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As was to be expected, the first to feel the fire of revival were the
Welsh-speaking colonies in America and elsewhere. In far-off India, the
fire swept through the Welsh mission fields. All of Britain, as well as
the Continent, began to be invaded for Christ by scores of evangelists,
pastors, Bible teachers, and even laymen who had either been converted
or had "caught the fire" in Wales during the revival. I, myself, have
labored with some of these blessed men of God and know that even to
this day the work still stands. One preacher, for example, whose life
was revolutionized, took the revival fire to a Scandinavian country,
where today there are at least 100 churches flourishing as a direct
outcome of his ministry. Rev. and Mrs. Rees Howells are examples of
evangelists who took the fire of God to the mission field. They saw God
work in an amazing way in South Africa and returned later to found the
Bible College of South Wales in Swansea from which missionaries would
go to the ends of the earth.
A young Latvian student from Spurgeon's College in London broke away from his classes on hearing of the fire of God in Wales and made a bell-line to Swansea. There he caught the flame. The Spirit of God came upon him mightily so that when he returned to his beloved Russia, he carried the flame of revival to that land. As I labored with this man for many years, I was conscious of the lasting effect of the Welsh revival upon his ministry. Not only did he lead tens of thousands to Christ, but he was instrumental in building some 200 churches in Eastern Europe.
The year 1905 will never be forgotten in the history of the English Keswick Convention. It came to be known as "The Welsh Week" as many young pastors came from Wales to tell what God had done in their churches. In one meeting of three hours, there wasn't a break in spontaneous praise, confession and worship. Friday night was an outstanding occasion when E. W. Moore was giving a message from I Corinthians 3:11-15 on "The Ordeal of Fire," dwelling on the necessity of building upon the right foundation with purified materials - the possibility of the Christian himself being saved while his works are burnt up by the fire of God.
Dr. R. B. Jones writes of this message:
I felt God's refining fire go through me, revealing the wood, hay and stubble of work and motive. When I arose to speak, so humbling and overwhelming was this conviction that when called upon to lead in prayer and address the meeting, it was quite involuntary that I should first of all make my confession. I did so and asked others, who, like me, had felt conscious of God's direct dealing, to stand with me before God as those who, then and there, besought Him to refine us now that worthless material might not accumulate against the coming "day of fire."
The invitation was so responded to that the whole tent full of people rose as one man! Not one word o the proposed address carefully prepared for this closing meeting was ever delivered. It had been my intention to speak on "Praying in the Holy Spirit."
As Prebendary Webb-Pebloe well said, "God had no need for the sermon as he proposed giving an illustration of the theme instead."
I stood there on my feet for about 2 ½ hours witnessing the Holy Spirit's working. God moved in wholly unexpected ways, and no one could think of interfering. It is quite obvious that he had set aside chairman and speaker and was both presiding and speaking himself. A strange hush of God was on the meeting. The service closed with a great burst of adoration to our wonderful God as we sang, "All hail the power of Jesus' Name and crown Him Lord of all!"
This is copyrighted material from James Stewart's book Invasion of Wales by the Spirit through Evan Roberts, available from Revival Literature, PO Box 6068, Asheville, NC 28816.
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