Transcribed from the 1857 Leary & Getz edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org
[Picture: Portrait of Christmas Evans]
SERMONS
OF
CHRISTMAS EVANS.
A New Translation from the Welsh.
WITH A
MEMOIR AND PORTRAITURE OF THE AUTHOR.
BY
REV. JOSEPH CROSS.
* * * * *
PHILADELPHIA:
LEARY & GETZ, PUBLISHERS.
FOR SALE BY CARLTON & PORTER, METH. BOOK CONCERN, NEW YORK.
SWORMSTEDT & POE, CINCINNATI, OHIO.—STEVENSON & OWEN, NASHVILLE,
TENN.—I. P. COOK, BALTIMORE.—JAMES P. MAGEE, BOSTON.
WM. M. DOUGHTY, CHICAGO, ILL.—J. L. READ, PITTSBURG.
H. H. MATTESON, BUFFALO, N. Y., AND ALL BOOKSELLERS
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
1857.
* * * * *
ENTERED according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, by
J. HARMSTEAD,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE Sermons of Christmas Evans contained in this volume, and the extracts
from his journal and other writings given in the following Memoir and
Portraiture, are translated by two different hands, and in very different
styles. The former are clothed in very good English, but the diction of
the latter requires an apology. Unable to procure a better version, we
have furnished such as we found; and it is hoped that even this, with all
its imperfections, will not be wholly unprofitable to the reader.
The writer does not wish to be held responsible for the Theological Views
put forth, either in the extracts alluded to, or in the sermons.
Christmas Evans was a Calvinistic Baptist, and several of his sermons
inculcate, to some extent, the peculiar doctrines of that denomination;
though they are generally free from sectarian bias, and may be read with
advantage by spiritual Christians of all evangelical creeds.
JOSEPH CROSS.
_Philadelphia_, _May_ 10, 1846.
CONTENTS.
MEMOIR AND PORTRAITURE.
Page
INTRODUCTION 9
MEMOIR.
Early Years 17
Profession of Religion 17
Commencement of Preaching 18
Backsliding and Recovery 19
Change of Views 19
Depressing Views of Himself 20
Labors in Lëyn 22
Visit to South Wales 23
Settlement in Anglesea 24
Powerful Sermons 25
Sandemanianism and Sabellianism 27
Time of Refreshing 28
Covenant with God 29
Studying the English Language 29
New Troubles and Sorrows 33
Legal Prosecution 35
Caerphilly 36
Another Covenant 37
Cardiff 39
Sermons for the Press 41
Welsh Jumping 42
Caernarvon 49
Pulpit Popularity 50
Interesting Letter 51
Tour through the Principality 56
Monmouthshire Association 57
Last Sermon, Sickness, and Death 57
Funereal Sorrow 58
PORTRAITURE.
Personal Appearance 59
Moral and Christian Character 59
Social Disposition 60
Reading and Study 60
Devotional Habits 61
Christian Beneficence 62
Spirit of Forgiveness 63
Catholic Generosity 64
Ingenuousness and Honesty 65
Sarcastic Rebukes 66
Pulpit Talents and Labors 67
SERMONS.
INTRODUCTION 79
Serm. I. The Time of Reformation Heb. ix. 10. 81
II. The Triumph of Calvary Isaiah lxiii. 90
1–6.
III. The Smitten Rock 1 Cor. x. 4. 99
IV. Fall and Recovery of Man Rom. v. 15. 108
V. One God and One Mediator 1 Tim. ii. 5. 120
VI. The Living Redeemer Job xix. 23–27. 129
VII. Messiah’s Kingdom Dan. ii. 44, 140
45.
VIII. The Sufferings of Christ 1 Pet. ii. 24. 153
IX. The Purification of Heb. ix. 14. 164
Conscience
X. The Cedar of God Ezek. xvii. 172
22–24.
XI. The Prince of Salvation Heb. ii. 10., & 182
v. 9.
XII. Finished Redemption John xix. 30. 189
XIII. The Resurrection of Jesus Mat. xxviii. 6. 196
XIV. The Ascension Acts iii. 21. 205
XV. Tribulation conquered John xvi. 33. 216
XVI. The Glory of the Gospel 1 Tim. i. 11. 223
XVII. The Song of the Angels Luke ii. 14. 236
XVIII. The Stone of Israel Zech. iii. 9. 242
XIX. Justification by Faith Job ix. 2. 250
XX. The Shield of Faith Eph. vi. 16. 259
XXI. The Paraclete John xiv. 16, 269
17.
XXII. The Father and Son John xvi. 274
glorified 13–15.
EXTRACTS.
I. The Demoniac of Gadara 287
II. Entering Port 292
III. The Unclean Spirit in Dry Places 294
IV. Satan an Angel of Light 296
V. The Young Child 298
VI. Varieties of Preaching 300
VII. The Six Crocodiles 301
VIII. Envious Ambition 303
IX. The Dove, the Raven, and the Eagle 304
[Picture: Picture of Christmas Evans Preaching]
INTRODUCTION.
