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
He proceeds, at considerable length, in this strain, in a tone of apology
which, while it is frank, and ingenuous, certainly seems to divest the
excitement of the Welsh services of those objectionable features which,
through a haze of ignorant prejudice, had very much misrepresented the
character of such gatherings in England. It was, as Mr. Evans shows, the
stir, and excitement, the more stereotyped acclamation, of an English
meeting manifesting itself in the devotional services of these wild
mountain solitudes. He continues,—
“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 anything 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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