Letters of Thomas Charles I: Introduction

“Thomas Charles is God’s gift to North Wales.” —Daniel Rowland

This week on The Whole Counsel, we return to our series on great letter-writers in Christianity over the past 500 years. In this episode, we are introduced to Thomas Charles, a Welshman whose ministry is worth noting. He was converted under the preaching of Daniel Rowland in the mid-18th century and later studied for the ministry at Jesus College, Oxford.

During one of his summers at college, he lived with and was mentored by John Newton at Olney. Thomas eventually settled in Bala, North Wales, due to his love for a young woman, Sally Jones. After joining the Calvinistic Methodists (those impacted by the Evangelical Revival of the 18th century), Charles became one of the most significant leaders of the Welsh wing of that revival, guiding the next generation.

His letters, taken from the book Thomas Charles’s Spiritual Counsels, are full of practical, warm, experiential advice, reminding us of John Newton’s balanced approach. In these episodes, we will select a few of those letters and also take a look at some of his spiritual essays from the same book.