VAVASOR POWELL Lyes here enterred, a successful Teacher of the Past, A sincere witness in the Present, A choyce example to Future ages. For which he being called to several Prisons, was their (sic) tryed and found faithful, would not accept Deliverance, expecting a better Resurrection, in hope of which, he finished his Life and Testimony together, in the 11 year of his Imprisonment, and the 53 of his Age, Octob 27, 1670.
In vain oppressors do themselves perplex, To find out acts how they the saints may vex.Death spoils their plots, and sets the oppressed free; Thus Vavasor obtain'd true liberty.Christ him released: and, now he is join'd among,The martyr'd souls, with whom he cries -“How long?”Daniel xii. 13.
As he died in 1670, this year is the 350th anniversary of his death. He was born in 1617. But who was he? There is no portrait of him but this paper seeks to reveal something of who he was.
Early years and conversion
He was born in Knucklas (Cnwclas - green hill), just inside the Welsh border, in Heyop, Radnorshire, two miles from the market town of Knighton, today in Powys.
His father's name was Richard; his mother, Penelope. Her father William Vavasor was from Newtown, mid-Wales. The Vavasors originally came from Yorkshire. On both sides then Vavasor was descended from ancient and honourable Welsh stock. Welsh speaking, he was related to all the principal families in North Wales.
We know next to nothing of his first 20 years. A hostile source, Alexander Griffiths (d 1690), wrote (in Strena Vavasoriensis) that his father was a ‘poor ale-keeper’ and a ‘badger of oatmeal’. He also says Vavasor was educated at Christ's College, Brecon, and worked as a stable boy and a groom. Antiquarian Anthony Wood (132-1695), also hostile, says he was a student at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1634, but there is no record of this. Perhaps he refused to subscribe and so did not take a degree.
We know that he became a schoolmaster just over the border in Clun, Shropshire, under his mother's uncle, Erasmus Howell, and served as an official or unofficial curate in the parish church, St George's. He possibly took orders in the Established Church but this is unclear. (Clun is a short distance from Brampton Bryan, where the influential Robert Harley 1579-1656 was a great supporter of Walter Cradock 1606-1659, Richard Symonds, b 1609, and other separatist Puritans. Clun is also where, in 1633, Enoch Ap Evan c 1599-1633 murdered his mother and brother with an axe in a dispute about kneeling at communion!).
It was some time after 1641 that Vavasor was converted. This followed a long period of conviction of sin. In Puritan fashion he himself later wrote in detail about that time. He begins by saying that, despite being well taught, until he was 20 he was nevertheless, like most youths, ignorant of God, Christ, regeneration, "and other mysteries of the gospel" his own miserable state by nature. He was
... very active and forward in the pursuit of the pleasures and vanities of this wicked world, and was justly denominated by my companions and school-fellows, the captain, or leader of all evil. Drunkenness, however, I much abhorred, looking upon it as a thing so unnatural, that the most greedy irrational animals abstain from it: and I wondered that persons could delight in that which had neither true pleasure, profit, nor honour in it.
He goes on to say that he had no interest in reading the Bible, preferring history, poetry and romances. He also much profaned the Lord's Day "by all manner of foolish sports". It was this fact that God was pleased to use to bring about his conversion. He explains
For being one Lord's day an observer of those who broke the sabbath by divers games, and being then myself a reader of Common-Prayers, and in the habit of a foolish shepherd, I was ashamed to play with them, yet took as much pleasure therein as if engaged with them. Whereupon a godly, grave professor of religion, one of those then called puritans, seeing me there, came to me, and very soberly and mildly asked me, “Does it become you, sir, who are a scholar, and one that teaches others, to break the Lord's sabbath thus?” To whom I answered, as did those scoffers in Malachi, “Wherein do I break it? You see me only standing by; I do not play at all. To which he replied, “But you find your own pleasure herein by looking on, and this God forbids in his holy word. So he opened his bible, and read these words in Isaiah 58:13, and particularly that expression, Not finding thine own pleasure. Such was the pertinency of the passage, and such the power that came with the word, that I was for the present silenced, and took it so far into consideration, as to resolve never to transgress in the like kind again; which resolution God enabled me to perform, though as yet I was not at all convinced of my lost estate by nature, nor of the want of Christ.
