TO THE REVERENDS OF THE BAPTISTS AGAIN.
Their accusations
against DEWI ELFED JONES and his
congregation,
clarified.
ESTEEMED BROTHER DAVIS,—Inasmuch as I several times humbly
invited the Reverends, and their having refused after all, from shame, to
publish the accusations because of which I severed my connection with the
Baptists, at this point I shall do that myself, and they can stare and snarl,,
for their anger has still not abated, although I have been fair, even very fair
with them also, in private and in public, with words and by letters, all with
every good wish; for I pity them in their wretched condition. I grieve for some
of them who have already believed, but the profit and the salary keep them from
joining with the Saints; others are hindered by worldly honors and bloated
egos. It is a shame that men like these are such cowards, that they fear to stand on the side of the truth. Good heavens,
brethren and Welshmen, overcome the obstacles, and come to the Church of Jesus
Christ, trusting in the God of the Saints, and you shall have freedom and strength, that you may rejoice and be glad under every
circumstance; I know that, and my wish is that you may come to possess eternal
life. Others of them oppose the truth, stubbornly resisting in clumsy obstinance, as if they insisted, despite everything, on
twisting judgment and justice, and trampling the truth underfoot as rubbish,
completely contemptuous that the God of the Saints is
18
[PRICE 1c.
[p. 278]
determined to “take vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That, alas, is the condition of hundreds of them nowadays. O, if only they
would mend their ways, and return to the Lord.
Why
will man not work justice with man? Why do men, and also their preachers,
trample the innocent underfoot? Why do they love to conspire to afflict and destroy
whoever loves to work justice at the gate, and defend truth on the streets? Why
were the transactions of the Aberdare
Quarterly Meeting not made public earlier? Did they want to blindfold
the eyes of those who did not know otherwise? Did they want to blind men as
does their father, lest the truth shine for them, and they turn and come back,
and live? Was it because they feared that by so doing the hope for their profit
would cease? that their merchandising would end? and their glory would dwindle in shame and disgrace? I know
of some of them who were too polite to deny that, and that others were too full
of the swelling of conceited false pride, to understand the meaning of the word
shallow, and it may appropriately be
said of many of them in the words of the English poet,—
“Thy shallow centre to thy utmost skin.”
That is how things are, whatever may
be said; it is true, as the White Poet says,—
“Whoever denies that,
let him take it further,
And let him deny that
the sun rises.”
Henceforth, ZION’S TRUMPET may
give the cry all over Wales,
of the account as short as I can make it, of the incidental circumstances of
the invention of the Quarterly Attack, or in other words, the Madness Conference of the Baptist Reverends of Glamorgan.
About the beginning of the year 1850, I was hurrying along with
the construction of our chapel, the Gwawr Chapel, Aberamman, near Aberdare,
encountering many obstacles, even from my fellow reverends. The doctrine I was
teaching upset them continually. Yet in connection with the congregation, I
went forward through it all, and we believed that God was on our side, so that
no obstacle stood in our way, any more than sweepings or chaff stand in the way
of a whirlwind. I traveled night and day, through Monmouth and Glamorgan, and I took up a general collection, from the
believers, as well as the unbelievers, and every denomination without
distinction,
[p. 279]
through
village and town, and district and province, toward paying the debt. I strove
with others of the assistant preachers, and the members (some of which are now
Saints), with all my energy, until at times I was nearly too worn out to stand,
sit, lie, or sleep, even on a feather bed. My diary provides further details
about this. In about eight months, or fewer, we paid, of the building expenses,
£340, apart from paying for the deeds.
