Welsh Journals

THE WELSH WEEKLY. January 15, 1892. OUR BUSINESS NOTICES. United Kingdom, RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION. Post Fbee, Abroad. 8. a. mouths 12 months 6 „ s. a. 8 8 4 4 3 2 India and China, 10s. lOd. per year. TERMS FOR ADVERTISEMENTS. Ordinary Pages, 5s. per inchj or 4 lines 2b., and Bd. per Hne afterwards. Leader Page, 6s. 9d. per inch; or 4 lines 8s., and 8d. per line afterwards. i Paragraph Advertisements by Special Contract. A reduction of 10 per cent, is mads on six, 18 per cent, on thirteen, 20 per cent, on twenty-six, or 25 per cent, on fifty-two insertions. Small Prepaid Advertisements, Situations, Houses or Apartments, Miscellaneous Wants or Sales, Births, Deaths, Marriages, are inserted at the following exceptionally low terms:—20 words for one shilling and one halfpenny for each additional word. Three con¬ secutive insertions for the price of two. Trade Advertisements not taken at this rate. Latest time for receiving Advertisements, 8 p.m. on Wednesday for next issue. The name and address of the Advertiser must in all oases accom¬ pany the advertisement. All orders for the insertion of Advertisements to be sent to THE ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER, KING, SELL, & RAILTON, 4, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.G. Remittances to be made payable to R. J. Railtos. GLEANINGS FROM WELSH DIYINES. A Weekly Book Prize of the Yalue of 2s. 6d. will be given for the beat translation, not exceeding 200 words, of a passage from the works of any Welsh Divine. Unsuccessful translations are to be at the disposal of the Editor. Contributions to be sent to the Prize Editor of the WELSH WEEKLY. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1892. CALLED BACK. The Nonconformist bodies in Wales, especially the Calvinistic Methodists, were composed at first almost wholly of working men. The great religious awakening of 150 years ago began in what is called the lower strata of society, and worked its way up until it took hold of the middle-class. The aristocracy of blood or of money has never, as a class, been religious in any country—" not many mighty, not many noble are called." There have been brilliant excep¬ tions, from the days of Joseph of Arimathaea down to the present time—rich men who have felt themselves honoured to bring presents, and to offer unto Him of the gold of Sheba—but: they have been a few of the excellent ones of the earth. Now we are in danger of becoming too: respectable. Not long ago, a very large number of our deacons were labourers—not workmen in factories and quarries merely, but farm-labourers. That generation has almost all died out, and; very few, if any, churches would now ever dream of electing a son of the soil in that sense to be a deacon. [ These labourers were men of fervent piety, and; some strength of character. They had nothing; to recommend them for these posts of honour in the churches but their Christian characters. Yet: they were narrow and prejudiced, and often rather ignorant; but they magnified their office, and! they always remembered that "it is required; in stewards that a man be found faithful." The modern deacon is much more intelligent than some of his predecessors; but perhaps he is less spiritual. The labourers were the representa¬ tives of a most important class; they were a bond; of union and sympathy between the masses and the office-bearers; and churches where working men Were put in positions of trust had, and have, a claim and a hold oh the working classes. Now the deacons are almost always farmers and trades¬ people. We have no fault to find with them. They serve their office well, but farm-labourers and the poorer sections look askance at them as repre¬ sentatives exclusively of the comfortable classes, and they suspect, whether rightly or wrongly, that they have not much sympathy with the labourer, and they begin to talk of them as the " great folk in the big pew." There is no doubt that one secret of the influence wielded by the Salvation Army over the lower strata in society is the fact that they see Bill, Jack, and Tom— men like themselves—raised to the rank of Captain, and clothed with some authority. What is the remedy ? That is a question easier asked than answered. The oppor tunities of these days are so much more numerous and advan¬ tageous than they once were, that every man with anything in him can rise from the ranks. The labourer and ordinary workman, if a man of natural ability and good character, can im¬ prove his position very soon, by careful manage¬ ment and perseverance, so as to attain a moderate competence and a higher social rank. And it is men with something in them, plus grace, that we want to be leaders in the churches. Still the fact remains that we are in danger of attaching too much importance to wealth and position in the election of deacons, and that men who are eminently qualified in the higher respects for the office are often passed over solely because they are work¬ men, and therefore not deemed worthy to sit in council with Farmer Eoberts and Esquire Jones. The result is that the working classes are gradually losing sympathy and touch with the pulpit and the Church. Not long since, some of the finest men of prayer in every church used to be labourers—men that could wrestle with God, whose prayers thrilled the congregation, and brought Heaven down to earth. I remember one such, a man of ordinary ability, who was never anything better than a cowman—porthwr—but to hear him pray was a