THE introduction of Christianity into Britain is said to have taken place
about sixty-three years after the crucifixion. By whose agency it was
effected, cannot now be satisfactorily determined. Tradition has
ascribed it to Joseph of Arimathea. This, however, is exceedingly
doubtful. It has also been attributed to the apostle Paul. That the
apostle Paul visited Britain, is quite probable, from the testimony of
Theodoret and Jerome. That he was the first preacher of the gospel in
Britain, is certainty a mistake. The weight of evidence seems to be in
favour of Claudia, a Welsh lady, belonging to Cæsar’s household. The
circumstances were these:—
The Romans invaded Britain about fifty years before the incarnation.
Failing to conquer the Welsh, they made peace with them, and dwelt among
them in amity. Many Welsh soldiers joined the Roman army, and several
Welsh families went and resided at Rome. Among the latter were Claudia
and her husband. Saint Paul was then a prisoner under Nero; dwelling,
however, “in his own hired house,” and receiving all who came to hear the
word of God. Under his ministry, Claudia was converted to Christianity.
She soon returned to her native country, and scattered “the Seed of the
Kingdom” among her own people. This was in the year of our Lord
sixty-three.
About a century after this, Faganus and Daminicanus went to Rome, were
converted there, and became “able ministers of the New Testament.” In
the year of our Lord 180, they were sent back to Wales, to preach to
their own countrymen. They were zealous and successful laborers. They
opposed the pagan superstitions of the Welsh with wonderful energy. They
pursued Druidism to its dark retirements, and poured upon it the
withering blaze of the gospel. Through their preaching, Lucius, king of
Wales, was brought to embrace Christianity. He was the first king that
ever bowed to the Prince of Peace. The royal convert was exceedingly
zealous in the propagation of the truth. The Macedonian cry issued from
the throne of Wales, an earnest appeal to Eleutherius for help. Then
“the word of the Lord had free course, and was glorified.”
Under the reign of Dioclesian, about the year 300, the Welsh Christians
suffered a dreadful persecution. Their books were burned, their houses
of worship were destroyed, and multitudes obtained the crown of
martyrdom. The first three were Alban, Aaron, and Julius. They were all
excellent men, and greatly beloved by their brethren. They died in
triumph, and their blood became the seed of the church. Many others soon
followed them in the same path. Dioclesian gave strict orders for their
destruction. Not a Christian was to be spared, not a Christian church,
not a book or a scrap of writing that could transmit their faith and
history to future generations. This was the tenth persecution. The
great dragon had sent forth his flood to destroy the church. But
“mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” The bush still lived,
“And flourished unconsumed in fire.”
The first Christian king, we have said, was a Welshman. So, in part, was
the first Christian emperor. Constantine the Great was born in Britain.
His father was Roman; his mother Welsh. Having resided some time in
Britain, they removed to Rome. Constantine ascended the Imperial throne.
Converted, he made Christianity the religion of the empire. The
intolerant edicts of his predecessors were abolished; and the absurd
rites of paganism, as far as possible, suppressed. The emperor employed
all his energies and resources in spreading the gospel. But his course,
if honest, was injudicious. In the end, he dishonoured Christianity more
by his imprudence, than he glorified her at first by his zeal. He opened
the door of the church so wide as to admit Antichrist himself. The “man
of sin” came and seated himself in the temple of God.
Intoxicated with her prosperity, the church throughout the empire
gradually embraced the grossest superstitions. But the Welsh Christians
strenuously resisted all innovations. They adhered firmly to the
primitive simplicity of Christian faith and worship. Yet they lost a
portion of their spirituality. The storms of tribulation are often more
favourable to the growth of vital religion, than the sunshine of
prosperity. The church becomes dizzy when placed upon the pinnacle of
worldly praise. The boatmen wax careless when their craft glides gently
along on a smooth sea, before a pleasant gale. This is the natural
tendency of the human mind, in circumstances of prosperity. It was thus
with the Christians of Wales.
Other things operated unfavourably. The Pelagian controversy divided and
distracted the churches, and destroyed the spirit of Christian meekness
and love. The Welsh were soon involved in a civil war with the Picts and
Scots. In their distress, they solicited the aid of the Saxons. The
Saxons promptly responded to the call. But the ally soon became an
enemy. They fell upon the Welsh, drove them to the mountains of Cumry,
and took possession of their land. {11} These disasters threatened the
extermination of Christianity in Wales. But there were a few faithful
ones, whose ark outrode the deluge. Gildas, Dyfrig, Dynawt, Teil,
Padarn, Pawlin, Daniel, Codag, Dewi, and several others, stood firmly
against the degeneracy of the times, and were “valiant for the truth upon
the earth.” Through their labors, the religion of Jesus survived among
the hills of Cumry.
In the beginning of the seventh century, Austin came to Britain, under a
commission from Gregory the Great, to make proselytes to popery. He
succeeded well with the Saxons, but not at all with the Welsh. This is
not strange. The Saxons were ignorant idolaters, and the transition was
easy from Paganism to popery. The Welsh were enlightened Christians, and
it was difficult to seduce them from their allegiance to Christ. They
consented, however, to hold a large meeting on the borders of
Herefordshire, and hear what Austin had to offer. His doctrine did not
suit them. They rejected alike the proposals of the monk and the
commands of his master. This awoke the fiend within him. He instigated
the Saxons to murder them. Twelve hundred ministers and delegates were
slaughtered, and afterward many of their brethren. Their leaders being
slain, the majority of the survivors reluctantly purchased peace at the
sacrifice of conscience, submitting to the creed and the usages of Rome.
