
subscribers, managers, and masters of the Schools,
as well as with the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, and his correspondence alone would

196 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
have been sufficient to occupy the time and
tax the energies of an ordinary man. But in
addition to this, and besides his parochial duties,
his literary works, and his itinerant journeys for the
purpose of establishing and examining the Schools,
to which we shall presently direct attention, he had
also to superintend the training of many of the
masters, for we are told that " his teachers were
generally persons taught and prepared by himself,
and commonly selected from the serious part of his
disciples at home and abroad. They were men of
acknowledged piety, and such as had the interest of
religion in general, and the success of the Schools
in particular at heart."
But his labours in connection with the Schools
formed only a part, though an important part, of
the burden which lay on his shoulders. He was
a prolific writer of theological, catechetical, devo
tional, and epistolary literature. A list of his
works, though not a complete one, is given in the
Memoir which was published in 1762.' It consists
' "The following are the titles of some of Mr. Jones' printed books
in English, viz. :
" I. The Platform of Christianity, being an explanation of the
XXXIX. Articles of the Church of England.
" 2. A Letter to a Clergyman, evincing the necessity of teaching
the poor in Wales.
" 3. The Christian Covenant, or the Baptismal Vow, as stated in
our Church Catechism, Scripturally explained by question and answer.
Note. This is the First Part of his intended Exposition of the Church
Catechism in English. The Second Part, which goes to the end of the
Creed, is now in the press.
" 4. Welsh Piety, or An Account of the Circulating Welsh Charily
Schools in Wales. These tracts were published annually for four and

PUBLICATIONS. 197
of thirteen books and tracts, four of which, including
Welsh Piety, already described, were written in
English, and the remainder in Welsh. We have
succeeded in procuring nine of the above number,
and also two small volumesofhis printed sermons, as
well as a volume of his letters, the three last being
posthumous publications. These printed works
which have come to our hands, consisting in all of
twelve volumes, contain an aggregate of about
3,300 pages of moderately close print. He left also
a large amount of manuscript, consisting prin
cipally of sermons and letters.^ All his works
published in his lifetime were designed to meet the
twenty years successively, and collected into two handsome volumes in
octavo. They breathe forth a spirit of piety every way worthy of this
Welsh Apostle, as he was sometimes styled.
" Some of those in the Welsh language may be rendered :
" 5. A Manual of Prayers for morning and evening, &c.
" 6. Free Advice.
" 7. A Call to the Throne of Grace.
" 8. A Guide to the Throne of Grace.
" 9. A large Exposition of the Church Catechism, with Scripture
proofs, being a compendious Body of Divinity.
" 10. An abridgement of this last, for the use of his Welsh
Schools. " II. A Letter upon the subject of Catechising the ignorant.
" 12. The Duty of Praising God.
" 13. An Extract of Mr. Rees Pritchard's Poems." A Sketch of
the Life and Character of the Reverend and pious Mr. Griffith Jones,
&c. London, 1762. p. 18.
'"The Editor has in his possession several volumes of Mr. Jones' MS.
Sermons, some written in full, but the greatest part are skeletons. They
amount in all to nearly 550 in number, extending almost over the
whole Bible; and they contain a rich store of plain, sound, and
Scriptural divinity." Preface by Kev. J. Owen, translator of Griffith
Jones' Sermons, seventeen in number. Published by Hamilton,
Adams & Ca No date is given.

1 98 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
needs created by his Circulating Schools. In the
memoir already referred to, we are informed that
" by the kind assistance of many charitable persons,
Mr. Jones was enabled to print very great numbers
(sometimes 12,000, at others 8,000, &c., at an
impression) of many of the above books, which
were distributed throughout all Wales." We
cannot attempt here to give a full description of his
writings. The substance is always solid, and his
arguments are profusely illustrated and enforced by
quotations from Holy Scripture, and sometimes from
ancient writers and eminent Church divines. His
theological standpoint is unmistakably that of the
Reformers of the the sixteenth century. His rever
ence for the Bible, with every page of which he was
familiar, was profound, and his loyalty to the Church
was unimpeachable. He gives the most prominent
place in his teaching to the cardinal truths of
religion, which he holds with unflinching firmness,
and expounds with force and fulness. His style is
somewhat ponderous, and sometimes involved ;
and Welsh idioms may occasionally be detected in
his English writings.
His extant letters which we have seen,
dating from 1732 to 1743, were all written to
Madam Bevan, his constant friend and fellow-
labourer. They are about one hundred and
sixty in number, of which ninety-four are
printed in a volume edited by the Rev. Edward
Morgan, sometime Vicar of Syston, Leicestershire,

CORRESPONDENCE. 1 99
and published in 1832. The manuscript volume
which we have seen was most kindly and cour
teously lent in 1894 by Dr. Basil Jones, the late
Bishop of St. David's. The letters deal with a
variety of subjects, but mostly with those connected
with religion, either on its doctrinal, devotional, or
practical side. It is but a comparatively small
portion of them that is taken upwith personal affairs,
though allusions to these have been partly elimi
nated from the printed volume. It would exceed
our limits to enter largely into the contents of these
letters, full as they are of interesting matter which
throws light on the intimacy between him and his
correspondent, on his own personal character as a
Christian minister, his profound anxiety for the
revival of true religion in the Church, and the
spiritual welfare ofhis countrymen, on his masterly
grasp of theological subjects, and his versatile
powers in handling them. It is probably true that
his intellectual endowments, his store of knowledge,
and his spiritual attainments, are seen to a better
advantage in these letters than in any of his
other published writings. They deal copiously
and incisively with such topics as the Infidelity
and irreligion of the times. Religion as the business
of life, God the best portion. Obedience to God
as the test of religion. The pleasure and the
honour of being employed for God, Spiritual
conversation, God's love. Religious zeal. Spiritual
hunger. Praying for the ministry, The study of the

200 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
Scriptures, &c. There are also nine letters on
Prayer, comprising nearly eighty pages of the
printed volume. The intellectual powers of his cor
respondent, as well as her religious sympathy with
one who was her spiritual father, were evidently
calculated to encourage him in these epistolary
communications. The following facts respecting
this gifted lady will doubtless be of interest to our
readers. They may be seen in a note on page 454
of volume i. of the " Life and Times of the
Countess of Huntingdon."
" Mrs. Bevan was a daughter and co-heiress of Mr.
Vaughan, of Derllys, in the parish of Merthyr, Carmarthen
shire, and received her first serious impressions under the
apostolic ministry of Griffith Jones, Rector of Llanddowror.
She was very handsome, sensible, and accomplished. Her
husband, Arthur Bevan, Esq., was Rector of the County-
Borough of Carmarthen, and for fourteen years its repre
sentative in Parliament ; his public conduct was at once
dignified and endearing, and he died (March 6th, 1745,
aged 56), beloved and lamented. To Mr. Jones, Mrs.
Bevan was ever grateful and aflFectionate, attended his
ministry at Llanddowror and Llandilo, powerfully assisted
his efforts in establishing that blessing to the poor of the
Principality — the Welsh Circulating Charity Schools — and
at last, in 1761, it was in her house at Laugharne that he
died, and at her own expense she erected a monument to
his memory in the parish Church he had so faithfully served.
.... At every visit of Mr. Whitefield to Bath, he preached
in Mrs. Bevan's house, and at the period of which we speak,
the Earls of Chesterfield and Huntingdon, and Mrs. Stan
hope, were ampng the distinguished auditory. Mrs. Bevan's
elegant and accomplished manners attracted Lord Chestes-

LETTER OF MADAM BEVAN. 201
field's attention, and having studied the Deistical writers of
the age, she was enabled to give all her eminent ability
and clearness to the discussion of the topics he was fond of
introducing. She easily and solidly refuted his plausible
objections to revealed religion. " Lord Chesterfield's
inclination to subvert Christianity," she writes to Lady
Huntingdon, "has involved me in many inconsistencies. A
greater proof of his prejudices and his being reduced to the
last distress in point of argument is his general clamours
and invectives against all historical evidence, as absolutely
uncertain ; and it is not so much the corruptions of
Christianity that his Lordship finds fault with, as with the
Christian revelation itself, which he does not scruple to
represent as the product of enthusiasm or imposture. Yet,
at other times, he will agree with me, that never were there
any facts that had clearer and more convincing evidence
attending them, than the extraordinary and miraculous facts
whereby the divine original and authority of the Christian
revelation was attested and confirmed. This strange fluc
tuation of opinion I can account for only on this
ground — that the incontrovertible and undeniable evidence
of these facts has overcome the notions and prejudices with
which his mind has been so strongly prepossessed ; and it
is this shaking of the Babel of unbelief that fills me with
hope that the great Dispenser of spiritual benefits will, of
His free grace and mercy, reveal to his Lordship's mind the
grand and harmonious system of revealed truth, the several
parts of which are like so many links of a beautiful chain,
one part answering to another, and all concurring to exhibit
an admirable plan, in which the wisdom, the grace, and
goodness, and the righteousness of God, most eminently
shine forth. Your Ladyship's great intimacy with, and
friendship for. Lord Chesterfield, has induced me to be
thus minute in what related to him. Of Lord Huntingdon,
I have not had much opportunity of forming an opinion ;
but I hear from good Lady Gertrude, that Sir Charles and

202 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
his Lordship are inseparable, and have long and interesting
discussions on the most interesting topics. He has called
frequently on Mrs. Grenfield, with whom he seems much
pleased. Your Ladyship is well assured she will not lose a
favourable opportunity of speaking a word in season."
This letter is valuable as being the only extant
production of Madam Bevan's pen, as far as we
know, and it bears out all that is said of her. It
brings before us a person of a high intellectual
order, well read in the great controversies of
the eighteenth century, profoundly loyal to the
fundamental truths of Revelation, and deeply
anxious to rescue others from the mazes of unbelief.
It was a rare privilege, and a proof of exceptional
merits, to have won, as Griffith Jones had won, the
friendship and the confidence of such a person.
The history of the fellowship and joint labours,
of these two great benefactors of the Welsh people
is, indeed, a remarkable one. One or two interes
ting facts, which we have not seen elsewhere, are
reported in the following extract. Having given
an account of Griffith Jones' many gifts as a
parochial minister, the writer goes on to say :
" In these meritorious labours of love, his hands were
strengthened by his chief parishioner, John Dalton, Esq.,
who, at that time, occupied the mansion house of Cloch y
Frin, an ancient seat of Sir John Phillips and his pro
genitors ; this patriarchal, numerous household, was then a
pattern of the primitive devotion, order, and regularity,
where the fear of God was displayed in goodness, charity,
neighbourly love, family affection, and consequent happiness.
Id 1724, this kind friend died in humble, yet assured hope

THE DALTON FAMILY. 203
of a blissful immortality, and was interred in the chancel of
Llanddowror Church, where he had so constantly knelt in
prayer, and so frequently heard and profited by Mr. Jones'
exhortations. His exemplary widow survived until 1757, and
was then joined to her kindred in the same time-hallowed
receptacle of God's saints, followed in due time by her
beloved pastor. They were loving and lovely in their lives,
and their perishable dust is now mingled together until the
dawning of that imperishable day. Mr. Jones assisted in
preparing their only son for the ministry; and when the
youth left home for the University of Oxford, he gave him
such very excellent counsel, and prayed so cordially with
him, both in the family and in private, that this child of
many prayers .... remembered the parting hour to the
last. (This was the learned and Rev. James Dalton, M.A.,
afterwards Rector of Great Stanmore, Middlesex.) Through
this family, Mr. Grififith Jones became intimate with their
benevolent kinswoman, Mrs. Bridget Bevan, the pious and
richly-endowed widow of Arthur Bevan, Esq., K.C., who
honoured him with her friendship, and made him the
almoner of her bounty, which was very large, &c." 3
Both Griffith Jones and Madam Bevan con
tinued to labour for the success of the Schools to
their dying day, and made provision for their
continuance after their death. Griffith Jones lost
his wife, as we have seen, in 1755, and in the
following year, was taken into the house of his
friend, where he remained till his death. On the
nth of February, 1756, he executed his Will, in
which he made over to Madam Bevan all
the funds that were in hand belonging to the
Schools, as well as his own private property, after
3 Christian Guardian, April 1827, p. 125.

204 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS .
the payment of some legacies, the residuary legacy
to the Schools amounting in all to over ;^7ooo.
" The words of the gift are as follows : As I know none
more trusty, nor any so properly qualified, to faithfully
discharge all my debts on account of the Welsh Charity
Schools or otherwise, as well as to pay the legacies herein
before by me given, than the truly honoured Mrs. Bridget
Bevan, of Laugharne, in the County of Carmarthen, widow,
to whom I am greatly obliged for her most generous and
compassionate assistance to me always and on all occasions,
who will most faithfully pay all my just debts, and readily
encourage and promote, so far as will lie in her, all the acts
of charities of every kind she now assists me in. I have,
therefore, earnestly requested her to take on herself the
the trouble of being sole executrix of this my last Will and
Testament, and do hereby accordingly nominate and appoint
the said Bridget Bevan sole executrix thereof, and towards the
discharge of that trust and trouble, I give and bequeathe
to her, and to her disposal, all and every part of such
charity money I may be trusted with at the time
of my decease. I also give and bequeathe to her
all the rest and residue of my personal and chattel
estate rights and credits whatsoever by me hereby undis
posed of, and whether the same shall consist in ready
money, securities for money, household goods and furniture,
and my study of books which shall be by me undisposed of
at the time of my decease, effects and substance or other
wise whatsoever which I shall be possessed of, interested
in, and entitled unto at the time of my decease, without
being liable or subject to be accountable for the same to
any person or persons whatsoever having, or pretending to
have, any right or claim to any part thereof upon any
account whatsoever." ¦*
* History of Mrs. Bevan's Charity, by Mr. C. Morgan-Richardson,
189a p. 6.

THE MADAM BEVAN TRUST. 265
Madam Bevan carried on the Schools till her
death in 1777, and made provision in her Will for
continuing them after her decease. The funds at
her disposal had been increased to about ;^io,ooo;
but one of the Trustees, Lady Stepney, appointed
under the " Will, having questioned the validity
of the gift in order to put in her claim to it
as next of kin, the whole fund was invested in the
Court of Chancery, and it remained there for a
period of thirty years, pending the final decision of
the Court. "5 It was at last released in 1804, and
was assigned to its original purpose by a new
scheme of administration devised by the Court,
having in the meantime accumulated at interest to
;^30,5oo 75'. 6d.^ While the money was in
5 lb. p. 7. Mr. Sutton's bequest of the Charter House was simi
larly contested in 1611. See Wales, by Sir T. Phillips, p. 251. ' See
Bishop Burgess' Tracts, 1815, p. 148. Dr. Burgess says that Griffith
Jones had left only ;^2,ooo, " which were augmented by
benefactions to ;^8,ooo at the time of Mrs. Bevan's death." It may
not be generally known that this was the " Welsh Charity " which
benefited in consequence of an unhappy encounter between Oliver
Goldsmith and Evans, a London publisher, over an anonymous letter
which had appeared in the London Packet, containing an
ungenerous attack on the unfortunate poet. The incident
occurred in the year 1773, and its details were somewhat as follows :
Goldsmith's well-known play, She Stoops to Conquer, had met with
unqualified success in the winter of that year, which provoked the
envy of some of his contemporary play-writers. Hence the unworthy
attack just mentioned. When Goldsmith's attention was drawn to the
obnoxious letter, he became furious, and his friends, instead of per
suading him to treat it with the contempt it deserved, fanned the
flames of resentment, and prompted him to seek for reparation. He
proceeded in high temper to Paternoster Row in the company of one
Captain Higgins, and entered the shop of Evans, the publisher in
question, whom he assumed to be the editor, Oo being reiponstrat^fj

