This report appeared in The Methodist Times of January 5, 1905
Reports
from all the districts in South Wales affected by the revival show
that the Christmas holidays, so dreaded by new converts who formerly
devoted the whole of the time to drink and revelry, have passed by
without the defections from the faith loudly prophesied by the
unsympathetic and unbelieving. South Wales has never known such a
quiet and peaceful Christmas.
In Cardiff alone, as
yet only slightly moved by the revival, police reports show that
drunkenness has diminished 60 per cent, whilst on Saturday last the
Mayor was presented by the Chief Constable with a pair of white
gloves, there being no case at all on the charge sheet — an
unprecedented fact for the last day of the year.
The same thing
happened at the Swansea County Court on the previous Saturday, and
the magistrates said, All the years I’ve been sitting here I’ve
never seen anything like it, and I attribute this happy state of
things entirely to the revival.
The streets of
Aberdare on Christmas Eve were almost entirely free from drunkenness,
and on Christmas Day there were no prisoners at all in the cells.
At
Pontypridd, mirabile
dictum [ie wonderful to relate],
there were no assaults on the police, and throughout the mining area
generally drunkenness was the exception and not the rule.
At Abercarn Police
Court, responsible for a population of 21,000, there was not a single
summons on Thursday — a thing unknown since the court was formed
fourteen years ago — and here, too, was enacted the ceremony of the
white gloves.
Bridgend Station,
usually the scene of much debauchery on the part of drunken
excursionists going to and from Cardiff, has never known such orderly
behaviour, and the streets of the town, too, have been free from
rowdyism. Similar reports come from Carmarthen and other important
centres, such as Merthyr.
Many of the miners
in Glamorganshire come from small towns and villages in North Wales,
and the trains conveying them to their old homes for Christmas were
jubilant with revival song. At Machynlleth, on the Cambrian, where
the Aberystwith and Barmouth portions of the train had to be divided,
the passengers from both congregated on the platform and held a
prayer meeting. Throughout the holiday season the chapels in most
places were open for prayer and praise meetings morning, afternoon,
and night, and to these places the people thronged with delight, and
spent their time and their energies in strengthening the weak and
rescuing the tempted. Railway returns show that the excursion holiday
traffic has been reduced by one-half, the people evidently preferring
to remain at home to pray and sing in company with those recently
reclaimed.
There has been a
correspondent reduction in public-house takings and in attendances at
low-class places of amusement third and fourth rate theatrical
touring companies, who usually reap such a rich harvest in these
regions at Christmas, have found it advisable to keep clear of the
Rhondda this time.
Restitution still
holds a prominent place in the revival program. One
conscience-stricken traveller hands over 1s. 7d. to the Rhymney
Railway Company, in payment of a nineteen miles journey some time ago
without a ticket. A Rhymney business firm acknowledges the receipt of
£5 from an anonymous person in payment of an old debt, long
disregarded. A collier, who has formerly spent his money on all kinds
of sinful pleasure, has removed his younger brother from an
orphanage, and has decided to support him with his savings till he is
old enough to provide for himself.
At one service a man
with a tear-stained face rushed from the gallery to a pew downstairs,
and, clutching passionately the hand of another man, entreated to be
forgiven. It was evidently a request not easily granted, so the two
repaired to the vestry, where the wrong was satisfactorily rectified,
and then the two men newly-reconciled returned to take a happier part
in the service. …
The change in the
language of the crowds has been just as marked this Christmas as the
change in their drinking habits. This change cannot be more suitably
expressed than in the two verses which have now disappeared from that
well known hymn, No. 366, in our new book (Glory to God whose sovereign grace by Charles Wesley):
Suffice that for the
season past Hell’s horrid language filled our tongues,
We all Thy words
behind us cast, And lewdly sang the drunkards songs.
But, O the power of
grace divine! In hymns we now our voices raise,
Loudly in strange
hosannas join, And blasphemies are turned to praise!
Whilst bands of
enthusiastic workers have paraded the streets, arresting the
attention of the careless by joyful song and earnest invitation,
homely meetings have been extemporised in cottages, and here some of
the most precious experiences of the revival have been obtained. The
church in the house is very precious in the sight of the Father. At
one of these family gatherings no less than five conversions were
recorded on the evening of Boxing Day. For such it was a happy
prelude to the Crowning Day, which all true believers anticipate. ...