All the figures are available today. I received some letters from different
places in the South and the North, promising assistance to me, if I would pay
them a visit and preach to them. I was often sent for then, by various
churches, far and near, to baptize and lay on hands, for they believed that
they would not be received properly into the church without that: that is the
belief and practice of hundreds of the Baptists to this day. The two Colleges
are opposed to it and many of the Reverends practice it out of necessity, just
for the pay!! I know them very well; others hiss them away with contempt. Some
of their members joined with us in the Gwawr Chapel,
in order to receive the laying on of hands; they could not sleep well until
they received that. That enraged the Reverends fiercely. Sometimes, I saw from
fifteen to twenty at once, coming for the purpose of having me lay hands on
them, and they often testified that their consciences were more free
afterwards. Because of that, the Reverends because infuriated, and frantic, and
rushed together after dark, and that is where they, and the deacons, and
others, planned the best way to put a stop to such a thing; the cock often
crowed before they dispersed; it is vile to relate the things that were done by
them in secret. Small Committees were
held here and there in secret; the Reverends were completely consumed, and his
reverence from Aberdare was as unstable as a powder keg, and half mad. And for their part the Saints smiled under their
hats as they observed this, saying, “Poor
fellows, what a pity, the poor things are in the dark, and perhaps this
will be an opportunity for the honest-in-heart to come out of their midst with
dispatch.”
Delegates or spies
were sent then in secret, to listen and scrutinize what I said and what I
preached; traps were set up for me, trying to make me an “offender for a word.”
It was frequently entertaining to see them listening; they gazed
[p. 280]
out
of the corner of their eyes, their heads half-turned, with the lower lip pursed
over the upper, and sometimes like the cock with one side of its head uppermost
observing the movement of the kite, and their guilt made them obvious to all. Countless
times I saw this. These men cannot look a man in the eye, but rather focus on
the area of the heart, and that, perhaps, because of their tendency to spill
blood. These are cruel men; let every good man be saved from them. Brother
David Rees sometimes used to say to me, “Brother Jones, what if you were to
give those spies (Sunday evening) a tidbit, to give the boys over there
something to do.” “Very well,” I said, “I’ve had my eye on them for quite a
while; they shall have a tidbit which will be beneficial, whatever use they
make of it; I shall give them a taste of the hired hands and the flock, respecting persons for
gain, and preacherly
inconsistencies,” &c.
Then when they had had a good mouthful, they would be gulping, stooping, and
looking towards the door; and when I had scarcely finished preaching, they
would run out half strangled, as fast as their legs could carry them to their
reverends, and would spit it out to them, shouting, “Heresy, heresy, of the
worst kind.” And I would be lambasted and abused worse than the “negro,”—letters
going hither and thither, and everyone forming his own plan to silence me. And
some say, “Make haste, dear brothers, to do something about that little Aberamman man,—he is leading the whole country astray,—he
is doing us great harm,—men dote on his every move; you can bet your life, that
the end of this man and his congregation will be to become Saints; many of the
old Saints listen to him every Sunday, and goodness knows what the results will
be in the long run; and take hold if you can of his Meeting House, it will be a
pity if he takes that and everything to the Saints.”
At
this time also, many of my own congregation, as well as several in the
community churches, quietly encouraged me to baptize them a second time,
because they did not believe in the one who had baptized them previously,
because he was against “baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and the laying on
of hands,” as practiced by me. Some people also have dismounted from their
horses, while traveling on the road, and desired me to lay hands on them, lest
if they saw them, their ministers might excommunicate them.
[p. 281]
Many from the churches at
this time, were inclined to obey the truth, and be baptized a second time for
the forgiveness of sins. No different doctrine would satisfy them. When the
Reverends saw this, they became very angry; writing volumes would be inadequate
to indicate their horrible enmity, their anger, and their treachery, their
shocking deceits, their malicious lies, together with the great ills they did
me in every manner of means. O! how I was smeared at
that time; I can barely look at and read, in my diary, what I suffered, even
though I was at that time not in the church
of God of the Saints. Thanks
be for a state in which I receive strength under all
persecution. They have now devised a plan to put a stop to the
influence, and get rid of me from the place to some distant spot. And the path
they took towards this was, to call a Three-monthly Meeting in Aberdare; this they did, and the majority of the ministers
and preachers of Glamorgan, and some of the Reverends
of Monmouth also, came to the meeting. They regarded this as one of the most
interesting meetings, insofar as they (so they said) were coming out for, and
in the name of their God against the errors of the country, along with the
poisonous heresies of Jones Aberamman and his
Congregation. They sent a messenger to us the other evening, to request our
attendance at the Conference of the Reverends and Church Missions, the next day
at ten o’clock. The messenger informed us too, that there were quarrels in
their midst because of the doctrine that I preached, and that certain things
needed to be decided between the two Congregations. I wrote them a note
immediately, announcing that we would be in the Conference, and they
received the letter about half an hour after I wrote it. The Sanhedrin of
Reverends sat, and cast an eye over the letter, and the old Theological
Reverend from Hengoed, in their midst, set the
standard of faith. The little note touched them deeply, because it included that
what they wanted was not to have any effect on the rights of our church.”* They
were also critical because I wrote too much like some apostle. Here follows the
content of the letter, a copy of which is before me.
