(1.) _An Essay on the Causes which have Produced Dissent from the
Established Church in Wales._ By ARTHUR JAMES JOHNES. Third Edition.
(2.) _Letters on the Social and Political Condition of Wales._ By HENRY
RICHARD. London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.
(3.) _History of Nonconformity in Wales._ By THOMAS REES, D.D. London:
John Snow.
(4.) _Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd gan._ JOHN HUGHES.
(5.) _Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, gan y diweddar Barch._ WILLIAM RAWLANDS.
Llanidloes: John Pryse.
(6.) _The Church of the Cymry. A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone, M.P._, from HENRY S. EDWARDS, B.A. Oxon., Vicar of Carnarvon.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
(7.) _The Church of England in Wales, in Seven Letters to the Right Hon.
W. E. Gladstone, M.P._ By the Rev. WILLIAM REES, Liverpool.
The Act for the Disestablishment and Disendowment of the Irish Church
was one of great importance for what it did, but of still greater
importance for what it implied; for in that measure there was a distinct
legislative recognition of certain general principles, which are
susceptible of far wider application than to the particular case they
were invoked to sustain. It disposed, once for all, of the fond fantasy
that the State is bound in its collective capacity to have a conscience,
and in obedience to the dictates of that conscience, to impose its own
creed upon the community, as the established faith of the country, to be
supported by the authority, and enforced by the sanction of law. It
acknowledged the principle that where an established church never has
been, or has ceased to be the church of the nation, and fails,
therefore, in its professed function as the religious instructor of the
people, it has no longer any _raison d'être_, and ought to be swept
away as an anomaly and encumbrance. It recognised the fact, if not for
the first time, at least with more distinctness and emphasis than was
ever done before, that ecclesiastical property is national property,
which the nation has a perfect right through its legitimate organ, the
legislature, to apply to any purpose it may think fit, whether sacred or
secular.
We need not wonder that when the Irish Establishment was abolished,
men's minds should turn almost instinctively to the sister institution
in Wales, as furnishing a case in many respects parallel, but in other
respects still less admitting of justification. The discussion of this
subject in Parliament last session, on the motion of Mr. Watkin
Williams, did not take place, perhaps, under the most favourable
auspices. But it was at least attended with this advantage, that it
obliged those who oppose the Disestablishment of the Welsh Church to
show their hand. As Mr. Gladstone, in addition to his many other merits
as an orator, is the most accomplished debater in the House of Commons,
we may safely assume that whatever could be said in defence of the
Church in Wales, and in deprecation of its proposed severance from the
State, was said by him with the utmost degree of plausibility and point.
But certainly on a calm review of the arguments he used on that
occasion, they do not appear to be very formidable.
It may be said, indeed, that the Prime Minister made no attempt to
defend the Welsh Church. He abandoned it to the strongest condemnation
pronounced upon it by its adversaries, for the 'gross neglect,
corruption, nepotism, plunder,' to use his own words, by which it has
been marked; and only tried to account for these evils by laying them
all to the charge of 'Anglicizing prelates.' He admitted that, even
granting what Churchmen claimed, namely, about one-fourth of the
population as belonging to the Establishment,--a claim, let us say in
passing, which in the face of notorious facts is simply
preposterous--'the disproportion is very remarkable in the case of a
Church purporting to be the Church of the nation.' He admitted,
moreover, as a circumstance seriously militating against the Welsh
Church, that 'so large a proportion of her members belong to the upper
classes of the community, the classes who are most able to provide
themselves with the ministrations of religion, and therefore, in whose
special and peculiar interest it is most difficult to make any effectual
appeal for public resources and support.' But while acknowledging all
this, he resists the proposal for its disestablishment. On what grounds?
First, on this ground--that there is no hostility in Wales to the
Church Establishment, and that its existence does not, as in Ireland,
produce alienation or bitterness of feeling between different classes of
the community. But this argument, if it were well founded in fact, which
unhappily it is as far as possible from being, does not address itself
in the least to the reason or justice of the case. Even if the Welsh
people were so devoid of spirit and self-respect as to feel it no
grievance to have a costly Church Establishment, which exists almost
exclusively for the benefit of the rich, saddled upon their necks,
surely that is no proof that it is right to perpetuate the privileges of
a body, whose history for generations has been marked by 'gross neglect,
corruption, and nepotism,' and which, purporting to be the Church of a
nation, does not pretend, even according to the claims of its most
audacious advocates, to number among its adherents more than one-fourth
of the nation. But Mr. Gladstone is wholly misinformed as to the fact.
Because the Nonconformists of Wales are an eminently peaceable, loyal,
and orderly people, and do not proclaim their grievances with clamour
and menace, it is imagined that they do not feel the gross injustice and
indignity of the position they occupy. They do feel it deeply, and they
are made to feel it, by events continually occurring in their social and
political life, which all spring from this one root of bitterness. We
need only refer in illustration of what we mean to the circumstances
which attended and followed the last general election. Every form of
unfair pressure was brought to bear upon the people to induce them to
vote against their convictions, and many of those who had the courage to
resist, were mercilessly evicted from their holdings, or otherwise
injured and persecuted. All this sprang from the existence of the
Established Church, as is evidenced by the fact, that in every instance
we believe without a single exception--the oppressors were Churchmen and
the sufferers Nonconformists.
The other, and the only other, argument of Mr. Gladstone is this--that
except for conventional purposes, there is really no Church in Wales,
that the Welsh Church is only a part of the Church of England, and
cannot therefore be dealt with separately. We confess we are not very
much dismayed by this difficulty; for we can remember the time when the
same reason was urged to show the impossibility of touching the Irish
Church. Properly speaking, we were told there was no Church of Ireland,
but only the united Church of England and Ireland--the two churches
having, at the time of the Union, been joined together by a compact so
solemn and binding, that Her Majesty the Queen could not give her
consent to any measure for dissolving that compact, without incurring
the danger of committing perjury and bringing her crown into jeopardy.
And as for providing legislation for Ireland distinct from that of
England, the suggestion was scouted as an absurdity. Ireland was as much
a part of the United Kingdom as Yorkshire or Lancashire, and must be
governed by the same laws. The sense of justice, however, and the urgent
necessities of the case, triumphed over these foregone conclusions.
There is one fact that gives a sort of sinister unity to the religious
history of Wales through all its vicissitudes. It is this: that the
influence of its relations with England, whether they were hostile or
friendly, whether under Saxon or Norman rule, whether in Catholic or
Protestant times, has been, in this respect, uniformly disastrous. We
can only glance very briefly at the proofs of this allegation. Without
raising again the controversial dust which envelopes the discussion as
to the time and manner of the first introduction of Christianity into
this island, we may at least assume it as an admitted historical fact,
that early in the second century the Gospel had been planted here, and
that long before the Saxon invasion there was a flourishing Christian
Church in Britain. In the records of the first three or four hundred
years of its existence, we find that many large collegiate
establishments were formed and dedicated to religion and literature.
