Sermons of Christmas Evans Part 5

Perhaps no sermon that Mr. Evans ever preached evinced more vigor of intellect, more power and splendor of genius, than this; and seldom, if ever, had he a more perfect command over the feelings of an audience.

But the effort was too much for him, and he was afterward confined to his room by illness for a week.

LAST SERMON, SICKNESS, AND DEATH.

Following this indefatigable man of G.o.d, we find him, on Sunday, the fifteenth of July, notwithstanding his late illness, at Swansea, preaching like a seraph, on the Prodigal Son in the morning, and in the evening on the words of St. Paul-"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," &c.

The next evening he preached in the church at Mount Pleasant. He said he had taken his pulpit model from the day of Pentecost. He described the event of that memorable day, as a great naval battle between Emanuel and the Prince of Darkness. "The captain of our salvation" sent out twelve little boats to engage the whole fleet of h.e.l.l. For a time all was enveloped in fire and smoke, and the issue of the day seemed doubtful; but when the conflict ceased, and the cloud cleared away, it was ascertained that the twelve little boats had captured three thousand of Satan's ships of war.

When the preacher sat down, he said, "_This is my last sermon_." And so it was. That night he was taken violently ill. The next day he lay in a partial stupor, taking but little notice of his friends. The third day he seemed somewhat better. On the morning of the fourth day, Thursday, he arose and walked in the garden. Toward evening he sunk again, and grew worse during the night. At two of the clock on Friday morning, he said to his friends:-"I am about to leave you. I have labored in the sanctuary fifty-three years; and this is my comfort and confidence, that I have never labored without blood in the basin"-meaning, evidently, that he had not failed to preach "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." After a few more remarks of a similar character, he repeated a Welsh stanza, expressive of his firm trust in the Redeemer; and then, as if he had done with earth, and desired to depart, exclaimed in English-"GOOD-BYE! DRIVE ON!" He now turned over, and seemed to sleep. His friends tried to rouse him. It was too late. The angelic postillion had obeyed the order. The chariot had pa.s.sed over the everlasting hills.

Thus died Christmas Evans, at the house of his friend, Rev. Daniel Davies, in Swansea, July 19th, 1838, in the 73d year of his age, and the 54th of his ministry. His life was blameless, and his end was peace.

"This honor have all his saints!"

FUNEREAL SORROW.

His funeral took place four days after his death. Never before was there such a funeral in Swansea, never such a concourse of mourners. The people came in crowds, and wept their way to the grave as if they had been following the bier of their father. The melancholy tidings of his departure spread through the princ.i.p.ality, and the fountains of sorrow were everywhere unsealed. In Anglesea, especially, the grief was deep and universal. There he had spent more than half of his ministerial life, and hundreds owned him as their father in Christ. The Baptist pulpits were all clothed in mourning, and funeral sermons were preached throughout the princ.i.p.ality.

PORTRAITURE.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

MR. EVANS was a good-looking man, nearly six feet high, and well proportioned. His intellectual faculties, phrenologically speaking, were amply developed. He had lost one of his eyes in his youth, but the other was large and bright enough for two. It had a peculiarly penetrating glance; and when kindling under the inspiration of the pulpit, added wonderfully to the effect of his eloquence. All his features were expressive of intelligence and love; his whole bearing, dignified and majestic; and the blending of great and amiable qualities in his character commanded at once the reverence and the confidence of all who knew him.

MORAL AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.

From the time of his conversion to the day of his death, Mr. Evans exhibited a consistent and exemplary piety. Though he several times fell into darkness and doubt, and lost a portion of his burning zeal, he never forfeited his place in the church, or tarnished his Christian name. The uprightness of his deportment was acknowledged by all his neighbors; and those of other denominations, differing widely from him in creed and custom, always accorded to him the reputation of "a holy man of G.o.d."

