Continuing in my pursuit of reading and reviewing books about preachers and preaching, the next preacher in my reading sights was ‘The One-Eyed Preacher of Wales’, Christmas Evans, whose life and ministry is well told by B A Ramsbottom in his short biography printed in 1985.

Evans preached in Wales in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and has been described as “a Paul in labour, Bunyan in imagination and a Whitefield in eloquence”; as “The mightiest preacher of the age”, and by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones as one “whom some would say was the greatest preacher the Baptists have ever had in Great Britain.”

Ramsbottom takes us through the early years of Evans life and his conversion; how, being unable to read, like many of his contemporaries, his growing appetite for God’s Word drove him to teach himself to read by reading the Bible by the light of a candle in a farm barn. From early on he had a sense of God’s call on his life to be a preacher, reinforced by means of a vivid dream - a means which God was to use frequently in Evans’ life.

Evans lived and ministered in poor, rural areas of Wales, first in Anglesey in the north and then in Caerphilly in the south, but he was widely used throughout the country, travelling vast distances by horseback; time which he spent in reading and prayer. He lived an amazingly simple lifestyle; for most of his years living in a simple one roomed cottage, and for all the 34 years he served on Anglesey he never asked for or received an increase in his starting stipend of £17 a year!

Almost from the start of his preaching ministry as a young man, his reputation quickly grew and wherever he went huge crowds gathered to hear his preaching and he was mightily used of God to the conversion of many, but what of Evans the preacher? What has he to teach us about effective, God honouring preaching?

Ramsbottom describes Evans’ preaching as, “undoubtedly quaint, and unusual, and certainly it would be wrong for any to imitate it. He was an orator, but tended to preach at times in allegories.” Evans had an amazing ability to bring to life the Biblical scene he was depicting and teaching on, or to paint some scenario so clearly in the minds of his listeners that they saw and felt themselves in the picture. His preaching would not seem to have generally been careful verse by verse, detailed exposition, but through imagery and sanctified imagination, he brought alive for his congregations the teaching of God’s Word. No wonder then the comparisons with both Bunyan and Whitefield.

Evans’ biographer goes on to say, “It was the whole counsel of God that he preached, especially emphasising man’s ruin through the fall, his liability to divine wrath, and the wonderful provision Christ has made for his people at Calvary. The doctrines he preached were those commonly called Calvinism, but which really are the doctrines of the New Testament. ‘Preach the whole counsel of God,’ he wrote to a young minister, ‘from predestination to glorification.’ “

The other striking feature of Evans’ ministry was his prayerful dependence on God along with his strong sense of call. He knew dark times in his soul but also glorious times of the sweetest communion and fellowship with God. He demonstrated no confidence in his own abilities, let alone his reputation. Ramsbottom recounts an incident from Evan’s own journal where he recalls an occasion when, travelling to a preaching commitment, “Although I had the gift of speaking, and was thirsting for knowledge that I might be able to teach others, and multitudes were eager to hear me, my fears (that God had not called him to the ministry) pressed so heavily upon me that I dismounted, fastened my horse, and went into a field close by (to pray)…..However, God had mercy on my poor soul, and I received Jacob’s blessing; yes I saw, as it were, the heavens open. When I arose, I started on my journey, and the smiles of the heavenly Spirit lighted up my way for the space of two months. I have since that occasionally had my doubts and fears; but the fear that I had not been called to the ministry never afterwards so troubled me. I have not the slightest doubt but that it is my duty to put forth all my power in the ministry as long as I live.”

Evans was, without doubt, a unique man raised up by God for a particular time and place. It would be totally wrong to try to be another Evans but there is much we can learn from him of the sort of man that God uses as powerful instruments. If you have not heard of him or know little of him, you will gain much from looking out this or one of the other biographies written about him.