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.
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.
“Beloved Brother: * * * I write to you, August 5, 1836, in the seventieth year of my age, and in the fiftieth of my ministry, after conversing much with ministerial brethren, earnestly desiring to see our associational union brought into action by representatives of the churches, with a view to promote a determination—1. To bear each other’s burden more efficiently in the denomination to which we belong. I lament the deficiency in this point, and ardently wish to see it effectually remedied. 2. To watch over and promote a holy conversation among all the members and all the preachers in a more efficient manner, to prevent persons of unbecoming conversation from obtaining privileges in any church, when they have been excluded in another, for that would occasion spots and blemishes to appear on the bright countenance of the ministry. The associational union, in which all the churches of the same faith and order join, should be a defence of the independence of the churches through their representatives: it should also operate as a sort of check upon independency, lest it should become opposed to the general good, and frustrate the co-operation of the whole body. That they may all be one, is the motto.
“Respecting church discipline. We cannot be certain that we are doing right by administering the same punishment to all offenders, even for the same offence; for the general character weighs heavily in the balance of discipline. Also a distinction should be made between the seducer and the seduced; and between being overcome, or falling into sin, and living habitually in sin, and following it as a slave following his master. The denial of Peter, from weakness, and without previous deliberation, was very different from the betrayal of Judas, and his intentional selling of Christ. The different characters of Saul, king of Israel, and that of David, required different treatment in discipline on account of their offences. The Lord’s discipline upon Saul was that of a rod of iron, but upon David the correcting rod of a father, for his good, that he might be a partaker of his holiness.
“There are two things, brother, which we ought to avoid in the exercise of discipline. 1. We should avoid too great severity on the one part, and 2, too much leniency on the other part. Wisdom is necessary here to distinguish the different characters, those who require severity, and those who claim tenderness: the two are to be found blended in the principle of evangelical discipline. A difference is to be made betwixt some who may have been companions in the same crime; snatching some of them as brands from the burning. The ground of the distinction lies in the different amount of guilt which subsists between the seducer and the seduced.
“I have witnessed danger, and have sustained some harm myself, and seen harm done in churches, by exercising tenderness towards some persons, in the vain hope of their reformation. Receiving verbal testimony or mere fluent acknowledgments from their lips, without waiting for fruit in action also: some having been often accused, and as often turning to the refuges frequented by them. I never exercised tenderness towards such as these, without being repaid by them afterwards, if they had opportunity. Shimei-like, they would curse me after having shed the best oil of tenderness on their heads. There are some in the Christian church like Jezebel; and there are some in our congregations like Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that you can scarce discipline them without rending the kingdom, until they become ripe for judgment; for they hardly ever repent, more than did Joab and Shimei; they are ultimately suddenly broken, without any danger to the church from their fall.
“I perceive that the Scriptures make a difference between one that falls into sin, and one wallowing in it; between one overtaken by a party of marauders, and dragged into the camp, and made drunk at supper, and one like Judas, going to the party, and being secretly one of them, having pistols as they had: such are hypocrites. I have many times been the advocate of the fallen, and in a variety of instances have observed this operating beneficially for the church. Sometimes I have found those who had been spared upon their own verbal contrition, blessing God for his long forbearance of them, and also their spiritual brethren, who had in a manner set their bones; as the Scripture hath it, ‘Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.’
“We
