Cylchgronau Cymru

A RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG THE Calvinistic Methodists or Presbyterians of Wales. Vol. III. No. 4 ] APRIL, 1887. [Price One Penny. ^lotes anb gomments. Within the last few weeks our minis¬ terial ranks have been again thinned through the death of two good men and true, viz., the Revs. Richard Owen, who spent most of his ministerial career in Anglesea, and T. Edwards, Cwmystwyth. The former occupied a prominent position among our Welsh congregations both in North and South Wales for the last ten years or more, as an earnest, untiring, and eminently successful evangelist. It is confidently computed that some thousands were brought to a decision for Christ through his pointed and earnest appeals. Those who knew him intimately say that the burden of souls lay heavily upon him, not only while he appealed to the people at the public services, but also in the secrecy of his private devotions, during which time he wrestled long and agonizingly for the hearers of the Gos¬ pel ; and they naturally attribute his success as an evangelist to his previous earnest prayers for God's blessing. He was on an evangelistic tour in his native county—-Anglesea—when he was taken ill. On the Wednesday night he preached with great power on the text " How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? " and on the Saturday following he died from an attack of asthma at the early age of 48, leaving a wife and eight children to mourn his loss. The family being so large, and all so young, some kind friends have suggested a special fund for their assist¬ ance, and the Rev. J. R. Hughes, Bryn- teg, Anglesea, will be very pleased to receive any contributions towards this fund. It is with unmixed pleasure that we record the fact that the Senate of the Edinburgh University has decided to confer upon Principal Edwards, M.A., Aberystwyth, the degree of Doctor in Divinity. It is well known that this particular University is very sparing of its honorary laurels, especially m the case of those who have never studied within its walls, and it is only to those outsiders who have already won a first class position at home and abroad that they condescend to offer their honorary degrees. Among those are Bishop Lightfoot, Canon Westcott, Arch¬ deacon Farrar, and the German Delitzsch, and to these eminent scholars and learned divines is now added the name of Principal Edwards, Aberystwyth. Up to the present time his venerable and much venerated father—Dr. Edwards, Bala—is the only Welshman to be found among the list of Doctors in Divinity on the calendar of Edinburgh University, but in next year's edition the names of both father and son will appear therein, and every Calvinistic Methodist especially will be proud of the fact. We are glad to find that there is every probability that the Foreign Mission Executive Committee will propose the names of the Rev. J. Pengwern Jones, Mountain Ash, and W. Williams, Llantwit Major, to the General As¬ sembly at Liverpool as candidates for our Indian Mission field. We deeply sympathize with the churches of Mountain Ash and Llantwit Major at their prospective loss; for these young ministers have been very active, ener¬ getic, and successful, Mr. Jones es¬ pecially so; but though we sympathize with these churches, we are heartily glad that our present hard-working and hard-worked staff of missionaries are to be reinforced by a couple of men who have proved themselves true missionaries at home. We are given to understand that the Committee have not yet succeeded in securing the services of any of our Christian young ladies for missionary work on the plains of Sylhet. The Secretary of the Society writes to us to the following effect, and we hope that his appeal will not be in vain. " It has been said from time to time that many young ladies of our church have been anxious to devote themselves to missionary work in India, and it would have been strange if it had not been so. Our missionaries think that it would not be advisable to employ unmarried ladies in any of the stations on the Hills ; but there is a wide field of use¬ fulness for single ladies. Now that we are about to recommence operations in Sylhet, the Directors would be glad of two or three young ladies having the necessary qualifications. It is not likely that more than one or two would be sent out at first, and it is important that they should be persons as to whose qualifications there could not be any doubt. In a large mission where many female agents are employed there are spheres of usefulness for persons of various degrees of ability and educa¬ tion, and a case or two of failure would not be noticeable; but when the num¬ ber of workers is limited, and the movement is a new one, it is impor¬ tant that the candidates selected should be persons of exceptional qualifications. They should be able, as pioneers, to organize, have the ne¬ cessary tact to deal with different classes of natives, and capable of holding their own with educated Eu¬ ropean ladies with whom they may sometimes come into contact, and to interest them in their work. The Directors would like to know of young ladies having the necessary educa¬ tional qualifications, who would be prepared to go under training for a few months in a Medical Institution to prepare themselves for missionary work.