EVAN ROBERTS FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST
1. GENERAL REMARKS ON BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
WE have more than once suggested that it was no sudden thing for Evan Roberts to be called to his great work. God never calls men to do His most spiritual work without either direct or indirect preparation. This is only natural, and God never acts unnaturally. A natural gradation is one of His great principles of action every sphere. It is this which gives to His work stability, power, and firmness. There was a great deal of preparation necessary for the disciples before being filled with the Holy Spirit. They were not fitting recipients of this filling immediately after being called from their daily tasks. To whatever direction we turn, we see that no great work of a permanent character, of any kind, was ever accomplished without a long preparation. If in the nature of things preparation is needed to do work that is not of a spiritual character, how much more so is it needed in order to receive the Spirit of God to perform spiritual work? In Evan Roberts we see God’s general mode of raising a man to do exceptional work in the sphere of grace.
There are two kinds of filling with the Holy Spirit, namely. — (1) general filling, and (2) special filling. The first ought to be the share of every one who has experienced the new birth, because it is an essential condition of doing work for Christ in the ordinary spheres of religion, and a necessary element in spiritual development. Without this the Christian cannot attain to perfection of character. The special filling differs from this in that it is given in order to enable one to perform special work. John the Baptist is said to have been filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb — St. Luke 1. 15. Elizabeth, his mother, was filled with the Holy Spirit when Mary addressed her — St. Luke I. 41, 42 — so that she sang a song of praise for the honour bestowed upon her. Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, in virtue of which he prophesied — St. Luke I, 67. Our Saviour returned from the wilderness after the temptation, filled with the Holy Spirit — St. Luke IV. 1. These four instances show that the Spirit had filled the above-named person in a special manner in order to do special work. There are some eight references in the Acts to filling with the Spirit, and most, if not all of them, mean a special filling for special work or circumstances. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit to speak in self-defence in the High Priest Court — Acts IV, 7-9. The disciples were filled in a special manner on the day of Pentecost to speak with boldness and with power — Acts II 4. It was in virtue of a special filling with the Spirit that Paul struck Elymas the sorcerer blind — Acts XIII, 8-11. Barnabas was the means of adding a great number to the church by being filled with the Spirit — Acts XI. 24. By a filling with the Spirit, Stephen was able to die so glorious a death, and obtain a vision of Christ as he died. These instances will suffice to show the difference between the two kind of being filled with the Spirit. To take an illustration from nature it may be said that the difference resemble the fullness of life in the vegetable kingdom in autumn and winter, and its fullness in spring and summer. The first is a general fullness, the second is special. God does special work throughout the vegetable world in spring and summer, and fills it with special fullness of life for that purpose. This life is not special in its nature, be it borne in mind, but special in fullness. So it is with the kinds of fillings with the Spirit of God in the spiritual world. In their nature they are identical, but the fullness of the special is much greater than that of the general, as the fullness of the life of spring and summer is greater than that of autumn and winter.
II. THE CONDITIONS OF BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to an account of the special filling of Evan Roberts for his special work. None, save unbelievers in the divine origin of the Revival, will deny that in a special sense Evan Roberts is a Spirit-filled man. His exceptional work proves this beyond doubt. But he did not receive this special fullness without conforming with special conditions. He began fulfilling these conditions when thirteen years of age. In this compliance there are several elements, such as the following: —
(l) Prayer — Throughout the years Evan Roberts prayed that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit, as we have mentioned elsewhere. In reply to a question on this matter he said ‘I prayed for the Spirit for thirteen years. One of the most important elements in his prayers during this time was a desire for the Spirit. Whatever would be the burden of his prayer this element would come in. His mind was directed to this in a very simple way. One of the deacons of Moriah, Mr. William Davies by name, was speaking in a church meeting at Loughor one evening, and telling those present — ‘Remember to be faithful; what if the Holy Spirit descended when you are not here? remember Thomas, friends! what a loss he had through being absent! As he listened to these words, Evan Roberts said to himself, I am resolved to get the Holy Spirit. He began at once to pray for the gift, and continued until his prayer was answered. This ought to teach all religious people a lesson on being filled with the Spirit. Some speak of it as though there were no conditions to be fulfilled in order to get the Spirit; and as though God shed His Spirit upon some particular persons without any preparation on their part.
