THE Welsh element in the present American religious influence, is quite important. It were easy to form a long list of preachers who are, by descent or immigration, Welshmen; and the number of lay members is greater than is generally supposed. In New York city alone, they amount to some nine thousand, and are composed of Wesleyans, Baptists, Congregationalists, and Calvinists (or Calvinistic Methodists). Of these, the last-named body is probably most numerous: it numbered, in 1854, in the United States, sixty-seven preachers, and ninety-two churches. In Wales, their membership, the same year, was 59,377. The religious head-quarters of this denomination, in New York, is in Allen-street; and they have to their ministry the subject of this sketch. Mr. Roberts was born September 25th, 1809, at Llanerchymedd, in the Island of Anglesea, North Wales, of parents in humble life, and brought up in connection with the Calvinistic Methodist church. There are two sons, beside himself, who are ministers. He was the subject of powerful convictions of sin when about fourteen years of age, and was savingly impressed by reading, alternately with his mother, on a Sabbath evening, the first chapter of John's first epistle, especially the eighth verse. After attending the school in his native village, and when sixteen years of age, he was placed under the tuition of Rev. W. Griffith, Congregational minister, Holyhead, where he studied the elements of the English language and classics. When twenty years old, he entered the Presbyterian Collegiate Institution, Ormond Quay, Dublin, where he studied mathematics, the classics, etc. He was licensed to preach by the Synod, or Quarterly Association, in June, 1831, and resided at Holyhead, and itinerated on the Island of Anglesea, until May, 1849, when, upon the unanimous invitation of the Liverpool Presbytery, he became pastor of an English church at Runcorn, which belonged to the Countess of Huntington's connection. In this charge he was greatly blessed in the work of winning souls to Christ. He is now pastor of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church, Allenstreet, New York, having come to the United States at the urgent and unanimous call of the church, and with the prospect of rendering greater service to Messiah's kingdom. Mr. Roberts has put forth a publication "On the Abrahamic Covenant," and one "On the Election of Grace." He is now editor of a Welsh quarterly, called the "Traethodydd," or "Essayist." As a preacher, Mr. Roberts possesses, in a happy degree, some of the marked peculiarities of the Welsh pulpit. His manner is animated and energetic, his matter rich in gospel truths, and his general style simple, passionate, illustrative, and impressive. The following discourse has not before been published. |