* Every church has the inherent right to
judge for itself about its circumstances and its discipline, in line with the
rule of the Baptists’ Profession of Faith, and no minister has the right to sit
in judgment on the doctrine of another.
[p.282]
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IN ABERAMMAN, TO THE BAPTIST
CHURCH,
IN ABERDARE.
Aberamman, Aberdare, November 5,
1850.
Respected Brethren,—We are
sorry to hear that anyone in your midst is causing you distress, as was
indicated to us about you, by what you sent us to report on your trouble,
namely that there was contention in your midst. We thank God that we know
nothing of the sort, amongst us in this church which is in Gwawr
Chapel, Aberamman. And may the God of peace keep us in
the unity of the Spirit, and the bond of peace, until the day of Christ. May
you therefore be assured, that there is nothing in this church, at present,
which calls upon us to seek the help of any church, minister, or ministers, to
organize or decide on our behalf anything which we cannot easily achieve
ourselves, and we hope it will remain so. And our prayer to our Father for you,
is for your release from all contention, and that you will avoid the stubborn
arguments of men with corrupt minds, and discussion about words, which is of no
avail, except to bring the listeners low, and breed disputes. Whatever help we
can offer you, in order to remove your present tribulation, in a Conference, or
any other opportunity, we are always prepared to help you. And our advice to
you at this time is to clear out the old yeast, so that you may be new dough. And
the Lord spare you from every evil deed, and keep you
for his heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Signed for the Church, in Gwawr Chapel, Aberamman, by my own hand.
DEWI ELFED JONES.
After
expressing their opinion on the
letter, they decided, before they closed their eyes in sleep, that they should
write what they called my heresies, and they called the spies in secret, as
witnesses to them; and so, after they had set everything down neatly, on a
sheet of paper, to be set forth the next day, as accusations against me; and if
I was to admit to any of the accusatory statements, that I and my Congregation
were to be excommunicated, without even permission for me to speak one word
to defend my principles! because my doctrine
destroyed like a cancer. Also, that nothing was to be published in the public
domain, but only that the association between us was to be broken, which was
done in the “Baptist” for October, 1850.
It
was on Wednesday, October 6th, 1850, that this
[p.283]
unforgettable
meeting was held. I and several members went to the meeting; and soon after we
got there, I realized that a treacherous, and deceitful, plan had been
formulated against us, and written on a piece of paper in front of the
chairman, about twenty or more things (thirteen, they said), as accusations
against me. I was refused the paper to copy, although I ardently desired
to have it. So now, here follows a list of the accusations in the face of “the
sun and the light of truth.” Saying and preaching the following:—
1.
Denying the Bible.
2.
Going against five items of the Letter of the Assembly,
and saying it should be burned.
3.
Baptizing for the forgiveness of sins.
4.
Setting store by the laying on of hands.
5.
Preaching that the Holy Spirit cannot be received
without baptism.
6.
Through baptism being born of water.
7.
Preaching on overly complicated matters, and teaching
them to others by chatting to them about them, in secret fellowships.
8.
The doctrine of the millennium, and the restoration of
all to its primal state.
9.
Christ’s personal reign on earth.
10.
Calling myself an apostle.
11.
Judging the Ministers sermons to be heretical.
12.
A tendency in my sermons to steal, and turn the
churches into Saints.
