The origins of Calvinism in Wales were a considerably muted and humble affair when compared with continental Europe or the English Reformation. As Glanmor Williams argued in his study Welsh Reformation Essays (1967), Protestantism arguably did not come to its own in Wales until the eighteenth century – at least in terms of its mass appeal through the circulating schools of Griffith Jones and the emergence of the evangelical-Calvinist revival in Wales. This is not to say that developments prior to this period were unimportant towards the emergence of a Reformed tradition in Wales. Some such as the translation of the Scriptures into Welsh by William Salesbury and William Morgan were decisively important. With the Scriptures in the vernacular, the Welsh were able to hear the words of Christ in their own language for the first time and compare the Protestant message with Scripture itself. Roman Catholic liturgy had largely been a Latinate affair leaving most people in the dark concerning the basic teachings and doctrines of Scripture.
Calvinism is a branch of Reformed or Protestant Christianity that embraces the doctrines of John Calvin and his successors. Though the term is derived from Calvin's name, it arguably refers to a much broader tradition of Reformed theology beyond the works of Calvin alone. He was one of many Reformed theologians during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and should not be considered as the sole arbiter of what is authentic Reformed theology. Calvinism is known for its emphasis on predestination, the doctrines of election and reprobation, the sovereignty of God, the total depravity of human nature, the particular nature of Christ's atonement, the effectual work of grace by the Holy Spirit, the perseverance of the saints, and the priesthood of all believers. This essay will consider the emergence of Calvinism in Wales from the Protestant Reformation in early modern Europe, to the Purtian and Reformed movement in Wales during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to the evangelical awakening in Wales and the emergence of Calvinistic Methodism during the eighteenth-century awakenings.
The Emergence of a Reformed Tradition in Wales
The first book to be printed in Welsh was a religious book called Yny Lhyvyr Hwnn (‘In This Book’) (1546). It was a small devotional book which contains the Welsh alphabet, the Christian calendar, the paternoster, the decalogue, various extracts from Scripture, and a list of popular sports in Welsh society at the time. The Welsh New Testament appeared in 1567 under the editorial hand of William Salesbury and the whole Bible edited by William Morgan appeared in 1588.[1] It would not be an exaggeration to say that without a translation of the Scriptures into Welsh the emergence of Protestant theology would have been impossible in Wales. The translation of the Scriptures into Welsh was a major milestone for Renaissance humanism in Wales since the documents of the Old and New Testaments were translated in Renaissance fashion from the original languages of ancient Hebrew and koine Greek.[2] It goes without saying that the Bible in Welsh was a major boon to the Protestant Reformation in Wales which sought to provide Scripture in the vernacular to the public. As William Evans observes, ‘For what nature is to the scientist, the Bible is to the theologian. The Word of God is the source from which he draws his materials; and it is also his final court of appeal’.[3] Scripture is considered by most Protestants to be one of the external means through which we come to know God, the other being God’s revelation in nature and creation. These are often described in Reformed dogmatics as the ‘two books’ of God: the book of Scripture and the book of nature. According to Protestants, nature should be interpreted through the lens of Scripture alone (sola scriptura) – this is known as the formal principal of the Reformation. The material principal is justification by faith alone (sola fide), through grace alone (sola gratia), in Christ alone (solus Christus).
The Reforming bishops during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, especially Richard Davies (1510–81), would be involved in securing the translation of the New Testament into Welsh in 1567 along with the Book of Common Prayer. Davies in his preface to the New Testament of 1567, known as his Epistol at y Cymry (‘An Epistle to the Welsh’), provided ‘a rationale for the Protestant faith which he argued was in accord with the biblical and evangelical principles of the ancient Celtic church’.[4] One of the first apologetic works for the Established Church in Wales was translated from the work of Bishop John Jewel (1522–71) by the poet Morris Kyffin under the title Deffynniad Ffydd Eglwys Loegr (‘Apology of the Church of England’) (1594). However, it would be the radical John Penry (1563–93) who made some of the first vocal contributions to the debate surrounding Calvinism in Wales. Penry is known for his vigorous campaign to introduce Genevan-style Calvinism to Wales during the sixteenth century. He translated the Principia of the orthodox Calvinist divine Theodore Beza (1519–1605) under the title Propositions and Principles of Divinitie (1591) and was executed for sedition along with John Greenwood and Henry Barrow at the instigation of John Whitgift (1530–1604), archbishop of Canterbury. Calvinism, however, would not come to its own in Wales until the late 1630s with the advent of Welsh Puritanism.[5] According to David Ceri Jones, ‘Wales had undoubtedly experienced a Reformation. The connection with Rome had been severed and there was considerable loyalty, perhaps even affection, for the Church of England and great pride in the Welsh translation of the Bible. But the number of fervent and committed Protestants in Wales by the end of the sixteenth century remained stubbornly small’.[6] These small beginnings, however, would be built upon by subsequent generations of Reformed and Puritan theologians to secure Protestantism and Reformed orthodoxy in Wales.
