John Pugh XXVI: An Assessment

Clifton Street today is more empty than in John Pugh's day, but sinners still frequent it. The church is closed, but the dens of sin remain. So, what are we to make of John Pugh's life and work?

Pugh's work was marked by a boldness and willingness to go out on a limb for God. Unless such work is undertaken in faith and total trust in Christ, it will fail. We cannot work this up, but we can expect it.

Pugh's ministry was a learned ministry. Pugh knew his Bible and his Confession. He knew Christ, and could never know enough about Christ. Pugh knew the value of learning, provided it was put in the service of Christ.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of John Pugh's ministry in the Forward Movement was its building programme. Even sympathetic historians have criticised the building programme for having left the movement with a burden of debt, as well as a great deal of peoperty, in the form of large halls that were vulnerable to shifts in population and the decline in churchgoing that was to mark much of the twentieth century.

All of which is probably true, but in defence of Pugh, 'faint heart never won fair lady.' The act of building the halls, in faith, was blessed by God. Most of the halls, and all of the major ones in the Cardiff area, were built so large because that was necessary. There was no other way. The missions often started off with borrowed accomodation, in the way certain modern churches meet in community halls, but these became insufficient to their needs. Indeed, when Highfields took over Crwys Hall, a major restoration programme was undertaken, while Heath Church may shortly undertake a similar programme.

The Forward Movement was an act of faith, undertaken by Spirit-empowered men. If we are to fully understand John Pugh, then we must seek the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. When God begins to work again among the masses, may we see such men again. We may not see halls, but we shall see the name of Jesus exalted in this land again. John Pugh was a unique man, but we have the same God.

John Pugh XXV: The Legacy

It is just over a hundred years since John Pugh was called home to his father's house on high. Thus it is appropriate to look back over the years to what the Lord has wrought.

Seth Joshua lived to see the ebbing of the tide, dying in 1925. He saw the Forward Movement taken over by men who listened to the voices of caution and hesitated in their work. Good men, but men without the dauntless spirit and God-given faith of John Pugh. Even so, the work went on, spreading into North Wales and into new estates.

What of today, however? East Moors Hall is today a community centre. The church took over Jerusalem Calvinistic Methodist Church, Splott in 1927, and the old hall turned over to social work. Clive Street shut its doors in 1978, and Clifton Street Church is now an Arts Centre. The Church at Saltmead Hall is still open, although today it meets in a new building. Memorial Hall is gone, only two worked stones in a wall by the new St. David's hospital to remind people as they walk by. Someone was sprayed flourescent orange paint over them, and in a few years a hedge will have hidden even these.

Central Hall, Newport, is gone as well, destroyed in a ham-fisted post-war redevelopment of that town. Malpas Road remains open, however, recently and sympathetically extended. Like Heath Hall and Bethlehem, Sandfields, this church has left the increasingly liberal Calvinistic Methodist church, and is now an independent Evangelical church.

Heath Church has enjoyed remarkable seasons of blessing, through all the changes in Cardiff. Although a depleted band today, the church remains more full than the average church, and people are still led to Christ. May it long continue.

Crwys Hall is another story. The congregation strayed from the word, and in 1996 the church closed. A year later, however, the building re-opened, when a group who had split from Heath Church took over the building, which is now Highfields Free Church. The building has been re-developed and now serves a large congregation, with a foyer and offices on the site where Pugh had planned his Institute.

The legacy today is a mixed one. We cannot rest secure in Sion any more than those struggling congregations to which Pugh came. Men and women are perishing daily outside the walls.

And let us not use the excuse that these are bad times. Pugh faced bad times, he faced a culture marked by drunkenness, and he brought the Gospel to them. He was not content to pass by on the other side, nor to simply say the right words. He acted.

We too, must act. And in order to act, we must pray for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Like Pugh and those who accompanied him, the work today is work that cannot be done by men alone.

John Pugh XXIV: 'Nunc Dimitis'

John Pugh, founder and Superintendent of the Calvinistic Methodist Forward Movement passed into his eternal reward on 24 March 1907, Palm Sunday, one hundred years and one week from today. To the last, he was concerned for the souls of the people of Wales. His daughter, Ann, described his final hours:

"A short while before he left us I was sitting with him in his room when the Rev. F. W. Cole [pictured] came in. He prayed with us, and when he had finished my father said, 'Francis, will you take charge of Heath Hall? They are without a minister and there is a great opportunity for the Kingdom of God.' He promised to do so.

"The same evening Dr Cunningham Bowie, the doctor who attended my father and was his great friend, came in and told me in his hearing, 'There is no reason that your father should die; with his constitution he could live another twenty years, but he has completely burned himself out. If your Connexion had given him a telephone and a car, the bare necessities to enable him to accomplish the more easily all he has done in less than fifteen years, he could have lived.'

"'But,' said my father, taking hold of my hand, 'the Saviour died when he was 33 and I am 60. Don't "rust". Wear yourself out for His sake, my child.'

Those were his last words.

The funeral was held at the huge Crwys Hall, which was packed many hours before his coffin arrived there. As well as many of those common people for whose sake Pugh had spent himself , the funeral was attended by many luminaries of Welsh life. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff was present, as were six Members of Parliament. It could almost have been a state funeral of the sort accroded to senior military officers. The funeral orations dwelt on Pugh's selflessness and zeal for Christ. Perhaps the most stirring was that of Alfred Thomas, Lord Pontypridd, a Baptist and fomer MP. He praised Pugh's courage in seeking to win Wales for Christ, remembering times when Pugh had sought out men feared by the Police, with a perfect love that cast out fear. In the eyes of Lord Pontypridd, had pugh been ambitious for himself, he could easily have become the leader of a new denomination. But, like George Whitfield, Pugh was quite content to let the name of a mere man perish so that Christ could be exalted.

