Sermons of Christmas Evans
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Title: Sermons of Christmas Evans
Author: Christmas Evans
Translator: Joseph Cross
Release date: March 15, 2013 [eBook #42340]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42340
Credits: Transcribed from the 1857 Leary & Getz edition by David Price
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS OF CHRISTMAS EVANS ***
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:—
“I was weary of a cold heart towards Christ, and his sacrifice, and the
work of his Spirit—of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer, and
in the study. For fifteen years previously, I had felt my heart burning
within, as if going to Emmaus with Jesus. On a day ever to be remembered
by me, as I was going from Dolgelley to Machynlleth, and climbing up
towards Cadair Idris, I considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray,
however hard I felt my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit
was. Having begun in the name of Jesus, I soon felt as it were the
fetters loosening, and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as I
thought, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me.
This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost.
I felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage: tears flowed
copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of
God, by restoring to my soul the joy of his salvation;—and that he would
visit the churches in Anglesea, that were under my care. I embraced in
my supplications all the churches of the saints, and nearly all the
ministers in the principality by their names. This struggle lasted for
three hours: it rose again and again, like one wave after another, or a
high flowing tide, driven by a strong wind, until my nature became faint
by weeping and crying. Thus I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul,
gifts and labors—all my life—every day and every hour that remained for
me;—and all my cares I committed to Christ.—The road was mountainous and
lonely, and I was wholly alone, and suffered no interruption in my
wrestlings with God.
“From this time, I was made to expect the goodness of God to churches and
to myself. Thus the Lord delivered me and the people of Anglesea from
being carried away by the flood of Sandemanianism. In the first
religious meetings after this, I felt as if I had been removed from the
cold and sterile regions of spiritual frost, into the verdant fields of
the divine promises. The former striving with God in prayer, and the
longing anxiety for the conversion of sinners, which I had experienced at
Lëyn, was now restored. I had a hold of the promises of God. The result
was, when I returned home, the first thing that arrested my attention
was, that the Spirit was working also in the brethren in Anglesea,
inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in two of the deacons,
who were particularly importunate that God would visit us in mercy, and
render the word of his grace effectual amongst us for the conversion of
sinners.”
COVENANT WITH GOD.
Mr. Evans now entered into a solemn covenant with God, made, as he says,
“under a deep sense of the evil of his heart, and in dependence upon the
infinite grace and merit of the Redeemer.” This interesting article is
preserved among his papers. We give it entire, as a specimen of his
spirit and his faith:—
I. “I give my soul and body unto thee, Jesus, the true God, and
everlasting life—deliver me from sin, and from eternal death, and bring
me into life everlasting. Amen.—C. E.
II. “I call the day, the sun, the earth, the trees, the stones, the bed,
the table, and the books, to witness that I come unto thee. Redeemer of
sinners, that I may obtain rest for my soul from the thunders of guilt
and the dread of eternity. Amen.—C. E.
III. “I do, through confidence in thy power, earnestly entreat thee to
take the work into thine own hand, and give me a circumcised heart, that
I may love thee, and create in me a right spirit, that I may seek thy
glory. Grant me that principle which thou wilt own in the day of
judgment, that I may not then assume palefacedness, and find myself a
hypocrite. Grant me this, for the sake of thy most precious blood.
Amen.—C. E.
IV. “I entreat thee, Jesus, the Son of God, in power, grant me, for the
sake of thy agonizing death, a covenant-interest in thy blood, which
cleanseth; in thy righteousness, which justifieth; and in thy redemption,
which delivereth. I entreat an interest in thy blood, for thy _blood’s_
sake, and a part in thee, for thy name’s sake, which thou hast given
among men. Amen.—C. E.
V. “O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, take, for the sake of thy
cruel death, my time, and strength, and the gifts and talents I possess;
which, with a full purpose of heart, I consecrate to thy glory in the
building up of thy church in the world, for thou art worthy of the hearts
and talents of all men. Amen.—C. E.
VI. “I desire thee, my great High Priest, to confirm, by thy power, from
thy High Court, my usefulness as a preacher, and my piety as a Christian,
as two gardens nigh to each other; that sin may not have place in my
heart, to becloud my confidence in thy righteousness, and that I may not
be left to any foolish act that may occasion my gifts to wither, and
rendered useless before my life ends. Keep thy gracious eye upon me, and
watch over me, O my Lord, and my God for ever! Amen.—C. E.
VII. “I give myself in a particular manner to thee, O Jesus Christ, the
Saviour, to be preserved from the falls into which many stumble, that thy
name (in thy cause) may not be blasphemed or wounded, that my peace may
not be injured, that thy people may not be grieved, and that thine
enemies may not be hardened. Amen.—C. E.
VIII. “I come unto thee, beseeching thee to be in covenant with me in my
ministry. As thou didst prosper Bunyan, Vavasor Powell, Howell Harris,
Rowlands, and Whitefield, O do thou prosper me. Whatsoever things are
opposed to my prosperity, remove them out of the way. Work in me every
thing approved of God, for the attainment of this. Give me a heart ‘sick
of love’ to thyself, and to the souls of men. Grant that I may
experience the power of thy word before I deliver it, as Moses felt the
power of his own rod, before he saw it on the land and waters of Egypt.
Grant this, for the sake of thine infinitely precious blood, O Jesus, my
hope, and my all in all! Amen.—C. E.
IX. “Search me now, and lead me in plain paths of judgment. Let me
discover in this life what I am before thee, that I may not find myself
of another character, when I am shown in the light of the immortal world,
and open my eyes in all the brightness of eternity. Wash me in thy
redeeming blood. Amen.—C. E.
X. “Grant me strength to depend upon thee for food and raiment, and to
make known my requests. O let thy care be over me as a
covenant-privilege betwixt thee and myself, and not like a general care
to feed the ravens that perish, and clothe the lily that is cast into the
oven; but let thy care be over me as one of thy family, as one of thine
unworthy brethren. Amen.—C. E.
XI. “Grant, O Jesus! and take upon thyself the preparing of me for
death, for thou art God; there is no need, but for thee to speak the
word. If possible, thy will be done; leave me not long in affliction,
nor to die suddenly, without bidding adieu to my brethren, and let me die
in their sight, after a short illness. Let all things be ordered against
the day of removing from one world to another, that there be no confusion
nor disorder, but a quiet discharge in peace. O grant me this, for the
sake of thine agony in the garden! Amen.—C. E.
XII. “Grant, O blessed Lord! that nothing may grow and be matured in me,
to occasion thee to cast me off from the service of the sanctuary, like
the sons of Eli; and for the sake of thine unbounded merit, let not my
days be longer than my usefulness. O let me not be like lumber in a
house in the end of my days,—in the way of others to work. Amen.—C. E.
XIII. “I beseech thee, O Redeemer! to present these my supplications
before the Father: and O! inscribe them in thy book with thine own
immortal pen, while I am writing them with my mortal hand, in my book on
earth. According to the depths of thy merit, thine undiminished grace,
and thy compassion, and thy manner unto thy people, O! attach thy name,
in thine upper court, to these unworthy petitions; and set thine amen to
them, as I do on my part of the covenant. Amen.—CHRISTMAS EVANS,
Llangevni, Anglesea, April 10, 18—.”
Mr. Evans, in speaking of this solemn transaction and its influence upon
his spirit, subsequently observes: “I felt a sweet peace and tranquility
of soul, like unto a poor man that had been brought under the protection
of the royal family, and had an annual settlement for life made upon him;
from whose dwelling the painful dread of poverty and want had been for
ever banished away.”
Thus “strengthened with might in the inner man,” he labored with renewed
energy and zeal, and showers of blessings descended upon his labors. In
two years, his ten preaching places in Anglesea were increased to twenty,
and six hundred converts were added to the church under his care. “The
wilderness and solitary place were glad for them, and the desert rejoiced
and blossomed as the rose.”
STUDYING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Mr. Evans made several visits to Liverpool, Bristol, and other parts of
England. On these occasions he was frequently solicited to preach in
English, to which he several times consented, to the great gratification
of his English friends. These sermons evinced the same energy of
thought, and the same boldness of imagery, as those which he preached in
Welsh; but in the power of his peculiar delivery, they were inevitably
far inferior. His brethren in England were much delighted with his
performances, and said it was “no wonder the Welsh were warm under such
preaching;” but his language was broken and hesitating, and they could
scarcely have any conception of his animation and energy when he spoke in
his vernacular tongue.
His success induced him to commence a systematic study of the English
language, that he might be able to preach in it with greater freedom and
effect. He could read English before, and was somewhat familiar with the
best English authors of his day; but never acquainted himself with the
grammar of the language till he was thirty-three years of age. But read
his own account of the matter:—
“The English brethren had prevailed upon me to preach to them in broken
English, as it was; this induced me to set about the matter in earnest,
making it a subject of prayer, for the aid of the Spirit, that I might be
in some measure a blessing to the English friends, for there appeared
some sign that God now called me to this department of labor in his
service. I never succeeded in any thing for the good of others, without
making it a matter of prayer. My English preaching was very broken and
imperfect in point of language; yet, through the grace of Jesus Christ,
it was made in some degree useful at Liverpool, Bristol, and some other
places. I was about forty years old when I learned to read the Hebrew
Bible and the Greek Testament, and use Parkhurst’s Lexicons in both
languages. I found that, had I studied the English language attentively
and perseveringly, I should be able to overcome great difficulties; and
also, that I could without much labor in the course of few years, even in
my idle hours, as it were, understand all the Hebrew words corresponding
with every Welsh word in the Bible; and so also the Greek. I had always
before thought that it was impossible to accomplish this, for I had no
one to encourage me in the undertaking; but I found it was practicable,
and proved it in some measure, yet relinquished the pursuit on account of
my advanced age.”
NEW TROUBLES AND SORROWS.
Here we pass over several years of Mr. Evans’ history, during which
nothing of very special interest occurred, except the agitation of the
Fullerian controversy. This is a matter which requires only a passing
notice in this brief memoir. We let it sleep in silence.
Mr. Evans was now nearly sixty years of age. Infirmity, the result of
his arduous labors and numerous afflictions, began to prey upon his
system. The several congregations under his care had hitherto
constituted but one church. But the number of preaching places had now
become too great for him, in his enfeebled state, to continue his
pastoral visits and labors among them as he had done. He therefore
advised them to form themselves into separate churches, two or three
stations uniting in one. This was the occasion of a dark and dreadful
storm upon the apostle of Anglesea. Some of the churches refused the
ministers he recommended, and called others whom he disapproved. Then
arose a bitter party spirit, and a general contention, among the
congregations. Mr. Evans was severely censured, and even assailed with
the shafts of slander. Many of his former friends forsook him, and some
of those who professed to feel for him in his troubles did nothing for
his vindication. The severity of these public calamities was increased
by private afflictions. His beloved wife had gone “the way of all the
earth.” He was himself brought very low by sickness, in which he nearly
lost his only remaining eye, and seemed fast tending to his final home.
But though cast down, he was not destroyed. “I wonder greatly,” says he,
“that I did not sink into the grave under the weight of sorrows that came
upon me in my old age, together with an accumulation of trials of all
kinds; but the Lord sustained me. There was, in the midst of all, a
strong persuasion in my mind, that there was yet much work for me to do
for God in the world, as well as much to suffer, ere I died. If I only
entered the pulpit, I felt raised as it were to Paradise—above my
afflictions—until I forgot my adversity; yea, I felt my mountain strong,
my mind was in such a heavenly frame, and as anxious as ever for the
conversion of sinners. The truth appeared to me in its power like a
hammer in its strength. The doctrine dropped as sweet as the honey, yea,
sweeter than the honeycomb, and as comfortable as the best wine. I was
now particularly wishful that all the ministers in Anglesea should join
with me, according to the promise, ‘If two of you agree to ask the _same
thing_, it shall be given unto you of my Father which is in heaven;’ for
I had such confidence that then I should see prosperity attending the
ministry, and that I should not die until I had finished my work. I said
to a brother:—‘Brother, the doctrine, the confidence, and strength which
I feel, will make some persons dance with joy yet in some parts of
Wales.’ ‘Yea, brother,’ said he, with tears flowing in streams from his
eyes.
“Every thing now contributed to remove me from Anglesea. The unbending
disposition of those who were offended at me, and the ardor of my own
spirit, believing that there was work for me to do in some other field of
the harvest of the Son of man, and my having prayed earnestly for twelve
months for the direction of Divine Providence, together with the visions
of my head in the night seasons, appeared to unite together to lead in
one direction. At length, the determination to leave Anglesea, afflicted
as I was, preponderated. I was much like Jacob, leaving his father and
his mother, going with his staff only over Jordan: so was I, leaving the
church: I had prayed, yea, I had striven with God for its prosperity, and
had labored nearly forty years with it—now leaving it—possessing nothing
of this world’s goods, save the horse upon which I rode, and a small
amount of silver in my pocket; and scarcely could I say that these were
mine.”
LEGAL PROSECUTION.
During the above-mentioned tribulations he received an insulting letter,
threatening him with a civil prosecution. “They talk,” said he, “of
casting me into a court of law, where I have never been, and hope I shall
never go; but I will cast them first into the court of Jesus Christ, the
source of law and authority.” So saying, he retired to his chamber, and
falling upon his knees, he wept and made supplication in the following
pathetic strain:—
“O blessed Lord! in thy merit I confide, and trust to be heard. Lord,
some of my brethren have run wild; and forgetting their duty and
obligations to their father in the gospel, they threaten me with the law
of the land. Weaken, I beseech thee, their designs in this, as thou
didst wither the arm of Jeroboam; and soften them, as thou didst soften
the mind of Esau, and disarmed him of his warlike temper against thy
servant Jacob, after the wrestling at Penuel. So disarm them, for I do
not know the length of Satan’s chain in this case, and in this
unbrotherly attack. But thou canst shorten the chain as short as it may
please thee. Lord, I anticipate them in point of law. They think of
casting thine unworthy servant into the little courts here below; but I
cast my cause into the High Court, in which thou, gracious Jesus, art the
High Chancellor. Receive thou the cause of thine unworthy servant, and
send them a writ or a notice immediately—sending into their conscience,
and summoning them to consider what they are doing. O, frighten them
with a summons from thy court, until they come and bow in contrition at
thy feet; and take from their hands every revengeful weapon, and make
them deliver up every gun of scandal, and every sword of bitter words,
and every spear of slanderous expressions, and surrender them all at thy
cross. Forgive them all their faults, and clothe them with white robes,
and give them oil for their heads, and the organ, and the harp of ten
strings, to sing, for the trampling of Satan under our feet by the God of
peace.”
