Christmas Evans Part 4

He cast a look upon the graveyard. And He said to Mercy, 'Accept the terms.' 'Where is the security?' said Justice. 'Here,' said Mercy, pointing to the radiant Stranger, 'is my bond. Four thousand years from hence, demand its payment on Calvary. To redeem men,' said Mercy, 'I will be incarnate in the Son of G.o.d, I will be the Lamb slain for the life of this Graveyard World.'

"The bond was accepted, and Mercy entered the graveyard leaning on the arm of Justice. She spoke to the prisoners. Centuries rolled by. So went on the gathering of the firstfruits in the field of redemption. Still ages pa.s.sed away, and at last the clock of prophecy struck the fulness of time. The bond, which had been committed to patriarchs and prophets, had to be redeemed; a long series of rites and ceremonies, sacrifices and oblations, had been inst.i.tuted to perpetuate the memory of that solemn deed.

"At the close of the four thousandth year, when Daniel's seventy weeks were accomplished, Justice and Mercy appeared on the hill of Calvary; angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, princ.i.p.alities and powers, left their thrones and mansions of glory, and bent over the battlements of heaven, gazing in mute amazement and breathless suspense upon the solemn scene. At the foot of Calvary's hill was beheld the Son of G.o.d. 'Lo, I come,' He said; 'in the bond it is written of me.' He appeared without the gates of Jerusalem, crowned with thorns, and followed by the weeping Church. It was with Him the hour and the power of darkness; above Him were all the vials of Divine wrath, and the thunders of the eternal Law; round Him were all the powers of darkness,-the monsters of the pit, huge, fierce and relentless, were there; the lions as a great army, gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth ready to tear him in pieces; the unicorns, a countless host, were rus.h.i.+ng onwards to thrust him through; and there were the bulls of Bashan roaring terribly; the dragons of the pit unfolding themselves, and shooting out their stings; and dogs, many, all round the mountain.

"And He pa.s.sed through this dense array, an unresisting victim led as a lamb to the slaughter. He took the bond from the hand of Justice, and, as He was nailed to the cross, He nailed it to the cross; and all the hosts of h.e.l.l, though invisible to man, had formed a ring around it. The rocks rent, the sun shrank from the scene, as Justice lifted his right hand to the throne, exclaiming, 'Fires of heaven, descend and consume this sacrifice!' The fires of heaven, animated with living spirit, answered the call, 'We come! we come! and, when we have consumed that victim, we will burn the world.' They burst, blazed, devoured; the blood of the victim was fast dropping; the hosts of h.e.l.l were shouting, until the humanity of Emmanuel gave up the ghost. The fire went on burning until the ninth hour of the day, but when it touched the Deity of the Son of G.o.d it expired; Justice dropped the fiery sword at the foot of the cross; and the Law joined with the prophets in witnessing to the righteousness which is by faith in the Son of G.o.d, for all had heard the dying Redeemer exclaim, 'It is finished!' The weeping Church heard it, and lifting up her head cried too, 'It is finished!' Attending angels hovering near heard it, and, winging their flight, they sang, 'It is finished!' The powers of darkness heard the acclamations of the universe, and hurried away from the scene in death-like feebleness.

He triumphed over them openly. The graves of the old Burial-ground have been thrown open, and gales of life have blown over the valley of dry bones, and an exceeding great army has already been sealed to our G.o.d as among the living in Zion; for so the Bond was paid and eternal redemption secured."

This was certainly singular preaching; it reads like a leaf or two from Klopstock. We may believe that the enjoyment with which it was heard was rich and great, but we suppose that the taste of our time would regard it as almost intolerable. Still, there are left among us some who can enjoy the _Pilgrim's Progress_, and the _Fairy Queen_, and we do not see how, in the presence of those pieces, a very arrogant exception can be taken to this extraordinary sermon.