(2) Determination. — Besides resolving to pray, Roberts determined to do all in his power to get the Spirit. As he listened to Mr. William Davies speak on the danger of being absent from the meetings, he made up his mind that nothing should prevent him being present, if possible, in all the meetings in his chapel. Whatsoever would be the difficulties, he would be there. He determined not to give way to indulge in innocent pleasures on the nights of the services. Often he would see his comrades, in summer, rowing in boats on the river, and he acknowledges that he felt a strong desire to join them, sometimes, instead of going to chapel; but he did not even once give way to it. His determination was too strong to join any company but the children of God. Who but an exceptionally religious young man would tie himself to the meetings five nights a week. When he would feel a strong inclination to join young people who spent their time in pleasure, he would say to himself, Oh! no, remember thy determination to be faithful. Monday evening he would go to the prayer meeting at Moriah, Tuesday to the one held at Pisgah, Wednesday to the church meeting at Moriah, Thursday to the Band of Hope held at the same place, and Friday night to the Bible class. Week after week he attended these meetings with marked faithfulness.
Before long this determination gave birth to another one, namely, a strong resolve to pray for a Revival in Wales. He had prayed between ten and eleven years expressly for a Revival before it came. In these years the idea of a Revival, as a rule, was his ruling thought, and he could remain awake all night praying or speaking about it. There is no doubt in his mind but that this brooding and praying for a Revival was all due to the Holy Spirit’s influence.
3. Consideration with an intense desire to consecrate himself entirely to the work of Christ; and the desire developed in power continually. Fearing lest it would be in any way frustrated, he gave up altogether relating all kinds of vain tales. These he thought destroyed the keenness of spirituality. To one so alive to the witty and humorous aspect of things as he, this meant something. In like manner he kept from all pleasures regarded as innocent in themselves even by the churches. Hs pursuits were those which helped him to consecrate his life to God in thought, words, actions, and conduct. Yet this effort after complete consecration, did not make him unnatural, nor burdensome to his comrades. The young people sought his company, notwithstanding his purity, and he was always a source of pleasure to them until someone would give expression to anything not of high taste. Then his countenance would wear an aspect of disapproval. He looked at the Sabbath as a day to be consecrated to God, and could not bear anyone to do unnecessary work on it. The Bible he handled as a Holy Book, containing the words of the Lord and Creator of the universe, and the chapel and all its services were holy in his sight. But in all these conceptions relating to consecration nothing like superstition nor asceticism dominated his mind. He believed, and believes so still, that the consecration of a man should be one of the greatest qualifications in him to do work for Christ, and win people to His kingdom. One of the things that troubled him was that his aim to save money was against him to consecrate himself to Christ, but time proved, as we shall have occasion to show again, that money had not captivated his heart. Like his prayers and determination, his longing for consecration grew gradually until his holy life became manifest even to those who had been brought up with him.