Having thus poured out his heart to God, he felt some confidence of
security. But he was never satisfied in such cases without an inward
assurance of acceptance and success. So he went again and again; and
when, like Jesus, he had “offered up many prayers, with strong crying and
tears,” like Jacob “he had power with God, and prevailed.” “At the
seventh time,” says he, “I came down in full confidence that Christ had
taken my cause into his own hand, and would be my Savior. I felt as
cheerful and happy as Bunyan’s Pilgrim, when his load fell off and rolled
into the grave of Christ; or as Naaman, when he came up from the waters
of Jordan, cured of his leprosy.”
It is scarcely necessary to add, the threat was never executed. The
Throne of Grace is the good man’s sure resort in every emergency.
Jehovah “hides him in his pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
CAERPHILLY.
An invitation, which he received about this time, to take charge of the
Baptist church in Caerphilly, Glamorganshire, South Wales, confirmed Mr.
Evans in his determination to leave the scene of his recent trials. He
set out alone, in his sixtieth year. The distance he had to travel was
about two hundred miles. On the way, while dwelling on his past
misfortunes, he found his heart melted within him, and drawn out in
fervent prayer. His faith soon triumphed over his afflictions and his
fears. He renewed his covenant with God, and went on his way rejoicing.
This revival of his religious feelings had a powerful effect upon his
ministry. He had not been long in Caerphilly, before the Spirit of God
was poured copiously upon the people.
Previous to this time of refreshing, he had a remarkable dream, which he
noted in his diary. He thought he was in the church at Caerphilly, and
found many harps hanging about the pulpit, wrapped in coverings of green.
Then, said he, “I will take down the harps of heaven in this place.” In
removing the covering, he found the ark of the covenant, inscribed with
the name of Jehovah. Then he cried, “Brethren, the Lord has come to us,
according to his promise, and in answer to our prayers.” In that very
place, he shortly afterward had the satisfaction of receiving one hundred
and forty converts into the church, as the fruit of his ministry.
While at Caerphilly, he entered into a second marriage. He remained
there only two years. He says: “I never spent a short time in greater
comfort, for the ark of God had appeared there, and the harps of one
hundred and forty souls had been tuned to the song of redemption.” Happy
years no doubt they were, and gladly would Mr. Evans have ended his life
in Caerphilly; but troubles arose between him and some of his
parishioners, and, receiving a call from Cardiff, a neighboring town, he
went to take charge of a church in that place.
ANOTHER COVENANT.
Previous to his removal, and while he was meditating the matter, he made
a new covenant with God. We extract again from his journal:—
“While returning from a place called Tongwynlâs over Caerphilly mountain,
the spirit of prayer descended very copiously upon me. I wept for some
hours, and heartily supplicated Jesus Christ, for the blessings here
following. I found at this time a particular nearness to Christ, as if
he were close by me, and my mind was filled with strong confidence that
he attended to my requests, for the sake of the merits of his own name.
This decided in favor of Cardiff.”
I. “Grant me the great favor of being led by thee, according to thy
will—by the directions of thy providence and word, and the disposing of
my own mind by thy Spirit, for the sake of thine infinitely precious
blood. Amen.—C. E.
II. “Grant, if I am to leave Caerphilly, that the gale (of the Spirit’s
influence) and religious revival I had there may follow me to Cardiff,
for the sake of thy great name. Amen.—C. E.
III. “Grant thy blessing upon bitter things, to brighten, and quicken me
more and more, and not to depress and render me more lifeless. Amen.—C.
E.
IV. “Suffer me not to be trodden under the proud feet of members, or
deacons, for the sake of thy goodness. Amen.—C. E.
V. “Grant me the invaluable favor of being, in thine hand, the means of
calling sinners unto thyself, and of edifying thy saints, wherever thou
wilt send me, for the sake of thy name. Amen.—C. E.
VI. “If I am to stay at Caerphilly, give me some tokens, as to Gideon of
old, by removing the things that discourage me, and are in the way of the
prosperity of religion in that church. Amen.—C. E.
VII. “Grant, Lord of glory, and Head of thy church, that the Ark of the
cause which is thine, in Anglesea and Caerphilly, may be sustained from
falling into the hands of the Philistines. Do not reject it. Aid it
speedily, and lift up the light of thy countenance upon it; and by thy
Spirit, word, and providence, so operate as to carry things forward in
the churches, and neighborhoods, in such a manner as will produce changes
in officers, and measures that will accomplish a thorough improvement in
the great cause, for the establishment of which in the world thou hast
died;—and by scattering those that delight in war, and closing the mouths
of those that occasion confusion. Amen.—C. E.
VIII. “Grant me way-tokens by the time I begin my journey to Liverpool,
and from thence to Anglesea, if it is thy will that I should go thither
this year. Amen.—C. E.
IX. “O grant me succor beneath the shadow of the sympathy that is in
thee towards them who are tempted, and the unbounded power there is in
thee to be the relief of such. Amen.—C. E.
X. “Accept of my thanksgiving a hundred millions of times, that thou
hast not hitherto cast me from thine hand, as a darkened star, or a
vessel in which there is no pleasure; and suffer not my life to be
extended beyond my usefulness. Thanks, that thou hast not given me a
prey to the teeth of any. Blessed be thy name. Amen.—C. E.
XI. “For the sake of thine infinite merit, do not cast me, thy servant,
under the feet of pride and injustice, of _worldly_ greatness, riches,
and selfish oppression of any men, but hide me in the secret of thy
tabernacle from the strife of tongues. Amen.—C. E.
XII. “Help me to wait silently and patiently upon thee, for the
fulfilment of these things, and not become enraged, angry, and speak
unadvisedly with my lips, like Moses, the servant of the Lord. Sustain
my heart from sinking, to wait for fresh strength from Zion. Amen.—C. E.
XIII. “Help me to wait upon thee for the necessaries of life; let thy
mercy and goodness follow me while I live; and, as it hath pleased thee
to honor me greatly, by the blessing thou hast vouchsafed upon the
ministry through me, as an humble instrument, at Caerphilly, after the
great storm had beaten upon me in Anglesea, like Job, grant that this
honor may continue to follow me the remainder of my days, as thou didst
unto thy servant Job. Amen.—C. E.
XIV. “Let this covenant abide like the covenant of salt, until I come to
thee in the world of eternal light. I entreat aid to resign myself to
thee, and to thy will. I beseech thee take my heart, and inscribe upon
it a deep reverence of thyself, with an inscription that time and
eternity cannot efface. O let the remainder of my sermons be taken by
thee from my lips; and those which I write, let them be unto thee for a
praise. Unto thee I dedicate them. If there should be any thing in them
conducive to thy glory, and to the service of thy kingdom, do thou
preserve it, and reveal it unto men; else, let it die like the drop of a
bucket in the midst of the scorching heat of Africa. O grant, that there
may be a drop of that water which thou alone canst impart, and which
springs up to eternal life, running through all my sermons. In this
covenant, which probably is the last that will be written between me and
thee on the earth, I commit myself, my wife, and the churches amongst
whom I have preached, to the protection of thy grace, and the care of thy
covenant. Amen.—C. E.
XV. “Let this covenant continue when I am in sickness or in health, or
in any other circumstance; for thou hast overcome the world, fulfilled
the law, finished justifying righteousness, and hast swallowed up death
in victory, and all power in heaven and earth is in thine hand. For the
sake of thy most precious blood and perfect righteousness, note this
covenant with thine own blood in the court of the memorials of forgiving
mercy: attach unto it thy name in which I believe; and here I, this day,
set my unworthy name unto it, with my mortal hand. Amen.—Christmas
Evans. Dated, Cardiff, April 24, 1829.”
CARDIFF.
“After having entered into this covenant,” says Mr. Evans in his diary,
“I came to Cardiff, heartily and unhesitatingly, like a merchant that
should send his vessel to sea after it had been registered in the
insurance office. I had nothing now to lose, for I had given myself up
to the possession of Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament, for time
and for eternity; and so I have had to abide here in the secret of his
tabernacle for these nine months.”
He removed to Cardiff in the autumn of 1828, and remained there two years
and a half. During this time, he received into the church about eighty
converts. He was much in secret prayer, and enjoyed intimate communion
with his God. He not only retired for devotion several times every day,
but ordinarily rose at midnight to call upon the Lord. But the whole
period of his residence was not a cloudless day. Some unpleasant matters
arose in the church, which caused him much sorrow, as is evident from the
following entry in his diary:—
“April 27, 1829. I earnestly entreat thee, blessed Jesus, for the sake
of thine own name, to regard me in this request. * * * * Let things be
ordered, O Lord, that they may not be impediments and discouragements
unto me, and a hinderance to the progress of religion. O, interpose
between me and these obstacles, O Lord, that I may have no occasion to
dispute with any, and so embitter my spirit! Thy power is infinite, and
thy wisdom is infallible. Stand thou between me and all contention, that
no ill effect come upon me. I flee to hide myself under the shadow of
thy wings. Permit nothing to blunt the edge of my talents, my zeal, or
my success,—nor corrupt the church. Grant me this for the sake of thine
infinitely precious blood. Set thy name to this request in the court of
heaven, and let Satan’s party grow weaker and weaker, and the cause of
truth and righteousness become like the house of David, and the house of
David like the angel of the Lord. Deliver me, that my spirit be not
irritated, and I speak unadvisedly with my lips, as Moses did. Hide me
in thy pavilion from the strife of tongues * * * *. I am as it were on
the verge of eternity; O save and preserve me by thy boundless power.
Amen, Amen, Amen. Lord, regard, behold, hear, and spare.—Christmas
Evans. Write this in thy book, O my Lord, and my God. Let none be
disappointed that wait upon thee, gracious Lord.—Remember me.”
He adds in another passage:—
“I have given my soul anew to Christ; my body; my talents; my influence
in preaching; my name; my character as a man, as a Christian, and as a
preacher of the gospel; my time, and the remnant of my opportunities; my
success; my peace and comfort as a Christian and a minister. I have
resigned all afresh into the hands of Christ. I have commended to his
care, also, my wife, and all the circumstances of my family, and my
friends and assistants in the work of the Lord, for whom I pray earnestly
that they may be blessed, throughout Anglesea, Caernarvon, Caerphilly,
Cardiff, and indeed in all the counties of Wales. There are many of them
who were helpers to me in my day. I will say, in the language of Paul,
and I hope with affectionate emotions of love to Jesus Christ, ‘The Lord
grant unto them that they may find mercy of the Lord in that day.’ It is
a great privilege to a minister to retain beloved friends, who have
helped him with their prayers and sympathy. O bless those whom I have,
and preserve the new race, the new generation of them that I have found
in these parts. I committed to God, also, those who obstruct the
progress of the cause here, and disturb the unity and brotherly love of
the church. Let Christ, whose the church is, and let not me, remove
every obstacle, either by changing and melting in the love of the gospel,
or taking them somewhere else, where they shall not be a curse and an
impediment to the cause—and by the means that shall seem fit in his
sight. A word or a nod of thine shuts and opens heaven and earth, and
all the locks of the land of _Hades_, or the invisible state. For the
sake of the blood of thy covenant, grant the above things unto me, thine
unworthy servant.”
SERMONS FOR THE PRESS.
During his sojourn at Cardiff, though now sixty-five years old, much
debilitated, and almost blind, he wrote about two hundred sermons for the
press, many of which have since been published. It is certainly very
remarkable, that he should write, at his advanced age, with all the vigor
and vivacity of his earlier years. Perhaps, of all the sermons he ever
made, those composed at Cardiff are the best. Most of them were preached
on the Sabbath, and written out during the following week. This
circumstance, with their author’s peculiar nearness to God, may account
for their freshness and power.
Mr. Evans was in the habit of referring every important matter to God.
We find in his diary the following paragraph:—
“Cardiff, February 2, 1829. Lord, I have been importuned by many of my
brethren in the ministry, to prepare a number of my sermons, that have
been in the course of my ministry the most useful in thine hand for the
conversion of sinners, with a view to publication. I had no time when in
Anglesea to engage in the work, because my circumstances required so much
travelling every week. I left the work to lie by, the two years I was at
Caerphilly; but here, at Cardiff, I have had a new impulse in my thoughts
to enter upon it; and I come unto thee, my great Lord, to consult thee,
who art the Head of the church, and the Head-Prophet and Teacher of thy
people. Shall I proceed with the work or not? Is it a part of my duty,
or is it a useless, foolish notion of my own? I entreat thy gracious
direction in this matter, for the sake of thy great name. Suffer me not
to afflict myself, when my eyesight is so weak, with a work that thou
wilt not bless, but which shall be buried in the land of forgetfulness.
If thou wilt not open a door—with thee are the keys of the house of
David—in thy providence, that I may obtain subscribers, and bring the
work through the press, without hazarding myself in such a way as will
involve me in debt and disgrace: and also if thou, the great feeder of
the flock, wilt not direct me to give the true gospel, not only without
error, but with the savor and unction which accompanies the works of
Bunyan and others, which thy Spirit is likely to make use of whilst thou
hast churches in Wales: if they should not be for thy glory in the
building up of thy church, and the calling of sinners,—if these objects
should not be accomplished by the publication of the sermons, dispose my
mind to relinquish the undertaking. But if thou wilt patronise the work,
strengthen me to accomplish the design. Lord, thou knowest I feel my own
insufficiency for such an important enterprise, and my unworthiness to
solicit of thee such a favor: but I cannot refrain from making these
requests: therefore, for the sake of thine infinite merits, according to
thy manner unto thy people, grant unto me my request. Amen.”
WELSH JUMPING.
In the autumn of 1829, Mr. Evans wrote in his diary extensive notes of a
conversation which he had with several ministers in Bristol, on “the
manner of religious rejoicing so remarkable among the Welsh.” His
friends condemned it in a sweeping sentence, under the name of “Welsh
jumping.” Mr. Evans attempted its vindication. We insert his own
account:
“I observed that I could find no account of it among the Welsh until the
time of Harris and Rowlands, Calvinistic Methodists, who flourished in
Wales about the same time as Whitefield and Wesley in England. The
preaching of these men was the means of producing a religious revival
throughout all the principality, which had sunk into a state of deep
lethargy, since the time of the great awakening under Vavasor Powell,
about one hundred years before. At this period nothing was to be seen in
almost every parish but young men and young women flocking together into
the churches and church-yards, and engaging in different gambols and
pastimes, such as ball-playing, foot-ball, leaping, fighting, and such
like frolics, as if Wales had been changed into an Olympic mountain, and
old paganism restored again. It is true, there were some preachers and
churches, both Congregationalists and Baptists, then existing in the
principality; but their talents, their spirits, or their magnanimity
could not storm such a fortress of impiety. And, besides, there was a
dreadful prejudice still remaining in the country against all sects,
since the days of Charles II.; and they suffered persecution even unto
blood, for about one hundred years previous to the appearing of these
men. But from the ashes of those sufferers the revival by Harris and
Rowlands sprung up, as did Luther from the ashes of Huss and Jerome of
Prague.