Hundreds of people from the different Forward Movement Centres crowded the graveside to pay their last respects to the man who had shown such love for them. A great many had walked, unable to pay bus or tram fares. Hymns were sung, as the official proceedings continued in Crwys Hall. Jack Turner, a member at Saltmead Hall, spoke impromptu:

"Brothers, the one thing that John Pugh loved to do above all else was to present ourselves to Christ. If we haven't done that already, let's do it now, and afresh, and uteerly, as he taught us to do, so that we may be worthy to stand at his graveside. Now, my brothers, as for being able to live a worthy life in our own strength - a life similar to his - that we cannot do. Bit in Christ we are able and all we need do is to respond to his promptings in our hearts. May this day be a turning point in our lives and the start of a better life."

'And all the people said "Amen."' Many wept aloud, a sight more moving in those more stoic times. Sethb Joshua led the crowds in a hymn. Among the crowd were the Thirty evangelists of the Forward Movement, lieutenants mourning their General, or children mourning their father in Christ.

As the crowd disperrsed, the grave-diggers began their task. One of them asked: 'Why is there such a commotion? He wasn't a bishop or anything.' One of those mourners who lingered gave the only appropriate reply: 'No he wasn't, but he was more than a bishop. He spoke to me about Jesus Christ and what he could do for me - that's what he told me.'

And his gravestone still stands in Cathays cemetery, facing Crwys Hall, close to the boundary wall. While his bones await the final judgement, his spirit having gone to be 'Forever with the Lord.'

John Pugh XXIII: 'Glimmers of Twilight'

As the revival tide ebbed, it seemed that an era was drawing to an end. In 1904, John Thomas, Pastor at Heath, had been appointed assistant to John Pugh. The difficulties of the Movement increased as a number of stalwarts passed from the scene, Richard Lloyd-Jones and Dr. William James of Manchester, prominent clerical supporters, and Richard Davies, Bodlondeb, a wealthy man who gave freely of his fortune. Shortly after Pugh'd death, John Cory would also be called home. Money was tight, and that bowed Pugh down.

In early 1906, John Pugh and his wife travelled to the Holy Land. Pugh, who would soon stand in the halls of the Heavenly Jerusalem, saw the domes and minarets of the Old. As we have seen, Pugh attended the laying of the foundation stones at Heath Hall in April 1906, while in September of that year, Pugh was at the opening of the Pierce Hall, the schoolroom of Crwys Hall. As winter came, so Pugh began to fade. He ignored Doctor's orders to preach one more time, in Acrefair, where he preached on II Corinthians 13.5: 'Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.' After this, he was confined to home.

His last public words appeared in the March 1907 edition of The Torch:

"The Prince of Peace is with us in our attempt to rescue perishing humanity. Must we go back? The cry from Liverpool. London, Bristol and from two dozen densely populated areas in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire for the help of the Forward Movement is heart rending to those who know their moral and spiritual needs. Are we to retreat owing to lack of funds? Some of the most talented and Spirit filled ministers have joined our ranks recently. We need more. With loyal support and the cheer of God's people we won't go back."

Visits from Seth Joshua served to lift Pugh's spirits, as the old soldiers reminisced. Pugh knew that soon he would be called to meet the Lord he had served so tirelessly.

John Pugh XXII: 'Love Vast as the Ocean'

While Revival is often seen as a spontaneous outpouring of the Spirit of God, we have already seen that an extensive preparatory work took place in South Wales prior to 1904, the year in which Evan Roberts was baptised by the Spirit after a prayer-meeting in Blaenannerch at which Seth Joshua prayed. However, with 1904 would come the full tide. The halls built in faith would fill, and one would truly come to birth.

Pugh, however, took little part in these events. The strain of acting as the great bulwark of the Forward Movement had begun to tell on him. Although he had left aside the ministry at Clifton Street in order to concentrate full time on his duties as Superintentent of the Forward Movement, his great frame was beginning to wear out. It was Seth, his faithful lieutenant who crossed Wales during those amazing years, preaching 'Christ and Him Crucified.' His letters to Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis reveal that it was at this time Joshua was baptised by the Spirit, on the spot where Glamorgan County Cricket Ground now stands.

December 1904 saw the full tide of Revival reach Cardiff. After one service in Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Church, in the town centre, the chapel emptied, as the Spiritdescended, the congregation spilling out into the open-air, sining ang praying. Men exhorted passers by, in Pentecostal scenes. At Pembroke Terrace church, Seth Joshua experienced a spirit of opposition, while men at a meeting in Salem Chapel, Canton were openly hostile. Even so, people were converted.

Pugh saw in the power of the revival a corrective to the dry, often academic spirit which had begun to blight the colleges. Modernism was already spreading within the colleges. Still, Pugh was concerned that the merely emotional aspects of the revival had resulted in false conversions, and that many of those who had professed faith after such strong emotional experiences might go back into the world, worse even then they had come out.

By late 1905, the tide was ebbing, although there were still glimmers of blessing. The anniversary service of Memorial Hall felt a touch of the Spirit.

The Forward Movement Halls shared in the general blessing. At Heath Hall, only four years old, the Forward movement Torch reported: 'Our Heath Centre is all alive with revival fire, and the hall has become too small ... to receive the people who are anxious to hear the word of life.' In the wake of the revival a new church building, capable of holding up to 850 people was erected (interior pictured). John Pugh was present for the laying of the foundation stones on 4 April 1906. He had recently returned from a trip abroad, taken on account of his health.

