Welsh Journals

GWELL DUW NA DIM An appeal to the Prime Minister, The Right Honourable D. Lloyd George, M.P., to do justice to the Church in Wales. Right Honourable Sir, IT is one of the redeeming features of the present distress that we are learning to approach old subjects of controversy in a new light and a better spirit. No one has more thoroughly appreciated this new perspective than yourself upon whom now rests in a special measure the burden of rivetting the soul of the British Empire upon the moral character of the issue at stake in this world-wide War. The old Cymric maxim which I venture to adopt as the lode-star of my letter has more than ever come to its own, and under your leadership the great masses of this country are realising as they seldom have done that man's truest nature and highest privilege is to aspire to the truth and to hold it defiantly against the forces of evil. Y gwir yn erbyn y byd." This elevation of political and religious questions to a high moral level has had the effect of bringing about a measure of religious unity un- known within living memory. This is natural and inevitable. The more men's minds concentrate on the higher and greater subjects of life the less disposed will they be to quibble and strive about those matters which at best are of secondary importance. We who have served as chap- lains can recall mutual help and accommodation at the front which only the moral elevation from which the whole scene was viewed could have rendered possible. There are indications that the same advance is being domesticated in small measure even where traditions to the contrary have been potent. Here in Leicester we have a joint committee of clergy and nonconformist ministers which has rendered invaluable service both in defining and narrowing the issue on certain subjects, and also in organising common action, The same movement is intensely desired in Wales, both by Churchmen and Nonconformists but candour compels one to observe that there is little prospect of its realisation so long as the former are smarting under the sense that a grave injustice is being done to the Church they love with the connivance of the latter. This feeling has recently found conspicuous expression which none can lightly dis- regard. When the Calvinistic Methodists were about to hold a conference at Llangollen, the Moderator, with exemplary goodwill, invited the Bishop of the Diocese to send a message which would be read at the opening session. The answer is so profoundly significant, and so provoc- ative of the best thought that can be given to this subject that I take leave to transcribe it in full My dear Mr. Charles Williams, I deeply appreciate the courtesy and kindness of your letter. I have weighed carefully your suggestion, and have striven honestly to reach a decision in the making of which personal feeling and pre- judice has been allowed no place. Anything that would promote reunion, or to use your own words, The peace of Jerusalem," commands, I believe, the earnest support of all true Churchmen. But if solid progress towards that divine ideal is to be achieved, every step taken must be sincere and whole-hearted. Such a step, in my opinion, is materially and rightly impossible at the present time. During the War Churchmen have held their peace and done their duty. None the less are they conscious of the fact that the day the War began saw a grievous injustice inflicted upon the Church in Wales, and that the day the War ends will see the consummation of that injustice, made tenfold more cruel by the calamities and impoverishments of the War. What the Church is now enduring in disorganisation and anxiety is known to all. It is enough to say that, at the present moment, the harsh conditions imposed upon the Church in Wales are a felt obstacle to the promotion of that co-operation and re-union, the yearning for which has been kindled by the common suffering of the War. We await some token that our Nonconformist brethren desire to do with us as they would that we should do unto them. With sincere respect, believe me, most faithfully yours, A. G. ASAPH. II th June, 1918." This conviction, expressed with characteristic directness by one thoroughly acquainted with and revered by his fellow-countrymen, is deeply rooted in Churchpeople, and will prove to be a formidable barrier in the way of that fraternal movement which other events of late have done so much to facilitate. It would be a tragedy indeed if wounds which bid fair to heal were irritated by political animosity it would be a crime against the most blessed spirit we have witnessed in our nation if the unique opportunity presented by the temper of the times were not seized upon to effect an equitable settlement. In common with many who have long studied this subject and claim to understand the Welsh people I am convinced that such a settlement can be attained by true and courageous statesmanship. Immediately the present tyranny is over-past the problem of the Church will brook no delay. The policy of partially disendowing it while the War is in progress, and of compelling it to appoint a Representative Body which shall even in this time of strain and stress prepare for the certain prospect of Disestablishment and Dis- endowment being in full operation within a few months of the declaration of Peace is very generally felt to be less than just. As evidence of this I may refer to two notable letters. The Reverend Arnold Thomas in the Times on January 12th, 1915, paid a deserved tribute to the warm- heartedness of Welshmen, and expressed the conviction that Welsh Nonconformists wished to live side by side in goodwill with their Anglican brethren. He affirmed that the abandonment of Disendowment would bring us great happiness, especially in these days of public trouble and danger, and would be the thing that would work for peace, and for peace that would be not without honour." On January 26th of the same year Sir Henry Lunn wrote to the Daily Chronicle" to this effect- I have had the honour to transmit to the Prime Minister the Free Church Memorial on the question of the Disendowment of the Church in Wales signed by 1,252 Free Church Ministers and official laymen, respectfully appealing to the Prime Minister, in view of the great economic and financial pressure resulting from the War, felt by the citizens of all religious communions, and amongst them by members of the Welsh Church, to bring before the Houses of Parliament such modifications of the Act for the Disestablish- ment and Disendowment of the Church in Wales, as shall involve the repeal of all those clauses which deprive the Church in Wales of any of her temporalities. It is also significant that the "Methodist Times" in its issue of September 24th, 1914, remarked, "We are of