Yet there were some who repudiated the doctrine of the pope’s supremacy,
and maintained for a season the simplicity of the gospel. But they lived
among the mountains, in seclusion from the world, like the inhabitants of
the vale of Piedmont. We hear little or nothing of them again till the
time of the Reformation.
While the Lord, through the labors of his servant Wickliffe, was
preparing his way in England, Wales also was remembered in mercy, and
visited with “the day-spring from on high.” Walter Brute was a native of
the principality. He had been at Oxford, where he had formed an intimate
acquaintance with Wickliffe. He entered fully into Wickliffe’s views
concerning the reformation of the church. His heart was moved with
compassion for his countrymen. Inspired with apostolic faith and zeal,
he left the university, and returned to his native land. He determined
to resist, even “unto blood,” the delusions and abominations of the
papacy. He soon distinguished himself as a courageous reformer. He
preached in the streets, in the markets, and from house to house. He
blew the trump of God throughout the principality. The temple of
Antichrist began to tremble, and its gilded and pampered occupants
manifested considerable uneasiness and alarm.
Everybody saw that Brute was generous and disinterested. Friends flocked
around him, for the people had long since become disgusted with the
corruptions of the church, and heartily sick of ecclesiastical despotism.
Men of all classes gathered to his standard. His labors of love soon
elicited, of course, the hostility of the clergy. But so numerous and
respectable were his friends, that all the attempts of ecclesiastical
judicatures, and officers of the civil law, were ineffectual. A petition
was at length sent to Richard II., King of England, entreating his
interference. The king issued an order to the nobility of Wales,
requiring them to assist the Bishop of Hereford in apprehending and
punishing the heretic and his adherents. This was in the year 1391.
Still Walter Brute went on, preaching the gospel, denouncing the papacy,
and exposing the corruptions of the church, without material molestation,
till 1393. He was then cited to appear before the Bishop of Hereford, to
answer to a charge of heresy. He appeared, defended himself against the
allegation, and contended boldly that the pope was Antichrist, and the
papal church Babylon.
In this argument, Brute triumphed over his accusers, and made many
converts to his cause. Several of the clergy now embraced his views, and
became zealous defenders of the faith. One of these, Davydd Ddu of
Hiraddug, on the border of Cardiganshire, undertook a translation of the
Scriptures into Welsh. Portions of this translation were extensively
circulated. Another, John Kent, D.D., of Grismond, in Monmouthshire, was
a learned man and a fine poet. He labored incessantly with his pen, to
expose the vices of the clergy, and promote a more spiritual religion.
These divines were variously opposed and persecuted by ecclesiastical
power. They were stigmatized as magicians, and accused of intercourse
with evil spirits. But all was unavailing. The zeal of Ddu and Kent was
unabated, and the progress of truth was unretarded. The hand of God was
with them wherever they went. Revivals occurred in the cloisters, and
monks came forth from their seclusion to reinforce the reformers. In the
monastery of Margam, Glamorganshire, a large number of the monks were
converted. One of them, Thomas Evan ab Rhys, travelled the mountains of
the principality, at the constant peril of his life, to remonstrate
against popery, and recommend a purer form of Christianity.
In 1580, John Penry, an Episcopal minister, dissented from the
established church, and became a Baptist. He was a man of liberal
education and fine pulpit talents. After having prosecuted his ministry
more than seven years, with remarkable zeal and success, he died a
martyr. Penry was the first Baptist preacher in Wales after the
Reformation.
In 1620, Erbury and Wroth followed his example. The conversion of the
latter was very singular. A nobleman belonging to his parish went to
London to attend a law-suit. Hearing that he was successful, Mr. Wroth
bought a new violin, and prepared to welcome his return with music and
dancing. While these preparations were going on, news came that the
nobleman was dead. The joy of the party was suddenly turned into
mourning. The vicar fell upon his knees, and poured out his heart in
fervent prayer to God. This event occasioned his conversion. Erbury,
his friend, was converted about the same time. Both began to preach with
wonderful unction. “Jesus Christ and him crucified” was their constant
theme. Their zeal drew down upon them a violent storm of persecution.
But they were not discouraged. God owned their labors, and many were the
seals of their ministry. In 1635 they were ejected from their parishes.
But they “cared for none of these things.” They went from valley to
valley, from mountain to mountain, preaching the word. The recent Welsh
translation of the Scriptures proved a powerful auxiliary to their work.
People read and investigated for themselves, and found that these were
men of God, speaking “the words of truth and soberness.”
Erbury and Wroth both organized Baptist churches; the former, on the plan
of “strict communion;” the latter, on more liberal principles. These
were the first Baptist churches instituted in Wales, after the
Reformation from popery. It is said, however, that there existed, even
centuries before, many Baptists in the valley of Carleon, the Piedmont of
Wales, and among the neighboring mountains. Their origin is, very
unfortunately, involved in obscurity. Some pretend to trace them back to
the year 63, the time of the introduction of Christianity into Britain.
This is a very convenient theory for those who wish to show that the
first Christians were exclusive immersionists; and who deem it of primary
importance to establish a regular succession of such Christians, from the
apostles of our Lord, down to the present day. But it is unsustained by
a single shadow of evidence, beyond the bare assertion of interested
witnesses.
