Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales / His country, his times, and his contemporaries

by Edwin Paxton Hood

Hazell Watson and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury

TO THE REV. JOHN DAVIES, OF BRIGHTON.

My Dear Friend,—I believe there is no man living to whom I could so appropriately inscribe an attempt to give some appreciation of the life and labours of Christmas Evans as yourself. Your revered father and he were taken on the same evening into Church fellowship in the old communion of Castell Hywel, and within a week of each other they preached their first sermons from the same desk; after this their ways diverged, Evans uniting himself with the Baptist Communion, your father joining the Independent; still, like two rivers flowing, and broadening, from neighbouring, but obscure springs in the heart of their native Plynlymmon, cheerfully they ran their beautiful course, beneath the providential law of Him who chooses our inheritance for us, and fixes the bounds of our habitations. They both served their generation in their own land well, before they fell on sleep. Your father was called “the Silver Trumpet of Wales,” and the name of Evans rolled like a far-resounding bell among its wild mountains. In their early Christian life they were associates; in their fame, while living, competent judges tell me they were equal; and I have brought them together again. In the memories I have sought to retain in this volume, I have attempted to give some idea of what old Wild Wales was when these two brothers in arms arose, and I have attempted to show what the singular institution of preaching effected for the old insulated land. But I am also glad to avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded me to express my sense of mingled admiration, and affection for yourself, and congratulation that the father, who left you an orphan so young, must rejoice, from that cloud of witnesses he so long since joined, to know that you followed him in a successful and happy ministry; while I rejoice, that, unlike him, you have been permitted to enjoy the sunset in a serene and golden old age. May you long enjoy it.

