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
Thus, he frequently astounded his congregations, not merely by pouring
round his subject the varied hues of light, or space, but by giving to
the eye defined shapes, and realizations. We do not wonder to hear him
say, “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. I said to a brother once, ‘Brother, the doctrine,
the confidence, and strength I feel, will make persons dance with joy in
some parts of Wales.’ ‘Yea, brother,’ said he, with tears flowing from
his eyes.” He was visited by remarkable dreams. Once, previous to a
time of great refreshing, he dreamt:—
“He thought he was in the church at Caerphilly, and found many harps
hanging round 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 afterwards had the satisfaction of receiving one hundred and
forty converts into the Church, as the fruit of his ministry.
As we have said, nothing can well illustrate, on paper, the power of the
orator’s speech, but the following may serve, as, in some measure,
illustrating his method:—
“THE GOSPEL MOULD.
“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
endeavour 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 moulds to
cast the metal, and conform the casts to their patterns. The Gospel
is like a form, or mould, 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,’ or into which you were delivered,
as is the marginal reading, so that your hearts ran into the mould.
Evangelical preachers have, in the name of Christ, a mould, 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 neighbourhood. Preachers without the mould
are all those who do not preach all the points of the Gospel of the
Grace of God.”
We will now present several extracts, derived from a variety of sources,
happily illustrating the general character of his sermons.
“SAUL OF TARSUS AND HIS SEVEN SHIPS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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