From these institutions went forth men thoroughly instructed in the
learning of their times, some of them bearing the fame of their
country's piety and erudition to the uttermost parts of Europe. In the
oecumenical councils summoned under Constantine the Great and his
sons, in the third and fourth centuries, at Arles, at Nice, and at
Sardica, to decide the great Donatist and Arian controversies that
disturbed the unity of the Catholic faith, we are told that the British
Churches were represented by men who bore an honourable part in the
defence of sound doctrine; for Athanasius himself testifies that Bishops
from Britain joined in condemnation of the heresy of Arius, and in
vindication of himself. But when, in the sixth century, the Pope sent
the celebrated Augustin, as a missionary, to convert the pagan
Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of this island to Christianity, there came on
the British Church a time of terrible persecution. Having resolutely
refused to recognise the papal authority, Augustin and his successors,
in accordance with the policy of that persecuting Church which they
represented, incited their Saxon converts to make war upon the British
recusants, exasperating the national animosities, already sufficiently
bitter between the two races, by adding to it the fanatical frenzy of
religious bigotry. For many ages, therefore, the Britons were liable to
frequent incursions from their Saxon neighbours, who, instigated by the
councils of Rome, invaded their country, destroying their churches,
burning their monasteries, and putting to death the pious and learned
monks, who, in the seclusion of those establishments, were pursuing the
peaceable occupations of literature and religion.[153] This struggle
between the ancient British Church on the one side, and that of Rome,
backed by the Saxon sword, on the other, continued for centuries. And
when the Saxon conquerors had in their turn to succumb to the Norman
invaders, that struggle was renewed with greater fierceness than ever.
Religion was again unscrupulously used as an instrument of State, the
Norman princes forcing ecclesiastics of their own race into all the
higher offices of the Church in Wales, not from any regard for the
spiritual interests of the people, but that they might aid in
extinguishing the national spirit of the Cymri, and in subjugating the
country to the Norman yoke. This policy, of course, failed, as it richly
deserved to fail. The bishops and other dignitaries thus intruded upon
the country were only safe when surrounded by bodies of armed retainers,
and whenever the Cymric arms won a victory in the field, the interlopers
had to flee to England to save themselves from popular indignation.
About the end of the twelfth century, the Welsh princes appealed to the
Pope for a redress of these intolerable wrongs. A petition couched in
eloquent language was presented to his Holiness from Llywelyn, Prince of
Gwynedd; Gwenwynwyn and Madoc, Princess of Powys; Gruffydd, Maelgwn,
Rhys, and Meredith, sons of Rhys, Prince of South Wales. It is curious,
in reading this document, to observe that some of the ecclesiastical
grievances of which the British princes complain, are precisely those
which the friends of the Church in Wales are still reiterating in our
own day:--
'And, first, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a matter of
course, sends us English bishops, ignorant of the manners
and language of our land, who cannot preach the word of God
to the people, nor receive their confessions but through
interpreters.
'And besides, these bishops that they send us from
England, as they neither love us nor our land, but rather
persecute and oppress us with an innate and deep-rooted
hatred, seek not the welfare of our souls; their ambition
is to rule over us and not to benefit us; and on this
account they do not but very rarely fulfil the duties of
their pastoral office among us.
'And whatever they can lay their hands upon or get from us,
whether by right or wrong, they carry into England, and
waste and consume the whole of the profits obtained from
us, in abbeys and lands given to them by the king of
England. And like the Parthians, who shoot backwards from
afar as they retreat, so do they from England excommunicate
us as often as they are ordered so to do....
'Besides these things, when the Saxons (English) rush into
Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury puts the whole land
under an interdict, and because we and our people defend
our country against the Saxons and other enemies, he places
us and our people under judgment of excommunication, and
causes those bishops whom he sent among us to proclaim this
judgment, which they are ready to do on all occasions. The
consequence is, that every one of our people who falls on
the field of blood, in defence of the liberty of his
country, dies under the curse of excommunication.'
When the Reformation came, the influence of the connection with England
was, if possible, still more disastrous on the religious interests of
Wales. 'The robbery in times of peace,' says Mr. Johnes, 'proved worse
than the spoliation in the times of war, and the rapacity of the
Reformation was added to the rapacity of Popery.' He then describes, in
language of eloquent indignation, how the ecclesiastical endowments of
the Principality were pitilessly plundered by being bestowed upon
laymen, the descendants of the Norman invaders, or by being alienated
from the Church of Wales to endow English bishoprics and colleges! For
the last century and a half, again, the policy of the civil and
ecclesiastical authorities in dealing with the Welsh Church has, it
would seem, been steadily directed to the extinction of the Welsh
language and nationality by the appointment of Englishmen to bishoprics,
canonries, deaneries, and most of the richest livings in Wales, in utter
contempt of all decency. And now when, by the legitimate operation of a
State establishment of religion, nearly the whole nation has been
alienated from the Church, so that it has become a mere encumbrance in
the land, we are told that Wales is so inseparably united with England
that it cannot expect to be rid of the incubus until England has made up
its mind to deal with its own Church Establishment.
But what we have to do with most especially at present is the Protestant
Church Establishment in Wales, and our indictment against it is this,
that at no period of its history has it fulfilled, in anything
approaching to a satisfactory manner, its proper function as the
religious instructor of the Welsh people. We have a chain of testimonies
in support of this allegation that are unimpeachable as to their
quality, and of overwhelming force in their concurrence and cumulation
of evidence. We are anxious to make this point clear, because the line
of defence that has been lately taken by the friends of the Church of
England in Wales is to this effect. It is true, they say, that towards
the middle of the last century the Church had fallen into a deep sleep,
and so afforded occasion, and to some degree excuse, for the rise of
Nonconformity, which was previously almost unknown in Wales. And then
they point in vague and sounding phrases to the golden age that preceded
that period of spiritual torpor, when the Church, alive to her high
mission, ruled by native bishops, who understood the language and
commanded the confidence and veneration of the country, comprehended and
cared for within her ample fold the whole population of the
Principality. Dissent, we are assured, is in Wales an exotic of quite
modern growth, which, it is further implied, will prove to have a very
ephemeral life, like Jonah's gourd, which came up in a night and
perished in a night. Now all this is pure fiction. Dissent is not a
thing of modern growth in Wales. It has existed more or less for 230
years, and whatever of vital religion has existed there during the whole
of that period, has been owing far more to its influence than to that of
the Established Church. It is not correct to say that the Church 'fell
asleep' in the last century, simply because it had never been awake.