My Dear Friend,
I am very affectionately
Edwin Paxton Hood.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WELSHPREACHING.
PAGE
Wales, the Country and thePeople—Individuality of the Welsh Pulpit—St.David—The Religious Sense of the People—AssociationMeetings—Gryffyth of Caernarvon—Bardic Character ofthe Sermons—A Repetition of Sermons—Peculiarities ofthe Welsh Language—Its Singular Effects as spoken—ItsVowels—Its Pictorial Character—TheHwyl—Welsh Scenery—Isolated Character of theOld Chapels—Plain Living and High Thinking—LudicrousIncidents of Uncertain Service—Superstitions ofHeathenism—Fondness of the People forAllegory—Haunted Wales—The Rev. John Jones and theMysterious Horseman—Old Wild Wales—St.David’s—Kilgerran—Welsh Nomenclature—JohnDyer—Old Customs.		[1]
CHAPTER II. CHRISTMAS EVANS’S EARLY LIFE UNTILHIS ENTRANCE INTO THE MINISTRY.
Birth and Early Hardships—Early ChurchFellowship—Beginning to Learn—Loses an Eye—ASingular Dream—Beginning to Preach—His FirstSermon—Is Baptized—A New Church Fellowship—TheRev. Timothy Thomas—Anecdotes—A Long Season ofSpiritual Depression—Is ordained as Home Missionary toLleyn—Commencement of Success as a Preacher—Remarkson Success—Marries—Great Sermon at Velinvoel—APersonal Reminiscence of Welsh Preaching.		[40]
CHAPTER III. THE MINISTRY IN THE ISLAND OFANGLESEA.
Journey to Anglesea—Cildwrn Chapel, andLife in the Cildwrn Cottage—Poverty—Forcing his Wayto Knowledge—Anecdote, “I am the Book”—ADream—The Sandemanian Controversy—Jones ofRamoth—“Altogether Wrong”—The Work inPeril—Thomas Jones of Rhydwilym—Christmas’sRestoration to Spiritual Health—Extracts from PersonalReflections—Singular Covenant with God—RenewedSuccess—The Great Sermon of the ChurchyardWorld—Scenery of its Probable Delivery—Outline of theSermon—Remarks on the Allegorical Style—Outlines ofAnother Remarkable Sermon, “The Hind of theMorning”—Great Preaching but PlainPreaching—Hardships of the Welsh Preacher.		[63]
CHAPTER IV. THE MINISTRY IN ANGLESEA(CONTINUED).
Christmas Evans as a Bishop over manyChurches—As a Moderator in PublicMeetings—Chapel-building and all its Difficulties toChristmas Evans—Extensive Travelling for ChapelDebts—Especially in South Wales—The Cildwrn Cottageagain—A Mysterious Life of Poverty but ofHospitality—Catherine’s Troubles—Story of aHat—Wayfaring—Insatiability for Sermons in theWelsh—The Scenery of a Great Sermon—The Demoniac ofGadara—A Remarkable Illustration of the Varied Method ofthe Preacher—A Series of Illustrations of hisPower of Allegoric Painting—The Four Methods ofPreaching—The Seeking of the Young Child—Satanwalking in Dry Places—Christmas Evans in AnotherLight—Lengthy Letter to a YoungMinister—Contributions to Magazines—To be accursedfrom Christ—Dark Days of Persecution—Threatened withLaw for a Chapel Debt—Darker Days—Loss of hisWife—Other Troubles—Determines to leave Anglesea.		[106]
CHAPTER V. CONTEMPORARIES IN THE WELSHPULPIT—WILLIAMS OF WERN.
The Great Welsh Preachers unknown inEngland—The Family of the Williamses—Williams ofPantycelyn—Peter Williams—Evan Williams—Dr.Williams—Williams of Wern—The Immense Power of hisGraphic Language—Reading and Thinking—Instances ofhis Power of Luminous Illustration—Early Piety—AYoung Preacher—A Welsh Gilboa—Admiration of, andLikeness to, Jacob Abbot—AxiomaticStyle—Illustrations of Humour—TheDevils—Fondness for Natural Imagery—Fondness ofSolitude—Affecting Anecdotes of Dying Hours—HisDaughter—His Preaching characterised—The Power of theRefrain in the Musician and the Preacher, “Unto us a Childis born.”		[166]
CHAPTER VI. CONTEMPORARIES—JOHNELIAS.
Fire and Smoke—Elias’s PureFlame—Notes in the Pulpit—Carrying Fire inPaper—Elias’s Power in Apostrophe—Anecdote ofthe Flax-dresser—A Singular First Appearance in thePulpit—A Rough Time in Wales—The Burning of theRavens’ Nests—A Hideous Custom put down—TheGreat Fair of Rhuddlan—The Ten Cannon of Sinai—Actionin Oratory—The Tremendous Character of hisPreaching—Lives in an Atmosphere of Prayer—SingularDispersion on a Racecourse—A Remarkable Sermon, Shall thePrey be taken from the Mighty?—Anecdote of a NobleEarl—Death and Funeral.		[185]
CHAPTER VII. CONTEMPORARIES—DAVIES OFSWANSEA.
