Cylchgronau Cymru

Whi Man op A RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG THE CaMnistic Methodists or Presbyterians of Wales. Vol. II. No. 1.] JANUARY, 1886. [Price One Penny. REV. THOMAS CHARLES, B.A., RALA. So much has been said and written of the immortal Charles of Bala during the Sunday School Centenary meetings, ■which were held in the course of the last few months, that the present sketch of his life and labours need not be but of the briefest kind possible. He was born on the 14th of October, 1755, at Pant-dwfn, in the parish of Llanfihangel, not far from St. Clears, in the county of Carmarthen. When about 14 years of age he went to the Carmarthen College, and continued there for sev¬ eral years. While there he identified himself with the Calvinistic Methodists; and in spite of many trials and temptations, he says that at 1 that time he enjoyed much ^ sweet communion with God. I In the year 1775, by an un- A expected opening of provi- Jf dence, he was enabled to go to Oxford, with a view of becoming a clergyman. He took deacon's orders in 1778, and having graduated in 1779, he was fully ordained in the year 1780. During his College course he became j acquainted with Mr. Lloyd of = Bala; and in 1778 paid a visit \ to that little town; and while there he met with Miss J ones, who afterwards became his wife, and who proved herself to be in every respect a help¬ meet to him. He obtained several curacies in the Church, but did not keep any of them for long: his preaching was too pointed and evan¬ gelical to satisfy the authorities in the various parishes, and they soon dispensed with his services, until at length he decided upon separating himself from the Church of England, and cas¬ ting in his lot with the despised Meth¬ odists. About this time he visited Llangeitho, and after Mr. Rowland had heard him preach, he said, that Mr. Charles was one of God's great gifts to North Wales. He travelled much through North and South Wales preaching the word and establishing day schools and Sunday Schools until the year 1799. But early in that winter in cross¬ ing over a high and bleak mountain on a bitterly cold day the thumb of his left hand was frost bitten, and the shock to his system was so great that the doctors felt that he must die. Many prayers were offered up by the Church for his recovery, and the definite petition of one good man was to this effect, " An additional fifteen years, O Lord ! We humbly pray Thee to pro¬ long his life for another fifteen years ! And wilt Thou not, our God, for the sake of Thy Cause and Kingdom grant us this favour ?" It was the prayer of faith, and Richard Owen's prayer— for that was the good man's name —• was answered. The inroads of the disease were effectually checked, and from that day he began to improve in •health. During the remainder of his life he travelled com¬ paratively little, but bent his | energies in the direction of | literature. Being deeply im¬ pressed with the deficiency of Welsh Bibles, he was mainly instrumental in the establishment of the British H .' and Foreign Bible Society; m and it was during these I latter years of his life that he m wrote those invaluable works I which have been the great H educators of the Welsh nation !| in the higher walks of moral- §11 ity and theology. In 1814 his health again began to fail; and it is reported that he should say to his wife, " Sally, the fifteen years are drawing to a close." They tried a change of air, but to no effect, and he was glad to re¬ turn home again, and having reached home he said, " I have nothing further to do but to die." On the morning of his death, a christian friend visited him, and said, "Well, Mr. Charles, the day of trouble has come." His reply was, " Yes ;' but there is a refuge," and in a few hours he entered into that sweet rest which remain- eth for the people of God, and left behind him a name which has been indelibly en¬ graven upon the hearts of the W elshnation, and can never be forgotten while Sunday Schools and Bible Societies exist.