Under deep conviction of sin, he was further drawn to Christ by reading the famous exposition of Isaiah 42:3 The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes (1577-1636) first published in 1631 and a catechism of William Perkins (1558-1602) whose name was still remembered in Oxford even over 30 years after his death. He also heard convicting sermons from various preachers including "a godly excellent Preacher" who is generally thought to be the leading Welsh preacher of his day, Walter Cradock, then in a church in Llanfair Waterdine, the parish next to Knucklas.
He once had terrible toothache. Preparing for communion he read a line from Perkin's The Foundation of the Christian Religion gathered into Six Principles. He was much struck by the line
If the pains of one little bone, or tooth, for a few days be so grievous, what then will be the pains of the whole body and soul in hell for evermore!’
He began to be greatly troubled by the fact that until this time he had never read seriously the Bible or any godly book and had never prayed properly. He did not know what to do and so he decided to cast himself down before God on his knees, and acknowledge that he did not know not what to do unless God would direct and help him. He saw himself as “a charcoal brand that had been in the fire, yet without light and life”.
The sermons he heard greatly helped but he continued to look to his own efforts to be saved, as is common. He would sometimes drink only cold water or live as a vegetarian or as much of one as he could manage, limiting the mouthfuls of meat he was allowed. Other times he would wake himself at night to kneel by his bed in the cold and pray, as if doing it that way gave it more value.
And when sometimes through energy and earnestness of the spirit in prayer, I called God Father, I had checks upon my conscience for my over-confidence and presumption: and to pacify and silence this charge, I was forced to confess my sin of misbelief, or false faith, and watch my tongue for uttering any such bold words for the time to come.
Satan often drove him to the brink of despair. He even contemplated suicide. One time, he says, he was beaten up by two drunken relatives who claimed they were upset at him rebuking them. At other times people planned to kill him because he preached against their sins. He saw these as provocations by Satan.
Metropolitan of the itinerants
Eventually, after many trials, he came to faith in Christ and Puritan convictions. He writes
After I had been about four years in constant doubts, and great fears as to my eternal condition, being often times tempted by Satan to destroy myself; and preaching also to others shaking and terrifying doctrines, particularly out of Luke 11:35 Take heed, lest the light that is in thee be darkness. At that time, for a month or more, I was very sad, melancholy, and much troubled; neglecting to eat, drink, or sleep; and this was occasioned principally through the apprehension I had of that distance which I saw to be between Christ and my soul, which was set home upon my heart with much power, from these words, Sing of Solomon 2:9 Behold, he stands behind our wall, he looked through the window upon me. For I looked upon a wall to be between Christ and my soul. Then, me thought, he came nearer, and looked through the window upon me.
Not for the last time in his life he then became gravely ill. The doctors, his friends and he himself all assumed he would soon die. At the same time, he realised that his real danger was losing his unsaved soul. He explains how previously he had written down his fears in a little diary some time before. He now wanted to read these over but had lent the book to a friend then some distance away. This added to his consternation as he lay there waiting for death and for hell. He then says that while still most distraught, at around noon, the Lord brought a Scripture into his mind, John 3:36, He that believeth on the Son hath ever lasting life. As he thought about this verse he noted
... First, that there was nothing necessary to salvation but believing in Christ. Secondly, that to such as did believe in Christ, there was a certainty of salvation. My understanding being cleared in these two particulars, I was then to enquire whether I did believe or not. I examined myself what signs of true faith I had, and how I could prove that I did believe; and finding no certain evidence, being also convinced that I had for years before gone in that way to no purpose, I continued still in a hopeless state. But upon a sudden, and unexpectedly, a mighty power, no less than that which raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, and which declared him to be the Son of God, did enable me to believe, and witnessed effectually in me that I did believe. Which divine impression I look upon to be all one with that sealing spoken of in Ephesians 1:13 … Romans 8:16, And thereupon I had perfect peace, my heart not at all condemning me; but according to 1 John 3:21, I had confidence towards God, and not only so, but my heart likewise was filled with admiration and great joy, according to that saying, Whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8.