During the ministry of Erbury and Wroth, arose that morning-star of the
Baptist church in Wales, Vavasor Powell. He was born in Radnorshire,
South Wales. He was educated for the ministry of the established church.
For some time he officiated at Clun, on the borders of Shropshire. While
there, his conscience was awakened by a reproof from a Puritan for
violating the Sabbath. He was soon afterwards converted, under the
preaching of Walter Caradock, a noted preacher among the Independents.
In 1636, he joined the Baptists, and shortly became a very popular
preacher among them. He was a man of great eloquence and power. Many
were converted under his ministry. But the red dragon was roused to
pursue him. In 1642, he fled his native land for the safety of his life.
In four years, however, he returned, and preached boldly throughout the
country. The people flocked to hear him, by thousands, to the
market-houses, to the fields, the woods, and the tops of the mountains.
His ministry was wonderfully blessed to the salvation of souls.
After the death of Cromwell, in 1658, Charles II. returned to England.
Now commenced a dreadful persecution of the Baptists in Wales. “Hundreds
of them were taken from their beds at night, without any regard to age,
sex, or the inclemency of the weather; and were driven to prison, on
foot, fifteen or twenty miles; and if they did not keep up with their
drivers on horseback, they were most cruelly and unmercifully whipped;
and while their drivers stopped to drink at the taverns, they were beaten
like cattle, during the pleasure of the king’s friends; and all their
property was forfeited to the king, except what was deemed necessary to
defray the expenses of their drivers. But all this was only the
beginning of sorrows, and nothing to what they suffered for the space of
six-and-twenty years afterward.”
In these persecutions, Vavasor Powell bore his part. He was immured, at
different times, in thirteen prisons. Indeed, he was a prisoner most of
the time till his death, which happened in 1670. On his tomb is this
inscription:—“He was, to the last generation, a successful preacher; to
the present generation, a faithful witness; to the next generation, an
excellent example.”
Contemporary with Vavasor Powell, and immediately succeeding him, were
many faithful laborers in the cause of Christ in Wales. One of them was
the noted Roger Williams, who subsequently removed to New England, and
founded the Baptist sect in America. But after the death of Powell and
his coadjutors, the revival in Wales declined, and the churches gradually
settled into a spiritual sleep, in which they remained a century, when
they were roused by the trumpet-tongued eloquence of Harris and Rowlands.
Harris and Rowlands were Methodists. While Whitefield and Wesley were
rekindling the fires of the Reformation on the altars of England, these
men of God were scattering some sparks of it among the mountains of
Wales. Under their labors commenced such a revival as was never known in
that country before. They adhered to the established church; and, on
that account, were, for a season, but little opposed. But when the
blessed fruits of their ministry began to be developed in the conversion
of thousands of souls, the wrath of Satan and his emissaries arose
against them. But, as Christmas Evans remarks, it was now too late. The
sword of the Spirit was drawn; the gates of the city were opened; the
fire was kindled in the stubble, and not all the floods of persecution
could stay the progress of the flame. Harris and Rowlands went forward
in their work of love, clothed with power from on high. A great and
effectual door was opened to their ministry, and the leaven spread
rapidly through the lump.
The Baptists shared largely in this work of grace. It was the rising of
a new sun upon them, which had been heralded a hundred years before in
the powerful ministry of Vavasor Powell. The revival developed whatever
of talent and energy lay dormant in the denomination. Many a David went
forth to meet the Philistine, and returned in triumph. One of these, and
the most successful of them all, was CHRISTMAS EVANS. “He was a man of
God,” says Dr. Cone, “and eminently useful in his generation.” His
natural talents were of the highest order, and his Christian graces have
not been surpassed in a century. The celebrated Robert Hall regarded him
as the first pulpit genius of the age. “Had he enjoyed the advantages of
education,” writes one who knew him well, and often sat under his
ministry, “he might have blended the impassioned declamation of
Whitefield with something of the imperial opulence and pomp of fancy that
distinguished Jeremy Taylor.” His two celebrated “Specimens of Welsh
Preaching” have been read throughout Protestant Christendom; and ranked,
by universal suffrage, among the most splendid productions of sanctified
genius. Who that has seen them does not wish to know more of so
remarkable a man? To gratify this desire is a secondary object of the
present publication; the primary, is the religious benefit of mankind.
The matter of the following memoir and portraiture is compiled from
several authentic sources of information. May their perusal afford the
reader as rich a harvest of profit and delight as their preparation has
afforded the writer!
MEMOIR.
EARLY YEARS.
CHRISTMAS EVANS, second son of Samuel and Joanna Evans, was born at
Ysgarwen, Cardiganshire, South Wales, on the 25th of December, 1776. His
birth happening on Christmas day suggested his Christian name.
Samuel and Joanna Evans were poor, and unable to educate their children;
and at the age of seventeen, Christmas could not read a word. When he
was only nine years old, he lost his father and went to live with his
uncle, who was a farmer, and a very wicked man. Here he spent several
years of his youthful life, daily witnessing the worst of examples, and
experiencing the unkindest of treatment. He subsequently engaged as a
servant to several farmers successively in his native parish.
