Carmel Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel - Llanilar (1859)
In his Diary the Revivalist records a remarkable service at Llanilar February 1, when thirty-six converts were received, 'some of them the most drunken and reckless young men in the village. My mind was powerfully exercised as I prayed for God's blessing on the gentry of the Ystwyth Valley."
One of the gentlemen prayed for was Mr Parry, Paith, who angrily resented it. ** Who is David Morgan, Ysbytty," he roared, '* that he should take liberties with my name? When next I see him, I'll teach that malapert a lesson." He was shooting in a cover by the roadside a few days afterwards, when his servant said to him, ^' There comes David Morgan! " The squire stalked to the hedge with a scowling countenance. While the Revivalist w^as far distant, the affronted gentleman stood with a menacing brow, but as the rider drew near the great man began to bend at the knees, and as he approached he crouched lower and lower until he was completely hidden from sight when the preacher came opposite. " I couldn't say a w^ord to him," said the squire to his man. "His countenance was different from usual today."
A week later David Morgan came again to Llanilar. On the w^ay he frequently deserted his companion^ retiring for private prayer when a gap in the hedge gave him an opportunity. *' We shall have a wonderful meeting tonight," he averred; ^* many will be saved tonight." This presentiment was verified, for fifty-one sought salvation. Among them was a man by the name of Taylor, a gardener at Castle-on-Hill. He was practically a heathen, though he sometimes attended the parish church. He w^as sw^ept into the Nonconformist service by the flood of the Revivalist's popularity, and the light of life dawned upon the Cimmerian darkness of his heart. Whenever David Morgan gave the right hand of fellowship to a man who was the head of a household, he urged and insisted that he should forthwith begin to conduct family w^orship. Taylor shrank from this heavy yoke until he remembered that he had at home a copy of the Book of Common Prayer. His wife, rejoicing that her partner was no longer an enemy to her Saviour, placed the big Bible on the little round table after supper, and she was astonished by her husband's unfaltering approach to it. She little guessed that he had already secretly secured the Prayer Book, and having found an appropriate collect, had turned the leaf down and hid the book in his pocket. He calmly drew the Bible to him, and having opened the book, he found the place where was written the story of Christ's last hours in Gethsemane. As he read his heart melted within him; there distilled upon his soul an unction from the Holy One, and unbidden tears glistened ere they fell on the sacred page. When he closed the Book there was a lump in his throat; he fell on his knees and poured forth his soul in strains of penitence and praise. Then he retired upstairs, musing abstractedly and sweetly on what God had wrought within him, and it was when he felt the volume in his pocket as he undressed that he first remembered the provision he had made for facing the ordeal of family prayer. When this incident was related shortly afterwards to the eminent preacher, John Jones, Blaenannerch, he enjoyed the recital hugely. *' Do you see the secret?" he cried. '* If he wanted formalism, he should have avoided Gethsemane; he went too 7iear the Blood.''
One convert resolutely refused to move forward to the penitent form. **I am shattered," he sobbed; ''if I move I will fall to pieces; speak to me here if you please."
A young man in this church was so overwhelmed with mental anguish on the occasion of his conversion that jets of blood spurted from his nostrils, staining his garments. David Morgan approached him, and lifting up his hands, like a priest unto God and the Father giving absolution, he cried, '''In thy blood, live! ' " Spiritual religion mightily prospered here. Earthy elements in the church melted with the fervent heat. A hundred and fifty souls were gathered into the fold in the first six weeks of 1859. What wonder that one quaint brother should in a prayer-meeting twit Satan with his defeat. " It's all up with you, Old Harry ! " he afifirmed triumphantly ; *' you have lost all the field already; you have only the headland left you now, and you'll be thrown over the hedge one of these next days! "
It was in a meeting here that the Revivalist whispered in the ear of a beautiful girl — a church member — "What is the name of your lover?" and the answer shyly escaped her lips with modest reverence, "Jesus." When he proclaimed her reply so that all the brotherhood might hear, "Her lover is Jesus Christ," an ecstasy of adoration overwhelmed them, and all present joined to acclaim Him whose countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as cedars.
From, 'The '59 Revival', by J J Morgan, pages 41-4.
Additional Information
The meeting was probably here,