William Williams felt called to the
priesthood; and in 1740, despite his family's links with the Nonconformist branch of Christianity, he took
deacon's orders in the
Established Anglican Church. (Since
disestablishment in 1920, the Anglican church in Wales has been known as the
Church in Wales.) His first appointment was as
curate to
Theophilus Evans (1693–1767) in the parishes of
Llanwrtyd,
Llanfihangel Abergwesyn and Llanddewi Abergwesyn. Around this time he became involved in the
Methodist movement and in June 1742 his disapproving parishioners reported his activities to the Archdeacon's Court in
Brecon. Methodism was originally a reformist faction within the
Church of England and was not intended to be a separatist movement or church. It was nevertheless seen as a threat to the Anglican establishment, and in 1743, when Williams duly applied for
ordination as a priest, his application was refused because of his Methodist
connection. Rather than a comfortable, conformist career in the Anglican Church, he chose a financially precarious, but perhaps spiritually richer life as a Methodist preacher. The key years in the foundation of English Methodism were between 1739, when the brothers
Charles and
John Wesley, both Anglican priests, broke with the
Moravian church and set up their own first chapel in
Bristol, and 1743, when they drew up their
General Rules. This was, unfortunately, the very time that Williams was beginning his own career in the Church and partly explains the hostility he experienced from his congregation and from the hierarchy. Williams paid a higher price for his beliefs than did the Wesleys. Williams was shut out of the Establishment at the start of his career, whilst the Wesleys had already been ordained. Welsh Methodism predates 1739 and can be traced back to the conversions of the two main leaders of the Welsh Methodists, Howell Harris and
Daniel Rowland, in 1735. It was an indigenous, parallel movement to its sister movement in England, and the Welsh Methodists were mainly Calvinists, who worked much more closely with
George Whitefield than they did with John Wesley. Charles Wesley declared that his own Methodism was not incompatible with his Anglicanism and he was buried as an Anglican. John Wesley's doctrine was more favourable to
Arminianism than to
Calvinism. In Wales, however, most Methodists followed Calvinist teaching, and this led to great tensions between the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists and the
Wesleyan Methodists, especially after the Wesleyan Methodists began actively evangelising in Welsh-speaking Wales from 1800 onwards. In 1811, the Welsh Calvinist Methodists, now usually called the
Presbyterian Church of Wales, seceded from the Anglican Church and ordained their own ministers. Had he lived a little longer, Williams Pantycelyn would no doubt have approved of these moves, because as a Methodist, he himself became a firm advocate of Calvinist Reformation doctrine and frequently invoked stern warnings against
Arminianism,
Arianism,
Socinianism,
Sandemanianism and other teachings. [
See: G. T. Hughes: p. 7]. Williams Pantycelyn travelled throughout Wales (he is said to have partly supported his ministry by selling tea) preaching the doctrine of Calvinistic Methodism. He needed to be not only a theologian and an advocate for the new Connexion, but also an organiser and administrator. His converts gathered in (fellowship meetings). Williams had to organise, and then maintain, these as he went around the country. Each successful visit to a new locality in turn required a new . Although he was not alone in his mission, the workload and mental burden must have been considerable. By the same token, it must have been deeply rewarding to see the community grow and thrive over the years and to reflect on the alternative life he had forsaken, as the priest of some obscure rural Anglican parish in mid-Wales. Together with Harris and Rowland, William Williams "Pantycelyn" is acknowledged as a leader of the
Methodist Revival in Wales in the 18th century and as the "literary voice"
par excellence of that movement. ==Literary figure==