Welsh Journals

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June 24, 1892. THE WELSH WEEKLY •formed a separate society, he blames the Welsh churches °r not attending the London meetings, and he will only attend himself what he likes. He thinks that our study 1 and experience for 13 years is a huge mistake, and wants is to make an end of our Institution at once, before we can have time to show him and others who are with him _what can be done ; and still poor little Wales, as poor as she ls, is able to give England some of her best men, and even cur classical tutors from Wales are considered by the English brethren good enough for their theological colleges. I was recently at Pontypool College, and was cross- examined for an hour and a half by tbe Bev. Principal Edward, D.D., Professor J. M. Davis, M.A., and the ministers of tbe whole neighbourhood. Are these brethren considered inferior to Mr. T. Witton Davies ? I am sure they are not by the people of Wales. Since that visit most favourable resolutions have been passed by the ministers of the neighbourhood, and by the Association of Monmouth¬ shire. Mr. Davies refers to Mr. Baynes, and says that the Missionary Society have refused from the first to sanction the Colwyn Bay movement. I wish to ask Mr. Davies from where he received that information? They were never asked to sanction it, and I have heard recently from a friend, on good authority, that Mr. Baynes is not in any way antagonistic to this work, and who wishes us to correspond with him about the matter, but I do not think Mr. Baynes could co-operate with us if he wanted, on account of an agreement with the Basle mission at the Cameroons, and neither can we in accordance with our constitution do so. Of course we can be one in spirit and desires, and I hope and pray that Mr. Davies and others will allow this good spirit to exist; for it is too late novr to pooh-pooh a Work that is rooted in the hearts of thousands and is blessed by God. Mr. Davies thinks he will be criticised; how is it possible for him to escape ? He wishes every critic to sign his own name, but I believe it would have been far better for him to have put a nom-de-plume at the foot °f such an article as his, instead of'T. Witton-Davies, Principal of Midland Baptist College, Nottingham;" for undoubtedly the run of his article will impress every keen and shrewd man that his main idea is to kill the Colwyn •Bay Institute, the infant of the Welsh churches, in order to protect the £4500—the annual collection of the Baptist churches in Wales. If this is not the case, why did he not Write his convictions at the beginning, as a brother, when he lived amongst us in Wales ? and if this is the case, it is very unworthy of the principal of any theological college. Mr. Davies refers to his private influence whilst in Wales with professors, &c, against this work. Of this we are well aware, and of many other powerful private leagues, but the work has overcome them all. It has prospered, and it is prospering; and the private leagues which have been carried on for six years cannot be silent any longer; now, they are breaking out in public, letters are being written to the various papers of our land. Truly it may be said, "The rulers take counsel together," but " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." We consider Mr. Davies' attack both hard and hasty. Gamaliel, the Principal of the Jewish College in Jerusalem, at the very beginning of this dispensation of grace, had more mercy and wisdom than the Principal of the Midland Baptist College, Nottingham, after the reign of this mighty power for almost 2000 years in the world, for he said, "If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it." Seeing the storms that are arising, the waves tossing, the contrary winds blowing, and the black clouds gathering thickly around at the present time, the Colwyn Bay Institution may be com¬ pared to the small ship of the disciples on the sea of Galilee, who had launched out at the bidding of the Master. We .conscientiously believe that we are rowing in obedience to His command. One hundred and fifty disciples are in the craft, amongst whom there is, we trust, a Peter to be found full of fervour and fire, and there are some among them truly " beloved disciples." We are together at present upon the mighty deep. The rowing has been hard. It is, indeed, "the fourth watch of the night." The waves and the winds of jealousy, of doubt, of suspicion, and bigotry, are against us; direct efforts are being made to capsize our little craft; but, dear brethren, take courage, be not afraid, stick fast to your oars, pull towards the shore, Our Father will guide the rudder. The Captain of our Salvation is yonder upon the mountain-top watch¬ ing over us. If the storm rises higher and higher, let us but cry unto Him the more and more, and He will surely hear our voices and come to the rescue. The craft to sink ! Never. Never. The Captain is able to walk upon the troubled sea. The fury of the waves and the winds and the deep darkness of the night are after all but means to try our faith. When He comes nearer the morning star will soon appear, the waves and the winds shall be hushed into silence, and we shall arrive in safety in the morning light upon the shores of Capernaum. When everything is considered, perhaps, we ought to be thankful to Mr. Davies for his attack upon our work, in as much as ventilating any good work can never do it any harm. An important friend in Liverpool told me yesterday, when I informed him that the new President of the Midland College had attacked our scheme. " Never mind, brother, it is the best advertisement that you can have " ; and so I believe it is, for another friend recently told me in Cardiganshire, "I saw someone making an unkind remark about your work in the Seven, and I deter¬ mined at once that I would send you a good subscription.