20170721

Eneidiau ofnus, dewch,

Eneidiau ofnus, dewch,
Yn rhwydd at Iesu Grist;
Amheuon, ymaith ffoch - 
Daeth cysur i'r rhai trist;
Blwyddyn y Jiwbili a ddaeth
 rhyddid cu i enaid caeth.

Cymerwch feddiant rhad
O'ch etifeddiaeth fawr;
O! dewch i dŷ eich Tad,
Gan lawenychu'n awr;
Blwyddyn y Jiwbili a ddaeth
 rhyddid cu i enaid caeth.

Datseinied gras ein Duw
Trwy holl derfynau'r byd,
A doed ei deyrnas wiw
Dros gyrrau hwn i gyd;
Daeth blwyddyn fawr y Jiwbili,
Clodfored pawb ein Harglwydd ni

You fearful souls, come,
Freely to Jesus Christ;
You doubts, flee away -
Comfort has come to the sad ones;
The year of the Jubilee has brought
Dear freedom to a captive soul.

Take free possession
Of your great inheritance;
Oh, come ye to your Father's house,
While rejoicing now;
The year of the Jubilee has brought
Dear freedom to a captive soul.

Let the grace of our God resound
Through all the ends of the world,
And let his worthy kingdom come
Across all the corners of the same;
The great year of the Jubilee has come,
Let everyone extol our Lord!

O Arglwydd Dduw, bywha dy waith

O Arglwydd Dduw, bywha dy waith
Dros holl derfynau'r ddaear faith;
Dros dir a môr dysgleiria maes
Yn nerth dy rad anfeidrol ras.

Helaetha dy frenhiniaeth, Ior,
O wlad i wlad, o fôr i fôr;
Pereiddia'r halogedig fyd
Trwy'th nefol ras a'th gariad drud.

Mae'r seithfed dydd, a'r seithfed awr,
Yn agosâu ar Babel fawr;
O Arglwydd, brysia, rhwyga'r llen,
Boed Seion bur trwy'r byd yn ben.

O Lord God, revive your work
O'er all the ends of the wide earth;
O'er land and sea shines out
Your strong, your free, immeas'rable grace.

Extend your kingship, Lord,
From land to land, from sea to sea;
Sweeten the defiled world
Through your heavenly grace and your costly love.

The seventh day, the seventh hour,
Are drawing near for great Babel;
O Lord, hurry, tear the curtain,
Let pure Zi'n be through all the world the head.

One more bit of Thomas Lewis

Again loosely translated

His first wife was a Miss Harris, from Wales. They had several children, many of whom died in infancy. In the year 1765 he buried his wife and three of his children. That was a devastating blow to sustain in just a few weeks. His second wife was Miss Wallis, who outlived him. They had ten children, but only three survived him.
The chapel was being extended for the fourth time when its minister died. Francis composed an elegy on his deathbed to his friend who had died just before him, the seraphic Samuel Pearce, of Birmingham. Francis was a very pious man. Thomas Flint says that shortly before he died he said
“O how glad I am to belong to Christ. I love his name, his ordinances, his people, his servants, his service, and his praise; and I do not expect to go to hell. No, the kingdom of Satan is not for me. I cannot blaspheme God; I cannot unite with evil men and be among them; I cannot have anything to do with such, with pleasure, but rather I want to love and praise my dear Jesus. If I'm not owned by the Lord” he said “I do not know to whom I can go!”
He had his Welsh Bible with him in the bed; he read Psalm 23 in the Bible, clutched it to his bosom, then said, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, etc”. He was buried in the chapel at Shortwood, December 20th, 1779. It was Dr. Ryland who came at the end of the week and delivered the funeral sermon, which was printed.