Following this wonderful conversion he was also restored to health and was able to begin preaching again. He says that at this time the Lord taught him
... to preach in another manner than before: namely, to lay Christ as the foundation of all, and duties in a secondary and subservient way; to preach him chiefly and mainly. Yet from hence did Satan take occasion to thrust at me, and throw me into the other extreme, even unto that which is truly and properly called Antinomianism, to destroy and utterly deny the use of the law. But the Lord did timely and graciously prevent my fall in this also ….
From the beginning, his convictions were Independent and he soon became the first minister of Pendref Chapel, Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire, 40 miles north west of Knucklas and the oldest Welsh Independent church in Powys. At this time, however, his main work was itinerant preaching and evangelism. He travelled extensively across the country on horseback, preaching in private homes, fields, at fairs and markets, wherever he could. This prompted Baptist historian Joseph Ivimey (1773-1834) to say Vavasor "may with great propriety be designated the Whitefield of Wales".
Opposition to the work was strong and at times his life was in danger from mobs or individuals bent on killing him. He was arrested more than once as he was considered to be acting in a sacrilegious way, undermining confidence in the Book of common prayer. In 1640 he was accused of disturbing the peace and again, on December 26, 1641, teaching God's Word in Llanwarne Parish Church, Ross on Wye, he was forcibly removed and imprisoned. In 1642 he appeared before the assizes at Prestatyn charged with ‘Inconformity’ although he was found not guilty this time.
An oft told anecdote from the period tells how Vavasor was preaching in a field somewhere in Radnorshire when the high sheriff came with a band of men, and committed him to prison. When it came to executing the warrant only one out of 15 or 16 constables, was found willing to act. He took Vavasor to stay overnight in his house. That evening Vavasor led family prayers and the man
... became so fully convinced of the excellence of religion, that he declared he could not go a step further with him, though it should cost him his life, as he was persuaded he was one of the servants of Christ.
He left Vavasor in the house and ran. Concerned for the man's safety Vavasor gave himself up and was tried at the assizes but acquitted. When he later dined with one of his judges, the latter commented on his giving thanks - “it was the best grace he ever heard in his life”!
Eventually, persecution became too much and, advised by others, Vavasor decided to head for London like other Welsh Puritans. Cradock went to London, Symonds to Kent and William Erbury (1604-1644) became an army chaplain in England. Morgan Llwyd (1619-1659) went to Somerset. As he put it, the Welsh saints were scattered like sheep.
Vavasor married twice but fathered no children. His first marriage took place in this period, in February 1642. He married Joan Quarrell, widow of a Paul Quarrell of Presteigne, who had died in March 1641. They had one son. His second wife was Katherine, fifth daughter of Parliamentary Colonel Gilbert Gerard (1604-1673) of Crewood Hall, Chester. She survived him and later married John Evans (1628-1700) an ejected minister from Oswestry who became a pastor in Wrexham.
London 1642-1647
In August 1642 Vavasor came to London for the first time. He spent some years preaching here and hereabouts. The Civil War was raging but he was able to preach without hindrance and to good effect and large numbers came to hear. Densil Morgan summarises (Theologia Cambrensis Vol 1)
The next two years spent in the capital would seal his success as an effective preacher, especially in the parish church of St Anne and St Agnes, Aldersgate, and at Crooked Lane in the city. While there he witnessed the abandonment of the Book of Common Prayer, the dismantling of many of the structures of the Church of England, including deans and chapters leading, by 1646, to the abolition of episcopacy. Although he followed the activities of the Westminster Assembly avidly, he became increasingly disenchanted by its hierarchical bent, its favouring of a rigidly Presbyterian polity and its emphasis on a learned ministry rather than providing for the sort of rousing evangelistic preaching that would awaken men’s souls.
