Welsh Journals

August 5, 1892. THE WELSH WEEKLY. OUR CELEBRITIES. No. XXIV.—Continued. REV. JOHN PUGH. We cannot do better than insert Mr. Pugh's own address, which appeared in the Christian Standard, in order to give an idea of the develop¬ ment of the work under his supervision in Cardiff. "My Dear Christian Helpers,—On the first page of our Magazine for this month you will see a sketch of the first new Mission Hall, which is being built for the Cardiff Evangelistic Move¬ ment. Before, however, enlarging upon the special call for your immediate and liberal help towards the above centre, allow me, first of all, to refer briefly to the origin of the General Movement. "I had for some time felt that new lines and new methods must be adopted if the thousands of perishing souls in Cardiff were to be reached and rescued. So, after much prayer, and corresponding with friends far and near, we plunged into the breach; and through the co-operation of good men and true, and of Mr. Seth Joshua, of the Neath Mission, we inaugurated our PLAN OF CAMPAIGN in May last, by pitching our first tent on East Moors, Cardiff. We began here because this was considered the most needy spot in Cardiff. Here we have a population of about 20,000 immortal souls—thousands of whom have sunken as low in the moral scale as is possible for men and woman out of perdition. The drink curse and its numerous progeny are as rife in some parts of East Moors as they can be ! A poor woman was killed in a drunken brawl, within a stone's throw of our tent, the very first Sunday we opened our tent here, and the man who did it is now under¬ going a long period of penal servitude for the crime. Out of the whole gang when that terrible deed was done, only a little boy of seven years of age was sufficiently sober to give evidence of what really did take place. The people in some of the streets here are huddled together like brute beasts, rather than like human beings. The religious provision of this great centre of purely working- class population is very meagre. When we began here there was only one Wesleyan schoolroom, to seat 500; one English Baptist schoolroom, to seat 500; one Ritualistic Church, to seat 400 ; and one little Mission Church connected with the same, to seat 220—and all these, with the exception of the last named, are situated in the most respectable streets, and away from the worst part of the Moors. " But we felt led of God to pitch our tent in the most heathenish spot in the place, or indeed in Cardiff. We need not tell our readers that we began with mixed feelings of faith and fear. But, praise the Lord, our fears were soon dispelled; and we are now persuaded that Satan was largely at the bottom of all our doubts and fears, for God gave us great favour with the people. Instead of having our tent torn to pieces as was prophesied by 'Little Faith,' the poor people thronged to hear the Word of Life preached and sung. " Our senior Evangelist (Mr. Seth Joshua) was the pioneer of the campaign on the East Moors. Through his earnest, soul-stirring preaching and singing, he won his way at once into the hearts of the people. The power of God so rested upon His young servant, that his words burned into the hearts and consciences of his hearers, and the large tent became full of the glory of the Lord, like the tent in the wilderness of old. The people felt that God was indeed in the place. The result was that very many gave up their evil ways and turned to the Lord, and are now going on their way rejoicing to the better land, where there is no sin and sorrow. The big tent was crowded, be the weather what it might. We have seen them wading their way through water and mud, and sitting quietly in the tent, when wind and rain threatened to blow canvas and all away. " The work so prospered in the large Tent that we resolved upon purchasing a smaller Tent for the dear children, for we found hundreds of poor boys and girls, whom no one cared for their souls, most anxious to join us and share our blessings. This, again, turned out to be of God, and a great and a good work was began among the children. One of the most pleasing features of our movement is the deep and enthusiastic interest the children take in it. They seem as eager for its success as any of us. The secret of all this, through the blessing of God, is that the children have discovered that the workers con¬ nected with the mission centres love them. Love is the great key into the heart of young and old. This is the great key which God uses, and all suc¬ cessful workers for God must possess the same. No man can be successful in God's work, and in soul-saving work, unless he possesses a passionate love for God and souls. This is our experience. O for more and more love for Jesus Christ and men! " This extending of the mission to the neglected children meant more and more work, and this meant more and more need of workers. We were not disappointed in this, for He that feedeth the sparrows sent us the very men and women we needed in the persons of Messrs. W. Eoberts, W. D. O. Jones, &c. 