Penuel Baptist Chapel, Pencoed - Pen Prysg hill (1903)
The story of what happened on Garn Fawr was released to the press in a letter to 'Seren Cymru' published on 30th October 1903. The letter was originally written in Welsh, and what follows is my own approximate translation:
PENPRISG
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
Although I do not believe in rushing hurriedly to the press to pass on the news of something as good as religious revival, when it could be better told by others, I can not hold back from telling the story of what happened. I am confident that we will reach our goal of strengthening the faith of the churches concerning what can be the means of bringing about regeneration in a whole area. It began as follows. The church in its normal services seemed totally indifferent and completely ineffective when three or four young brothers from the church thought they would begin to pray for the cause. Nobody knew about this, and nobody would have known unless an unbelieving brother had not gone to a hill near the chapel and found the young brothers meeting to pray by themselves. The result was that this brother joined with them. Soon they were followed by others - some of them were completely unsaved and others were members of Penuel. In fact, the church as a whole considered the movement be a trivial thing, and mocked it, believing it would soon come to an end. Up to this point, those who were involved every night outdoors were often accompanied by people who did not attend a place of worship, and it was understood that the Spirit worked so powerfully that some of them began to pray in public. The church then began to take notice of what was happening and began to get involved. Soon almost the whole church was meeting in communal prayers out on the nearby hill, and the whole area was awakened by the singing and prayer. Not just the four met to pray, but ten and often many more met together, and the influence was felt to be irresistible, especially when the recent converts of both sexes were calling on the name of the Lord. The whole church was now taken over by the Spirit, and there was not one night for five months when there was not a prayer meeting. We have conducted 23 baptisms, and many backsliders have been restored, and the scale is big considering the population of the place. It would be the equivalent of 80 or 100 in a more populous place, such as Cwm Rhondda. We share these signs to show what could be done if the whole church were baptized with the same spirit. There would surely be a new era in our history and a powerful visitation in our country, and the spread of such a spirit, as made Zion the focus of praise.
‘Walk forward, heavenly fire,
Take here a holy possession.’ *
is the wish of ONE of PENUEL.
Many thanks to David Pike and his fantastic blog on the Spiritual Heritage of Wales.
https://daibach-welldigger.blogspot.com/2018/03/pencoeds-path-to-place-of-prayer.html?view=snapshot
Additional Information
I am not sure where exactly the hill is, but Pen Prisg Road is just to the right.