(4) An exceptionally close Communion with God for three months — His communion with God became closer and more spiritual from year to year. He often forgot himself and all his surroundings in this communion, and as before stated, he could spend hours in secret with God. In the Spring of 1904 he found himself one night on the Mount of Transfiguration as it were. As he was at the Throne of Grace he felt himself being taken up to some space, and to him time and place were not. This was the most wonderful communion with God he had ever had, and he never felt God so near to him before. God used to be in the distance to him until then, and existing at the uttermost parts of the earth. But now He came so near as to fill him with divine awe. Every member in his body trembled until the bed was shaking. Dan, his brother, awoke and shouted, are you ill Evan? ‘Oh no,’ he answered, ‘beginning to get well I am.’ Only once after this he has been terrified owing to the nearness of God, as will be seen from his address to the students at Bala. This night brought about a great change in him. For weeks after it he would awake about one o’clock in the morning. This was quite a new experience for him. Before the above night, he, as a rule, slept soundly, and it was difficult for any disturbance to awaken him. How to account for this change? He cannot account for it further than that it was caused by the most divine thing he ever experienced; from the time he would be aroused, until about 5 o’clock, his communion with God was most intimate, and without a break, and he describes it as the most divine, light, and happy communion. Then he would sleep until about 9 am, and as soon as he would awake the communion would be repeated, and sometimes continue until about 12 or I o’clock. This was his experience for no less than from three to seven hours daily. The family could not understand why he kept in bed so long, and would ask for a reason. He could not answer them, because his experience during the hours in question was too divine to be described. His expression for it is — ‘It was something indescribable. It continued increasingly for three months, and it was so sweet that he feared in his heart to lose it. This was one of his great fears when going to the Grammar School. ‘Oh!’ said he, when relating about it to me, I did fear to lose it. I determined to give it half-an-hour every day, and the remainder to the school work, and that worked comparatively well for the first week; but after that things changed I was compelled to give most of my time to the divine communion. When confined to my bed by a severe cold for four days, I only prayed day and night, the last of these nights the perspiration poured down my cheeks. This was caused by the cold and my communion with God.
III. THE HISTORY OF THE FILLING WITH THE SPIRIT.
One of the four days alluded to was Sunday, September 25th, 1904. He got up in his room for some time that day, but did not venture out. It was very hard for him to stay in, though very ill, because the Rev. Seth Joshua, Cardiff, held services at Bethel C.M. chapel, Newcastle-Emlyn. Monday evening, Roberts’s friend, Sydney Evans, went to Mr. Joshua’s meeting, and felt that the place was full of God when the preacher emphasised the importance of bending, total self-surrender, and such things. There were a number of young ladies from New Quay at this meeting, and they had spoken in the Young Peoples Service, held before the public one. On his return Sydney Evans gave the history of the service to Evan Roberts, and we can very well imagine that he was much interested in hearing it. Mr. Joshua held a meeting again on Tuesday evening, and the girls from New Quay aided him. Some of the students came with Sydney Evan, to see if Roberts would come to the service. Thus he relates what followed their request — the minute they asked, I felt the Spirit descending on me. The irresistible possessed me, and I rushed to chapel without my overcoat. The divine influence began to bear on me heavily. I was ready to pray — to pray for the girls of New Quay to have strength in the face of the expectations of the people from them. I had been praying Monday evening in the house for strength for them, but the Spirit would not allow me to pray in chapel on Tuesday night. It was wonderful on me Tuesday night. I was asking — where is the devil? I felt awfully hard I looked at the cross without feeling anything. I wept bitterly because of my hardness of heart, but I did not weep because of Christ. I loved the Father and the Holy Spirit, but did not love the Son.
Wednesday, before going to Blaenanerch, I felt like a flint, and told that to Mr. Williams the guard, whom I met in Miss. Phillips’s shop. I felt as if every feeling had been swept from my bosom. I was saying to my-self, I must be laid up on a sick bed, or have the Spirit with power. Thanks be to God, the Spirit I had, and not the sick bed. Miss. Magdalen Phillips, the daughter of the Rev. Evan Phillips, came to me and asked me to come to their house, to the prayer meeting, which was held before going to Blaenanerch. But I did not go because of two reasons. — (1) For fear that they would talk about my going out after having been ill for days, (2) I wanted to speak to Miss. Phillips about her religious condition. I said to her ‘I’ll pray for you, you pray for me, and in a moment the tears filled her eyes. I do not remember what happened from this time on Wednesday, more than that I had something wonderful about 3. 30 p m, and that I asked Miss. Phillips afterwards — Are you praying for me?’ and that she answered ‘dear Roberts I was praying for you all day!’
This was the first day of the religious conference which was held at Blaenanerch, and as hinted before, Roberts went there with the Rev. Seth Joshua and others. The girls from New Quay did their best to persuade him to stay at Blaenanerch until the morrow, but he would not hear of that. Having failed to influence him, ‘Well,’ said they ‘we have nothing to do.’ No, replied he, neither have I anything to do, but wait for the fire to descend. The alter is built, and the wood upon it, and the sacrifice only waiting for the fire to come down.