A more serious objection, perhaps, will be taken to the nomenclature, the symbolic language in which the preacher expressed his theology. It literally represented the theology of Wales at the time when it was delivered; the theology was stern and awful; the features of G.o.d were those of a stern and inflexible Judge; nature presented few relieving lights, and man was not regarded as pleasant to look upon. Let the reader remember all this, and perhaps he will be more tolerant to the stern outline of this allegory; it is pleasant, now, to know that we have changed all that, and that everywhere, and all around us, G.o.d, and nature, and man are presented in rose-hued lights, and all conditions of being are washed by rosy and pacific seas; we see nothing stern or awful now, either in nature or in grace, in natural or in supernatural things; Justice has become gentlemanly, and Law, instead of being stern and terrible, is bland, and graceful, and beautiful as a woman's smile!

In Christmas Evans's day, it was not quite so. As to objections to the mode of preaching, as in contrast with that style which adopts only the sustained argument, and the rhetorical climax and relation, we have already said that Christmas must be tried by quite another standard; we have already said that he was a bard among preachers, and belonged to a nation of bards. It was a kind of primeval song, addressed to people of primeval instincts; but, whatever its merits or demerits may be, it fairly represents the man and his preaching. It does not, indeed, reflect the style of the modern mind; but, there are many writers, and readers at present, who are carrying us back to the mediaeval times, and the monastic preachers of those ages, and among them we find innumerable pieces of the same order of sustained allegory which we have just quoted from Christmas Evans. What is it but to say, that the simple mind is charmed with pictures,-it must have them; and such sermons as abound in them, have power over it?

We believe we have rendered this singular pa.s.sage with such fairness that the reader may be enabled to form some idea of its splendour. When it was repeated to Robert Hall, he p.r.o.nounced it one of the finest allegories in the language. When Christmas Evans was on a visit to Dr.

Raffles, the Doctor recited to him his own version, and, apparently with some amazement, said, "Did you actually say all that?" "Oh, yes," said Christmas, "I did say all that, but I could never have put it into such English." And this we are greatly disposed to regard as impairing the bold grandeur and strength of the piece; any rendering of it into English must, as it seems to us, add to its prettiness, and therefore divest it of its power.

Probably to the same period of the preacher's history belongs another sermon, which has always seemed to us a piece of undoubted greatness. It is upon the same subject, the Crucifixion of Christ. We should think that its delivery would, at any time, from such lips as his, produce equally pathetic emotions. The allegory is not so sustained, but it is still full of allegorical allusions derived from Scriptural expression.

"THE HIND OF THE MORNING.

"It is generally admitted that the twenty-second Psalm has particular reference to Christ. This is evident from His own appropriation of the first verse upon the cross: 'My G.o.d! my G.o.d! why hast Thou forsaken Me?' The t.i.tle of that Psalm is '_Aijeleth Shahar_,' which signifies 'A Hart, or the Hind of the Morning.' The striking metaphors which it contains are descriptive of Messiah's peculiar sufferings. He is the Hart, or the Hind of the Morning, hunted by the Black Prince, with his h.e.l.l-hounds-by Satan, and all his allies.

The 'dogs,' the 'lions,' the 'unicorns,' and the 'strong bulls of Bashan,' with their devouring teeth, and their terrible horns, pursued Him from Bethlehem to Calvary. They beset Him in the manger, gnashed upon Him in the garden, and well-nigh tore Him to pieces upon the cross. And still they persecute Him in His cause, and in the persons and interests of His people.

"The faith of the Church antic.i.p.ated the coming of Christ, 'like a roe or a young hart,' with the dawn of the day promised in Eden; and we hear her exclaiming in the Canticles-'The voice of my beloved!

behold, He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills!' She heard Him announce His advent in the promise, 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, O G.o.d!' and with prophetic eye, saw Him leaping from the mountains of eternity to the mountains of time, and skipping from hill to hill throughout the land of Palestine, going about doing good. In the various types and shadows of the law, she beheld Him 'standing by the wall, looking forth at the windows, showing Himself through the lattice;' and then she sang-'Until the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like the roe or the young hart upon the mountains of Bether!' b.l.o.o.d.y sacrifices revealed Him to her view, going down to the 'vineyards of red wine;' whence she traced Him to the meadows of Gospel ordinances, where 'He feedeth among the lilies'-to 'the gardens of cuc.u.mbers,' and 'the beds of spices;' and then she sang to Him again-'Make haste'-or, flee away-'my beloved! be thou like the roe or the young hart among the mountains of spices.'

