Excommunication carried with it the denial of burial in the parish church-yards, so that the Baptists were obliged to bury their dead in their own gardens, or where they could, generally in secret and at night. A godly woman in Radnorshire had been excommunicated for not attending that parish church, but had been secretly buried in its burying-ground. The enraged parson, however, had her body taken from its grave and dragged to the cross-roads, to be buried as a malefactor. There her friends erected a stone to mark the spot, but it was demolished. Yet, even in this period of fiery persecution, we have the history of a new Baptist Church, formed under singular circumstances of persecution and hatred. WILLIAM JONES, a Presbyterian, was ejected from his parish in 1660, and imprisoned for three years in Caermarthen Castle. During that time he became a Baptist, and when liberated he went to Olchon to be immersed. On returning home he preached his new faith and, on the 4th of August, 1667, baptized Griffith Howells and five others. Howells was wealthy and educated, and on the 25th, five more persons were immersed. By July 12th, 1668, the number had increased to thirty-one, who were organized into a Church, of which Jones and Howells were elected joint elders. In 1777, one century afterward, this Church had so branched out into the counties of Pembroke, Caermarthen and Cardigan that it numbered 1,767 members. Interesting accounts might be given of the local Churches of the several counties, but they are all much the same: a history of oppression, decadence, division and providential intervention. Sometimes cases of excessive barbarity are put on record, and others of wonderful deliverance. The Welsh Baptists found relief in the Toleration Act of 1689, which protects them in their worship to this day, and under its provisions they left the rocks and other hiding places. Their brethren in London invited them to a conference in October of that year, where about a hundred Churches were represented; seven ministers went up from Wales and the Assembly set forth a Confession of Faith. The Welsh Association, consisting of ten Churches, reassembled at Llanwenarth, May 6th, 1700, and continued to grow, so that almost every county has now an Association of its own. At first, the official language of these bodies was English, but since 1708, the vernacular has been used. The annual meeting of the first Association was held in Whitsun-week, the first day being spent in prayer and fasting. The Associational Sermon' was introduced in 1703, and in time, preaching became the chief feature of the meetings, until now, from ten to fifteen sermons are preached at such gatherings. Our brethren resorted much to fasting and prayer at their associational meetings, especially when heresy and contention crept in, or where two Churches were at variance. In such cases, all the Churches were called upon to hold a day of prayer and fasting; and in 1723, when two Churches were in a fight, the first Wednesday in each month, for half a year, was appointed for fasting and prayer, on account of this distressing affair.' Then when the contest ended, 'the Churches were desired to observe days of thanks INCREASE OF CHURCHES. 605 giving for what was done.' Prayer and fasting form an excellent remedy for that 'demon;' would that all church fighters would take a vow neither to eat nor drink till their fight was ended; this would happily rid us of most of them within forty days. The death of Queen Anne and the accession of George I., 1714, prevented the passage of the 'Schism Bill,' and the Welsh Baptists kept the anniversary of that day with thanksgiving for many years. At the time of the Revolution, so-called (1688), there were eleven Baptist Churches in Wales, ten of which are named by Joshua Thomas, the eleventh being a very strong Church, under the pastoral care of William Jones, in the counties of Pembroke and Caermarthen, formed in that year. By the year 1735 these had increased to sixteen. But this statement is misleading, unless we bear in mind that each Church, so-called, was made up of many congregations, all under one pastor, who had many assistants, in some cases six or eight, and in one case eleven. The Churches did not report the number of members to the Association, but the separate Church records, which have been preserved, show, that there were several hundred communicants in a number of these Churches, and the names of forty-two ministers are given who labored in them between 1700 and 1736; all Strict Communionists, many of them men of might. Besides those who remained in Wales, large numbers of Baptists migrated to America, and took a leading part in establishing the denomination here, as we shall