The Puritan and Reformed Tradition in Wales
The book of homilies was translated by Edward James and printed in Welsh in 1606 and introduced much of the theology and practical divinity of the Protestant Reformation to Wales at this time. According to David Ceri Jones, ‘The translation was highly significant, ensuring that parishioners throughout Wales were exposed to unequivocally Reformed theology on a regular basis’.[7] Bishop Lewis Bayley’s The Practice of Piety was translated into Welsh in 1630 by Rowland Vaughan and went through nearly forty editions by the close of the eighteenth century. William Evans suggests that we are entitled to consider Rowland Vaughan’s translation as a distinctively Welsh book owing to Bayley’s personal Welsh connections and the fluency of Vaughan’s translation.[8] Though it introduces the doctrines of ecumenical and patristic Christianity such as the Holy Trinity, the nature and attributes of God, and the hypostatic union, as well as Bayley’s principal subject – the practice of godliness and holy living; it does not answer the question of how a person may be properly justified before God and born again into a new and living faith. Federal theology, the doctrines of grace, and the so-called ‘five points of Calvinism’ would not be introduced to Wales until the first decades of the seventeenth century following the Synod of Dort (1618–19). This synod would explain Calvinism in terms of five key points: the radical or total depravity of the sinner through the fall of Adam, the gracious and unconditional election of some to eternal life by God the Father, the particular or limited atonement of Christ upon the cross for the elect, the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit in drawing the elect sinner to Christ, and the final perseverance of the saints in faith and holiness to everlasting life. Federal theology would also become important in Wales during this time, particularly the idea of two covenants of works and grace respectively. Adam had broken the covenant of works by his fall into sin, but Christ had fulfilled the covenant of grace by his holy life, obedience to the Father, and sacrifice on the cross as a second Adam who would undo the sinful work of the first Adam. One of the earliest exponents of federal theology in Wales was the Puritan theologian Vavasor Powell (1617–70), particularly his study Christ and Moses’ Excellency, or Sion and Sinai’s Glory (1650).[9] Powell clearly expounds a doctrine of two covenants – that of law and of grace respectively. This is not to say that the law of Moses was ungracious since it was given in the context of Israel’s redemption from Egypt (Exodus 20:2), but the gracious aspect of God’s relation to humanity was more particularly and fully expressed in the advent of Christ (John 1:17).
