Revival Hysteria.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7721, 25 January 1905, Page 3

Revival Hysteria.

WILD MIDNIGHT SCENES IN WELSH CHAPELS. The wave of Welsh revivalism is developing into the maddest form of hysteria. It was two o'clock yesterday morning, writes thel Daily Mail correspondent from Ferndale, Glamorganshire, early in December, before the j meetings which began the previous jday were brought to a close, and a j little after midnight the scene about the pulpit in the Rhondda Chapel was one of frantic excitament. Bent jdoubleover the railing, Evan Roberts was clasping the upstretched hand of a convert, who sprawled on the floor and srreamed wildly. Eight men were praying passionately at one time, while a band of colliers sang a hymn. The din was deafening, and I the uproar grew wilder when the man on the floor swooned from sheer exhaustion. One convert who rose to confess literally and actually tore his hair in the fervour of his prayer. At Carniel Chapel, where Roberts presided yesterday afternoon over a j crowded meeting, a girl rose and prayed aloud. Meanwhile, in the Nazareth Chapel there were live public conversions in the first quarter of an hour. While a prayer was proceeding there was a sudden uproar. Four young men stamped in roaring 'a hymn at the top of their voices. I They were converts of Thursday, and , the prayer was forthwith abandoned as the congregation rose and joined 1 in the song. TALE OF A VISION. | A man in the Ferndale Colliery . tells of a vision. He says that his , lamp went out, but from the dark- . ness there came a beam of radiance ( |—an unbearable glory of light that dazzled him so that he fell *jn his . face, and as he lay prostrate he . ! heard over his head the voice of a I 'great, choir singing a hymn. He [ jknew nothing after that till he came II to In Ihc dark, nml groped his way a 1 trembling to the shaft and came to the daylight. He has since become a convert. j This story was told me yesterday afternoon by a little miner at she s .door of the Nazareth Chapel, who „ishouted "Hallelujah !" as he linishI ed. . | I spoke to Roberts yesterday afHe had had many invita- . ! tions to carry his mission to Lon{Jpp, but he says he has no intention t of going there. He conceives it hjs „ duty to remain among his own peoj pie in Wales. He is probably wise, [ |for his English is of the weakest. He can scarcely manage a dozen conse- , cut ire words. [ I At the meetings which are now I .proceeding he speaks very little. The , congregations run themselves, and anyone' who likes can start a hymn of prayer. He leans smiling in his place, throwing in a brief appeal to would-bc converts from time io time, ' or calling "Amen" loudly to soane- ' thing in a prayer or solo, j The revival is attracting increased attention. Many people have trav--5 elled from remote parts of England to witness the scenes of enthusiasm ' which Evan Roberts creates wherever ' he goes, and several well-known Non--1 conformist ministers and Welsh and English members of Parliament have attended gatherings.