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
We believe we have rendered this singular passage with such fairness that
the reader may be enabled to form some idea of its splendour. When it
was repeated to Robert Hall, he pronounced it one of the finest
allegories in the language. When Christmas Evans was on a visit to Dr.
Raffles, the Doctor recited to him his own version, and, apparently with
some amazement, said, “Did you actually say all that?” “Oh, yes,” said
Christmas, “I did say all that, but I could never have put it into such
English.” And this we are greatly disposed to regard as impairing the
bold grandeur and strength of the piece; any rendering of it into English
must, as it seems to us, add to its prettiness, and therefore divest it
of its power.
Probably to the same period of the preacher’s history belongs another
sermon, which has always seemed to us a piece of undoubted greatness. It
is upon the same subject, the Crucifixion of Christ. We should think
that its delivery would, at any time, from such lips as his, produce
equally pathetic emotions. The allegory is not so sustained, but it is
still full of allegorical allusions derived from Scriptural expression.
“THE HIND OF THE MORNING.
“It is generally admitted that the twenty-second Psalm has particular
reference to Christ. This is evident from His own appropriation of
the first verse upon the cross: ‘My God! my God! why hast Thou
forsaken Me?’ The title of that Psalm is ‘_Aijeleth Shahar_,’ which
signifies ‘A Hart, or the Hind of the Morning.’ The striking
metaphors which it contains are descriptive of Messiah’s peculiar
sufferings. He is the Hart, or the Hind of the Morning, hunted by
the Black Prince, with his hell-hounds—by Satan, and all his allies.
The ‘dogs,’ the ‘lions,’ the ‘unicorns,’ and the ‘strong bulls of
Bashan,’ with their devouring teeth, and their terrible horns,
pursued Him from Bethlehem to Calvary. They beset Him in the manger,
gnashed upon Him in the garden, and well-nigh tore Him to pieces upon
the cross. And still they persecute Him in His cause, and in the
persons and interests of His people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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