“Mr. Rowlands and Mr. Harris were both of the communion of the Episcopal
church, and, as such, there was not so much enmity against them at first;
but after they had come out, and when the people understood that they
were preachers of the cross of Christ, considerable persecution arose
against them from the multitude; but it was now too late—for the gates of
the city were opened—the leaven was put in the meal—the fire had been
kindled—the sword was drawn from the scabbard, and many had been wounded,
(spiritually,) and were ready to open the door for the gospel in spite of
every danger. Harris, Rowlands, and the two Williams’s, had been clothed
with power from on high, and the hammer of their ministry was
sufficiently heavy to break in pieces the northern iron. {43} Several
laymen of powerful minds were also raised up about this time; such as Mr.
David Morris, and others, who were valuable auxiliaries to carry on the
work. By their ministry, this praising and jumping in religious
enjoyment began in Wales, which has not wholly left it on certain
occasions until this day.
“As an apology for them, granting at the same time the possibility of
extremes even in a good cause in the present state; and that graceless
persons may feel something from these excitements as of the powers of the
world to come, in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost in the apostolic
age; observe,
“1. That it appears to me like the residue of the Spirit, and the powers
of the world to come; which were necessary to open a way for the gospel
through the darkness and obduracy of paganism in the days of the
apostles.
“2. It is no argument of importance against it, that many graceless
persons felt a considerable degree of influence at the time, as well as
others; for so it was in the case of Saul, king of Israel, and some
besides named in Scripture.
“3. There is no essential difference between religious enjoyment in
Wales and that which is now experienced in America; and that which
accompanied the preaching of Whitefield in England, and even in Scotland:
and that which also followed the ministry of President Edwards, in
America, when whole towns and neighborhoods echoed with the sound of
persons praying and praising God, as if a bursting cloud-shower of the
Spirit of grace and prayer had descended upon them. Persons under the
ministry of Whitefield wept, cried for mercy, and even fainted by the
power of this influence.
“4. And such gracious influences are necessary for the spread of the
gospel in every country, and in every land: and therefore the Millennium
is described in the Bible as a period remarkable for the outpouring of
the Holy Ghost—‘that a nation shall be born at once,’ {44a}—and ‘the
flowing of the nations shall be to the mountain of the Lord’s house.’
{44b} It is this influence that has driven, as it were, the gospel into
every nook of the mountains of Wales, as well as into its cities, towns,
and villages; while in England, with all the advantages of education, the
gospel, in a manner, is hid in a corner; and it has not run through the
country, and searched out, and taken possession of all the inland parts
of that spiritual Africa, and that for the want of these gales of divine
influence, and powers peculiar to the gospel: and it can never be spread
through every part of England as it is in Wales without these gifts.
Common preaching will not do to rouse sluggish districts from the heavy
slumbers into which they are sunk. Indeed, formal prayers and lifeless
sermons are like bulwarks raised against these things in England; and
this evil genius has also entered the principality under the pretence of
order. Five or six stanzas will be sung as dry as Gilboa, instead of one
or two verses, like a new song, full of God, of Christ, and the Spirit of
grace, until the heart is attuned for worship. The burying-grounds are
kept in fine order in Glamorganshire, and green shrubs and herbs grow on
the graves, but all this is of little value, for the inhabitants of them
are all dead—so is every form of godliness where its power is not felt.
Order without life is exceedingly worthless. You exhibit all the
character of human nature, leaving every bud of the flower to open in the
beams of the sun, except in divine worship. On other occasions you
appear to have as much fire in your affections as the Welsh have. If you
are noticed in a court of law, the most efficient advocate, such as
Erskine, will give you the greatest satisfaction; but you are contented
with a preacher, speaking so lifelessly and so low that you can hardly
understand the third part of what he says; and you will call this decency
in the sanctuary. To-morrow, I shall see you answering fully to the
human character, in your own actions. When the speakers on the platform
will be urging the claims of missions, you will then beat the boards, and
manifest so much life and cheerfulness, that not one of you will be seen
to take up a note-book, nor any other book, while the speaker shall be
addressing you. A Welshman might suppose, by hearing your noise, that he
had been silently conveyed to the midst of one of the meetings of the
‘Welsh jumpers,’ with this difference, that you would perceive many more
tears shed, and hear more ‘calves of the lips’ {45} offered up, in the
rejoicing meetings of Wales. But you will use your heels well on such
occasions, and a little of your tongues. But even in Wales, in certain
places—that is, places where the fervent gales are not enjoyed which fill
persons with fear and terror and joy in approaching the altar of God—you
may see, while hearing a sermon, one looking into his hymn-book, another
into his note-book, and a third turning over the leaves of his Bible, as
if he were going to study a sermon in the sanctuary, instead of attending
to what is spoken by the preacher as the mouth of God. If there is joy
and gladness pertaining to many, the light of God’s countenance in the
sanctuary should develope it; until a fire is kindled, and he speak with
his tongue, making melody unto the Lord in his heart, and praising Him
with his lips.
“5. It is in vain to urge objections against these powerful gales of
divine influence, and allege that it is under the ministry of the
illiterate preachers of Wales only they are experienced. Harris,
Rowlands, and the two Williamses were not so, for they had been brought
up for the established church. Whitefield and Edwards were men of
education, and they preached the doctrine which in England is considered
evangelical.
“6. It is also beside the point to affirm that only persons of no
weight, that is, ignorant boys and girls, are in the habit of thus
rejoicing and praising God in His temple; for it is certain, that those
who express their joy in this manner possess so much sound experimental
knowledge, as to make them eminent in that respect. I have listened to
many of them in the midst of their enjoyment, and have often been
delighted while they repeated true, evangelical, and substantial stanzas,
replete with profound sentiment: for in such seasons, they could find out
the very best, which made impressions on their memories; and these
rapturous feelings developed them, as if the tongue were moved by the
heat and force of the fire within. And many other things of an
evangelical and gracious character they will utter on these joyful
occasions, with such heavenly eloquence as would be inimitable, and
impracticable even for themselves to utter with the same effect, without
enjoying these meltings of spirit. This enjoyment is accompanied by many
tears and much tenderness of heart: nor are persons of a dry spirit and
hard heart ever regarded as fit subjects for this work of praise, in
these blessed seasons of Christian enjoyment. It does not accord with
any, but with him whose heart melts like wax, and runs in the form and
mould of the gospel.
“7. There is no way in which churches or particular persons may enjoy
this heavenly ecstasy, but by walking with God, and by cultivating a
spirit of watchfulness and prayer, which shows its pure and holy
character. It awakens watchfulness against all evil tempers, improper
expressions, and wicked actions, lest the sense of it should be lost.
Such a frame of mind cannot be expected by living in sin. These
individuals come to the house of God with an earnest desire for this
enjoyment, and dreading lest there should be a something in them which
would cause God to deny them this unspeakable privilege. It is an
exceedingly easy matter for a minister to manage a congregation while
Christian enjoyment keeps them near to God. They are diligent and
zealous, and ready for every good work. But it is very easy to offend
this joyous spirit—or give it what name you please, enthusiasm, religious
madness, or Welsh jumping, (its English name,)—and make it hide itself.
A quarrel and disagreement in the church will occasion it to withdraw
immediately. Indulging in sin, in word or deed, will soon put it to
flight. It is like unto the angel formerly, who could not behold the sin
of Israel without hiding himself; so is the angel of the _religious_ life
of Wales, which proves him to be a holy angel, though he has the name of
a ‘Welsh jumper.’ My prayer is, that this angel be a guard upon every
congregation, and that none should do any thing to offend him. It is an
exceedingly powerful assistant to accompany us through the wilderness.
But the individual that has not felt its happy influences, has nothing to
lose; hence he does not dread a dry meeting and a hard prayer, for they
are all the same to him; but the people of this enjoyment pray before
prayer, and before hearing, that they may meet with God in them.
“8. The seasons when these blessings are vouchsafed to the churches of
Wales, are to be noticed. It is generally at a time when the cause of
religion is at a low ebb—all gone to slumber. This happy spirit of
enjoyment, like the angel of the pillar of fire, appears when there is
distress, and every thing at the worst. Its approach to the congregation
is like the glory of God returning to the temple of old; it creates a
stir among the brethren,—they have a new prayer, and a new spirit given
them to worship God. This will lay hold of another,—some new strength
and light will appear in the pulpit, until it will be imagined that the
preacher’s voice is altered, and that his spirit is become more
evangelical, and that he preaches with a more excellent savor than usual.
Tenderness will descend upon the members, and it will be seen that Mr.
Wet-eyes and Mr. Amen have taken their place among them. The heavenly
gale will reach some of the old backsliders, and they are brought with
weeping to seek their forfeited privilege. By this time the sound of
Almighty God will be heard in the outer court, beginning to move the
hearers like a mighty wind shaking the forest. In these seasons of
refreshing from the presence of the Lord some churches will receive, in
the course of a year, additions of one hundred, others a hundred and
fifty, and some others upwards of two hundred new members. Sometimes,
the gale seems as if it blew upon the outer court—upon the hearers, and
the young people from ten to fifteen years of age—when nothing
extraordinary appears in the light and effect of the ministry, nor in the
church; but afterwards making its way through the outer court to rouse
the inner court, until a great concern is awakened for the state of the
soul. But observe: The revival that begins in the church, and proceeds
from thence to the world, and not that which commences outside of the
church, is more frequent, and more efficient in its converts, for the
pangs of labor are to begin in Zion.
“9. Again, it may be remarked that the happy effects which follow these
powerful revivals, evince their nature. They are certain, where they are
strong, to bend the oaks of Bashan—men of strong and sturdy minds, and
haughty hearts—to attend the ministry of the word. They will bring all
the ships of Tarshish, the merchants of this world, into the harbor of
hearing. The power of the day of the Lord will raze all the walls of
bigotry to the foundations. The thoughts of eternal realities, and the
spirit of worship, are by these blessings diffused abroad, and family
worship is established in scores of families, where a few months before
no regard was had unto it. The door of such a district, thus opened by
the powers of the world to come, shall not be closed against the hearers
of the gospel, until a goodly number of souls are there converted unto
God. Where the living waters flow, dead fish are made alive by its
virtues.
“10. Since the first appearing of these gracious gifts at Llangeitho,
under the ministry of Mr. Rowlands, they have been showers of blessings,
which are poured down on the congregations of the Baptists and
Congregationalists as well as the Calvinistic Methodists; and sometimes
one of these denominations is favored with them, whilst the others are
destitute. These refreshing seasons were, at times, experienced in a
very powerful manner at Llangeitho, for about fifty years; that is, all
the period of Mr. Rowlands’ ministrations in that church. About two
thousand persons assembled there for communion once a month, from the
several counties of Wales, even in winter, and about three thousand in
the summer season; which rendered it the most extraordinary place in
Europe, and beyond a doubt, hundreds of those who assembled there, on
such occasions, are now in heaven singing the new song. If to live on
the merits of Christ, to fear God, and praise him, and lead a sober and
righteous life, is an evidence of a godly state, then this was visible
_at that time_ at Llangeitho.”
CAERNARVON.
Mr. Evans’ next settlement was in Caernarvon. The Baptist interest in
that town was in a feeble and languishing condition. The church numbered
about thirty members, but they were chiefly of the lowest class, and
sadly disunited. They had a decent house of worship, but it was involved
in a debt of £800. “All things,” said Mr. Evans, “seemed like a waste
howling wilderness; yea, a habitation of dragons, where they made their
rest night and day.” Some advised the dissolution of the church, but he
thought better to attempt its reformation. His coming produced quite a
sensation through the town. His first congregation was very large, and
for some time multitudes flocked to his ministry, but they were only
accidental hearers, generally members of other churches, who, when they
had satisfied their curiosity, returned to their own places of worship.
His Welsh biographer mentions with commendation the sympathy and help
which he received from the Wesleyan and the Calvinistic Methodists, and
Mr. Evans himself calls them the Aarons and the Hurs that sustained his
hands in Caernarvon.
His labors and zeal in this place were not less than in Caerphilly and
Cardiff; but owing to many unfavorable circumstances, his success was far
inferior. During the first year, however, he reduced the chaos around
him to some incipient order; and was enabled, by the payment of a
mortgage upon the church, to save it from sheriff’s sale. He employed a
Mr. Edwards to travel into England, Ireland, and Scotland, and make
collections for this purpose. Mr. Evans was already known extensively,
as the author of the celebrated Specimen of Welsh Preaching, which had
been translated into English, and published in many of the periodicals,
eliciting universal admiration. Mr. Edwards had this piece reprinted,
and distributed the copies wherever he went, thus making known the pastor
of the church for which he solicited pecuniary aid.
Though the aged servant of God saw few conversions from his labors in
Caernarvon, the seed which he sowed in tears upon that sterile soil has
sprung up since his decease, and others have gathered the harvest. The
Baptist church there has experienced a gracious revival, and many of the
new converts attribute their salvation, under God, to Christmas Evans.
While in Caernarvon he penned in his journal the following pious
reflections: “I have been thinking of the great goodness of the Lord unto
me throughout my unworthy ministry, and now, in my old age, I see the
work prospering wonderfully in my hand, so that there is reason to think
that I am in some degree a blessing to the church, when I might have been
a burden to it, or rather a curse, by which she might have been induced
to wish me laid in the earth, that I might no longer prevent the progress
of the work. Thanks be to God, that it is not so! though I deserve no
better; yet I am in the land of mercy. This is unto me according to the
manner of God unto his people. My path in the valley, the dangers, and
the precipices of destruction upon which I have stood, rushes into my
thoughts, and also the sinking of many in death, and the downfall of
others by immorality, and their burial in Kibroth-Hattaavah, the graves
of inordinate desire; together with the withering, the feebleness, and
the unfruitfulness of some through the influence of a secret departure
from God, and of walking in the hidden paths that lead to apostasy.”
PULPIT POPULARITY.
Mr. Evans’ popularity in the pulpit was never greater than during the
last few years of his life. His descriptive powers, which were
transcendent from the first, improved to the day of his death. His
services were always solicited at the anniversaries of the Missionary and
Bible societies in Caernarvon, and the mayor of that town once made him a
handsome present for a temperance speech which he delivered there.
In 1834, he preached at the Holyhead association. His text was Heb. vi.
18. There were many seamen present; and beautifully did the preacher
describe the believer’s hope, “the anchor of the soul;” and eloquently
did he set forth the necessity of its having, not a bare rock, but a rock
covered with clay—not abstract divinity, but “God manifest in the
flesh,”—in order that its hold may be “sure and steadfast,” securing the
Christian against spiritual shipwreck amid the many storms of the World!