20170720

More from Thomas Lewis

Another section from the article in Seren Gomer translates loosely thus

BENJAMIN FRANCIS was the youngest son of the famous Rev. Enoch Francis, who died Feb 4th, 1740, aged 51, and was buried in Cilfowyr. Francis was born in 1734 so he was only about 6 years old when he lost his beloved father having buried his mother when he was five years old. There was a love for God and a fear of sin in Francis from the time he was seven years old. He was baptised when he was 15 years old, and he began to preach when 19. He became a member of the church of the Rev David Griffith, in Swansea. He went to Broadmead in 1753, and remained at the college until 1756. He went to Horsley in 1757, and was ordained there in the autumn of the year following. Number of members 66; the salary per year £20. The field was not very promising; for there were few people in the area and the chapel was on a hillside at the head of a wooded valley. However, the church grew and prospered and the chapel was extended in 1760. Francis went to London to raise funds at one point and was called to Devonshire Square but declined. Some 12 years later, he was called to the church where Dr Gill served, but he remained with his dear people. He was a great preacher and a popular one. Says his son-in-law, Mr. Flint: “He obtained, not only a thoro' grammatical knowledge of our language, but such a fluency of utterance, and so agreeable a delivery, that very few of the most popular English preachers excelled, or indeed equalled him, in these respects while he still retained the same ready command of his mother tongue." Because the church grew quite quickly, it was necessary to add ancillary rooms and to extend the chapel in 1764. In 1765, he started a chapel in Minchin-Hampton, three miles from Horsley. The cost was £400 but this was soon paid. The good man continued to go there twice a month for 35 years. In 1774, the Horsley chapel was extended a third time. Members and hearers came from 15 different parishes, and worshipped together so that some lived 30 miles from each other. He baptised 450 in his time and the membership was 262 by the time he died. He was also successful in his work in the surrounding counties. He would begin on a Monday and return late in the day guided by the stars. He preached in the following places

Horsley 4000
Cheltenham 130
Tewksbury 136
Pershore 137
Upton-on-Severn 180
Malmesbury 232
Christian-Malford 84
Melksham 90
Frome 90
Trowbridge 90
Bradford [on Avon] 90
Wootton-on-Edge 394
Uley 350
Hampton 802
Broadmead 101 [Bristol]
Pithay 28 [Bristol]
Portsmouth 22
Plymouth 22
Cornwall 20

Travelling frequently to Wales, he preached in many association meetings. He also visited Ireland in 1791, where he preached 30 times. He preached too in London. Although Francis had little in this world, he was generous with what he had. He was once in business and lost £500.

Thomas Lewis of Risca on Francis's grave

An article appeared in Welsh in Seren Gomer in November 1880 by Thomas Lewis of Risca. He had taken a journey down to Gloucester and found Francis's old church. Towards the end of the article he says

There is a large memorial stone above the grave and various members of the family rest under it. There are steel bars around it. I copied the following

HELL-DESERVING, HEAVEN-POSSESSING.

Sacred to the memory of that diligent servant of Christ, Benjamin Francis, A.M. who with unblemished reputationa was the pastor of this church for 43 years. The sweetness of his disposition, the purity and fervour of his graces, the piety, energy, and success of his labours, have greatly imbittered his decease to his family and the church of Christ; whilst this branch of Zion, nourished to its present prosperity by his zealous efforts, feels most tenderly the loss of so beloved a minister. With holy peace and joy he resigned his spirit to his Redeemer, Dec. 14th, 1799. Aged 65 years.
On the face of another column there is this note
Also his last surviving son, Samuel Enoch Francis, 42 years deacon of this church; died March 1st, 1858, aged 71 years.

When Dr Ryland preached his funeral sermon in Shortwood, Dec 22, 1799, the widow and the three orphaned children were mourners. These words were said in the sermon "And O that He who called the son of Hannah while he was yet a little child, may speak to the heart of a young Samuel now present, and cause him from this time to cry unto him, My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth." The boy Samuel was some twelve years old at that time and he lived to serve the Lord in his house a long time. Two of the brothers at Shortwood told me that Samuel Enoch Francis was one of the best of men. He is still missed.