Vavasor Powell made his Calvinist views known through his many debates both in London and in Wales during the seventeenth century.[10] He would be particularly noted for his clash with the Arminian Puritan divine John Goodwin (1594–1665). The debate centred around the extent of Christ’s atonement which Goodwin believed was for all humanity irrespective of their eternal election or reprobation, while Powell held that though the atonement had a general sufficiency for all, it was efficient or effective for God’s chosen people alone – the elect. Powell was also known for his militant chiliasm and sympathy for the Fifth Monarchist movement in Wales. The Welsh Puritans tended towards radicalism when it came to questions of eschatology, and in this regard participated in the wider Puritan and Reformed debates concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ which many believed was imminent. John Myles (1721–83) would also spread Calvinist ideas in Wales via a network of Particular or Calvinistic Baptists. However, this was a network that was confined to those who had professed evangelical conversion and who had been baptised through total immersion.[11] This practically excluded children from membership of the covenant of grace. Myles’ publication against the Quakers in Wales – An Antidote against the Infection of the Times (1656) – would promote a distinctively Calvinist theology and would set the standard for orthodoxy among Calvinistic Baptists in Wales for the next two centuries to come. The Welsh Puritans including Walter Cradock (1606–59), Vavasor Powell, and Morgan Llwyd (1619–59) along with Particular Baptists like John Myles would hold ‘tenaciously to the Calvinistic ideal’.[12] Arguably the most significant Puritan preacher of this period was Walter Cradock who was known for his itinerant ministry and public preaching throughout the principality – something little known before the emergence of Purtianism in Wales. According to David Ceri Jones, ‘A thirst for evangelical preaching certainly existed in some parts of Wales. Cradock was perhaps the earliest example of the kind of itinerant preacher who would do so much over the next century and more to transform the spiritual complexion of Wales’.[13] Preaching was one of the primary means of spreading the evangelical gospel associated with the Protestant Reformation in Wales. However, the restoration of the monarchy in Britain caused the Puritan movement to emerge from the Civil War in evangelical and Protestant dissent. Some two-thousand ministers in England and Wales were ejected from their livings in 1662. They would develop to form the backbone of independency in England and Wales. (For the impact of the Great Ejection in Wales see Eryn Mant White, ‘From Ejectment to Toleration in Wales’, in Alan Sell (ed.), The Great Ejectment of 1662: Its Antecedents, Aftermath, and Ecumenical Significance (Eugene, OR, 2012), pp. 125–80). Dissenting academies in Wales such as the one established by Samuel Jones (1628–97) at Brynllywarch in Glamorgan would produce fine scholars and works of Calvinistic orthodoxy despite their lack of formal academic recognition. These training academies were the precursors to the modern university in Wales, though dissenters were forbidden from awarding degrees at this time.
One of the key Puritan and Reformed theologians during the seventeenth century was Morgan Llwyd (1619–59) who is principally known for his work of esoteric theology Llyfr y Tri Aderyn (‘The Book of Three Birds’) published in 1653.[14] Morgan Llwyd’s theology has been described as a synthesis of the thought of John Calvin and Jakob Bohme (1575–1624), though he was heavily influenced by Quakerism and the ideology of the Fifth Monarchists.[15] Llyfr y Tri Aderyn takes the form of a conversation between three birds: the Eagle (representing Oliver Cromwell), the Raven (representing the defeated Established Church), and the Dove (representing the Puritans and Morgan Llwyd himself). The dove is the theological voice of the study and considers themes as diverse as the place of Scripture in Llwyd’s theology, the being and attributes of God, the person and death of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the necessity of personal regeneration. However, Llwyd was also influenced by the Quaker idea of the ‘inner light’ or the inward revelation of the Holy Spirit which he set against the dead letter of Scripture. Bohme was also influential in shaping Llwyd’s mysticism and depreciation of the written text of Scripture. Llwyd was also deeply influenced by Fifth Monarchist eschatology, though he would come to spiritualise and internalise these views later in life.
Another Welsh Puritan of considerable importance was Charles Edwards (c. 1628–c. 1691), the author of a Welsh classic Y Ffydd Ddi-Fuant (‘The Faith Unfeigned’) originally published in 1667 as a part-abridgement of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, but considerably expanded in its third edition.[16] According to William Evans, ‘Charles Edwards combined in a remarkable degree the Bible historian and chronologist, the theologian and apologist; and his book must be regarded as a fresh starting point in the literature of Wales’.[17] Y Ffydd Ddi-Fuant is a distinctively Protestant version of the history of Christianity from its Biblical foundations to Charles’ own lifetime. It is a classic of Welsh literature in terms of the quality of its prose, though few would endorse its contents entirely today. Charles was also known for expressing the view that Hebrew shares considerable similarities with the Welsh language and that the two languages may in fact be cognate. However, this view would be discredited by modern scholarship despite its widespread appeal during the seventeenth century. Another influential figure from this period is Rhys Prichard (1579–1644), vicar of Llandovery, who embodied many of the Puritan and Reformed ideals, though he chose to remain within the confines of the Established Church.[18] He is principally known for his deceptively simple, yet profoundly religious poems collectively known as Canwyll y Cymru (‘A Candle of the Welsh’). These hymns and poems became almost as popular among the Welsh as the Bible itself and John Bunyan’s famous allegory Taith y Pererin (‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’). Peter Williams describes Canwyll y Cymru as containing the cream of the Scriptures and as being a means of much spiritual good.[19]