The last association he ever attended in Anglesea was held in the same
place, in 1837. On that occasion he preached from Col. ii. 14, 15. This
sermon was one of the most effective he ever delivered. “The powerful
manner,” says one of his friends “in which he described the enemies, who
were like unicorns and strong bulls of Bashan, and all the little
elves—the great roaring lion, together with all the hosts and
principalities and powers of hell, death, and the grave, giving way when
Christ cried, ‘It is finished,’ was indescribably grand and majestic: one
might have thought that the scene was actually before the eye, and that
Jesus could be then seen laying hold of the powers of darkness, casting
them forth, and making a show of them openly.”
INTERESTING LETTER.
We insert in this place an interesting letter written during Mr. Evans’
residence at Caernarvon.
“Beloved Brother: * * * I write to you, August 5, 1836, in the
seventieth year of my age, and in the fiftieth of my ministry, after
conversing much with ministerial brethren, earnestly desiring to see
our associational union brought into action by representatives of the
churches, with a view to promote a determination,—1. To bear each
other’s burden more efficiently in the denomination to which we
belong. I lament the deficiency in this point, and ardently wish to
see it effectually remedied. 2. To watch over and promote a holy
conversation among all the members and all the preachers in a more
efficient manner, to prevent persons of unbecoming conversation from
obtaining privileges in any church, when they have been excluded in
another, for that would occasion spots and blemishes to appear on the
bright countenance of the ministry. The associational union, in
which all the churches of the same faith and order join, should be a
defence of the independence of the churches through their
representatives: it should also operate as a sort of check upon
independency, lest it should become opposed to the general good, and
frustrate the co-operation of the whole body. _That they may all be
one_, is the motto.
“Respecting church discipline. We cannot be certain that we are
doing right by administering the same punishment to all offenders,
even for the same offence; for the general character weighs heavily
in the balance of discipline. Also a distinction should be made
between the seducer and the seduced; and between being overcome, or
falling into sin, and living habitually in sin, and following it as a
slave following his master. The denial of Peter, from weakness, and
without previous deliberation, was very different from the betrayal
of Judas, and his intentional selling of Christ. The different
characters of Saul, king of Israel, and that of David, required
different treatment in discipline on account of their offences. The
Lord’s discipline upon Saul was that of a rod of iron, but upon David
the correcting rod of a father, for his good, that he might be a
partaker of his holiness.
“There are two things, brother, which we ought to avoid in the
exercise of discipline. 1. We should avoid too great severity on the
one part, and 2, too much leniency on the other part. Wisdom is
necessary here to distinguish the different characters, those who
require severity, and those who claim tenderness: the two are to be
found blended in the principle of evangelical discipline. A
difference is to be made betwixt some who may have been companions in
the same crime; snatching some of them as brands from the burning.
The ground of the distinction lies in the different amount of guilt
which subsists between the seducer and the seduced.
“I have witnessed danger, and have sustained some harm myself, and
seen harm done in churches, by exercising tenderness towards some
persons, in the vain hope of their reformation. Receiving verbal
testimony or mere fluent acknowledgments from their lips, without
waiting for fruit in action also: some having been often accused, and
as often turning to the refuges frequented by them. I never
exercised tenderness towards such as these, without being repaid by
them afterwards, if they had opportunity. Shimei-like, they would
curse me after having shed the best oil of tenderness on their heads.
There are some in the Christian church like Jezebel; and there are
some in our congregations like Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that you can
scarce discipline them without rending the kingdom, until they become
ripe for judgment; for they hardly ever repent, more than did Joab
and Shimei; they are ultimately suddenly broken, without any danger
to the church from their fall.
“I perceive that the Scriptures make a difference between one that
falls into sin, and one wallowing in it; between one overtaken by a
party of marauders, and dragged into the camp, and made drunk at
supper, and one like Judas, going to the party, and being secretly
one of them, having pistols as they had: such are hypocrites. I have
many times been the advocate of the fallen, and in a variety of
instances have observed this operating beneficially for the church.
Sometimes I have found those who had been spared upon their own
verbal contrition, blessing God for his long forbearance of them, and
also their spiritual brethren, who had in a manner set their bones;
as the Scripture hath it, ‘Restore such an one in the spirit of
meekness.’
“We should be careful that discretion and love be in exercise, though
in strife and contention it be not always an easy matter to do this.
When the beasts of dissension get loose from the caravan, Satan
sometimes drives them through the streets of Zion, that they may
enter the houses of the inhabitants; and like the lioness that
escaped from the keepers at Shrewsbury, and attacked the foremost
horse in the carriage; {53} so contentions frequently attack the
leaders, in order to stop the carriage of the ministry as it travels
on in the labors of the pulpit. In the midst of the noise of strife,
the man of God must raise his voice to heaven for courage and
tenderness, so that the oil of Christ’s love to the souls of men may
be found in the oil-flagon of reproof, which is poured on the head;
for if anger and revenge enter in, they will drop, like the spider in
Germany, into the pot, and that will prevent the salutary effect of
the oil, because the poison of wrath is mixed with it. The
righteousness of God cannot be fulfilled in this manner in the
discipline. O! brother, who is sufficient for these things, without
constant help from heaven? How awful is this place! This is the
house of God and the gate of heaven—and here is a ladder by which we
may climb up for help; and a school in which we may learn how to
conduct ourselves in the house of God.
“You cannot but be conscious, brother, of the great difficulty there
is not to speak unadvisedly with our lips, as did Moses whilst
drawing water for the rebellious Israelites. The rebellion of the
people had imbittered his spirit, so that his obduracy stood like a
cloud between the people and the tenderness of the Lord, when he was
showing mercy upon them by giving them water. Moses upbraided their
rebellion instead of showing mercy, as the dispensation of God now
required; a dispensation which contained in it a secret intimation of
the great mercy to be shown by the death of Christ on the cross.
Their strife was the cause of imbittering the spirit of Moses, yet he
should have possessed his soul in patience.
“There are two things, brother, which you should observe: First, you
will be called upon to attend to causes of contention; and you will
find persons so hardened, that you will not be able to obtain weapons
in all the armory of God’s word that will terrify them and make them
afraid of entering their old haunts. Such are persons without faith,
and without the fear of God and the love of Christ influencing their
minds; and though you warn them of the consequences of their
contentions, that they are likely to deprive them of the privileges
of the house of God, and thus forfeit the promised land, yet they
stand unmoved, nothing terrified, for they value the flesh-pots of
Egypt and their livelihood there, more than the manna and the land of
promise. You cannot frighten them by speaking of the danger and loss
of the immunities of the church below, or that above; Esau-like, they
will sell their birthright as Christian professors for a mess of
pottage. A man who has no money is not afraid to meet with robbers
in the wood; but the individual that has gold to lose will be
cautious and watchful, lest he should be robbed of his property. On
a night of great storm, when ships are broken to pieces and sinking,
a person who has no share in any of them will not tremble or feel any
concern on their account. Thus there are some men concerning whom it
is impossible to make them dread going out among the rapacious beasts
of backslidings, and no storms can keep them in fear. Their spirit
is one with the marauders, and they have no care, for they have
nothing to lose in the tempests that blow upon the cause of the
religion of Christ. These are the tares, or the children of the
wicked one, in the church.
“Secondly, for your own encouragement, brother, I remark that you
will have to attend to the exercise of discipline, and to treat with
persons that may be alarmed, and made to tremble at the word of God,
and not rush on presumptuously in their evil course. These are
professors who possess white garments, and the gold of faith, and
eye-salve from the unction of the Holy One. These individuals are
rich in faith. They are afraid of revolutions and upsettings of the
constitutional order of the new covenant, for they have funds
invested in the stocks of God’s kingdom. They are afraid that any
storm or rock of offence should come in the way of the gospel ship,
for their treasure is on board of it, and they have an interest in
it. They dread the thought of walking unwatchfully and licentiously,
lest they should be robbed of their riches, and forfeit the
fellowship of God in prayer, lose the light of his countenance, and
his peace in the means of grace, and lest they should be deprived of
their confidence in the merits of Christ and a good conscience. They
have denied themselves, and have pulled out the right eye, lest they
should not be acceptable before God. They dread harboring in their
bosoms the old guilt and former doubts. They are cautious not to
give a night’s lodging to such miscreants as anger, revenge, lust,
and things which are of the earth; for they know that these are
robbers, and if they have any indulgence they will steal away the
_title-deeds_ of assurance to the inheritance. They are well aware,
also, that they will sustain the loss of a pure conscience, which has
been purged by the blood of Christ, and which, as a golden chest, is
a preserver of our confidence immovable unto the end. It is
possible, brother, to manage and discipline such professors. They
have something to lose, consequently they will not flee from their
refuge, lest they should be destroyed. _Keep that which thou hast_.
David lost for a season the enjoyment of the above blessings; but he
was cleansed with hyssop, had his spirit renewed, and his riches were
restored to him by faith’s view of the Messiah, for which he vowed to
sing aloud for ever and ever. He prayed, after this, to be delivered
from presumptuous sins, lest he should be imprisoned a second time by
a party so wicked and detestable. May the spiritual gift be kindled
in you, brother. Grace be with you for ever and ever.
“Affectionately,
“CHRISTMAS EVANS.
“_Caernarvon_, _August_ 5, 1836.”
TOUR THROUGH THE PRINCIPALITY.
In April, 1838, when Mr. Evans had been about four years in Caernarvon,
the church under his charge received notice to pay up the £300 yet due on
their house of worship. He took a tour through the principality, to
collect money for this purpose. Before he set out, he wrote a circular
to his brethren, which was published in the Welsh Magazine. We make the
following extract:—
“The term of the lease of life has expired in my case, even three
score and ten years, and I am very much afflicted. I have purposed
to sacrifice myself to this object, though I am afraid I shall die in
the journey, and fear I shall not succeed in my errand for Christ.
We have no source to which we can now repair, but our own
denomination in Wales, and brethren and friends of other communities
that may sympathize with us. O brethren, pray with me for protection
on the journey—for strength and health this _once_, on occasion of my
bidding farewell to you all—pray for the light of the Lord’s
countenance upon me in preaching, pray for his own glory, and that
his key may open the hearts of the people to contribute towards his
cause in its present exigency. O help us, brethren,—when you see the
old brother, after having been fifty-three years in the ministry,
now, instead of being in the grave with his colleagues, or resting at
home with three of them who are yet alive—brethren Lewis of
Llanwenarth, Davies of Velin Voel, and Thomas of Aberduar {56}—when
you see him coming, with the furrows of death in his countenance, the
flowers of the grave on his head, and his whole constitution
gradually dissolving; having labored fifty years in the ministry in
the Baptist denomination. He comes to you with hundreds of prayers
bubbling as it were from the fountain of his heart, and with a
mixture of fear and confidence. O do not frown upon him!—he is
afraid of your frowns. Smile upon him by contributing cheerfully to
his cause this once for all. If you frown upon me, ministers and
deacons, by intimating an _irregular case_, I am afraid I shall sink
into the grave before returning home. This is my last sacrifice for
the Redeemer’s cause.”
In this journey, he was cordially received everywhere by the churches,
and very successful in raising money. At no former period of his life
was his popularity so great as now. Wherever he preached, the place was
thronged at an early hour; and frequently multitudes remained without,
unable to obtain admittance.
MONMOUTHSHIRE ASSOCIATION.
During this tour, he attended the Monmouthshire Association, and preached
his last associational sermon. In his introduction, he described a man
whom he had seen in Caernarvon, throwing a few beans to a herd of swine
that followed him, and thus enticing them to the door of the
slaughter-house, where they were to be slain; and said that, in a similar
manner, with one temptation after another, Satan allures deluded sinners
to the very gates of hell, where they are to be tormented for ever and
ever. He spoke of the gospel on the day of Pentecost, as a great
electrical machine; Christ turning the handle; Peter placing the chain in
contact with the people: and the Holy Ghost descending like a stream of
ethereal fire, and melting the hearts of three thousand at once!
Perhaps no sermon that Mr. Evans ever preached evinced more vigor of
intellect, more power and splendor of genius, than this; and seldom, if
ever, had he a more perfect command over the feelings of an audience.
But the effort was too much for him, and he was afterward confined to his
room by illness for a week.
LAST SERMON, SICKNESS, AND DEATH.
Following this indefatigable man of God, we find him, on Sunday, the
fifteenth of July, notwithstanding his late illness, at Swansea,
preaching like a seraph, on the Prodigal Son in the morning, and in the
evening on the words of St. Paul—“I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ,” &c.
The next evening he preached in the church at Mount Pleasant. He said he
had taken his pulpit model from the day of Pentecost. He described the
event of that memorable day, as a great naval battle between Emanuel and
the Prince of Darkness. “The captain of our salvation” sent out twelve
little boats to engage the whole fleet of hell. For a time all was
enveloped in fire and smoke, and the issue of the day seemed doubtful;
but when the conflict ceased, and the cloud cleared away, it was
ascertained that the twelve little boats had captured three thousand of
Satan’s ships of war.
When the preacher sat down, he said, “_This is my last sermon_.” And so
it was. That night he was taken violently ill. The next day he lay in a
partial stupor, taking but little notice of his friends. The third day
he seemed somewhat better. On the morning of the fourth day, Thursday,
he arose and walked in the garden. Toward evening he sunk again, and
grew worse during the night. At two of the clock on Friday morning, he
said to his friends:—“I am about to leave you. I have labored in the
sanctuary fifty-three years; and this is my comfort and confidence, that
I have never labored without blood in the basin”—meaning, evidently, that
he had not failed to preach “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” After a
few more remarks of a similar character, he repeated a Welsh stanza,
expressive of his firm trust in the Redeemer; and then, as if he had done
with earth, and desired to depart, exclaimed in English—“GOOD-BYE! DRIVE
ON!” He now turned over, and seemed to sleep. His friends tried to
rouse him. It was too late. The angelic postillion had obeyed the
order. The chariot had passed over the everlasting hills.
Thus died Christmas Evans, at the house of his friend, Rev. Daniel
Davies, in Swansea, July 19th, 1838, in the 73d year of his age, and the
54th of his ministry. His life was blameless, and his end was peace.
“This honor have all his saints!”
FUNEREAL SORROW.
His funeral took place four days after his death. Never before was there
such a funeral in Swansea, never such a concourse of mourners. The
people came in crowds, and wept their way to the grave as if they had
been following the bier of their father. The melancholy tidings of his
departure spread through the principality, and the fountains of sorrow
were everywhere unsealed. In Anglesea, especially, the grief was deep
and universal. There he had spent more than half of his ministerial
life, and hundreds owned him as their father in Christ. The Baptist
pulpits were all clothed in mourning, and funeral sermons were preached
throughout the principality.
PORTRAITURE.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
MR. EVANS was a good-looking man, nearly six feet high, and well
proportioned. His intellectual faculties, phrenologically speaking, were
amply developed. He had lost one of his eyes in his youth, but the other
was large and bright enough for two. It had a peculiarly penetrating
glance; and when kindling under the inspiration of the pulpit, added
wonderfully to the effect of his eloquence. All his features were
expressive of intelligence and love; his whole bearing, dignified and
majestic; and the blending of great and amiable qualities in his
character commanded at once the reverence and the confidence of all who
knew him.