In 1644 he became the incumbent in Dartford, Kent, where he immediately set about gathering a covenanted congregation of ‘visible saints’. He and his family survived the plague that affected the area early on but then he was again severely unwell, at death's door. He sent for godly ministers to come and anoint him but they were delayed and before their arrival he felt an assurance that he would recover and after a sort of trance that lasted some six hours he was well again.
There is a tradition that he preached to parliamentary soldiers on Dartford Heath and that he had a Baptist chapel built in Dartford, but this is unlikely. He only became a Baptist in 1655. His Baptist views were orthodox; open rather than strict with regard to communion.
Back in Wales 1648
By mid-1646 Vavasor felt it safe to return to Wales and on September 11 he was granted a testimonial of approval or certificate of character by the Westminster Divines and was named by the Committee for Plundered Ministers to preach in Wales. They wanted to ordain him but, after an interview with Stephen Marshall (c 1594-1655), he refused.
Vavsor kept the certificate, signed by prolocutor Charles Herle (1598-1659) and 17 Divines (including Burroughs, Caryl, Greenhill, Love, Marshall, Nye, Scudder and Thomas Froysell c 1610-1673, Uncle Erasmus's successor in Clun). "Furnished with these testimonials, he returned to Wales, and became a most indefatigable and active instrument of propagating the Gospel in those parts. "Parliament voted him £100 per annum, of which he received some £60 per annum for the next eight years. He denied gaining any other income at this time, though his wife may have had money. He consistently denied numerous accusations of misappropriating tithe-money." (ODNB) According to the ODNB, in 1647 he refused the sinecure rectory of Penstrowed, Montgomeryshire, just outside Newtown, objecting to receiving the tithe. Vavasor says of this period that by God's grace it was a time of calling, gathering and edifying many souls.
Once again, he knew many experiences of God's nearness. In Autumn 1648 he was in Beaumaris, Anglesey, then being subdued by Parliamentary forces under Thomas Mytton (c 1597-1656). Vavasor joined the forces and preached to the soldiers. "A great observer of dreams" one night, he claimed, God revealed in a dream that he would be wounded and two friends cut. In the battle he found himself cornered but heard a voice speaking audibly to him saying he had been chosen to preach the gospel. He therefore called on God to rescue him and was immediately guided so that the horse he was riding, a rather wild and recalcitrant one, reversed out from between the barricades erected for battle. Thus he was miraculously preserved, even though another man fell nearby.
He says that many other such things happened to him at this time but does not elaborate. He sums up by saying he knew "perils by water, by thieves, by enemies purposely lying in wait for me", yet able to do nothing. Some would be killers simply failed, others were converted before acting.
Other stories he tells more fully include one about getting utterly lost one night in a wood after preaching but being delivered and a similar one where he was with another minister. Another story concerns a woman called Watkins living in Lannigon, Breconshire. Bedridden for two years this gracious gentlewoman heard that Vavasor was in the area and was convinced that his prayers could heal her. On the strength of this, she recovered and walked two or three miles to hear him preach!
Another time, a religious young woman, Elizabeth Morris of New Radnor, now in Powys, was subject to convulsions. Vavasor was speaking in her brother's house one time when she had one of these fits. He began to pray for her and before he was finished she was fine and had no more convulsions for many years to come, if ever again.
Joshua Thomas (1719-1797), the Wlesh Baptist historian, tells how Vavasor was due to preach one day in a field in Tregaron, Cardiganshire. A number of ne'er do wells agreed to hold a football match at the same time and place. Among the players was a young man from a respectable family, recently returned from studies elsewhere. A good footballer, he was dribbling the ball, intending to kick it into Vavasor's face. At that very moment he was tripped by another player and fell and broke his leg.