'The wisest thing, in my opinion, that our Church friends can do,' said
Mr. Henry Richard, in his address at the opening of Brecon College--
'instead of pluming themselves on their antiquity, would be
to cut off, so far as they can, all connection with and all
memory of their past history in Wales. The succession
through which they derive their ecclesiastical lineage, in
this country at least, is about as unapostolical a
succession as can be conceived--a succession of simony,
pluralism, nepotism; of ignorance, incompetence, and utter
indifference to the duties of their own high office and the
claims of the unfortunate people left to their charge, on
the part of those who called themselves the priests of
God.'
And to begin with what must surely be considered as the first and most
solemn duty of a Protestant Church, that of supplying the people of whom
it professes to take charge with the Word of God in their own language,
how does the account stand with the Welsh Established Church in this
respect? Dr. Llewellyn, the learned author of the 'Historical Account of
the Welsh Versions of the Bible,' states
'that for upwards of seventy years from the settlement of
the Reformation by Queen Elizabeth, for near one hundred
years from Britain's separation from the Church of Rome,
there were no Bibles in Wales, but only in the cathedrals
of parish churches and chapels. There was no provision made
for the country or the people in general; as if they had
nothing to do with the word of God, at least no further
than they might hear it in their attendance on public
worship once in the week.'
But how did the ecclesiastical authorities act in reference to the
translation of the Scriptures into the Welsh language, even for use in
the churches? In the year 1563, an Act of Parliament (5 Eliz. c. 28) was
passed, ordering this work to be done. In the preamble it is recited,--
'That her Majesty's most loving and obedient subjects
inhabiting within her Majesty's dominion and country of
Wales, being no small part of this realm, are utterly
destitute of God's Holy Word, and _do remain in the like or
rather more darkness and ignorance than they were in the
time of Papistry_.'
It was therefore enacted that the Bible, consisting of the New Testament
and the Old, together with the book of Common Prayer and the
Administration of the Sacraments, should be translated into the British
or Welsh tongue. The duty of seeing this done was devolved upon the
Bishops of St. Asaph, Bangor, St. David's, Llandaff, and Hereford, and
they were subjected to a penalty of £40 each if the work were not
accomplished by March, 1566. The New Testament was translated within the
given period, principally by William Salesbury, a lay gentleman, with
some help from the Bishop and Precentor of St. David's; but there was no
version of the Old Testament for twenty years later, and that was done
not by the initiative or at the instigation of the bishops, but by the
spontaneous piety and patriotism of one individual, Dr. William Morgan,
vicar of Llanshaidr-yn-Mochnat, Denbighshire, whose name ought to be
held in everlasting veneration by all Welshmen. This was published in
1588. He acknowledges, indeed, that he received some encouragement and
help from the Bishops of St. Asaph and Bangor. Ingenious apologies have
been urged for the gross neglect of the bishops in fulfilling their
commission. But Dr. Morgan, in the Latin dedication of his Bible to
Queen Elizabeth, ascribes it to what, no doubt, was the true cause,
mere 'idleness and sloth.'[154] There was no other edition of the Welsh
Bible for thirty-two years. But in the year 1620, Dr. Parry, Bishop of
St. Asaph, brought out a new issue. This also seems to have been the
result of individual zeal, for in his preface Dr. Parry says, that the
former edition having been exhausted, and many or most of the churches
being either without any or with only worn-out and imperfect copies, and
nobody, so far as he could learn, even thinking of a republication, he
was moved to undertake the work.[155] This, likewise, was exclusively
for use in the churches. The first edition of the Bible for popular use
was published in an octavo form in 1630, but does not seem to have
originated with the Church in any way. 'The honour,' says Dr. Llewellyn,
'of providing for the first time a supply of this kind for the
inhabitants of Wales, is due to one or more citizens of London,' namely
Mr. Alderman Heylin, 'sprung from Wales,' and Sir Thomas Middleton, also
a native of the Principality, and an alderman of London.[156] For the
next half century there was only one edition of the Scriptures in Welsh
published by Churchmen, a large folio of 1,000 copies, for the pulpits
of the churches. But during the same period the persecuted
Nonconformists--Walter Cradock, Vavasor Powell, Stephen Hughes, Thomas
Gouge, and David Jones--published nine editions, consisting of about
30,000 copies of the whole Bible, and above 40,000 of the New Testament
separately. During the subsequent half-century (from 1718 to 1769) we
acknowledge with cordial gratitude that several large editions were
issued by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, two of them at
the instigation of the Rev. Griffith Jones, and one at the instigation
of Dr. Llewellyn, a dissenting minister. But let it be observed that the
former period, from the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the beginning of
the eighteenth century, synchronises as nearly as possible with the
golden age which some members of the Welsh Church fondly believe to have
existed in the history of that institution.
But let us now enquire how, in other respects, the Established Church
in Wales discharged its duties as the teacher of the people. In the
absence of the Bible there was, of course, all the more need for
personal earnestness and activity on the part of its ministers in
preaching the word and catechising, and the regular and solemn
administration of all religious ordinances. But how was it in this
respect during the beatific period, when, as some of the modern
advocates of the Church exultingly declare, there was 'no dissent in
Wales?' We will begin our inquiries with the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
In the year 1560, Dr. Meyrick, Bishop of Bangor, writes that he had only
two preachers in his diocese. Strype, in his 'Life of Archbishop
Parker,' describes the condition of the bishoprics of Llandaff and
Bangor, one in South and the other in North Wales, about the year 1563,
as follows. The former had been two or three years, in effect, void, and
wanted a vigilant bishop to manage that diocese. But the great
dilapidations had so impoverished that see, that few who were honest and
able would be persuaded to meddle with it.
As for Bangor (he continues), the diocese was also much out
of order, _there being no preaching used_, and pensionary
concubinacy openly continued, which was allowance of
concubines to the clergy, by paying a pension,
notwithstanding the liberty of marriage granted.
... So that Wales being in an evil condition as to
religion, 'the inhabitants remaining still greatly ignorant
and superstitious, the Queen left it particularly to the
care of the Archbishop to recommend fit persons for those
two sees now to be disposed of.'
In 1588, John Penry published his 'Exhortation unto the People and
Governors of Her Majesty's Country of Wales,' every line of which was
aflame with the fire of a righteous and eloquent indignation at the
negligent bishops and 'unpreaching ministers,' to whose tender mercies
his 'poor country of Wales' was abandoned. We need not quote at large
from the melancholy picture he gives in this and his other pamphlets of
the state of the Principality in that day, as his writings have been
rendered familiar to many of our readers by Dr. Waddington's 'Life of
Penry,' and Dr. Rees's 'History of Nonconformity in Wales.' We will
therefore cite only one or two pregnant sentences:--
'This I dare affirm and stand to, that if a view of all the
registries of Wales be taken, the name of that shire, that
town, or of that parish, cannot be found, where, for the
space of six years together within these twenty-nine years,
a godly and learned minister hath executed the duty of
teacher, and approved his ministry in any mean sort.... If
I utter an untruth let me be reproved, and suffer as a
slanderer; if a truth, why should not I be allowed.'