^' Surely God is causing the wrath of man to praise Him. I cannot, however, conclude this letter without wishing my brother, Mr. T. Witton-Davies, every success in his studies m Germany, and may God abundantly bless his work in training young men for the Christian ministry at the College, Nottingham, on his return; and should his funds at any time be low, I shall be most happy, at his request, to contribute, poor as I am, my half-a-crown, the usual Welshman's subscription. a i,» ,. Wj» Hughes, f Secretary. A WELSH PRESIDENT OF THE WESLEYAN CONFERENCE. To the Editor of the Welsh Weekly. Dear Sir,—Your bright and interesting paper is always helpful, and forms a valued aid to Nonconformist Union. I read with interest your able leading article on the Wesleyan President for 1893, also your Wesleyan corre¬ spondent's notes on the same subject, and the timely letter of "X." It is very kind and fair of you, in your article, to refrain from any attempt to bias the minds of your readers in favour of any candidate for the high position of President. I have the greatest respect for Bev. John Evans, but heartily believe, with your correspondent " X," that the most representative man is Mr. Hughes. Through the Methodist Times he influences scores of circuits, and particularly in Wales. Mr. Hughes has shown that he is a man who goes with the times. He preaches to 4000 or 5000 hearers weekly. He has all kinds of Christian workers engaged under him, and, imbued with his spirit, they are seeking desperately to rescue the souls around them. Your Wesleyan correspondent asks, " Why may not Eglwys- bach shine conspicuously in the chair of the Wesleyan Conference ? " As Methodists, many of us are sick of this one-man- shining-in-the-pulpit business, and poor souls unsaved in the pews. We know i.bat if Hughes was in power, much of the red-tapeism that is strangling Methodism would be cut right through. At Leeds, a few days ago, two Wesleyan ministers signed a paper that they were against temperance legislation. A man like Mr. Hughes would not hesitate to clear the pulpits of such nonentities—men who blame Goliath, but refuse to attack the giants of to-day. Mr. Hughes is a man of the people, a man for the times, a go-ahead reformer, a leading abstainei, and a hearty advocate of Christian union. He is a splendid organizer, and represents the young Wales idea in Methodism. As " X." says, "He is in the fore-front of the army of preachers—perhaps the greatest force in the evangelistic pulpit of to-day." It is quite fair to consider the claims of others for the position. But it will be a calamity for divided counsel to prevent the man of the people coming to the front. Shall we be foolish enough to repeat our mistakes in the past, and by splitting votes among two Welshmen, prevent either from being in a position to serve God and his country by the election ? Yours truly, Voice of the People. " NOT ASHAMED TO BE CALLED A WELSHMAN.' To the Editor of the Welsh Weekly. Sir,—I am an Englishman, and therefore I do not suppose that any communication of mine will have much' weight with you. Still, being a diligent reader of your very excellent "Weekly," and a great admirer of the independent manner with which you have conducted the Christian Standard, I have faith that you will find a corner in your next issue, wherein to insert these few lines. However, I cannot desist from expressing my utter disgust at the nonsense written in a recent number, under the above heading, over the initials of one " T. M. A." There is something so exquisitely ludicrous even in the title of it, that one is at once inclined to think, that for some mysterious reason or other, the majority of Welshmen are prone to be ashamed of their national inheritance, and would gladly sell this birthright to any " Jacob of a Jew " for a mess of pottage. It is, to me, difficult to reconcile the innuendo contained in the title of the article with the somewhat out-of-taste description he gives of the swarming imlpits of the Principality. I certainly never knew of any reason why Welshmen should be ashamed of their nationality. Wales has a proud, if checkered, history in the past, and Welshmen in these days are busily and earnestly engaged in making a history for their country that bids fair to eclipse anything done outside of it; and hence the difficulty I experience in discovering what possible object T. M. A. had in view in reiterating for home consumption the simple fact that the Lord Mayor of London is not ashamed to be called a Welshman. The Lord Mayor is admittedly an excellent man, possessed of considerable sound common sense, and knowledge of the world, besides an unimpeachable, personal character ; but I doubt very much if he entirely approves of the clannish- ness exhibited by such bigoted Welshmen as T. M. A. Whilst admiring the Welsh nation generally as much as I do my own people, I must confess that I can hardly conceal my contempt for such manifestations of servitude and self-glorification as is contained in T. M. A.'s article. One is driven in these days by such patriotic cant to the conclusion that of all the things which men can do or make