... after lying on the ground in great agony, he expressed a wish to see the minister, to whom on his arrival he confessed his wicked intention, and acknowledged that the just judgement of God had befallen him. The minister having represented to him the evil and danger of sin, preached the power and grace of the Saviour, and at the request of the young man accompanied him to his father's house. So great was the change produced in him by means of this affliction, that on his recovery he began to preach, and was for many years the most, laborious and useful preacher in those parts. His name was Morgan Howell.
It is hard to know how take some stories especially some where he apparently saw ghosts or knew extraordinary answers to prayer. Suffice to say that they were remarkable times and how Vavasor understands what happened is not necessarily correct. It is also important to keep in mind that Vavasor believed experience is one of the chief tools God uses to teach his children. "Experience is a copy written by the Spirit of God upon the hearts of beleevers" (Preface, Spiritual experiences).
Back in Wales he preached alongside a Morris Griffith, of whom we know little, and a John Williams (1626-1673) from North West Wales, of whom we know more. A medical doctor, he preached a great deal and suffered for the faith.
Despite his itineracy, Vavasor was able to set up a comfortable home in a place called the Goetre between Newtown and Montgomery. He served a congregation in Newtown at this time. He is said to have been "very free in the entertainment of strangers, and all saints". He would say he "had room for twelve in his beds, a hundred in his barns, and a thousand in his heart."
London again 1649, 1650
On December 2, 1649 he preached back in London before the new Lord Mayor, Thomas Foote (1698-1687), God the Father glorified, and the work of men’s redemption and salvation finished on earth by Jesus Christ and on February 28, 1650, before the House of Commons. He had also preached to Parliament, February 28, 1649 Christ exalted above all creatures by God his Father.
In 1650 Parliament appointed a commission for the better propagation and preaching of the gospel in Wales with Powell acting as one of the principal advisers to this body. Under the Act he was an approver and his name was closely linked with the institution of itinerant preachers. For three years he was actively employed in removing from their parishes those ministers regarded as incompetent.
Fifth Monarchist?
In 1653 Vavasor returned again to London and preached at St Ann, Blackfriars after the death of their pastor, William Gouge (1575-1653). He is often accused of being a Fifth Monarchist. He certainly opposed the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) which began at this time. He denounced Cromwell on Sunday, December 18 and the next day and was arrested on December 21, 1653. Vavasor had previously been a favourite of Cromwell's.
The Fifth Monarchy men were a Puritan party of the 1650s. The name is from the prophecy in Daniel that says four ancient empires will precede the kingdom of Christ. The fast approaching year of 1666 stirred imaginations, containing as it does the famous number from Revelation. They envisaged the end of earthly rule by carnal human beings at that time.
In 1654 Edward Allen (1633-1696) and others produced a pamphlet Examen et Purgamen Vavasoris rebutting false accusations against Vavasor. One of the authors was Henry Williams (1624-1684) later an ejected minister, whose daughter married Richard Davis, Rothwell (1658-1714). (Williams himself is connected to the famous field of blessing. When all his worldly goods were taken, one field remained and produced a bumper crop.)
Released from prison on December 24, Vavasor fled to Wales and there began to organise opposition to Cromwell, although he did put aside his differences to help quell a Royalist uprising in 1655. His opposition continued in the protest called A Word for God or a Testimony, signed by 322 people and presented in November, 1655. This, along with his Baptist views that begin at this point, alienated many Welsh Puritans as well as the government authorities. He was arrested next at a prayer meeting in Aberbechan, Montgomeryshire, from where he was taken to Worcester to appear before Major General James Berry (d 1691). Berry treated him very civilly and allowed him to preach at several places in the town.
In Summer, 1656, Vavasor preached to a large crowd in Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth. A local gentleman, Sir Richard Pryse (c 1630-1675), then High Sherriff for Cardigan, became alarmed at this and wrote from Gogerddan to his father-in-law, Sir Bulstrode Whitelock (1605-1675), Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, informing him of a "tumultuous assembly". This is typical of how some in high places reacted to Vavasor's preaching.
