Although it cannot be said that the awakening is as general in this county (Montgomeryshire) as in some others, yet there are districts where "the powers of the world to come" are felt by large multitudes, and ministers of various denominations write with joyful spirits respecting the great enlargement of their churches.
The Rev. J. Williams of Aberhosan says:—" I am glad to be able to state that the religion of Jesus continues to attract attention, and has become the topic of conversation in this neighbourhood. Great numbers believe and turn to the Lord.' Nearly all the hearers at Penegos, Aberhosan, and Rhydfelin have become members amongst the various denominations. The prayer-meetings are the principal means of kindling the revival in every place. It was time for the Lord to work. Religion had been set aside. Literary and competition meetings had turned away the thoughts of the people from the spirituality of Christ's religion." Later still, the same writer remarks:—" The prayer- meetings had fallen away before the revival; now they are very popular. We have had prayer-meetings at Dinas, as well attended as if the most popular minister in the principality had been announced to preach. Last night, the night of the fair, we had a prayer-meeting. The chapel was full, and the streets empty. At this small place about fifty have been added to each of the three denominations, Independents, Calvinistic Methodists, and Wesleyans. A great victory has been gained here. Some of the most unlikely persons have been converted, and they appear to be thoroughly changed. The converts vary in age from ten to eighty. Great things have been done at Sammah, Very few of the congregation remain unimpressed. At Cemmaes the Calvinistic Methodists have received, as members, nearly the whole of the congregation. I am told that the exceptions are only four or five persons."
At Llanfair, Newtown, and various places in the neighbourhood, at Llanidloes also, and many smaller places, the revival gale is felt with more or less power. The following brief extracts will suffice for illustration:—
A correspondent of the Drysorfa," writes, as early as April last:—" I am glad to inform you that the revival spreads rapidly in these parts Machynlleth Cemmaes, Dinas-mowddy, &c.) About thirty have been added to the church to which I belong within the last fortnight. Indeed, there are only ten or twelve here who have not joined us, and even they are wounded deeply. I have never witnessed anything like that which I now see daily. You hear of nothing but the revival. Ungodly people quake and tremble. Those who offer themselves as candidates for church-fellowship weep and mourn, as though the world were at an end. I have seen a large congregation in this neighbourhood, containing at the time many scores of hardened, ungodly people, bathed in tears, and as incapable of leaving the place at the close of the public service as if their feet had been nailed to the floor of the chapel. I saw an aged man attempting it, but he failed and sat down again. Some of the most ungodly men seemed to be entirely bewildered; they could hardly find their way home that night. Blessed be God! many of them found their way to the blood of the Cross. I thank God I have lived to see the year 1859. God, in His grace, has done more within the last fortnight in this part of the country than had been accomplished for an age previously."
From ‘The Welsh Revival’ by Thomas Phillips.
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