means of grace to the most cultured. His language was so pure and chaste, his acquaintance with Scripture was so extensive, his petitions were so suitable to the occasion, and such unction was on all his prayers, that he was a striking instance of the awakening and refining power of true religion. But such are becoming rare in the land. Once it was not difficult for the religious farmer to hire men for his service that would take their turn with him at family prayers, but now they are not so readily found. When we have explained the circumstances, as we may, and made all allowances for the changed times, it remains a fact that we are silently drifting further from our original state. We need to be reminded, in the words of Isaiah, " to look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." There are as fine materials to be obtained from this quarry yet as ever our fathers brought forth. We require a call back. EDITORIAL NOTES. Familiarity with crime deadens the feelings. The excitement created by the publication of Mr. Stead's "Modern Babylon" subsided very soon. Such reve¬ lations have lost their novelty. But all lovers of sobriety and purity must be horrified in reading a pamphlet written by Mr. B. A. Armstrong, entitled,! " The Deadly Shame of Liverpool.*' The conclusions; drawn by the author are based on information and facts obtained at first hand. The pamphlet is written in the spirit of Lloyd Garrison's famous saying :— I will be a* harsh as Truth, and a? uncompromising as Justice. It is to be hoped that the friends of temper¬ ance and social reform will procure this tract and scatter it broadcast. The writer unhesitatingly charges the frightful immorality of Liverpool to the apathy of the citizens. But it would be hardly fair to judge the citizens of Liverpool by this tract alone, without reading another on M Prohibition in England," by Mr. E. Jones, B.A., Liverpool. Mr. Jones shows how the power of the people has successfully asserted itself in the district of Toxteth, where 50,000 people live without a public-house. Both these gentlemen have read some useful lessons to other towns, to be up and doing in the cause of social reform. PRESBYTERIAN NOTES. Mb. J. Young Evans, the new Third Tutor at Trefecca College, has had a decidedly brilliant career. He is a native of Dowlais, and when at Merthyr Grammar School, of which he was senior scholar, he gained first-class honours in the Cambridge Local Junior and Senior, with distinction in religious knowledge, being second in England in the Senior—English, Latin, and French; he also secured the Political Economy prize offered by the late Professor Fawcett. In the examination of the East Glamorgan Sunday School Union he was twice at the head of the Juniors, and once .second among the Seniors (being under age). The Monthly Meeting has appointed him Examiner for the middle division this year. Certificates and prizes were won in the years hereunder named :—September, 1885, senior scholarship (£50 for three years) at the University College of Wales; January, 1886, Uni¬ versity of London, matriculated sixth in honours (marks for third prize) ; October, 1886, S. T. Evans's Essay Prize (" Growth of the Parliamentary Opposi¬ tion, 1601-1629"); July, 1887, University of London; intermediate, arts, honours in Latin, first in first-class (exhibition of £40 for two years), Frenchi second place; June, 1888, Corpus Christi College,, Oxford, open classical exhibition (£50 for four years); October, 1888, University of London, B.A., pass examination, first division; November, 1888, honours in classics, first in first-class (scholarship of £50 for three years, with style of " University Scholarship ") March, 1890, Classical Moderations, Oxford, first- class; August, 1890, National Eisteddfod, prize for Latin elegiac verse (translation of" Goronwy Owain'"); June, 1891, University of London, M.A. in classics. Mr. Young Evans's chief literary essays are the following:—Libretto of Mr. Haydn Parry's cantata, " Gwen ; " a pamphlet on " From Tyne to Danube;' a paper (before the Dafydd ab Gwilym, Pelican, and Bussell Clubs, Oxford), on " The Welsh National Movement;" a booklet of polyglot verses, "Inter Salices Rhedicinre;" and serial articles have been contributed to the Geninen on " Moddion Dyrchafiad y Cymro Ieuanc;" to the Lladmerydd on " Gwers Hanesyddol; " Oxford letters to the Goleuad, &e. CONGREGATIONAL NOTES. With the beginning of this new year Dr. Herber Evans, of Carnarvon, has entered upon his year of office as the Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. This is the most honourable position in the denomination. Only three Welsh¬ men have been previously honoured with this office,— that true patriot, Mr. Henry Bichards, M.P., that genial pastor and bishop of the Churches of South Wales, Rev. Dr. Thomas Hees, of Swansea, who was, however, snatched away from his labour to his reward before giving his first address from the Chair, and last, but not least, the Rev. John Thomas, D.D., of Liverpool, the powerful preacher, the indomitable warrior, and the almost ideal worker. The services rendered by Dr. Evans to his denomination well deserve this reward. He has laboured in season and out of season as pastor of the Churches at Morriston and Carnarvon. As long as his health permitted him, he was always prepared to respond to the invitations of churches both in England and in Wales for his occasional services. It is needless to say that he is more than a man of one denomination, and is in many respects a National