David Barnes Llwynrhydowen a Radical Tradition Pages
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
LLMOWEN AND ITS RADICAL TRADITION David Barnes,November 2005 The openingof the first Arminian chapel in Wales at Llwynrhydowen n 1733 initiateda radicaltradition in this apparentlyunlikely rural settingthat hascontinued to have nationalreverberations. The seffingappears an unlikely one at first glance.The chapel is situatedon the bankof the Clettwr Fawr, a tributary of the Teifi that hereforms the county border between Cardiganshire,in which county Llwynrhydowen is situated, and Camarthenshire.From this causegrew the Unitarian "Black Spot", a uniquecommunity of rural Unitarians in the Teifi valley in the vicinity of Larnpeter. Most of the other congregationswith which fiB was to shareits religious life were situatedin "o--unity wban locationssuch as Birmingham,where Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen,had his Unitarianmeeting house and his scientific apparatusdeskoyed by a Cturch and King mob in 1791.1Unitarianism stands at the end of the steadymarch towards rational Christianity that causedso muchupheaval in the religiouslife of this period, as Arminians evolvedinto Ariansand on into Unitarians.'A, ErasmusDaffiinwas clmicallyto observe,Unitarianism was"a featherbedon which to catcha fallins Christian."3 The term "Black Spotu (Y Smotyn Du) derives from a hostile Methodist historiography.This small area of some twenty squffe miles proved impenetrableto successiveCalvinistic Methodist revivals that had their epicentrea few miles to the north, for no Unitarianchapel in the "plack Spot" lies more than twenty miles from Llangeitho. EmrysBowen has described the areaas "tlre Arian triangle",with its apexat Mydroilyn qnd tR.B. Rose,"The Priestley Riots of1791", Pastand Present, 18 (1960), pp. 68-88- ? - Arminianisrq:Arminius (1560-1609) was a Dutchtheologian who opposedthe Calvinistdoctrine of predestination. Arianism:Arius was a fourth-centurypresbyter from Alexandriawho deniedthat Christ rtfr Cbfiltbstantialwith God. Holdersof thesedoctrines are known bv the namesof thesetheoloeians. " A. Desmondand J. Moorc,Darwin: the life of a tormentedevolutionist Q,ondon, 1991), p. 5. Jt its baseextending from NewcastleEmlyn to Llanybydder.a R. T. Jenkinshas described Carmarthen Academy as "the fountain-headof Unitarianism in Wales".sFor overa centuryfrom the passingof the TolerationAct in 1689to the repeal of the Test and CorporationActs in 1827, civil and religious liberly continued to be withheldfrom anywho deniedthe doctrineof the Trinity. Additionally, the BlasphemyAct (1698)made the professionof Unitarianisma criminal acturrtil it was repealedin 1813, twenty-twoyears after the formationof the UnitarianSociety in 1791. Yet a progressive, rational Christianityflourished in the schoolsand academieswhich hained men for the nonconformistminis@, *{.1: an advancedcurriculum was dispensed,including modem languagesand the npw science,which contrastedmarkedly with the moribund state of educationprovided by the exclusivelyAnglican collegesof Oxford and Cambridge.In 1760 referencewas made, in connectionwith the academyat Carmarthen,to- an Apparatus of Instrumentssent down from London such as an Air-pump, Telescope,Microscope, Quadrant &c. Mr Howell of Binningham has made a presentof a Theodolet[sic], as I think it is called. So that the pupils have much greateradvantage for Improvementthan ever.6 CarmarthenAcademy opened in L704under PrincipalThomas Perrot (d. 1733),funded by the Presbyterianand CongregationalBoard in London.T R. T. Jenkins discountsthe tadition that Anninianismtook hold of the academyas a consequenceof Perrofsteaching, o E.G.Bowen, "The Teifi Valleyas a ReligiousFrontier", Ceredigion,Vil,l {1972),pp.l-13. 5 J.E. Lloyd(ed..),A History of Carmarthenshire,tr (Carditr, 1939),p.246. 6 G.p.Evans, Iloyd Letters1754-94 (Aberyshvyth, 190S). ' D.E.Davies, HoffDdysgedigNyth (Aberlawe,1976),p. 17. 3 Jt arguing that the removal of the academyto Radnorshire in 1733 for a decadewas more the result of his failure to maintain discipline than his unorthodox theology. A student of Perro! Jenkin Jones (1700?