The Rev. Henry T. Edwards, the author of the very able and vigorous
pamphlet mentioned at the head of this article, has permitted himself,
in an evil moment, and in stress of argument and information, in defence
of the Welsh Church of those days, to describe this noble-minded and
devoted Christian and patriot in very opprobrious terms, as 'a
sour-minded Puritan, recognising no truth save in his own interpretation
of the written Word,' &c., &c. But Strype, at least, cannot be called 'a
sour-minded Puritan.' Let us then revert to his testimony in reference
to precisely the same period. In his 'Annals of the Reformation'[157] he
makes the following statement. We borrow Dr. Rees's summary:--
'Dr. William Hughes, Bishop of St. Asaph, was accused, in
the year 1587, the year before the publication of Penry's
"Exhortation," of misgoverning his diocese and of
tolerating the most disgraceful abuses. When the case was
inquired into, it was found that the Bishop himself held
sixteen rich livings _in commendam_; that most of the great
livings were in possession of persons who lived out of the
country; that one person who held two of the greatest
livings in the diocese boarded in an alehouse; and that
only three preachers resided upon their livings viz., Dr.
David Powell, of Ruabon; Dr. William Morgan, of
Llanrhaidr-yn-Mochnat, the translator of the Bible; and the
parson of Llanvechan, an aged man, about eighty years old.'
We will now follow the history of the Welsh Church into the reign of
James I. At that time, there lived and laboured in Wales a very
remarkable man, the Rev. Rees Pritchard, Vicar of Llandovery, in
Carmarthenshire, the author of a work which has had a larger circulation
in the Principality than any book except the Bible. It is entitled
'Canwyll y Cymry,' or, 'The Welshman's Candle,' a series of moral and
religious poems, most simple in their language, and even slovenly in
their metrical composition, but full of poetry and feeling, and
thoroughly saturated with evangelical truth. He flourished between the
years 1616 and 1644. John Penry, in his most vehement remonstrances,
does not employ stronger language to portray the utter ignorance,
irreligion, and immorality in which the people were sunk, than does this
excellent clergyman. But what we have specially to do with now is the
testimony he bears as to the condition of the Church, a testimony all
the more unimpeachable, as he continued through life a member and a
minister of that Church. In one of his poems, after describing all
classes as wholly given up to every species of depravity, he adds that
the clergy were asleep, leaving the people to wallow in their sins, and
to live as they liked, unwarned and unrebuked.[158] In another poem, he
puts the clergy at the head of various classes, whom he enumerates, who
were 'contending with each other, which of them should most daringly
affront the Most High.' There is evidence still more conclusive, if
possible, in the reports presented to the King by Archbishop Laud,
between the years 1633 and 1638, which are still extant among the
Lambeth MSS. This bigoted prelate had, it seems, in those years, been
specially instigating the Bishops of St. David's and Llandaff to
persecute without mercy those in their dioceses who were guilty of
'inconformity;' that is, who refused to read 'The Book of Sports,' and
other similar obligations which were laid on the consciences of the
clergy. After commemorating the success with which the Bishop of St.
David's had silenced one Roberts, a lecturer, for inconformity, and
reduced three or four others to submission, he adds: 'He complains much,
and surely with cause enough, that there are few ministers in those poor
and remote places that are able to preach and instruct the people.' And
the Bishop of St. Asaph tells Laud that 'they were not anywhere troubled
with inconformity; but that he heartily wished that they might as well
be acquainted with superstition and profaneness.'
In the year 1651, there was published a translation in the Welsh
language of the once celebrated 'Marrow of Modern Divinity.' This
translation was by the Rev. John Edwards, one of the clergy ejected by
the Parliamentary Commission appointed under the Commonwealth. In the
preface, he deplores the neglect into which the Welsh language had
fallen, and declares that, 'among the Church clergy (y Dyscawdwyr
Eglwysig), scarcely one in fifteen knew how to read and write Welsh.'
The reader will observe that we are following our chain of evidence link
by link. In 1677, a work was published in Welsh entitled 'Carwr y
Cymry,' that is, 'The Welshman's Friend; an Exhortation to his dear
countrymen for the sake of Christ and their own souls, to search the
Scriptures according to Christ's command, John v. 39.' This is supposed
to have been written by a clergyman of the name of Oliver Thomas. The
introduction is in the form of an earnest and affectionate address to
'Welsh Churchmen.' In this he says:--
'Often does sorrow beyond measure strike my heart in
observing and reflecting upon the great deficiency and the
utter neglect which prevails among us Welsh Churchmen, in
taking pains to teach our flocks conscientiously, through
our not giving ourselves with full purpose of heart to
reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. We are ourselves,
many of us, unskilful in the word of righteousness, and
therefore incompetent to direct others.... Yea, my dear
brethren, give me permission to say, what it pains me to be
obliged to say, that in each of the Welsh bishoprics forty
or sixty churches may be found without any one in them on
Sundays, even in the middle of summer, when the roads are
driest, and the weather finest.'[159]
We have brought our chain of testimonies down to near the end of the
seventeenth century. But from that time to our own they are still more
abundant.
In 1721 was published, 'A View of the State of Religion in the Diocese
of St. David's, about the beginning of the Eighteenth Century,' by Dr.
Erasmus Saunders. It contains a most deplorable picture of the condition
of the Church, as regards both its material and spiritual interests. He
describes some churches as totally decayed; they
'do only serve for the solitary habitations of owls and
jackdaws; such are St. Daniel's, Castelhan, Kilvawyr,
Mountain, Capel Colman, and others in Pembrokeshire; Mount
Llechryd, in Cardiganshire; Aberllynog, in Breconshire;
Nelso, in Gower, Glamorganshire, and others in
Carmarthenshire. And it is not to be doubted, but as there
are districts of land, so there were originally just
endowment of tythes that did belong to all those several
churches; but whatever they were, they are now alienated,
the churches, most of them, demolished, the use for which
they were intended almost forgotten, unless it be at
Llanybrec, where, I am told, the improprietor or his tenant
has let that church unto the neighbouring Dissenters, who
are very free to rent it for the desirable opportunity and
pleasure of turning a church into a conventicle'--(pp. 23,
4.)