206 MINISTERIAL AND LITURARY LABOURS.
Chancery, "the old Circulating Schools died of
inanition," and the great work that had been carried
on for nearly half a century was suspended at a time
when the Church needed all, and more than all, her
resources to retain her hold on the people. During
Madam Bevan's management of the trust, the
Schools had lost none of their popularity or effi
ciency, if we may judge by their number, and the
number of those who attended them. In 1763, the
number of the Schools was 279, and of the scholars
11,770, being in both cases the largest recorded
since their commencement; in 1773, the Schools
numbered 242, and the scholars 13,205 ; and in
1777, the Schools were 144, and the scholars 9,576.
The movement had become a part of the machinery
with, Evans professed ignorance of the whole affair, and promised to
speak to the editor. " He stooped to examine a file of the paper, in
search of the offensive article ; whereupon Goldsmith's friend gave him
a signal, that now was a favourable moment for the exercise of his cane.
The hint was taken as quick as given, and the cane was vigorously
applied to the back of the stooping publisher. The latter rallied in an
instant, and being a stout, high-blooded Welshman, returned the blows
with interest. A lamp hanging overhead was broken, and sent down
a shower of oil upon the combatants ; but the battle raged with un
ceasing fury. The shopman ran off for a constable ; but Dr. Kenrick,
who happened to be in the adjacent room, sallied forth, interfered
between the combatants, and put an end to the affray. He conducted
Goldsmith to a coach, in exceedingly battered and tattered plight, and
accompanied him home, soothing him with much mock commiseration,
though he was generally suspected, and on good grounds, to be the
author of the libel. Evans immediately instituted a suii against
Goldsmith for an assault, but was ultimately prevailed upon to com
promise the matter, the poet contributing fifty pounds to the Welsh
Charity." — Washington Irving's Life of Oliver Goldsmith, Chapter
^xxviii,

LOSS OF THE WELSH CHURCH IN 1777. 207
of the Church, and was doing incalculable good.
But suddenly and abruptly, it is arrested, and the
education of ten thousand souls is almost instanta
neously dropped. Who can estimate the loss of
power and prestige sustained by the Church through
the collapse of such a beneficent organisation ?
Among all her children, clerical and lay, no one
stepped forth to repair the damage, and take up the
work of education. And when the funds were
recovered from the Court of Chancery, and began
to be applied once more to their original purpose,
Thomas Charles had been working for twenty
years at the task of educating the people, on the
plan of Griffith Jones' Circulating Schools. But
Thomas Charles had been virtually forced out of
the Church. The year 1777 was a critical juncture
for the Church in Wales. The loss of two such
lives as those of Griffith Jones and Madam Bevan
was great indeed. It appeared as though the
striking words used by the former on the death of
Dr. Knight had become true. " It looks as if the
King of Heaven meant war, when He calls home
His ambassadors." 7 Meanwhile, the Methodist
movement was rapidly gaining in influence and
popularity, and the forces which tended towards its
separation from the Church were becoming more
pronounced and aggressive. From 1777 to 1810
is truly one of the saddest periods in the history
of the Church in Wales.
^ Letter to Madam Bevan, May 31, 1735.

208 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
We shall next turn our attention to the minis
terial life and character of Griffith Jones. The
promotion of true religion and the welfare of souls
were the main objects of all his efforts and move
ments. "To catch all opportunities of doing good
to others, to watch carefully against the stragglings
of our hearts from God, and to make a very solemn
use of consecrated ordinances, are methods that will
hardly fail to bring us on towards the attainment of
joyful hope and full assurance of faith, which is the
life of a religious profession." "There cannot be
greater happiness or greater honour than to be
chosen by the ever-glorious King of Heaven to
carry on the advancement and promotion of His
Kingdom on earth, and to do all that is practicable
to bring forth the miserable captives of dismal
darkness into marvellous healing light, that they
may enjoy the inconceivable benefits of His death
and passion." Such passages as these may be
multiplied almost indefinitely from his letters and
other writings. Even when he was compelled to
take rest on account of his health, he bore on his
heart the people committed to his care. Writing
from Bristol in 1737, he said that he found "solitude
and retirement to be no such frightful things as
some may imagine, provided one sets himself in
the happy way of conversing with his God and his
Bible. ... I should soon fall into an excess of
love with this way, if it was not for an almost over
coming grief and concern about my absenge fronj

THE EARNEST AND FAITHFUL PASTOR. 209
the charge committed to me by Divine Providence,
which, however weakly I might fulfil if present, or
however well it might be performed by others in
my absence, it can give but little ease to my mind,
while I do nothing. For since I must give an
account, I must not neglect to do what weakness
can attempt towards discharging the duty that I
have vowed to the Lord to engage in, and must
answer for before Him at His coming." He
shunned all society where vain and unprofitable
conversation prevailed. " I avoid all company
here," he says in the same letter, "as much as I
can, and have proposed more time to myself for
inward recollection and retirement from conversing
with others than I find I am likely to enjoy 
And there are the vain pursuits, the enchanting
gaieties, and the seemingly innocent but dreadfully
bewitching and corrupt conversation of this world,
which is now so general and fashionable, and
prevails more than ever amongst the men of this
world, and ends in such enormities as were hardly .
heard of in former days."
He was a devoted and diligent pastor, courteous
and kindly in his demeanour towards his parish
ioners, among whom he moved as their friend
and counsellor, never missing an opportunity of
promoting their spiritual welfare.
" He was very charitable to the poor, and his unwearied
endeavours to alleviate their distresses will render his
memory justly dear to them. He not only fed and clothed

210 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
them in considerable numbers, but was likewise a physician
to their bodies as well as their souls. He had by long study
arrived at a great proficiency in medicine, and had large
quantities of drugs sent him from London, which he made
up and dispensed to the poor gratis, and, through God's
blessing, with remarkable success. And when he had cured
any of his country people of their bodly distempers, and
thereby gained their love and esteem, he never failed to take
that opportunity to second it with pathetic, judicious, and
seasonable advice, ever exhorting them to an earnest care
for their immortal souls, as being of much greater value in
God's sight than their perishing bodies." ' " Amongst the
people committed to his care, his deportment was courteous
and condescending. He would stoop with the utmost
cheerfulness to the lowest among them, and carried the
spirit of his sermons into his ordinary conversation. He
maintained a uniform, affable gravity of behaviour, without
suffering his temper either to stiflFen into moroseness, or to
evaporate into levity. He was cheerful, but not light,
serious, but not sad. It was his constant business and
daily endeavour, (I had almost said, his meat and drink) to
set forward the salvation of his flock." 9
As a conversationalist, we are told that he was
persuasive and winsome ; and he employed his
talents and opportunities in this as in other ways to
commend the religion he professed. " To im
prove the minds of those whom he conversed with
was another of his remarkable qualities. Few were
better furnished either with richness of fancy, depth
of thought, or copiousness of expression, to bear a
shining part in conversation. With these talents,
he always endeavoured to give some useful and
* Gospel Magazine, 1777. p. 347. ' lb. p. 293.

SOLICITUDE FOR IMPROVEMENT OF OTHERS. 211
religious turn to the discourse. He had the
amiable art of making a heavenly use of earthly
things ... To lay plans and schemes for the
good of others was his frequent study ; and to carry
those beneficial contrivances into execution was his
favourite employ." His anxiety to use his oppor
tunities for the improvement of others is freqiiently
illustrated in his letters. Writing on the 2nd of
October, 1736, he observes: "I took a couple of
the clergy I met there [at Llanlluan] for three or
four miles with me in my return, for the sake of
talking together ; and we are to meet again next
Wednesday night at Carmarthen, to converse a little
more together. One of them, I think, is better than
common; I mean Griffiths of Bettws. The other
was the curate of Llanarthney." Again, on the
22nd of November in the same year, he writes :
" My nephew and I went yesterday with four other
clergymen, and had a comfortable conversation,
and held to the one thing needful all the time we
were together, and promised one another at parting
to assist with our prayers and best endeavours to
promote the great design." On the 7th of December
of the same year, he writes again : "Justice 
was here this morning, and confined me for several
hours ; but his prisoner took the liberty of talking
freely and seriously with him upon such subjects as
he could bear — particularly the magistrates' duty to
carry on a reformation, and in order to this, that
' /*. p. 345-

212 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
the parochial officers should be supplied at the
expense of the County stock with such little books or
abridgements of their duty, to instruct them in the
discharge thereof." Otherinstances ofhis solicitude
for the spiritual edification of others might be given ;
but we must forbear.
In his catechising exercises, which formed an
important part of his ministrations, he used the
same tact and tenderness as in his other parochial
duties. He sought to approach his people on their
best side, and first won their confidence before
trying to find his way to their intelligence. The
account of his early catechetical efforts is very
instructive, as well as illustrative of his wise and
winsome methods.
" It was Mr. Jones' custom to deliver a lecture on
the Saturday evening previous to the Sacrament Sundays ;
and after the Second Lesson, adults as well as children
were examined in the Church Catechism, and individually
addressed in an easy, familiar, but serious manner, on the
subjects of the questions put and the answers they made.
At such exercises, Mr. Jones had a very [happy] talent for
explaining, and by close application, to enforce the obliga
tions arising from the subjects on the conscience. At first,
many declined being made the subjects of those instruc
tions ; shame prevented the old, but emulation produced
great application among the younger part of the congrega
tion. In order to prevail on the poor part of the adult
members of the congregation, a dole of bread was given to
everyone that, on such occasions, would repeat a verse of
Scripture, and thus give their pastor an opportunity of
applying it."^ We are not surprised to learn that "the
= Sketch, &c., by Rev. E. Harries, p. 8.

FAMILY PRAYERS. 213
plan succeeded beyond anticipation." It was, in fact, the
origin of the Circulating Schools.
Those who have studied his works will not be
unprepared to learn that a prominent feature in his
ministerial life was his method of conducting Family
Prayers, which he deemed essential to the revival
of true religion, and did much to promote through
out the country. He urged his schoolmasters to
encourage family worship in the homes to which
they found entrance. He published several im
portant works in Welsh, which were designed to
awaken the people to the importance of this duty, and
to assist them in the performance of it. We have
reason to believe that the impressions produced
by these works have lasted even to our own days.
It is stated that he catechised his family and
neighbours every Sunday evening at the Parsonage.
This must have been done after the Evening Service
was over at the Church, and at a kind of family
worship. " He thought it his incumbent duty, wherever he lived
(like the pious patriarchs of old) to build an altar unto the
Lord in his house, to offer up morning and evening sacrifice
to the God of Israel. His constant method every morning and
evening was to call his family together, and his neighbours
were welcome to come and join with him. He began the
family worship by offering up a short prayer; 3 then a chapter
from Scripture was read, upon which he would make some
expository remarks ; then some verses of a Psalm were sung;
then he prayed. In confession of sin, he was humble and
3 " The Collect for the second Sunday in Advent," writes a later
biographer.

214 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
contrite ; in his petitions for pardon and grace, earnest and
urgent ; and when he prayed for the King, the ministers in
Church and State, and the nation in general, one would
imagine that the whole kingdom pressed upon his heart, so
earnest was he in his devotion. This method was used by
him daily, and never intermitted, unless he was sick or
disabled."* " He was likewise a good casuist, to resolve
the doubts of tempted souls, and to encourage the hopes of
the desponding. He would often inculcate the necessity of
family worship, and exhorted the heads of families to
catechise their children and servants." s
We have already seen that Griffith Jones'
ministry was not confined to his own parish. He
paid visits across the borders, and preached in
London, Bath, and Bristol, and doubtless in other
places in England, where he went by invitation, on
business, or for the sake of his health, and where
the prominent men of the Evangelical movement
used often to assemble. William Williams, in his
elegy to Griffith Jones, mentions as facts that
Scotland had the privilege of hearing him proclaim
the Gospel, and that he also preached before Queen
Anne. No mention is made of the time or purpose
of these visits. One of his biographers, the Rev.
E. Harries, who wrote sometime in the first half of
the nineteenth century, in a note to his translation
of the elegy, refers to the matter thus :
"Of his visit to Scotland, nothing better than a vague
traditionary account can be obtained — that it was to en
deavour to prevent the division in the Scottish Church, in
consequence of the excitement occasioned by the Erskines.
¦• Sketch, &e., 1762, p. 10. ' Ib. p. 14.

HIS ITINERANT PREACHING. aig
Nor is there anything more authentic about his preaching
before Queen Anne. It is said that he had been cited by
her Majesty to do so, on account of some very unfavourable
representations that had been made of his zealous mode of
preaching; and that, having heard him herself, he was
dismissed with an assurance that her Majesty heartily
wished every clergyman in the kingdom preached in the
same efBcient manner."
We have not been able to trace many details
connected with his extra-parochial preaching in
Wales. There are extant, we believe, about six
volumes of his sermons in manuscript, at the end
of each of which a record is given of the dates and
places at which they were preached. A knowledge
of these facts would probably throw interesting light
on some points and episodes in his life. It is only
with regard to one, the fifth of these volumes, that
we have been fortunate enough to get at the infor
mation mentioned. ^ The facts of importance to us
here are connected with those sermons in the
volume which are recorded to have been preached
by Griffith Jones outside his own parishes. Of these
there are some twenty-three, most of which were
preached in the thirties of the eighteenth century,
in some twenty parishes, which are all within moder
ately easy distance of Llanddowror, and situated
in the counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke, and
Cardigan. Several of these sermons were preached
' For this we are indebted, and hereby wish to tender our un
feigned thanks, to Sir John Williams, Bart., Plas Llanstephan, who is
in possession of the above-mentioned volume, and has most kindly
transcribed the texts, dates, and places of delivery.

2l6 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
on dates within Easter and Whitsun weeks.7 These
records are connected with two facts of some
interest : first, that most of the Charity Schools
established in those years were within the area
where these sermons were preached ; and, secondly,
that the first signs of the evangelical revival in
Wales appeared almost within the same area.'
This was comparatively early in the history of the
Charity Schools, and their founder travelled farther
afield as the limits of the organisation became more
extended. " He made frequent tours over both North and South
Wales, to advocate the cause of his Schools, to dispose of
both by sale and gratis, his valuable publications, and to
preach the everlasting Gospel. He frequently made a point
of getting himself published on a spot where he expected to
find the young and thoughtless of the neighbourhood met
to celebrate some feast day, and enjoy themselves in mirth
and folly.'' 9 " He generally managed to make these excur
sions during the Easter and Whitsun weeks, as he had a
greater chance, at these seasons, of falling in with some of
those scenes of pugnacious uproar, and drunken frolic,
which were at that time so much in vogue in his native
country, and which it was always his object to discourage."'
He used frequently to exchange duties with his
nephew, the Rev. David Jones, who was incumbent
' The texts on these occasions were Rom. iv. 7 ; vii. 24, 25 ;
xii. I ; I Cor. ii. 2 ; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ; v. 20.
' Some of the parishes where the sermons were preached are :
Abernant, Conwyl, Defynock, Llanllwch, Llanddewi, Llangynnog,
Llandyssil, Llangeler, and Kilgeran.
' Life and Character of Griffith Jones, by E. Harries, p. 15-
' Judge Johnes' Essay on the Causes of Dissent in Wales, p. 25.

THE CONVE&SION OF DANIEt RbWLAlID. 21 7
of the neighbouring parish of Llanllwch; and it
was under his ministry in that Church that Miss
Bridget Vaughan, afterwards Madam Bevan, was
converted from a worldly and thoughtless life.* It
was also while he was preaching at Llanddewibrefi
Church that Daniel Rowland, of Llangeitho, was
converted. The traditional account, the correctness
of which we have no reason to dispute, points out
this incident as a remarkable one. The ground on
which it took place is one of historic interest. For,
according to a tradition, of which, however, no
record is preserved of an earlier date than the
eleventh century, it was on the spot where the
venerable Parish Church of Llanddewibrefi stands
that, some eleven centuries and a half before the
time of which we are now writing, a modest and
retiring monk appeared, after much entreaty and
persuasion, to confute and vanquish the advocates
of the Pelagian heresy, which was then troubling
the British Church. That monk was none other
than St. David himself. We have, however,
more definite, and probably more authentic, details
respecting the much later occurrence with which
we are dealing here. There are sufficient reasons
to account for Daniel Rowland's presence at Llan
ddewibrefi on the occasion referred to. His brother
was in charge of the parish, and Circulating
Schools were established at that time both at Llan-
' Christian Guardian, Sept. 1809, p. 334, quoted in " Letters of
Griffith Jones," by E. Morgan, 1832, p. xiii.