Calvinistic Methodism and the Evangelical Revival
Methodism in Wales would be almost an entirely Calvinistic affair during the eighteenth century.[20] As Densil Morgan observes, ‘The Welsh Methodist movement, an indigenous body in no way indebted to John Wesley, identified itself from the beginning as being doctrinally Reformed’.[21] The principal leaders of the Methodist movement in Wales were the Anglican layman Howell Harris (1714–73), the curate of Llangeitho Daniel Rowland (1713–90), and the hymn-writer and theologian William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717–91). The leaders of the emergent evangelical Calvinistic Methodist movement in Wales were indebted to the evangelical Calvinism of the older Anglican Reformed and Pietist tradition through the ministry of Griffith Jones, Llanddowror (1684–1761). Jones’s circulating schools would do much to spread literacy throughout Wales and introduce the doctrines of the Reformation to Welsh speakers for the first time through the teaching of the catechism. They were modelled on continental and Moravian-style pietist schools in Europe. It is estimated that Jones’ schools taught between 250,000 and 300,000 people – over half the population of Wales – to read the Scriptures and catechism through the medium of Welsh.[22] This work in spreading literacy did much towards preparing the ground for the emergence of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales, though Jones himself would come to distance himself from the movement to safeguard the reputation of his schools. David Ceri Jones has argued that the leaders of the Methodist movement in Wales adopted ‘a moderate evangelical version of Calvinism, which dovetailed perfectly with their overriding commitment to evangelism and religious renewal’.[23] They developed their evangelical Calvinism in the light of ‘ye good old orthodox Reformers and Puritans’ in the words of Howell Harris and whose practical works of divinity they devoured for content appropriate the evangelical revival.[24] While there has been considerable emphasis on the socio-cultural impact of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales, focus on their theological development has been considerably sparse in the scholarly literature until recently. David Ceri Jones and D. Densil Morgan are notable exceptions to this trend and have given serious consideration to the principal ideas, theology, and philosophy of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales.[25]
Theologically speaking, the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales skilfully navigated the different expressions or brands of Reformed theology during the eighteenth century. Evangelicals in Wales forged their own uniquely moderate or evangelical version of orthodox Calvinism which emphasised both divine sovereignty and the free offer of the gospel. According to Densil Morgan, ‘Welsh Methodism held staunchly to the concept of human corruption, the sovereignty of God, and a general gospel call whereby particular election was made good’.[26] They saw no tension between the total depravity of the sinner, the absolute sovereignty of God, and a universal and well-meant offer of the Gospel. Reprobation was largely seen as God’s decision to pass by the non-elect rather than to actively condemn them, election was viewed as a positive decree towards the effectual application of redemption, and the atonement though effective only for the elect (and so technically ‘limited’) was nonetheless sufficient for the whole world – a belief compatible with the ‘missionary-minded’ Calvinism of evangelicals in England and Wales.[27] The term ‘moderate Calvinism’ used by David Ceri Jones and others is perhaps a misleading description of their type of Calvinism as it could be taken to imply forms of Amyraldism which the Methodists in Wales would have repudiated. It would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of an ‘evangelical’ and ‘infralapsarian’ Calvinism, rather than the more ambiguous ‘moderate’ Calvinism. Their Calvinism however was regarded as thoroughly consistent with Article XVII of the Church of England which clearly teaches a doctrine of divine predestination, though omitting reference to reprobation.
However, there was nothing particularly Welsh about their Calvinism. In fact, Welsh Calvinism was part of a broader trans-national movement throughout continental Europe, Britain, and America. As David Ceri Jones observes, citing Richard Muller, ‘‘National boundaries did not serve as thought boundaries’ in the early modern period. Welsh Protestants, be they Puritans, evangelicals or later non-conformists existed in symbiotic relationship with their counterparts in other countries’.[28] Calvinistic Methodists in Wales borrowed and exchanged ideas with Calvinists in Europe, Britain, and America. They were part of an international and transatlantic movement.[29] Contemporary scholarship, particularly in the light of Richard Muller’s research, demands that we think of a variegated Calvinism rather than a monolithic tradition indebted solely to Calvin himself who was simply one of many Reformed thinkers during the early modern period.[30] It is perhaps more appropriate to speak of a diversified ‘Reformed tradition’ than to think of a pristine ideological Calvinism. Jones argues that the Calvinistic Methodists in England and Wales were evangelicals or pioneer missionaries first, and Calvinists second.[31] In other words, they were evangelical Calvinists. The Calvinism was also shaped by Enlightenment ideas of optimism, moderation, pragmatism, and experiment. Theirs was an experiential divinity.
