“I was weary of a cold heart towards Christ, and his sacrifice, and the
work of his Spirit—of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer, and
in the study. For fifteen years previously, I had felt my heart burning
within, as if going to Emmaus with Jesus. On a day ever to be remembered
by me, as I was going from Dolgelley to Machynlleth, and climbing up
towards Cadair Idris, I considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray,
however hard I felt my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit
was. Having begun in the name of Jesus, I soon felt as it were the
fetters loosening, and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as I
thought, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me.
This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost.
I felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage: tears flowed
copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of
God, by restoring to my soul the joy of his salvation;—and that he would
visit the churches in Anglesea, that were under my care. I embraced in
my supplications all the churches of the saints, and nearly all the
ministers in the principality by their names. This struggle lasted for
three hours: it rose again and again, like one wave after another, or a
high flowing tide, driven by a strong wind, until my nature became faint
by weeping and crying. Thus I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul,
gifts and labors—all my life—every day and every hour that remained for
me;—and all my cares I committed to Christ.—The road was mountainous and
lonely, and I was wholly alone, and suffered no interruption in my
wrestlings with God.
“From this time, I was made to expect the goodness of God to churches and
to myself. Thus the Lord delivered me and the people of Anglesea from
being carried away by the flood of Sandemanianism. In the first
religious meetings after this, I felt as if I had been removed from the
cold and sterile regions of spiritual frost, into the verdant fields of
the divine promises. The former striving with God in prayer, and the
longing anxiety for the conversion of sinners, which I had experienced at
Lëyn, was now restored. I had a hold of the promises of God. The result
was, when I returned home, the first thing that arrested my attention
was, that the Spirit was working also in the brethren in Anglesea,
inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in two of the deacons,
who were particularly importunate that God would visit us in mercy, and
render the word of his grace effectual amongst us for the conversion of
sinners.”
COVENANT WITH GOD.
Mr. Evans now entered into a solemn covenant with God, made, as he says,
“under a deep sense of the evil of his heart, and in dependence upon the
infinite grace and merit of the Redeemer.” This interesting article is
preserved among his papers. We give it entire, as a specimen of his
spirit and his faith:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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