MORAL AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
From the time of his conversion to the day of his death, Mr. Evans
exhibited a consistent and exemplary piety. Though he several times fell
into darkness and doubt, and lost a portion of his burning zeal, he never
forfeited his place in the church, or tarnished his Christian name. The
uprightness of his deportment was acknowledged by all his neighbors; and
those of other denominations, differing widely from him in creed and
custom, always accorded to him the reputation of “a holy man of God.”
But his piety was never ostentatious or austere. Modesty and humility
were among his most prominent qualities, and a high degree of Christian
cheerfulness characterized his conversation. However low, at times, his
religious enjoyment, he was always careful to walk with becoming
circumspection before the world, that the cause of Christ might suffer no
reproach through his imprudence.
SOCIAL DISPOSITION.
Mr. Evans was naturally of a quick and irritable temper; but Divine Grace
subdued his constitutional impetuosity, made him “gentle toward all men,”
and clothed him with “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.” He was
eminently social in his feelings, and took great delight in the company
of his friends. It cost him no effort to render himself agreeable in any
society. In the cottage and the mansion he was equally at home, and the
unlettered peasant and the erudite philosopher were equally interested by
his conversation. He never had any children of his own, but was always
remarkably fond of the children of others. After discoursing for an hour
on the sublimest topics of the Christian faith, in a style befitting
their importance, to the great delight, and often to the amazement of all
who heard him, he would descend to the relation of some pretty story, in
a manner so affectionate and familiar as at once to win the hearts and
enlighten the minds of half a dozen bright-eyed little creatures, grouped
around him like Peter Parley’s scholars in the picture.
READING AND STUDY.
Mr. Evans was a great lover of books. He seized and devoured with
avidity every interesting volume that fell in his way. He never resorted
to reading, however, as a mere pastime. He sought for mental and
spiritual treasures to enrich his sermons. For this he beat the fields
and dug the wells of knowledge. Every thing was made subservient to his
holy calling. Every thing was pressed into his preparations for the
pulpit. His authors were selected with prudent discrimination, and
perused with earnest attention, indicating an intense desire to be
thoroughly furnished for his work. He studied what he read. He was
extensively acquainted with the best theological writers of the age, and
quoted them frequently in his discourses. But there is one volume to
which he referred more frequently than to all the rest, “the book of
books divine.” He was emphatically “a man mighty in the Scriptures.”
From the word of God he derived the principal matter of his preaching.
Even that lofty imagery which constituted the peculiar charm of his
ministry, was ordinarily but an amplification of scriptural tropes and
descriptions. In theology, next to the Bible, Dr. Owen was his favorite
author. He paid considerable attention to Oriental manners and customs;
was well read in history, ancient and modern; and particularly fond of
tracing the rise and fall of empires.
DEVOTIONAL HABITS.
Mr. Evans was eminently a man of prayer. Prayer was his daily bread, the
very breath of his spirit. He considered himself entitled, through
Christ, to all the blessings of the gospel, and came boldly to the throne
of grace in every time of need. During his whole ministerial life, much
of his time was spent in the closet. It was his custom for many years,
to retire for devotion three times during the day, and rise regularly for
the same purpose at midnight. The disorders of the church, the slanders
of his enemies, and the various afflictions of life, all drove him to the
mercy-seat, and made him peculiarly earnest and importunate in
supplication. After these seasons of agony, he came into the church, or
the social circle, as an angel from the presence of God, and “all his
garments smelt of myrrh and aloes and cassia from the ivory palaces.”
He never undertook a new enterprise, without first asking counsel of the
Lord. When he had a call to another field of labor, he could not decide
upon the matter till he had spread it repeatedly before the throne. When
he was about to preach at an association, or on any important occasion,
he wrestled for hours with the angel of the covenant, nor relinquished
his hold till he felt himself “endued with power from on high.” Then he
came forth to the congregation, as Moses from the Tabernacle, when he had
communed with God. Just before leaving home on his tour of collection
for the Caernarvon church, the last labor of his life, he penned in his
book of appointments the following paragraph:—
“O Lord, grant me my desire on this journey, for thy name’s sake. My
first petition;—Comfort in Christ—the comfort of love—the bowels of
love and mercy in the denomination—the fellowship of the
Spirit.—Amen. My second petition;—That the sermons I have prepared
for this journey may increase in their ministration, like the five
loaves and two fishes.—Amen. C. E.”
CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE.
Mr. Evans was a poor man, but “rich in good works.” Suffering poverty
always excited his pity, and opened his purse. Wherever he beheld
distress, he was “ready to distribute, willing to communicate,” according
to the ability which God had given him. His salary in Anglesea, for
twenty years, was only seventeen pounds per annum; and afterward, only
thirty. With so small an income, he could not be expected to bestow much
upon the various objects of charity. But he gave annually one pound to
the Bible Society, one pound to the Missionary Society, and ten shillings
to the Baptist Education Society, besides contributing liberally to the
relief of the poor and the sick in his neighborhood.
Sometimes his liberality was larger than his purse. Once, when a
Protestant Irishman, poorly clad, told him that he spent much time in
reading the Scriptures to his illiterate countrymen, he pulled off his
own coat, and gave it to him. At another time, he presented a poor Jew,
who had recently been converted to Christianity, a new suit of clothes,
the best he had in his wardrobe. While in Anglesea, he visited a brother
in the church, who had been reduced by protracted illness to a condition
of great distress; and finding the family almost in a state of
starvation, emptied his pocket of the only pound he had. His wife
remonstrated with him, told him she had not bread enough in the house to
last twenty-four hours, and demanded what he would do now he had given
away all his money. His only answer was: “Jehovah-jireh; the Lord will
provide!” The next day he received a letter from England, enclosing two
pounds as a present. As soon as he had read it, he called out to his
wife;—“Catherine! I told thee that Providence would return the
alms-pound, for it was a loan to the Lord; and see, here it is, doubled
in one day!” It is evident from this incident, that Mr. Evans’
liberality was the fruit of his faith in God; and the good man’s
confidence is never put to shame. “There is that scattereth, and yet
increaseth.”
SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS.
“Be ye merciful, even as your Father who is in heaven is merciful.”
There is no virtue more beautiful in its character, or more important to
the Christian, than that thus enjoined by the Son of God. The spirit of
forgiveness infinitely transcends all the effects of mere human
philosophy, and allies man to his Maker. In this amiable quality,
Christmas Evans was never wanting. He took a thousand times more
pleasure in pardoning the offender, than the offender in asking his
pardon. “It was only,” says his Welsh biographer, “for the person who
had given offence to make some sort of acknowledgment, to say there had
been a misunderstanding. Mr. Evans would anticipate him with:—‘O, say
nothing about it! let it be buried! very likely I have been in fault
myself!’” The spirit of Mr. Evans’ diary everywhere corroborates this
description of his character. We extract a single paragraph:—
“I trust that by the grace of God, I have overcome my natural
disposition to anger and revenge. I have been enabled to forgive my
greatest enemies, and pray that they may be forgiven of God. I can
say from my heart, with Stephen; ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge!’ I have no wish that any of them should suffer for their
attempts to injure me, but that they may all be led to repentance,
and settle their matters at the mercy-seat, where I hope also that
the multitude of my own trespasses will be covered and forgotten.”
His mercy was as impartial as it was cordial. He had held a controversy
with a minister of another sect, who, forgetting the rules of Christian
courtesy, treated him very unkindly before the public. This minister was
afterward arraigned and imprisoned on a very serious allegation. If he
had been convicted, degradation from the ministry would have been the
smallest part of his punishment. Mr. Evans, learning the fact, and
believing the prosecution unjust and malicious, felt greatly distressed
for his polemical opponent. On the day of trial, he retired to his room,
and poured out his heart to God on his behalf, for a long time, and with
peculiar fervor. Then he waited with great anxiety for the issue. As he
sat at the table, with several friends and brethren, a minister, who had
been at court, entered the room, and said; “Mr. — is acquitted!” Mr.
Evans instantly fell upon his knees, with tears streaming down his face,
and exclaimed:—“Thanks be unto thee, O Lord Jesus! for delivering one of
thy servants from the mouth of the lions!” He then arose, saluted his
friend, and joined in the mutual congratulations of the company.
CATHOLIC GENEROSITY.
That Christmas Evans was no bigot, might be inferred from the above
anecdote. But we have other and ampler evidence of his Christian
catholicity. He was a Baptist; and, with the rest of his brethren, a
strenuous advocate for exclusive immersion. He was a Calvinist, and
thought it very important to vindicate against Arminian views what are
sometimes called “the doctrines of grace.” But he was also a Christian,
and held all other Christians as brethren. He did not repudiate the
sincerely pious, because they could not say his “Shibboleth.” Kind,
candid, and ingenuous, he judged of things according to their real value
and importance, and appreciated true talent and virtue wherever he found
them. His creed was not; “I am of Paul;” nor, “I am of Apollos;” nor, “I
am of John the Baptist;” but, “We are all of Christ!” He was not blinded
by the senseless prejudice of sect. He was influenced less by the
peculiarities of his denomination than by the love of Christ. Many of
his warmest friends were ministers of other orders; and of the Methodists
and Congregationalists at Caernarvon, he made honorable mention in his
diary.
The most despicable reptile of the moral world is envy, the spirit that
prompted revolt in heaven, and hurled archangels down to hell. Yet it is
often found among Christians; among the ministers of a religion whose
very principle is charity. Some men, like king Saul, can never bear a
rival. If the thousands of Israel raise the voice and tune the lyre in
honor of some victorious David, the evil spirit comes upon them, and they
launch their javelins at the young anointed, and seek “to smite him even
to the wall.” From such feelings Mr. Evans was always free. His large
heart was utterly incapable of anything of the kind. He esteemed others
better than himself, and in honor preferred his brethren. Wherever he
discovered talent and sanctified ambition in a young preacher, he never
exerted an influence to hinder him, but heartily bade him God speed. He
did not deem it necessary to smite him on the head with a cudgel to keep
him in his place. He was not afraid that others would outshine him in
the pulpit. He would gladly have taken his place at the feet of any of
Christ’s ambassadors. He was willing to accord due praise to merit, not
only in the dead, but also in the living; not only in those of other
countries and other denominations, but also in those of his native
principality and the Baptist church. His immediate contemporaries and
neighbors were often the subjects of his highest encomiums. His heart
was as large as the world!
INGENUOUSNESS AND HONESTY.
A late American writer has said of insincerity, that it is the most
detestable of all vices for which men go unhung. Yet it must be
admitted, there is no vice more prevalent, even among the professed
followers of Him, “who knew no iniquity, neither was guile found in his
lips.” The sentiment, that it is right to deceive for the good of the
church, is not peculiar to the Papists. Perhaps the enlightened
Protestant can scarcely be found, who would verbally avow such a
doctrine; but it is often practically avowed, even by the messenger of
truth; and ecclesiastical elevation is sometimes attributable more to
dishonesty than to real virtue or talent.
Christmas Evans’ popularity, however, could boast a better origin. It
was the spontaneous fruit of his graces and his gifts. He was never
indebted to unfair and underhanded measures for his success. His conduct
was always open and ingenuous. Of deceit and secret design he was
incapable. He never attempted to build up his own church by proselyting
the converts of other churches. In one instance, when a young man, who
had been educated for the ministry in the established church of England,
came to him, desiring baptism by immersion, instead of eagerly seizing
upon so valuable an acquisition to the Baptists, as some doubtless would
have done, he endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, and yielded at
length only to his fervent importunity.
He deemed the slightest departure from truth, in any instance, a crime,
and a deep disgrace to the Christian character. He was innocent and
unsuspecting as a child. His frank and confiding disposition was
unquestionably the occasion of most of his heavy trials. Jealous and
malicious men took advantage of his Christian simplicity, and made one of
his sweetest virtues a poison to his peace.
He once employed a person to sell a horse for him at a fair. After some
time, he went out to see if he was likely to succeed. There was a man
bargaining for the animal, and the contract was nearly completed.
“Is this your horse, Mr. Evans?” said the purchaser.
“Certainly it is,” he replied.
“What is his age, sir?”
“Twenty-three years.”
“But this man tells me he is only fifteen.”
“He is certainly twenty-three, for he has been with me these twenty
years, and he was three years old when I bought him.”
“Is he safe-footed?”
“Very far from that, I assure you, or I would not part with him, and he
has never been put in harness since I have had him either.”
“Please to go into the house, Mr. Evans,” whispered the man whom he had
employed to make the sale, “for I shall never dispose of the horse while
you are present.”
The frank manner, however, in which Mr. Evans told him all the truth,
induced the dealer to make the purchase at a very handsome price; while
it procured for Mr. Evans a good name, which is better than gold.
SARCASTIC REBUKES.
In conversation he was always careful of the feelings of others. He
would never employ a sarcastic remark, but for the purpose of merited
rebuke. “It is better,” said he, “to keep sarcasms pocketed, if we
cannot use them without wounding the feelings of a friend.” But he was
capable, when occasion required, of wielding this weapon with terrible
effect. Take the following instances:—
Just before his removal from Cardiff to Caernarvon, he was conversing on
the contemplated change in a circle of several ministers. His labors had
been solicited in two or three other places, and the company were
canvassing the comparative claims of the different churches. A
feeble-minded young man present, who “thought more highly of himself than
he ought to think,” said:—“It is my opinion, Father Evans, that you had
better go to Caernarvon. It is not likely your talents would suit either
of the other places, but I think you might do very well at Caernarvon.”
Mr. Evans opened his large eye upon the speaker, and replied;—“And hast
_thou_ peeped? When didst thou creep from the shell?”
Once, two ministers, of different sects, were disputing in his presence
on what he deemed an unimportant matter of ecclesiastical discipline.
One of them asked:—“What say you, Mr. Evans?” Mr. Evans replied:—“I saw
two boys quarrelling over two snails. One of them insisted that his
snail was the better, because it had horns; while the other as
strenuously argued for the superiority of his, because it had none. The
boys were very angry and vociferous, but the two snails were friends.”
The disputants burst into a hearty laugh, and the debate ended.
A shallow atheist was ridiculing the idea of a God, because, as he
alleged, he had no sensible evidence of his being. Mr. Evans
answered:—“My friend, the mole in the meadow has never seen a king; shall
he therefore say there is no king? O thou atheistic mole! thou hast
never travelled out of thy own narrow field; and if thou hadst, thou hast
no eyes to see with; and wilt thou dare to say there is no God? Dost
thou think all others as blind as thyself? All that thou canst say is,
that thou dost not see God, and dost not wish to see him. How dost thou
know that the being of a God is not so manifest on the other side of the
river of death, that no doubt is entertained concerning it throughout all
the expanse of eternity? Can the earth-mole say there is no grand Lama
in Thibet? Poor worm! thou must travel through the gates of death, and
fathom the bottomless pit, and measure the land of destruction, and scale
the very heaven of heavens, and surround all the borders of time and
eternity, before thou canst assure thyself there is no God!”