The story of the evangelical revival in Wales is well known.[32] It begins with the ministry of Howell Harris from Trevecka who served as one of Griffith Jones’s schoolmasters in South Wales.[33] Harris had experienced a profound evangelical conversion which he began to share with others through an itinerant ministry in his local community. His conversion was part of a wider movement throughout Britain and America associated with George Whitefield (1714–70) and Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) as well as with European Protestants such as the Moravians and continental Pietists. These networks of evangelical pietism criss-crossed the Atlantic world and led to what some scholars have described as a ‘Great Awakening’.[34] According to David Ceri Jones, Harris himself found ‘an immediate outlet for his energies by visiting the homes of his neighbours, enquiring after their spiritual well-being, reading the Bible or other evangelistic books, and pressing on them the need for a personal faith in Christ’.[35] The problem, as far as Harris was concerned, was a nominal Christianity without the experiential awareness of the Holy Spirit and personal salvation. Harris began to sort his converts into small religious groups modelled after such Pietist groups on the continent known as collegia pietatis. These would become known as seiadau in Wales or experience meetings in which participants would read the Bible and evangelical literature, engage in extemporaneous exhortation and prayer, and sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together.[36] At roughly the same time, Daniel Rowland, a curate at Llangeitho in Cardiganshire, experienced evangelical conversion while listening to a sermon by Griffith Jones on the new birth.[37] Rowland began to preach his experiences with considerable power and attract crowds in their hundreds and thousands. As David Ceri Jones observes, ‘Soon many began to wind their way to Llangeitho to listen to Rowland, and to receive Communion from the friendly hands of an evangelical clergyman’.[38] It is significant that they should be attracted to Rowland’s administration of Holy Eucharist and that Howell Harris himself was converted while partaking of the sacrament. The Calvinistic Methodists in Wales held to a consistently high view of Holy Communion as the administration of the body and blood of Christ to received by faith. Theirs was a Calvinistic view of Holy Eucharist which emphasised the spiritual presence of Christ in the elements, rather than a memorialist Zwinglian understanding of the Lord’s Supper on the one hand or the Roman Catholic and Lutheran views of the real presence as literally and physically embodied in the sacrament on the other.
Williams Pantycelyn would be converted through the ministry of Howell Harris and would become the primary hymn-writer and theologian of the evangelical movement in Wales – turning from a promising career in medicine to full time ministry as an evangelical curate and assistant to Daniel Rowland.[39] Both his hymns and his prose works are steeped in Calvinistic orthodoxy and a show a robust understanding of the Reformed faith. According to David Ceri Jones, ‘The exquisite hymns which he began writing … gave a vivid expression to the experiences at the heart of the Methodist movement, while his prose writings combined Calvinist theology and experiential piety in harmonious and rare balance’.[40] His epic poems such as Golwg ar Deyrnas Christ (‘A View of Christ’s Kingdom’) (1756) and Bywyd a Marwolaeth Theomemphus (‘The Life and Death of Theomemphus’) (1764) were works of a robust Calvinistic orthodoxy: the former emphasising the sovereignty of Christ over all creation and the latter being an exposition of the application of redemption in the life and death of the main protagonist Theomemphus – a Welsh language equivalent of the Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Calvinistic Methodism in Wales – largely owing to the theological output of Williams Pantycelyn in his epic poetry, hymns, and prose writings – would form a synthesis between a robust Calvinistic orthodoxy and a deep evangelical experiential spirituality. However, relations between Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland would break down during the mid-1740s largely owing to heresy and personal misconduct on the part of Harris. By this time, Harris had adopted a Moravian theology of ‘blood and wounds’ in which he conflated the sufferings of Christ on the cross with those of God the Father – thereby entertaining the heresy of patripassianism. He would also adopt an eccentric spiritual advisor in the person of Madam Sydney Griffiths who believed that she was directly inspired to prophesy by the Holy Spirit. There would be tensions in Howell Harris’ personal relations between his wife and Madam Griffiths, though Methodist scholars have consistently denied any sexual misconduct on Harris’ part. These tensions would eventually lead to division in the movement between Rowland’s people who were by far the majority and Harris’ people who formed a distinctive evangelical community or ‘family’ at his estate in Trevecka. By the year of 1768, Howell Harris would be restored to fellowship with Daniel Rowland largely through the mediation of Williams Pantycelyn, but his relationship with the movement would never be quite the same and his ministry would focus largely on supporting his ‘family’ and the newly founded theological college at Trevecka.