The Rev. Seth Joshua conducted a service at Newcastle Emlyn on Wednesday evening, and Evan Roberts attended it. In this meeting he prayed the wonderful prayer referred to by Mr. John Phillips in chapter XV. Mr. Joshua asked in the course of the service for all who possessed full assurance of faith to stand. Evan Roberts was one of the first of the few who stood up. When relating about this meeting to me, he remarked, that the Rev. Frank Joshua of Neath, who is a brother of Mr. Seth Joshua, was conducting a mission at Libanus Chapel, Gorscinon, years ago, and that he asked those who had assurance to stand. I failed to stand then said he. Why? Because all was not on the altar with me, and because I had not a strong faith in God. But when this night at Newcastle-Emlyn came, I had all on the altar.
Thursday morning, September 29th, he started with Mr. Joshua and about twenty others, at 6 o’clock, for Blaenanerch again. The company sang gloriously on their way. —
‘The old time religion’
‘I can prove God answers prayer, ‘
‘From Heavenly Jerusalem’s towers,
The path through the desert they trace,
And every affliction they suffered
Rodowns to the glory of grace,
Their look they cast back on the tempests,
On fears, on grim death, and the grave,
Rejoicing that now they’re in safety,
Through Him that is mighty to save.’
They arrived by 7 o’clock, and went to the service, which was left free for anyone to ask a question, and the Rev. W.W. Lewis, Carmarthen, was there to answer. In this meeting the irresistible influence came partly upon Evan Roberts. His feelings on the way to Blaenanerch were in a confused state. He describes them as joyous and gloomy, hard and cold at times, up and down. But in the above meeting the powerful, the stable, and the unchangeable came into his heart. The Rev. Seth Joshua prayed to close the service, and said. — O Lord do this, and this, and this, and bend us. Evan Roberts does not remember any of his words but ‘bend us’. According to him, Mr. Joshua did not emphasise the words — Oh Lord, bend us. It was the Holy Spirit that laid the emphasis on them to me, he said. ‘That is what you stand in need of’ said the Spirit to me ‘And Oh! in going through the door I prayed within myself, Oh! Lord, bend us.’ When breakfasting in the house of the Rev. M. P. Morgan, Blaenanerch, Miss. Magdalen Phillips handed me the bread and butter, but I refused it, because I had been satiated. As the Rev. Seth Joshua took the bread and butter, I thought and asked myself what if God offers His Spirit and I not ready to receive Him, and that others are ready to accept Him were they offered? At this time my bosom was full to overflowing. On our way to the 9 o’clock service the Rev. Seth Joshua said ‘We are going to have a wonderful meeting here today.’ I answered, ‘I am just bursting.’ I felt in going to the meeting that I was compelled to pray. When the meeting commenced many prayed, and I asked the Holy Spirit, shall I pray now ‘No,’ said the Spirit in answer. Shortly some wonderful influence came over me. After many had prayed I felt some living energy or force entering my bosom, it held my breath, my legs trembled terribly, this living energy increased and increased as one after the other prayed until it nearly burst me, and as each finished I asked, ‘Shall I pray now?’ When someone finished, I prayed. My bosom boiled all through, and had it not been that I prayed, I would have burst. What boiled my bosom? The verse, ‘for God commendeth His love.’ I fell on my knees, with my arms outstretched on the seat before me, the perspiration poured down my face and my tears streamed quickly until I thought that the blood came out. Soon Mrs. Davies, Mona, New Quay, came to wipe my perspiration. Magdalen Phillips stood on my right, and Maud Davies on my left. It was awful on me for about two minutes. I cried — ‘Bend me, bend me, bend me, Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!’ When wiping my perspiration Mrs. Davies said, ‘Oh wonderful grace!’ ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘Oh wonderful grace!’ It was God commending His love that bent me, and I not seeing anything in Him to commend. After I was bent, a wave of peace filled my bosom. When I was in this feeling the audience sang heartily:
‘I am coming, Lord!
