Part 5 (2/2)
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 fellows.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+llings 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.
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