"Thus she longed to see Him, first 'on the mountain of Bether,' and then 'on the mountain of spices.' On both mountains she saw Him eighteen hundred years ago, and on both she may still trace the footsteps of His majesty, and His mercy. The former, He hath tracked with His own blood, and His path upon the latter is redolent of frankincense and myrrh.

"Bether signifies division. This is the craggy mountain of Calvary; whither the 'Hind of the Morning' fled, followed by all the wild beasts of the forest, and the bloodhounds of h.e.l.l; summoned to the pursuit, and urged on, by the prince of perdition; till the victim, in His agony, sweat great drops of blood-where He was terribly crushed between the cliffs, and dreadfully mangled by sharp and ragged rocks-where He was seized by Death, the great Bloodhound of the bottomless pit-whence He leaped the precipice, without breaking a bone; and sunk in the dead sea, sunk to its utmost depth, and saw no corruption.

"Behold the 'Hind of the Morning' on that dreadful mountain! It is the place of skulls, where Death holds his carnival in companions.h.i.+p with worms, and h.e.l.l laughs in the face of heaven. Dark storms are gathering there-convolving clouds, charged with no common wrath.

Terrors set themselves in battle-array before the Son of G.o.d; and tempests burst upon Him which might sweep all mankind in a moment to eternal ruin. Hark! hear ye not the subterranean thunder? Feel ye not the tremor of the mountain? It is the shock of Satan's artillery, playing upon the Captain of our Salvation. It is the explosion of the magazine of vengeance. Lo, the earth is quaking, the rocks are rending, the graves are opening, the dead are rising, and all nature stands aghast at the conflict of Divine mercy with the powers of darkness. One dread convulsion more, one cry of desperate agony, and Jesus dies-an arrow has entered into His heart. Now leap the lions, roaring, upon their prey; and the bulls of Bashan are bellowing; and the dogs of perdition are barking; and the unicorns toss their horns on high; and the devil, dancing with exultant joy, clanks his iron chains, and thrusts up his fettered hands in defiance towards the face of Jehovah!

"Go a little farther upon the mountain, and you come to 'a new tomb hewn out of the rock.' There lies a dead body. It is the body of Jesus. His disciples have laid it down in sorrow, and returned, weeping, to the city. Mary's heart is broken, Peter's zeal is quenched in tears, and John would fain lie down and die in his Master's grave. The sepulchre is closed up, and sealed, and a Roman sentry placed at its entrance. On the morning of the third day, while it is yet dark, two or three women come to anoint the body.

They are debating about the great stone at the mouth of the cave.

'Who shall roll it away?' says one of them. 'Pity we did not bring Peter, or John with us.' But, arriving, they find the stone already rolled away, and one sitting upon it, whose countenance is like lightning, and whose garments are white as the light. The steel-clad, iron-hearted soldiers lie around him, like men slain in battle, having swooned with terror. He speaks: 'Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen; He is gone forth from this cave victoriously.'

"It is even so! For there are the shroud, and the napkin, and the heavenly watchers; and when He awoke, and cast off His grave-clothes, the earthquake was felt in the city, and jarred the gates of h.e.l.l.

'The Hind of the Morning' is up earlier than any of His pursuers, 'leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills.' He is seen first with Mary at the tomb; then with the disciples in Jerusalem; then with two of them on the way to Emmaus; then going before His brethren into Galilee; and, finally, leaping upon the top of Olivet to the hills of Paradise; fleeing away to 'the mountain of spices,' where He shall never more be hunted by the Black Prince and his hounds.

"Christ is perfect master of gravitation, and all the laws of nature are obedient to His will. Once He walked upon the water, as if it were marble beneath His feet; and now, as He stands blessing His people, the glorious Form, so recently nailed to the cross, and still more recently cold in the grave, begins to ascend like 'the living creature' in Ezekiel's vision, 'lifted up from the earth,' till nearly out of sight; when 'the chariots of G.o.d, even thousands of angels,' receive Him, and haste to the celestial city, waking the thrones of eternity with this jubilant chorus-'Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors! and the King of glory shall come in!'