2x8 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
ddewi and Llangeitho. There is an account of a
School with 91 scholars at the former, in Welsh
Piety for 1738-39, which is the first and earliest
published account of the Schools, and of another
School in the latter parish, in the same year, with
106 scholars. Schools might have been established
in these parishes, especially in Llanddewi, before
the year 1738, as we know that Griffith Jones had
commenced his Circulating Schools as early as
1730. And we know, too, that he had preached
frequently in that parish from the year 1732. The
memorable event which we are now referring to
may, therefore, have occurred in the year 1735, or
1736. The fame of Griffith Jones had brought
together a crowded congregation. During the
sermon, Rowland stood in front of the pulpit, erect
and haughty. His almost defiant mien arrested
the attention of the preacher, and filled his heart
with compassion. For a moment, the discourse
is interrupted, while the preacher offers up a
short, fervent prayer, that God may have mercy on
the soul of the proud, light-hearted young clergy
man, and that the Holy Spirit may descend upon
him, and use him as an instrument for turning
many from darkness unto light. It was a great
moment in the history of religion in Wales. That
prayer was answered, and Daniel Rowland became
henceforth, and remained for more than half a
century, one of the most powerful preachers of the
ages. We are told that, on that occasion, some of

GRIFFITH JONES AS A PREACHER. 2I9
his parishioners accompanied Rowland, a fact
which is not without significance, when it is con
sidered that the distance from Llangeitho to
Llanddewibrefi is over four miles.
It is said that, when Griffith Jones preached
in those "rustic carnivals" referred to above, his
discourse would last sometimes for three hours.
When the Churches proved too small to hold the
large congregations that came together, as was not
infrequently the case, he would preach to them in
the churchyards, as Vicar Pritchard had done
before him. This fact has been accounted for by
later writers, on the ground that the clergy closed
the doors of the churches against him. There is
no foundation for this. At the beginning of his
discourses on those occasions, he was not seldom
met by proud, defiant, disdainful looks from those
who had come to scoff ; but by degrees, the power
of his persuasive and impassioned appeals would
subdue his proudest hearers, and produce symptoms
of strong emotions in the vast multitude. All that
we have been able to glean from early accounts of
him, entirely agree in describing him as one of the
most powerful preachers that the country has ever
produced. The foremost place among Welsh
preachers has been generally accorded to Daniel
Rowland, and it is a noticeable fact that the Rev.
Joshua Davies, author of the History of the
Baptists in Wales, published in 1778, writes thus
of Daniel Rowland : "I recollect having heard

220 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
him about the year 1737 in Carmarthenshire, and I
heard some of the Independents, in returning
home, say : ' We never heard anyone to be com
pared with him in the Church of England, unless
it were Mr. Griffith Jones.' " Mr. Edmund Jones,
a Nonconformist minister of those times at Ponty
pool, bears the following testimony, in a paper
on the religious condition of Wales in 1742, con
tributed to the Glasgow Weekly History : "Among
the clergy is the famous Mr. Griffith Jones, one of
the most excellent preachers in Great Britain, for
piety, good sense, diligence, moderation, zeal, a
mighty utterance, the like whereof I never heard. "3
Preaching has, at all times, exercised a great
influence over the Welsh people. The traditions
of the far past are dim and inarticulate. But the
echoes that have come down to us from the times
of the ancient British Church, seem to point to the
fact that the power of sacred oratory was great in
the age of St. David, St. Padarn, and St. Teilo.
So it was in the days of Vicar Pritchard ; and so it
has been during the last century and a half. It is
not our business to inquire here whether that power
is on the wane in our day ; suffice it to say that the
Church which will justly win the confidence and the
loyalty of the people, and perform its mission
successfully in Wales, must not undervalue the
influence of the pulpit. It has been said of the
three representatives of the British Church men-
3 Re^, History of Welsh Nonconformity, p. 386, Ed. 1861.

READING THE CHURCH SERVICE. 221
tioned above, that David performed Divine Service
in a more pleasing manner than his companions ;
that Padarn sang in a superior style; and that Teilo
excelled as a preacher. 4 Griffith Jones realized
the paramount importance of these three ministerial
requisites, and himself excelled at least in two of
them. We do not know whether he was musical
or not, but we have seen somewhere that he had a
" pleasing voice ;" and if the description about to be
quoted is true, we know that he had it under perfect
control. We know, too, that he fully appre
ciated the power of music, as he did what he could
to give it its proper place both at family worship,
and in the service of the Church. His manner of
rendering the Liturgy, and of preaching, is given
in his Memoir published in 1762, and is doubtless
authentic, as that Memoir was evidently written by
one who had personal knowledge of him. It will
therefore be given here in full :
" His pulpit accomplishments were so very uncommon
that it is exceeding difficult to describe them. In reading
Divine service, he was devout without affectation. He did
not hurry the Prayers over, as is too often the case, with
precipitancy and carelessness ; but had a sacred awe upon
his mind, ever remembering he was addressing the eternal
God ; and as he observed the stops and pauses with great
judgment, and pronounced his words with a grave and
pleasing accent, so he generally engaged the attention of all
present. 5 * See Life of Teilo, in Liber Landavensis.
5 " Some ofhis hearers thought that the Prayers and solemn addresses
to the sponsors were the effusions of his own feelings, and upon reference,

222 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
We have before us as we write the two volumes
of sermons by Griffith Jones, to which reference
has already been made, the one consisting of a
translation of seventeen sermons,^ the texts of
which are selected from the first twelve chapters
of the Gospel according to St. Matthew ; the other
of six sermons on Repentance, from Acts ii.
37, 38, and published in the original Welsh.
These sermons are excellent, in substance,
arrangement, lucidity, and force of diction. They
are full of strong doctrinal matter, which is skil
fully applied to practical aims and issues. They
abound in metaphorical expressions and illustra
tions, mainly taken from Scripture, and occasionally
rise into really powerful eloquence. They are
written with the intention of being delivered and
not of being read ; and while they contain not a
word that could possibly offend the taste of the
most fastidious critic, they are admirably adapted
to the intelligence of the people, and the age they
were intended for. They give one the impression
throughout that the writer had in store an abundance
of reserve force, which he might use in the delivery,
were astonished to find that he had not varied one word from the pre
scribed form in the Prayer Book. This impression was likewise made
upon some Dissenters, who witnessed his impressive delivery of the
Marriage Service, and may be considered excusable in such persons,
who never entered their Parish Church but at the performance of that
ceremony." — Christian Guardian, April 1827, p. 123.
' The translation of this volume is by the Rev. John Owen, the
biographer of Daniel Rowland, and sometime curate of Gadderby,
Leicestershire.

" FOLLOWING CHRIST." 22$
if occasion required. There is no parade of learning,
no effort at literary or oratorical effect, no rhetorical
display ; but the preacher is profoundly conscious
of the greatness of the truths he has to proclaim,
and of the issues which depend upon the faithful
delivery of his message. We do not wonder that
the results of his ministry were great. He directs
the sinner's eye, first to himself, and then to the
" Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." His reader has no reason to complain
that doctrine and practice are divorced in his
theology, or that there is even a seeming an
tagonism between faith and works in the economy
of grace, as expounded by him. We give a passage
on " Following Christ," taken at random:
" Attend to this matter, for the greatest part perish
through self-deception. Nothing can supply the place of
following Christ. Were you able to perform wonders and
miracles, it would not answer the purpose (Matt. vii. 22).
Be not therefore deceived ; nothing will avail you except
you follow Christ. . . . Give way to nothing that may be
an hindrance to you. Make no excuses, for none are either
proper or just ; and none will be at the last admitted. If you
follow the deception of sin, it will surely harden the heart,
and make you careless about your true interest. If you
follow the customs, habits, and practices of the world, you
most clearly deny Christ, though you may profess His name.
If you confer with flesh and blood, and follow your own
counsels, you do not follow Christ, and will surely be cast
to perdition. Resolve, therefore, through God's grace, to
follow the Saviour through all obstructions, through all
difficulties, knowing that you cannot be otherwise His true
disciples. Remember that Christ's purpose in His suflFering

224 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
in the counsels of His Word, in the ordinances of His house,
and in all the provisions of His Gospel, is to lead you to
follow Him. It is want of success in this respect that
makes ministers to mourn, and the Spirit of God to grieve.
Oh, consider whom you ought to follow, and who can do
most for you at the last. To profess Christ's name, and deny
Him in your works, is to be reprobate, and will lead to a
fearful end : Tit. i. i6. Except you follow the Saviour, we
shall have no word of comfort to say to you when you come
to die. Consider the reasons that have been mentioned
why you should follow Christ; and may you all be resolved
to follow Him. Remember what He was when on earth,
and follow Him in His contentment under the greatest
poverty, in His humility and self-denial when most honoured,
in His patience under the severest sufferings, in His faith
fulness under the greatest temptations, in His love to
His most inveterate enemies, in His hatred to every sin, in
His zeal for the glory of God, and in His compassion
towards the souls of men. Be resolved and determined
through grace thus to follow Him, whatever impediments
may come in your way."'
We will now return to the description of his
preaching mentioned above, and interrupted by the
last quotation :
When he came into the pulpit, it was with reverence
and holy fear. His attitude was erect, natural, and
becoming. His prayer was fervent. He had an unassum
ing solemnity and seriousness in his face, sweetened with
all the meekness of charity and love. The fire of zeal,
chastened with modesty, kindled in his eyes. His mind was
full fraught with the idea of his subject ; yet not forgetful of the
presence of his auditory, or the respect due to them. His
pronunciation and manner of speaking in the beginning
' Sermons by the Rev. Griffith Jones, translated from Welsh
manuscripts ... by the Rev. John Owen, p. 235, &c.

DESCRIPTION OF HIS PREACHING. 22$
was tranquil and easy. In the explication of his text, or
any divine truth, he had a peculiar air of familiarity, some
thing resembling conversation ; unless where he had occasion
to relate events, or touch on those circumstances that were
interesting and moving. As he advanced, his subject fired
him more and more. How spirited was his utterance !
His hearers could feel their blood thrill within them. One
could plainly see the various passions he would inspire by
turns rising in his own breast, and working from the very
depth of his heart. One while, he glowed with ardent love
to his fellow creatures ; anon, he flamed with a just indig
nation at the enemies of their souls. Again, he swelled
with a holy disdain at the turpitude of sin ; then melted
with grief and fear lest some of his hearers should neglect
their day of grace, and thereby perish eternally. Every
feature, nerve, and part about him were intensely animated.
One while, his eyes were effusing the soft radiance of
compassion towards his hearers ; presently, after piercing
severely into the sinner's bosom, or saddened with sorrow at
human misery, or burning with indignation at human folly.
His face, as Milton says, was the mirror of his mind.
Add to this his significant gestures, which always suited
themselves to the passions he would express, whether ad
miration, aversion, joy, sorrow, surprise, pity, indignation,
&c. His movements were the language of nature. There
was a noble pomp in his description ; clearness and strength
in his reasoning ; his appeals to conscience were close and
pointed ; a surprising force and abruptness in his interroga
tions ; a divine pathos in his address, worthy the imitation of
every preacher. The passions of the hearer were pleasingly
assaulted, or sweetly attracted with a winning kindness.
The ear and the eye were filled with becoming actions and
harmony of sounds. Every word that proceeded from his
mouth was big with feeling and concern. He spoke natu
rally, for he spoke feelingly. Everything that was said had
the stamp of sincerity, which art may mimic but cannot

226 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
reach. In refuting, remonstrating, and reproving, he assumed
the tone of conviction and authority ; but when he came to
the application, he entered upon it with a solemn pause.
He seemed to summon up all his remaining force;
he gave way to a superior burst of religious vehemence,
and, like a flaming meteor, bore down all before
him. His voice broke silence, and proceeded with
a sort of dignified pomp. Every word was hke a fresh
attack, and carried with it a sort of triumphant accent. No
wonder that his hearers wept, when the preacher himself
burst into tears. No wonder that he was so successful in
the conversion of sinners, when it was the divine Spirit that
made the Word effectual. By his preaching, the drunkards
became sober ; the Sabbath-breakers were reformed ; the
prayerless cried for mercy and forgiveness ; and the ignorant
were solicitously concerned for an interest in the divine
Redeemer. He warmly invited the poor to become rich,
the indigent and guilty to accept of pardon. He taught
men to be rich in good works, without placing the least
dependence upon them. Christ was all to him, and it was
his greatest delight to publish his Redeemer's unsearchable
riches. In his preaching, he copiously displayed and
exalted the person, offices, characters, and relations of the
incarnate God. He preached faith and repentance
judiciously. He was a strenuous asserter of the absolute
necessity of the new birth and Gospel-holiness, both in
heart and life ; and thus he was a burning and shining
light." 8
We are here tempted to remark that the
description of his preaching given in the foregoing
extract bears, in its main outline, a striking resem
blance to the description of Daniel Rowland's
preaching given by Christmas Evans, or that of
' A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. G. Jones, &c.,
London, 1762.

SACRAMENT SUNDAY AT LLANDDOWROR. 227
John Elias, given by Eben Fardd, which warrants
the conclusion, we think, not only that there are
some characteristics which are never absent from
all true oratory, but that Griffith Jones was the
prototype, both as to matter and manner of delivery,
of the earliest great preachers of the evangelical
revival in Wales. As his fame spread abroad,
Llanddowror became, and continued to be for many
years up to his death, the centre to which earnest
and devout people from the surrounding country
congregated, especially for the reception of the
Sacrament, which was administered on the first
Sunday in the month. Many travelled ten, twenty,
and thirty miles, in order to be present at his Church
on these solemn occasions. One of his curates
was Howell Davies, who had been prepared for the
ministry by him, and became afterwards a prominent
leader in the evangelical movement. When he was
about to be ordained to the Priesthood, Griffith Jones
announced the fact to the congregation, and desired
them to pray earnestly that God may bless the
young minister.
Nothing surprises us more in the life of this
wonderful man, than the fact that he was able, for
so many years, to sustain the manifold burdens
that constantly pressed upon him ; and this surprise
is much enhanced when we consider that he was
always in a weak and precarious state of health.
In 1738, he wrote that he was then in such a weak
condition, that he could not " hope for the honour

228 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
of being concerned in the movement but for a very
little while." 9 In the preface to Welsh Piety for
1740-41, Sir John Thorold writes : "To all human
appearances, the stay of this faithful labourer in
this region of sickness, pain, and misery, will not
be long." Both in his correspondence with
Madam Bevan, and in his letters in Welsh Piety,
he complains of failing health, and warns his friends
that he cannot hope to carry on much longer his
great work. In Welsh Piety for 1755-56, he
writes : " As I am now advanced in years, and am
in a low state of health, I am writing this as what
may probably be the last account I may be able to
give the benefactors of this charity, till we meet
at the awful audit." But notwithstanding bad
health and constant suffering, he never relaxed
in his efforts to benefit his poor countrymen. And
" man is immortal till his work is done." His life
was nerved and nourished by his great desire of
accomplishing the task he had in hand. He
worked by day, and by night too, for we find him
in one of his letters dated January, 1738, writing
thus to his friend : " The contemplation [of the
work of divine grace] has set me now too high to
write of business ; and the morning birds have
sung their first anthems — must therefore stop.
Ah 1 cruel fate, that these bodies require so much
attention." From other letters, we gather that he
was gently reproved by his kind correspondent for
» Welsh Piety, 1738-9.