The Calvinistic Methodists in Wales would eventually secede from the Anglican Church in 1811 under the leadership of Thomas Charles of Bala (1735–1814) and Thomas Jones of Denbigh (1756–1820). Their approach, according to Densil Morgan, was ‘unambiguously Reformed’.[41] Thomas Charles’ Geiriadur Ysgrythyrol (‘Scriptural Dictionary’) (1805–11) was deeply indebted to continental Reformed theology.[42] He informed a correspondent that ‘some of the old German and Dutch divines I judge preferable such as Jerome Zanchius, [Andreas] Musculus, [Campegius] Vitringa … [Hermann] Witsius, [Johannes] Cocceius etc., I think [Francis] Turretin’s works would be very useful to you’.[43] Thomas Jones would also weigh into the debate with his Hanes y Merthyron yn Mhrydain Fawr (‘A History of the British Martyrs’) (1813) which, according to Densil Morgan, ‘was a vast apologia for Calvinism as being in accord with the classic orthodoxy of the western church’.[44] However, Densil Morgan is careful to point out that the Calvinism of the Reformed orthodox in Wales at this time was largely indebted to theologians other than Calvin himself. In fact, Calvin is highly conspicuous by his near total absence from Welsh literature during this time. The Welsh found their Calvinism in the Dutch and continental Reformed more than they did from the hands of Calvin himself.[45] The theology of Calvinistic Methodism would eventually be codified into a confession of faith adopted at the associations of Aberystwyth and Bala in 1823. It would particularly draw upon the theology of Williams Pantycelyn and Thomas Charles of Bala in the formulation of its articles. It stands alongside other great Reformed confessions such as the Westminster Confessions of Faith and the Three Forms of Unity as one of the major Reformed confessional documents from the early modern period.[46]
Conclusion
Calvinism had relatively humble beginnings in Wales during the Reformation through the ministry of figures as diverse as the former Marian exile Richard Davies and the fiery separatist John Penry. Of course, the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular by William Salesbury and William Morgan set the foundation for the emergence of Calvinism in Wales. Lewys Bayley’s The Practice of Piety (1613) represented a somewhat moderate and conformist brand of Calvinism that was frequently adopted within the Established Church during the seventeenth century and which some Puritans would consider to be theologically compromised. Rhys Prichard’s popular verse did much to spread Calvinistic ideas in Wales among the common folk in simple, memorable, and accessible poems and hymns set to popular tunes. Welsh Puritanism – though somewhat eccentric with respect to eschatology – did much to promote Calvinism in Wales particularly through the ministries of Walter Cradock, Vavasor Powell, Morgan Llwyd, and Charles Edwards. By the 1650s, there also existed a network of Calvinistic Baptists in Wales led by the robust Reformed theologian John Myles. Griffith Jones of Llanddowror did much towards promoting an evangelical and enlightened form of Calvinism which worked towards the promotion of religious literacy in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodists – notably Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland, and Williams Pantycelyn – did much to promote Calvinistic orthodoxy in Wales – indebted as they were to the evangelical Puritans and continental Reformers.