Within a year, he was with the Lord.

John Pugh XXI: Into the Valleys

The early work of the Forward Movement had been among the people of the South Wales coastal towns. It was inevitable, however, that the movement would begin to look up the railway tracks which led into the valleys, hard coal mining towns, most notable among them being Merthyr Tydfil.

Sergeant Barker, formerly of Saltmead Hall, moved to Merthyr in 1905, reporting back his conclusions to Pugh, who published them in the Forward Movent Torch. Seth Joshua joined Barker to evangelise the notorious town, reporting to Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis:

"A hard fight is going on with the forces of darkness. Nearly every error under the sun finds root in this place. There are strong spiritualistic societies, ethical societies, agnostics, Christadelphians, and the last importation would be the Pentecostal Dancers. Strange to say they are drawing a strong following at Dowlais. We ourselves have seen the temperance hall crowded for the past fortnight and every service we see victory in conversions. Still I never felt Satanic forces so strong at this place."

A hall was built at Penydarren, initially ministering in the Welsh language, but switching to English as the area became increasingly anglicised.

In the Rhondda, a hall was opened at Treorchy in 1891, gaining a congregation of 130 within two years, as well as a thriving Sunday School. A year later, the Forward Movement took over the English language work at the Graig, a suburb of Pontypridd. John Thomas, a Forward Movement evangelist, launched a frontal assault on Porth, where a hall seating 700 people was opened in January 1894, despite fierce opposition. In the same year, a hall was opened at Treharris. By 1907, Halls had opened at Maesteg, Cwm Park, Abercynon (pictured), and three other towns in the valley.

At the same time, the work of the Forward Movement expanded in the valleys of Monmouthshire. Halls were opened at Cross Keys, Abercarn, Abertillery, Ebbw Vale and Elliotstown. At Pontypool, the Rev. Watkin Williams began a work in 1904. His untiring efforts bore fruit, with a church of one hundred and fifty members being formed within the first year. The hall was named St. David's after Pugh's old church at Pontypridd.

In Elliotstown, John Harris preached alone on street corners, for that mining town was not even possessed of the nucleus ofa church. Harris' efforts were swiftly rewarded, his sermons attracting growing crowds. Soon Harris was able to rent a hall. By the end of the first year, there was a growing church of fifty-eight members, which was growing too large for the hired building.

God was blessing the work mightily, but there was far more to come. Soon, the Holy Spirit was to be poured out in power over Wales.

John Pugh XX: Women's Ministry

The 'Women's Branch' of the Forward Movement began in the summer of 1894. Mrs Pugh was the driving force in the movement, among whose objectives were the rescue of prostitutes and keeping girls from being sucked into prostitution. These objectives were challenging, but they were also practical. The Calvinistic Methodist Association at Llanrwst saw this organisation start to expand on a national basis. Following the Amlwch Association, a woman worker was employed to work with Saltmead Hall.

Recent events have suggested that the idea of 'women's ministry' is in some way controversial. In fact, what is meant is the idea that women should play the part of men Pugh, for his part, had no doubt about the value of women's ministry:

"I am persuaded that a bird could as soon fly with one word as the Church of God can evangelise the great centres of population without Christ-possessed women to go in and out among the suffering poor. There is a work that no-one can do for Christ but them. It must be left undone for ever unless they turn to do it, by providing the means or volunteer to do it themselves."

Following the example of William Ross' Cowcaddens ministry, Pugh appointed 'Sisters of the People' to work among the poor and 'immoral women.' By 1909, there were eight such Sisters, stationed in eight Movement centres.

More, the Forward Movement's organisers were well aware of the difficulties such woem faced. It is not enough to hand a Gospel tract to a prostitute. Nor is it enough to tell a prostitute that she should turn from her sin. Women must have an alternative given to them. Women might profess conversion, but if they returned to their old surroundings, the old pressures soon became unbearable.

The Women's Branch and four Sisters petioned the Cardiff Committee in 1905, asking for the authority to establish a home for women leaving a life of prostitution. Two houses were purchased on Corporation Road, Grangetown, named 'Treborth Home' after the house of Mrs. Richard Davies, a major contributor to the purchase. The Pastor of Saltmead Hall, George Howe, was placed in charge of the home, work which he and his wife undertook for free. In the first year, the home served over one hundred and twenty-six women, girls and babies. In the home, the women were treated well and helped to find alternative employment (normally as domestic servants), children looked after to allow their mothers to work and support them. The home grew, eventually moving to a large house with its own grounds off Cowbridge Road, Canton, a setting far removed from the squalor of the streets.

The Sisters of the People were able to go where male evangelists could not, to visit brothels during the day, reach women individually before drawing them to the home with cords of love. The ministry of these sisters was amazing, hundreds led to Christ, lives mended and women saved from sin and death.

At the same time, the Forward Movement began to push into the industrial valleys.

John Pugh XIX: 'Rescue the Perishing'

John Pugh's preaching was driven by a great concern for the multitudes who were perishing in the midst of a country considered to be one of the most religious in the world. No-where was this more evident than in one of the most horrifying tradgedies for any woman - prostitution.

Today, many of these 'fallen women' are immigrants from Eastern Europe, in the 1890s, the majority would have been immigrants from Mid-Wales, as well as those brought up on the margins of society. The Forward Movement sought to reach through the curatin of silence with which respectable society had covered prostitution - Pugh recognised that Jesus is a great Saviour, for great sinners.