FAILING HEALTH. 2^9
turning night into day, and he generally replies
with promises of amendment.
He wrote the usual letter to his Friend in the
Welsh Piety for 1759-60, in which there are indica
tions that he felt that the end was drawing nigh :
" Your aged servant in this employment is setting up
his Ebenezer, praising God that hitherto the Lord hath helped
us. He that perfecteth strength in weakness hath enabled
him, under frequent sicknesses and many infirmities, as it
were, dying daily, to proceed therein, with the utmost fidelity
in his power, and with all possible frugality, in the distribu
tion of your charities. ... I do intend, through God's
assistance, and with the concurrence of our charitable
friends, to go on again in this service of love. And when
the time of my dissolution cometh (which cannot but come
very soon), I have now a comfortable prospect that it will
be prosecuted by a truly religious person, of competent
fortune, and unexceptionable character, acquainted with the
method of carrying it on, having been already very assisting
to me in this charitable undertaking."
This "truly religious person" was, as we have
seen. Madam Bevan, who carried on the work with
fidelity and success for sixteen years.
Griffith Jones died on the 8th of April, 1761.
His last illness does not seem to have been pro
tracted or painful. An account of an interview
which one of his most intimate friends had with
him, a few weeks before his death, is given in
the sketch of his life, to which we have often
referred. His remarks show that his heart
was overflowing with gratitude for the divine
favours vouchsafed to him during a long and

230 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
laborious career. " Soon after I entered the room,"
writes the Rev. Mr. Morgan, of Trelech, who was
one of those prepared for the ministry of the Church
by Griffith Jones, " and enquired after his welfare,
with a pleasing countenance, though now full of
age, and upon the brink of eternity, he said : 'I must
bear witness to the goodness of God. Oh, how
wonderful is the love of God to me, that I am now,
even now, free from that troublesome distemper, the
asthma, which I was so subject to in my younger
days, that I could not walk the length of this room
but with the greatest difficulty. How wonderful is
the love of God to me, that I am not blind, as I
was for three weeks in my childhood, when I had
the small-pox, and that I am not a blind beggar
going from door to door ! How wonderful is the
love of God, that I have such a good friend to take
care of me, when I cannot help myself. How
wonderful is the love of God, that I now feel but
little pain, but that I am likely to go to my grave
with ease. How wonderful is the mercy of God,
that I can clearly see what Christ has done and
suffered for me, and that I have not the least doubt
of my interest in my all-sufficient Saviour ; but
(added he) the grand enemy of souls will attempt
to disturb my peace and tranquillity. But blessed
be God for His all-sufficient grace ! How wonder
ful is the kindness of God, that the natural faculties
of my soul are now as strong as ever, only I feel a
little decay in my memory.' In this grateful

HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 23I
Strain he went on as long as he was able to speak.
And another time he said : ' Blessed be God, His
comforts fill my soul.' He enjoyed much of a
delightful frame and longing expectation of his ever
lasting rest, till nature fainted, and the tabernacle
of clay dropped off. . . . His body was interred
at his own Parish of Llanddowror. His funeral
was very solemn. Abundance of poor, disconsolate
people testified their grief by their looks, and shed
abundance of tears for the loss of so good a man,
in whom were united the judicious divine, the
eminent preacher, the loving pastor, and the
faithful friend, who had laboured amongst them for
forty-five years."
Thus lived and laboured this remarkable man,
and thus he died. How appropriate the following
tribute paid to him by a gifted Churchman of last
century. " Few men, in any age or country, in
so humble a position, have exercised a nobler or a
wider influence. Few teachers and philanthropists
have passed away into eternity, cheered by the
xeview of richer results of their life-work, than the ab
solute certainty of having exercised an enlightening
and ennobling influence upon more than fifteen
myriads of souls." ' It is impossible to give a full
and just estimate of the character of Griffith Jones.
Humility was among his most conspicuous virtues,
and marked him out as a true follower of Him, Who
was "meekand lowly in heart." "That which gave
' D<aa Edwards j Wales and the Welsh Church, p. 140.

232 MINISTERIAL AND LITERARY LABOURS.
a genuine lustre to all his other endowments was
his remarkable and uncommon humility. Though
his friends might admire his superior abilities, or his
acquaintance applaud his exemplary behaviour,
great usefulness, and incessant diligence ; yet he
himself saw how far he fell short of his high calling ;
saw and lamented his defects. He renounced self
in every view ; was ever unconscious of his own
shining parts ; desirous to improve, even by the
meanest, and had very depreciating thoughts of his
own performances." 2 The following passage from
one of his letters could only be the language of a
truly humble heart, blinded by no self-delusions.
" I am so slow in every business of importance,
which I would ascribe to my natural dulness, but
that I find I have quickness enough in things of no
value ; and this slowness is the cause why my own
soul, and my friends, are losers by me. My
imperfections vex me so much, that I am almost
willing to be as mean in the esteem of my friends
as I am in my own ; and I should be altogether so,
were I humble enough."3 But the dominant
element in his character was love, the "verybondof
peace, and of all virtues." Every page of his
writings, and every effort of his life, testifies to
this. He loved the Master he served, the flock
committed to his charge, and the work he was
commissioned to do. He esteemed the honour of
labouring for God above all things, and he writes
= A Sketch, Ss'c., 1762, p. 20, 3 Letters, p. 124.

HIS TRUST IN GOD. 233
of the pleasures derivable from His service as
incomparable. He ever lived and moved as in the
immediate presence of God. It is no wonder that
his labours were eminently blessed. There was no
self in them. Nor yet is it a wonder that he was mis
understood and misrepresented by men whose aims
were low, and whose ambitions were sordid. But as
he laboured not for the approval or the applause of
man, he was not embittered. Amid all disappoint
ments and discouragements, he retained his perfect
trust in God. It was the secret of his triumph.
He kept constant watch over his own motives and
feelings. He uttered no word of resentment against
those who maligned him ; his only sorrow was that
the work of God was neglected and thwarted by
men who were pledged by the most solemn and
sacred vows to promote it. He received his reward
in the success which crowned his labours, and he
looked for no other.

CHAPTER X.
Griffith Jones and the Evangelical
Revival in Wales.
IT remains for us, in this final chapter, to attempt
to ascertain the relation of Griffith Jones, as
an educationist and reformer, to the evangelical
revival of the eighteenth century, and to the
Methodist movement which, though it sprang from
that revival, was by no means identical with it.
We fully recognise that we have before us a
delicate and difficult task. We have to reckon with
prejudices that have been stereotyped and
strengthened by the controversies of more than a
hundred years. But it will be our endeavour to
deal with the matter in strict accord with what
appears to us to be the testimony of facts, as far as
we have been able to ascertain them. That the
evangelical revival was attended with irregularities
and indiscretions cannot be denied by anyone who
is fairly acquainted with its history ; and that
incalculable blessings have accrued through it to
the Principality is equally undeniable.
What position did Griffith Jones occupy with
regard to the evangelical revival in Wales ? How
far did his labours conduce to bring it about ?
What was his attitude towards the Methodist move
ment, and how far was he responsible for it, both in
its earlier ahd its later developments ? What were

236 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL .
the causes which prevented the Church from reap
ing the full benefit of his labours, and of the revival,
among the earliest instruments of which he held a
foremost place ? These are some of the questions
which we shall attempt to answer in this chapter.
It will have been seen that we make a distinction
between the evangelical revival and the Calvinistic
Methodist movement. That distinction will be
obvious when we reflect that many of those who
were powerfully influenced by the former, were
opposed to the latter, in a greater or less degree,
from its rise about the year 1735, to the formal
secession of the main body of the Methodists in
1811. Humanly speaking, the evangelical revival was
the result of long and laborious efforts, and, we doubt
not, of earnest prayers, on the part of good and holy
men, who beheld with sorrow and alarm the terrible
growth of immorality and licentiousness, which
followed upon the political troubles of the middle
and the latter half of the seventeenth century. We
have already seen that some of those efforts had
been made before the close of that century.
Religious associations or guilds began to be formed
as early as the year 1678, " under the influence of
Doctors Horneck and Beveridge and Mr. Smithies.
These guilds met frequently for devotional exercises,
and systematically undertook certain good works.
They were instrumental in bringing about more
frequent celebrations of the Holy Communion in

SOCIETIES FOR REFORMATION OF MANNERS. 237
churches, daily services, the establishment of
schools, the ministrations to prisoners and the
sick, "i These guilds led to the formation of Societies
for the reformation of manners. It is a noteworthy
fact that the ' powers that be,' to wit, the King and
Queen, the Lords and Commons, and the Judges of
theUnited Kingdom, took an active part in encourag
ing and supporting these movements for the suppres
sion of vice, and the promotion of true religion in the
land. On the gth of July, 1691, Queen Mary, " in
the absence of the King," addressed a letter to the
Justices of the Peace in the County of Middlesex,
in which she exhorted them to put in force those
laws which had been made " against the profanation
of the Lord's Day, drunkenness, profane swearing
and cursing, and all other lewd, enormous, and
disorderly practices, which, by a long continued
neglect, and connivance of the Magistrates and
officers concerned, have universally spread them
selves, to the dishonour of God, and scandal of
our Holy Religion, whereby it is now become the
more necessary for all persons in authority to apply
themselves with all possible care and diligence to
the suppressing of the same."^
On the 20th of February, 1697, the King
¦ student's English Church History, by Canon Perry, p. 561.
''An Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners in
England and Ireland, 3rd Edition, 1700. This work is highly
commended in a short address to the Author by twenty Lords
Spiritual, thirty-seven Lords Temporal, and sixteen Judges of the United
Kingdom.

238 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
issued a proclamation " for preventing and punish
ing immorality and profaneness, "probably in reply
to a " Humble address of the House of Commons
to the King for the suppressing of profaneness and
vice," 3 which was passed about the same time.
Out of these movements, so powerfully patronised,
arose the Society for Promoting Christian Know
ledge, which, as we have seen, entered upon its
work with earnestness and vigour. It established
schools for the education of the poor ; it published
and distributed religious literature ; it assisted in
forming associations over the country for carrying
out its plans and purposes ; it brought together
the clergy and leading laity in many parts, and
sought to awaken them to a due sense of their
vocation and duty. The beneficent operations of
this Society were extended to Wales in the earliest
years of its existence. It was from its plans and
provisions that Griffith Jones derived his ideas and
his methods, and much of his resources. He was,
as we have already seen, one of its most faithful
and trusted correspondents for a period of forty-eight
years, during which he laboured with marvellous
skill and energy, to carry out its primary intention
of teaching the people to read their own language,
and of instructing them in the leading principles
of religion. It has been shown that efforts had been made
in the seventeenth century to distribute the Holy
5 lb. The date of the Address of the Commons is not given.

EARLY EDITIONS OF WELSH BIBLE. 239
Scriptures among the Welsh people. In 1630, the
first octavo edition of the Welsh Bible was printed at
agreat expense, through the generosity of SirThomas
Middleton, Rowland Heylin, and other citizens of
London, "who were moved with compassion towards
the poor in Wales." This edition proved of great
service, as Griffith Jones tells us. " Several ministers
bestirred themselves on this encouragement, became
better acquainted with the Welsh tongue, and
preached more intelligibly, and much oftener ; and
many of the people learning to read, and conversing
with the Bible in their own houses on week-days,
received the explications of its doctrines with
much greater forwardness and edification in the
house of God upon Sundays. By these most
gracious means, the poor Britons had cause to
praise God, and rejoice that they had heard the
wonderful works and Word of God in their own
tongue. And by this method, the Christian faith
was now propagated among them, &c." In 1677,
Thomas Gouge, who, as has been stated, had
already done great service in the matter of popular
education, was enabled to procure "anew and very
fair impression of eight thousand Welsh Bibles
and Common Prayer Books, one thousand whereof
were freely given to the poor, and the rest sold at
a moderate price."
"A work of that charge that it was not likely to
have been done in any other way; and for which this age,

240 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANOEI.ICAL REVIVAL.
and perhaps the next, will have great cause to thank God
on his behalf" *
" Nor should we ever forget the great kindness of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, who undertook,
with much pains and labours, to procure us a large impres
sion of Welsh Bibles, with the Liturgy, in the year 17 14,
which was finished in 17 18, when it was extremely wanted.
Our Right Reverend Welsh Bishops subscribed to, and
encouraged this pious and charitable work, many worthy
members in England and Wales of the said Society, several
other charitable persons, and some of the Right Reverend
Bishops and clergy in England (who, as I ought most
gratefully to acknowledge, have expressed themselves very
favourably inclined to compassionate our present wants)
contributed towards it. I have reason to believe (as some
hundreds of them passed through my hands) that about a
thousand of these Bibles were given to the poor. And of
a later impression of Welsh Bibles,5 of a similar size, with-
* For an account of the services rendered to the Welsh people by
Thomas Gouge, see his Funeral Sermon, preached by Dr. Tillbtson,
then Dean of St. Paul's, and published in 1682. pp. 82-92.
s The following editions of the Holy Scriptures in Welsh had beeji
issued before the time when Griffith Jones wrote the above words.
" In the year 1546, a thin quarto volume, containing, among other
things, the Lord's Prayer and the Decalogue, brought out by Sir John
Price. " In 1546, the Epistles and Gospels for the whole year were
translated by William Salesbury, and printed in London in a quarto
volume. "In 1567, the New Testament was printed in London in quarto,
in a very beautiful character. William Salesbury had also the chief
hand in translating this." He was assisted by Bishop Richard
Davies and others.
" In 1588, William Morgan had the assistance of the most eminent
divines and linguists of that age, viz : Thomas [William] Hughes, Bishop
of St. Asaph ; Hugh Bellot, Bishop of Bangor ; David Powell, Vicar of
Ruabon ; Edmund Prys, Archdeacon of Merioneth ; Dr. John Davies,
Rector of Mallwyd; and Richard Vaughan, then Rector of Lutterworth,

EARLY EDITIONS OF WELSH BIBLE. 24!
out contents of chapters and marginal references, and
therefore not so useful and acceptable to the Welsh people,
who was afterwards Bishop of Bangor, then of Chester, then of
London," &c.
" In 1620, Dr. Morgan's version of the Bible was revised by
Richard Parry, D.D., Bishop of St. Asaph, 4c."
" In 1630, The same was reprinted in octavo, &c."
" In 1647, The New Testament only was printed in i2mo. at
London, &c."
" In 1654, The Old and New Testaments and the Singing Psalms
were printed at London (I suppose by the Dissenters) in the same
volume with [as?] that of anno 1630, &c." It is said in Hanes y Ffydd
that 6,000 of this edition was printed.
"In 1672 was printed without references, the New Testament
and the Psalms, both in prose and in metre, in 8vo. at London.
" In 1677-78, Edition by Stephen Hughes, of Swansea, and
Thomas Gouge.
" 1689, The former impression of the Bible being sold off in a
very few years at eight, nine, and ten shillings, and the people demand
ing still for more, Stephen Hughes sets another impression on foot, but
before he had done hardly anything in it, he dies, and is succeeded in
his undertaking by one David Jones, another Dissenting teacher, who,
having gain more at heart than religion, was no less infamous for
abusing the generous encouragement this good design met with, than
Stephen Hughes was eminent for rather more than answering the
expectations of his subscribers. For contrary to what the world saith
he had promised, he left out the Service and the Apocrypha in the
edition he put out this year, and printed only the two Testaments and
the Singing Psalms, and these, too, so very incorrect and imperfect,
that some even ofhis own persuasion have complained thereof, &c."
" In 1690, the Old and New Testaments with the Apocrypha were
printed at Oxon in folio, in a 6ne Roman character, which was since
sold off to a bookseller at Salop. This edition has the late learned
Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester's Chronology, and Scattergood's
references in the margin, &c.
In 1718, an octavo edition by the S.P.C.K., Sic.
"In 1727, The Old and New Testaments, Apocrypha, with a
Service annexed, and the Singing Psalms and Hymns, were printed at
London, in a small octavo, &c." The above notes are summarised from a
manuscript in the British Museum. (M.S. 14,952.) It is probably from
the collection of Richard and Lewis Morris. A copy of it was sent to
Dr. Thomas Llewelyn on the 28th of January, 1768, the year in which

242 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
who had been used to these advantages in all former
Bibles ; I was enabled by the bountiful assistance of good
persons, to buy above two thousand of them in all ; some
whereof were given, and some sold to pay for the teaching
of others to read, with a full permission so to do from the
kind benefactors who enabled me to purchase them. And
I am bound gratefully to acknowledge the charity of the
before-mentioned Society, in paying for the binding of very
considerable numbers of them.
" I have likewise received some private benefactions in
Bibles of this last impression ; particularly from the Right
Reverend Bishop of Bristol, above a year ago, by your
hands, which came very seasonably, when I could not
procure a Welsh Bible to supply the greatest need." *
Griffith Jones has been called the " morning
star " of the evangelical revival in Wales, and he
fully deserves that title. He had borne the burden
and heat of the day before the earliest of the
evangelical leaders, either in England or Wales,
appeared on the scene. He had been labouring in
the ministry for seventeen years before John
Wesley, and for twenty-nine years before George
Whitefield, received deacon's orders ; he had been
carrying on his Circulating Schools, and, in co
operation with others, through the help of the
the latter's first edition of 'An historical account of the Welsh Versions
and Editions of the Bible ' appeared. We see from the above account
that the seed, which ' is the Word,' was pretty extensively sown in Wales
in the seventeenth century and the early part of the eighteenth, no less
than six editions of both Testaments, and two of the New, having
been issued between 1630 and 1727. It should also be remembered
that, during the same period, eight editions of the Book of Common
Prayer in Welsh were issued. See the manuscript mentioned above.
' Welsh Piety, 1741-42, pp, 11-15.

