Hero of the month – Howell Harris 2/2
In 1737 Harris met with Daniel Rowland, who was perhaps the greatest preacher of all time, and they worked together, leading Wales into the ‘Great Awakening’. Between 400 and 2000 people heard him preach at a time, with many giving their lives to Jesus, among whom were two other leaders of the Awakening; Howell Davies (Apostle of Pembrokeshire) and William Williams, the hymn writer of the Revival.
From the beginning of 1738 Harris started preaching full time and he travelled the whole country; mainly at the invitation of Non-conformist ministers. He would go on a tour for weeks at a time, travelling maybe 150 miles a week, speaking between two and six times a day; sometimes speaking at 1.00am to avoid persecution. He was threatened by magistrates and clergy in many places where he preached.
Harris was the organiser of the Awakening, similar to John Wesley. All went well until around 1746 when Howell began to cause trouble by criticising his co-leaders. He was very dogmatic and unbending, and he liked to be the leader and not co-leader. In 1750 Harris and Rowland split, but most of the people followed Rowland. In 1752 he became ill and it is likely that he had a breakdown. He did other things, but he was by then on the periphery. He died in 1773. To read a lot more go to http://www.ukwells.org/locations/displaylocations/897.
Harris was a remarkable man. Through his energy the Word of God spread throughout the whole of Wales. Undoubtedly the revival would not have spread the way it did had he not travelled so much, and had his organisational skills not put in place a structure in which the Methodist movement could consolidate and grow. In the societies his creative genius found scope and fulfilment. However, he was a man of contradictions; a man of love and yet critical; humble and yet proud. His pride and obstinacy made it impossible for his colleagues to work with him and yet those qualities helped him be an indefatigable evangelist despite persecution and dangers. Few did as much for the spiritual life of Wales as Howel Harris.
