Daniel Rowland And Preaching for Divine Impression, Part One

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None Of His Benefits:

Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. – Psalm 2:11

Christians in the West have never had more access to sound Biblical and theological training than now. Seminaries, Bible colleges, excellent on line theological training, classic works in theology now in the public domain, and churches on every corner should all translate into a godly, humble, Christian populace which is impacting our culture for good. Is that happening? You know it is not. Why not? I honestly believe the problem is modern day preaching. Perhaps due to the Greek and Roman milieu of when the New Covenant church began, the emphasis has been on the mind and not the heart. Consequently preachers and pastors in the West have been taught to address only the mind in preaching and teaching. How is this working out? Not so good. What do we need? We need men who preach seeking what I call “the divine impression.”

Daniel Rowland, the Spirit anointed Anglican preacher from Llangeitho, Wales, was converted in 1735 while listening to the evangelistic preaching of Griffith Jones. Through the preaching of Daniel Rowland, Howell Harris, Howell Davies, William Williams, Peter Williams, David Jones and countless other evangelistic, open air preachers, 18th century Wales was delivered from ignorance, superstition, and debauchery. Wales in the 18th century, prior to the Revival which began in 1735, was largely a rural, agrarian society but little real farming was done. The people would plow only the land closest to their homes, throwing down a little seed, putting up no fences to keep out animals, and generally did nothing but drink and gamble. In their ignorance and superstition they would wait outside local churches on New Year’s Eve, waiting to hear ghosts tell them which of their friends would die that coming year. They went to church on Easter morning in their stocking feet, believing the ground on which the church stood to be consecrated ground. On Christmas morning they insisted that before daybreak they would see the Rosemary bush bloom, but always by sunrise the buds seemed to have disappeared. They were largely illiterate and completely ignorant of Biblical Christianity. The Church of England generally kept the people in ignorance. The curates preached ten minute sermons and then afterwards joined their parishioners at the local pub. When God raised up Daniel Rowland, Howell Harris, et al, the curates almost without exception, along with the gentry of the countryside, stirred up hatred toward these Calvinistic Methodist preachers. Howell Harris was beaten repeatedly by angry mobs. On one occasion the local curate placed a keg of beer on the wall next to where Harris was to preach, urging his parishioners to drink as much as they wanted. By the time Harris came to preach the angry mob was incited to rush him, beat him, and destroy the house in which he went to seek refuge. On another occasion one of Harris’ followers, William Seward, was hit in the head by a stone while standing with him as he preached. Seward died a few days later. By the late 18th century, however, the whole nation of Wales had been delivered from ignorance, superstition, and debauchery.

Continue here.