Chapter XVII - The Welsh and Religion
FROM its earliest history
the Welsh nation has been known as a religious people. Julius Caesar
describes it as being a strong adherent of the primitive Druidic
superstition. Early in the apostolic age Christianity was introduced to
the Southern parts of Britain, and many of its people became ardent
Christians. After the Saxon Conquest the division of the British
people, hemmed in the mountain land between Gloucester and Chester,
accepted the sway of the Bishop of Rome and became Roman Catholics
which they continued to be for a thousand years, that is until the
expulsion of Popery and the establishment of Protestantism by the
second Sovereign of Welsh blood, Henry VIII. During that Popish
millenium religious teaching and services were carried on by Latin
speaking priests and monks who introduced Latin words into the Welsh
language expressive of the differentiating tenets and offices of their
creeds. These still remain in the Welsh tongue and are still used and
are so familiar that many have no suspicion that they are interlopers ;
aberth, offrwm, degwm, pregethwr, offeiriad, gweddi &c. are Latin words.
At
the bidding of the autocrat Tudor Convert all the Welsh Catholic
Priests deserted the Pope and followed the pay. But it does not appear
that the flocks followed the hireling shepherds. The Welsh people never
favoured the Established Church after its Protestantisation. When Henry
deprived them of the Mass and the Popish Clergy they left the Parochial
Churches vacant. Ecclesiastical records incontestably prove that
religious attendance was at a very low ebb for a hundred years after
the royal reformation in Wales. The cause of that remarkable result was
that the priests became protestant for their worldly advantage, but the
people were not educated in the Word of God. Hence the opinion
prevailed, from the mercenary conduct of the clergy, that religion was
simply a matter of worldly consideration to the advantage of its
officials. The people of Wales therefore became nonfrequenters of the
House of God. The Sabbath was devoted to sports and debauchery, and the
land was filled with immorality. The honest and serious writings of the
godly Vicar of Llandovery in the beginning of the seventeenth century
testify to the deplorable moral and religious condition of our
forefathers. His evidence is abundantly confirmed by other Church
authors. Every opposition was made by the leading clergy and the throne
to the efforts of awakened evangelists to bring the Gospel to the
people, and the Archbishop of Canterbury eagerly signed the
death-warrant of John Penry, a Brecknock clergyman, for presuming to
blame the neglect of the Church dignitaries of his benighted
fellow-countrymen.
That
condition and disastrous state would have continued unto this day,
indeed we should have become an infatuated Catholic nation like the
Italians and Spaniards, but for the magnificent efforts of single
believers in the Word of God. They awoke themselves, and the Holy
Spirit aroused them to awake their fellow-men, thereby finally the land
has been lighted and warmed by the Sun of Righteousness. Gospel centres
were formed in Breconshire, on the banks of the Wye, at Llanfaches,
Swansea, through Carmarthenshire, on the banks of the Teify, and flames
burst forth soon in two or three places in North Wales. Itinerant
preachers wandered, often by night, through the land, like guerilla
warriors, to drive the enemy away. Then the great Welsh Methodist
movement burst forth and irresistibly swept away the Established
barriers against the spread of the gospel. A host of mighty preachers
were summoned by the Spirit of God to rouse His people to flee from the
wrath to come, and they were joined by a small band of clergy in Holy
Orders, for which they were apotheosized by expulsion from their
beneficies by the Anglican Bishops. Every effort was put forth by the
Church, the Court, and the Palace, as in Jerusalem of old, to prevent
the spread of the Message of Peace in our land ; but all in vain. The
Lord gave the Word ; great was the company of the preachers ; great
were the companies of the hearers ; and surprisingly successful is the
result. Wales is illuminated by the Light of the Gospel beyond all
lands. Its people are renowned for their love of the Word of the Lord.
A house of divine worship is within the reach of all its inhabitants,
erected by the voluntary contributions of the worshippers.
All
its religious literature is Christian, mostly orthodox. Its talented
and eloquent sons proclaim the gospel of peace in our land. The queen
of religious societies, The British and Foreign Bible Society, was
originated within its boundaries and to satisfy its craving for the
Bread of Life. The greatest crowds of the population flock to listen to
the servants of Christ preaching the everlasting gospel. The effect of
this devotion surprises the Judges on account of the freedom of the
truly Welsh counties from indictable offences. Other nations envy this
blessed condition, and would be delighted to secure the Lord's Day,
where no intoxicating liquour can be legally sold and purchased. Our
wilderness has been cleared, our soil has been morally and religiously
fallowed, the good Seed has been sown, and the harvest is ripening. Let
us pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth labourers to accomplish
and finish the Glorious Work.
J. BOWEN-JONES