In 1658 Vavasor was invited to join the Independents at their Savoy Conference but declined warning against political and worldly interests.
At this time Vavasor kept a diary. Unclearly dated it evidences his piety. Two random extracts
This day I received an unexpected mercy, and was prevented from a temptation, which made my heart rejoice; and preventing grace, especially that which prevented from sin, has been frequently the cause of rejoicing to me. I had some sense of my own weakness, yet I had some comfort from these words, Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh on me. And Psalm 42:8 Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
This day, in the morning, my heart was very free to pray for my persecutors and enemies, as freely and truly as I was to seek and receive the pardon of my own sins. I had power also to apply these words to myself, Psalm 62:2 He only is my rock and my salvation; I shall not be greatly moved; and in verse 6, I shall not be moved. God did bring this scripture as an antidote for that evening. Presently there came several persons to tell me, that I and several others were to be tried at the sessions, and I observed that my heart was very little moved thereat, but could willingly refer myself to the Lord, and be quiet in, and contented with, his will, though ever so contrary to my own carnal natural will.
Later life and imprisonment
At the Restoration in 1660, Vavasor was first arrested for preaching on April 28 and again on July 30. The first time he was exceptionally calm as the night before he had dreamed that he would be arrested. He was imprisoned first in Welshpool, then for nine weeks in Shrewsbury.
On July 18, 1660, Charles II's Council issued an order to Sir Matthew Pryce (d 1674), High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, to take into custody Sir Richard Saltonstall (1586-1661), Aberbechan MP Richard Price and "a most factious and dangerous minister", Vavasor Powell, the three being accused of plotting against the king. Saltonstall and Price fled. By August 2 Vavasor was in custody.
In September, 1661 he was in the Fleet Prison, London, where he remained a long time, rarely being allowed out. His health was so impaired by this stint in prison that he never fully recovered. In 1664 he wrote a catechism for sufferers. He wrote in his diary seven lessons learned in prison
1. To prize retirement for private meditation, self-examination and prayer more than before.2. To cherish a very great and earnest desire that there may be a general union among the saints of God and at least a forbearance towards one another wherein they cannot agree.3. To desire, especially, a heart to pray for and truly pardon my worst and greatest persecutors.4. To justify God willingly and fully in all that he has done; and to acknowledge that it is not without cause nor so much as my iniquities have deserved, ....5. To look more at the good and gain I have received from the Lord in and by my sufferings, than at the time or nature of sufferings.6. To know, remember, confess and bewail many sins which I was long ago guilty of. ....7. I am assisted to understand divers scriptures clearer and better, I hope, than before; and to with draw my eyes, ears, and heart from tempting objects.
In 1662 Vavasor produced a work that sought, like the Examen, to defend his record. A brief Narrative of the former Propagation and late Restriction of the Gospel in Wales was never refuted.
In September, 1662, along with Colonel Nathaniel Rich (d 1701), Vavasor was moved from the Fleet Prison to Southsea Castle, Portsmouth. He was not released until November, 1667.
In March, 1668 he preached at Blue Anchor Alley, near Bunhill Fields. He also preached in Montgomeryshire. Daniel Neal (1678-1743) says “venturing to preach again in his own country, he was imprisoned at Cardiff”. He had preached in Bristol, then in several places in Monmouthshire and finally in Merthyr, when he was arrested. He ended up spending many more weeks in prison in Cardiff before his case was moved to the Court of Common Pleas, in London, in October 1669.
Final imprisonment and death
Vavasor understood the law well and persuasively argued his case but to no avail and was once again was committed to the Fleet prison. There he was kept in solitary confinement for the most part but allowed visits from friends and even to preach at times.
