Thomas Charles's Spiritual Counsels - Softcover

Charles, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 180040185X ISBN 13: 9781800401853

Publisher: Banner of Truth Trust, 2022

Synopsis

The North of Wales in the 1770s was one of the least Christian parts of Britain. The next three decades brought a transformation akin to that of the apostolic era and at the centre of the change was Thomas Charles, 'the Lord's gift to North Wales'. Debarred from the pulpits of his own denomination, and dependent on his shop-keeper wife at Bala, Charles quietly became the leader of the people ('Calvinistic Methodists') whose God-anointed witness gathered thousands to the gospel. This astonishing advance involved Bible distribution, the use of circulating schools, preaching, and publishing. More than all these things, there was an outpouring of the Spirit of God and the most enduring lessons of the period have to do with the quality of spiritual life which was then recovered. This volume, first published in 1838, shows us both what that life was in Thomas Charles' own experience and how wisely he taught it to others. Charles' main characteristic, said Edward Morgan (his editor), was his large measure of love and humility. His life itself, 'with heaven in his face', as men said, was a sermon. For insight into real, biblical Christianity this book will always be one of the classics of evangelical literature. John Elias' verdict of many years ago remains true, 'Whatever proceeds from Mr. Charles is excellent'. This was one of the last books in the hands of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones before his death and it led him to conclude that Thomas Charles 'is definitely one of the most neglected of the spiritual leaders'.

About this title

About the Author

When Howell Harris preached in Bala, North Wales, in 1741, Jane Jones was one who passed from death to life as a result. David and Jane Jones would have remained unknown to posterity if it had not been for their one child, Sarah, who was born in 1753. Twenty-five years later ‘Sally’ Jones, still unmarried, was famed in Merionethshire for her personality, her looks and her earnestness in religion. It seems that news of her certainly played a part in drawing a student at Oxford by the name of Thomas Charles to accept the invitation of a fellow Welsh student to visit North Wales in the summer of 1778. Thomas Charles, born near Carmarthen in 1755, was a stranger to the North, and until 1773 he was also a stranger to the experience which made Sally different from so many of her contemporaries. In that year, on January 20, Charles heard Daniel Rowland preach and his ‘mind was overwhelmed and overpowered with amazement’ at the truth. So, with the Christian ministry in view, Charles settled into a course of study at Jesus College, Oxford, in February 1776. In 1778, the year when he first saw Sally Jones at Bala, Charles was ordained in the Church of England and settled in a curacy at Shepton Beauchamp in Somerset. Sally remained on his mind, but he had no further contact with her until he began writing to her in December 1779. Such was the beginning of a courtship which ended in their wedding on August 20, 1783. The delay had been due to Charles’ inability to find a curacy near enough to Bala for Sally to remain close to her parents. The course of action which Charles finally took to end his enforced idleness was one which for some time he ‘never thought of.’ Despite the connection of his parents-in-law with the despised Methodists (Sally’s father preached among them), Charles never seems to have been at their small meetings in Bala. He certainly never preached among them; yet here, unlike the congregations as dead as ‘so many stocks or stones’ which he had faced elsewhere, were people eager to hear the Word of God. With the local clergy declining to use even his unpaid services, Charles went to the Society meeting in Bala in July 1784. Soon he began to preach among them and within a few months he was to be found as an itinerant preacher among the Calvinistic Methodists in North Wales. When Daniel Rowland heard Charles at Llangeitho in the summer of 1785 he was in no doubt why the young man had been shut up to Bala: ‘Charles is the Lord’s gift to North Wales’. Then in 1791 Bala saw a great awakening – ‘a very great, powerful, and glorious outpouring of the Spirit.’ It marked the beginning of revivals which continued in North Wales over the three following years and, more occasionally, similar scenes were to be seen there repeatedly over the next forty years. The moral change was immense and permanent for several generations to come. The year 1791 also marked the beginning of a passing of spiritual leadership to the North and to Charles. Daniel Rowland died in 1790, followed by his close associate, William Williams in January, 1791. What was needed now was a work of preservation and consolidation. Charles was prepared by God for that role. Considering the extent of Charles’ labours, one is inclined to think that he was a man of strong physique. That was not the case, and in 1800 his health was particularly low. It was long remembered in Bala how, when his illness looked most serious, an old man named Richard Owen thrilled a prayer meeting with the earnestness of his petition for Charles to be given to them for another fifteen years. Charles lived to within six weeks of the time asked for. He died on October 5, 1814, and his beloved Sarah followed him just nineteen days later. – Adapted from Iain Murray’s ‘Biographical Introduction’ to Thomas Charles’ Spiritual Counsels

Edition details

• Publisher: Banner of Truth Trust
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 180040185X
• ISBN 13: 9781800401853
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 392