find. About 1692, Baptist sentiments had taken such a strong hold in the western part of the principality, that warm controversies arose with the Pedobaptists, especially the Independents. Several debates were had; then both sides agreed to preach on baptism at Penlan. John Thomas, an Independent, preached on infant baptism, and John Jenkins, a Baptist, on believer's baptism. The result was, that so many Independents were immersed as rendered it desirable for them to ask Samuel Jones, a Presbyterian, and a fine scholar, to write in defense of infant baptism; but, as he declined, James Owen, of Oswestry, undertook that work. In 1693 he published 'Infant Baptism from Heaven,' perhaps the first book in the Welsh tongue on that subject. In answer, Benjamin Keach published 'Light broke forth in Wales.' Another controversy of the same sort took place about 1726, between Miles Harris for the Baptists and Edmund Jones for the Pedobaptists. These combatants belabored each other full soundly and kept the country in a turmoil until a convention was called of leaders from both sides, in which they agreed to respect each other for the future, and try to behave decently. This agreement was duly signed by three Baptists and six Pedobaptists, properly attested by five other ministers and printed in 1728. But, alas for the weakness of Welsh Pedobaptist nature! Fowler Walker, the Independent minister of Abergavenny, the first attestor to this awful document, could not keep his pen still, but in 1732 published a tract on 'Infant Baptism;' and then, alas for the Baptist Association! in response it published Doe's Tract of Forty Texts from the New Testament on Believer's Baptism.' And, as if this were not enough, Brother David Rees, of - London, sent a letter to Brother Walker, promising that his book should be further considered at leisure. Accordingly, in 1734, he published his 'Infant Baptism no Institution of Christ's; and the Rejection of it Justified by Scripture and Antiquity.' Whereupon, thereafter, Brother Walker found it comfortable to keep still. After this the Welsh Baptists, who were principally firm, hyper-Calvinists holding the quinquarticular points, had a warm controversy amongst themselves on Arminianism. The Arminian Heresy,' as it was called, was creeping in, however, and at least three ministers were affected thereby. The chief point in dispute was whether it was the duty of sinners to turn to God, because of their obligations to the moral law. But in 1733 Enoch Francis had the good sense to publish his 'Word in Season,' in which he took the moderate Calvinistic ground, so ably presented afterward by Andrew Fuller, namely: That the atonement of Christ is sufficient for all mankind, but that its efficacy is confined to the elect only, and that the offer of salvation is, therefore, to be made to all who hear the Gospel. This position softened the controversy, but it continued down to the present century, and made great trouble in Churches which had more than one minister, who disagreed on the subject. At Hengoed, Morgan Griffith was a stanch Calvinist, but Charles a thorough Arminian, and they debated the matter Winter, his co-pastor, was warmly. It was arranged that Winter should not preach any thing contrary to Griffith, which arrangement held good till Griffith's death in 1738, when the Church expelled Winter and twenty-four others with him, who formed an Arminian Baptist Church, near Merthyr Tydvil, which, however, soon became extinct. Churches had similar troubles. Other It is interesting to trace the history of ministerial education amongst the Welsh Baptists. The Pembrokeshire Church at a very early date was called The College,' because of the many ministers whom it sent forth; and probably it had some system of training peculiar to itself. Young Baptist ministers were trained at Samuel Jones's private Presbyterian Seminary for a while, but about 1732 the Baptists established one of their own near Pontypool. This school was founded chiefly by Morgan Griffith and Miles Harris, two most enterprising and liberal spirits, and was of immense service to the Baptist ministry until 1770, when the Bristol College was established and this Seminary was given up. One of its best-known students out of a list of forty powerful names was DR. THOS. LLEWELYN, a descendant of the Welsh Bible translator. He finished his studies in London and became president of a Baptist Academy there, which prepared men for the ministry. In 1696 he raised subscriptions for and induced the 'Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge' to issue twenty thousand Welsh Bibles. He also wrote a 'History of Welsh Versions,' and a work on 'The British Tongue' in its relation to other languages, |