-42), returned home &om the academy to Llanwenog where he was invited to share the pastorate of the Independent chapel of Pantycreuddynwith James Lewis. Ordained n 1726, he rapidly grew urcomfortable with the orthodox Calvinism of Lewis once he had adopted Arminian views at Carmarthen. Soon he was conducting his own servies at Wemhir, near Alltyrodyn. A financially advantageousmarriage to the heiress of Pantydefaid coincided with the building of the first Arminian chapel in Walesat_Llwynrhydowen (Llandysul, 1733) in 1733.8 Jenkin Jones made a lasting impression on his locality, drawing a number of local dissenting congregations into his Arminian orbit, including members of the Baptist congregation at Aberduar who formed the nucleus of Alltyblacca (Llanwenog, 1740).e In 1729 Jones published Cyfrrf Cywir o'r Pechod Gwreiddiol (Ihe Correct Account of Original Sin), which was countered in the following year by James Lewis's Cyfrif Cywiraf o'r Pechod Gwreiddiol (Ihe Most Correct Account of Original Sin). On his death rn 1742, the membershipat Llwynrhydowen was estimatedat fow hundred.lO Successive congregations at Lammas Street (Heol Awst) Independent Chapel (Carmarthen, 1726) which was attached to Carmarthen Academy, appear to have been *illittg to accept the increasingly freethinking theology of their pastors, the Academy's principals. When the Academy moved briefly to Swansean 1784 the congregation chose RichardLloyd (1784-91), son of Jenkin Jones'ssuccessor at Llwynrhydowen, David Lloyd, as their pastor. Lammas Street was not entirely cut off from Calvinist influence, however, t Evans,Lloyd Leners, p. n. n JenkinJones was the greal-uncleof the architectFrank Lloyd Wright. to Evans,Lloyd Lexers,p. xiri. Jt for underDavid Peter,who arrivedn 1792,the chapelretumed to orthodoxy.ll David Lloyd'sgnndson (1805-63), who bore the sameniune, after an educationat Carmarthen Academy and Glasgow University, succeededPeter as principal at Carmarthen. His congregationworshipped at the Wesleyanchapel from 1834 urtil he opened the new Unitarianchapel at Parcy Velvet (Carmarthen,1841) in 1849. The Arminian movementbegan to make headwayin the 1740s. The only properly Arrrrinianschism, that is, onethat did not progressinto Arianism,was at Cefirarthen,where the Calvinistparty secededin 1740,building Pentretygwyn(Llanfairarybryn, 1749) on land given them by William t*]:Tt Pantycelyn. The Arminian remnant at Cefrrarthen witheredby 1760,and in 1772 Cefirarthenand Penhetygwynwere united as a Calvinist Independentchurch. At LlwynrhydowenJenkin Jones was succeededby his eighteen-year-oldnephew David Lloyd (1724-79).The ordination of this youngman, who claimeddescent from the Lords of Castellhywel,which was postponeduntil he attainedhis majority, athacteda number of distinguisheddissenting ministers, althougb Philip Pugh, Cilgwyn, excusedhimself from witressing "the rising sun" as he did not shareLloyd's Arminianism.l2 Lloyd's powerfirl preaching- his summersennons at Alltyblaccacould be heardat Penca:regchurch one and a half miles awaywhen he furnedto facethe openwindow - was to consolidatethe work of his predecerro..t' Lloyd had beeneducated at schoolskept by JohnEvans in Llanwenog, and by the Arminian Samuel Thomas in Carmarthen,who subsequent$ re-opened CarirtrythenAcademy rn l743,wherehe tutoredDavid Williamsthe Deist in the 1750s.14 Lloyd r#ttrrred from Carmarthento reside at Brynllefrith and under his leadershipthe I I Lloyd (ed.), Carmarthenshire, U, pp. 245-9. t'Evans, Lloyd Leners, p.n. t'Ibid., p. xix. to David Williams,Incidents in My Own Life (Sussex,1980), p. 65. ,t Arminian party grew in numbers in the locality with a chapel opening at Penrhiw (Llangeler, fi71)1s on the Carmarthenshireborder at Drefach formed from the.Independentsof Saron (Llangeler, 1756).16 Christmas Evans the Baptis! who later turned his back on 17 Arminianism, once worshipped here. Lloyd built on the foundations laid by Daniel Gronow at Bethany (Ciliau, 1755), drawing this Independent congregation into the Arminian fold. The Calvinists together with some members of the Independent congregation at Mydroilyn (Llanafih, 1753) seceded n 1760 to establish Tynygwndwn (Llanfrhangel Ystad, 1733). Lloyd's influence spreadqg* * far as Cellan, touching the Independent congregation of Caeronnen,which wa5 closely associatedwith Cilgwyn. Under the ministry of Timothy Davies (1737-60), who had been at Carmarthen under Perrot, there were visits from Lloyd which saw the congregationmove into Arninianism, the more orthodox members seceding to form Ebenezer (Llangybi, 1722).18 In the early years of the nineteenth century the congregationprogressed into Arianism and on into Unitarianism. The old associatiofl with Cilgwyn was severed"the more orthodox again seceding to found Capel yr Erw (Cellan, 1811), with Thomas Griffiths (Tau Gimel) (1797?-L871) opening a new chapel in the Unitariannamein 1846(Cellan, 1846). Lloyd's classical leaming became legendary in the locality.le He translated a number of d€votional works into Welsh and in 1768 published a volume of hymns. His bookishness, dtrd lack of talent for farming at Brynllefrith, drew comment: 15This chapelwas removed to the WelshFolk Museumin 195?. tu D.E,Iones,Hores Pluyfi Llangelera Phenboyrplandysul, 1899), pp. 217-26. I 7A centennialtree wasplanted in I 938 at EsgairWen in the Cerdin valley, the birthplaceof ChristmasEvans ( I 766- r838). tt D. E. Jones,Llangeler, p.308. tnItwas saidthat he could commit300 linesof Homerto memorvon his wav homefiom