Siloam Welsh Independent Chapel -Pentre (1905)



At Pentry-Estyll today there was a keen anxiety to see the central figure in the revival movement, and the crowd began to gather outside the Siloam Chapel as early as nine o’clock in the morning and patiently waited outside in the cold and sang all the time until the opening of the doors a few minutes to ten. In the afternoon and evening again the chapel was besieged, and two police officers were stationed at the doors to regulate the crush. An impressive scene was witness when the Rev. Penar Griffiths engaged in fervent prayer, the whole congregation meanwhile standing with their heads bowed low. A noticeable feature was the amount of Scripture which was read. A man in the gallery read Acts iv. and immediately afterwards engaged in fervent prayer. Another man read a chapter from St Luke, whilst another engaged in prayer, which was a simple, but very impressive, recitation of Psalm liii. Quite a refined tone was given to the meeting by a young lady in the gallery, who offered an eloquent prayer, her petitions including one that the Church should awake to her responsibilities. The afternoon meeting was no less remarkable than the morning meeting, and in many respects was also identical to it. One man stated that wherever he went now they had prayer meetings; they had prayer meetings in the trains as they travelled from place to place, and no sooner had they reached their destination than there was another prayer meeting on the square. The evangelist was not quite satisfied with matters at first, and he adjured the people not to play with holy things. “Don’t rise to show yourselves, or God may strike you down,” was his warning. Touching upon emotionalism, Mr Roberts observed, “If there is to be no feeling this side I am afraid you will have to feel in the next world.” While making some further remarks he completely broke down. TheRev. Penar Griffiths then essayed to pray, but he too broke down, when an old lady in the gallery prayed. So impressive was the meeting that Mr Roberts made the remark, “This is a terrible place. I have never felt the terrible so much as tonight before.” It subsequently transpired that Mr Roberts had given expression to the view that these two meetings were the “purest” that he had ever had. During the evening meeting one of the most dramatic incidents occurred, when an old grey-haired man surrendered, a little girl singing at the time, and the man’s brother had just stepped to the front to read a portion of Scripture; but before he had uttered half-a-dozen sentences the Rev. Penar Griffiths informed the reader that his brother was converted. The man was overcome with joy, and when his brother reached the front both men passionately embraced each other. There were numerous conversions at each of the three wonderful meetings.

From, 'The Western Mail', 1st January 1905.

Additional Information

In 2013 the chapel was in ruins.


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