Trinity Calvinistic Methodist Chapel - Swansea (1905)



In the evening I attended the meeting at Trinity Chapel, and found it, when by the aid of the police I managed to enter the building shortly before six o’clock, in “full sail”, as the Welsh people would say (“Mewn llawn hwyl”). The English element was, I was informed, stronger here than at the afternoon meeting, and yet the majority of the hymns sung were unmistakable Welsh in words and Welsh in music. There was, however, not one atom of selfishness about it, for one of the most effective features of the meeting was, after a number of Welsh prayers, to hear a foreigner, in the gallery, praying in somewhat “stiff” English, and to hear that followed by the joyous “forward movement” of the hymn – “We are marching together to Zion” A brief Welsh speech of remarkable power was delivered from the body of the chapel by Mrs Rhys, wife of the Rev. Bowen Rhys, the South African missionary, and the same lady prayed with stirring fervency. This led to the singing of “Gad im’ deimlo. Awel o Galfaria fryn,” and while this was being sung Mr Evan Roberts entered. It was then twenty minutes past seven. He stopped the singing and asked if they knew what they were doing. They were singing, and they were praying too, but there was not enough prayer in the singing. Who were they appealing to? (Voices: God.”) Well, they should ask God and believe. There was no need to sing powerfully. If they sang it tenderly and prayed for “the breeze from Calvary’s hill”, they would have enough. A young man prayed for his comrades at Swansea Docks and asked that if any of them had come there for “sport” they would be converted. The missioner declared that the Spirit was present and that the influence was powerfully manifest. He asked them to pray God, to “bend” them. And while this was going on inside the chapel the audience in the vestry was heard singing “Throw out the life-line”, and in through the windows afterwards came the strains of “Dyma gariad fel y moroedd” from the vestry, while two were praying – one a woman in English and the other a young man in Welsh – in the chapel. The meeting was a totally different one from that of the afternoon; there was sometimes a deep silence, and at others a serious, subdued spirit prevalent, but it was nonetheless a remarkable service, and, judging from the effects of the revival meetings elsewhere, the effect of these gatherings upon Swansea must be far-reaching. Mr Roberts declared in one of his incidental addresses that Wales was going to witness strange things in the coming days, and the Swansea meetings certainly seem to indicate that such is the prospect. From, 'The Western Mail', 3rd January 1905.

Additional Information

The chapel was bombed in the war and is now a car park.


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