During these years he met with a number of serious accidents, in some of
which he narrowly escaped with his life. Once he was stabbed in a
quarrel. Once he was so nearly drowned as to be with difficulty
resuscitated. Once he fell from a very high tree, with an open knife in
his hand. Once a horse ran away with him, passing at full speed through
a low and narrow passage.
PROFESSION OF RELIGION.
His first religious impressions he dates from his father’s funeral. But
they were fitful and evanescent. To use his own language, “They vanished
and recurred once and again.” When he was eighteen years of age, an
awakening occurred among the young people of his neighborhood. Christmas
himself was “much terrified with the fear of death and judgment,” became
very serious in his deportment, and joined the Arminian Presbyterians at
Llwynrhydowen.
His Christian experience was evidently very imperfect. He had a
conviction of the evil of sin, and a desire to flee from the wrath to
come; but no evidence of acceptance with God, and a very limited
knowledge of the plan of salvation. Yet his religious impressions were
not entirely fruitless. They produced, at least, a partial reformation
of life, and led to many penitential resolutions. He thought much of
eternity, and was frequent in secret prayer. He soon felt a strong
desire to understand the Scriptures, and with this view began to learn to
read. According to his own account, “There was not one in seven in those
parts at that time that knew a letter.” Almost entirely unaided, he
prosecuted his purpose; and in an incredibly short time was able to read
his Bible.
COMMENCEMENT OF PREACHING.
He was now called upon to exercise his gifts in public prayer and
exhortation. “To this,” he says, “I felt a strong inclination, though I
knew myself a mass of spiritual ignorance.” His first performance was so
generally approved, that he felt greatly encouraged to proceed. Shortly
afterward, he preached a sermon at a prayer-meeting, in the parish of
Llangeler, county of Caermarthen. The discourse, however, was not
original, but a translation from Bishop Beveridge. He also committed one
of the Rev. Mr. Rowlands’ sermons, and preached it in the neighborhood of
the church to which he belonged. A gentleman who heard him expressed
great astonishment at such a sermon from an unlettered boy. The mystery
was solved the next day; he found the sermon in a book. “But I have not
done thinking,” said he, “that there is something great in the son of
Samuel the shoemaker, for his prayer was as good as the sermon.” His
opinion of the young preacher would probably have suffered some farther
abatement, if he had known, what was the fact, that the prayer itself was
memorized!
Young Evans now received frequent invitations to preach, in sundry
places, for different denominations; especially in the Baptist church, at
Penybont, Llandysil. He spoke occasionally in the pulpits of several
eminent ministers. All who heard him were delighted with his discourses,
and gave him much encouragement. These labors drew him into the society
of many excellent Christians. He seems to have profited by their godly
conversation, and soon acquired an experimental knowledge of
justification by faith, though the witness of the Spirit was not so clear
as in many cases, and he could never fix upon any particular time when he
obtained the blessing.
BACKSLIDING AND RECOVERY.
The young preacher shortly felt the need of a little more learning, to
qualify him for his calling. He commenced going to school to the Rev.
Mr. Davis, his pastor, and devoted himself for about six months to the
study of Latin. This involved him in pecuniary distress. He took a
journey into England, to labour during the harvest season, for the
purpose of replenishing his purse, and enabling him to continue his
studies. While thus engaged, he fell into temptation, and his religious
feelings suffered a sad declension. He thought of relinquishing the
school and the ministry, and devoting his life to secular pursuits.
While revolving this matter in his mind, the children of the wicked one
came upon him, and buffeted him back to his duty. He was waylaid by a
mob, who had determined to kill him. They beat him so severely, that he
lay for a long time insensible; and one of them gave him a blow upon his
left eye, which occasioned its total blindness through the rest of his
life.
“That night,” says he, “I dreamed that the day of judgment was come. I
saw Jesus on the clouds, and all the world on fire. I was in great fear,
yet crying earnestly, and with some confidence, for his peace. He
answered and said: ‘Thou thoughtest to be a preacher; but what wilt thou
do now? The world is on fire, and it is too late!’ On this I awoke, and
felt heartily thankful that I was in bed.”
This dream produced a deep impression upon his mind, and recovered him
from his spiritual declension. He began to preach with renewed energy
and success, and all his friends predicted that he would “yet become a
great man, and a celebrated preacher.”
CHANGE OF VIEWS.
There was living, about this time, at Aberduar, a Mr. Amos, who had left
the Arminian Presbyterians, and joined the Calvinistic Baptists. He came
to visit young Evans, and converse with him on the subject of baptism.
The latter was unpractised in argument, and little acquainted with the
Scriptures. He strove strenuously for a while, but was at length
silenced by the superior skill of his antagonist. Encouraged by his
success, Mr. Amos made him another visit, during which he shook his faith
in the validity of infant baptism. After this he came again and again.
Mr. Evans was at length brought to believe there was no true baptism but
immersion by a Baptist minister. Now it was suggested that he ought to
be immersed. Other Baptist friends interested themselves in his case,
and put into his hands such books as were best adapted to their purpose.