'As the Christian service is thus totally disused in some
places, there are other some that may be said to be but
half served, there being several churches where we are but
rarely, if at all, to meet with preaching, catechising, 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.... The
stipends are so small, that a poor curate must sometimes
submit to serve three or four churches for £10 or £12
a-year.'
He then refers, though with great forbearance and tenderness, to the low
type of character which such a state of things produced among the
clergy; and then exclaims, sorrowfully, 'Such is the faint shadow that
remains among us of the public service of religion!'
'And now,' continues the author, 'what Christian knowledge,
what sense of piety, what value for religion are we
reasonably to hope for in a country thus abandoned, and
either destitute of churches to go to, or of ministers to
supply them, or both? Or how can it well consist with
equity and conscience to complain of the ignorance and
errors of an unhappy people in such circumstances? They are
squeezed to the utmost to pay their tithes and what is
called the church dues (though, God knows, the Church is to
expect little from it), and, at the same time, most
miserably deprived of those benefits of religion which the
payment of them was intended to support, and delivered up
to ignorance and barbarity, which must be the certain
consequence of driving away the ministers of religion, or
of depressing or incapacitating them for their duty'--(p.
26.).
To aggravate the evils of all kinds already sufficiently rife in the
Welsh Church, the English Government, about the beginning of the
eighteenth century, adopted the practice, which it has continued ever
since, of appointing Englishmen utterly ignorant of the Welsh language
to Welsh bishoprics.[160] And the bishops, following the example thus
set by those acting for the head of the Church, inundated the
Principality with English clergymen, their own relatives and
connections, to whom all the highest dignities and the richest livings
were, almost without exception, assigned. A more monstrous abuse than
this it is difficult to conceive, and yet it has been persevered in for
150 years in the face of all complaint and remonstrance, and in the
teeth of the express judgment of the Church itself, which declares in
its 26th Article that 'it is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of
God, and to the custom of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in
the church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded
of the people.' We need not wonder, therefore, that great prominence
should be henceforth given by the friends of the Church to this, as one
of the causes, if not, indeed, the sole cause, of its inefficiency and
decay. How far they are justified in attaching such supreme importance
to it we shall consider hereafter. But we shall for the present resume
our series of testimonies to the matter of fact. Most of our readers
will doubtless have heard of the Rev. Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror,
the founder of the remarkable circulating schools, which, during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, rendered such inestimable service
to the people of the Principality. We cannot here enter upon the history
of the life and labours of this admirable clergyman. If one man could
have saved the Church in Wales, he would have saved it. But as Mr.
Johnes has remarked with great sagacity--though he does not appear to
see the inevitable inference to be drawn from the remark--'it is a truth
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.' Our object now, however, is merely to cite the Rev. Griffith
Jones as a witness to the condition of the Church about the middle of
the eighteenth century. In the year 1749 he published a letter in Welsh,
on the 'Duty of Catechising Ignorant Children and People.' In that
letter he observes that the
'peasantry cannot understand from sentences of deep
learning in sermons the Articles of Faith without being
catechised in them, which, at present, is more necessary,
because there is among us such _monstrosity_ (anferthwch)
and such evil and barefaced craft in some places, as the
frequent preaching of _English_ to the _Welsh_ people, not
one jot more edifying or less ridiculous than the Latin
service of the Papists in France. One author states that he
could not help rebuking such clergymen, in spite of the
spleen and wrath it was likely to bring upon him, viz., the
lazy vicars and rectors, who have led a careless life from
their youth, and have set their mind on keeping company,
and going unsteadily from tavern to tavern, and not minding
their books; in consequence of which they are as ignorant
of their mother tongue as they are of Greek and Hebrew, and
therefore read the service and preach in English, without
sense or shame, in the most purely Welsh assemblies
throughout the country. Not much better, if any, are those
who patch up a sermon of mixed language and jargon sounds,
inconsonant, dark, and unintelligible, to the great scandal
and disgrace of the ministry, and to the grief, damage, and
weariness of the congregation.'
There is one other eminent Welsh clergyman whom we must add to this
cloud of witnesses before we speak of the rise of Methodism in Wales.
The Rev. Evan Evans, better known, perhaps, by his Bardic name, _Ieuan
Brydydd Hir_, was a man of learning and genius, a friend and
correspondent of Bishop Percy and other _literati_ of that age. He was
especially well versed in ancient British literature, and published a
Latin essay, _Dissertatio de Bardis_, containing Latin translations from
the poems of Aneurin, Taliesin, and Llywarch Hen. In 1776, he published
two volumes of Welsh sermons. To the first volume he prefixed a
dedication to Sir W. W. Wynn in English, and an address to the reader in
Welsh, in both of which he describes in bold and burning language the
miserable state of the Church in Wales at that time. Here is one out of
many extracts we might have given. After complaining that most of the
gentry had 'thrown away all regard for religion and morality,' and that
'the ignorance and immorality of the lower class of the people was
pitiful, owing to the slothfulness and neglect of many of the clergy,'
he thus proceeds:
'As for the clergy, such of them as still enjoy the
remaining emoluments of the Church might do some good in
their generation if they were so disposed. But alas! so
little has been done by the clergy of the Established
Church in this way, that there is hardly a book or a sermon
left behind by any of them to testify their fidelity in
their vocation, for almost a hundred years past. It is a
pity they should not do something to convince the world
that they are ministers of the gospel. And it is a great
pity that most of them are so _scandalously ignorant of the
language_ in which they are to do the duties of their
function, that they can do very little to the edification
of their flocks. Those who enjoy the richest benefices in
the Church are most deficient in this respect, copying
herein the Church of Rome very faithfully, and leaving
their sheep to perish. And I am afraid that upon this and
other accounts many sincere Christians abhor the sacrifice
of the Lord, who were well disposed to the Church
established. And such abominations, if continued, will make
it desolate!
'Now, the question is what a faithful minister of the
gospel ought to do in such dangerous times? I am very sure
that some conscientious ministers of the gospel have
suffered severely of late years under these lordly and
tyrannic prelates. The number of such disinterested
persons, it must be owned, was small, and every art and
method have been used to discountenance them. If what I
here aver be doubted, I appeal to the writings of the late
pious and truly reverend Mr. Griffith Jones, of
Llanddowror, who underwent the scurrilities of a venal
priest _hired by the bishops_ to _bespatter him_, though he
was by the special grace of God without any stain or spot.
By far the greater number of the clergy, like Gehazi, run
after preferments, and have left the daughter of Zion to
shift for herself. And his doom, in a spiritual sense, is
likely to follow them and their successors.'
It is well known that the man who may be called the father of Welsh
Methodism was Mr. Howell Harris. He was, and continued to the day of his
death, a dutiful son of the Church. He applied for ordination, but was
refused. He pressed his request for six years, but to no purpose.
