The London Welshman

About the Revival. THE REVIVAL AND THE EISTEDDFOD. The following letter appeared in the South Wales Daily News for Monday, and no greater testimony to the exceptional influence of the Revival could be imagined :— May I ask you to favour me with a short space to bring before the public the serious position of the guarantors for the National Eisteddfod to be held next August at Mountain Ash ? It appears to me at present that there are no choirs, parties, &c., training anywhere for any kind of competitions, I may go further to state that even Mr. T. Glyndwr Richards has resigned his conductorship of the Eisteddfod Choir in Mountain Ash because he cannot get the singers to attend practices, therefore it has been abandoned for the time being. Indeed, it is no wonder, for who can sit down to the grinding practices of the dry bones of these oratorios after experiencing the ennobling and inspiring influence of the invisible reality of the prayer meetings, &c., in this great Revival ? It was high time to have such revival and influence to sweep away the influences of the Welsh National Derby races, as Mr. Ffranggon Davies calls the National Eisteddfod. The singing part of it had a great deal of demoralising effect by the amount of training of choirs and parties on the Sabbath day, which was absorbing the minds of the people in discussing about un- becoming contests, which marred greatly against the influence of Christianity. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the singers were some sort of Church members. Thank God, the Revival has changed the tone of it all. I would suggest rather than risk such a huge and costly affair to abandon it for a time. Let us not stand in the way of the Holy Spirit, as undoubtedly this Revival is going to last for a year or two. I pray God it will last for many years. Let all Christians, men and women, have clean hands and pure hearts, free from all worldly com- petitions, conflicts, and speculations, and con- secrate ourselves to the works of the Christian cause, and give all possible assistance to the missionary works in saving fallen humanity." In face of the above it will be interesting to know that on the evening of the very day on which it appeared a well-attended meeting of the Musical Committee of the Mountain Ash National Eisteddfod was held, when the report of the deputation appointed to see Mr. T. Glyndwr Richards, conductor of the Eisteddfod Choir, was received. The deputation reported that they had induced Mr. Richards to withdraw his resignation. Mr. Richards himself, who attended the Committee, said that the rehearsal on Sunday evening was one of the best yet held, there being over 100 choristers present. It was remarked that the oratorios which are being rehearsed include the Messiah" and Hymn of Praise," and one of the Committee said if those oratorios were not good enough to be sung on Sunday evening, Revival or no Revival, he did not understand what religion meant. It was also stated that practically all the ministers in the district had on Sunday evening announced the rehearsals, and urged members to attend, pointing out that nothing could be more in harmony with the spirit of the present Revival than the singing of such works as those named. It was also stated that the conductor had undertaken that nothing but sacred music shall be rehearsed on Sundays. Strong speeches were made expressing the opinion that the writer of the letter which appeared in the Soul" Wales Daily News on Monday making the suggestion that the Eistedd- fod should be postponed in view of the Revival, had written it without due consideration and without knowledge of the circumstances, as practically the whole of the pieces for the concerts, as well as the test pieces for the Eisteddfod, were of a religious character. The Secretary reported that several choirs were rehearsing for the Eisteddfod, including at least one English combination, as well as an American choir, and the question of abandoning the Eisteddfod had never been thought of. The whole of the orchestra had been engaged, and there was every prospect that the meeting would be one of the most successful yet held.