PREPARATORY WORK OF GRIFFITH JONES. 243
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, had
circulated thousands of Bibles, Prayer Books, and
useful religious publications, among his monoglot
countrymen, and had preached in many parts of
the neighbouring counties, before Daniel Rowland
commenced his itinerant ministry, or Howell Harris
his field preaching ; he had established three
hundred and twenty-nine schools, and, by their
means, had helped to instruct 19,139 of the poOr
in the truths of the Gospel, when John Berridge,
William Williams, and Peter Williams com
menced their ministry; and he had entered into
rest before Thomas Charles was six years old.
The leaders of the evangelical movement in Wales
were to a man South Wales men, bred and born
within a radius of about thirty or forty miles from
Llanddowror; and it was in those parts almost
exclusively that the influence of Griffith Jones was
felt previous to the year 1740.
That the Charity Schools of Griffith Jones pre
pared the way for the powerful religious awakening
which broke out in Wales in the eighteenth century
cannot be questioned. They do not, indeed, appear
to have been responsible, directly or indirectly, for
the change which took place in Howell Harris
about the year 1735, as we do not find that they
were established in Talgarth, his native parish,
before the year 1740. That change, as Harris
himself relates in his Autobiography, was brought
about under the ministry of the incumbent of his

244 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
own parish, the Rev. Pryce Davies, when, on the
Sunday before Easter Day, the latter was solemnly
and earnestly inviting the members of his con
gregation to the Holy Communion, and replying
to the not uncommon excuse of those who abstain,
namely, their sense of unfitness. " If you are not
fit to come to the Lord's Table, you are not fit to
come to Church, you are not fit to live, you are
not fit to die." This was the arrow that pierced
Harris* conscience. We may remark, in passing,
that this instance shows that there were, even in
those days of spiritual deadness, earnest pastors
among the Welsh clergy, who fulfilled their duties
with fidelity. Another instance is the Rev. Daniel
Rowland, father of the celebrated Rowland of
Llangeitho, who died in 1731, and of whom it is
said that he was, especially in his later days, a
man of conspicuous piety, and that he went about
preaching beyond the limits of his own parishes.
Howell Harris makes mention in his Diary of
a man from his neighbourhood who went about from
house to house in 1736, to teach the young people
to sing Psalms. This man he accompanied, and
took advantage of the opportunity to exhort the
people. About this time, he began to establish his
Societies on the plan of those of Dr. Woodward.
These activities roused the hostility of the people,
and alarmed the incumbent of his parish, who wrote
to him a letter, pointing out his presumption, and
warning him of the penalties he might incur. In

His RELATION TO THE REVIVALISTS. 245
the summer of the same year, Harris seems to have
paid a visit to Griffith Jones, the result of which was
that he established a school at Trevecca, in his
native parish, and on the 8th of October, writes
to inform him of the success of the enterprise. But
it was an enterprise of short duration, for, about the
latter end of the following year, he was turned out
of the school. "There appeared now a general
reformation in several counties. Public diversions
were laid aside, religion became a common subject
of conversation, and places of worship were every
where crowded. The Welsh Charity Schools,
by the exertions of the Rev. Griffith Jones, of
Llarrddowror, began to spread ; people in general
expressed a willingness to receive instruction ; and
Societies were formed in many places."? This was
in 1737. Daniel Rowland was brought into a serious
view of life and of the ministry, as already related,
under the preaching of Griffith Jones in the parish
Church of Llanddewibrefi. John Rowland, Daniel's
elder brother, was curate of Llanddewibrefi at the
time, as well as incumbent of Llangeitho and
>fantcwnlle, to which he succeeded after his
father's death. As stated above, the elder Daniel
Rowland, moved by the spiritual destitution of his
countrymen, used, in his later years, to make
preaching excursions beyond his own parishes. It
is more than probable that Griffith Jones, who also
' Howell Harries Autobiography', p. 24.

246 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
was active about the same time, became acquainted
with Rowland and his family. Nothing, under such
circumstances, would be more natural than that John
Rowland should invite Griffith Jones to preach in
his church. Another fact of importance is that, in
Welsh Piety for 1738-39, there is a list of ten
parishes in Cardiganshire where schools had been
held, eight of which, including Llanddewibrefi and
Llangeitho, are within easy distance of the high
road which runs between Lampeter and Lledrod.^
It appears, then, that Llanddewibrefi was a kind of
a centre of the schools in Cardiganshire in the
earlier years of their history. In Welsh Piety for
the year 1746-47, a letter is inserted from "John
Rowland, Vicar of Llanddewibrefi," and another
from Walter Jenkins, one of the Churchwardens.
We thus see that Howell Harris and Daniel
Rowland, the pioneers of the itinerant movement
which ultimately issued in Welsh Methodism,
became early under the personal influence of
Griffith Jones. Others who took a prominent part
in the same movement in its earlier days, came
also more or less under his influence. Howell
Davies, who was almost as great a power in Pem
brokeshire, as Daniel Rowland was in Cardiganshire,
was trained for the ministry by him at Llanddowror,
and laboured for some time as his curate. William
° Griffith Jones is recorded to have preached in Llanddewi as
follows: September 29, 1732, from 2 Cor. v. 20; MarCh II, 1733,
from 2 Cor. ¦». 14, 15; June 3, 1733, from I Cor. ii. 2; August 4,
1734, from Rom. vii. 24, 25 : September i, 1734, from Gal. vi. f.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 247
Williams, the hymnologist, was ordained to the
curacy of Llanwrtyd in 1740, where he served for
three years. In 1741, he certified to the success of
the Charity Schools, and the efficiency of the
masters, both in Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, his native
parish, and in Llanwrtyd. In conjunction with the
curate of the former parish, he testifies that the
master "behaved himself civil and according to the
prescribed rules, without taking upon him to be an
exhorter, or anything unbecoming his calling," an
intimation that some of the schoolmasters were
even then accused of taking upon themselves to
^'exhort," which was contrary to the "prescribed
rules." In the year 1749, William Williams was
married to a lady of ' ' strong common sense and
piety," who had lived as a friend with Griffith Jones,
and proved an eminently suitable companion to her
husband. The Bishop refused to admit Williams
to priest's orders, because, among other things, he
went forth to preach in other places besides his own
parishes. With the amiable candour that always
characterised the " sweet singer of Wales," he inti
mates that he never afterwards entirely approved of
his own irregularity. He considered it a hasty
step, and thought he might have been more useful
had he been more cautious. Another leader of the
evangelical movement was Peter Williams, a
native of Laugharne. His mother was a church-
woman, and used to attend the ministry of Griffith
Jones, who was on terms of intimacy with her

248 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
son, after the latter had entered the ministry of the
Church. 9
There can be little doubt that Griffith Jones
perceived very early the dangers that might accrue
to the Church from the itinerant movement which
had been commenced by these earnest men. He
himself showed every anxiety to work in strict
conformity with the rules of the Church. He
sought the co-operation of the clergy, and entered
their parishes only when invited or permitted.
" I have sought very carefully," he wrote in 1742,
" that this design should be carried on in every
thing as orderly and consistently with the Church
of England as was possible." He constantly
reiterates this assurance. His great desire was to
secure the sanction and patronage of the bishops,
so that his schools might the more easily find
entrance to every parish. He was anxious that the
Church should seize the great opportunity that was
before her, by turning her parochial system into an
instrument for enlightening and uplifting the
people, and thus win their lasting attachment and
gratitude. He saw others awakening and bestirring
themselves. Referring to the distribution of copies
of the Welsh Bibles of 17 14 and of the two subse
quent editions, he writes in the Welsh Piety for
* It is also worthy of notice that Thomas Charles was largely
indebted for his early religious impressions, to an old disciple of Griffith
Jones, named Rees Hugh. ' ' I loved him as long as he lived," says
Charles in his Diary, " as my own soul, and always looked upon him
as my father in Christ."

DIFFICULTIES CAUSED BY METHODISM. 240
1741-42 : " I|am informed the Protestant Dissenters
in London -sent, out of their funds and charities,
some hundreds of these Bibles to be distributed by
their ministers; which much ingratiated them with
the people, and won many to learn their Catechism.
And if our people are not prevailed on by the
method I have proposed, or a better, to learn ours,
the spiritual interest of our Church, and sound
religion, will never thrive in Wales." He found
it necessary to exercise every care and caution to
save himself and his schools from the suspicion of
disloyalty to the Church, which the distrust of
those in authority was too ready to entertain, and
the watchful jealousy of many of his brethren was
only too eager to encourage. And as he went on,
his difficulties increased. The revival movement
which commenced under Howell Harris in Brecon
shire, under Rowland in Cardiganshire, and under
Howell Davies in Pembrokeshire, rendered the
situation more complicated. His enemies were not
slow to avail themselves of a t^ilausible opportunity
to discredit his work by identifying him with the
itinerant revivalists and their irregularities. Those
earnest men, though never for a moment contem
plating any separation or secession from the Church,
worked on different lines from him. They paid
less heed than he did to teaching the people,
and we think there is evidence that some of their
followers depreciated catechising. It is most
probable that Griffith Jones was referring to the

2 so GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
Methodists when he wrote in 1745 " that the
people justly complained of for their tumultuous
and disorderly zeal among us, are no friends
to catechising," and "are not only ignorant and
unprincipled {i.e., untaught) in the doctrines and
duties of Christianity, but likewise too opinionative
to submit to catechising, and spare not to declaim
openly against it." He also quotes a " grave
minister, in a letter now before me," as writing
that "some persons who take upon them to be
religious, are busy in doing all they can to persuade
the catechumens to leave it off, upon a false
hypothesis, viz., that it dries up their spirits, and
creates hypocrites in the Church."' Moreover,
those good men felt less restrained than he did by
the limitations of the parochial system ; and their
intrusion into the parishes of their brethren very
naturally caused much irritation, which, we may
suppose, was generally in proportion to the minis
terial apathy of the aggrieved clergy, though it
must by no means be assumed that it was always
so. It was, furthermore, alleged against the
revivalists that they were guilty of doctrinal errors,
and of- encouraging extravagant and unseemly out
bursts of religious feelings among their people
during divine service. Griffith Jones heard these
things, and, at least at the commencement, believed
' A Letter to a Clergyman, evincing the necessity, and indicating
the method of instructing the poor and ignorant people to read the
Holy Scriptures in their native language. 1745, p. 88.

THE SCHOOLS .AND THE CHARGE OF METHODISM. 251
them. They caused him considerable embarrass
ment. Many of the clergy who heartily supported the
Circulating Schools, looked with disfavour upon
the work of the revivalists, and in their com
munications to Griffith Jones, expressed their
strong disapproval of their methods and their
"enthusiastical" spirit. The Rev. Elias Thomas,
" minister of two parishes in Monmouthshire,"
writes to him in 1747 : "I can no less than lament,
and freely confess with regret and concern, that I
have been one of those that were prejudiced against
the Welsh Charity Schools, suspecting them to
have a tendency to promote Methodism, and a
contempt of the parochial clergy, till about fifteen
months ago, I had an opportunity of perusing your
excellent and judicious Letter to a Clergymdn^
whereby I was fully convinced of their consistency
with the constitution of our Church, &c." Such
intimations occur in letters from other correspond
dents published in Welsh Piety. In the Preface for
the same year, the writer refers to the same subject.
" As to the charge of Methodism, it is but cohimon
justice to the undertaking, and to the reverend and
worthy person who has been from the beginning
the chief manager of it, to assure the public, that
the persons who go under that denomination have
not the least concern in it. It conforms itself as
strictly as possible to the model pf the Charity
Schools in England, and teaches for doctrine

252 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
nothing but what is taught by the Church of
England." «
Griffith Jones' first trouble from the revival
movement arose apparently from the conduct of
Howell Davies, his own curate, who, about the
year 1740, was getting beyond his rector's control.
We have no information about the matters that
were in dispute between them, beyond what is
contained in the letters of Griffth Jones to Madam
Bevan. In an undated letter, written probably in
1740, or the following year, he says : " I officiated
myself here to-day. Howell went to Llysyfran.
He is so unsettled in his mind that I cannot depend
on any of his promises ; the last he talked with has
him. I am sorry I cannot fix him in his studies.
I see he will continue as ignorant and disorderly
as any of the crowd, when he parts with me. It
is the cry of the crowd that he will be governed by,
which grieves me very much for his own sake."
The following extract from another letter, also
undated, is interesting: "I am quite well, and
never more alive than to-day, and all last night,
though I talked a great deal, and with high spirits,
with Howell Harris ; but I think it shall be the last
time, for he is absolutely erroneous and conceited/'
It is not probable that the threat contained in the
last sentence was carried out, as Howell Harris
corresponded with him after this, and paid visits
from time to time to Llanddowror.
"See also Welsh Piety for 1740-41, p. 16.

HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS REVIVALISTS. 253
There are four other letters of his, written in
the month of May in 1741, and one written in
April, 1743, in which he expresses his opinions of
the Methodists in still stronger terms. But at that
time he had not attended any of their meetings,
and must have depended for his knowledge of them
upon the reports of others ; and there is sufficient
evidence to show that, as he became better
acquainted with them, a great change took place in
his opinion of the movement, and in his attitude
towards its promoters.
In the last extract, Griffith Jones mentions
an interview he had had with Howell Harris,
at which he " talked a great deal, and with high
spirits." It is probable that the letter of Harris
to him about to be quoted from, and dated May
15th, 1 741, was written in consequence of that
interview. With excellent judgment and temper,
and with the profound respect which he always
showed for Griffith Jones, Harris replies in that
letter to some of the accusations that had been
levelled against him and Rowland.
" I have, since I parted with you, heard so many things
that seem to prove strongly that the enemy is let loose upon
us, in a way not expected, to divide those who love the
Lord Jesus more dearly than their lives. I could not rest
without writing a letter to you, and I am persuaded you
will receive it in the same spirit in which I write. Should
we not be very tender and cautious in hearing with both
ears, before we pass judgment? I hope that, notwith
standing all the calumnies cast upon me, I am justified in

254 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
this, that I would not for ten thousand worlds expose men
or doctrines that have sufficient evidence that they are sent
of God  O, dear Sir, mistake not my end, nor my
spirit ; for at this moment I could write with tears of love
to you. I am and ever was persuaded that I shall see you
shining in glory. It is the concern of the Lord's cause that
makes me write to you, not cunningly or artfully, but in
simplicity, in the spirit of our common Lord, and from the
abundance of the heart."
In reference to the errors with which Rowland
was charged, the writer says that the impression
was due to the malice of his enemies, the ignorance
of those who listened to him, or to some casual
unguarded expressions, which he would willingly
correct when his attention was called to them.
" I believe that, when you look a little calmly, you will
find that all aspersions against Rowland come from such a
spirit. As to what has been reported of some expressions
used by him in preaching, I am persuaded that they are
false. It is true that, when he has been informed that they
were mistaken by his hearers, or not explained in the sense
which he intended, he has had the humility to correct what
was not clearly stated. I find that there are some people
who make it all their business to . . . set all in the blackest
light, in order to divide you. There are but few faithful
ministers, especially in this dark benighted Church ; and
shall they be divided ? As to crying out, some I have seen
and spoken to ; they were so penetrated by the Word that
they could not help crying out, some on seeing they were
lost, and others on seeing they had pierced the Son of God
by their sins ; whom, if you had seen, you would have had
no scruple about, but have blessed God on their account.
There is, it must be confessed, much of the evil spirit and
hypocrisy in the crying out of some. I publicly objected