'Wherever he went,' we quote again the language of a Welsh clergyman,
'as a simple and unoffending preacher of the gospel, either in the South
or the North, he was denounced by the clergy from their pulpits, he was
arrested by the magistrates, and persecuted by the rabble.[161] Now let
us hear his own account of the reasons which induced him to commence and
continue preaching to his countrymen. He describes his being taken
before the magistrates at Monmouth, for the work of God and the
testimony of Jesus Christ, and then continues--
'After this, I was more satisfied than ever that my mission
was from God, especially as I had so often applied for holy
orders, and was rejected for no other reason than my
preaching as a layman. I saw both from Scripture and the
practice of the Church that the preaching of laymen was
proper in times of necessity; and I thought that time of
greater necessity could hardly be than the present, when
the whole country lay in a lukewarm and lifeless condition.
_In many churches there was no sermon for months together;
in some places nothing but a learned English discourse to
an illiterate Welsh congregation_; and where an
intelligible sermon was preached, it was generally so
legal, and so much in the spirit of the old covenant, that
should any give heed to it, they could never be led thereby
to Christ, the only way to God. Seeing these things, and
feeling the love of Christ in my heart, I could not refrain
from going about to propagate the gospel of my dear
Redeemer.'[162]
The second great name in connection with the rise of Methodism in Wales,
was the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, of Llangeitho, a man whose powers as a
preacher are described by those who knew both, to have surpassed even
those of Whitfield. The effect of his eloquence among his countrymen was
extraordinary. It ran like a stream of electricity through the nation,
kindling into life thousands who had been previously wrapped in
spiritual torpor. Like Howell Harris, he was not merely content, but
anxious to continue his ministrations in the Church. 'But he was cast
out of the Church of England,' says one of his biographers, the Rev. J.
C. Ryle, 'for no other fault than excess of zeal.' And what was the
condition of the church, from which this over zealous man was expelled
by Episcopal judgment? Mr. Ryle shall answer. 'This ejection took place
at a time when scores of Welsh clergymen were shamefully neglecting
their duties, and too often were drunkards, gamblers, and sportsmen, if
not worse.'[163]
The inference from all this has already been drawn for us by a candid
Churchman. Mr. Johnes, in his 'Essay on the Causes of Dissent in Wales,'
says that he is irresistibly led to the conclusion 'that before the rise
of Methodism in Wales the churches were as little attended by the great
mass of people as they are now: and that indifference to all religion
prevailed as widely then as dissent in the present day.' Of the early
Methodists in Wales, as indeed of the early Nonconformists, it may be
said most truly that they did not leave the Church of their own accord.
Most of them clung to it with a most touching fidelity, in spite of
incessant persecution and obloquy from those within its pale, and were
at last thrust out of it, for no offence but the excess of their zeal
for the moral and spiritual improvement of their countrymen. It is not
necessary now to put in any defence for these men; for it has become the
fashion of late among our Church friends in Wales, while denouncing
modern Nonconformity as schismatic, turbulent, self-seeking, and other
choice epithets with which we are so familiar in this connection, to
speak with great tenderness and respect of the founders of Welsh
dissent, and especially the early Methodists. Retaining, of course, that
_de haut en bas_ air of extreme candour and condescension which any
Churchman, however small, thinks it right to assume when referring to
any Dissenter, however illustrious for capacity and service, they do
nevertheless admit that the men in question were admirable men, full of
genuine zeal for evangelical truth and the salvation of souls. Nor do
they scruple to deplore and censure the perverse policy which persecuted
such men and drove them from the Church. Nay, in some cases, clergymen
have even become their admiring and eulogistic biographers. But this is
the old thing over again. 'Ye build the tombs of the prophets and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the
days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the
blood of the prophets.' But then, unhappily, by displaying the same
spirit towards the successors of these men, and branding them with the
same epithets of contumely and reproach as their fathers applied to
_their_ fathers, and that for doing precisely the same work, they are
witnesses unto themselves that they are the genuine children of them
which persecuted the prophets.
Having brought our review down to the great revival of religion about
the middle of the last century, let us now inquire what the Church has
done since that time to make up for centuries of gross neglect or
perfunctory service. It might have been thought that this stirring of
spiritual life in the country, through other agencies than its own,
would have roused it, were it from no better motive than that of jealous
emulation, to make some effort to retain or recover its influence over
the population. And this, indeed, has been the case to some extent
within the last quarter of a century. But for nearly a hundred years
after the appearance of Harris and Rowlands, during which all bodies of
Dissenters were labouring incessantly for the evangelization of the
Principality, the Church was settled on her lees. Her rulers not only
winked at for their own profit, but actively maintained and promoted the
existence of abuses as audacious and monstrous as ever dishonoured a
Christian Church. Her clergy, wholly abandoned to themselves, with
little or no episcopal supervision or stimulus, were content with
enjoying their temporalities while they neglected their duties, leading
lives of mere worldly ease, and sometimes much worse lives than that. If
any reader should imagine we are indulging in exaggerations, we can
refer him for exuberance of proof to Mr. Johnes' most able and admirable
work, which we have already mentioned. It was published in 1832, and
describes the state of things then in actual existence. The sole object
of most of the alien bishops who had been and were in occupation of the
Welsh sees, seemed to have been to provide for themselves and those of
their own households. Never was episcopal nepotism carried to so daring
an excess, with this peculiar and enormous aggravation, that 'in Wales
every relation of a bishop is in language a foreigner; and his uncouth
attempts to officiate in his church in a tongue unintelligible to
himself, can be felt by his congregation as nothing better than a
profanation of the worship of God.'[164] As a specimen of how the chief
pastors of the Welsh Church acted in this matter, we subjoin an extract
from a speech delivered in the House of Commons, in 1836, by Mr.
Benjamin Hall, afterwards Lord Llanover, a gentleman whose name and
memory ought to be held in grateful and honourable remembrance in the
Principality, for the strenuous efforts he made in and out of
Parliament to remedy many flagrant abuses in the educational and
ecclesiastical institutions of the country, and to procure something
like justice for Wales:--
'What he complained of most was the unbounded spirit of
nepotism which seemed to take possession of some of these
English Bishops the moment they took up this episcopal
power in the Principality. He found that in the diocese of
St. Asaph a relation of the late bishop held the following
preferments:--He was dean and chancellor of the diocese,
with the deanery house, worth about £40 a year; parish of
Huellan, £1,500; St. Asaph, £426; Llan Nevydd, £300;
Llanvair, £220; Darowain, £120; Chancellorship, from fees,
£400;--making £3,006. Besides all this, he was lessee of
Llandegele and Llanasaph, worth £600, and this all
exclusive of the rectory of Cradley, in the diocese of
Hereford, £1,200; vicarage of Bromyard, £500; prebend of
Hereford, £50; portion of Bromyard, £50 at present, but it
is expected on the death of an old life that this
preferment will be worth £1,400. Thus he had no less than
_eleven_ sources of emolument, producing between six and
seven thousand a-year. It appears also that his brother had
about £3,000 a-year, and the total enjoyed by relations of
the late bishop of the diocese alone, amounts to between
seven and eight thousand. But it appeared, moreover, that
the amount enjoyed by the bishop, and the relations of the
former bishops alone, amounts to £23,679, _and exceeds the
whole amount enjoyed by all the other resident and native
clergy put together_.'