Methodism in Wales was a combination of evangelical Calvinism and deep religious experience. It was ‘Calvinistic’ in its theology, emphasising the depravity of humankind and the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. But it was ‘Methodist’ or ‘evangelical’ in practice, emphasizing the role of personal religious experience and a high degree of religious and social activism. It brought together mind and heart in fresh and invigorating ways which sometimes provoked opposition from the Established Church, not to mention from unruly and aggressive persecutors. In putting Calvinism back on the menu during the eighteenth century, it can be said that the Methodist movement in Wales restored Augustinianism to Wales in a decisively Protestant dress. The well-known debate between Calvinists such as George Whitefield and Arminians like John Wesley was essentially a revival of a much older debate between St. Augustine and Pelagius. Calvinism had been a frequent emphasis among Welsh Puritans like Morgan Llwyd and Walter Cradock, but it truly came to its own in the preaching of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists who most conscientiously preached the doctrines of grace throughout the Principality. Calvinistic Methodism was truly a movement of head, heart, and hand. Many thousands were converted under the preaching of the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales and the movement has left an enduring legacy in Wales as a land not only of evangelical awakenings, but of orthodox evangelical Calvinism.
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[1]
D. Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis: Protestant Religion and Theology in
Wales: From Reformation to Revival 1588–1760 (Cardiff, 2018), pp. 1–10;
Eryn Mant White, The Welsh Bible (Chalford, 2007).
[2]
Isaac Thomas, ‘Translating the Bible’, R. Geraint Gruffydd (ed.), A Guide to
Welsh Literature, c. 1530–1700 (Cardiff, 1997), pp. 154–73.
[3]
William Evans, An Outline of the History of Welsh Theology (London,
1900), p. 11.
[4]
D. Densil Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, Welsh Journal of
Religious History, 4 (2009), 24.
[5]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 25.
[6]
David Ceri Jones, ‘Reformation Wales, 1530–1603’, in Barry J. Lewis, Madeleine
Gray, David Ceri Jones, and D. Densil Morgan, A History of Christianity in
Wales (Cardiff, 2022), p. 203.
[7]
David Ceri Jones, ‘Securing a Protestant Wales, 1603–1760’, in Barry J. Lewis,
Madeleine Gray, David Ceri Jones, and D. Densil Morgan, A History of
Christianity in Wales (Cardiff, 2022), p. 211.
[8]
Evans, An Outline of the History of Welsh Theology, p. 14.
[9]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, pp. 25–26.
[10]
Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 1, pp. 96–103.
[11]
Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 1, pp. 117–23.
[12]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 26. On Welsh Puritanism, see
Geoffrey F. Nuttall, The Welsh Saints 1640–1660: Walter Cradock, Vavasor
Powell, Morgan Llwyd (Cardiff, 1957); M. Wynn Thomas, ‘Seventeenth-Century
Puritan Writers: Morgan Llwyd and Charles Edwards’, in R. Geraint Gruffydd
(ed.), A Guide to Welsh Literature, c. 1530–1700 (Cardiff, 1997), pp.
190–209.
[13]
Jones, ‘Securing a Protestant Wales, 1603–1760’, p. 214.
[14]
Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 1, pp. 103–17. See also M. Wynn
Thomas, Morgan Llwyd (Cardiff, 1984).
[15]
Goronwy Wyn Owen, Rhwng Calfin a Bohme: Golwg ar Syniadaeth Morgan Llwyd (Caerdydd, 2001).
[16]
On Charles Edwards, see M. Wynn Thomas, ‘Seventeenth-Century Puritan Writers:
Morgan Llwyd and Charles Edwards’, in R. Geraint Gruffydd (ed.), A Guide to
Welsh Literature, c. 1530–1700 (Cardiff, 1997), pp. 190–209.
[17]
William Evans, An Outline of the History of Welsh Theology, p. 34.
[18]
For a textual authoritative selection of some of his hymns and poems see Nesta
Lloyd (ed.), Cerddi’r Ficer: Detholiad o Gerddi Rhys Prichard (Llandybie,
1994). For a general introduction to his life and ministry, see R. Brinley
Jones, ‘A Lanterne to their Feete’: Remembering Rhys Pritchard 1579–1644,
Vicar of Llandovery (Porthyrhyd, 1994).
[19]
William Evans, An Outline of the History of Welsh Theology, p. 36.
[20]
D. Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 1, pp. 359–77. See also
William Evans, An Outline of the History of Welsh Theology, pp. 38–67.
[21]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 27.
[22]
See the figures cited by David Ceri Jones in ‘Securing a Protestant Wales,
1603–1760’, p. 229.
[23]
David Ceri Jones, ‘‘We are of Calvinistical Principals’: How Calvinist was
Early Calvinistic Methodism’, The Welsh Journal of Religious History, 4
(2009), 37.