HARRIS' LETTERS TO GRIFFITH JONES. 255
to it, and Rowland thanked me. Their singing together
on the way has much simplicity in it. The heart being
thus kept heavenward, trifling thoughts, as well as idle
talking, are prevented. When my heart is warmed by love,
I cannot help singing, even if I am hoarse. Their speaking
to, or embracing each other in love, I am sure was also in
great simplicity. I find such love in my own soul towards
you that, if I were near you, I could not help embracing
you in the love of God, which others may construe into
imprydence. " I have been informed that it has been told that
Rowland does not speak well of you, which I am sure is
not correct. Such is his opinion of you that, when any
wish to be admitted to communion, if he finds that they
have been under your examination, his usual way is to raise
his hand and say, ' If you have been there, I have nothing
to say after him.' I have always heard him speak of you
with great esteem. As to your books, I never speak much
to him about them ; but his selling, and encouraging the
sale of them, is a sufficient proof of his approbation."
In the concluding paragraph of this letter,
Harris defends Rowland from the charge of holding
" sinless perfection " that had been made against
him. We find from Harris' correspondence that he
paid frequent visits to Llanddowror in 1742 and
the following year, and that he continued to hold
Griffith Jones in high esteem and affection. In an
undated letter, written probably in 1742, he says :
"To-morrow fortnight, I trust I shall hear the
laborious old soldier, Mr. Griffith Jones, who has
been owned to batter Satan's strongholds near
thirty years, and still holds on, and is wonderfully

256 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
owned in his ministry, especially in propagating
the Circulating Welsh Schools, by which means,
in a few years, many thousands have been taught
to read, who before were like mere heathens, as you
may see in some English tracts called Welsh Piety,
which I believe you may have at brother Hutton's.
In the last, he gives a gentle rebuke to us ; but there
was need, there having been some irregularities
amongst some." Again, on December, 14, 1742,
in a letter to Whitefield, he writes: " Next Sunday,
I hope I shall see the faithful and laborious Mr.
Griffith Jones. He grows most sweetly, I hear.
Many that once thought ill of communicating in
their Parish Churches, have changed their thoughts,
and met the Lord there, and see (that) their motives
arose from self, mistaken conscience, want of love,
and conversation with such that have a party more
at heart than the common cause of Christ. I have
great faith given me that we shall see great things
even in this poor benighted Church. I have un
common prayers wrought by the Lord in my heart
for it. I see more and more need daily of being
cautious in every step we take. It is the enemy
that hurries to make haste." In a letter to another
correspondent, written on Christmas Day, 1742, he
refers to his visit to Llanddowror, mentioned in the
last extract. " Last Sunday, I heard that old and
eminent man of God, Mr. Griffith Jones, who has
laboured with uncommon power and success in the
ministry for upwards of thirty years, I believe. In

HARRIS' LETTERS, 257
receiving the Sacrament there then, I think I never
had before such a discovery of my dear Master."
Again, on the 17th of the following March, he
writes that the "Welsh Circulating Schools are
blessed, and prosper much in the hand of the
valuable Mr. Griffith Jones;" and on the 21st of
the samfe month: "Last Sunday was a day of
uncommon sweetness, light, love, liberty, and
power, under the ministry of dear Mr. Griffith
Jones, when many hundreds of the lambs gathered
to meet the great Shepherd, and I believe they met
Him." In another long communication to Griffith
Jones himself, Howell Harris gives expression to
similar sentiments of respect and affection towards
his correspondent, and of his own firm attachment
and adherence to the Church. It was dated from
Bristol on the 26th of January, 1746, and a transla
tion of it shall be given here almost in full, as it
throws important light on the inner working of the
Methodist movement at the time, as well as on
Harris' state of mind with regard to it.
7 " With true respect and sincere love, I sit down to
address to you these words, assuring you that my soul goes
out in gratitude to our beloved Saviour for the many gifts and
graces He has bestowed upon you ; and in particular, that
He has given you the spirit to withstand ignorance and
corruption, but more especially that He has blessed you
with success beyond expectation in our own benighted
Church, for which my soul has often wept bitterly, labouring
3inid tribulations on all sides, of which po one knows except

258 GRI FFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
Him Who searches all secrets ; and yet willing to suffer all,
and to be misunderstood and misjudged for my honest
intentions; and still pressing forward in faith and love,
hoping that our Saviour would grant to those whom it most
nearly concerns, to have a right and clear opinion of this
work, in which I have been deemed worthy to have a small
share, so that at last this our Zion shall become ' a praise
in the earth,' and to sit, as she once did, as a princess
among the provinces  I think I have this upper
most in my soul, that my name and labours may be for ever
forgotten, but that my Redeemer only should be known and
worshipped ; and that His truth may be studied, accepted,
believed, and preached, and that His poor, sickly Church
may be recovered from darkness and formalism, into its
first love and faith, and once more put on her beautiful
garments. This is my desire, and this I believe is the
hearty desire of all the other workers who have turned out
to labour in this way. Often have we desired and prayed
that those in authority may come to know of our principles,
our aims, and the obstacles we have to contend with, for the
sake of the real blessing that has already accrued to souls,
and is still accruing ; there is little doubt but that their
compassion would be moved, and that their opinion of us
would be changed, and that they would no longer look upon
us as mere mad enthusiasts.
" What if in our zeal against those who are corrupt and
ignorant, we utter some mistaken words, and in some
things, through want of experience, go too far, and perhaps
allow ourselves to be misled by some cunning hypocrites ?
Will no other side but that be ever considered ? Are there
no considerations which modify the complaints brought
against the work ? Are we not sorry to have given offence
to anybody, or to have manifested in our conduct a spirit
which is unbecoming, or contrary to the Gospel ? Do we
not publicly and before the world acknowledge and lament
our failings, and profess our earnest desire for a fiiU con-

HARRIS' LETTERS. 259
formity with the example and the precepts of our Saviour ?
Though we are denied admission to the Communion, and
doubtless for reasons that appear sufficient to our superiors,
according to the light we are placed in before them ; andj
though we are rebuked publicly from the pulpit, and called
by names which do not belong to us, and though many of
us have been forbidden to partake of the Communion in
our Parish Churches, for no other reason than that we hold
meetings or societies, we nevertheless always strive to continue
in prayer on behalf of our degenerate Church, and are re
solved to remain in her until we are finally turned out. I
well know her spiritual poverty, though she is ready to say in
her fallen state that she has need of nothing. The work
done among us is too evident to be hidden, or to require
any proof of its extent and reality to show that it is the
Lord's work; though it has been clouded by inevitable
weaknesses, which charity should cloak, for true and valid
considerations. Yea, we have hazarded our lives during
many years, under all kinds of opposition, before a hostile
world ; often in danger of being done to death, sometimes
appearing with our blood mingled with the dust, for no
cause in the world but that we invited them to the Saviour
of sinners ; when the Lord knew that nothing else con
strained us to travel incessantly day and night, through
rains, tempests, hailstorms, frost and snow, preaching in the
open air in all weathers, and that only for the love of God
and of His Church ; promising to ourselves and requiring
no other reward in this world but what we possessed in our
own consciences ; bearing reproach, hard words, and insults,
reckoning it a sufficient recompense to hear miserable,
poor, defiled, ignorant sinners crying out, ' What must we
do to be saved ? ' renouncing their sins in righteousness,
following the Lord Whom they once reviled, and bearing
the good fruit of obedience. This recompense we unques
tionably receive, though tares are largely mingled with the
wheat, making a fair show, but nevertheless turning out

26o GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
badly and disgracefully. This we have seen with bruised
hearts. Yet, blessed be God, there are many thousands,
in England and Wales, who prove by their Gospel-lives that
they have truly enlisted under the banner of Christ, and to
whom God has made us instruments of salvation, to rescue
them as brands from the burning. Oh, if our superiors
knew of the hundredth part of the good that has been done,
I believe they would be so far from blaming us, or thinking
ill of the work which so conspicuously shows the power of
its great Author, that they would be more diligent to inquire
more closely into it, till they would be fully satisfied on
trustworthy testimony. So that whatever admixture of
heated zeal, or other failings, may have been observed
when we are pressing the truth, yet I humbly believe that
many of our masters in Israel, with tears or with joy, would
be ready to fall before Him that sitteth npon the throne,
and to say : ' Of a truth, the Lord hath visited our land,
and this is the Lord's work.'
" Who else could have opened the eyes of the blind,
turned the wicked ones from the error of their ways,
and made the blasphemer lowly and humble ? There are
numberless other examples of God's goodness to be seen.
I am sure that you see, and feel the weight, the urgency,
and the burden of the great wodc of dealing with souls, and
that you are not ignorant of the trials and pitfalls that
surround us, from the various kinds of people whom we have
to deal with, from the unseen enemy, and above all,
from the inscrutable depth of the evil that is born with us.
You cannot refrain from weeping for us before the Lord ;
and [see] that it is a miracle that our heads are kept above
the water. O, dear Sir, who is sufficient for these things ?
If I had no true and certain hope that the work is the
Lord's, and that He has pledged to take upon Himself the
care, the weight, and the management, my hands would
have grown slack from a thousand considerations. And
through this confidence in His grace. His power. His

HARRIS' LETTERS. 26 1
wisdom, I see that I move in Him. O, Sir, help us by
your prayers ; there never have been such worthless and
insufficient worms employed in so great a work. . . . Your
counsels against pride, &c., are always acceptable and
profitable to me, for I can never sufficiently value the
privilege of faithful admonitions, which I need at all times.
. . . O help. Sir, help in this work, yea, this very great
work of endeavouring to rescue many poor sinners like
brands from the burning ; I implore you to help us in eyery
way, for the Lord's sake."
We know of only one more letter from
Harris to Griffith Jones. It was written on the
3rd of January, 1760, when Harris had become
captain in the militia, and was prepared to fight
in defence of his country against the danger
which threatened it, as he believed, from "the
tyrannical spirit of Popery;" "a life," he
adds, " by far the most disagreeable to me.
But being persuaded of my duty by the faithful,
unerring Spirit of grace, I am willing to testify,
once for all, my regard to my king and country ;
but, above all, to the most precious Gospel," His
personal reference to Griffith Jones in this letter is
as full of respect and affection as ever. " I was
much refreshed," he writes, "in hearing by T.
David of your being yet here below, to stand in
the gap, and to entreat for a poor, unbelieving
world, which, being indeed blinded by the god of
this world, sees no glory or excellency in the most
precious Redeemer. Sinners are really running in
the broad road to eternal ruin, and that merrily and

262 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
lightly. And I greatly fear that very few mourn
over them. I hope you will live to awaken many
by your honest labours before the end of your days.
I should esteem it the highest honour if counted
worthy to be of some real service to all, especially
to poor Wales, as you have hitherto been in many
respects." We make no apology for the length of these
quotations. They reveal the inward feelings of the
writer towards both the Church and Griffith Jones;
and he was a true representative of the spirit of
Methodism at the time. He writes with perfect
frankness. He was under no delusions as to the
perils and imperfections of those with whom he was
associated. He was an enthusiast certainly, but
not a fanatic. His expressions of attachment to the
Church and to Griffith Jones were not framed
merely for the eye of a strong churchman, for they
are repeated, even in stronger terms, in his letters
to others, as well as in his diaries. Nor can we
believe that he would have written in terms so free
and affectionate to one whose feelings towards him
were other than cordial. Howell Harris was a
remarkable man in many ways; but, in all his
eventful history, nothing is more remarkable than
his attachment to the Church, and the tenacity with
which he clung to her communion. We could
quote abundantly from his letters and diaries in
confirmation of this ; but we must forbear. It is
true that he lamented her spiritual sloth and

THE CHARACTER OF HOWELL HARRIS. 263
inefficiency ; but is he to be branded as an unfaithful
churchman for doing that? He was consumed
with the desire of awakening his countrymen from
their spiritual deadness. He threw his whole
energies into the work from the highest motives,
and would not be induced to desist from his purpose
by threats or persuasion. He was convinced
that he was doing God's work, and he defended lay
preaching with conspicuous ability, on historical
grounds, as well as on those of urgent practical
necessity. He had to obey the dictates of an
imperative conscience, which forbade him to
depart from the communion of the Church,
and bade him go forth into the highways and
hedges to preach the Gospel to perishing souls.
He did both, and was blamed for his "con
formity by people of all denominations," and
for his preaching by his fellow-churchmen. He
had many temptations to leave the Church. He
was refused ordination by the bishop, after repeated
applications ; he was offered ordination by the
Dissenters, and given every encouragement to throw
in his lot with them ; he was misrepresented and per
secuted by some of the clergy and the magistrates ;
but he clung to the Church with loyal devotion.
He communicated in her regularly, and exhorted
his followers to do so, for which he was much cen
sured. He showed every anxiety that the Church
should reap the advantages of his incessant labours.
There is further evidence that Griffith Jones

264 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
became more friendly towards the Methodists as he
became better acquainted with them. We have
seen that, at first, he suspected them of something
like duplicity. The biographer of Lady Huntingdon
acknowledges that "the Methodists may, perhaps,
in some instances, have been wanting in candour
towards the clergy ; and under the feeling of
personal insult, or of zeal arising out of general
apathy, may have employed epithets not suffi
ciently cautious ; nevertheless, the general conduct
of many of the clergy deserved the severest
reprehension." Howell Harris himself, as we have
seen, acknowledged the need of the gentle rebuke
which Griffith Jones had administered to the
Methodists for their irregularities. But the attitude
of caution and aloofness which the latter maintained
towards them in 1741, had, seven years later,
become considerably changed.
"About the month of May, 1748, Lady Huntingdon and
her daughters, accompanied by Lady Anne and Lady Frances
Hastings, left Bath, where they had been staying some
considerable time, on a tour through Wales. It is a matter
of regret that so little information can now be obtained of
her Ladyship's journey into a part of the kingdom where she
was destined in after years to reap a harvest so abundant.
From the scanty materials, however, which remain, an
imperfect and irregular journal in the handwriting of Lady
Frances Hastings, we are informed that Lady Huntingdon
was met at Bristol by Mr. Howell Harris, Mr. Griffith Jones,
Mr. Daniel Rowland, and Mr. Howell Davies, all of whom
accompanied her into the Principality. They appear to
have travelled slowly, taking short stages every day For

GRIFFITH JONES AND THE METHODISTS . 265
fifteen days successively, two of the ministers that accom
panied her Ladyship, preached in some town or village.
.... ' The divine influence of the Spirit of God,' says
Lady Frances, 'was very evidently afforded with His VVord,
and many were added unto the Lord's people.' On one
occasion, when Mr. Griffith Jones preached in a large field
from that passage in the fortieth chapter of the prophecies
of Isaiah, What shall I cry ? there was an extraordinary
manifestation of the grace and power of God over the
assembled multitude, so that many were deeply convinced
of their misery and guilt, and cried aloud in the most awful
manner. When the sermon was ended. Lady Huntingdon
inquired of many of those who had been so affected, the
cause of their loud and bitter cries. Most of them replied
that they were so powerfully and deeply convinced of their
sinfulness and awful condition in the sight of God, that
they were afraid He never would have mercy on them. The
people in general through the whole assembly seemed greatly
bowed down and humbled before the Lord, and many said
they should never forget the time when God was so gracious
unto them." 3
In a letter of Harris to Whitefield (Dec. 14,
1742), quoted above, the writer says that some of
the people "thought ill of communicating" in
their own Parish Churches, probably because of
the indifferent lives of their clergy, and he implies
that they were induced by him to alter their minds
when the matter was duly explained to them, which
is another evidence of his anxiety to attach the
people to the Church. This matter of communi
cating elsewhere than in their Parish Churches on
the part of the people, was a cause of much
^ Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, 1839. Vol. i.,
p. 84.

