Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporariesHood, Edwin Paxton
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Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporaries
Hood, Edwin Paxton
Evans, Christmas, 1766-1838
“God’s perfections are, in some sort, to be seen in all He has done,
and in all He has spoken. He imprints some indication of His
character, on everything that His hand forms, and that His mouth
utters, so that there might be a sufficient difference between the
work, and the speech of God, and those of man. The Bible is the Book
of books, a book breathed out of heaven. It was easy enough for John
to determine, when he saw the Lamb, with the seven horns, and the
seven eyes, in the midst of the throne, that the Godhead was there,
and that such a Lamb was not to be found amongst creatures. When one
saw a stone, with seven eyes, before Zerubbabel, it was not difficult
to conclude that it was a stone from some unusual mine. In looking
at the page of the starry sky, the work of the fingers of the
Everlasting Power is traced in the sun, and moon, and stars; all
proclaim His name, and tell His glory. I am very thankful for books
written by man, but it is God’s book that sheds the light of the life
everlasting on all other books. I cannot often read it, hear it, or
reflect upon it, but I see—
“1. _Eternity_, like a great fiery Eye, looking at me from the
everlasting, and the infinite distance, unfolding mysteries, and
opening before me the doors, windows, and chambers, in the
(otherwise) unknown, and awful state! This Eye leads me to the
source, and cause of all things, and places me in the presence, and
sight of the Almighty, who has in Him something that would destroy me
for ever, and yet something that spares, and animates me; pressing me
down, and at the same time, saying, ‘Fear not;’ something that melts
me into penitence, and, at once, causes me to rejoice in the faith,
inspiring me with the fear of joy; something that creates a wish in
me, to conceal myself from Him, and then a stronger wish, to stay,
for ever, in the light of His countenance.
“2. _Omniscience_ looks at me, also, like a Divine Eye, out of every
chapter, verse, doctrine, and ordinance of the Gospel, and searches
me through and through. The attempt at concealment from it is
utterly vain. To this Eye, darkness is as the light. It has
descried, correctly, into the deepest abysses of my spirit; and it
has truthfully drawn my likeness before I received God’s grace;
having received it; and the future is, also, transparent before it.
There is something in the scanning of this Eye, that obliges me to
confess, against myself, my sins unto the Lord; and to cry out for a
new heart, and a right spirit; for the Author of the Book knows all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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