13.
That three Persons in the
Divinity cannot be one Person.
14.
That receiving the Holy Spirit is by the laying on of
hands.
15.
That where the Spirit of God is, there is the ability
to perform miracles.
16.
That the New Testament is not enough to save a man for
eternal life.
17.
That God pours out blessings, and gives revelations
from heaven as in the old days.
18.
That the Ministers had grubby profit in mind when
preaching, and that they were completely devoid of the Spirit and power of God.
The above, along with many other things, which I do not recall
at present, were the accusations they brought against me. I sat quietly in
their midst while many of them were read and spoken. Then I rose and asked for
the paper,
[p.284]
in order to make a
copy of it, and they refused fearfully, hiding it carefully on the table, under
the hat of one of the Reverends, by the hand of the Reverend from Hirwaen. All right, I said; I have heard many of
them before, and no doubt I shall soon come to know what was on the paper; but
I remember most of them. They asked me if I admitted some of them. I replied
that I admitted most of them, but not all of them. “That is enough,” said one
of them, “just admitting one is enough to condemn you.” Things had got quite
rowdy by now, and I asked permission to defend my principles. And then the
chairman, D. Jones, Cardiff,
sat, with his hands stretched out above the table, and his little face as white
as the wall, and in his childish voice said, “Prevent the man from speaking,
prevent the man from saying a word!!!!” I told him very kindly, that that was
beneficial for him, and them, because I knew they were all incapable of
disproving my principles. Then and there, a sort of fearful shiver went through
them all. The chairman knew well enough that he had neither strength nor
understanding to withstand them. The Reverend from Aberdare,
a little while before this, had told me personally that he would rather be
under the devil’s claws than mine; that indicates that he must have great
respect for his father, for him to entrust so much to the mercy of his paws. Well
done. When they saw I was capable of defending myself, willy-nilly, they
shouted with one indignant cry, “Out with him, out with him,” reaching hands
towards my face, in order to push me out. In this uproar, I asked for an hour
to speak to the Reverend from Hengoed, since he was
the eldest there; and they refused that to me, and to
all the elders who were with me in the meeting!! yes,
they refused me one half-hour, even though I had every right to that,
like any other Reverend. And, said B. E., Hirwaen, “A
full day is insufficient for you to speak, once you start.” And again he said,
with a hostile smile, “He has been blaming Jones, Cardiff, as the Secretary of the Glamorgan Assembly, for his awkwardness in the register of
Assistant Baptists, on the Assembly Letter. He has also been critical of one of
the best sermons I ever gave, at least I consider it a
very tidy little sermon: I preached it in Merthyr, in
a big meeting in the Tabernacle; also in Aberdare,
when setting apart
[p.285]
deacons,
and in the Llwyni Assembly: you know the text, ‘Turn your faces,’ &c. He
insisted that I said where to turn the face, how, and to whom, and a lot of
nonsense like that.” “That’s how he is,” said the Reverend from Aberdare, “he has seduced the boys I have, so that they
insist on my splitting hairs, before I can satisfy them; and it is to Jones Aberamman’s service that they want to go all the time: this
is making light of weighty matters.” “Yes,” said the Reverend
from Dowlais, “he incorporated a Church at Troedyrhiw, near us in Merthyr,
when there were ministers nearer to them, who could have done it as well as
you, Jones, apart from the laying on of hands, and the like.” The fist of his
right arm was at that time stretched towards my left eye. “Yes, certainly, you
see,” said the Reverend from Zion,
Merthyr, “I am ashamed to think about the laying on
of hands;” while at the same time having to practice it in his own church. “There
it is,” said the Rev. from Aberdare again, “he has
split a church in Cwmbach in two, with his doctrine
and his laying on of hands.” “Well, brethren,” said the Reverend from Trefforest, “since brother Richards of Pontypridd
is very ill in bed, he wished me to announce to you, that he begs you to do
something in relation to the man from Aberamman
and his congregation, didn’t he, Mister Jenkins?”* “Yes of course,” he said. “Dear
brethren,” said Jenkins, the Theologian from Hengoed,
“I am pleased to see so much zeal in you for the doctrine which is according to
divinity; and I am thankful that there are such brave boys, and young men in
the field today, battling against the heresies of the age; remain brave in the
cause of truth, and do not let any heresies, and unhealthy doctrines, slide in
secret into your churches. It is a delight for me to see such good men rising
up, in place of us the old ministers, who are almost dropping into the great
beyond.” At that, the place erupted in one thunderous voice among the Reverends
(the others were all as silent as the grave), shouting “Out with him, and let
him and his congregation be expelled; we must be rid of the heretics,” &c. D.
