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Inevitably Micah Thomas had his recurring difficulties, some of them trivial and others more serious. There were criticisms of his administration and discipline, but most serious were the charges against his doctrinal teaching.
It was declared, quite wrongly, that he was an "Arminian" than which few "heresies" were so obnoxious to contemporary Welsh Baptists - not least in some Monmouthshire churches. Matters came to a head in the early thirties, when several students left and were put under the care of WiIliam Jones, minister of Bethany, Cardiff. But Micah Thomas was not the man to be deterred by difficulties or to be diverted from his cherished ideals of truth and duty, and he continued his work. When he resigned, early in 1836, it was chiefly because of ill-health. In 1828 he had undergone an operation in London, and at last the exacting demands of his two offices of tutor and minister proved too much for his strength.
On March 9th, 1836, a committee, convened for consideration of the future of the Academy, decided to transfer to Pontypool and to house it in a worthy building. This was done, and on a scale and with a success which probably exceeded the best hopes of its original promoters. Nevertheless the subsequent achievements of Pontypool owed much to the hard pioneer work at Abergavenny.
Micah Thomas's portrait hangs in Cardiff Baptist College. It gives a clear indication of size and quality. PhysicaIly tall (six feet) and upright of carriage, carefully but not fastidiously dressed, his features (high forehead and firm mouth) reveal a man of alert intelligence and of resolute, even masterful, will. Obviously he had that "decision of character" which John Foster, whom he must have known, commended so eloquently in his once celebrated essay. What of his scholarship and of his ability as tutor and preacher? The evidence is too meagre for confident judgment. He had a competent working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew and we are told that he was a man of "wide reading." His contemporaries adjudged him "an able theologian, a cultured and independent thinker, and an erudite and accurate scholar."
Theologically he was a qualified Calvinist, more or less of the school of Andrew Fuller. As a tutor, "he knew how to rule without taking on him to be severe." As a preacher, he was scriptural and expository, working out his theme with logical precision and thoroughness, but rather above the understanding of the rank and file of his congregation. His preaching is described as "excellent" and varied. As a pastor, he was kind and sympathetic, and generous to the poor and needy. Also, he could be forthright and straight, as occasion required.
He was a convinced Baptist, ever ready to affirm and defend our distinctive principles, but he was no sectarian. One of his close friends was William Powell, Vicar of St. Mary's, Abergavenny, who attended his funeral. Above all, he was a devout and earnest Christian, who sought the spread of the Gospel at home and overseas. He was a staunch promoter of the missionary interest.
Micah Thomas's political and social sympathies have been made evident in a letter which he wrote to the Marquis of Normanby after the Chartist riots. This letter is to be found among the Chartist papers in Newport Public Library, but it was published (for the first time) by Professor David Williams, Aberystwyth, in the Transactions of the Welsh Baptist Historical Society for 1950. The rioting at Newport on November 4th, 1839 had resulted in a sentence of death being passed at Monmouth Assizes upon John Frost and two other Chartist leaders. Micah Thomas pleaded strongly for mercy. His plea was partly, but not wholly, successful and Lord Normanby was at pains to infonn him that the government had decided to commute the sentence to one of transportation for life. This episode, whilst revealing his sensitiveness to social issues, serves also to suggest his standing and influence in the public life of Monmouthshire.
Micah Thomas was married twice - to Sophia Wall, of Ross, and then to Rachel Harries, daughter of John Harries of Govilon, son of Morgan Harries, minister of Blaenau Gwent.
So far as the present writer is aware, Micah Thomas published nothing except three sermons, copies of which are in Newport Public Library.
These are then listed and we will note them elsewhere. The article closes:
Micah Thomas, it seems to the present writer, would wish for no other office, and no other remembrance, than that of an ambassador for Christ, seeking. to exercise an entrusted ministry of reconciliation.
