While in Caernarvon he penned in his journal the following pious
reflections: “I have been thinking of the great goodness of the Lord unto
me throughout my unworthy ministry, and now, in my old age, I see the
work prospering wonderfully in my hand, so that there is reason to think
that I am in some degree a blessing to the church, when I might have been
a burden to it, or rather a curse, by which she might have been induced
to wish me laid in the earth, that I might no longer prevent the progress
of the work. Thanks be to God, that it is not so! though I deserve no
better; yet I am in the land of mercy. This is unto me according to the
manner of God unto his people. My path in the valley, the dangers, and
the precipices of destruction upon which I have stood, rushes into my
thoughts, and also the sinking of many in death, and the downfall of
others by immorality, and their burial in Kibroth-Hattaavah, the graves
of inordinate desire; together with the withering, the feebleness, and
the unfruitfulness of some through the influence of a secret departure
from God, and of walking in the hidden paths that lead to apostasy.”
PULPIT POPULARITY.
Mr. Evans’ popularity in the pulpit was never greater than during the
last few years of his life. His descriptive powers, which were
transcendent from the first, improved to the day of his death. His
services were always solicited at the anniversaries of the Missionary and
Bible societies in Caernarvon, and the mayor of that town once made him a
handsome present for a temperance speech which he delivered there.
In 1834, he preached at the Holyhead association. His text was Heb. vi.
18. There were many seamen present; and beautifully did the preacher
describe the believer’s hope, “the anchor of the soul;” and eloquently
did he set forth the necessity of its having, not a bare rock, but a rock
covered with clay—not abstract divinity, but “God manifest in the
flesh,”—in order that its hold may be “sure and steadfast,” securing the
Christian against spiritual shipwreck amid the many storms of the World!
The last association he ever attended in Anglesea was held in the same
place, in 1837. On that occasion he preached from Col. ii. 14, 15. This
sermon was one of the most effective he ever delivered. “The powerful
manner,” says one of his friends “in which he described the enemies, who
were like unicorns and strong bulls of Bashan, and all the little
elves—the great roaring lion, together with all the hosts and
principalities and powers of hell, death, and the grave, giving way when
Christ cried, ‘It is finished,’ was indescribably grand and majestic: one
might have thought that the scene was actually before the eye, and that
Jesus could be then seen laying hold of the powers of darkness, casting
them forth, and making a show of them openly.”
INTERESTING LETTER.
We insert in this place an interesting letter written during Mr. Evans’
residence at Caernarvon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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