Traditions of his ExtraordinaryEloquence—Childhood—Unites in Church Fellowship withChristmas Evans, and with him preaches his First Sermon—TheChurch of Castell Hywel—Settles in the Ministry atTrefach—The Anonymous Preacher—Settles inSwansea—Swansea a Hundred Years Since—Mr. Daviesreforms the Neighbourhood—Anecdotes of the Power of hisPersonal Character—How he Dealt with some YoungOffenders—Anecdote of a Captain—The Gentle Characterof his Eloquence—The Human Voice a Great Organ—ThePower of the “Vox Humana Stop”—A Great HymnWriter—His Last Sermon.		[202]
CHAPTER VIII. THE PREACHERS OF WILD WALES.
Rees Pritchard, and “TheWelshman’s Candle”—A SingularConversion—The Intoxicated Goat—The Vicar’sMemory—“God’s better thanAll”—Howell Harris—Daniel Rowlands atLlangeitho—Philip Pugh—The ObscureNonconformist—Llangeitho—Charles of Bala—HisVarious Works of Christian Usefulness—The Ancient Preachersof Wild Wales characterised—Thomas RhysDavies—Impressive Paragraphs from his Sermons—EvanJones, an Intimate Friend of Christmas Evans—Shenkin ofPenhydd—A Singular Mode of Illustrating a Subject—Isthe Light in the Eye?—Ebenezer Morris—HighIntegrity—Homage of Magistrates paid to hisWorth—“Beneath”—Ebenezer Morris atWotton-under-Edge—His Father, DavidMorris—Rough-and-ready Preachers—ThomasHughes—Catechised by a Vicar—Catching theCongregation by Guile—Sammy Breeze—A Singular Sermonin Bristol in the Old Time—A Cloud of ForgottenWorthies—Dr. William Richards—His Definition ofDoctrine—Davies of Castell Hywel, the Pastor of ChristmasEvans, and of Davies of Swansea—Some Account of WelshPreaching in Wild Wales, in Relation to the Welsh Proverbs,Ancient Triads, Metaphysics, and Poetry—Remarks on theWelsh Language and the Welsh Mind—Its Secluded and ClannishCharacter.		[217]
CHAPTER IX. CHRISTMAS EVANS CONTINUED—HISMINISTRY AT CAERPHILLY.
Caerphilly and itsAssociations—“Christmas Evans is come!”—AHousekeeper—His Characteristic Second Marriage—AGreat Sermon, The Trial of the Witnesses—The TallSoldier—Extracts from Sermons—The Bible a Stone withSeven Eyes—“Their Works do Follow them”—ASecond Covenant with God—Friends at Cardiff—J. P.Davies—Reads Pye Smith’s “Scripture Testimonyto the Messiah”—Beattie on Truth—The EdwardsFamily—Requested to Publish a Volume of Sermons, and hisSerious Thoughts upon the Subject.		[261]
CHAPTER X. CAERNARVON AND LAST DAYS.
Leading a Forlorn Hope again—More ChapelDebts—A Present of a Gig—Jack, bach!—TheOne-eyed Man of Anglesea once more—The Old Man’sReflections in his Journal—Characteristic Letters on ChurchDiscipline—Threescore Years and Twelve—Starts on hisLast Journeyto liquidate a Chapel Debt—An Affecting Appeal to theChurches—Laid up at Tredegar—Conversations—InSwansea—This is my Last Sermon—Dying—LastWords—“Good-bye! Drive on!”		[287]
CHAPTER XI. SUMMARY OF GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OFCHRISTMAS EVANS, AS A MAN AND A PREACHER.
A Central Figure in the Religious Life ofWales—In a Singular Degree a Self-made Man—His Wordson the Value of Industry—His Honest Simplicity—Powerof Sarcasm Repressed—AffectionateForgiveableness—Great Faith, and Power in Prayer—APassage in Dean Milman’s “Samor”—HisSermons a Kind of Silex Scintillaus—MassivePreaching, but lightened by Beautiful Flowers—As anOrator—A Preacher in the Age of Faith—Seeing GreatTruths—His Remarks on what was called “WelshJumping” in Religious Services.		[304]
CHAPTER XII. SUMMARY OF GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OFCHRISTMAS EVANS AS A PREACHER.
Remarks renewed in Vindication of his Use ofParable in the Pulpit—His Sermons appear to be Born ofSolitude—His Imitators—His Probable Acquaintance with“The Sleeping Bard” of Elis Wynn—ADream—Illustrations—The Gospel Mould—Saul ofTarsus and his Seven Ships—The Misplaced Bone—The Manin the House of Steel—The Parable of the Church as an Arkamong the Bulrushes of the Nile—The Handwriting—Deathas an Inoculator—Time—The Timepiece—Parable ofthe Birds—Parable of the Vine-tree, the Thorn, the Bramble,and the Cedar—Illustrations of his more SustainedStyle—The Resurrection of Christ—They drank of thatRock which followed them—The Impossibility of AdequateTranslation—Closing Remarks on his Place and Claim toAffectionate Regard.		[322]
APPENDATORYCHAPTER. SELECTION OF ILLUSTRATIVESERMONS.
Sermon	I.—The Time of Reformation	[358]
„	II.—The Purification of the Conscience	[368]
„	III.—Finished Redemption	[378]
„	IV.—The Father and Son Glorified	[386]
„	V.—The Cedar of God	[396]
A Sermon on the Welsh Hills		[407]

