Day 6: Praying for Pentre (1879)

Join with Salvationists of the Wales Division for day 6 of 150 days of prayer.

• ‘I asked the Lord to be kind and to help me. Now he has answered me!’ (Psalm 6:9 EasyEnglish Bible). 

1879

The Christian Mission Magazine reported on the ‘Welsh Council of War’.  

‘Saxon and Welshman linked arm in arm and heart in heart, met to arrange for driving the Devil out of the country and for crowning Jesus Lord of all!’

‘The effects of that meeting could not be told in the multitude of testimonies which were crowded into a few minutes at the end. We have heard of them ever since from all directions. We shall never cease to hear of them till our next Welsh Council, when we venture to say they will show themselves in a crowd of new stations, new officers, and new recruits and in how much more God only knows.’

That faith-filled last sentence proved to be prophetic, as seen in the following report in the magazine.

The Rhondda Valley 

‘Perhaps here we have had the most remarkably universal awakening to the things of eternity by a whole population that the mission has as yet been privileged to see. 

‘The revival was brought about through the instrumentality of a young English lady, named Miss Kate Shepherd, whose age, according to the Welsh journals, is between 17 and 18 years… In the pits, on the hills, the road, in the cottages and in the railway carriages, men and women are talking of the mighty wonders wrought and the marvellous scenes that have been witnessed. 

‘In one solitary instance there is silence and comparative desolation – the public-houses are deserted, drinking is forgotten except – drinking in the water of life.’

The South Wales Daily News of 18 and 19 September gave an account of the imprisonment of Captain Louisa Lock and three members of Pentre Corps. 

‘The fines imposed by the Pontypridd Stipendiary last Monday upon the members of the “Salvation Army,” who were summoned for having obstructed the thoroughfare at Pentre … not having been paid by five of them … they were on Saturday morning, at an early hour, arrested by three of the police. 

‘The persons taken into custody were – Miss Louisa Lock, Roger Cadwgan, John Day, James Edwards, and George Bowen. Miss Lock is the so-called “captain” of The Salvation Army at Pentre. The men were arrested before they went to work and locked up at the police station. A crier, who was a member of The Salvation Army – and who is, by the way, possessed of but one arm and one leg – went about immediately and announced that the members of The Salvation Army were being taken to prison and besought all who could make it convenient to accompany them when they were taken at 10 o’clock to the railway station en route for Pontypridd, and then to Cardiff Gaol. 

‘From 4,000 to 5,000 people assembled at the appointed hour in the streets, thronging every corner and avenue. The crowd consisted chiefly of women. They sang, “The Salvation Army is marching along” and “He rose from the dead”, with other characteristic melodics.’

Prayer

• Pray for Pentre Corps and their community as they explore their future in the town. 
• Give thanks for all the people they are in contact with and for those who are experiencing God’s working in their lives.

Closing thoughts on the 1870s

The story of the 1870s is of daring pioneers, passionate evangelists, wealthy supporters and revival in the Rhondda Valley, resulting in the establishment of several corps in deprived areas.