Welsh Journals

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saddened to find that modem sectarianism had weaned his countrymen away from their native prose classics. His finely-tuned literary instincts led him to rehabilitate scholars like Morgan Llwyd, Ellis Wynne and Theophilus Evans, and he was among the first to appreciate the merits of Edward James's Llyfr yr Homillau (1606) and Charles Edwards's Y Ffydd Ddiffuant (1677). Emrys ap Iwan's own chief claim to literary fame is the superbly etched series of literary sermons, Yr Homiliau, which were edited by Ezra Roberts in 1906-9. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Emrys ap Iwan could write with clarity, vigour and wit. He despised the pompous, elephantine prose of his nonconformist colleagues and damned then heartily in a series of brilliantly vivid satires published in Y Faner and Y Genhinen. Strongly influenced by the spiky French pamphleteer, Paul-Louis Courier, he exposed the foibles and inadequacies of Welsh authors with savage skill. His ribald assaults on the nonconformist 'Vatican' at Bala must have delighted free-thinkers, but it outraged the Methodist hierarchy. Bruised Calvinists viewed him as a wilful blackguard whose diatribes were not simply irreverent but downright seditious. Emrys ap Iwan's satirical thrusts were aimed at the supporters of the 'Inglis Cos' churches in Wales, the devotees of Anglican ritualism, the Die Sion Dafyddion who wor- shipped 'the English Calf' (nothing gave him greater satisfaction than 'plucking the hair of the half-Welsh'), and prurient philistines. The tone of his journalism was consistently lively and penetrating, far more so than the dychan of some of his celebrated predecessors, and nothing was more frustrating to men like Lewis Edwards and Owen Thomas than the knowledge that their adversary's gifts of exposition far outstripped theirs. Emrys ap Iwan also formulated new political aspirations and values. Although he shunned the political pragmatists and the political scene in general, his unusual gifts as a polemicist enabled him to influence men's thoughts on the burning issues of the day. A passionate patriot, he claimed to have coined the word ymreolaeth, and he used it as a rallying cry in his campaign to oust anglomania and to instil into his countrymen a proper pride in their nationhood and the will to develop their own talents and resources. He despised the deference and pusillanimity of Welsh people, and often complained loudly that there was no more servile a nation in Europe. At a time when Welshmen sought solutions to the nation's malaise from outside, Emrys ap Iwan urged them to create a resilient independence of spirit from within. This study also reveals a less well-publicised side of Emrys ap Iwan's career, namely, his commitment to the cause of Christianity. He believed that it was infinitely more important that men should be good Christians rather than good Methodists. His philosophy was modelled on the thoughts of the enigmatic French mystic, Blaise Pascal. Although Pascalian nostrums were increasingly being over-shadowed by Hegelianism, Emrys ap Iwan called for a return to the true religion whereby man would recognize the universal presence of God and strive to establish within himself a deep and personal spirituality. Those who were in regular contact with him spoke constantly of his humanity, his shy humour and of the special chains of friendship which bound him and young children together.