He was shortly satisfied what was his duty. “After much struggling,”
says he, “between the flesh and the spirit, between obedience and
disobedience, I went to the Baptist church at Aberduar, in the parish of
Llanybyther, in the county of Caermarthen. I was cordially received
there, but not without a degree of dread, on the part of some, that I was
still a stout-hearted Arminian.” He was baptized with several others, by
the pastor, Rev. Timothy Thomas, in the river Duar, and admitted to the
communion of the church. This was in 1788, when Mr. Evans was about the
age of 22.
It is not strange, that, after such a change, he should gradually imbibe
the doctrine of election, and its concomitants, as held by the
Calvinistic Baptists; but it is quite evident, not only by inference from
his own account, but by information from other sources, that he had not
yet relinquished his Arminian theology. Whether he would have been more
pious and useful, by adhering to his Arminian views, and remaining among
his Arminian friends, is a question not for us to answer, and perhaps of
little practical importance. It is certain that he became a Calvinist of
the highest school, and “a burning and shining light” among his Baptist
brethren. That the Calvinistic faith is not incompatible with eminent
holiness of life, we have other evidence than that afforded by the
history of Christmas Evans. The seraphic piety of a Bunyan, a Baxter, a
Whitefield, and a Payson, should silence for ever the clamors of Arminian
bigotry!
DEPRESSING VIEWS OF HIMSELF.
For several years after this, Mr. Evans entertained painfully depressing
views of his Christian character and ministerial talents. He thought
every other believer had more light than himself, and every other
preacher greater gifts. He called himself “a mass of ignorance and sin.”
He imagined his discourses entirely useless to his hearers. This he
attributed partly to his habit of repeating them _memoriter_. Others
appeared to him to speak extemporaneously, and he “thought they received
their sermons directly from heaven,” while he, by memorizing his,
forfeited the aid of the Holy Spirit. “I therefore changed my method,”
says he, “and took a text without any premeditation, and endeavored to
speak what occurred to me at the time. If bad before, it was worse now.
I had neither sense nor life, nothing but a poor miserable tone, which
produced no effect upon the hearers, and made me really sick of myself.
I thought God had nothing to do with me as a preacher. I had no
confidence in my own talents and virtues, and the very sound of my voice
discouraged me. I have since perceived the great goodness of God herein,
preserving me from being puffed up by too good an opinion of my own gifts
and graces, which both before and since has proved fatal to many young
preachers.”
These views of himself often occasioned him deep distress of mind. He
entered the pulpit with dread. He conceived that the mere sight of him
there was sufficient to becloud the hearts of his hearers, and intercept
every ray of light from heaven. He could not ascertain that he had been
the means of the salvation of a single soul during the five years of his
preaching. It might have been some relief to him, could he have ventured
to develope to some judicious Christian friend the disquietude of his
soul. But this he dared not do, lest he should be deemed an unconverted
man in the ministry, and exposed as a hypocrite to the world. So he
wrapped up the painful secret in his heart, and drank his wormwood alone.
From all this, what are we to infer? That Mr. Evans had never been
converted, or was not now in favour with God? We think not. All who
knew him had full confidence in his piety, and thought him an excellent
Christian. Whether his attention to the subject of baptism, or the
Calvinistic views he had recently imbibed, had acted injuriously upon his
religious enjoyment, would be an unprofitable speculation, if not
otherwise improper. Perhaps these distressing doubts were but the
permitted buffetings of Satan, to preserve him from spiritual pride; the
preparatory darkness, which enabled him more highly to appreciate, and
more earnestly to recommend to others, “the Bright and Morning Star.”
Many of God’s chosen servants have been disciplined for their work in
darkness. Dr. Payson, during all the earlier part of his eminently
useful ministry, and John Summerfield, when his sweet persuasive tongue
was leading multitudes to the Cross, were constantly distressed with
doubts of their own spiritual condition. Though it is certainly the
privilege of every believer to know that he is “a new creature in Christ
Jesus,” we cannot thence infer that all such as have not constantly the
direct witness of the Spirit are in an unregenerate state.
LABORS IN LËYN.
In 1790, Mr. Evans attended the Baptist association at Maesyberllan, in
Brecknockshire. Some ministers from North Wales persuaded him to
accompany them on their return. He found the Baptist people at Lëyn, in
Caernarvonshire, few and feeble. They earnestly besought him to remain
with them, to which he at length consented. He was immediately ordained
a missionary, to itinerate among several small churches in that vicinity.
Now he began emphatically to “live by faith on the Son of God.” The
burden which he had borne so long, rolled away like that of Bunyan’s
Pilgrim. He received “the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness.” From this time, a wonderous power
attended his preaching. Many were gathered into the church, as the fruit
of his labor. “I could scarcely believe,” says he, “the testimony of the
people, who came before the church as candidates for membership, that
they had been converted through my ministry. Yet I was obliged to
believe, though it was marvellous in my eyes. This made me thankful to
God, and increased my confidence in prayer. A delightful gale descended
upon me, as from the hill of the New Jerusalem, and I felt the three
great things of the kingdom of heaven, righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost.”
During the first year of his labors in Lëyn, he was united in marriage to
Miss Catherine Jones, a pious young lady of his own church, and a very
suitable companion. After this event, his duties were increasingly
arduous. He frequently preached five times during the Sabbath, and
walked twenty miles. His heart was full of love, and he spoke with the
ardor of a seraph. Constant labor and intense excitement soon wore upon
his health. He became feeble, and his friends were apprehensive of
consumption. Through the mercy of God, however, he was spared; gradually
recovered his strength; and performed, through the remainder of a long
life, an incredible amount of ministerial labor.