He died after a painful illness on October 27, 1670. He had preached the last of his sermons on September 25, 1670, in the morning on John 6:57, in the evening on Hosea 14:8. As stated, he was buried in Bunhill Fields. Neal says “an innumerable crowd of Dissenters” attended his funeral.
In 1671 Independent minister Edward Bagshaw (1629-1671) produced The Life and Death of Mr Vavasor Powell containing Vavasor's own account of his conversion and ministry, diary extracts, hymns, biographical details, experiences at death and elegies. Also a 29 point statement of faith and similar items showing Vavasor to be a good covenantal Calvinist. It also contained various sayings such as these
Bad times well improved are far better than good times not redeemed or mispent.He that will not take an example must make an example.As a watch must be daily wound up by him that carries it; So the soul must be wound up by Christ, else it will be unuseful and unserviceable.By prayer God doth converse with me; by preaching, ... teach me; by meditation, he doth fill me; by the society of the saints, he doth warn me; by singing hymns, he doth enrapture me; by his supper, he doth feed me; by his love, he endears me to him; by his Son, emboldens me; by his Spirit, unites me to him ....
Conclusion
For Richard Baxter (1615-1691) Vavasor was "an honest, injudicious zealot" and a loathed antinomian. In spite of his many faults, however, even for Baxter, "there can be no doubt that the effect of his work was in the direction of moral improvement and practical religion".
In 1685 an anonymous author (A windingsheet for Mr Baxter's dead) called him
A man indefatigably industrious, unweariedly laborious in his studies, and in his ministerial performances: for a long time of great strength of body, and equal vigour of mind, both which, while out of prison, he restlessly employed in the service of God, and very successful endeavours to save the souls of men. He turned his prison into an academy, and proceeded thence an excellent philosopher, an expert physician, and a very accomplished divine. He preached naturally, and that sometimes with little study (because very frequently), to far better purpose than those clergymen who take a whole twelvemonth to study a sermon. A greater command of his own and his auditors' affections, no man not apostolically qualified could have. His patience, when called to suffer, was so great, that it ran parallel with his sedulous activity when he was to act; and a larger commendation of that passive virtue in any one cannot well be given. Less resplendent than which his courage could not be; for so prodigious, so not to be paralleled was it, that it may be said, without hyperbole, that he feared not the face, nor yet the fury, of the most menacing, the most mighty mortal.
Neal, drawing on others, simply says "He was of an unconquerable resolution, and of a mind unshaken under all his troubles."
A great man of prayer, he sometimes prayed in his sleep. He knew his Bible inside out. Joshua Toulmin (1749-1815) later wrote
So active and laborious was he in the duties of the ministry, that he frequently preached in two or three places in a day and was seldom two days in the week, throughout the year, out of the pulpit. He would sometimes ride a hundred miles in the week and preach in every place where he could gain admittance ... He would often alight from his horse and set on it any aged person whom he met with on the road on foot, and walk by the side for miles together. He ... would not only entertain and lodge, but clothe the poor and aged. ... a man of great humility, very conscientious and exemplary ... punctual to his word ... a scholar ... a gentleman.
While remaining a relatively minor figure in seventeenth century Puritan history, Vavasor's place in the Puritan movement has been reassessed in recent years. In 1975 historian R Tudur Jones (1921-1998), agreeing with Geoffrey Nuttall (1911-2007), wrote that he
deserves better of historians than to be dismissed as a millenarian enthusiast. In many ways, Powell was the most striking personality amongst the Welsh Puritans.
That estimation has been heeded as Vavasor Powell has been the subject of doctoral dissertations as well as peer reviewed papers and presentations. Scholar Stephen Yuille has analysed Saving faith discovered in three heavenly conferences, one of about a dozen published works by Powell.
Vavasor has emerged as a leading case study particularly for the right wing elements of seventeenth century English nonconformity and their relationship to the larger Puritan movement.
For us today he is an example of zeal and commitment to God, willingness to suffer for the gospel and of devotion to walking with God. May we all seek to be like him in those respects.
This lecture was given at the Evangelical Library
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