PULPIT TALENTS AND LABORS.
As a preacher, Mr. Evans was very peculiar. No translation of his
sermons can give the English reader an adequate idea of their force and
beauty in the original.
He was exceedingly methodical and perspicuous. His arrangement was never
loose and vague; his thoughts never confused and mingled together. He
was a “wise master-builder,” who took care to lay a broad and firm
foundation, and then “built thereon gold, silver, and precious stones.”
The several parts of his discourse bore a mutual relation of dependence,
and each would have been incomplete without the others. His order was so
natural, that it was very easy to follow him; and his manner so
impressive, that it was nearly impossible to forget him.
He never spoke on a subject that he did not understand. Before entering
the pulpit, he invariably measured his text in all its extent, and
considered it in every possible aspect. “He had a wonderful method,”
says one, “of making the most abstruse passages appear easy and plain.
He interpreted scripture by scripture, and exhibited the component parts
of his subject in a clear and beautiful manner, and illustrated them by
the most appropriate and striking metaphors; and forging link by link,
united them together, and bound the whole up in one glorious chain. His
talents were such as to enable him to cast a ray of light upon the
darkest points of the Christian system.”
Mr. Evans’ descriptive powers were altogether unique. He abounded in
allegories of the most forcible character. In this respect, he was
equaled by none of his contemporaries; transcended by none of his
predecessors. Passages of this kind will be so frequently met with in
the following selection from his sermons, that it is not necessary to
point them out to the reader.
His happy art of description is attributable chiefly to a very remarkable
imagination. This is one of the primary qualities of an orator. When it
is lacking, no depth of learning, no graces of delivery, can compensate
for its lack. True, argument is important. There is no eloquence
without argument. Argument must constitute the bone and the sinew of
every good discourse. But the bone and the sinew constitute only the
skeleton. Imagination must supply the muscle and the nerve. Imagination
must clothe it with beauty, and inspire it with life; give expression to
the features, animation to the eye, and to the tongue motion and melody
articulate. Argument is the John Baptist of eloquence, after whom there
cometh a mightier, baptizing with fire!
“Logic,” says Carlyle, “is good, but not the best. The irrefragable
doctor, with his chain of inductions, his corollaries, dilemmas, and
other cunning logical diagrams and apparatus, will cast you a beautiful
horoscope, and speak you reasonable things; nevertheless, the stolen
jewel which you wanted him to find you is not forthcoming. Often, by
some winged word, winged as the thunderbolt is, of a Luther, Napoleon,
Goethe, shall we see the difficulty split asunder, and its secret laid
bare; while the irrefragable, with all his logical roots, hews at it, and
hovers round it, and finds it on all sides too hard for him.”
Mr. Evans had feeling as well as fancy. This in a preacher is even more
important than the other. Here, we conceive, lies the principal
distinction between the orator and the poet. Poetry is the language of
fancy; eloquence, the language of feeling. The preacher who operates
only on the judgment and the fancy may instruct and please, and thus
prepare the way for persuasion. Persuasion itself requires a warm and
glowing heart. Eloquence has been defined, “the power of imparting one’s
feelings to others.” “If you want me to weep,” said Horace, “you must
weep yourself.” The preacher who is himself unmoved, will toil in vain
to move his hearers. His sermon may be as beautiful as the moon-beams on
the snow; but it will be as powerless and as cold. As saith
Longinus:—“The orator must have a vehement and enthusiastic passion, a
certain madness, or divine phrensy, breathing into his thoughts, and
inspiring his speech.” To use the language of another:—“Truth must be
planted in the hot-bed of feeling, if we would witness its flowery
development, and enjoy its fruit. The orator must be roused and inflamed
by the majesty of his theme; not wrought up into an unmeaning fury, like
a tempest in a tea-pot; but influenced and agitated by solemn
considerations of truth, duty, interest, and moral grandeur.”
If this description of eloquence was ever realized in the pulpit, it was
in the preaching of Christmas Evans. He spoke what he felt, and because
he felt. The fountain was in his own soul, and it flowed out upon his
audience in streams of living water. He was always full of his subject,
and his ordinary manner was exceedingly ardent and pathetic. Sometimes
he seemed quite overwhelmed with the magnitude and grandeur of his theme,
and then he spoke with such impassioned earnestness as to storm the
hearts of his hearers. Thus inspired, it was scarcely possible that any
man of ordinary sensibilities should be otherwise than eloquent. But Mr.
Evans’ talents were of a superior order; and when kindling with the
enthusiasm of his message, he became peculiarly energetic and impressive.
“His words came out,” as Longinus says, “as if discharged from an
engine,” and their influence rested like a spell upon the ear and the
heart. He transported his hearers beyond the region of argument, and
leaving all their cavils and prejudices immeasurably behind, rapt them
away to the third heaven of ecstasy!
The secret of all this power is found in the preacher’s piety. He was a
man of eminent faith and holiness. The “things new and old” for the
edification of his hearers, he “brought forth out of the treasure of his
own heart.” The love of God within him imparted to his preaching a
wonderful unction. His splendid mental creations were instinct with the
inspiration of sanctified feeling. This divine anointing often rendered
him superior to himself, clothed him with a superhuman energy, till he
seemed a messenger from the other world. The man was lost in his theme.
Art was swallowed up in the whirlpool of excited feeling. The audience
were swept irresistibly along by the current of the discourse;
acknowledging, by tears and groans, the preacher’s hold upon their
hearts; and sometimes losing all self-control, and bursting into the most
extravagant expressions of wonder and delight. On this subject take the
language of one, who, from personal acquaintance with Mr. Evans, was
qualified to form a correct estimate of his character as a Christian
minister:—
“He was also an experimental preacher. That a preacher feel his
subject, constitutes one of his excellencies; but that his sermon be
deeply imbued with the spiritual experience of the preacher, is the
Crowning point of his excellency. It is true, a person may speak
well of the distress of other people, but he will speak more
powerfully of his own distress. Persons may expatiate very
eloquently on the pleasant fragrance of the herbs and flowers of
foreign lands, but those who have themselves participated in the
fragrant odors, in the soft breezes of those countries, can describe
them in an infinitely superior manner, and to much greater advantage.
Many may speak fluently of the mercies of God, in providence and
grace—protecting, preserving, pardoning sinners, &c., but those who
have experienced a sense of the divine mercy in their own souls can
speak much better of it. Mr. Evans had an experience of the things
of God. Not only had he heard of Calvary, but in Calvary he lived;
not only had he heard of the bread of angels and of the corn of
heaven, but this bread and this corn were his daily food; not only
had he heard of the river of life, the streams whereof make glad the
city of our God, but the crystal waters of this river were his
constant drink; not only had he heard of the renewing influences of
the grace of God, but he himself had been made the subject of these
influences. He had experienced the operations of the Spirit
renovating his own heart, and therefore he could speak of them, not
as a matter of hearsay, but with the apostle—‘And what our hands have
handled of the Word of life, declare we unto you.’” {71}
Mr. Evans’ preaching was highly evangelical. “Jesus Christ and him
crucified,” was the alpha and omega of his ministry. The character of
the following sermons fully justifies that remarkable saying upon his
death-bed: “I have never labored without blood in the basin.” Every one
of them is illustrative of some important point in the economy of
salvation. Every one of them tends to humble the sinner, and exalt the
grace of God. Every one of them abounds with lofty views of the Divine
Justice and Mercy.
“It is generally allowed,” observes his friend, “that the people who are
trained by a minister, and moulded by his instructions, are a good
evidence of the tendency of his doctrine and ministry. In this view
then, it is observed, the church where he more statedly labored in
Anglesea, and where the most of his care and efforts were bestowed, were
a people mighty in the Scriptures; that they would converse well and
readily on most of the doctrines of the Christian faith; that they
labored much to improve in knowledge, and were active in the cause of
religion. These nearly all were Mr. Evans’ own people; they were
nurtured by him, and upon his ministerial food they grew to be men, and
were wholly according to the mold of his doctrine. It has been remarked,
‘that if volumes upon volumes were written upon the subject of the
tendency of his ministry, it could never be exhibited to greater
advantage than has been done by himself, in those bright, clear, and
golden letters, which he has inscribed upon the people of his charge at
Llangevni.’”
The following extracts from Mr. Evans contain his views of the
evangelical over the legal style of preaching:—
“While a preacher inculcates duties in any way but with a view to the
promises of mercy, and of undeserved strength, he is more like to a
moral philosopher, than to the apostles and preachers that have been
a blessing unto men, such as Whitefield, and hundreds who have been
in a degree blessed in the same doctrine, and by the same Spirit. It
is not in the duties we are to rest, but in Christ. ‘Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord—that they may rest from their labors, _and
their works follow them_.’ It was not in reliance upon their works
they passed through the river of death, as if presumptuously on a
bundle of rushes, but their works will meet them in the judgment day;
to be weighed there in the balance of the faith and love of Christ;
and they will be there as witnesses on the part of the saints,
bearing testimony that the love of Christ constrained them to live to
him that died for them and was raised again.”
Again:—
“By endeavoring to avoid the bog, you sink in the quicksands—while
you are hiding the system of grace, and casting it, as it were, into
the shade—duties without faith are not acceptable, for ‘Without faith
it is impossible to please God.’ I compare you to a dry-goods
merchant, who should hang up a piece of white cloth over the shelves
of his store, where the cloths, fine linen, silks, &c., are kept, and
thus hiding every article in his store, without exposing any thing to
the view of his customers, yet he would stand at the counter, and
address them in the language of surprise, Why do you not buy here,
for I know you have wherewith? So some preach, standing like the
store-keeper at the counter, saying, while the doctrine of grace is
kept put of sight, Why do you not buy here? for we know that you have
the money of ability; but you spend your money in the shops of the
lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life. But
they reply, What shall we buy, sir? you tell us that there is
salvation in your store—and fine linen wrought out from Bethlehem to
Calvary, and white raiment; gold and pearls, and food and drink
indeed; but you hide them under the vail: bring them to the counter,
and open them before us; show us, carefully and plainly, whence this
salvation proceeds, and by what means it has been procured;—has it
been expensive to some one, seeing it is free for us?”
Once more:—
“I compare such preachers to a miner, who should go to the quarry
where he raised the ore, and taking his sledge in his hand, should
endeavor to form bars of iron of the ore in its rough state, without
a furnace to melt it, or a rolling-mill to roll it out, or molds to
cast the metal, and conform the casts to their patterns. The gospel
is like a form or mold, and sinners are to be melted, as it were, and
cast into it. ‘But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you,’ {73} or into which you were
delivered, as is the marginal reading, so that your hearts ran into
the mold. Evangelical preachers have, in the name of Christ, a mold
or form to cast the minds of men into; as Solomon, the vessels of the
temple. The Sadducees and Pharisees had their forms, and legal
preachers have their forms; but evangelical preachers should bring
with them the ‘form of sound words,’ so that, if the hearers believe,
or are melted into it, Christ may be formed in their hearts—then they
will be as born of the truth, and the image of the truth will appear
in their sentiments and experience, and in their conduct in the
church, in the family, and in the neighborhood. Preachers without
the mold, are all those who do not preach all the points of the
gospel of the grace of God.”
Christmas Evans was in labors more abundant than any of his Welsh
contemporaries. We have stated in the memoir, that while in Anglesea, he
frequently preached five times a day, and walked twenty miles. During
his ministry, he made forty journeys from North to South Wales, and
preached one hundred and sixty-three associational sermons. It is
wonderful that his extensive travels and arduous labors did not hurry him
to the grave before he had lived out half his days. But he had a firm
and vigorous constitution; and having borne the burden and the heat of
the day, the Master sustained him in the vineyard till the setting of the
sun.
And his labors were as successful as they were extensive. “The sound of
heaven,” remarks his friend “was to be heard in his sermons. He studied
his discourses well; he ‘sought to find out acceptable words, even words
of truth;’ and the Holy Ghost attended his ministry in an extraordinary
manner.”
Few men of modern times have had a more numerous spiritual family than
he. Wherever he went, throughout all Wales, multitudes claimed him as
their father in Christ. “In his day the Baptist associations acquired
their great popularity, and in his day arose a number of the most
respectable ministers ever known in the principality.” Some of them were
his own converts, and many of them had their talents inspired and their
zeal inflamed under his powerful ministry. “Life and evangelical savor,”
said one of them, “attend Christmas Evans, wherever he is.” “None of
us,” said another, “understand and comprehend the full extent of his
usefulness.” The celebrated Robert Hall mentioned his talents in terms
of high commendation, and ranked him among the first men of his age. A
Congregational clergyman, who was well acquainted with him, speaks of him
as follows:—
“He is a connecting link between the beginning and the ending of this
century. {74} He has the light, the talent, and the taste of the
beginning, and has received every new light that has appeared since.
He was enabled to accompany the career of religious knowledge in the
morning, and also to follow its rapid strides in the evening. In
this he is unlike every other preacher of the day: the morning and
evening light of this wonderful century meet in him. He had strength
to climb up to the top of Carmel in the morning, and remain there
during the heat of the day, and see the fire consuming the sacrifice
and licking up the water; his strength continued, by the hand of the
Lord, so that he could descend from the mount in the evening, and run
without fainting before the king’s chariot to Jezreel.”
We conclude this brief and somewhat imperfect portraiture with the
following characteristic paragraph from the pen of Mr. Evans,
illustrative of his views, not only of the right kind of pulpit
ministration, but also of the injurious influence and tendency of the
principal theological controversies which during his day agitated the
Baptist churches in the principality of Wales:—
“I consider that a remarkable day has begun upon Wales. The dawn of
this day was with Vavasor Powell and Walter Caradork; the former
amongst the Baptists and the latter amongst the Independents
(Congregationalists). Several churches were gathered in both
denominations in the twilight of morning. But when Rowlands and
Harris rose—it was the sunrising of this revival day. Mr. Jones, of
Pontypool, was one of the sons of the sunrising. About ten or eleven
o’clock, a host of Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists, and
Congregationalists, arose; and among this class I had the honor of
entering the field. The day was warm—the sermons and prayers were
short, and the doctrine was evangelical. But I have reached the
evening, and the day is greatly cooled. Power, tenderness, and the
cross of Christ, marked the sermons in the morning; but length and
tediousness are the distinguishing features of the prayers and
sermons in the evening. It was too warm to preach two hours in the
heat of the day. It appears, also, that talents are become much
weaker and more effeminate as the evening spreads its shades. Beyond
a doubt, the preaching of intricate points—something like questions
concerning the law, and endless genealogies, have been the means of
cooling the work and the workmen in the evening of the day. They
will now lift up their heads and talk to every traveller that passes
the field; and towards Merionethshire, they will inquire, ‘Dost thou
know any thing about Sandemanianism?’ and in other districts they
will ask, ‘Dost thou know something about Williamsism {75} and
Fullerism?’ and in consequence you may see young doctors many,
springing up, talking like learned Lilliputians. ‘Some say that
Christ died for all, and others that it was for his church he died;
but the truth is this,’ said the Lilliputians: ‘he did not die for
any man, _but for the sin of all men_.’ I was there also on the
great platform of this period, but I dared not condemn all systems by
a sweeping sentence of infallibility, and take the bagpipe under my
arm, as some were disposed to do, and cry down every new voice
without proving it. ‘Prove all things.’”