"Christ might have rode in a chariot of fire all the way from Bethlehem to Calvary; but he preferred riding in a chariot of mercy, whose lining was crimson, and whose ornament the malefactor's cross.

How rapidly rolled his wheels over the hills and the plains of Palestine, gathering up everywhere the children of affliction, and scattering blessings like the beams of the morning! Now we find Him in Cana of Galilee, turning water into wine; then treading the waves of the sea, and hus.h.i.+ng the roar of the tempest; then delivering the demoniac of Gadara from the fury of a legion of fiends; then healing the n.o.bleman's son at Capernaum; raising the daughter of Jairus, and the young man of Nain; writing upon the grave of Bethany, 'I am the resurrection and the life;' curing the invalid at the pool of Bethesda; feeding the five thousand in the wilderness; preaching to the woman by Jacob's well, acquitting the adulteress, and shaming her accusers; and exercising everywhere, in all his travels, the three offices of Physician, Prophet, and Saviour, as he drove on towards the place of skulls.

"Now we see the chariot surrounded with enemies-Herod, and Pilate, and Caiaphas, and the Roman soldiers, and the populace of Jerusalem, and thousands of Jews who have come up to keep the Pa.s.sover, led on by Judas and the devil. See how they rage and curse, as if they would tear him from his chariot of mercy! But Jesus maintains his seat, and holds fast the reins, and drives right on through the angry crowd, without shooting an arrow, or lifting a spear upon his foes.

For in that chariot the King must ride to Calvary-Calvary must be consecrated to mercy for ever. He sees the cross planted upon the brow of the hill, and hastens forward to embrace it. No sacrifice shall be offered to Justice on this day, but the one sacrifice which reconciles heaven and earth. None of these children of Belial shall suffer to-day. The bribed witnesses, and clamorous murderers, shall be spared-the smiters, the scourgers, the spitters, the thorn-plaiters, the nail drivers, the head-shakers-for Jesus pleads on their behalf: 'Father, forgive them! they know not what they do.

They are ignorant of Thy grace and truth. They are not aware of whom they are crucifying. Oh, spare them! Let Death know that he shall have enough to do with _me_ to-day! Let him open all his batteries upon _me_! _My_ bosom is bare to the stroke. _I_ will gather all the lances of h.e.l.l in _my_ heart!'

"Still the chariot rushes on, and 'fiery darts' are thick and fast, like a shower of meteors, on Messiah's head, till He is covered with wounds, and the blood flows down His garments, and leaves a crimson track behind Him. As He pa.s.ses, He casts at the dying malefactor a glance of benignity, and throws him a pa.s.sport into Paradise, written with His own blood; stretches forth His sceptre, and touches the prison-door of death, and many of the prisoners came forth, and the tyrant shall never regain his dominion over them; rides triumphant over thrones and princ.i.p.alities, and crushes beneath his wheels the last enemy himself, and leaves the memorial of his march engraven on the rocks of Golgotha!

"Christ is everywhere in the Scriptures spoken of as a Blessing; and whether we contemplate His advent, His ministry, His miracles, His agony, His crucifixion, His interment, His resurrection, or His ascension, we may truly say, 'All His paths drop fatness.' All His travels were on the road of mercy; and trees are growing up in His footsteps, whose fruit is delicious food, and 'whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.' He walketh upon the south winds, causing propitious gales to blow upon the wilderness till songs of joy awake in the solitary place, and the desert blossoms as the rose.

"If we will consider what the prophets wrote of the Messiah, in connection with the evangelical history, we shall be satisfied that none like Him, either before or since, ever entered our world, or departed from it. Both G.o.d and man-at once the Father of eternity and the Son of time, He filled the universe, while He was embodied upon earth, and ruled the celestial princ.i.p.alities and powers, while He wandered, a persecuted stranger, in Judea. 'No man,' saith He, 'hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven.'

