Welsh Journals

Wkz A RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG THE Calvinistic Methodists or Presbyterians of Wales. Vol. II. No. 11.] NOVEMBER, 1886. [Price One Penny. ^lotes ax%b ©omments. On Sunday, October 3rd, one of the most prominent and eminent of our lay elders —D. Roberts, Esq., J.P., Tanyrallt, and Liverpool—"fell on sleep," in the eighty- first year of his age. When a youth he pledged himself to be the Lord's servant, and during a long and busy life he proved himsef a faithful steward of the manifold grace of God. He was made a Church leader at an early period of his Christian career, and through his familiarity with the Scriptures and the hymns of Anne Griffiths and Williams of Pantycelyn, and his acquaintance with the works of the Puritans, he had become specially fitted for conducting Church meetings ; and however busy he might be, we are told that he never failed to put in an appear¬ ance at these fellowship meetings, which were the delight of his heart. He took a prominent part in all the onward move¬ ments of our Connexion during the last fifty years, and his name will be handed down to posterity as one of the prime movers in the establishment of our Con- nexional Institutions and Funds, and one of the most liberal donors towards them all. He was often heard to say that he should like to go Home on the Christian's day of rest, and God granted him his re¬ quest on the morning of the Lord's day, October 3rd ult. We had fully expected to be able to present our readers this month with a full report of the Conference of the English Churches held at Llandudno, October 25th and 26th, but the first paper which was read by the Rev. R. H. Morgan, M.A., has completely blocked the way. That paper is undoubtedly a spirited and excellent one, though possib¬ ly it hits our Connexional blots rather roughly and unsparingly, but it is so uncon¬ scionably long that we are compelled to told over the remainder of the report until next month. The Conference did well in passing a Vote of sympathy with the Rev. Joseph "Ones, Menai Bridge, in his severe and protracted affliction, for Mr. Jones was a host in himself, in the early days of En¬ glish Calvinistic Methodism on the North Wales Marches. His whole heart was in the English movement when it had only a few friends and supporters, and his efforts continued until it pleased the Lord to take away his physical strength; and it will give him joy and comfort to find that he is not forgotten by the brethren in his sore trial. It was perfectly nataral also that a vote of condolence should have been passed with the family of the late Mr. D. Roberts, J. P., in their bereavement. Mr. Roberts was ever a true friend of the English Causes, and a supporter of the same. We are glad to find too that Dr. Edwards, Bala, was not forgotten. The English Causes have had no stauncher advocate than the venerable Doctor, and his earnest advocacy stood them in good stead on many a stormy day in the years that are gone by. We understand that his birthday came off on the day succeed¬ ing the Conference, and they did well in sending him a birthday greeting on the occasion. No harm would have been done either had the attention of the English Churches been called to the English edition of his valuable work on The Atonement, which is advertised as one of the forthcoming volumes to be published this season by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. We are told that the translation is the work of the Rev. D. C. Edwards, M.A., Bala, and as the venerable Author himself has had every opportunity of overlooking its pages, we may with confidence recom¬ mend it, though we have not yet had the pleasure of perusing it in its English garb. We sincerely hope that it will have a great and speedy sale. The Monthly Tidings itself came in for a share of the attention of the Conference, both through the letters elicited by the Rev. Ed. Jerman, who had been ap¬ pointed to read a paper on our Connex¬ ional Literature, and through the speeches made on the occasion; and thus the desire of the poet has been granted us when he prayed,— " 0 wad some power the giftie gie us, To see ourselves as others see us." And we are sorry that through want of space we cannot this month favour our readers with the diversity of views ex¬ pressed, from the kind, apologetic tone of Mr. Jerman, to the contemptuous tone of the language employed by Mr. Henry Lewis, who, from the lofty heights of the city of Bangor—the Athens of Wales— looks down with supercilious scorn upon "the paltry penn'orth." Professor Delitzsch, of Leipsig, is lead¬ ing a movement in the German Univer¬ sities, having for its object mission work among the Jews. Those who are engaged in the work intend to establish a school in Leipsig, in which the missionaries are to be educated, the Professor himself to teach them Hebrew. Already over three hundred ' students at the Universities have joined the movement. It is stated in a German newspaper that in Vienna alone, during 1885, two hundred and sixty Jews became Christians, and that never in the history of Germany were conversions from Judaism so numerous as now. The greatest need of the Foreign Mission fields at the present time, so far as human agency is concerned, is earnest, pleading, constant, and universal prayer in the home churches. All is ready for the Divine blessing in the foreign fields. Let the people of God besiege the throne of grace, and intercede for a perishing world. Dr. Temple, one of the joint-authors of a once celebrated volume called " Essays and Reviews," had the credit in days gone by of being a prominently liberal- minded clergyman ; but since his eleva¬ tion to the episcopacy he has disappointed the friends of progress and Christian for¬ bearance on several occasions, and only last week gave a fresh instance of a narrow-minded bigotry in refusing to grant permission to the Rev. H. R. Haweis, M.A., of St. James's Church, Marylebone, to occupy the pulpit of Dr. Parker, of the City Temple,