Morgan John Rhees was born on this day in 1760 in Glamorganshire, Wales. The Lord became his Saviour when he was quite young, and when the Lord called him into His ministry, he made preparations by attending the Bristol Baptist College. After his graduation, he became the pastor of the Baptist church at Peny-garn, in Monmouth, but after some time, he decided to move to France to serve as an itinerant preacher in the midst of that country’s revolution. When he saw first hand how ungodly the French Revolution had become, and how he was being manipulated by the government for their own ends, he returned home. Sadly, by this time his countrymen suspected him of being a traitor, and perhaps a spy for a foreign government, forcing the young man to sail for America.
There were already a number of Welshmen in this country, but when Rhees united with Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, to buy a large tract of land in Pennsylvania, many more emigrated from Wales to settle in the area they called Cambria. Brother Rhees then became the pastor of many of them as he lead the Baptist church in Beulah, Pennsylvania. Sadly, at the age of forty-four, in 1804, Pastor Rhees had an attack of pleurisy by which the Lord called him home.
One of the lessons to be learned from this man’s ministry is that it is a mistake to bind the preaching of the true gospel with any sort of political movement, no matter how good its goals might appear. For example, to join with Catholics, or Mormons, or any other unscriptural religion to combat abortion, pornography, euthanasia or any other worthy cause will ultimately bring down the name of Christ. Morgan John Rhees learned that lesson in France and again somewhat here in America.
– Source: This Day in Baptist History II, Cummins & Thompson