“Grant, O blessed Lord! that nothing may grow and be matured in me, to occasion thee to cast me off from the service of the sanctuary, like the sons of Eli; and for the sake of thine unbounded merit, let not my days be longer than my usefulness. O let me not be like lumber in a house in the end of my days—in the way of others to work. Amen.—C. E.
XIII. “I beseech thee, O Redeemer! to present these my supplications before the Father: and O! inscribe them in thy book with thine own immortal pen, while I am writing them with my mortal hand, in my book on earth. According to the depths of thy merit, thine undiminished grace, and thy compassion, and thy manner unto thy people, O! attach thy name, in thine upper court, to these unworthy petitions; and set thine amen to them, as I do on my part of the covenant. Amen.—Christmas Evans, Llangevni, Anglesea, April 10, 18—.”
Mr. Evans, in speaking of this solemn transaction and its influence upon his spirit, subsequently observes: “I felt a sweet peace and tranquility of soul, like unto a poor man that had been brought under the protection of the royal family, and had an annual settlement for life made upon him; from whose dwelling the painful dread of poverty and want had been for ever banished away.”
Thus “strengthened with might in the inner man,” he labored with renewed energy and zeal, and showers of blessings descended upon his labors. In two years, his ten preaching places in Anglesea were increased to twenty, and six hundred converts were added to the church under his care. “The wilderness and solitary place were glad for them, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.”
STUDYING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Mr. Evans made several visits to Liverpool, Bristol, and other parts of England. On these occasions he was frequently solicited to preach in English, to which he several times consented, to the great gratification of his English friends. These sermons evinced the same energy of thought, and the same boldness of imagery, as those which he preached in Welsh; but in the power of his peculiar delivery, they were inevitably far inferior. His brethren in England were much delighted with his performances, and said it was “no wonder the Welsh were warm under such preaching;” but his language was broken and hesitating, and they could scarcely have any conception of his animation and energy when he spoke in his vernacular tongue.
His success induced him to commence a systematic study of the English language, that he might be able to preach in it with greater freedom and effect. He could read English before, and was somewhat familiar with the best English authors of his day; but never acquainted himself with the grammar of the language till he was thirty-three years of age. But read his own account of the matter:—
“The English brethren had prevailed upon me to preach to them in broken English, as it was; this induced me to set about the matter in earnest, making it a subject of prayer, for the aid of the Spirit, that I might be in some measure a blessing to the English friends, for there appeared some sign that God now called me to this department of labor in his service. I never succeeded in any thing for the good of others, without making it a matter of prayer. My English preaching was very broken and imperfect in point of language; yet, through the grace of Jesus Christ, it was made in some degree useful at Liverpool, Bristol, and some other places. I was about forty years old when I learned to read the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Testament, and use Parkhurst’s Lexicons in both languages. I found that, had I studied the English language attentively and perseveringly, I should be able to overcome great difficulties; and also, that I could without much labor in the course of few years, even in my idle hours, as it were, understand all the Hebrew words corresponding with every Welsh word in the Bible; and so also the Greek. I had always before thought that it was impossible to accomplish this, for I had no one to encourage me in the undertaking; but I found it was practicable, and proved it in some measure, yet relinquished the pursuit on account of my advanced age.”
NEW TROUBLES AND SORROWS.
Here we pass over several years of Mr. Evans’ history, during which nothing of very special interest occurred, except the agitation of the Fullerian controversy. This is a matter which requires only a passing notice in this brief memoir. We let it sleep in silence.
Mr. Evans was now nearly sixty years of age. Infirmity, the result of his arduous labors and numerous afflictions, began to prey upon his system. The several congregations under his care had hitherto constituted but one church. But the number of preaching places had now become too great for him, in his enfeebled state, to continue his pastoral visits and labors among them as he had done. He therefore advised them to form themselves into separate churches, two or three stations uniting in one. This was the occasion of a dark and dreadful storm upon the apostle of Anglesea. Some of the churches refused the ministers he recommended, and called others whom he disapproved. Then arose a bitter party spirit, and a general contention, among the congregations. Mr. Evans was severely censured, and even assailed with the shafts of slander. Many of his former friends forsook him, and some of those who professed to feel for him in his troubles did nothing for his vindication. The severity of these public calamities was increased by private afflictions. His beloved wife had gone “the way of all the earth.” He was himself brought very low by sickness, in which he nearly lost his only remaining eye, and seemed fast tending to his final home.
But though cast down, he was not destroyed. “I wonder greatly,” says he, “that I did not sink into the grave under the weight of sorrows that came upon me in my old age, together with an accumulation of trials of all kinds; but the Lord sustained me. There was, in the midst of all, a strong persuasion in my mind, that there was yet much work for me to do for God in the world, as well as much to suffer, ere I died. If I only entered the pulpit, I felt raised as it were to Paradise—above my afflictions—until I forgot my adversity; yea, I felt my mountain strong, my mind was in such a heavenly frame, and as anxious as ever for the conversion of sinners. The truth appeared to me in its power like a hammer in its strength. The doctrine dropped as sweet as the honey, yea, sweeter than the honeycomb, and as comfortable as the best wine. I was now particularly wishful that all the ministers in Anglesea should join with me, according to the promise, ‘If two of you agree to ask the same thing, it shall be given unto you of my Father which is in heaven;’ for I had such confidence that then I should see prosperity attending the ministry, and that I should not die until I had finished my work. I said to a brother:—‘Brother, the doctrine, the confidence, and strength which I feel, will make some persons dance with joy yet in some parts of Wales.’ ‘Yea, brother,’ said he, with tears flowing in streams from his eyes.
“Every thing now contributed to remove me from Anglesea. The unbending disposition of those who were offended at me, and the ardor of my own spirit, believing that there was work for me to do in some other field of the harvest of the Son of man, and my having prayed earnestly for twelve months for the direction of Divine Providence, together with the visions of my head in the night seasons, appeared to unite together to lead in one direction. At length, the determination to leave Anglesea, afflicted as I was, preponderated. I was much like Jacob, leaving his father and his mother, going with his staff only over Jordan: so was I, leaving the church: I had prayed, yea, I had striven with God for its prosperity, and had labored nearly forty years with it—now leaving it—possessing nothing of this world’s goods, save the horse upon which I rode, and a small amount of silver in my pocket; and scarcely could I say that these were mine.”
LEGAL PROSECUTION.
During