VISIT TO SOUTH WALES.
Mr. Evans naturally felt a strong desire to see his friends in South
Wales. During his second year at Lëyn, thinking it might benefit his
enfeebled health, as well as refresh his spirit, he determined to make
them a visit. He was unable to procure a horse for the journey, and the
small societies to which he preached were too poor to provide him one.
So he set forth on foot, preaching in every town and village through
which he passed. His talents were now developed, and he had received “an
unction from the Holy One.” All who heard him were astonished at his
power. His old acquaintances regarded him as a new man. A great
awakening followed him wherever he went. Hear his own language:—
“I now felt a power in the word, like a hammer breaking the rock, and not
like a rush. I had a very powerful time at Kilvowyr, and also pleasant
meetings in the neighborhood of Cardigan. The work of conversion was
progressing so rapidly and with so much energy in those parts, that the
ordinance of baptism was administered every month for a year or more, at
Kilvowyr, Cardigan, Blaenywaun, Blaenffôs, and Ebenezer, to from ten to
twenty persons each month. The chapels and adjoining burying-grounds
were crowded with hearers of a week-day, even in the middle of harvest.
I frequently preached in the open air in the evenings, and the rejoicing,
singing, and praising would continue until broad light the next morning.
The hearers appeared melted down in tenderness at the different meetings,
so that they wept streams of tears, and cried out, in such a manner that
one might suppose the whole congregation, male and female, was thoroughly
dissolved by the gospel. ‘The word of God’ was now become as ‘a sharp
two-edged sword, dividing asunder the joints and marrow,’ and revealing
unto the people the secret corruptions of their hearts. Preaching was
now unto me a pleasure, and the success of the ministry in all places was
very great. The same people attended fifteen or twenty different
meetings, many miles apart, in the counties of Cardigan, Pembroke,
Caermarthen, Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Brecknock. This revival,
especially in the vicinity of Cardigan, and in Pembrokeshire, subdued the
whole country, and induced people everywhere to think well of religion.
The same heavenly gale followed down to Fishguard, Llangloffan, Little
New-Castle, and Rhydwylim, where Mr. Gabriel Rees was then a zealous and
a powerful preacher. There was such a tender spirit resting on the
hearers at this season, from Tabor to Middlemill, that one would imagine,
by their weeping and trembling in their places of worship, and all this
mingled with so much heavenly cheerfulness, that they would wish to abide
for ever in this state of mind.”
The fame of this “wonderful work of God” spread through South Wales on
the wings of the wind. An appointment for Christmas Evans to preach was
sufficient to attract thousands to the place. In a very short time he
had acquired greater popularity in Wales than any other minister of his
day.
SETTLEMENT IN ANGLESEA.
On Christmas day, when Mr. Evans was forty-six years of age, he removed
from Lëyn to the isle of Anglesea. According to his own account, “it was
a very rough day of frost and snow.” Unencumbered with this world’s
goods, and possessing the true apostolic spirit, he “commenced the
journey on horseback, with his wife behind him,” and arrived on the
evening of the same day at Llangewin.
Whatever the motive of this removal, it was certainly not the love of
money. His salary in Anglesea was only £17 per annum, and for twenty
years he never asked for more. He had learned, with the apostle, “having
food and raiment, therewith to be content.” He found his reward in his
work. The privilege of preaching Christ and saving souls, with him, was
preferable to mountains of gold and silver.
On his arrival in Anglesea, he found ten small Baptist societies, in a
lukewarm and distracted condition; himself the only minister, and no
brother to aid him within a hundred and fifty miles. He commenced his
labors in earnest. One of his first movements was the appointment of a
day of fasting and prayer in all the preaching places. He soon had the
satisfaction to realize an extensive revival, which continued under his
faithful ministry for many years.
POWERFUL SERMONS.
In 1794, the South West Baptist Association was held at Velin Voel, in
Caermarthenshire. Mr. Evans was invited, as one of the preachers on the
occasion. It was a journey of about two hundred miles. He undertook it
on foot, with his usual fortitude, preaching at different places as he
went along. The meeting was to commence with three consecutive sermons,
the last of which was to be preached by Mr. Evans. The service was out
of doors, and the heat was very oppressive. The first and second sermons
were rather tedious, and the hearers seemed almost stupefied. Mr. Evans
arose and began his sermon. Before he had spoken fifteen minutes, scores
of people were on their feet, some weeping, some praising, some leaping
and clapping their hands for joy. Nor did the effect end with the
discourse. Throughout the evening, and during the whole night, the voice
of rejoicing and prayer was heard in every direction; and the dawning of
the next day, awaking the few that had fallen asleep through fatigue,
only renewed the heavenly rapture. “Job David, the Socinian,” said the
preacher afterwards to a friend, “was highly displeased with this
American gale.” But all the Socinians in Wales could not counteract its
influence, or frustrate its happy effects.
