Harris and Rowlands were Methodists. While Whitefield and Wesley were rekindling the fires of the Reformation on the altars of England, these men of God were scattering some sparks of it among the mountains of Wales. Under their labors commenced such a revival as was never known in that country before. They adhered to the established church; and, on that account, were, for a season, but little opposed. But when the blessed fruits of their ministry began to be developed in the conversion of thousands of souls, the wrath of Satan and his emissaries arose against them. But, as Christmas Evans remarks, it was now too late. The sword of the Spirit was drawn; the gates of the city were opened; the fire was kindled in the stubble, and not all the floods of persecution could stay the progress of the flame. Harris and Rowlands went forward in their work of love, clothed with power from on high. A great and effectual door was opened to their ministry, and the leaven spread rapidly through the lump. The Baptists shared largely in this work of grace. It was the rising of a new sun upon them, which had been heralded a hundred years before in the powerful ministry of Vavasor Powell. The revival developed whatever of talent and energy lay dormant in the denomination. Many a David went forth to meet the Philistine, and returned in triumph. One of these, and the most successful of them all, was CHRISTMAS EVANS. “He was a man of God,” says Dr. Cone, “and eminently useful in his generation.” His natural talents were of the highest order, and his Christian graces have not been surpassed in a century. The celebrated Robert Hall regarded him as the first pulpit genius of the age. “Had he enjoyed the advantages of education,” writes one who knew him well, and often sat under his ministry, “he might have blended the impassioned declamation of Whitefield with something of the imperial opulence and pomp of fancy that distinguished Jeremy Taylor.” His two celebrated “Specimens of Welsh Preaching” have been read throughout Protestant Christendom; and ranked, by universal suffrage, among the most splendid productions of sanctified genius. Who that has seen them does not wish to know more of so remarkable a man? To gratify this desire is a secondary object of the present publication; the primary, is the religious benefit of mankind. The matter of the following memoir and portraiture is compiled from several authentic sources of information. May their perusal afford the reader as rich a harvest of profit and delight as their preparation has afforded the writer! MEMOIR. EARLY YEARS. CHRISTMAS EVANS, second son of Samuel and Joanna Evans, was born at Ysgarwen, Cardiganshire, South Wales, on the 25th of December, 1776. His birth happening on Christmas day suggested his Christian name.