To what unseemly consequences the appointment of English clergymen to
Welsh incumbencies must have led, our readers may conceive by imagining
a number of Frenchmen installed in livings in England, and attempting to
perform the service in the English language. Here are a few examples of
the ludicrous scenes often witnessed in Welsh churches. They are taken
from a speech delivered in 1852 by the Rev. Joseph Hughes, a very able
clergyman, a native of the Principality, but residing then at Meltham:--
'The mistakes,' he says, 'that are made by Anglo-Welsh
clergymen, both in the reading-desk and pulpit, are nearly
as many as the words in a Welsh glossary. Some of these
mistakes are of an absurd and revolting character, and
subversive of that due solemnity which should be observed
in the house of God. Yea, the meaning of different words
and sentences of Scripture is often painfully associated in
the minds of the people with those mistakes.'
Before citing these specimens, we may premise that if any of our readers
should be acquainted with the Welsh language, they will immediately
perceive how probable it is that the blunders described should have been
committed by an Englishman trying to read Welsh, or rather, how next to
impossible it is that he should not have committed some of them.
'Bishop Burgess, in pronouncing the blessing in Welsh, used
to say, "The peace of God which passeth all vengeance."
"Tangnefedd Duw yr hwn sydd uwchlaw pob _dial_."
'A clergyman of the name of Lewis preached at Chapel
Colman, and while speaking of man's depravity, said, "Every
man is exceedingly _tall_ by nature." "Y mae pob dyn yn
_dal_ iawn wrth natur." He meant to say blind--yn _ddall_.
The little men in the congregation looked at each other
with great astonishment, and seemed to question the truth
of the statement. I was present at the time, and heard this
as well as other mistakes.
'The same clergyman, while officiating at Llandygwydd,
committed the following blunder:--He made "Hail, King of
the Jews," to mean "_An old cow of straw, King of
Ireland_." "Hen fuwch wellt, Brenhin yr Ywerddon."
'Another, reading the words, "These things are good and
profitable unto men," gave them this meaning, "These graves
are good and wordly to men." "I beddau hin si da a bydol i
dinion."
'Another Anglo-Welsh clergyman, in his sermon quoting the
words, "but the righteous into life eternal," gave them the
following sense, "but to some chickens the food of the
geese"--"ond i rai cywion fwyd y gwyddau."
'A. B. officiating at ---- and reading the words, "let us
here make three tabernacles," was understood to say, "let
us here make three _pans_, one for thee, one for Moses, and
one for Elias." "Gwnawn yma dair _padell_."
'A clergyman in the county of Pembroke, while reading the
funeral service, made it to say, "it is sown the body of a
_beast_." "Efe a hoir yn gorph _anifail_."
'A late dean in North Wales, in repeating the following
beautiful lines,
"Ymddyrcha o Dduw'r nef uwch ben,
Daear ac wybren hefyd,"
"Be thou exalted, O God of heaven, above the earth and
firmament," gave them the following interpretation:--
"_Arise O God above the head
Of two hens and the crows egg also_."
"Ymddyrcha o Dduw'r nef uwch _ban
Dwy iar_ ac _wy brân_ hefyd."
'Another dean, addressing his work-people at their
drinkings, said, "_pori_ yr ydych etto," "you are still
_grazing_." His work-people not perceiving that the blunder
was unintentional, thought their master treated them as
brute beasts, and were much offended.
'Another clergyman reading that part of the "Venite," "In
his hand are all the corners of the earth," said, "In his
hand are all the afflictions of the earth,"
"_gorthyrmderau'r_ ddaear."
'A clergyman reading, "The whole head is sick, and the
whole heart faint," was understood to say, "the _back
parts_ are sick, and the _middle of the back faint_." "Y
_pen ol_ sy glwyfus a'r _hol ganol yn lesg_."
'Another reading, "The crooked shall be made straight, and
the rough places plain," "A'r gwyrgeimion a wneir yn
uniawn, a'r geirwon yn ffyrdd gwastad," read it thus, "The
_crooked men_ shall be made _straight_, and _the rough
men_, smooth ways;" leaving the women, I suppose, still
crooked and rough.'
But while admitting, as who could hesitate to admit, that the practice
so long followed of appointing Englishmen to all the higher
ecclesiastical offices in Wales, could not fail to affect most
injuriously the interests of the Welsh Church, we must utterly demur, as
we have already intimated, to the exaggerated influence ascribed by the
modern defenders of the Church to this circumstance, as though it were
the sole cause of its inefficiency. For let us look a little more
closely into the matter. The period to which the advocates of this
theory are fond of reverting, as constituting the ideal era of the
Established Church in Wales, when it was governed principally by native
prelates, is, speaking in general terms, the interval between the
accession of Queen Elizabeth and the reign of William and Mary, or to
take the precise dates, adopted by those among them who have most
carefully investigated the subject, from the years 1558 to 1715. They
specify the names of twenty-four Welshmen elevated to Welsh sees during
these 257 years. But what was done by these Cymric bishops for the
spiritual good of the Principality? Mr. Johnes, whose work is the great
repertory of information on all matters connected with this subject,
mentions three out of the whole number who seem to have distinguished
themselves by some service rendered to their country. First, Bishop
Morgan, who translated the Bible into the Welsh language; but he did
this _not_ as bishop, but as the vicar of a small country parish in
Denbighshire, and he undertook the work precisely _because_ it had been
neglected by the Welsh prelates to whom it had been entrusted. Second,
Bishop Parry, who brought out a new edition of the Bible for use in the
churches. Third, Bishop Owen, who succeeded to the diocese of St. Asaph
in 1629, and of whom we are told that 'he began first by his order and
decrees, to establish preaching in Welsh in St. Asaph parish church, and
as it is supposed, in other parish churches, in his diocese. He repaired
his cathedral at his own cost, and set up a new organ in
it;'--expressions which evidently seem to imply, that these very simple
and obvious duties had been neglected by his predecessors, though they
also were native prelates. We have, also, seen a general statement that
some of the others established and endowed schools in particular
localities in Wales. Of most of the rest we know nothing, but of some of
them we know something. We know of Bishop Hughes, of St. Asaph, that he
held sixteen rich livings _in commendam_, and left his diocese in the
disgraceful condition already described in the early part of this
article. We know that under Bishop Meyrick, of Bangor, there were, by
his own acknowledgment, only two preachers in his diocese; and that
according to the testimony of Strype, the grossest scandals were openly
practised by the clergy. We know that the four native bishops, who by
the Act of Elizabeth, of 1563, were charged with translating the
Scriptures into Welsh, so neglected their duty as that even the churches
were left without Welsh Bibles for twenty-five years after that date. We
know that for seventy years after the settlement of the Reformation, not
a single edition of the Bible in the Welsh language was issued for the
use of the people. We know that from 1640 to 1690, which forms a
considerable portion of the vaunted era of Welsh bishops, Churchmen
published only one edition of the Scriptures--a large folio, for use in
the churches--while during the same interval the Nonconformists
published nine editions. We know that the contributions of the 'native
bishops' to the moral and religious literature of the Cymry are
conspicuous by their absence. We have examined with some care Rowland's
'Cambrian Bibliography' ('_Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry_'), containing an
account of all books published in the Welsh language from 1546 to 1800,
and, between the years 1558 and 1715, the era of Welsh bishops, we have
failed to discover a single work written in Welsh or translated into
Welsh by any one of these prelates, except 'A Letter to the Welsh,' by
Bishop Davies, introducing Salesbury's translation of the New Testament.