'THE CHRISTIAN STANDARD.' " At this time, too, we felt that we stood sadly in need of a magazine and a general secretary and a good Christian instructor. And, while we were wondering what we should do to cope with our ever-increasing work, and how we could make the operations of the movement felt through the country, so that others may take courage to begin similar work at the great centres of population, we received a kind letter from Rev. J. Griffith, who was just home from Canada, asking if he could render us any help. This was the very thing we had been praying for, and all who know Mr. Griffith will agree with us that he has ren¬ dered the movement good and great service as editor of the Christian Standard, which, we believe, has done—and is doing—immense good, by in¬ spiring the churches of our land to aggressive work. EVANGELIST HOWELL. " The East Moors Centre had to part with Evan¬ gelist Joshua in two months, for he was called to open a new mission centre at Riverside, Canton. The question now was, who should follow up the good and great work begun on East Moors ? Our thoughts were directed to Mr. H. G. Howell, of Skewen, who was doing the work of an Evan¬ gelist here and there all over the country. We wrote to him, and got a favourable reply. He undertook, through the help of God and ours, to take his stand for Christ in this strongest point of the devil's kingdom in Cardiff. Nothing but faith in God could have induced him to undertake such a tremendous task. And the Lord has rewarded his faith and his labour of love, by giving him marvellous favour with his people, and many souls for his hire. The Lord put His seal upon this choice at once, and continues to do so. The people among whom he labours love him with a passion¬ ate love, and no wonder, for his advent among them has brought joy to their hearts and homes. He has a most devoted band of helpers, who second him in every good effort, and who stand by him week-days and Sundays, both in his in-door and out-door work. The great gales of October 13th, which did such damage on sea and land, played havoc with our Tents, both at East Moors and Canton, and com¬ pelled us to quit our canvas tents, and to go to the expense of constructing WOODEN BUILDINGS. This was done as if by magic. The East Moors Wooden Hall does not look very inviting from outside, but it is most cosy and bright inside, and will hold about 500 people. It is full on Sundays, and a good number attend the week-day services, both in adults' and children s' services. The number of the saved go on increasing week by week here, and we are looking forward with great hope to our NEW HALL, which will seat 1000 persons, and is to be ready by June next. The architects of this commodious hall are Messrs. Habershon and Faukner, New¬ port ; and the builders are Messrs. Thomas and James, Cardiff. The contract price is £2,000. The reasons we have for building a hall and not a chapel are many. First, we know by experience that hundreds will attend religious meetings in a plain hall, with plain seats, who could never be induced to enter a church or a chapel fitted up with pews, &c. Secondly, a hall is much cheaper —and we don't believe in wasting money upon ornamental buildings, while precious souls are perishing by thousands at home and by millions abroad for the want of the "Bread of Life." We have no fear that this new large hall will be crowded with immortal souls to hear the word of Life, as well as the tent and the wooden hall which preceded it. Every place we have yet had have been crowded, and souls have been saved. What we are now most axious about is that the hall might be opened free of debt. This is gloriously possible if God's stewards will only consider His claims to their wealth, and of the poor to their sympathy. It is possible that the bitter cry of distant lands and distant towns for help should be heartily responded to by the wealthy men of Cardiff and of Wales, and yet our own flesh and blood shall cry in vain. Have we forgotten the Master's order'—to begin at Jesusalem—to begin at home ! Is it not a sin against God and perishing humanity for any man or woman to roll in wealth and luxury whilst men and women, at our very door, are going down to hell for want of a little help 1 Is this making friends with the Mammon of unrighteous¬ ness, so that if it will fail us, the friends we make by its instrumentality may receive us into the everlasting habitations ? Has not our money been given to us to use for God's glory and God's poor, just as any of our other gifts 1 What more right has anyone to hoard his money than we have to hide our God-given talent to win souls for Christ 1 Shall we not be called to give an account of our money, as well as of our gifts? Well, here is one of the grandest opportunities for those whom God has blessed with money to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty forces of evil, which are sapping the very founda¬ tions of society in the individual and in the home! Let us not forget the curse that fell upon Meroz for remaining neutral when the great struggle was going on between His people and their foes ! We are engaged in a desperate struggle for God and country- against the forces of evil—and that in their strongholds. Our wealthy friends have been slow in coming to our help against the foe. " YOU HAVE BEEN A LONG TIME COMING." I remember reading the following story in one