here below, by far the most momentous, wonderful, and worthy is the blowing of trumpets to call attention to themselves, and to the superiority of their own people, and look upon others as .unrecognised and unregulated Ishmaelites. I have no faith in such flighty senti¬ mentalists, and as an Englishman I have no desire to make proselytes among such bigots, I have no respect for their opinion, good or bad, and do not relish their slipshod assumption of the air of general superiority. W. A. B. THE WESLEYAN ITINERANCY. The following are the resolutions to be submitted to Conference by the Special Committee charged with the consideration of the above question :— 1. That no proposals ought to be submitted to our people by the Conference that would in any way interfere with the existing rights and usages both of the circuits and of the Conference with respect to the yearly invitations by circuits, and the yearly appointments by the Con¬ ference. 2. The Committee deem it proper further to place on record its conviction, which it believes is the conviction of the Connexion generally, that the working of the Itinerant principle, and on the whole, the three years' limit, has in the past been highly beneficial to our Church. Nevertheless, in view of difficulties which have for many years past been found to arise, sometimes in circuit and sometimes in Home Mission work, and also in the Army and Navy work, it has become very desirable that power should be obtained from Parliament for Conference to be at liberty to extend the limit of ministerial appointment to such a period as may to the Conference seem fit. 3. To secure this object it is desirable to apply to Parlia¬ ment for a Bill to repeal those portions of Claus'e XI. of the Poll Deed which prohibit the appointment of ministers for more than three years successively to the use and enjoyment o any chapel and premises. 4. At the same} time the Committee is of opinion that the Conference should state explicitly to the Connexion what are the administrative changes it would think it advisable to make in respect of the term of Itinerancy. 5. In the opinion of this Committee the Conference should declare that in its circuit administration it is resolved to adhere as a general rule to the three years' limit of appoint¬ ment, and that the exception to the three years' limit should be as follows :— (a) In special cases where it may be desirable for the stabdity and successful continuity of circuit administra¬ tion that the same minister should be retained in the circuit for more than three years, the term may be farther extended from year to year ; so, however, that the whole term of appointment shall not exceed six years. Provided always that the minister be invited to remain by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the members of the March quarterly meeting actually present; and that the vote be fully reported to, and the case other¬ wise specially considered by the Stationing Committee, and recommended by that Committee to the Conference. (b) That in case of special Home Missions the Con¬ ference should have the power, after appointing a minister for three years in succession, to continue the appointment of such minister for successive periods of three years each (the appointment being renewed annually), provided that the Committee of the Mission and the Quarterly Meeting (if any) connected with the Mission recommend such renewal of the term of appoint¬ ment by at least a majority of three-fourths of those actually present, and that it be sanctioned by the Con¬ ference in its Bepresentative Session after careful inquiry by a Committee to sit during the Conference. (c) That in the case of Army and Navy appointments the same principle should be observed as in the preced¬ ing resolution. 6. Having respect to the legal rights of trustees to con¬ sultation before any steps be taken to obtain an Act of Parliament, the Committee recommends that the separate bodies of trustees be invited to express their views on the subject by resolution to the ensuing Conference. 7. The Committee further recommends that the Con¬ ference should submit the foregoing resolutions to the May District Meetings and the June Quarterly Meetings of 1893, and that a Committee be appointed by the Conference to prepare a report on the opinion of these meetings, together with the resolutions adopted by the meetings of trustees, to be laid before the following Conference. N.B.—A full statement of the numbers present, and the numbers actually voting for or against the resolution at each meeting shall be reported to the Conference. 8. Finally, the Committee recommends that the Con¬ ference should declare that no further changes should be made in the direction of extending the term of ministerial appointment to a circuit without steps pre¬ viously taken to obtain the substantial consent of the Connexion. Being near Christ is one thing, but touching Him is quite another thing.—Echo. A man exercising no forethought will soon experience present sorrow.—Confucius. Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience.—Izaak Walton. The fountain of beauty is the heart, and every generous thought illustrates the walls of the chamber.—Emerson. Love's secret is always to be doing things for God, and not to mind because they are very little ones.—F. W. Faber. " If it is winter in our souls, it is because wo have turned away from God and His love. If it is night it is not because God has gone away from us, but because we have gone away from Him."