MR. THOMAS RICHARDS, M.P.'s EXPECTATIONS. Mr. Thomas Richards, M.P., general secretary of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Miners' Federation, speaking at a miners' meeting at Elim Chapel, Kenfig Hill, on Saturday, said that he had recently been attending the Revival meetings so often that he had had no time for anything beyond the business he was obliged to do. He hoped the miners he was addressing had all been attending the Revival meetings, too. He was thankful for what the newspapers were now doing in reporting the doings of religious people it was making up for the neglect of the past. Formerly religious people might be working day and night, but the newspapers thought it of no interest to the public-not like an International football match. Some newspapers, however, had seen fit to apply the Revival in a certain way to the South Wales Miners' Federation, saying that the Federation would now have a great deal more trouble with non-Unionists. He put it to any religious man in that meeting, did he believe that? ("No.") The people upon whom this Revival had had most influence were in the majority of cases the people who had given the Federation the most trouble with regard to non-Unionism. The man who neglected his Trade Union was the man who neglected his home and his duty towards society, and who thought not whether there was any other existence than the celestial existence which in a great many instances was lived in this world. He held, as a Labour leader, as well as a religious man, that this religious Revival in South Wales would tend to strengthen the trade organisations. He did not know to what denomination the chapel belonged in which the meeting was being held-there were no de- nominations in these days-but he wished to thank the members for lending it for a colliers' meeting. The last time he addressed a meeting of the Kenfig Hill colliers-but not at Kenfig Hill— the use of a chapel for the meeting was refused. The Diwygiad had done something to change that spirit. If religious people wanted the Labour movement to go in the right direction they must take a hand in it. It was the duty of the church, the disciples of the Founder of Christianity, to take hold of the movement and say, This is the direction in which you should go," and he dare say that if that were done the Federation would make fewer mistakes in the future. There might come a day when we should have unity of purpose, organisation of labour, and the proper distribution of wealth, and then Trade Unionism would be unnecessary, but as long as we had our present economy let them have all the religious enthusiasm possible, and it could not take the place of their Trade Union.

A Silly Rumour Officially Contradicted. An official contradiction is now given by Dr. Cox, medical superintendent of the North Wales Lunatic Asylum, to reports circulated that large numbers of patients suffering from religious mania caused by Revival emotionalism have had to be admitted recently to the asylum. There had been no abnormal in- crease of insanity, and the patients recently admitted showed strong hereditary predisposition. Only Three Cases at Newport. At Newport Police Court on Monday only three cases-one of drunkenness and two of theft—were down for hearing. As a rule between 20 and 30 cases are dealt with at Monday's court.

GOHEBYDD MEMORIAL CHAPEL, BARRETT'S GROVE, STOKE NEWINOTON. The Fifty-Ninth TEA AND CONCERT WILL BE HELD ON Thursday Evening, January 26th, 1905. A rtistes: MISS M. A. WILLIAMS, MR. TOM THOnAS, mss JUANITA JONES, IVIR. DAVID EVANS. Accompanist—MRS. NELLIE JONES. 11% £ 'd?°-7.3o. TICKETS I/- Proceeds in Aid of the Building Fund.

DR. GUINNESS ROGERS' VIEWS. The Rev. Dr. J. Guinness Rogers chose "The Welsh Revival, and its Lessons," as the subject of the Ancient Merchants' Lecture in the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, City. He said that the first point which distinguished the present Welsh revival from many other religious revivals, and which secured for it from him intense sympathy, was its spontaneity. Preaching had had very little to do with the revival, and if singing had, it was the singing, not of professional vocalists, but of little choirs or individuals, possessed with the spirit, not of the music merely, but of the soul in the hymn itself. Secondly, he was impressed, in connection with the Welsh revival, with the absence of any strongly pronounced, over-praised individuals That was the great danger of movements of this kind-that people were so apt to rest upon individual men. If a man was to be held up to east and west, north and south, in daily and religious newspaper and pulpits, as a man who had the peculiar gift of saving souls-that man was in a dangerous position. He did not know Mr. Evan Roberts, but what he heard led him to think that he, at all events, had been anxious to avoid a peril of this kind. He was simple, earnest, faithful, modest. Were we in England to sit down coldly and look on and say It is nothing but a little Welsh emotion"? The word Welsh had played a very considerable part in notes of deprecation, but might it not be that this was the way in which God had seen fit to work in these latter days? Was it not within the bounds of belief that multitudes of people in this country were utterly tired, weary, and sick of a scoffing, supercilious, unbelieving attitude in relation to spiritual life ? In concluding, Dr. Rogers said if we in England caught the spirit of the Welsh revival, though we might not imitate its methods, then, by God's blessing, we might witness a similarly marked outpouring of spiritual life and power.