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The Revivals
From: Classic Books for Today #156
By S. B. Shaw (1905)
(Used by Permission)

"Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?"   Psalm 85:6

Merthyr Vale Chamber of Trade
Revival Meetings
This Establishment will be
Closed
Thursday, December 15,
Owing to the visit of Mr. Evan Roberts

They told me the same applied on that day to the two pits in the neighborhood. On the previous day I saw what I have often seen in Roman Catholic countries, but never before in this Protestant land. Seven chapels were open throughout the day for prayer and worship, and people walked in and came out as they felt inclined during those continuous services. Four of these chapels were crowded and two of them were densely packed. I got into the schoolroom of one, and found the people standing rows deep, but I could not get near the chapel door. Presently the school door was locked but it made no difference. People opened the window and came through in orderly fashion till every vacant square foot was utilized. I said, "If there's a way in there's a way out," and out I shot and adjourned to one of the seven open sanctuaries where a hearty meeting was conducting itself hour after hour without let or hindrance in which I was soon moved to take part.

These two small townships of Aberfau and Merthyr Vale in this narrow valley are on opposite slopes, separated only by the Taff. The united population is about 9,000. There are four public-houses, three of which are tied houses. Throughout the day they are in a state of semi-desertion. The coffee tavern is besieged at all hours, and the swarming visitors, who can not get in, satisfy their hunger by purchases at the grocer's and fruiterer's. For beds they flee to other towns and take what they can get. I interviewed the landlady of one of the "pubs," who told me she was against the revival, and preferred ordinary religion. I asked her why, and she said that on one night the enthusiasts gathered outside her establishment, and sang heartily, and then prayed fervently that God would have mercy on the prodigals inside -- and her customers were not prodigals, and were not likely to be.

As soon as the policeman could release himself from the society of the barmaid, standing at the door of the largest and noisiest public-house in the center of the town, I interviewed him. He assured me that foul language and drunkenness had greatly diminished, and that his own duties (and evidently the barmaid's) were considerably lightened. He added, "The barmaid has just told me that the publican and his wife have gone to the service, and that is a new thing for them" "Is there much diminution in his receipts?" I asked. "Oh, yes; but he puts it down to the approach of Christmas, and to the fact that the colliers are saving their wages for the time of feasting -- but others know differently," he remarked with significant emphasis. On inquiry of the tradespeople, they also admitted that their sales were not what they should be. "How is that?" "Well, you see, people are paying their debts and settling old scores. It will be all the better for us in a little while."

I talked also to pitmen who had the same story to tell of amendment and reformation. Having obtained these facts from the business and trading community, I asked the lo-cal ministers what reports they had to give. I found that for three weeks previous to the visit of Evan Roberts they had conducted among themselves mission services, that hundreds had professed conversion,and that all the churches had been daily gladdened by the addition of those who were being saved.

"What sort of converts are they?" I asked. "Mostly backsliders," said a man in the street. When a church is not aggressive it consoles itself by saying that it is just about holding its own. What a false notion! "Mostly backsliders," tells another tale.

It seems to me that God has now given to His church in Wales an advantage over the enemy similar to that which the Japanese have acquired over the Russians by the capture of 203 Metre Hill. God's people are now sweeping these Welsh hills and valleys with a searching fire, that is devastating the strongholds of sin, and in some in-stances is leading to almost whole-sale capture. Evan Roberts did not arrive that day till five o'clock, when services had been in progress for about seven hours. I did not see him. I did not attempt to see him. I had my turn previously, and I was glad to be of some service in chapels that he could not visit. His coming constituted a great field day. But -- the victory had been gained in the previous weeks, and the at-tack will still be renewed in the days to come, and there will be further fighting all along the line. The fire is not spent, and the ammunition is not low.

I always feel that I want to join in the "Diollch Iddo" when I see the crowds of men, and specially of young men, at these services. There is sure to be a certain amount of re-action in the days to come, judging by past history, but thousands of these men have got a blessing they will never lose, and an inspiration that will make them grand fishers of men. It will give to us all renewed faith in prayer, for this is emphatically a praying revival. Evan Roberts told me that prayer became so passionate and mighty at Caerphilly that at midnight a number of men formed themselves into a praying "Get-them-out-of-bed brigade," and in an hour or two three of the sinners prayed for be-came so miserable in bed that they dressed hurriedly and came on to the service and yielded to Christ there and then.

After I have seen over and over again the complete abandonment with which men give themselves up to pleading, as if they were totally unconscious of any presence but that of Christ, and were quite unaffected by anything or anybody else, I can easily believe it. Even when I could not under-stand a single word I have been indescribably moved. How, then must it be with the Father who knows all and loves all? Humanity in Wales is as frail as it is elsewhere, but I have had a new lesson in this text, "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity."

I have heard a young Russian offer his first prayer in English, and a young Welshman give his first testimony in English. He was the young man who said in broken English: "When I was a boy and went to the seaside to bathe, and saw a big wave coming along, I just ducked. Friends, a big tidal wave is sweeping along this valley. Be sure you duck, and then you'll get the baptism."

That, I suppose, is the preliminary stage, but if people will then proceed to plunge and to swim, they will be able to take full advantage of this glorious tide, for, as Ezekiel says, "The waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through."

Some people take exception to this revival because there are those who declare they see visions and hear voices. Of these you hear but little. You often hear prayer for illumination, as when a woman ex-claimed, "May we draw up the blinds of the soul, and let in the light!" There is much figurative language like that in prayer which al-ways evokes a response. In these services everything seems to gain by spontaneity of feeling and expression.

I heard what the Daily News representative aptly termed "The Tabloid Sermon," by a young American, on Isaiah 1:18. The people listened gladly to the text, but when he proceeded to say, "There are five c's in this verse, and I want you to see these five c's -- the call, conviction, communion, cleansing, and confession," some of them didn't see it, and wearied before he got to fifthly. However, they managed to keep fairly still, and then roused themselves and us by one of their glorious songs. We felt that such ingenuity was a poor substitute for spontaneity.

Extraordinary incidents are as numerous as ever. At Cardiff a young man, who had been lost to his parents for three years, turned up at the very service where his father (a county magistrate) and his mother were praying for him. His father knelt at his side to help him to Jesus, but the son did not recognize him till they both rose to give praise! They then went together to find the mother, who in another part of the chapel was earnestly praying for her lost boy, and who was to-tally oblivious of anything and any one around her. The scene was indescribably pathetic, and the joy of all was ecstatic.

At one of Evan Roberts' meetings a young man told how he spent his early years at Oxford in training for a monk. He ran away to sea, and was absent for twelve years. He settled in business in Wales, andspent all his leisure in drinking-clubs and similar resorts. A month ago, when on his way to his club, he was pressed to go to chapel by a friend. He absolutely refused, but on repeated pressure by his friend he said, "I'll toss for it. Heads, I go to the chapel; tails, I go to the club." He tossed and it came heads. He went to the chapel, and he was then and there converted. This was a man well known in his own town.

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