His approach was inspired by that of his friend, the Rev. William Ross of Cowcaddens. Ross had employed female missioners, known as 'Sisters of the People' to minister to the needs of women, and especially to those whom men could not approach without danger, and who might react badly to being approached by such people. These 'Sisters' had trained for the mission field and lived among the people. When Pugh visited Ross in 1893, he took his daughter, in her late teens, with him. She went out with one of the sisters, into the crowded streets of Glasgow. Miss Pugh felt the shame and anger that any respectable young woman might, but not compassion for the women, who she in part felt were responsible for their plight. The sister she was with, Sister Jennie, engaged a young prostitute in conversation:

"A girl stood in a doorway of a house, touting for work. The sister went up to her - 'Here is the last flower I have left,' she said, 'Would you like to have it?' The girl in the doorway took the simple gift and replied, 'It's been a long time since anyone gave me a flower' and then she added, 'It's been a long time since a respectable girl even spoke to me at all.' Sister Jennie looked at her and said, 'You're not very happy are you. Can I do anything for you?' 'No! There's nothing that can be done.' 'There might be. Think about it- anyway you know where you can find me, don't you? Come in to see me and let me be your friend.'

And the flower brought the girl in. Such unexpected kindness melted the heart of the young prostitute.

The towns of South Wales, however 'respectable' the Welsh might think themselves, contained as many prostitutes as Glasgow. Sergeant Barker, evangelist at Saltmead Hall, appalled the Calvinistic Methodist Association at Amlwch by his description of the conditions in Saltmead:

'From three hundred to four hundred fallen women reside in my district. There are more than one hundred houses empty of families because they are occupied for immoral purposes. I know girls going straight from sabbath school to the streets and thirty of them have gone since I am at Saltmead. These girls are expected to adopt this life even by some of their parents.'

Shock, however, was not enough. Something had to be done to reach these perishing souls.

John Pugh XVIII: Statesman

Today's evangelical scene can often seem more international than in the past, with Christians in Britain looking as much to America as to their own back-yard for favourite preachers and theologians. This is nothing new, as we have seen from the visit of Moody and Sankey to Cardiff. And the still-expanding British Empire presented other spheres of activity.

Although Pugh generally restricted his activities to Wales, rejecting a suggestion he should accompany Moody to Chicago, he was too well-known to avoid international recognition. A visit to South Africa on doctor's orders in 1896 saw Pugh preaching to Welsh settlers in the colony in their native language - a departure for the man who had been called to be evangelist to the English-speaking people of South Wales.

And in 1899, Pugh was invited as a delegate to the pan-Presbyterian Alliance in Washington. The vigorous style of the evangelist shook the normally staid Presbyterians with a description of his work, even getting the assembled delegates to sing a Moody and Sankey hymn - many of the delegates were Psalms-only. The Washington Post carried a report of the address of this plain evangelist. Pugh, for his part, identified a serious weakness of the gathering: "The Alliance is good, solid, but it lacked somewhat in brightness and enthusiasm. There was not sufficent Methodism in it." Surely a verdict on much of modern reformed Christianity.

There, too, Pugh preached to Welsh churches and met the President, whose plainness and lack of protection impressed him (this would have been William McKinley). On his departure, the University of Kentucky conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on Pugh.

On his return, Pugh saw the opening of the hall at Heath. The work in Cardiff was expanding, drawing more to Christ. And these were not simply 'respectable' people, but those to whom the Saviour came, the rough men, the prostitutes and drunkards. It is with these people that the next two posts will deal.

John Pugh XVII: Blessing to the West

Just as the work of the Forward Movement spead to Newport in the East, so the evangelists looked to the West, where ports and industry were growing, drawing people from rural Wales and England. David Davies, father of Edward, and Wales' first millionaire, had opened a new coal dock at Barry, which soon became the largest coal-exporting port in the world. The town did not replace Cardiff, as had been Davies' intention, however, and with the exception of the offices of the Barry Dock Company (pictured), the offices of the coal companies remained centred on the Coal Exchange in Cardiff. Barry became what it remains, a rough, raw town, known for its spiritual difficulties.

A work was begun in Barry, coming to fruition in the opening of Dinam Hall (pictured) in 1903. Its construction was in response to the dying wishes of the Forward Movement's treasurer, Edward Davies. Its most notable minister was the Rev. Griffith Griffiths, a man who had laboured long in the mission field. This experience stood him in good stead at Barry, where his congregation included sailors from all over the world. Sadly, the fortunes of Dinam Hall declined with those of the port, and the building was demolished in 1997, the same decade that Memorial Hall went.

In Neath, above Swansea, great blessing attended the ministry of Frank Joshua of the Neath Mission. By 1900, this mission had been taken on by the Forward Movement, and Frank Joshua ordained. Within hours of this arrangement being formalised, John Pugh and John Morgan Jones had made arrangements to build a large permanent mission hall. A plot of land close to the old hall was bought, and a new hall erected, at a cost of £2,500. The new building held over two thousand, a size necessary for the rapidly-expanding congregation.

Between Neath and Cardiff lay Aberavon, a town that began to grow much from the opening of docks there in 1897. The flood of railway workers led to great concern among the local churches, who asked the Forward Movement for help. Pugh, who had been a railway worker himself, was not slow to respond. In June of that year, a school hall was erected in the Sandfields area of Aberavon. The work soon grew, only to fall back under two Pastors whose work was denied blessing. After 1907, the work advaced in fits and starts. It was not until 1914 that the church was able to erect a church building. Blessing was largely denied to the church, and one minister, T. J. Lewis, left the church 'with a broken heart.' It was not until the appointment of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones to the pastorate in late 1926 that the church enjoyed a season of significant blessing.

