Penuel Calvinistic Methodist Chapel - Ebbw Vale (1859)
David Morgan had preached at Ebhw Vale some years before the Revival. A deputation waited upon him at the Llangeitho Association in 1859 to invite him to visit Ebbw Vale and district. They were headed by David Hughes, who had arranged his previous tour in the days of his comparative obscurity. The Revivalist expressed a fear that he could not arrange a tour in Monmouthshire. " Look you, David, my boy," expostulated the quaint old deacon, "we at Ebbw Vale were dealing with you when you were carrying a basket on your arm and trading on a small scale, and now that you have opened an emporium, don't you think that you can turn the cold shoulder to your old customers." This arrow found a joint in the Revivalist's armour, and he yielded at once.
The Rev. Joseph Jones, Lampeter, preached at Penuel, Ebbw Vale, on Sunday, September ii, and the breezes blew balmily from Calvary. "We thank Thee, O Lord," said one brother in the after prayer-meeting, "for remembering us tonight. We were expecting Thee, but it was on next Sunday, with David Morgan, that our eyes were fixed. We thank Thee for to-night" Next Sunday came," wrote one, "and dozens were added to the church. The burden of the Lord was taken on its heart by the church, and the stale old prayers disappeared. Yet we expected greater things, and we received them in the prayer-meeting on Sunday, November 20, at 8 a.m. The following Wednesday evening David Morgan preached. There was fire before; the furnace was now heated seven times. There was an outburst of 'praise'; giants in ungodliness wept and groaned distractedly, supplicated Heaven for their lives, thanked God they were on redemption ground, &c."
Often in the days of darkness had one of the converts, David Thomas, been seen on a Saturday, stripped naked to his waist, and frenzied with drink, making a clean sweep of High Street from top to bottom, policemen as well as ordinary folks conceding his right of way without staying to argue with him; often afterwards was he heard reciting a chapter before the sermon instead of the usual lesson. He met many tribulations, but clave to his religion to the end. An elder visited his ill-stored cottage one wintry morning. "How are things with you?" he inquired kindly. " What did you have for breakfast this morning?" "Hannah is grumbling a little about the diet," answered the old man, *' but we had water, and we had a crust, and we had Jesus Christ, and that is enough of a heaven for me eternally." The elder already quoted continues: "Every Sunday gave birth to new wonders. David Morgan came here again on January 8, i860. The evening service baffles description. More terribly powerful influences pervaded the place than were ever witnessed here before. The most godless men in the neighbourhood were massed together, clutching the seats, believing that the Day of Judgment had begun, blanching with anguish, and thinking the Judge was in sight. Converts came in at every Society for months, a dozen or two together sometimes."
From,'The '59 Revival', by J J Morgan, pages 105-7.