Nor is there any proof that they helped or promoted in any important
degree the publication of religious books in the Welsh language, while
the Nonconformists of that age laboured indefatigably to enlighten the
people through the press. Even Vicar Pritchard's work, 'The Welshman's
Candle,' left by him in manuscript, and which, next to the Bible, had
the greatest influence on the religious character of the country, was
published by the care and at the expense of Mr. Stephen Hughes, a
Nonconformist minister. But above all, we know what was the state of the
Church and the country during, and at the end of, the reign of this long
dynasty of Welsh bishops. It is described in the language already cited
of Strype, and Penry, and Pritchard, and Edwards, and Thomas, and
Erasmus Saunders, and Griffith Jones, and Howell Harris. And we beg our
readers specially to observe, that all the witnesses we have summoned to
depose to the character and condition of the Welsh Church during three
centuries of its history, have been members of the Church itself. If
there is one exception, it is that of John Penry. But he also was born
in the Church, and baptized in the Church, and ordained in the Church,
for we are told that he was 'a famous preacher of the University' and he
had, moreover, the honour of being persecuted, imprisoned, and hung by
the Church. With that one doubtful exception all the rest lived and died
within its pale. We might, of course, have added a large number of
witnesses from the ranks of Nonconformity, whose testimony, we believe,
would have been quite as trustworthy. But we have preferred omitting
whatever might be thought open to even the suspicion of sectarian
prejudice. Let us remember, that several of the 'native bishops' lived
several years into the beginning of the eighteenth century, and if they
had exercised so blessed an influence on the Church and the country as
it is now the fashion to affirm, that influence could not have suddenly
vanished immediately after their death. _Nemo repente fuit turpissimus_
is surely as applicable to a community as to an individual. And yet we
know by the confession of all candid Churchmen, that when Griffith Jones
and Howell Harris began their labours--the former in 1730, and the
latter in 1735--the Welsh Church was in a most lamentable state of
inefficiency and corruption.
The simple truth is, that the history of the Welsh Church is only a
crucial illustration of the invariable and inevitable evils that attend
State establishments of religion. It is true that in its case these
evils appear in a somewhat aggravated form, from the attempt made by the
English Government to treat Wales as a conquered country, and to employ
the Church as an agent in the extinction of its language and
nationality. But when the life of a Christian Church is made to depend
not on the faith, love, and liberality of its own members, and the
presence and blessing of its Divine Master, but upon the protection and
patronage of the civil government, and when, as a necessary consequence,
the administration of its affairs falls into the hands of worldly
politicians, who use it as an instrument of State, what can be expected
but what always has ensued, that its spiritual life should wither, until
those who seek real religious nourishment from its breasts are driven in
sheer desperation to seek it elsewhere?
Indeed, it is curious that the friends of the Welsh Church, while
enumerating the secondary causes which have led to her ruin, do not find
their way, which they may do by a single step, to the right conclusion
as to the primary cause from which all the others spring. Our Church,
they say, has suffered grievous injustice from the alienation of her
revenues, from the appointment of unqualified persons to all her highest
offices, from the most flagrantly corrupt use of patronage, from the
neglect of native talent, from laxity of godly discipline. But who has
alienated her revenues? The State. Who has made those unfitting
appointments? The State. Who has exercised patronage so corruptly? The
State and its nominees, the bishops. Who has overlooked native talent?
Again, the State and its nominees. Who has neglected to enforce godly
discipline? Still, the State and its nominees. Yet, when it is proposed
to strike away the fetters which bind them to the power that has thus
maltreated and oppressed them, they hug their chains with frantic
vehemence, and even use them as weapons with which to assail those who
would fain assist in their liberation.
But let us now inquire into the condition of the Church in our own day.
And in the phrase 'our own day,' we suppose we may include a period of
twenty-five years. We have previously observed that, for a long time
after the revival of religion which stimulated the Dissenters in Wales
to such extraordinary activity in providing the means of religious
instruction for the people, the Church continued sunk in utter apathy.
It is impossible to find a more conclusive illustration of this, than is
afforded by the following statement of the comparative progress made in
church and chapel accommodation during the first half of the present
century. It is founded on the Census Returns of 1851, and appears in Mr.
Richards's 'Letters on the Social and Political Condition of Wales,'
where it is cited on the authority of a very accomplished statistician,
the late Mr. Plint of Leeds. North Wales, in 1801, stood thus as to
religious accommodation:--
Proportion to all
Sittings Sittings
Church of England 99,216 75·2
All others 32,664 24·8
------- -----
Total 131,880 100·0
In the fifty years following, the population increased from 252,765 to
412,114, or 63 per cent. To have kept up the ratio of sittings to
population by each of these sections of religionists, the former should
have supplied 62,505 sittings, and it did supply 16,164. The latter
ought to have supplied 20,576, and it did supply 217,928. The Church of
England fell short of its duty 73·5 per cent., and all other
denominations exceeded it 950 per cent. The ratio of sittings to
population, which, in 1801, was 52·1 per cent. (5·9 less than the proper
standard, according to Mr. Horace Mann), was, in 1851, 88·9--that is, 30
per cent. above it.