John Pugh XVI: Great Blessing in Cardiff

In Cardiff the Forward Movement continued to be blessed. The work in Canton moved into a permanent home, the Davies Memorial Hall, seating 1,250 people, with attached schoolrooms, sited on Cowbridge Road East (this building was demolished in 1994, and I have not been able to locate a photograph).

The evangelists moved their tent to the Saltmead area of Cardiff, clearing the site themselves. A hard area, notorious for prostitution, was gradually transformed by the work of the movement, until an article in 1948 referred to the area as 'one of the most respectable working class areas in Cardiff.'

The coming of the Taff Vale railway to Cardiff saw the expansion of the Cathays area of Cardiff. The rapid growth of the area left the churches unprepared. Pugh had had his eye on the area, and organised meetings there, while he negotiated for a site. The work began in 1898, with a rented room over a stable in Dalcross street, seating several hundred.A second room, located in Fitzroy street, was a former drinking club.

The cost of a permanent site, on Monthremer Road, just off Crwys Road, was great, but the site, located at the heart of Cathays, was worth it. As work began on a massive hall, observers noted a well-dressed gentleman watching everything with keen interest. The question of his identity was only settled when a letter from Mr. Charles Pierce, JP, of Bangor, asking if he could do anything to help.

The hall (pictured) was opened in May 1900, with one of the stones dedicated to the memory of the deceased Edward Davies. Ceaseless growth in the Sunday School necessitated the building of a school hall (on the left of the picture), named after Charles Pierce, who covered almost a third of the cost. The space between the halls was intended for a training institute for the Movement's female workers. However, this vision died with Pugh.

Divided from Cathays by Cardiff cemetery is the Heath district, and it was here that Pugh concentrated his efforts following his return from America in 1900. A hall was erected following an open-air campaign. A church was formally constitued in January 1901, and the months that followed saw the church grow steadily.

Of all the former Forward Movement Halls, Heath has seen not only sustained growth over the years, but seasons of mighty blessing, most recently under the ministry of William Vernon Higham. Currently pastored by the Rev. Wyn Hughes, the Church is undergoing a period during which the heavens seem to be as brass, although there are still occasional touches of the Spirit.

The last of the halls in the Cathays area, situated on the junction of Harriet Street and Rhymney Street. Located close to the railway, it was run as a branch of Crwys Hall, with a lady evangelist in chage. Known as the King's Way Hall, this hall continued to minister to the poor and downtrodden, until its closure in 1998. It has since been acquired by the Welsh Evangelical Church.

And the blessing was also spreading to the West, along the coast of Wales.

John Pugh XIV: Apostolic Ministry

As the work expanded, it would have been easy for Pugh, as director of the the work, to have taken a back seat, allowing Seth Joshua and the staff of the halls to take the lion's share of the work. But that was not his way. Pugh was happiest when ministering among the people. His daughter, later a worker for the Forward Movement, described his practice and preaching:

"It was my father's custom to preach in one of the mission halls every Sunday evening.... He would sit quietly in their midst and take note of those around him, watching them with friendly eyes as they sat listening to the orchestra and organ."

When the service began, Pugh would rise from his seat and move to the platform. His sermons were simple, striking and gripping. Pugh's Christianity was not that Christianity which is wary of giving direct, personal appeals to sinners. Pugh had a voice of command which seemed to demand a personal response. A person might reject Pugh's message, but he could not pass it by. After the service, Pugh would speak with those concerned for their souls in a counselling room, a practice which is still kept up in at least one of the former Forward Movement churches.

Another secret of Pugh's success was his absolute trust in those he worked with. When one of his colleagues offered to undertake a task, Pugh trusted him. This tendency to believe the best of people could hurt Pugh, if people proved unworthy of that trust. However, it could also bring out the best in people.

While Pugh took on much of the burden of the work, this could not have taken place without the support of a number of wealthy men. John Cory of Duffryn House (pictured) and his brother, Richard, were generous supporters of good works in Wales. They had given generously to support the work with released prisoners and helped pay for the erection of halls for the Forward Movement. A Spirit-filled Christian, Cory saw his wealth as God's gift, and determined to return much of it to the giver. While Cory could have easily secured election to Parliament, he saw this as a distraction, while his work on the Council allowed him to interact with the locality he loved so much.

The other major backer was Edward Davies, Llandinam, son of David Davies, Wales' first millionaire. It was his backing which ensured that the Forward Movement was not still-born. As long as his money backed Pugh, Pugh was able to offend some who would rather have rested secure in Zion. Edward Davies tragically early death in 1898, aged 45, robbed Pugh of a friend as well as a supporter.

Crucial for the respectability of a movement which some condemned as 'fanatical,' was the support of a number of well-regarded men within Calvinistic Methodism, including the Principals of the three colleges, Thomas Charles Edwards (naturally), D. Charles Davies and Owen Prys, the last of whom would see the movement grow into middle age. These men recognised that the only lasting hope for the church was the raw mission work, the concentration of the atoning blood which flowed on Calvary, not a cross obscured by cut flowers and the like, reduced to a mere ornament, not the bough on which the Prince of Life was broken; 'The Crown of pain to three and thirty years.'

And, despite the words of the scoffers, the work was beginning to expand.

John Pugh XV: The Work in Newport

The blessing began to spread form Cardiff, first to the growing town of Newport in Monmouthshire, to the East of Cardiff. In August 1895, the Joshua brothers plastered the town with posters. Like their chief, the brothers initially met with a frosty reception. Seth, distributing tracts in the park, was approached by an official, who informed the evangelist that this was against the rules. Seth gave him a tract, only to be rebuffed! Coming to a lodging-house, Seth spoke to a number of men there, and they sang some hymns. A number of meetings saw swelling numbers, with overflow meetings being held in the Corn Exchange, while Ebenezer Welsh chapel lent its premises. After twelve months of sustained evangelism, about one hundred had professed saving faith, enough for a new, English-speaking church to be formed. Soon, the Corn exchange proved too small for this church, and by the winter of 1898-9, three halls had to be used.