CHAPTER I.
SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WELSH PREACHING.

Wales, the Country and the People—Individuality of the Welsh Pulpit—St. David—The Religious Sense of the People—Association Meetings—Gryffyth of Caernarvon—Bardic Character of the Sermons—A Repetition of Sermons—Peculiarities of the Welsh Language—Its Singular Effects as Spoken—Its Vowels—Its Pictorial Character—The Hwyl—Welsh Scenery—Isolated Character of the Old Chapels—Plain Living and High Thinking—Ludicrous Incidents of Uncertain Service—Superstitions of Heathenism—Fondness of the People for Allegory—Haunted Wales—The Rev. John Jones and the Mysterious Horseman—Old Wild Wales—St. David’s—Kilgerran—Welsh Nomenclature—John Dyer—Old Customs.

We propose, in the following pages, to give some account of Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher; believing that he had a style and manner of preaching which, to English minds and readers, will seem altogether his own, perhaps more admirable than imitable. But before we enter upon the delineation of his life, or attempt to unfold his style, or to represent his method as displayed in his sermons, it may be well to present some concise view of Welsh preaching and Welsh preachers in general, especially those of the last age; for as an order of preaching it has possessed its own very distinctive peculiarities. Some readers may at first indeed inquire, Is not preaching very much the same everywhere, in all counties and in all countries? And Wales, which seems itself in its nearness now only like a district of England, and that district for the most part wild and but scantily peopled,—can there be anything so remarkable about its pulpit work as to make it either capable or worthy of any separate account of its singularities and idiosyncrasies? To most English people Welsh preaching is a phase of religious life entirely unknown: thousands of tourists visit the more conspicuous highways of Wales from year to year, its few places of public resort or more manifest beauty; but Wales is still, for the most part, unknown; its isolation is indeed somewhat disturbed now, its villages are no longer so insulated as of old, and the sounds of advancing life are breaking in upon its solitudes, yet, perhaps, its fairest scenes are still uninvaded. But if the country be unknown, still more unknown are the people, and of its singular preaching phenomena scarcely anything is known, or ever can be known by English people; yet it is not too much to say that, in that little land, during the last hundred years, amidst its wild glens and sombre mountain shadows, its villages retreating into desolate moorlands and winding vales, where seldom a traveller passes by, there have appeared such a succession and race of remarkable preachers as could be rivalled—in their own peculiar popular power over the hearts and minds of many thousands, for their eminence and variety—in no other country. Among these, Christmas Evans seems to us singularly representative; eminently Welsh, his attributes of power seem to be especially indicative of the characteristics of the Welsh mind, an order of mind as remarkably singular and individual, and worthy of study, as any national character in the great human family. But even before we mention these, it may be well to notice what were some of the reasons for the eminent influence and usefulness of Christmas Evans, and some of his extraordinary preaching comrades and contemporaries to whom we shall have occasion to refer.

Preaching is, in Wales, the great national characteristic; the Derby Day is not more truly a characteristic of England than the great gatherings and meetings of the Associations all grouped around some popular favourites. The dwellers among those mountains and upon those hill-sides have no concerts, no theatres, no means of stimulating or satisfying their curiosity. For we, who care little for preaching, to whom the whole sermon system is perhaps becoming more tedious, can form but little idea, and have but little sympathy with that form of religious society where the pulpit is the orchestra, the stage, and the platform, and where the charms of music, painting, and acting are looked for, and found in the preacher. We very likely would be disposed even to look with complacent pity upon such a state of society,—it has not yet expired,—where the Bulwers, the Dickenses, the Thackerays, and Scotts are altogether unknown,—but where the peculiar forms of their genius—certainly without their peculiar education—display themselves in the pulpit. If our readers suppose, therefore, a large amount of ignorance,—well, upon such a subject, certainly, it is possible to enter easily upon the illimitable. Yet it is such an ignorance as that which developed itself in Job, and in his companions, and in his age—an ignorance like that which we may conceive in Æschylus. In fact, in Wales, the gates of every man’s being have been opened. It is possible to know much of the grammar, and the history, and the lexicography of things, and yet to be so utterly ignorant of things as never to have felt the sentiment of strangeness and of terror; and without having been informed about the names of things, it is possible to have been brought into the presence and power of things themselves. Thus, the ignorance of one man may be higher than the intelligence of another. There may be a large memory and a very narrow consciousness. On the contrary, there may be a large consciousness, while the forms it embraces may be uncertain and undefined in the misty twilight of the soul. This is much the state of many minds in Wales. It is the state of feeling, and of poetry, of subtle questionings, high religious musings, and raptures. This state has been aided by the secludedness of the country, and the exclusiveness of the language,—not less than by the rugged force and masculine majesty and strength of the language;—a language full of angles and sharp goads, admirably fitted for the masters of assemblies, admirably fitted to move like a wind over the soul, rousing and soothing, stirring into storm, and lulling into rest. Something in it makes an orator almost ludicrous when he attempts to convey himself in another language, but very powerful and impressive in that. It is a speaking and living language, a language without any shallows, a language which seems to compel the necessity of thought before using it. Our language is fast becoming serviceable for all that large part of the human family who speak without thinking. To this state the Welsh can never come. That unaccommodating tongue only moves with a soul behind it.