Mr. Evans continued to visit the associations in South Wales for many
years: and whenever he came, the people flocked by thousands to hear “the
one-eyed man of Anglesea.” It was on one of those occasions, and under
circumstances somewhat similar to the above, that he preached that
singularly effective sermon on the demoniac of Gadara. The meeting had
been in progress three days. Several discourses had been delivered with
little or no effect. Christmas Evans took the stand, and announced as
his text the evangelical account of the demoniac of Gadara. He described
him as a naked man, with flaming eyes, and wild and fierce gesticulation;
full of relentless anger, and subject to strange paroxysms of rage; the
terror and pity of all the townsfolk. They had bound him with great
chains, but he would break them as Samson broke the withes. They had
tried to soothe him by kindness, but he would leap upon them like a
furious wild beast, or burst away with the speed of a stag, his long hair
streaming on the wind behind him. He inhabited the rocks of a Jewish
cemetery; and when he slept, he laid down in a tomb. The place was a
little out of town, and not far from the great turnpike road, so that
people passing often saw him, and heard his dreadful lamentations and
blasphemies. Nobody dared to cross his path unarmed, and all the women
and children ran away as soon as they saw him coming. Sometimes he
sallied forth from his dismal abode at midnight, like one risen from the
dead, howling and cursing like a fiend, breaking into houses, frightening
the inhabitants from their beds, and driving them to seek shelter in the
streets and the fields. He had a broken-hearted wife, and five little
children, living about a mile and a half distant. In his intervals of
comparative calmness, he would set out to visit them. On his way, the
evil spirit would come upon him, and transform the husband and father
instantly into a fury. Then he would run toward the house, raving like a
wounded tiger, and roaring like a lion upon his prey. He would spring
against the door, and shatter it into fragments; while the poor wife and
children fled through the back door to the neighbors, or concealed
themselves in the cellar. Then he would spoil the furniture, and break
all the dishes, and bound away howling again to his home in the cemetery.
The report of this mysterious and terrible being had spread through all
the surrounding region, and everybody dreaded and pitied the man among
the tombs. Jesus came that way. The preacher described the interview,
the miracle, the happy change in the sufferer, the transporting surprise
of his long afflicted family. Then, shifting the scene, he showed his
hearers the catastrophe of the swine, the flight of the affrighted
herdsman, his amusing report to his master, and the effect of the whole
upon the populace. All this was done with such dramatic effect, as to
convulse his numerous hearers with alternate laughter and weeping for
more than half an hour. Having thus elicited an intense interest in the
subject, he proceeded to educe from the narrative several important
doctrines, which he illustrated so forcibly, and urged so powerfully,
that the people first became profoundly serious, then wept like mourners
at a funeral, and finally threw themselves on the ground, and broke forth
in loud prayers for mercy; and the preacher continued nearly three hours,
the effect increasing till he closed. One who heard that wonderful
sermon says, that, during the first half hour, the people seemed like an
assembly in a theatre, delighted with an amusing play; after that, like a
community in mourning, over some great and good man, cut off by a sudden
calamity; and at last, like the inhabitants of a city shaken by an
earthquake, rushing into the streets, falling upon the earth, and
screaming and calling upon God! {27}
SANDEMANIANISM AND SABELLIANISM.
About this time arose among the Baptists of North Wales a bitter and
distracting controversy, concerning Sandemanianism and Sabellianism,
which had been introduced by the Rev. Mr. Jones, a man of considerable
learning and influence in the denomination. Mr. Evans was at first
inclined to fall in with these doctrines, and participated largely in the
strife of tongues. He says:—
“The Sandemanian system affected me so far as to quench the spirit of
prayer for the conversion of sinners, and it induced in my mind a greater
regard for the smaller things of the kingdom of heaven than for the
greater. I lost the strength which clothed my mind with zeal,
confidence, and earnestness in the pulpit for the conversion of souls to
Christ. My heart retrograded, in a manner, and I could not realize the
testimony of a good conscience. Sabbath nights, after having been in the
day exposing and vilifying with all bitterness the errors that prevailed,
my conscience felt as if displeased, and reproached me that I had lost
nearness to, and walking with God. It would intimate that something
exceedingly precious was now wanting in me; I would reply, that I was
acting in obedience to the word; but it continued to accuse me of the
want of some precious article. I had been robbed, to a great degree, of
the spirit of prayer and of the spirit of preaching.”
Mr. Evans thus describes the effect of this controversy upon his people:—
“The Sandemanian spirit began to manifest itself in the counties of
Merioneth, Caernarvon, Anglesea, and Denbigh, and the first visible
effect was the subversion of the hearers, for which the system was
peculiarly adapted; intimating, as it did, that to Babylon the crowd of
hearers always belonged. We lost, in Anglesea, nearly all those who were
accustomed to attend with us; some of them joined other congregations;
and, in this way, it pulled down nearly all that had been built up in
twelve or fifteen years, and made us appear once again a mean and
despicable party in the view of the country. The same effects followed
it in a greater or lesser degree in the other counties noticed; but its
principal station appears to have been in Merionethshire; this county
seems to have been particularly prepared for its reception, and here it
achieved by some means a sort of supremacy.”
TIME OF REFRESHING
Mr. Evans had been a long time in this controversy, destitute of all
religious enjoyment, or, to use his own expressive phrase, “as dry as
Gilboa,” when he experienced a remarkable refreshing from the presence of
the Lord. The following account is extracted from his journal:—