Lord Tredegar, a friend of the Movement, although an Anglican, gave a plot of land at the heart of the town, and it was here that the church's permanent home, Central Hall, was erected, with seating for 2,000 in the main hall, and two smaller halls, holding 800 people each. Mrs. Edwards Davies, Llandinam, officiated at the opening on 4 October, 1906, while John Pugh spoke in the evening, giving a resumé on the work of the movement from its beginning.

Elsewhere in Newport, another hall was already operating. Malpas Road Hall (pictured) had opened in 1897, without even the core of a church, an act of faith on Pugh's part which filled many with apprehension. But God had determined to bless the work, and a sizeable congregation gathered on the first Sunday (this method of starting a church is still not advised). Within five months the church had thirty members and one hundred and fifty in the young peoples' meetings. This church would be greatly blessed in 1905, and is still open today.

In Cardiff, the work was greatly prospering, and it is to this that we shall turn next time, God willing.

John Pugh XIII: 'Forward!'

By this time Pugh's evangelistic efforts had acquired a name and an identity of their own, the General Assembly of the Calvinistic Methodist Connexion initially called the work "The Society for Church Extension and Mission Work," but this was later changed to "The Forward Movement." The Welsh version of this, Y Symudiad Ymosodol, 'The Aggressive Movement,' a title that summed up Pugh's approach perfectly. Never one to consolidate, Pugh would act, trusting God to provide, rather than making sure all the money and the back-up were present first.

Within the first year, Pugh had launche a monthy magazine, The Christian Standard, to keep the public informed about the work. In the first issue, John Pugh gave a five-point summary of its purpose:

1. To advocate aggressive evangelical and evangelistic work among the masses of the great centres of population which ordinary methods barely touch.

2. To impart fuller knowledge to our converts ofthe great truth of the Gospel through their own organ.

3. To give information to many friends throughout the country of God's doings in the various mission branches.

4. To warn the centres of the dangers of false religion which are now threatening our fatherland in the guise of Ritualism and Romanism. [This was the age of the Ritualist 'slum-priest,' such as 'Father' Griffith Arthur Jones at St. Mary's Church, Butetown, in Cardiff]

5. To interest mission churches in the activities of the churches as well as in the courts of our Connexion, so as to make them denominationally conscious.

In contrast to the wretched efforts of the recent 'decade of evangelism,' Pugh was no ecumenical bigot, but recognised that only robust evangelism by men who believed in the power of God to save souls would bring God's blessings. Pugh could have cordial relations with Independents and Baptists, but he was a Calvinistic Methodist, and the works he innaugurated would be organised along Calvinistic Methodist lines.

And God mightily blessed the work. By the end of the fist year, the Forward Movement had three centres, East Moors, Canton and Clive Street, which between them attracted 2,680 to hear the Word of Life preached, and 1,161 Sunday Scholars. But there was more land to be conquered. Most of Canaan still lay before the pioneers.

John Pugh XII: The Work Expands

The tent at East Moors was destroyed, but the work went on. A temporary wooden building, with seating for 500, known as 'Noah's Ark' was erected in early November of 1891. By the summer of 1892, that building had been supplanted by a purpose-built hall seating 1,000 and costing £2,000. Designed by Fawkner of Habershon and Fawckner, Cardiff, the hall was light and airy, in contrast the the heavy decoration of many Welsh chapels. Himself a Christian, Fawckner had long dreamed of building such halls. Even so, there was a certain poingiancy in paying farewell to the wooden hall, where so many had been born from above. One elderly woman at the service echoed the feelings of many in her prayer:

"Lord, thank you for this fine building, but we have a 'hiraeth' for Noah's Ark. That's where we saw your glory and where we first proved the joy of your salvation."

H. G. Howells, who had ministered there since July 1891, became the first minister of the congregation at East Moors Hall, while the mission moved on, into the Canton district of the city, Joshua erecting a tent there on 28th June 1891. Again, Seth Joshua took morning and evening services, while John Pugh preached in the afternoon. When inclement weather began to threaten the tent, the work was moved to the loft of an undertaker's workshop.

This inauspicious setting became known as 'the upper room;' Seth Joshua observed that: 'Mr. Marsh [the undertaker] is in one room making coffins for the dead, and I am in another room trying to raise the dead."

Canton was notorious for its drinking clubs and vice. Before the coming of Pugh and Joshua, a non-denominational evangelical group had erected a mission hall seating 350 in Clive road, about a mile to the west of the centre of Canton. They had met with little success, and in September 1891, the hall was offered to Pugh for £470. Pugh accepted it at once, bringing in Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Ray to superintend the work. It was not an easy situation, but the sort that cried out to Pugh, who later observed:

"There were two notorious streets on both sides of the Mission Hall; and the vicinity seemed left without let or hindrance as the happy hunting ground of the enemy."

Still, the work was greatly blessed, and soon a new hall, seating 500, had to be erected. At the same time, great efforts were made to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, understanding that a man cannot hear the Gospel if the rumbling of his stomach is too loud.

People had begun to take notice of this new work, and now it had a name: 'The Forward Movement.'

