Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporariesHood, Edwin Paxton
History
Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporaries
Hood, Edwin Paxton
Evans, Christmas, 1766-1838
“5. Attend, also, my young brother, to your outward appearance in
the pulpit. Beware of a proud, haughty appearance, with wandering
eyes, and unfeeling countenance, so that the people utterly fail to
see the man of God in you. We must, in order hereunto, have
something like unto Moses, when he had been on the mount with God,
that will indicate seriousness, love to souls, a spirit of prayer,
zeal for Christ, and longing for the salvation of men; like unto
those who have felt the fear of perdition ourselves, and the infinite
value of salvation by God’s grace; and that we wrestle with God in
order to be useful to souls. These things must be imprinted on our
appearance and deportment, having transformed us, in some measure, to
a heavenly form and habit. Our outward conversation should be
consistent herewith, or men will despise us as hypocrites, without
the fear of God.
“6. Avoid, my dear brother, all foolish bodily gestures.
“7. We now come to the part of the subject upon which you are most
anxious to have my thoughts: that refers _to the delivery of your
sermons_. It is difficult to put general rules of rhetoric into
execution. After reading all that has been said by Blair, Williams,
Fuller, and the Archbishop of Cambray (Fenelon), who have spoken at
length of Cicero and Demosthenes, it is easy, by endeavouring to
follow them, to lose the spirit of the work, and thus, by seeking the
form, to forfeit the life. Preach the gospel of the grace of God
intelligibly, affectionately, and without shame—all the contents of
the great box, from predestination to glorification. It was the
closing, and concealing, of this box that occasioned the opening of
the venomous Mohammedan box, as well as that of Popery, together with
all the vain legality that is to be found among Protestants,
established and dissenting. It may be said, that they seek
justification; but it is by the deeds of the law. The locking up,
and the losing, of the doctrine of grace, through the merits of
Christ, utterly destroyed the Jewish Church; for it was in the chest,
which they locked up by their false interpolations of Scripture, that
the ‘things which belong to their peace’ were contained; ‘but now,’
says the Redeemer, ‘they are concealed from their eyes;’ shut up
under unbelief. ‘The things that pertain to their peace’ belong also
to our peace, as Gentiles. The Deity of Christ, etc.; Redemption,
etc. Excuse this digression, for the river of God’s throne moved me
along.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account