Tabernacle Welsh Congregational Chapel - Treharris (1905)
Mr Evan Roberts’s visit to Treharris today was eagerly looked forward to and created reasonable stir in the district. To one who had been a witness to the wonderful and memorable meetings of the last few days at Merthyr and Treodyrhiw the afternoon meeting at Brynhyfryd might be regarded as comparatively “cold” and uneventful; but there was nevertheless, in this quiet meeting a good deal of fervour, and there was a spontaneity which did not allow for a single pause in a service which lasted over three hours. The meeting had proceeded for about an hour before Mr Roberts rose to speak, and he then expressed his gratitude that God’s glory was not dependent on one man. He urged them to keep this always in mind. The enemy was looking on. The Spirit was present in might, so mightily that he had been compelled to keep silent. They might have thought that He had departed. That was not so. All that was necessary was that they should always keep in view God’s glory, and do everything with that great objective before them. He had sometimes been unable to account for the lack of fervour in meetings, and he had been impatient, but, thank God, he had now learned wisdom and understood the reason. “I have nothing more to tell you,” he concluded somewhat abruptly. The evening meeting was held at Tabernacle Welsh Congregational Chapel. It seemed to have been generally known or inferred, from the fact that this was the largest chapel of the place that the missioner would be present there, and the crush was tremendous. Police officers had as much as they could do to cope with it. And what a wonderful meeting this was! It is very seldom that an afternoon and an evening meeting in the same locality are so markedly contrastive. Tears and smiles, cries for mercy and shouts of joy, sorrow and rejoicing, heart-rending prayers and exultant exclamations commingled in a remarkable manner. The people were in deadly earnest, and it is no exaggeration to say that time after time hundreds of people prayed simultaneously. But the most moving sight of all was to witness the ecstatic delight of the people at the announcement of converts. They clapped their hands, they shouted, they cried with joy. And this prayerful assembly was prone to tears. Men cried like children, and many Englishmen present, although they understood but very little – it being nearly all in Welsh – were often seen with tears trickling down their faces.
From, 'The Western Mail', 2nd February 1905.