Aberdare, May 11, 1848
My dear Brother,--The above address contains familiarity, not exactly in
accordance with a first letter; and I should not have gone so far had it not
been for the great respect I have for you as a man of God, to be loved,
honoured, and obeyed with sincerity, in all things pertaining to the kingdom of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. My earnest prayer to God our heavenly
Father, for your welfare and prosperity, contains that high opinion of the
great importance of your exalted office, as President of the Church of God in the
isles of Britain, that induces me to remember you at the throne of grace
continually.
I greatly rejoice in the honour of being sent as an ambassador of the gospel to
France and Brittany, and I can assure you that it is the first, the principal,
the highest object of my ambition, and I long to see the day for commencing the
honourable journey, in proportion as the wonderful events, overruled by the
hand of God, prepare the ninety millions on the continent to be privileged with
the blessings of the gospel. The field of labour being so extensive, the work
being so great, and the workmen being few, makes me long for the hour of
emancipation.
My respected brother, our dear Captain Jones, has, with our dear sister Mrs.
Jones and daughter, been spending a few days as my honourable guests, and I
know you will believe my testimony, that we are and have been for the last few
days the happiest of the happy. Having our dear President Spencer with us,
would have made it the very element of the rest and pleasure in the land of
Zion. But we have one sour leaf here, which my faith says will be done away
with, viz., the bodily weakness of our dear Captain Jones. His exertions, day
and night, has worn at last his iron constitution, in a great degree; but
through all he is at it continually. We are going (I had almost said to transport
him, for a few months) to send him down to the healthy atmosphere of
Carmarthen, but I fear that nothing short of your command, or our handcuffs
will keep him quiet there, so as to enable him to recruit. He is a regular
Welshman; having waged war once, nothing but a thorough victory will do for
him. And you know of the war he has waged with the kingdom of darkness in
Wales. No one, as yet, can describe to you the wonderful success of his courage
and wisdom. The gates of hell, throughout Wales, have made him the object of
their arrows, but the little champion of the cross of Christ, with the armour
of the gospel, clothed with the salvation of God, returns heaven's ammunition
to meet the arrows of hell with such power that the very gates of darkness
begin to shake; many a breach has been made in the bulwarks that surround the
camp of the enemy, and some thousands of the enemy have already flocked to the
Saviour, and the day of the hireling priestcraft's prosperity has just reached
the last moment of its black existence.
I shall just conclude my first to you with my testimony. Having spent twenty
years nearly with the Baptist denomination seeking truth, but still in
darkness, until the reply of dear brother Jones to the false accusations of a
neighbouring Baptist minister, vindicating the principles of the Saints, came
to my hand, which in a few hours proved the religion I professed to be no other
than a sandy foundation--all my false hopes fled,--all human traditions that I
had cleaved to appeared folly. I was convinced that the Saints were the only
true church of God. The first few hours I spent after having been baptized for
the remission of my sins, by a servant who knew that he was sent by God to administer
the ordinance, gave me more pleasure and knowledge of spiritual things, than
during the twenty years with the Baptist connexion. The blessing I have
received since will fill another letter.
Dear brother Captain Jones, Mrs. Jones, and Mrs. Howells join with me in kind
love to you and Mrs. Spencer.--Yours respectfully,
WILLIAM HOWELLS.
P.S.--Brother and Sister Jones buried their youngest daughter last Tuesday.
The multitude of Saints that showed their respect to our dear brother and
sister, was from 1000 to 1500. Their order in the procession, and
respectability, made a general sensation at Merthyr. Brother William Howells,
of Aberdare, preached in the Welsh language; subject--"The only true and
sufficient ground of glorying."--Jer. ix, 23, 24.