Richards, Josuah Evans, John Johns, and others begged
to be allowed to defend, and they were ordered to be silent at once, or to go
out!! And contrary to the rules of the Assembly, they proposed excommunicating
me,
*A merchant from Pontypridd.
[p.286]
making
a definite injunction against voting by raising the right hand on my side!!! All
this time I was standing, gazing at the jealous, cruel look of the Reverends: I
believed they would suck my blood if they could; my mind turned to the high
priest’s court. I put my trust in God; I considered calmly that they were angry
with me, because I preached the truth: I felt myself swell with the desire to
speak for it. I looked at them all with pity, and my heart wishing their
happiness. But, their cruelty towards me was great; in the middle of them I
raised my hand as testimony that I was leaving them; and I said, O evil and perverse men, let my soul never ever come into
your fellowship. What I have preached, will stay with
you, so that you will not be free of it while you live; and I shall preach even
in front of the doors of your houses, and I shall not cease to preach the truth
even if I had to die because of it. With these words, I felt my spirit was
huge, my mind at rest, my heart joyful, and a tear or two of pity about to
spring from my eyes. Within a second, there was great shouting, “Throw him out,
go to fetch the police to throw him out;” “out with him,” “out with
them;” and some sound of moans and groans spilling out of the bellies of the
others, saying, “O yes, out with him.” And when I had grabbed my hat, which was
on the table under the pulpit, I said, Well, behold
this, I never thought before that truth from my lips was so strong, and that I
had caused so much alarm to such a great number of the Reverends of the
sluggish and pompous bellies. “Out with him, out with him,” they replied; and
as I was leaving, I said, Is there “crucify him,
crucify him” too? It is just as well for me that it is not the time of Bloody
Mary, nor of bloody Elizabeth either, at present. My betters
suffered a hundred times worse treatment a thousand times. I am well
pleased. And after my other brothers and I went out, we cheered each other
up, and went joyfully out of sight of the council, as we were considered worthy
of being persecuted for the truth. Hundreds looked at us, some for us, and some
against us.—There it is for you, brother Davis, and all who read the TRUMPET, a
small taste of the story of my troubles with the Baptists, among whom I
ministered for years, and of whose union I was a member for twenty-eight years,
and that
[p.287]
continuously
from my boyhood. I felt more freedom on the day in question, than I had felt
before in my whole life. It faintly resembled the glorious freedom I
felt later, on the happy, blessed day I joined the
Latter-day Saints.
The night of the Three-monthly Struggle in Aberdare,
I preached in Gwawr Chapel, Aberamman,
from Isaiah xxix, 13—16. I composed the following hymn, and we sang it
triumphantly.
“
’Neath the enemy’s great oppression,
I
run on tiresome journey;
A
battling army follows me,
In
carnage—most ugly work:
The horrid cry of
evil’s children,
Is
loud for treason and betrayal,
O my God, be a
help to me,
Be
my shield, O Father.
“Through
thy strength, at the edge of the sword
I’ll
laugh with no more worries;
I’ll
go through flames if I have Thee,
I’ll
challenge arrow, sword, and wound;
Invincible
strength and might
Are
the powers of God’s Spirit,
Protected
by Him, I’ll stand firm
For
the truth while I shall live.”
Llanelli. DEWI
ELFED.
P. S. The account
of the Cruelties which were visited upon me, from this time until many months
after I joined the Saints, shall appear in a future issue, if you can spare the
room for it.