SERMONS OF CHRISTMAS EVANS.
A New translation from the Welsh.
INTRODUCTION.
IN presenting to the public a selection from the sermons of Christmas
Evans, we find ourselves embarrassed by two circumstances:
First.—It is impossible to exhibit on paper the peculiarly forcible
elocution of the author. Some of the most effective discourses ever
delivered seem comparatively powerless when perused afterward in private.
This observation is verified in the case of the two most remarkable
pulpit orators of modern times, George Whitefield and John Summerfield.
Their spoken eloquence was like the breathings of the seraphim, but their
printed sermons are of no very extraordinary character. Like them, Mr.
Evans was much indebted, for his success, to a very popular and powerful
delivery. His appearance in the pulpit was fine and commanding; his
voice, one of unrivalled compass and melody; his gesticulation, always
easy, appropriate, and forcible; and when he warmed under the inspiration
of his theme, his large bright eye shot fire through the assembly. But
the sermons are now divested of all these auxiliary accompaniments; and
without the prophet before us, we may wonder at the effects attributed to
his message. The following selections will give the reader at least a
tolerable idea of Mr. Evans’ modes of thought and illustration; but if he
would have any adequate conception of the splendid phantasmagora in
process of exhibition, he must imagine the burning lamp within the
scenes.
But the greater difficulty is the impossibility of a perfect translation.
Genius is proverbially eccentric. Mr. Evans’ style is altogether unique.
The structure of his sentences is very original. None of his countrymen
approximated his peculiar mode of expression. It would be exceedingly
difficult for any man, however well qualified to translate other Welsh
authors, to render him into English, with the preservation, everywhere,
of his spirit. The writer at first thought of publishing a selection
from his sermons as translated by J. Davis; but upon examination, that
translation was found so faulty, that it was deemed expedient, if
possible, to produce a new. In pursuance of this purpose he obtained the
aid of a friend, whose excellent literary taste, and accurate
acquaintance with both languages, constitute a sufficient guarantee for
the general correctness of the following translation. It lays no claim
to perfection, though it is at least free from the most obvious and
glaring faults of Mr. Davis’ version. Some of the nicest shades of
thought are inevitably lost, and many of the startling metaphors and
splendid allegories have doubtless suffered some diminution of their
original force and beauty; but the writer trusts that enough of the
author’s spirit is retained to furnish a pretty correct idea of his
talents, and render the book acceptable to the reader.
With these apologetic remarks, we commit the sermons of Christmas Evans
to the press; praying that they may be accompanied with something of the
same Divine unction, as when, in their original delivery by the author,
they “set the land of Cambria on fire.’”
JOSEPH CROSS.
_Philadelphia_, May 30, 1846.
SERMON I.
THE TIME OF REFORMATION.
“_Until the time of reformation_.”—Heb. ix. 10.
THE ceremonies pertaining to the service of God under the Sinaic
dispensation were entirely typical in their character; mere figures of
Christ, the “High-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands;” who, “not by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, has entered once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Sustaining such a relation
to other ages and events, they were necessarily imperfect, consisting
“only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances,”
not intended for perpetual observance, but imposed upon the Jewish people
merely “until the time of reformation,” when the shadow should give place
to the substance, and a Greater than Moses should “make all things new.”
Let us notice the time of reformation, and the reformation itself.
I. Time may be divided into three parts; the Golden Age before the fall,
the Iron Age after the fall, and the Messiah’s Age of Jubilee.
In the Golden Age, the heavens and the earth were created; the garden of
Eden was planted; man was made in the image of God, and placed in the
garden to dress and to keep it; matrimony was instituted; and God,
resting from his labor, sanctified the Seventh Day, as a day of holy rest
to man.
The Iron Age was introduced by the temptation of a foreigner, who
obtruded himself into Paradise, and persuaded its happy denizens to cast
off the golden yoke of obedience and love to God. Man, desiring
independence, became a rebel against Heaven, a miserable captive of sin
and Satan, obnoxious to the Divine displeasure, and exposed to eternal
death. The law was violated; the image of God was lost, and the enemy
came in like a flood. All communication between the island of time and
the continent of immortality was cut off, and the unhappy exiles saw no
hope of crossing the ocean that intervened.
The Messiah’s Age may be divided into three parts; the time of
Preparation, the time of Actual War, and the time of Victory and Triumph.
The Preparation began with the dawning of the day in Eden, when Messiah
came in the ship of the Promise, and landed on the island of Time, and
notified its inhabitants of his gracious intention to visit them again,
and assume their nature, and live and die among them; to break their
covenant allegiance to the prince of the iron yoke; and deliver to them
the charter, signed and sealed with his own blood, for the redemption and
renovation of their island, and the restoration of its suspended
intercourse with the land of Eternal Life. The motto inscribed upon the
banners of this age was,—“He shall bruise thy heel, and thou shalt bruise
his head.” Here Jehovah thundered forth his hatred of sin from the thick
darkness, and wrote his curse in fire upon the face of heaven; while
rivers of sacrificial blood proclaimed the miserable state of man, and
his need of a costlier atonement than mere humanity could offer. Here
also the spirit of Messiah fell upon the prophets, leading them to search
diligently for the way of deliverance, and enabling them to “testify
beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow.”
Then came the season of Actual War. “Messiah the Prince” was born in
Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling-bands, and laid in a manger. The Great
Deliverer was “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” With an
almighty hand, he laid hold on the works of the devil, unlocked the iron
furnace, and broke the brazen bands asunder. He opened his mouth, and
the deaf heard, the blind saw, the dumb spake, the lame walked, and the
lepers were cleansed. In the house of Jairus, in the street of Nain, and
in the burial-ground of Bethany, his word was mightier than death; and
the damsel on her bed, the young man on his bier, and Lazarus in his
tomb, rising to second life, were but the earnests of his future triumph.
The diseases of sin he healed, the iron chains of guilt he shattered, and
all the horrible caves of human corruption and misery were opened by the
Heavenly Warrior. He took our yoke, and bore it away upon his own
shoulder, and cast it broken into the bottomless pit. He felt in his
hands and his feet the nails, and in his side the spear. The iron
entered into his soul, but the corrosive power of his blood destroyed it,
and shall ultimately eat away all the iron in the kingdom of death.
Behold him hanging on Calvary, nailing upon his cross three bills; the
handwriting of the law which was against us, the oath of our allegiance
to the prince of darkness, and the charter of the “everlasting covenant;”
fulfilling the first, breaking the second, and sealing the third with his
blood!
Now begins the scene of Victory and Triumph. On the morning of the third
day, the Conqueror is seen “coming from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah.” He has “trodden the wine-press alone.” By the might of his
single arm, he has routed the hosts of hell, and spoiled the dominions of
death. The iron castle of the foe is demolished, and the hero returns
from the war, “glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of
his strength.” He enters the gates of the everlasting city, amid the
rejoicing of angels, and the shouts of his redeemed. And still he rides
forth in the chariot of his grace, “conquering, and to conquer.” A
two-edged sword issues from his mouth, and in his train follow the
victorious armies of heaven. Lo! before him fall the altars of idols,
and the temples of devils; and the slaves of sin are becoming the
servants and sons of the living God; and the proud skeptic beholds,
wonders, believes, and adores; and the blasphemer begins to pray, and the
persecutor is melted into penitence and love, and the wolf comes and lays
him down gently by the side of the Iamb. And Messiah shall never quit
the field, till he has completed the conquest, and swallowed up death in
victory. In his “vesture dipped in blood,” he shall pursue the armies of
Gog and Magog on the field of Armageddon, and break the iron teeth of the
beast of power, and cast down Babylon as a millstone into the sea, and
bind the old serpent in the lake of fire and brimstone, and raise up to
life immortal the tenants of the grave. Then shall the New Jerusalem,
the metropolis of Messiah’s golden empire, descend from heaven, adorned
with all the jewelry of creation, guarded at every gate by angelic
sentinels, and enlightened by the glory of God and of the Lamb; and the
faithful shall dwell within its walls, and sin, and sorrow, and death,
shall be shut out for ever!
Then shall time be swallowed up in eternity. The righteous shall inherit
life everlasting, and the ungodly shall find their portion in the second
death. Time is the age of the visible world; eternity is the age of the
invisible God. All things in time are changeful; all things in eternity
are immutable. If you pass from time to eternity, without faith in
Christ, without love to God, an enemy to prayer, an enemy to holiness,
“unpurged and unforgiven,” so you must ever remain. Now is the season of
that blessed change, for which myriads shall sing everlasting anthems of
praise. “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
To-day the office is open; if you have any business with the Governor,
make no delay. Now he has time to talk with the woman of Samaria by the
well, and the penitent thief upon the cross. Now he is ready to forgive
your sins, and renew your souls, and make you meet to become partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light. Now he waits to wash the filthy,
and feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and raise the humble, and
quicken the spiritually dead, and enrich the poor and wretched, and
reconcile enemies by his blood. He came to unloose your bands, and open
to you the gates of Eden; condemned for your acquittal, and slain for the
recovery of your forfeited immortality. The design of all the traveling
from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, is the salvation of that
which was lost, the restoration of intercourse and amity between the
Maker and the worm. This is the chief of the ways of God to man, ancient
in its origin, wise in its contrivance, dear in its accomplishment,
powerful in its application, gracious in its influence, and everlasting
in its results. Christ is riding in his chariot of salvation, through
the land of destruction and death, clothed in the majesty of mercy, and
offering eternal life to all who will believe. O captives of evil! now
is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation; now is the year of
jubilee; now is the age of deliverance; now is “the time of reformation!”
II. All the prophets speak of something within the veil, to be
manifested in due time; the advent of a Divine agent in a future age, to
accomplish a glorious “reformation.” They represent him as a prince; a
hero; a high-priest; a branch growing out of dry ground; a child toying
with the asp and the lion, and leading the wolf and the lamb together.
The bill of the reformation had been repeatedly read by the prophets, but
its passage required the descent of the Lord from heaven. None but
himself could effect the change of the dispensation. None but himself
had the authority and the power to remove the first, and establish the
second. He whose voice once shook the earth, speaks again, and heaven is
shaken. He whose footsteps once kindled Sinai into flame, descends
again, and Calvary is red with blood. The God of the ancient covenant
introduces a new, which is to abide for ever. The Lord of the temple
alone could change the furniture and the service from the original
pattern shown to Moses in the mount; and six days before the rending of
the veil, significant of the abrogation of the old ceremonial, Moses came
down upon a mountain in Palestine to deliver up the pattern to him of
whom he had received it on Sinai, that he might nail it to his cross on
Calvary; for the “gifts and sacrifices” belonging to the legal
dispensation “could not make him that did the service perfect, as
pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats, and drinks, and
divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of
reformation.”
This reformation signifieth “the removal of those things that are shaken,
as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may
remain;” the abrogation of “carnal ordinances,” which were local and
temporal in their nature, to make room for a spiritual worship, of
universal and perpetual adaptation. Henceforth the blood of bulls and
goats is superseded by the great reconciling sacrifice of the Lamb of
God, and outward forms and ceremonies give place to the inward operations
of a renovating and purifying Spirit.
To the Jewish church, the covenant of Sinai was a sort of starry heaven.
The Shekinah was its sun; the holy festivals, its moon; and prophets,
priests, and kings, its stars. But Messiah, when he came, shook them all
from their spheres, and filled the firmament himself. He is our “Bright
and Morning Star;” the “Sun of Righteousness,” rising upon us “with
healing in his wings.”
The old covenant was an accuser and a judge, but offered no pardon to the
guilty. It revealed the corruption of the natural heart, but provided no
renovating and sanctifying grace. It was a national institution, for the
special benefit of the seed of Abraham. It was a small vessel, trading
only with the land of Canaan. It secured to a few the temporal blessings
of the promised possession, but never delivered a single soul from
eternal death; never bore a single soul over to the heavenly inheritance.
But the new covenant is a covenant of grace and mercy, proffering
forgiveness and a clean heart, not on the ground of any carnal
relationship, but solely through faith in Jesus Christ. Christianity is
a personal concern between each man and his God, and none but the
penitent believer has any right to its spiritual privileges. It is
adapted to Gentiles as well as Jews, “even as many as the Lord our God
shall call.” Already has it rescued myriads from the bondage of sin, and
conveyed them over to the land of immortality; and its voyages of grace
shall continue to the end of time, “bringing many sons to glory.”
“Old things are passed away, and all things are become new.” The
circumcision of the flesh, made with hands, has given place to the
circumcision of the heart by the Holy Ghost. The Shekinah has departed
from Mount Zion, but its glory is illuminating the world. The sword of
Joshua is returned to its scabbard; and “the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God,” issues from the mouth of Messiah, and subdues the
people under him. The glorious High-priesthood of Christ has superseded
the sacerdotal office among men. Aaron was removed from the altar by
death before his work was finished; but our High-priest still wears his
sacrificial vestments, and death has established him before the
mercy-seat, “a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.” The
earthquake which shook mount Calvary, and rent the veil of the temple,
demolished “the middle wall of partition” between Jews and Gentiles. The
incense which Jesus offered fills the temple, and the land of Judea
cannot confine its fragrance. The fountain which burst forth in
Jerusalem, has sent out its living streams into every land; and the heat
of summer cannot dry them up, nor the frosts of winter congeal.
In short, all the vessels of the sanctuary are taken away by the Lord of
the temple. The “twelve oxen,” bearing the “molten sea,” have given
place to “the twelve apostles of the Lamb,” proclaiming “the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The sprinkled mercy-seat,
with its overshadowing and intensely-gazing cherubim, has given place to
“the throne of grace,” stained with the blood of a costlier sacrifice,
into which the angels desire to look. The priest, the altar, the
burnt-offering, the table of shew-bread, and the golden candlestick, have
given place to the better things of the new dispensation introduced by
the Son of God, of which they were only the figures and the types.
