8 Aug 2015

Owen Jones on Elias 08

CHAPTER 8 TWO SPEECHES ON GREAT ASSOCIATION DAYS
Speech in the Holyhead Association, 1824 - Another speech on a similar occasion
In the Associations, whenever there was anything to be said to the people, any word of advice to be given, or thanks to be offered for kindness received during the days of the Association, it was generally the custom to ask Mr. John Elias to do it. In the one that was held at Holyhead in the beginning of October, 1824, in the service at ten o'clock in the morning, after Mr. Owen Jones, of Gelli, had preached, and before Mr. William Morris, Cilgeran, commenced, John Elias rose to exhort the people to behave themselves well during the intervals of the services. Thus: "Are there drunkards here? I am afraid there are. Let me entreat you at least to control your- selves for to-day. If you do not fear God nor the laws of your country, and if you have no respect for yourselves, I beg of you, for our sake, to be sober and well-behaved for this day. By coming into these meetings to get drunk and to conduct yourselves disorderly, you are breaking our character. Our enemies have not yet all vanished from the land. They are ready to make a tool of everything against us. And we have nothing but our character to fall back upon. We are not wealthy, we are not learned ; we are not highly gifted ; we have no grand titles ; and we have no men amongst us in very high authority. But we have our character of which we think a great deal. We are for keeping our character, and we will not let any one break it. But these drunkards of our Associations break our character. And it is after us poor Methodists that they are coming. What shall we do with them, brethren?" (one of the preachers on the stage replied, "Form them," referring to the sermon they had just heard upon the words, "This people have I formed for myself" Isa. Xliii. 21)
Then, with a quick impulse and a sudden start, he said, "I feel inclined to put them all up for sale." And he shouted, with out-stretched arm, "Who will take them? Church people, will you? Not likely ; for we in our baptism profess to leave the devil and all his train. Independents, will you? What? Have we not left the Church of England generations ago, because of her corruptions? Baptists, will you have them? Never, for we baptize our people in pure water, to show that we want but pure lives. Wesleyans, will you? No, no! Good works are essential with us, and we cannot take them in." Then again, stretching forth his arm, and shouting at the highest pitch of his voice, he cried, "Who will have them? Who will have them? Who will have them?" Then, in great excitement, and with fire in his eye, he turned his face towards the left, and looked in the direction of his elbow, and, lowering his voice, said, "I can almost hear some terrible whisper at my elbow, as if it came up from hell, or from the lips of a devil - 'Strike them down to me, I am ready to take them.'" He gazed up to heaven, as if he expected a voice from the sky, and again looked with great earnestness upon the congregation, and said not a word for a moment. Then with the finger of his right hand directed towards his left elbow, and, shaking it nervously once, twice, thrice, he shouted, "I was going to tell thee, devil, that thou shouldst have them, but, but - looking up again towards heaven, and lifting his hand - I hear a voice coming from Jesus: 'I will take them; I will take them as they are, to wash them in My own blood.”
"It is not difficult to imagine the effects of this upon the people. The commotion of feeling was so great that the service that morning could not be carried on any further. And it left a lasting effect upon many a drunkard. ("Biography of John Jones, Talsarn” pp. 861-862. By Dr. O. Thomas)
Here follows an occasion of a similar kind. The Association in Anglesey was the great meeting of the year. On the occasion to which we are now referring there was not less than 10,000 present. The Rev. Richard Lloyd, Beaumaris, counted the two sides of the square on the field, and, multiplying, he found them to be 12,000. As they did not form a complete square, we are within the mark when we say there were 10,000 present. The first service is held on the field at five o'clock in the evening. There are two preachers to conduct it, and John Elias is to address the multitude at the close. After the two sermons are over, he rises, and steps to the desk in front of the platform. He looks upon the vast throng, and then points with his finger to one or two spots where the people are not yet perfectly still. Then a pleasant smile appears on his face, and he begins to speak: —
"I have a word or two to say before any one moves out of his place. It is not yet more than a quarter past seven o'clock, no one need hurry, and we have the long days of summer. I have understood a long while from your faces that you all feel to-night as if heaven were near. The servants of the Most High are in the hands of their Master. It is clear that they have already been clothed with power from on high. The trumpet call of the King is in our camp. We have seen and heard things that are almost incredible. We have heard the walls of Jericho crack ; and we may reasonably hope to see them down in a ruinous heap before to-morrow night. And, surely, we shall see this, unless there be something in us, or in the behaviour of the people, or in the town, to grieve the Holy Spirit. Therefore, for the value of souls that are now in the labour of birth, I beseech you all to be on your guard. I would swear every man here present to be more sober than ever before. God forbid that any of us should be guilty of sending the heavenly dove away. For the love of souls, let not a single drunkard be seen on the streets to-night. May there be nothing in the conduct of any one, in or out, to offend the feelings of any magistrate or civil official, more than the preacher or ordinary believer. We expect the morals of this multitude to be without blemish to-night ; if not, this is the last Association that shall ever come into this town! There are thousands of strangers to be entertained in the neighbourhood to-night ; let every one go to the place he is invited : it would not be much, this kind of weather, to go a distance of three miles if necessary. Let every man be faithful and thankful for the entertainment he gets. And you that entertain the strangers, open your doors with a hearty welcome. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.' Avoid trouble and expense : all we ask is a bed free from damp and safe, a morsel of bread and a drop of water. Value this coming of strangers under your roofs. It is to-night, perhaps, that your hearths will be anointed for the first time with the tears of the saints; it is to-night, perhaps, that your roofs will be consecrated for the first time by the prayers of the faithful. Remember that some of the old pilgrims, by faith, entertained strangers unawares, and that they feasted happily with them. Who knows but that you also to-night shall entertain good men in the invisible company of the angels of heaven! And you that make the arrangements, see that a man of prayer is sent to every house.
"Let all observe that family worship is to be held to-night in every family, exactly at nine o'clock. Heaven has already smiled upon us. An active intercourse has already been carried on by the angels between this field and the throne of God; and at nine o'clock we hope that Jacob's ladder will be full of angels ascending and descending, and that the prayers of this region for a compass of six miles will be so powerful that they will draw heaven down to earth, and lift earth so near heaven that the tabernacle of God will be with men, and that this Association will be the great subject of talk in the councils of heaven." (“Reminiscences of John Elias” pp 16-17. By the Rev. R. Parry).

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