John Pugh XI: The Splott Campaign

Visible from Clifton Street, the Splott district of Cardiff teemed with life, and with sin. John Pugh yearned to reach out to the sinners of Splott. At first, Pugh met with nothing but indifference. Still, Pugh went ahead with his plans, procuring a plot of land close to the centre of Splott in 1891, planning to erect a tent there. His opponents viewed this with scorn by many, one critic declaring: "You might as well try to demolish the rock of Gibraltar with boiled peas as to convert the people of Splott in a tent."

Pugh was not discouraged, far from it. By this time a name of an ally had come to him: Seth Joshua of Neath. Converted from a labouring background about ten years earlier, Seth and his brother Frank had established a mission at Neath. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Joshua came to Pugh and offered his assistance. The partnership that would lead to the conversion of many hundreds, had begun.

Together, the two evangelists set about putting up the tent, borrowed for the purpose of evangelism. The sight of these big men erecting a tent at the centre of Splott drew interested observers. One of the rougher characters of Splott paused to ask what was going on. He approached Seth:

"Hullo, guvnor," he asked, "what's this, a boxing show?"

"There is going to be some fighting here," Seth replied.

"When are you going to start?"

"Tomorrow Morning at 11am."

"Tomorrow's Sunday."

"Well, better the day, better the deed."

"Who's on?"

"I've got to take the first round."

"Who's with you?"

"He's a chap called Beelzebub."

"Never heard of him, who's he?"

"Oh, he's a smart one I can tell you. Come tomorrow morning."

"I'll be there."

Others asked whether the meeting would resemble those of the Salvation Army, 'with tambourines and the like.' Pugh replied that the meeting would be bereft of such innovations, consisting of singing and preaching: 'red-hot from the heart.'

On the day, Seth Joshua took the morning and evening services, while Pugh, occupied in Clifton Street for the normal services, preached in the afternoon. The man who had spoken to Seth was there, although he must have known that this was a Gospel service. From the first hymn, 'all hail the Power of Jesus' name,' the Holy Spirit began to work on his heart. He was converted that day.

From 5th May, 1891, until the 13th October, when the tent was destroyed in high winds, the Holy Spirit worked mightily under the canvas. Hundreds of men and women were converted. Crowds flocked to the tent, and a separate tent for the children was erected. It was clear that the work had to go on, tent or no tent.

John Pugh X: Moody and Sankey Come to Cardiff

Not only did 1891 see the flowering of the work among released prisoners, but an event took place which was to further concentrate Pugh's thoughts on the teeming multitudes of Cardiff. The American evangelists Moody and Sankey held a mission in Cardiff, the meetings for which were held at Wood Street Congregational Church, the largest church building in Cardiff (demolished 1970s). Long queues formed outside the church early in the morning, as the masses sought to gain entrance to the meetings, as much to sing the vigorous hymns of the evangelists as to hear the Gospel. It is worth noting that Pugh favoured such a style of hymn in evangelism, and felt that much of the opposition to them had as much to do with snobbery as theology, a symptom of the way in which the Church was alienating herself from the masses.

Pugh met with Moody, and, perhaps not unsurpringly, they became close. Pugh took his daughter to hear Moody preach, visiting the evangelist at the home of Richard Cory. Moody asked John Pugh to return with him to Chicago. Pugh replied that Cardiff was the Chicago of Wales. Good soldier that he was, Pugh was determined to remain at his post.

The greatest effect that the mission had on Pugh was to show the need of the people of Cardiff. In the time since his arrival at Clifton Street, Pugh had undertaken a close study of Cardiff and its needs. The population of Cardiff was estimated at 128,000, with multitudes pouring into the town every day. The total seating capacity of the town's churches was 49,178, less than half that. How, Pugh asked, could the churches be sincere in inviting sinners to come to Christ when they could not handle them?

And Pugh had far more than a grasp of statistics. He had the contacts, both the religious leaders, such as Thomas Charles Edwards, and the civil, such as the Cory brothers. In this time, he also made contact with the Davies family of Llandinam, particularly Edward Davies, a willing financier of the work, being the son of Wales' first home-made millionaire. He was impressed with Pugh, and became his treasurer.

Pugh's first campaign was not far from his base camp of Clifton Street, the teeming working-class district of Splott, within sight of the spire of Clifton Street.

John Pugh IX: At the Prison Gate

Once a church or a person is baptised by the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for them to go on as before, the desire to spread the good news that Christ died for sinners becomes overwhelming. And John Pugh had always had an eye for the most wretched of sinners, just as his Lord saw Zaccheus in the sycamore tree. One day in 1890, Pugh was passing the gate of Cardiff Prison, which stands between the town centre and Clifton Street. There, he saw something that concerned him: a crowd of suspicious characters hanging around the prison gate. Pausing to watch them, John Pugh quickly realised that these were representatives of the underworld, waiting to greet released prisoners, to lead them back into a life of crime. This shocked Pugh, as it would have shocked most people.

But Pugh never stopped with being shocked. Moved by a Christ-like compassion, he resolved that it should no longer be the representatives of the devil only who met these poor men. Pugh wrote letters to the press drawing the attention of the people of Cardiff to this great evil. He contacted the Cory brothers, Cardiff shipping magnates and philanthropists, s eeking their aid.

The result of this was the formation of a mission to newly-released convicts. Its objects, laid out in the minutes of the first meeting, were:

1. To give prisoners on their discharge a free breakfast.

2. To induce them to sign the pledge.

3. To persuade them to take Jesus Christ as their Saviour from sin.

4. To seek employment for such as had no work.

5. To induce unfortunate fallen women to abandon their evil course and enter a Rescue Home.

The mission workers gathered by the prison gate from eight o'clock. Most prisoners were only too glad to be treated to a free breakfast, given at the Heathfield Coffee Tavern, South Luton Place. After the meal, hymns were sung and a Gospel message was given. By the middle of 1891, some 2,000 prisoners had breakfasted, and some had been wonderfully converted. Thus began the 'Society for the aid of Released Prisoners.'