Behold, the glory is gone up from the temple, and rests upon Jesus on
mount Tabor; and Moses and Elias are there, with Peter, and James, and
John; and the representatives of the old covenant are communing with the
apostles of the new, and the transfigured Christ is the medium of the
communication; and a voice of majestic music, issuing from “the excellent
glory,” proclaims—“This is my beloved Son; hear ye him!”
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto our fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Behold
him nailed to the cross, and hear him cry—“It is finished!” The voice
which shook Sinai is shaking Calvary. Heaven and hell are in conflict,
and earth trembles at the shock of battle. The Prince of Life expires,
and the sun puts on his robes of mourning. Gabriel! descend from heaven,
and explain to us the wondrous emblem! As set the sun at noon on
Golgotha, making preternatural night throughout the land of Palestine; so
shall the empire of sin and death be darkened, and their light shall be
quenched at meridian. As the Sun of Righteousness, rising from the night
of the grave on the third morning, brings life and immortality to light;
so shall “the day-spring from on high” yet dawn upon our gloomy vale, and
“the power of his resurrection” shall reanimate the dust of every
cemetery!
He that sitteth upon the throne hath spoken—“Behold, I make all things
new!” The reformation includes not only the abrogation of the old, but
also the introduction of the new. It gives us a new Mediator, a new
covenant of grace, a new way of salvation, a new heart of flesh, a new
heaven and a new earth. It has established a new union, by a new medium,
between God and man. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.” “Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” “God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
Here was a new thing under the sun; the “Son of man” bearing the “express
image” of the living God; bearing it untarnished through the world;
through the temptations and sorrows of such a wilderness as humanity
never trod before; through the unknown agony of Olivet, and the
supernatural gloom of Golgotha, and the dark dominion of the king of
terrors; to the heaven of heavens; where he sits, the adorable
representative of two worlds, the union of God and man! Thence he sends
forth the Holy Spirit, to collect “the travail of his soul,” and lead
them into all truth, and bring them to Zion with songs of everlasting
joy. See them, the redeemed of the Lord, flocking, as returning doves
upon the wing, “to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God;
and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to an innumerable
company of angels; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to
the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel!”
O, join the joyful multitude! The year of jubilee is come. The veil is
rent asunder. The way into the holiest is laid open. The blood of Jesus
is on the mercy-seat. The Lamb newly slain is in the midst of the
throne. Go ye with boldness into his gracious presence. Lo, the King is
your brother, and for you has he stained his robe with blood! That robe
alone can clothe your naked souls, and shield them in the day of burning.
Awake! awake! put on the Lord Jesus Christ! The covenant of Sinai cannot
save you from wrath. Descent from Abraham cannot entitle you to the
kingdom of heaven. “Ye must be born again;” “born, not of the flesh, nor
of the will of men, but of God.” You must have a new heart, and become a
new creation in Christ Jesus. This is the promise of the Father.
“This is the dear redeeming grace,
For every sinner free!”
Many reformations have expired with the reformers. But our Great
Reformer “ever liveth” to carry on his reformation, till his enemies
become his footstool, and death and hell are cast into the lake of fire.
He will finish the building of his church. When he laid the “chief
corner-stone” on Calvary, the shock jarred the earth, and awoke the dead,
and shook the nether world with terror; but when he shall bring forth the
top stone with shoutings of “grace!” the dominion of Death and Hades
shall perish, and the last captive shall escape, and the song of the
bursting sepulchre shall be sweeter than the chorus of the morning stars!
Even now, there are new things in heaven; the Lamb from the slaughter,
alive “in the midst of the throne;” worshipped by innumerable seraphim
and cherubim, and adored by the redeemed from earth; his name the wonder
of angels, the terror of devils, and the hope of men; his praise the “new
song,” which shall constitute the employment of eternity!
SERMON II.
THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY
“_Who is this that cometh from Edom_, _with dyed garments from
Bozrah_? _this that is glorious in his apparel_, _travelling in the
greatness of his strength_? _I that speak in righteousness_, _mighty
to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel_, _and thy garments
like him that treadeth in the winefat_? _I have trodden the
winepress alone_; _and of the people there was none with me_: _for I
will tread them in mine anger_, _and trample them in my fury_; _and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments_, _and I will stain
all my raiment_. _For the day of vengeance is in mine heart_, _and
the year of my redeemed is come_. _And I looked_, _and there was
none to help_; _and I wondered that there was none to uphold_:
_therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me_: _and my fury_,
_it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger_, _and
make them drunk in my fury_, _and I will bring down their strength to
the earth_.”—Isaiah lxiii. 1–6.
THIS passage is one of the sublimest in the Bible. Not more majestic and
overwhelming is the voice of God issuing from the burning bush. It
represents “the Captain of our salvation,” left alone in the heat of
battle, marching victoriously through the broken columns of the foe,
bursting the bars asunder, bearing away the brazen gates, and delivering
by conquest the captives of sin and death. Let us first determine the
events to which our text relates, and then briefly explain the questions
and answers which it contains.
I. We have here a wonderful victory, obtained by Christ, in the city of
Bozrah, in the land of Edom. Our first inquiry concerns the time and the
place of that achievement.
Some of the prophecies are literal, and others are figurative. Some of
them are already fulfilled, and others are in daily process of
fulfilment. Respecting this prophecy, divines disagree. Some think it
is a description of Christ’s conflict and victory, without the gates of
Jerusalem, eighteen centuries ago; and others understand it as referring
to the great battle of Armageddon, predicted in the Apocalypse, and yet
to be consummated before the end of the world.
I am not willing to pass by mount Calvary, and Joseph’s new tomb, on my
way to the field of Armageddon; nor am I willing to pause at the scene of
the crucifixion and the ascension, without going farther on to the final
conquest of the foe. I believe Divine inspiration has included both
events in the text; the victory already won on Calvary, and the victory
yet to be accomplished in Armageddon; the finished victory of Messiah’s
passion, and the progressive victory of his gospel and his grace.
The chief difficulty, in understanding some parts of the word of God,
arises from untranslated words; many of which are found in our own
version, as well as in that of our English neighbors. For instance—in
Mat. ii. 23, it is said, “He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be
called a Nazarene.” Where in the prophets is it predicted that Christ
shall be called a Nazarene? Nowhere. When the proper names are
translated, the difficulty vanishes. “He came and dwelt in a city called
_plantation_, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
He shall be called _the Branch_.” This name is given him by Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Zechariah. Now this is precisely the difficulty that
occurs in our text, and the translation of the terms unties the
knot:—“Who is this that cometh from Edom,” _red earth_—“with dyed
garments from Bozrah,” _tribulation_?
The former part of the text has reference to the victory of Calvary; the
latter part anticipates the battle and triumph of Armageddon, mentioned
in Rev. xvi. 16. The victory of Calvary is consummated on the morning of
the third day after the crucifixion. The Conqueror comes up from the
earth, exclaiming:—“I have trodden the winepress alone on Calvary; and I
will tread them in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, at the
battle of Armageddon. I will overtake and destroy the beast, and the
false prophet, and that old serpent the devil, with all their hosts.”
When the tide of battle turned, on the field of Waterloo, the Duke of
Wellington mounted his horse, and pursued the vanquished foe. So
Isaiah’s Conqueror, having routed the powers of hell on Calvary, pursues
and destroys them on the field of Armageddon. Here he is represented as
a hero on foot, a prince without an army; but John, the revelator, saw
him riding on a white horse, and followed by the armies of heaven, all on
white horses, and not a footman among them.
The victory of Calvary is like the blood of atonement in the sanctuary.
The cherubim were some of them looking one way, and some the other, but
all were looking on the atoning blood. Thus all the great events of
time—all the trials and triumphs of God’s people—those which happened
before, those which have happened since, and those which are yet to
happen, are all looking toward the wrestling of Gethsemane, the conflict
of Golgotha, and the triumph of Olivet. The escape from Egypt, and the
return from Babylon, looked forward to the cross of Christ; and the faith
of the perfect man of Uz hung on a risen Redeemer. The Christian martyrs
overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and all their victories were in virtue
of one great achievement. The tomb of Jesus is the birthplace of his
people’s immortality, and the power which raised him from the dead shall
open the sepulchres of all his saints. “Thy dead men shall live;
together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast forth her dead.”
Christ offered himself a sacrifice for us, and drank the cup of God’s
righteous indignation in our stead. He was trodden by Almighty justice,
as a cluster of grapes, in the winepress of the law, till the vessels of
mercy overflowed with the wine of peace and pardon, which has made
thousands of contrite and humble spirits “rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory.” He suffered for us, that we might triumph with him.
But our text describes him as a king and a conqueror. He was, at once,
the dying victim and the immortal victor. In “the power of an endless
life,” he was standing by the altar, when the sacrifice was burning. He
was alive in his sacerdotal vestments, with his golden censer in his
hand. He was alive in his kingly glory, with his sword and his sceptre
in his hand. He was alive in his conquering prowess, and had made an end
of sin, and bruised the head of the serpent, and spoiled the
principalities and powers of hell, and turned the vanquished hosts of the
prince of darkness down to the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God.
Then, on the morning of the third day, when he arose from the dead, and
made a show of them openly—then began the year of jubilee with power!
After the prophets of ancient times had long gazed through the mists of
futurity, at the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, a
company of them were gathered together on the summit of Calvary. They
saw a host of enemies ascending the hill, arrayed for battle, and most
terrific in their aspect. In the middle of the line was the law of God,
fiery and exceeding broad, and working wrath. On the right wing, was
Beelzebub with his troops of infernals; and on the left Caiaphas with his
Jewish priests, and Pilate with his Roman soldiers. The rear was brought
up by Death, the last enemy. When the holy seers had espied this army,
and perceived that it was drawing nigh, they started back, and prepared
for flight. As they looked round, they saw the Son of God advancing with
intrepid step, having his face fixed on the hostile band. “Seest thou
the danger that is before thee,” said one of the men of God. “I will
tread them in mine anger,” he replied, “and trample them in my fury.”
“Who art thou?” said the prophet; He answered: “I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save.” “Wilt thou venture to the battle alone?”
asked the seer. The Son of God replied: “I looked, and there was none to
help; and I wondered there was none to uphold; therefore mine own arm
shall bring salvation unto me; and my fury it shall uphold me.” “At what
point wilt thou commence thy attack?” inquired the anxious prophet. “I
will first meet the Law,” he replied, “and pass under its curse: for lo!
I come to do thy will, O God. When I shall have succeeded at the centre
of the line, the colors will turn in my favor.” So saying he moved
forward. Instantly the thunderings of Sinai were heard, and the whole
band of prophets quaked with terror. But he advanced, undaunted, amidst
the gleaming lightnings. For a moment he was concealed from view; and
the banner of wrath waved above in triumph. Suddenly the scene was
changed. A stream of blood poured forth from his wounded side, and put
out all the fires of Sinai. The flag of peace was now seen unfurled, and
consternation filled the ranks of his foes. He then crushed, with his
bruised heel, the old serpent’s head; and put all the infernal powers to
flight. With his iron rod he dashed to pieces the enemies on the left
wing, like a potter’s vessel. Death still remained, who thought himself
invincible, having hitherto triumphed over all. He came forward,
brandishing his sting, which he had whetted on Sinai’s tables of stone.
He darted it at the Conqueror, but it turned down, and hung like the
flexible lash of a whip. Dismayed, he retreated to the grave, his
palace, into which the Conqueror pursued. In a dark corner of his den,
he sat on his throne of moldering skulls, and called upon the worms, his
hitherto faithful allies, to aid him in the conflict; but they
replied—“His flesh shall see no corruption!” The scepter fell from his
hand. The Conqueror seized him, bound him, and condemned him to the lake
of fire; and then rose from the grave, followed by a band of released
captives, who came forth after his resurrection to be witnesses of the
victory which he had won. {94}
John in the Apocalypse did not look so far back as the treading of this
winepress; but John saw him on his white horse, decked with his many
crowns, his eyes like flames of fire, a two-edged sword in his hand, in
the van of the armies of heaven, going forth conquering and to conquer.
This is the fulfilment of his declaration in our text:—“For I will tread
them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury.” This is the beginning
of the jubilee, the battle of Armageddon, wherein all heathen idolatry
and superstition shall be overthrown, and the beast and the false prophet
shall be discomfited, and the devil arid his legions shall be taken
prisoners by Emmanuel, and shut up in the bottomless pit. He who hath
conquered principalities and powers on Calvary, will not leave the field,
till he make all his enemies his footstool, and sway his scepter over a
subject universe. Having sent forth the gospel from Jerusalem, he
accompanies it with the grace of his Holy Spirit; and it shall not return
unto him void, but shall accomplish that which he pleaseth, and prosper
in the thing whereto he hath sent it.
The victory of Armageddon is obtained by virtue of the victory of
Calvary. It is but the consummation of the same glorious campaign; and
the first decisive blow dealt on the prince of darkness is a sure
precursor of the final conquest. “I will meet thee again at Philippi!”
said the ghost of Julius Cæsar to Brutus. “I will meet thee again at
Armageddon!” saith the Son of God to Satan on Calvary—“I will meet thee
in the engagement between good and evil, grace and depravity, in every
believer’s heart; in the contest of Divine Truth with human errors, of
the religion of God with the superstitions of men; in every sermon, every
revival, every missionary enterprise; in the spread and glory of the
gospel in the latter day, I will meet thee; and the heel which thou hast
now bruised, shall crush thy head for ever!”
Man’s deliverance is of God. Man had neither the inclination nor the
power. His salvation originated in the Divine Love, and burst forth like
an ocean from the fountains of eternity. Satan, as a ravenous lion, had
taken the prey, and was running to his den with the bleeding sheep in his
mouth; but the Shepherd of Israel pursues him, overtakes him, and rends
him as if he were a kid. The declaration of war was made in Eden:—“I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; thou shalt bruise his heel, and he shall bruise thy head.” It
shall be fulfilled. The league with hell, and the covenant with death
shall not stand. The rebellion shall be quelled, the conspiracy shall be
broken, and the strong man armed shall yield the citadel to a stronger.
The works of the devil shall be destroyed, and the prey shall be taken
from the teeth of the terrible. The house of David shall grow stronger
and stronger, and the house of Saul shall grow weaker and weaker, till
the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his
Christ, and Satan shall be bound in chains of darkness, and cast into the
lake of fire. All the enemies of Zion shall be vanquished, and the
forfeited favor of God shall be recovered, and the lost territory of
peace and holiness and immortality shall be restored to man.
This campaign is carried on at the expense of the government of heaven.
The treasury is inexhaustible; the arms are irresistible; therefore the
victory is sure. The Almighty King has descended; he has taken the city
of Bozrah; he has swayed his scepter over Edom; he has risen
victoriously, and gone up with a shout, as the leader of all the army.
This is but the pledge and the earnest of his future achievements. In
the battle of Armageddon, he shall go forth as a mighty man; he shall
stir up jealousy as a
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