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
“3. When I yield to pensive reflections, under a sense of sin, and
when I see the tops of dark mountains of disease, and trouble at the
terrors of the grave, I see in the Bible _Infinite Goodness_, fairer
than the Shekinah of old, looking at me, out of eternity; it is like
the smile of the Eternal King, from His throne of mercy. Divine
love, merits of Christ, riches of grace, they are all here, and they
assure me, and I listen to the still, small voice, that follows in
its train, until I feel myself lifted up, out of the cave of despair,
by the dark mountain; and I stand on my feet, and I hope, and hear
the proclamation of the great mystery—‘Behold, I come, as it is
written in the roll of the Book. If I must die, I am willing to die;
for I come to seek, and to save that which is lost.’
“4. _Holiness_, _righteousness_, and _purity_ look at me, out of the
midst of the Book, like the fires of Sinai to Israel, or the I AM,
out of the burning bush; causing me to fear, and tremble, while I am
yet desirous of looking at the radiant glory, because it is
attempered with mercy. I take my shoes from off my feet, and
approach on my knees, to see this great sight. I cannot live, in
sin, in this presence,—still it does not slay me. The Eternal Power
is here, and, with one hand, it conceals me, in the shadow of
redeeming mercy, and, with the other, it points out the glory of the
great, and wondrous truth, that God is, at once, a just God, and
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Where Thy glory rests, O
my God, there let me have my abode!
“5. I also see _Infinite might_ radiating from the doctrine of the
Book, like God’s own Eye, having the energy of a sharp, two-edged
sword. Without asking permission of me, it proves itself ‘quick and
powerful, and pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul, and
spirit, and of the joints, and marrow;’ it opens the private recesses
of my heart, and becomes a discerner, and judge of its thoughts, and
intents. When Lord Rochester, the great wit, and unbeliever of his
day, read Isa. liii. 5, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions,’
etc., Divine energies entered his spirit, and did so thoroughly
pierce, and pervade it, that his infidelity died within him, and he
gladly received the faith, and hope that are in Christ. The power of
the Gospel visited Matthew, at the receipt of custom, the woman at
the well of Samaria, the malefactor on the cross, the converts on the
day of Pentecost, Paul by the way, and the jailer at Philippi; in
them all was exerted this resistless might of grace, the ‘_Let
__there be_’ of the original creation, which none can withstand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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