Mr. Evans’ next settlement was in Caernarvon. The Baptist interest in
that town was in a feeble and languishing condition. The church numbered
about thirty members, but they were chiefly of the lowest class, and
sadly disunited. They had a decent house of worship, but it was involved
in a debt of £800. “All things,” said Mr. Evans, “seemed like a waste
howling wilderness; yea, a habitation of dragons, where they made their
rest night and day.” Some advised the dissolution of the church, but he
thought better to attempt its reformation. His coming produced quite a
sensation through the town. His first congregation was very large, and
for some time multitudes flocked to his ministry, but they were only
accidental hearers, generally members of other churches, who, when they
had satisfied their curiosity, returned to their own places of worship.
His Welsh biographer mentions with commendation the sympathy and help
which he received from the Wesleyan and the Calvinistic Methodists, and
Mr. Evans himself calls them the Aarons and the Hurs that sustained his
hands in Caernarvon.
His labors and zeal in this place were not less than in Caerphilly and
Cardiff; but owing to many unfavorable circumstances, his success was far
inferior. During the first year, however, he reduced the chaos around
him to some incipient order; and was enabled, by the payment of a
mortgage upon the church, to save it from sheriff’s sale. He employed a
Mr. Edwards to travel into England, Ireland, and Scotland, and make
collections for this purpose. Mr. Evans was already known extensively,
as the author of the celebrated Specimen of Welsh Preaching, which had
been translated into English, and published in many of the periodicals,
eliciting universal admiration. Mr. Edwards had this piece reprinted,
and distributed the copies wherever he went, thus making known the pastor
of the church for which he solicited pecuniary aid.
Though the aged servant of God saw few conversions from his labors in
Caernarvon, the seed which he sowed in tears upon that sterile soil has
sprung up since his decease, and others have gathered the harvest. The
Baptist church there has experienced a gracious revival, and many of the
new converts attribute their salvation, under God, to Christmas Evans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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