266 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
ill-feeling in those days, as we may gather from
the following passage in one of Griffith Jones'
Letters in Welsh Piety. And if we compare the
respective attitudes of Griffith Jones and Howell
Harris towards the people who followed the habit
alluded to, it will be seen that the latter was the
stricter churchman of the two.
" Many of the poor laity," says Griffith Jones, " because
they are wont to employ the trustiest people in all their
temporal concerns, can no more commit their souls to the
care of a manifestly weak and wicked minister than they
would be clients of an unskilful and unfaithful lawyer, or
than they would, in a dangerous fever, trust their lives in
the hands of a foolish, faithless physician. These sincere
souls, rather than part with the Established Church, desire
to receive the blessed Sacrament (at least sometimes) in
another parish. The Dissenters may well be angry with
this ; for if it was not complied with in very many places,
meeting-houses would have been much fuller in Wales.
Many Dissenters have been made by scrupling this indul
gence. A few months would produce thousands more, if
strictness of conformity in this respect should be pushed
on to the length some desire."
In the earlier years of the evangelical revival,
few things are more remarkable than the great
veneration which was shown to the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper, and the overpowering sense
of the divine presence and blessing which was
experienced during its administration. It is some
times stated, and oftener taken for granted, that
the due position of the Holy Communion in the
economy of public worship was gained, or regained

THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL AND HOLY COMMUNION. 267
for it, in this country about the middle of last
century. This is a mistake. Griffith Jones himself
laid much stress upon frequent celebrations of
the Lord's Supper, as well as upon regular
attendance, and due preparation. In a letter to
Madam Bevan, dated March 26, 1734, after
having enumerated the ends for which the Sacra
ment was ordained, and after giving his reasons
against its administration in private, except in
times of persecution, or in cases of necessity,
such as sickness or confinement, he proceeds :
" And I must own that to use our endeavours to pro
mote the more frequent celebration of it among professed
Church members in public is very expedient, everything
considered. Where we read in Scripture of the disciples
breaking of bread from house to house, their houses were
their churches, or stated meeting-places, and they had no
other then. There was the gathering of the disciples
together, and there they had the doctrine of the Apostles,
that is, the preaching of the Word of God, singing of
Psalms and prayer, namely, the whole of divine worship
devoutly performed, of which the Sacrament was but a part,
the concluding part. This they did as often as they met
together as a Church, &c."
Before Sacrament Sunday, Griffith Jones himself
was in the habit of holding a preliminary
service in his own Church on the previous Satur
day, at which he prepared the communicants
for a devout and intelligent reception. His
Church on such Sundays, as already stated,
became the centre of a large multitude who came

268 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
from long distances.4 His correspondents from
all parts of Wales gratefully testify to the more
numerous and reverent attendance at the Holy
Communion, as one of the happy results of the
Circulating Schools. The rector of Puncheston,
for instance, in a letter dated June 6, 1741, writes
thus : " For my churches have been so flocked to
since the schools have been set up that there is
scarce room sufficient for the audience within
doors ; and I can affirm that they appear very
devout in the public worship, very attentive
under the Word, and greater numbers do
partake now constantly every month of the Holy
Eucharist, I hope with a more regular zeal and due
reverence than before." It was under an earnest
exhortation from his parish clergyman to the people
to attend the Holy Communion, as we have seen,
that Howell Harris was first brought to a serious
frame of mind, and he frequently mentions in his
diaries and letters the great blessing he received
at the Lord's Table. Sacrament Sunday at Llan
geitho, inthe time of Rowland, was a great day. Even
to this day, we believe, it is called "the Sabbath of
the Great Assembly "s in that village. Thousands
? The present Rector of Llanddowror tells us that a tradition still
lingers in the parish to the effect that " very large congregations used
to assemble there on Communion Sundays, the people coming from
all parts, leaving home on Friday, and not returning till the following
Tuesday. They used to live in tents." ^ " Sabboth y Cwrdd Mawr."
It may be interesting to note that the custom of holding, on the
Saturday before Sacrament Sunday, a special Service of preparation
for the reception of the Holy Communion, continued to be observed
until recent times in many Churches and Chapels in Cardiganshire.

THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL AND HOLY COMMUNION. 269
of people came together, having travelled from
long distances in order to be present at the Holy
Communion, which was always administered at the
morning service. Whitefield, in a letter to a friend,
says that the " power of God at the Sacrament during
its administration by Rowland, was enough to
make one's heart burn within him." As many as
twelve hundred, or even two thousand, partook
of the Sacrament on those occasions, when he was
assisted generally by two or three clergymen, and
some times by seven or eight. In August, 1769,
at the anniversary of the opening of Trevecca
College, we are told that the Sacrament was
celebrated on Friday, the i8th, in the afternoon ; on
Sunday, the 20th, at one o'clock; and again on the
following Thursday early in the morning. In later
times, John Williams, son of William Williams,
relates that, in the year 1800, he had been on a
tour through Wales of some six hundred miles,
when he preached generally three times a day, and
administered the Lord's Supper twice.* The
Sacrament seems to have held the same position in
the early history of the evangelical movement in
England. When Whitefield "was at Haworth,
the Lord's Supper was frequently administered, not
only to the stated communicants, but to hundreds
from other quarters, who resorted thither on those
solemn occasions, esteeming them in a particular
sense as the days of the Son of man, such, in many
* l,ife of Rev. John Williams, p. 20,

270 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
respects, as had never been witnessed since the first
promulgation of Christianity, when the Spirit was,
in so eminent a degree, poured from on high. . . .
At Haworth, on Whit-Sunday, the church was
thrice filled with communicants."? We are also
told that, whilst Whitefield remained at Ashby-
place, "the Sacrament was administered every
morning by some of the clergymen who were with
Lady Huntingdon ;"8 and again, that on Sunday,
October 5, 1766, Mr. Wesley administered the
Sacrament at Lady Huntingdon's chapel at eight
o'clock in the morning.9
The leaders of the evangelical movement in
Wales were more anxious, it would appear, than
those in England, to maintain their position as an
auxiliary to the Church, and to prevent the forma
tion of an independent body. Howell Harris clung
to the Church to the last. Daniel Rowland, though
discountenanced and discouraged, if not formally
ejected, continued to read the Church Service in his
chapel, after he had left the parish church, refused
to allow the clergy to be ill-spoken of in his hearing,
and on his deathbed earnestly exhorted his son to
remain in the Church. William Williams thought
he saw great danger to the "unwary, new-born
Methodists, from the anti-Trinitarian, Socinian,
and Arian doctrines which gained ground daily,"
and, in a letter to Thomas Charles, dated May 28,
' Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon, Vol. i. p. ii;6.
' Ib. p. 163, 9 lb. p. 476.

ATTACHMENT OF THE METHODISTS TO THE CHURCH. 27 1
1790, or about eight months before his death, urged
his correspondent most pathetically to " exhort the
young preachers to study, next to the Scriptures,
the doctrines of our old, celebrated Reformers, as
set forth in the Articles of the Church of England,
and the three Creeds, namely, the Apostles' Creed,
the Nicene, and the Athanasian. They will see
there the great truths of the Gospel, and the deep
things of God, set forth in a most excellent and
suitable manner. They are a most sound form of
words on the high and spiritual things of God.""
The case of Peter Williams is related in his
autobiography. He was ordained in 1745 to the
curacy of Eglwys Gymmun, near Carmarthen.
His rector held some preferment or a good curacy
in England, and generally visited his parish only
once a year to receive his tithes. Peter Williams
set himself to work in earnest. He established
cottage lectures from house to house, and attended
"wakes," which he endeavoured to reform and
convert into religious services. For his zeal he was
thought by some to be " righteous overmuch," and
suspected of Methodism. A curious incident led to
his dismissal. When he was delivering a carefully
written discourse one Sunday morning, he was
disturbed by the bad behaviour of some young
people in the church, whom he proceeded to
remonstrate with, and in doing so, he lost his place
¦ Life of William Williams, by Rev. E. Morgan, 1847, p. 60. See
this letter, and another from Williams to Charles, dated January i, 1791,
given in full in Wales, by Sir Thomas Phillips, p. 136, ff.

272 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
in the manuscript. He had to make the best he could
of an awkward situation, and rather than terminate
abruptly, he finished with a few extemporised words,
which, he confesses, had no particular reference to the
subject of the sermon. The wife of the rector, who
happened to be in the congregation that morning,
wrote to inform her husband that his curate was now
unmistakably convicted of being a Methodist, as he
had preached extempore. The rector gave him notice
to leave on the charge of "preaching original sin,
justification by faith, and the absolute necessity of re
generation." The incriminated curate tried to defend
himself, but his irate rector was inexorable. He went
to the bishop, but it was of no use. His Lordship
accused him of preaching in two churches outside
his own parish, but told him that, if he behaved
well for three years, he would grant him full ordina
tion. "How can I subsist, my Lord," was the
reply of the astonished curate ; "I cannot dig, I
am ashamed to beg." " Live as you can," was the
bishop's rejoinder; and the curate left the palace
without the offer of meat or drink. Peter Williams
tried one or two other curacies, but with no better
success. Here is an illustration of the spirit which
drove out of the Church such men as Rowland,
William Williams, and Thomas Charles. The
rector of Eglwys Gymmun had been appointed to
that benefice in 1730, but had lived apparently in
England, He visited the parish only to receive the
tithes. And yet he is supported by his bishop in

ATTACHMENT OF THE METHODISTS TO THE CHURCH. 273
dismissing, even without the usual legal notice, his
curate, who was doing his best to perform the duties
of the parish. And we are not surprised to find that
the rector in question was none other than the
notorious John Evans, who, in 1752, wrote a
scurrilous pamphlet, in which he tried to ruin both
the character and the work of Griffith Jones.
Thomas Charles, in later years, met with a
similar treatment. He expressed his strong attach
ment to the Church under severe trials. ' ' I can
live independent of the church," he wrote in 1783,
" but I am a Churchman on principle, and therefore
shall not on any account leave it, unless I am forced
to do so. But you can well conceive how disagree
able and uncomfortable it is to be doing nothing. I
have never felt before, in the same degree, the force
of the expression, * Woe is unto me, if I preach
not the Gospel.' "' He saw the fields already white
to harvest, and longed to gather the fruit into
the Church. But he was forced to remain idle, as
the Church refused to give him work. The
Methodists suffered persecutions, imprisonments,
and heavy fines for years ; but they would not invoke
the protection of the law by declaring themselves
dissenters from the Church. "Our steady attach
ment to the Established Church," wrote Charles in
1802, "cost us in fines, in one year, near one
" A Brief Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Charles, B.A. , by Rev. E.
Morgan, 1831, p, 212. " The neglect by the Church of such men as
Charles seems to have been the peculiar and crying sin of the last age."
Wales, &c., by Sir Thomas Phillips, p. 147, 1849.

2 74 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
hundred pounds ; for we scrupled to have our
places of worship recorded and our preachers
licensed as Dissenters. "3 Their scruples were
expensive to these poor people; but their attach
ment to the Church was strong. In their Quarterly
Association at Bala, held in June, 1801, they passed
the following declaration : " We do not designedly
separate, nor do we deem ourselves to be dissenters
from the Established Church. In our doctrinal
tenets, we fully agree with the Articles of the Church
of England. What appears in our religious organi
sations as inclining towards Dissent, has taken place
of necessity rather than of choice. It is not our inten
tion to form a schism, a sect, or a party. God forbid. "
Such was the attitude of these earnest men
towards the Church, and such was the treatment
they received. They loved her Liturgy, and
defended her doctrines, even after they had ceased
to minister in her courts. We are justified in
believing, we think, that this attitude was attribu
table, in a large measure, to the great influence of
the example and teaching of Griffith Jones, for
whom those leaders, as well as thousands of their
followers throughout the land, entertained the pro-
foundest respect. When, however, he disappeared
from the scene, he left behind him among the clergy
no successor who commanded the same influence ;
and the forces which made for separation grew until
they finally prevailed just half a century after his
3 The Welsh Methodists Vindicated, by Charles, 1802.

THE METHODIST SECESSION. 275
death. These forces were two-fold. On the one
hand, there was the want of guidance and sympathy
on the part of the bishops, and the hostility of a
section of the clergy and of the wealthy laity ; and
on the other, there was the growing influence of the
exhorterst among the Methodists, who clamoured for
authority to administer the sacraments ; and there
was again the gradual estrangement from the Church
of the masses of the people, who failed to receive
that spiritual sympathy and help from the parochial
clergy, which they so much needed and longed for.
It has been remarked that the life-work of Griffith
Jones contributed to the increase of Dissent in Wales,
and especially to the creation of the Welsh Metho
dist denomination. This is, no doubt, in a manner
true ; but it is also true that his personality and his
labours were effectual in retarding that movement,
and in modifying its results when the disruption
came. It is a fact of considerable significance that
the Methodist movement began in Wales some
four years earlier than in England ; whereas
Wesleyan Methodism in the latter country was
formed into a separate body by the ordination of
Dr. Coke in 1784, or twenty-seven years earlier
than the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist ordination,
?Referring to the Methodist ordination of 1811, Judge Johnes says:
" It is well known that Charles and his clerical brethren were urged
into this indefensible measure by the continual importunity of some of
the lay preachers, who were ambitious to participate in the privileges of
that profession of which they already shared both the popularity and
the toil," Causes of Dissent, &c., p. 48.

276 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
which did not take place till the year 181 1, "at
which period the original founders of their body
were in the grave." The following extract, which
is instructive in many ways, will serve to show that
the elements of separation among the Welsh
Methodists were much more active in North than
in South Wales, and this, we believe, is due to the
fact that the personal influence of Griffith Jones had
been greater in the southern division in the Principa
lity. "It should not be concealed that a large number
of Methodists in diverse parts of the country, on
some principle or other, bad withstood the change"
— i.e., the Methodist ordination; "and among
them were some preachers and leaders. This
feeling was much stronger in the South than in
the North. We know that a few in the North
manifested some unwillingness for a short time, but
when they saw that there was hope of compassing
the secession without much harm, they fell in with
the plan ; and I do not know of even one in North
Wales, either an officer or a private member, who
retired from the Connexion because of the change.
But it was not so in the South. Most of the clergy,
and some of the preachers left.s Several members
left, especially among the rich. An uneasy feeling
existed in the minds of others, so that they would
not receive the Lord's Supper from the hands of
any of the new ministers, although they did not
turn their backs altogether on the Connexion. In
5 i.e., left the Methodists who had separated.

THE METHODIST SECESSION. 277
a few neighbourhoods, where the personal or
ministerial influence of the clergyman was more
than ordinary, the body of the congregation was
lost, and the house of worship too ; but there were
not many instances of this kind."*
It is impossible not to recognise the force of the
following acute observations of the late Judge Johnes
in his essay on the Causes of Dissent in Wales .7
"It may now be asked with what degree of propriety
the rise of Dissent in Wales can be connected with the
name of Griffith Jones — a man whose whole life was spent
in exertions to render the Establishment impregnable against
Dissent on the one hand, and the more fearful encroachment
of sin, ignorance, and superstition on the other ? One
answer only can be given ; it is a melancholy truth ; a truth,
nevertheless, but too well sanctioned by experience, that a
few pious ministers are the weakness, and not the strength
of an Establishment, when the majority of its ministers are
sunk in indifference to their sacred duties ! The zeal of the
few only serves to cast into darker shade the apathy of the
many ; and by raising the moral sentiment of the people, to
make them more sensitively intolerant of the abuses that
surround them. It is upon this principle only that we can
explain whence it was that Methodism broke out first,
and most extensively, in that division of Wales where the
Poems of Rees Pritchard and the Schools of Griffith Jones
had exerted the most powerful influence. And hence it was
that so many of those clergymen who had been connected
with the latter became eventually the missionaries of
Methodism ; and it may also be remarked, that the
irregularities of the Methodist clergy, which led in the end
to systematic itinerancy, appear to have begun by the practice
' The History of Welsh Methodisvi, by the Rev. John Hughes,
1851 ; Vol. i., p. 460. ' Page 28.

278 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
of preaching from church to church, which they seem to
have adopted in imitation of Griffith Jones's ' Easter and
Whitsun ' circuits."
Our task is done. It is with mingled feelings
of gratitude and regret that we look back on the
history of religion in Wales during the eighteenth
century ; of gratitude for the men whom God
raised within the Church in times of great need ;
of regret that the Church failed to reap the
bountiful harvest which their prayers and labours
were destined to produce for her. A revival of
spiritual religion was the paramount need of the
Church and country at the commencement of the
century. And it came in God's good time. The
ground had been carefully and systematically
prepared for it. It was the result of long, loving,
patient, and painstaking labours ; it was the out
come of much prayer and effort on the part of holy
and humble men, many of whom have, we fear,
been ungratefully forgotten among us. It came in the
usual way of divine working. It was the result of
conditions prescribed by God, and faithfully fulfilled
by man. The original members of the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge looked abroad,
and saw the frightful decay of religion and morals
which prevailed. They took counsel together to
devise means of arresting the deluge of vice and
irreligion which threatened to submerge the country.
From them, Griffith Jones and his coadjutors
derived encouragement and help. It was his

THE CHURCH S OPPORTUNITY. 279
Schools that created the demand for Bibles, Prayer
Books, and other religious publications, which the
Society. poured into Wales with joyful generosity.
It was the knowledge gained by means of
these Schools and this literature which, in
its turn, created that thirst for the Gospel in our
land, which grew into a great revival. There is
no mystery about that revival. It is only an illus
tration of God's ordinary method of working.
It was a great opportunity for the Church in
Wales.* The fire was kindled within her; the pre
parations had been made by her own most faithful
and devoted children. The Schools of Griffith Jones
had disposed the people, not only towards the
reception of the Gospel, but towards its reception
in the form in which it is professed and presented
by the Church herself. A large number of her
clergy became awakened to the importance of
turning her system into an efficient means for
instructing her children, and rescuing them from
' It is abundantly evident from his writings that Grif&th Jones was
keenly conscious of the acute crisis which the Welsh Church was passing
through in his time, and which would eventually test to the utmost the
capacity of both her rulers and her organisations. ' ' I beg leave to add,"
he wrote in 1741, " that the Right Reverend Fathers in God, the Bishops
of this country, have it now in their power, and the best opportunity for it
that ever did, or perhaps ever will offer, of rendering their names ever dear
and memorable to the present and future generations of the poor Welsh
people, and of being serviceable to them in their most dear and
momentous concern, by encouraging an impression of the Welsh Bible
on the//a» of promoting the Cateehetical teaching of the poor, and the
support of the Welsh Charity Schools. Children yet unborn and genera
tions to come will call them blessed." Welsh Piety, 1740-41, p. 37.

