07 - Chapter 07

Davies’ Pentecostal Movement: Chapter 7 The Beginning of the Pentecostal Movement in the Merthyr Borough by Davies, Price LIVING IN A GOSPEL CARAVAN.

While we were without a house we were offered a Gospel Caravan, and pitched it just above LLwydcoed, just off the roadsite. During our stay in the Gospel Caravan, Hopkins the farmer close by us was converted and opened the farm house for meetings. So we held meetings weekly in the farm and had some precious times in the presence of God. Diolch Iddo. It was while we were living in the Caravan that our little daughter, Mair died, and was buried in the Aberdare Cemetery.

Some months later the owner, a Mr. Morgan from LLanelly, wanted the van for his own use so we had to let him have it; but Praise the Lord we did have fruit for our labour during the time we spent in it ourselves. In the year 1910 we moved to the Rhondda Valley. D. J. Davies, my brother, and his wife had moved to the Rhondda before us; they were at one time living in, and conducting meetings at, the Co-operative House, Blaenclydach and afterwards they lived in the main street of Treorky the meetings being held in a large room there above a café. We were living at Ynyshir and meetings were held at several homes: At Tom Ablett’s home, Evan Ablett’s home (Noah their brother was MP for Merthyr) also at the home of their parents in Aber Rhondda, Rood, Port, and in Tom Saunder’s home. The Lord was leading a good number out of the different Chapels and bringing them into the blessed experience of Pentecost. Hallelujah. My first contact with one of the noted Jeffrey’s Family.

During Easter 1911, my brother D. J. Davies was having a convention at his place in Treorky, where there was a good gathering of God’s people from many parts of the different valleys. I was one of the ministering brethren during that convention and a number of believers here came to a decision to be baptised in water. On Easter Tuesday a Baptismal Service was arranged on the side of the mountain at Ynyshir. The women brought blankets and sheets from their homes and rigged tents for changing among the trees. A good number were baptised among them being Arthur Davies and Tom Griffiths from Aberaman, many men and women from Ynyshir including Evan Ablett, some from Tonypandy and Blaenclydach (one from Blaenclydach was James Henry Boyce who not long after went to India as a missionary under the P. M. U.) There were also some from Treorky and David Bedford and Mrs. Bedford and Miss Annie Owen who later became Mrs. Lane the wife of Pastor W. Lane, Maesteg, and also Mrs. Stephen Jeffreys-all from Maesteg. It was an unforgettable day. Joy abounding and the Lord abundantly glorified in the obedience of His people to His blessed Will and Word in Water Baptism, all went home full of the joy of the Lord and wonderfully blessed of God. Praise God-Hallelujah. One result of that obedience in Water Baptism was that in the same week a letter came from Stephen and George Jeffreys asking me if I would come over to Maesteg to baptise them in water. I wrote back to say that the first day off at the colliery, (I was at this time working in the Standard Colliery Ynyshir,) we would come over. In about two weeks time there was a Railway Strike, no work at the pit-no coal wagons. So on the Saturday three of us started out for Maesteg. Myself, Annie my wife, and Johnny Griffiths who was living with us at that time in Aberhondda Road Porth. No trains No Buses then. We caught an Electric Tram from Porth to Treherbert and then walked. Walk, walk, walk. We walked from Treherbert to Blaenrhondda and from Blaenrhondda to Blaencwm, and from Blaencwm through a Railway Tunnel to Blaengwynfi, and from Blaengwynfi to Cymmer Glyncorrwg, and from Cwmmer Glyncorrwg to Caerau Maesteg. We arrived at Stephen Jeffreys’ home about eight-o-clock at night-weary, worn and glad. Glory to God. Hallelujah. After a nice meal, Annie always remembered it-salmon and lettuce, a blessed time of fellowship we went to bed for a well earned rest. Perhaps some of you readers know the mileage we had walked, and realize how wonderful it really was when you remember that only a few years previously Annie was a helpless, hopeless cripple with a Tubercular Hip. How wonderful indeed, Praise God. Then Sunday morning after breakfast and a time of Prayer we set off for a spot called Cwmdu, and there on that Sunday Morning three weeks after Easter 1911 Stephen Jeffreys, who afterward became the Beloved Evangelist at a World Renown Revivalist, and Eddie Jeffreys his son were baptised in water under an open heaven, Natural and Spiritual. All the congregation we had was Annie my wife, and Johnny Griffiths which was two more than Phillip had when he baptised the Ethiopian Eunuch in the Desert (Acts chapter eight.) Johnny Griffiths was the Pentecostal Pioneer in the Aberdare Valley, and later, he also saw the vision on the wall behind the pulpit when Pastor Stephen Jeffreys was preaching in Island Place, LLanelly. George Jeffreys for some reason best known to himself was not baptised that Sunday morning. We enjoyed blessed fellowship that Sunday at Maesteg, then the following Monday we tramped it all the way back to Treherbert, and an electric tram to Porth. That week I had a letter from George Jeffreys saying he was very sorry that he had not been baptised the same time as Stephen and Eddie his son (Eddie was twelve years old at that time) and asking me if I would please come over and baptize him. I wrote back saying I would come at the first opportunity. In just a few weeks there was a Docker’s Strike and again no wagons for the colliery. No walking this time. We took a train to Maesteg. A Weeks Meetings were arranged to be held at Mr. & Mrs. David Bedford’s home in Bridgend Road. George was not in the Sunday Morning Service but he was there for the evening and we closed that meeting early and marched in procession down through Bridgend Road to the River. There again under Open Heaven George Jeffreys was baptised with a nice congregation joining in the service. Coming back from this service along the banks of the river, Stephen Jeffreys saw a vision of Fire in the Heavens. George Jeffreys, as all will know, became the founder and the Principal of the Elim Pentecostal Movement, and a World renowned Revivalist with a Wonderful and Miraculous Ministry of Healing. Glory to God, Hallelujah. Bendigedig.