Coming now to Thee!’
What came to my mind after this was the bending in the day of judgement. Then I was filled with sympathy for the people who will have to bend in the judgement day, and I wept. Afterwards, the salvation of souls weighed heavily on me. I felt on fire for going through the whole of Wales to tell the people about the Saviour, and had such a thing been possible, I was willing to pay God for that.’ The plan he drew to go through Wales, as a result of this, is given in a further chapter.
This is the wonderful history of how Evan Roberts was filled with the Spirit. In this meeting, in a simple and unostentatious country place, the longing for being filled with the Holy Spirit which had been growing in him for thirteen years, reached its maturity. The hour of his preparation to receive the Spirit with power, and the hour of God had come, and behold, the mighty out-pouring descended on him. This was a never to be forgotten service for Evan Roberts and the whole of Wales. Blaenanerch’s great meeting he calls it. Those who were present should magnify their privilege; because they saw the Revivalist under the irresistible influence of the Holy Spirit — influence that made his desire for saving souls too intense to be kept within the bounds of the student’s routine.
He and Sydney Evans attended the 10 o’clock service in which the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered. At the 2 o’clock service the Rev. Joseph Jenkins asked the young people to tell their experience regarding the great things they had felt and received in those days. Evan Roberts spoke, and his chief point was that he had put all on the altar. Sydney Evans rose, trembling like a leaf, and had it not been that Maud Davies, New Quay, held him, and said ‘go on dear Syd.’ he would have fallen. In this meeting Miss. Magdalen Phillips experienced the powerful divine influence. Roberts had been consoling her by pointing out the infinite merit of the atonement and other things, and during the service the spiritual light entered her soul. Nothing of special interest took place in the Young Peoples Meeting at 5 o’clock; after it closed, the Rev. Seth Joshua, Evan Roberts, and the other friends from Newcastle-Emlyn returned, and reached there about 9 p.m. Mr. Joshua only related incidents of the wonderful day at Blaenanerch in the meeting at Newcastle-Emlyn this night.
IV. THE EFFECTS OF THE FILLING WITH THE SPIRIT
We have described the circumstances under which Evan Roberts was filled with the Holy Spirit in the last paragraph; we shall now proceed to the effects of that in his case. The most manifest effects were these —
(1) Losing all physical weakness — He used to get very tired after walking a few miles, but on the above night he walked eight miles from Blaenanerch to Newcastle-Emlyn, and felt nothing after it, though he had been ill for four days previously. The day after, he walked five miles without getting at all tired. This is remarkable when we remember that he was almost too weak to walk from the house of the Rev. M P Morgan to the chapel, a distance of a few dozen yards, the morning he was filled with the Holy Spirit. (2) Possessing Physical Freedom — He felt some physical freedom penetrating through his whole body, and the physical impediment he was subject to previous to this disappeared entirely He felt a certain difficulty when singing, speaking, or doing other things; but from the moment he received the Spirit, that was not experienced by him any more. (3) Losing all nervousness — He used to be very shy, and his nervous fear weakened him before an audience until this morning at Blaenanerch; but since, he has felt strong enough to stand in any public place. (4) Feeling physically strong. — He became conscious of certain physical strength in speaking, praying, and singing, and everything done by him which he never experienced before, and in virtue of this he would not feel anything a burden. (5) Fullness of happiness. — He was inclined to be gloomy before, and to look at that aspect of things. This feeling now took its wings, and he was filled with, spiritual happiness. His soul overflowed with some divine joy, and he could laugh and sing from morning till night. (6) Courage to carry out his conviction — Such was his courage that he felt he could stand before the whole world and give expression to his deepest convictions regarding religion, and he was determined to carry them out. (7) No anxiety for the future — He used to grieve about the future, and it loomed before him in the months preceding his entrance to school However, from the moment he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was enabled to throw the future all on God, and, therefore, troubled nothing about it. (8) An intense desire to save souls — This had existed in him for years, as has been pointed out several times, but now its intensity grew to such an extent as to conquer entirely all other desires.
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