|
 To
place Christmas Evans among the biographies
of such noted Baptists as John Bunyan
and Isaac Backus may seem strange.
Known as the "one eyed Bunyan of Wales", Evans remains an
unusual and yet very useful servant in God's army. Christmas
was born at Llandysul, Wales on the day from which his name
is taken to Samuel and Johanna Evans in 1766. His long life
would carry him until 1838 and leave a legacy of great Baptist
leadership in his homeland of Wales. Early in Evans life,
his father died leaving his mother nearly destitute. In desperation,
Johanna Evans sent her nine year old Christmas to live with
her brother and work on his farm. Unfortunately, Evan's uncle
was a drunkard and a cruel man. Due to the circumstances of
his life Christmas found himself illiterate and irreligious
at the age of eighteen. Finally, sick of his condition, Evans
headed to the town of Llwynrhcdowain to get away from his
abusive uncle and the life which held him in its snare.
In
God's sovereignty, a revival was waiting on Evans when he
arrived at his new home town. It was there that he was converted
and came to know the living and risen Lord. Late in his life
Christmas wrote of this time:
"The
fear of dying in an ungoldy state especially affected me
... and this apprehension clung to me till I was induced
to rest upon Christ ... this concern was the dawn of the
day of grace in my spirit." 1
Almost
immediately, Christmas knew that he had to separate himself
from his lost and wicked companions. Not long after his conversion
he was attacked by six of his former rogue friends. They beat
him unmercifully and blinded him in one eye with a stick.
It was because of this cruel attack that Evans would be called
later in life, "the one-eyed preacher of Wales." Christmas
Evans could say along with the apostle Paul, "I bear in my
body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Soon
after his conversion, Evans felt the call to preach. His low
upbringing and lack of education was a loss for the established
church and a gain for Baptists. Because he lacked credentials,
Evans could only preach in cottage meetings and it was there
that he came into contact with Baptist Christians. Because
of these Calvinistic Baptists, the "one-eyed preacher" began
to study God's Word deeply for Himself. At the age of twenty,
Christmas was baptized as a believer. He wrote:
"Having
read the New Testament through, I found not a single verse
in favor of paedobaptism (infant baptism) ... These Scriptures
spoke to my conscience, and convinced me of the necessity
of personal obedience to the baptism which Christ had ordained."
2
After
his baptism, Evan's preaching changed. Everyone noticed the
power with which he spoke. As he preached, the people who
listened were moved to repentance and true revival. Reading
his sermons definitely reminds one of the style of John
Bunyan. There is deep Biblical truth accompanied by powerfully
moving allegory. Perhaps, only in Wales could such a man have
risen for that land is known for its fervent emotion. Christmas
attributed much of his preaching style to a Calvinistic Methodist
preacher by the name of Robert Roberts. Outside of church
polity, Welsh Baptist and Calvinistic Methodist held much
in common. Two names from the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist
church should ring a bell, George
Whitefield and Martin
Lloyd-Jones. Christmas said of Robert Roberts:
"I went
one Sunday to hear him. He was one of the most insignificant
looking persons I ever saw - a little hunchbacked man; but
he neither thought nor said anything like other people;
there was something wonderful and uncommon about him." 3
Like
most Welshmen, Evans believed in a fervent religion of the
heart. He had little use for much of what he called the "new
hymn singing" because he thought it lacked meaning from the
heart. Once he saw a church member pull a hymn book from his
pocket. "You won't have those in heaven," chided Evans, "put
it back in your pocket." 4 Baptists,
in the south in particular, inherited much of their fervent
and yet doctrinally sound religion from their Welsh and Scottish
ancestors. Like Jonathan
Edwards, they knew one did not have to divorce emotion
from doctrine. One can, in fact must be, sound in doctrine
and fervent in spirit. Christmas described himself as a fisher
of men. He said:
"(my)
line should not be of fine silk but of strong thread interwoven
with the hemp of truth and dipped in the spirit of prayer,
for what was wanted was not something nice to look at, but
a line with a hook on one end to bite." 5
The preceding quote emphasizes a Baptist distinctive of preaching
for decision. Our forefathers were doctrinally sound as can
be seen in Evans reading of such weighty stuff as the complete
works of John Owens. They also believed in a religion of the
heart. They preached to see men and women soundly converted.
To the wayward saints, they preached for godly sorrow which
leads to repentance.
Another
momentous time in Evan's life was when he met and married
Catherine Jones. His beloved Catherine would prove to be a
great stabilizing force in the preacher's life. As in most
great men's lives, there is a great woman, often behind the
scenes. Christmas and his wife moved to the Isle of Anglesey
to begin a new work among the Baptists of that tiny island.
During his ministry on the island that Evans began to read
John Owen and to translate John Gill's,
Body of Divinity into Welsh. The work was difficult and opposition
was great but God blessed his efforts among a number of Baptists
churches on the island.
Life
has many strange turns and Christmas walked down a most crooked
road as he approached his sixtieth birthday. First, his beloved
Catherine was called home to Christ in 1823. Not long after
that, Evans was named in lawsuit by creditors seeking to recover
unpaid debts from some of the Angsley chapels. Then he spent
nine months battling an infection which threatened to rob
the sight Evans had left. If that wasn't enough, many of the
Baptist church on the island began to chafe under Evan's leadership
and made it plain that felt it was time for him to move one.
One is reminded of the words of Paul in Corinthians when he
names all of his troubles and adds "as well as care for all
of the churches." In spite of all of these trials, Christmas
never hesitated in his march for the kingdom of God.
Evans
left Anglesey in 1826 and moved alone to the little village
of Caerphilly. God once again blessed Evans in his love and
gave him a loving new wife in Mary Evans. Christmas spent
the last few years of his life preaching from one place to
another, often returning to preach at the great annual assemblies
of all evangelical Christians in Wales. On July 19th, 1838,
God call Christmas home after a job well done. David Rhys
Steephen preaching at Evans' funeral said:
"He
had a heart swelling with love to God and man ... He was
a man that feared the Lord God ... He walked before Him
with great humility all the day long." 6
On
the day of his death, Evans preached a sermon on the apostles
on the day of Pentecost. He likened their mission as going
out into a great naval battle:
"The
captain of our salvation sent out twelve little boats to
engage the whole fleet of hell. For a time all was enveloped
in fire and smoke, and the issue of the day seemed doubtful;
but when the conflict had ceased ... it was ascertained
that the twelve little boats had captured three thousand
of Satan's ships of war." 7
After
preaching, Christmas Evans sat down and said, "This is my
last sermon." And it was. Yet Evans still preaches from the
past. His life of solid dedication to God and God's church
is a monument to what it means to serve God with one's whole
heart. The one-eyed preacher from Wales may not have had a
face that was much to look at but he had a heart that was
a work of art. May his legacy live in our hearts.
Return
to Portraits Page
1
Christmas
Evans by B.A. Ramsbottom, Bunyan Press, 1984, p. 14.
2
ibid.,
p. 24.
3
ibid., p. 32.
4 The Welsh Baptists by
T.M. Bassett, Ilston House, 1977, p. 185.
5
ibid., p. 188.
6 Christmas Evans, p.
117.
7
Sermons of Christmas Evans by Joseph Cross, W.A. Leary and
Co., 1853, p. 58.
Home
Distinctives
Reading
Quotes
Links
What's
New?
About Us
Baptist
Page Articles are offered as a service to the readers of The Baptist Page. You
are given permission to reprint this in any form available. We only ask that
this paragraph remain with the article.
©1997-2001
The Baptist Page - www.baptistpage.com
|