[24]
NLW, CMA, The Trevecka Letters 1295, Howel Harris to James Erskine, 19 February
1745.
[25]
David Ceri Jones, ‘‘We are of Calvinistical Principals’: How Calvinist was
Early Calvinistic Methodism’, The Welsh Journal of Religious History, 4
(2009), 37–54; ‘Calvinistic Methodism and the Reformed Tradition in Eighteenth-Century
Wales’, in T. O hAnnrachain (ed.), Christianities in the Early Modern Celtic
World (Basingstoke, 2014), pp. 164–178. For D. Densil Morgan, see the two
volumes entitled Theologia Cambrensis by the University of Wales Press
in the bibliography.
[26]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 27.
[27] For the phrase ‘missionary-minded Calvinism’, see Alan
Sell, The Great Debate: Calvinism, Arminianism and Salvation (Worthing,
1982), p. 59.
[28]
Jones, ‘Calvinistic Methodism …’, p. 165.
[29]
See David Ceri Jones, ‘A Glorious Work in the World’: Welsh Methodism and
the International Evangelical Revival, 1735–1750 (Cardiff, 2004).
[30]
See Richard A. Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation
of a Theological System (Oxford, 2000); After Calvin: Studies in the Development
of a Theological Tradition (Oxford, 2003).
[31]
Jones, ‘Calvinistic Methodism’, p. 168.
[32]
See David Ceri Jones, Boyd Stanley Schlenther, Eryn Mant White, The Elect
Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales 1735–1811 (Cardiff, 2016);
David Ceri Jones, The Fire Divine: An Introduction to the Evangelical
Revival (Nottingham, 2015).
[33]
On the life and ministry of Howell Harris, see Geraint Tudur, Howell Harris:
From Conversion to Separation 1735–1750 (Cardiff, 2000); Eifion Evans, Howel
Harris: Evangelist (Cardiff, 1974); Geoffrey F. Nuttal, Howel Harris
1714–1773: The Last Enthusiast (Cardiff, 1965).
[34] Consider, for example, the title of Derec Llwyd
Morgan’s study, The Great Awakening in Wales (London, 1988). The
original Welsh uses the term Y Diwygiad Mawr which could also be
translated as ‘The Great Reformation’.
[35]
Jones, ‘Securing a Protestant Wales, 1603–1760’, p. 229.
[36]
See Eryn M. White, The Welsh Methodist Society: The Early Societies in South-West
Wales 1737–1750 (Cardiff, 2020).
[37]
For the life and ministry of Daniel Rowland, see Eifion Evans, Daniel
Rowlands and the Great Evangelical Awakening in Wales (Edinburgh, 1985).
[38]
Jones, ‘Securing a Protestant Wales, 1603–1760’, p. 230.
[39]
On the life and ministry of William Williams, Pantycelyn see Eifion Evans, Bread
of Heaven: The Life and Work of William Williams, Pantycelyn (Bryntirion,
2010); Glyn Tegai Hughes, Williams Pantycelyn (Cardiff, 1983); Kathryn
Jenkins, ‘Williams Pantycelyn’, in Branwen Jarvis (ed.), A Guide to Welsh Literature
c. 1700–1800 (Cardiff, 2000), pp. 256–78. The second volume of D. Densil
Morgan’s Theologia Cambrensis: Protestant Religion and Theology in Wales:
The Long Nineteenth Century, 1760–1900 (Cardiff, 2021) goes into more
detail regarding Pantycelyn’s publications after 1750.
[40]
Jones, ‘Securing a Protestant Wales, 1603–1760’, p. 232.
[41]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 29.
[42] With respect to the life and ministry of Thomas
Charles of Bala, see John Aaron, Thomas Charles of Bala (Edinburgh,
2022); D. Densil Morgan (gol.), Thomas Charles o’r Bala (Caerdydd,
2014).
[43]
Edward Morgan (ed.), Essays, Letters, and Interesting Papers of the late
Rev. Thomas Charles (London, 1836), pp. 385–6.
[44]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, p. 30.
[45]
Morgan, ‘Calvinism in Wales c.1590–c.1909’, pp. 30–2.
[46] Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 2,
pp. 161–63.
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