Some Welsh Ministers, From Howell Harris to Christmas Evans by J R Broome
published by Gospel Standard Trust Publications, paperback, 105 pages, £5.00. obtainable from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
For more than a century from the 1730s, Wales was blessed with a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Part of that blessing was the raising up of a series of remarkable preachers – among them the six men whose lives are briefly recounted in this book. Incidentally, preachers would be a more appropriate word for the title than ministers, as Howell Harris was never ordained; the Anglican Church in Wales repeatedly refused to accept men who were forceful in presenting scriptural truth, while it warmly welcomed into its ministry men of the world, who had no care for the eternal welfare of souls.
The lives of these six preachers are briefly and interestingly recounted, with Howell Harris receiving more attention than the others. They often preached to large congregations and the truths they proclaimed were blessed to large numbers of their hearers. Yet they would all agree with the words of John Elias: “If any good has come of my very imperfect labour, it was God that did it. The glory is His; I was nothing. This will be seen in the day when God reveals the mysteries. If God took me as an instrument to bring any sinner or sinners to Christ, that has been an infinite privilege. And it will be a joy to me that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. But if I had succeeded in bringing thousands to the Calvinistic Methodists without bringing them to Christ, it would be all empty and valueless before the throne of Christ.” The Lord moulded these men spiritually to be fit instruments for the great work in which He used them.
To read this book may bring three benefits: (1.) Those who know very little about the religious history of Wales should learn something about the great work that God did at that time. (2.) It should bring spiritually-minded readers to praise God for His wonderful works and to pray that He would work in similar ways in our time. (3.) It may awaken sufficient interest to read further in this area; for such readers the two-volume set on The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales, recently translated into English, is highly recommended.
Some would give the poor only the barest necessities, bread only; our Lord adds fish. What a feast was this: Christ for Master of the feast, apostles for butlers, thousands for numbers, and miracles for supplies! What a far more glorious feast is that which the gospel spreads for hungry souls! What a privilege to be fed by the Son of God!
C H Spurgeon