The Cardiff Prison gate mission was typical of Pugh in its concern for the physical and spiritual needs of the prisoners. Approaching them as whole people, it avoided both pietism and the determinism of the social gospel, which states that all that is needed to make a man better is to feed and clothe him.

And there was more land left to conquer. In 1891 Moody and Sankey visited Cardiff.

John Pugh VIII: Starting at Cardiff

The church to which John Pugh came in 1889, Clifton Street, Cardiff, was, like the churches at Pontypridd and Tredegar, 'at ease in Zion.' Founded as an English-language branch of Bethania church, Clifton Street church stood on the junction of Clifton Street and Newport Road and was housed in a comfortable gothic building (pictured). The church had cushioned pews and a congregation who arrived in carriages or hansom cabs. One Sunday in the month, the pulpit was filled by no less a luminary than Dr. Cynddylan Jones, a great and learned preacher.

But this was not enough. The church stood on the border between the cavernous mansions of Newport Road and Roath and the poverty-stricken neighbourhood of Splott. Typically, John Pugh looked down Clifton Street, towards the cramped houses of Splott, and saw that 'no-one cared for their souls.' Pugh suggested to Cynddylan Jones that the great preacher should continue to build up the saints, while Pugh went after the sinners.

On the first Sunday of his ministry, Pugh preached to this comfortable, middle-class congregation. If he had any worries about how the congregation would react, those were blown away - by the wind of the spirit. As he preached, the Holy Spirit began to move through the congregation. So moved was the church that they moved through into the schoolroom for a prayer-meeting. There, the Holy Spirit fell on them in power. Twenty people were converted that night - the first fruits of what was to be a remarkable ministry.

John Pugh VII:Revival at Abertillery

Before moving on to John Pugh's dilemma over whether to go from Pontypridd to Cardiff or Glasgow, We pause to consider Pugh's ministry in the valleys. Stepping back to the years of Pugh's ministry at Tredegar, we reproduce an article from The Treasury, a Calvinistic Methodist magazine, about Pugh's involvement in a mission at Abertillery, in the Monmouthshire valleys. supplied by Mr. Geraint Jones, it casts light on Pugh's evangleistic methods:

"We venture to think that a few words in connection with the recent religious revival at Aberillery will be acceptable to most of our readers. Our English Church in this place, which was formed on the 15th October, 1876, and which has succeeded and flourished in so remarkable a manner, deemed it desirable, in consequence of having lost many of its members through [their] leaving the locality because of the intense depression in trade, to make a special effort, with a view to the salvation of souls. After much throughtful deliberation, arrangements were made with the Rev. John Pugh, of Tredegar, to hold a series of revival meetings. Prior, however, to Mr. Pugh commencing his work, the church held prayer meetings for a week in the various cottages, imploring the "Master" to accompany his servant. We were privileged and honoured to be present at these meetings, and we shall never forget them. That God was present and blessing his people was patent to all. The prayers offered were intensely earnest, and extraordinary feelings were experienced. It "was good to be here." Every evening, when the weather would permit, most of the members of the church, with Mr. Pugh, paraded the streets, singing Sankey's hymns. Of course, many disapproved strongly of this procedure -some said it was inexpedient, others declared it was not religion, whilst some would loudly assert it was degrading. In spite, however, of the animadversions of these Christian brethren, who apparently forgot that the Saviour of the world was an open-air preacher, and that the early reformers and our fore-fathers were eminently successful evangelizing the masses in the streets, the members of our English Church, with Mr. Pugh, could be heard each evening, singing "Dare to be a Daniel," &c., as they proceeded through the streets; and it is with much pleasure we record the glorious truth, that God blest [Sic.] these meetings in an extraordinary manner.

"In the most populous part of our village, Mr. Pugh would, for about a quarter of an hour, talk to the people about their souls, and urge them to return to Trinity Chapel, where a sermon would be preached. On the return journey to the chapel, hundreds would follow, and the building was generally well filled, sometimes crowded to overflowing. For three weeks, Mr. Pugh preched night after night, and it is but fair and right to state that we have seldom, if ever, heard more powerful discources; they were eminently adapted to the audience. We were also favoured with admirable discources by the Revs. J. Hughes Griffiths, M.A., Pembroke Dock; J. Calvin Thomas, Tenby; G. Bancroft, Saundersfoot; Thomas Evans, Merthyr; and others.


During the five weeks' mission, about eighty persons joined the various churches in the place, fifty-one of which joined our English Church. The feeling exhibited at some of the meetings is beyond description. Space will not admit of our going into further details; we must however, not omit to mention that one perculiar feature in connection with these meetings was the prayer meeting in the afternoon in the vestry. The converts would meet here, when circumstances permitted, and would pour out their souls to God. Some, indeed most of them, were previously leaders in the service of Satan, and it was truly touching to hear them ask for strength to be as active in the service of Jesus Christ. Whatever may be the opinions of our readers with reference to the permanence of the religion of those who "come in" during revival services, we have reason to thank God for the revivals of 1877 and 1879. The majority of those who connected themselves with our church during the revival of 1877, remain to the present time. The day of judgement alone will reveal the vast amount of good done by the revival referred to. We heartily wish all our English Churches to experience the same blessings as Abertillery has enjoyed, and so as to obtain it, we would say to them in the language of the Master, "Go thou and do likewise."

P.'

The Treasury, 1879, pp.172-3.