28o GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL.
the prevailing heathenism. The leaders of the
itinerant movement were thoroughly loyal to her
doctrines and her polity, and they maintained their
loyalty in the face of much persecution. Their
theology9 was far removed from the shallow senti-
mentalism that is sometimes associated with
religious revivals. It was a robust. Scriptural
theology, professedly based upon the Liturgy, the
Creeds, and the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church.
Anyone who is acquainted with the writings of
Griffith Jones, the sermons of Rowland, or the
hymns and correspondence of Williams, will
recognise this. Those men, by their self-denying
labours, their earnest devotedness, and their
powerful ministry, won the hearts of the people,
and changed the face of the country. The great
prestige of their influence, fame, and success was
at first laid to the credit of the Church, to which
' Nothing is more observable in the literature of the Evangelical
revival in Wales than the great reverence it shows for the Holy
Scriptures, and the frequent recurrence in it of Scriptural quotations,
references, and allusions. And this remark is especially applicable to
the Hymns of William Williams, of whom it is said that he advised
other composers " never to attempt to compose a hymn till they felt
their souls near heaven, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, and
then the Spirit would be ready to bless the work." The same reverence
for the Word of God may be seen in the productions of other Welsh
hymnologists of the same period, such as Morgan Rhys (who was one
of Griffith Jones' schoolmasters), and Ann Griffiths, who, though she
had received but little education, had led a thoughtless life up to her
twentieth year, and died in her twenty-ninth, wrote nevertheless about
forty Welsh hymns, which are characterised by unusual force and beauty
of expression, and are very largely based upon the narrative, types,
emblems, and phrassology of Holy Scripture.

THE church's OPPORTUNITY. 281
they never ceased to avow their attachment. In
consequence of this, many of the Dissenters
looked with disfavour upon them.' And no wonder,
for their people flocked after them, and sometimes
compelled the Dissenters to change the hour of ser
vice in their chapels, when the revivalists officiated
in their vicinity. It was the dawn of a golden age for
the Church no less than for the country. There was
a vast wealth of resources ready at her disposal —
religious, educational, and literary. The press,
an extensive educational system to meet the
most pressing needs of the times, the meeting
house or mission room, the societies or commu
nicants' classes, the itinerant missioners to make
up in some degree for the serious deficiency
in the number of her parochial clergy, and the
spiritual and intellectual life that was bursting forth
everywhere ; these forces only waited for her
sanction, to be employed in strengthening her
defences, and in fulfilling her mission. She could
authorise and encourage them ; but she could not
suppress them. A wise, gentle, sympathetic
guidance on the part of those in authority might
' That the spirit of intolerance against the itinerant Methodists was
not confined to Churchmen is evident from Howell Harris' letters.
" The greatest bitterness," he writes, " that is manifested at present
against the work, proceeds from the learned men and carnal professors
of every sect, whose legal hearts cannot rejoice to see the Lord coming
in a way contrary to human experience. And some of the Dissenters,
ministers and people, join the gentry and carnal clergy in speaking
evil of, and opposing the work." Writing to Whitefield in 1744, he
states that " Benjamin Thomas was turned out from among the
Dissenters for his zeal and attachment to us."

282 GRIFFITH JONES AND THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL
have strengthened the movement, purged it of its
eccentricities, and turned its current into the regular
channels of the Church. But the opportunity was
lost. The Methodists were misjudged; their
motives and their principles were misrepresented ;
their peculiarities were caricatured; their failings
were exaggerated, and their good was evil spoken
of. The official leaders of the Church stood aloof,
suspicious and watchful, and too ready to believe
the worst of them. They thought, presumably, of
Church order and authority, when Church life was
the vital need of the hour. Authority and order
are, indeed, divinely ordained safeguards against
self-willed and arrogant individualism ; but they
cannot be justly invoked as an excuse for indiffer-
entism and apathy, or as an obstruction to the
progress of spiritual forces. When God offers the
Church in times of great need an increase of power
and efficiency, she rejects it to her own detriment,
even though it be in the sacred name of authority.

INDEX.

Page.
Abbey and Overton, Church of England in \%th Century xvii, 28, 169
Aims of this work - xvff, 7ff
Anglesey, Circulating Schools in 113
Anglicising Policy - - 12, 95ff'
Anne, Queen, Griffith Jones preaches before - 214
Baptists, Opposition to Schools - - 8
Bevan, Mr. Arthur - 200
,, Madam, ... 49
,, ,, Correspondence with G. Jones - I98ff
„ ,, on Lord Chesterfield ... 201
,, ,, Carries on the Schools after G. Jones' death 205
„ „ Will of - - 20S
,, Archdeacon, on application of Howell Harris for
Ordination. - ¦ - S'
„ ,, on Bishops and Clergy of 1 8th Century 171
Beveridge, Bishop . . - . .170
Bowles, Rev. Dr. - 183
Bull, Bishop - - 47ff> 169
Burnet, Bishop . - - - . 29
Butler, Bishop - . - 29
Bible, Welsh, Editions of 69, I3iff, 239!?
,, „ given to the poor - - i39
Bishops, G. Jones on - - lo6ff, 168
„ support Welsh literature 131
Bogue and Bennett's History of Dissenters 39, 172
Cambrian Register .... 189, 193
Catechising - i2Sfif
„ Methodists opposed to 250
Century, 17th, Religious Associations - 236
„ l8th, State of Country at the beginning of - I, 2, 27ff
,, „ Lessons from - 2iff
„ „ Literary and other movements - - i67ff
Chapter in English Church History 3Sff. S6ff> 19^
Charles, Rev. T. - Siff
„ ,, Attachment to the Church 273
Chesterfield, Lord, Madam Bevan on - . • 201
Church, Causes of depression of - 12, 13, 33ff, I27ff'
„ Present needs of - - xiiff, 24!?
,, State of, at beginning of i8th Century - 27ff
„ State of, Griffith Jones on - 97ff
„ Revival of, under influence of Schools I47ff
„ Opportunities of, in the i8th Century 279
Clergy, Welsh, co-operate with G. Jones - I3ff> ii9> 120
„ „ some ill-qualified - i°l
„ „ some oppose G. Jones - - ¦ 105

Index.

Communion, Holy : Reluctance of people to receive Com
munion in their Parish Churches
,, ,, Reverence of Early Methodists for -
„ ,, reluctance of early Methodists to receive
from the hands of the ' new ministers '
Correspondents, of Schools, testimony of
Curteis, Canon, Bampton Lectures
Cymmrodorion, Y - ¦
Cymreigyddian, Y •

Page. 2658
266fT

276 31
188
190

Dafydd ap Gwilym - i88ff'
Dalton, Mr. John - 202
David's, Diocese of St., Condition of in i8lh Century 328'
Davies, Howell - 227, 252
Dissent, State of, at beginning of i8th Century 37ff
„ Johnes on Causes of 275, 277
„ Causes of - - - x, 97ff, I72ff
Dissenters, Attitude of, towards G. Jones' Schools I iff
,, Opposed to Methodists - 281
Education, Welsh, nature of, given at Circulating Schools
„ ,, in the l6th Century -
,, ,, at the beginning of i8th Century
,, ,, G. Jones' Labours on behalf of
Eisteddfod Ellis, Rev. Thomas, incumbent of Holyhead
Episcopal administration in Wales in 1 8th century
Evans, Evan (leuan Brydydd Hir)
„ John, Eglwys Gymmun
,, Dr. John
,, Theophilus
Edwards, Dean
„ Appreciation of G. Jones' labours
,, Dr. Lewis -

17
73
76ff
i9Sff 190 181
i67ff'
106, 183
44, 102, 27lff 55
177
4,87 231 192 170

Fleetwood, Bishop
Goldsmith, Oliver, encounter with Publisher 205
Gouge, Thomas - 76, 239
Gwynne, Mr. Marmaduke, Testimony to Schools 155
Harris, Howell ; Refiised Ordination 5 1
,, Conversion of - - 243
„ Interview with G. Jones - 252
„ Letters to ditto - 253fl
„ His views on the revival 2iyS
„ Respect for G. Jones - 2S6ff
,, Joins militia - - 261
„ His character and attachment to the Church 262!!
Home, a religious - - 45
Hughes, Rev. John, Methodistiatth Cytkru - . 277

Inaex. iii
Page.
Humphreys, Bishop .... 169
Huntingdon, Lady, Life and Times of • 92, 270
„ „ Journey through Wales - 264
Johnes, Judge, Causes of Dissent in Wales - - 161, 2l6, 277
Jones, David, of Trefriw - - 182, 186
Jones, Edmund, Pontypool 38, 120
Jones, Griffith, Sources of information respecting - - 2, 3
„ ,, Character and labours - 4ff, i6ff, i9Sff, 2318"
„ „ Attitude towards Dissenters - 7ff
,, „ Supported by Clergy . I3ff, iigff
,, „ Parentage and birth - - 436?
„ „ List of preferments - 43
,, ,, Early education - 46
„ „ Ordination and first curacy - 47ff
„ „ Promotion to Llandilo-Abercowin - 50
„ „ ,, to Llanddowror 65
„ „ Chosen by S. P. G. and S. P. C. K. - 53
Marriage - - 65
„ „ Correspondence with S. P. C. K. 67ff
„ ,, Collects money for the Saltzburgers 68
„ ,, Letters to a Friend - 74ff
,, ,, On Promotion in the Church - 86ff
„ „ On Causes of Dissent - - 97!?
„ ,. Opposed by some of the Clergy - 105
„ „ Superintendence of Schools - I2iff
„ ,, Establishes English Schools 124
„ ,, Advocates Catechising - 1251!'
,, „ Literary Works of - 126, 138, 196
„ „ Supporters of I4iir, 202
„ ,, Ministerial and Literary labours I95ff
„ „ Publications of I96ff
,, „ Letters to Madam Bevan - igSff
Will of - 203
,, „ Legacy to Schools - 204
,, „ Aims and Motives 208
,, ,, As a Pastor 209ff
„ „ As a Catechist 212
,, „ Visit to Scotland - 2I4
,, „ Extra Parochial labours 2l5ff, 246
,, ,, As a Preacher - 220, 22Sff
,, „ Reading the Church Service 221
„ „ Sermons of - - 222ff
Health - 227
„ ,, Death - 229fr
„ „ Funeral - - 231
,, Relation to Evangelical Revival 235ff
\, „ Preparatory work of 242ff
J, ,, Relation to Revivalists 246
„ " Morning Star " of Revival • 242

iv Index. Page.
Jones, Griffith, Attitude towards Methodists 248flr, 263ft
Jones, Dr., Dean of Bangor 36, 57
Jones, Owen (Myfyr) igp
Language, Welsh 96ff
Libraries, Establishment of Lending 64
Literature (Welsh) yoff, 174^
Llanddowror, School established in 81
,, Sacrament Sunday at 227, 267
Llangeitho, School at 218
,, Sacrament Sunday at 268
Llandeilo-Abercowyn - 50
Llanddewibrefi, G. Jones preaching at 217, 246
,, School at 2l8
Llewelyn, Dr. Thomas 163
Llwyd, Humphrey . 73
Malkin - 163
Methodism, Welsh 21
,, difficulties caused by - 248(1
Methodists, ,, Attachment to the Church 270, 274, 279
,, „ Secede later than English Methodists 270
,, ,, Secession of 2758'
Misstatements - 11
Morgan, Bishop - 15
Morgan, Rev. J. , of Matchin 71
Morris, Richard - 135
Morris, Lewis, Richard, and William l8lff
Myfyrian Archaeology of Wales igg
'SeaX, T)., History of Puritans hy - - 35
Nonconformist Authorities on Statistics, discrepancy of 39
Non-jurors 28
Owen, Goronwy . lyg
Patronage, Lay joff
Period, Lessons of 2lfF
Phillips, Sir John - 35,54,65,80
,, ,, Death and Character of g4ff
,, Sir Thomas, Wales y-j^ 273
Prayers, Family - 2i3ff
Pritchard, Vicar - . , jg^ gj^ 71^ ,yj
Promotion, Clerical, Griffith Jones on 87ff
Prys, Archdeacon ig^ 175
Pughe, Dr. Owen 189
Rees, Dr. Thomas - 9, 1 1, 38, 220
Reunion - - viiff, 23f{
Revival, Evangelical - - - xvi, 235fiF

Index. V
Page.
Rowland, Daniel - - - 51
,, „ Conversion of - - - 217
,, ,, Adherence to the Church 270
Rowland, Daniel (Senior) . 244
Saltzburgers - 68
Samuel, Edward . 177
Saunders, Rev. Dr. - - 12, 32ff
Schools, Circulating, Origin of . 8lff
,, ,, Aims of 83, 125
„ ,, Opposition to - - 94ff, 105
„ ,, On Church lines I09ff
,, ,, English 124
„ ,, Rules of - III
,, ,, Methods and principles of logff
,, ,, Supported by the Clergy - Il9ff
„ ,, Success of - 83, Il3ff, I45ff
,, ,, Supporters of I4iff
„ „ Results of - - i45flF
,, ,, Age of Scholars 117
,, ,, Summaries from Welsh Piety 162
,, ,, Extent of 113,195
,, ,, Teachers - 196
„ ,, Night Schools 114!?, i6ifr
,, ,, Sunday Schools 164
„ ,, Gaelic Schools 165
„ Established by S.P.CK. - 79
Scotland, Visit of G. Jones to - 214
Scriptures, Holy, The early Methodists and - 280
Seeker, Archbishop - 30
S.P.C.K., A Chapter in English Church History 36, 40, 54*?
„ Letters from Correspondents of - 36, 54ff
,, Welsh Publications of 55, 133
„ Supports Griffith Jones I34ff
„ Distributes Welsh Bibles 7°, 131^. 240fF
Schools of - 57ff. 78*1
Societies, Welsh learned - i87ff
„ for Reformation of Manners - 237ff
Thomas, Archdeacon, History of St. Asaph - 170, 174
Thomas, Rev. P. , curate of Gelligaer - 153
Thorold, Sir John - 92
Vaughan, J., of Derllys 65
Vaughan, Rowland 176
Uniformity, Act of - 28
Wales and the Welsh Church 4. 87, 231
Wales, in the iSth Century . I, 2, 9fr, 27ff, 73
,, Poverty of " '42
„ Preaching in - - ' 220

Igaex.

Wales, and S.P.C.K. 5S«f, egff, I33fr
Welshman's Candle - - 19, 65, 71
Welshmen's aptitude for learning Languages 1 80
Welsh Piety 3, 8, isff; 8iff, 86, 93, 95, 9761, 113, Ii6lf, 138!?
146, I48(f, 228ff
,, Description of giff
Welsh Poetry, Selections of 185
Williams, Bart., Sir John - 215
„ Rev. John, preaching tour through Wales 269
Moses 70, 131, 179
,, Peter 51, 247, 27lff
William - 37, 247, 270
„ Wynne, Ellis . - 1761)

Jarvis {f Foster, Printers, Lome House, Bangor.

f/ALE
iHTTSH HISTORY
iRESERV/- nON
prci:':T
gO^pORuC BY NB»

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 04077 1272