But his piety was never ostentatious or austere. Modesty and humility were among his most prominent qualities, and a high degree of Christian cheerfulness characterized his conversation. However low, at times, his religious enjoyment, he was always careful to walk with becoming circ.u.mspection before the world, that the cause of Christ might suffer no reproach through his imprudence.

SOCIAL DISPOSITION.

Mr. Evans was naturally of a quick and irritable temper; but Divine Grace subdued his const.i.tutional impetuosity, made him "gentle toward all men,"

and clothed him with "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit." He was eminently social in his feelings, and took great delight in the company of his friends. It cost him no effort to render himself agreeable in any society. In the cottage and the mansion he was equally at home, and the unlettered peasant and the erudite philosopher were equally interested by his conversation. He never had any children of his own, but was always remarkably fond of the children of others. After discoursing for an hour on the sublimest topics of the Christian faith, in a style befitting their importance, to the great delight, and often to the amazement of all who heard him, he would descend to the relation of some pretty story, in a manner so affectionate and familiar as at once to win the hearts and enlighten the minds of half a dozen bright-eyed little creatures, grouped around him like Peter Parley's scholars in the picture.

READING AND STUDY.

Mr. Evans was a great lover of books. He seized and devoured with avidity every interesting volume that fell in his way. He never resorted to reading, however, as a mere pastime. He sought for mental and spiritual treasures to enrich his sermons. For this he beat the fields and dug the wells of knowledge. Every thing was made subservient to his holy calling. Every thing was pressed into his preparations for the pulpit. His authors were selected with prudent discrimination, and perused with earnest attention, indicating an intense desire to be thoroughly furnished for his work. He studied what he read. He was extensively acquainted with the best theological writers of the age, and quoted them frequently in his discourses. But there is one volume to which he referred more frequently than to all the rest, "the book of books divine." He was emphatically "a man mighty in the Scriptures."

From the word of G.o.d he derived the princ.i.p.al matter of his preaching.

Even that lofty imagery which const.i.tuted the peculiar charm of his ministry, was ordinarily but an amplification of scriptural tropes and descriptions. In theology, next to the Bible, Dr. Owen was his favorite author. He paid considerable attention to Oriental manners and customs; was well read in history, ancient and modern; and particularly fond of tracing the rise and fall of empires.

DEVOTIONAL HABITS.

Mr. Evans was eminently a man of prayer. Prayer was his daily bread, the very breath of his spirit. He considered himself ent.i.tled, through Christ, to all the blessings of the gospel, and came boldly to the throne of grace in every time of need. During his whole ministerial life, much of his time was spent in the closet. It was his custom for many years, to retire for devotion three times during the day, and rise regularly for the same purpose at midnight. The disorders of the church, the slanders of his enemies, and the various afflictions of life, all drove him to the mercy-seat, and made him peculiarly earnest and importunate in supplication. After these seasons of agony, he came into the church, or the social circle, as an angel from the presence of G.o.d, and "all his garments smelt of myrrh and aloes and ca.s.sia from the ivory palaces."

He never undertook a new enterprise, without first asking counsel of the Lord. When he had a call to another field of labor, he could not decide upon the matter till he had spread it repeatedly before the throne. When he was about to preach at an a.s.sociation, or on any important occasion, he wrestled for hours with the angel of the covenant, nor relinquished his hold till he felt himself "endued with power from on high." Then he came forth to the congregation, as Moses from the Tabernacle, when he had communed with G.o.d. Just before leaving home on his tour of collection for the Caernarvon church, the last labor of his life, he penned in his book of appointments the following paragraph:-

"O Lord, grant me my desire on this journey, for thy name's sake. My first pet.i.tion;-Comfort in Christ-the comfort of love-the bowels of love and mercy in the denomination-the fellowship of the Spirit.-Amen. My second pet.i.tion;-That the sermons I have prepared for this journey may increase in their ministration, like the five loaves and two fishes.-Amen. C. E."

CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE.

Mr. Evans was a poor man, but "rich in good works." Suffering poverty always excited his pity, and opened his purse. Wherever he beheld distress, he was "ready to distribute, willing to communicate," according to the ability which G.o.d had given him. His salary in Anglesea, for twenty years, was only seventeen pounds per annum; and afterward, only thirty. With so small an income, he could not be expected to bestow much upon the various objects of charity. But he gave annually one pound to the Bible Society, one pound to the Missionary Society, and ten shillings to the Baptist Education Society, besides contributing liberally to the relief of the poor and the sick in his neighborhood.

Sometimes his liberality was larger than his purse. Once, when a Protestant Irishman, poorly clad, told him that he spent much time in reading the Scriptures to his illiterate countrymen, he pulled off his own coat, and gave it to him. At another time, he presented a poor Jew, who had recently been converted to Christianity, a new suit of clothes, the best he had in his wardrobe. While in Anglesea, he visited a brother in the church, who had been reduced by protracted illness to a condition of great distress; and finding the family almost in a state of starvation, emptied his pocket of the only pound he had. His wife remonstrated with him, told him she had not bread enough in the house to last twenty-four hours, and demanded what he would do now he had given away all his money. His only answer was: "Jehovah-jireh; the Lord will provide!" The next day he received a letter from England, enclosing two pounds as a present. As soon as he had read it, he called out to his wife;-"Catherine! I told thee that Providence would return the alms-pound, for it was a loan to the Lord; and see, here it is, doubled in one day!" It is evident from this incident, that Mr. Evans'

liberality was the fruit of his faith in G.o.d; and the good man's confidence is never put to shame. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth."

SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS.

"Be ye merciful, even as your Father who is in heaven is merciful."

There is no virtue more beautiful in its character, or more important to the Christian, than that thus enjoined by the Son of G.o.d. The spirit of forgiveness infinitely transcends all the effects of mere human philosophy, and allies man to his Maker. In this amiable quality, Christmas Evans was never wanting. He took a thousand times more pleasure in pardoning the offender, than the offender in asking his pardon. "It was only," says his Welsh biographer, "for the person who had given offence to make some sort of acknowledgment, to say there had been a misunderstanding. Mr. Evans would antic.i.p.ate him with:-'O, say nothing about it! let it be buried! very likely I have been in fault myself!'" The spirit of Mr. Evans' diary everywhere corroborates this description of his character. We extract a single paragraph:-

"I trust that by the grace of G.o.d, I have overcome my natural disposition to anger and revenge. I have been enabled to forgive my greatest enemies, and pray that they may be forgiven of G.o.d. I can say from my heart, with Stephen; 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!' I have no wish that any of them should suffer for their attempts to injure me, but that they may all be led to repentance, and settle their matters at the mercy-seat, where I hope also that the mult.i.tude of my own trespa.s.ses will be covered and forgotten."

His mercy was as impartial as it was cordial. He had held a controversy with a minister of another sect, who, forgetting the rules of Christian courtesy, treated him very unkindly before the public. This minister was afterward arraigned and imprisoned on a very serious allegation. If he had been convicted, degradation from the ministry would have been the smallest part of his punishment. Mr. Evans, learning the fact, and believing the prosecution unjust and malicious, felt greatly distressed for his polemical opponent. On the day of trial, he retired to his room, and poured out his heart to G.o.d on his behalf, for a long time, and with peculiar fervor. Then he waited with great anxiety for the issue. As he sat at the table, with several friends and brethren, a minister, who had been at court, entered the room, and said; "Mr. - is acquitted!" Mr.

Evans instantly fell upon his knees, with tears streaming down his face, and exclaimed:-"Thanks be unto thee, O Lord Jesus! for delivering one of thy servants from the mouth of the lions!" He then arose, saluted his friend, and joined in the mutual congratulations of the company.

CATHOLIC GENEROSITY.