Baptist History and Heritage – Christmas Evans – Called to Preach at Age 20
PART THREE
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 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 favour 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.” 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.
The field upon which he expended well-nigh the whole of his fruitful life was Anglesea. Here he was for many years a quasi-bishop. But it would be impossible to form a correct idea of his labors without taking into account the frequent lengthened preaching excursions which he made into the most remote parts of the principality. It is said that he visited South Wales forty times in the course of his ministry, and preached one hundred and sixty-three Association sermons, each journey involving an absence from home of at least six or seven weeks, and occupied with incessant evangelistic work.
The influence which he exerted upon the churches, and upon the land, by these transient ministries, it is impossible to conjecture. Large congregations greeted him everywhere and at all seasons. The coming of Christmas Evans presaged a general holiday even in the midst of harvest. Whole neighborhoods flocked to hear him, and the effect of his preaching was such that the people, held by the spell long after the enchanter had left the scene, would continue sometimes weeping and rejoicing until the morning light reminded them that they were still in a world where ordinary duties demanded attention. Nor were the impressions thus made ephemeral. In some instances strong churches grew up and flourished as the result of a single sermon.
Thomas E. Kresal from http://www.newble.co.uk/xheroes/evans.html and Baptist Encyclopedia, William Cathcart, 1881 pg. 383