"Heaven was no strange place to Jesus. He talks of the mansions in His Father's house as familiarly as one of the royal family would talk of Windsor Castle where he was born; and saith to His disciples, 'I go to prepare a place for you; that where I am there ye may be also.' The glory into which He entered was His own glory-the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. He had an original and supreme right to the celestial mansions; and He acquired a new and additional claim by His office as Mediator. Having suffered for our sins, He 'ought to enter into His glory.' He ought, because He is 'G.o.d, blessed for ever;' He ought, because He is the representative of His redeemed people. He has taken possession of the kingdom in our behalf, and left on record for our encouragement this cheering promise, 'To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne; even as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in His throne.'

"The departure of G.o.d from Eden, and the departure of Christ from the earth, were two of the sublimest events that ever occurred, and fraught with immense consequences to our race. When Jehovah went out from Eden, He left a curse upon the place for man's sake, and drove out man before him into an accursed earth. But when Jesus descended from Olivet, He lifted the curse with Him, and left a blessing behind Him-sowed the world with the seed of eternal blessings; 'and instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, and an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off.' He ascended to intercede for sinners, and reopen Paradise to His people; and when He shall come the second time, according to the promise, with all His holy angels, then shall we be 'caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.'

"'The Lord is gone up with a shout!' and has taken our redeemed nature with Him. He is the Head of the Church, and is the representative at the right hand of the Father. 'He hath ascended on high; He hath led captivity captive; He hath received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that G.o.d may dwell among them.' 'Him hath G.o.d exalted, with His own right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.' This is the Father's recognition of His 'Beloved Son,' and significant acceptance of his sacrifice. 'Wherefore G.o.d also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of G.o.d the Father.'

"The evidence of our Lord's ascension is ample. He ascended in the presence of many witnesses, who stood gazing after Him till a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, two angels appeared to them, and talked with them of what they had seen. Soon afterward, on the day of Pentecost, He fulfilled, in a remarkable manner, the promise which He had made to His people: 'If I go away I will send you another Comforter, who shall abide with you for ever.' Stephen, the first of His disciples that glorified the Master by martyrdom, testified to his murderers, 'Lo, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of G.o.d!' And John, the 'beloved disciple,' while an exile 'in Patmos, for the word of G.o.d, and the testimony of Jesus Christ,'

beheld Him 'in the midst of the throne, as a Lamb that had been slain!' These are the evidences that our Lord is in heaven; these are our consolations in the house of our pilgrimage.

"The Apostle speaks of the _necessity_ of this event, 'Whom the heaven _must_ receive.'

"Divine necessity is a golden chain reaching from eternity to eternity, and encircling all the events of time. It consists of many links all hanging upon each other; and not one of them can be broken without destroying the support of the whole. The first link is in G.o.d, 'before the world was;' and the last is in heaven, when the world shall be no more. Christ is its Alpha, and Omega, and Christ const.i.tutes all its intervenient links. Christ in the bosom of the Father, receiving the promise of eternal life, before the foundation of the world, is the beginning; Christ in His sacrificial blood, atoning for our sins, and pardoning and sanctifying all them that believe, is the middle; and Christ in heaven, pleading the merit of His vicarious sufferings, making intercession for the transgressors, drawing all men unto Himself, presenting the prayers of His people, and preparing their mansions, is the end.

"There is a necessity in all that Christ has done as our Mediator, in all that He is doing on our behalf, and all that he has engaged to do-the necessity of Divine love manifested, of Divine mercy exercised, of Divine purposes accomplished, of Divine covenants fulfilled, of Divine faithfulness maintained, of Divine justice satisfied, of Divine holiness vindicated, and of Divine power displayed. Christ felt this necessity while He tabernacled among us, often declared it to His disciples, and acknowledged it to the Father in the agony in the Garden.

"Behold Him wrestling in prayer, with strong crying and tears: 'Father, save me from this hour! If it be possible, let this cup pa.s.s from me!' Now the Father reads to Him His covenant engagement, which He signed and sealed with His own hand before the foundation of the world. The glorious Sufferer replies, 'Thy will be done! For this cause came I unto this hour. I will drink the cup which Thou hast mingled, and not a dreg of any of its ingredients shall be left for my people. I will pa.s.s through the approaching dreadful night, under the hidings of Thy countenance, bearing away the curse from my beloved. Henceforth repentance is hidden from my eyes!' Now, on His knees, He reads the covenant engagements of the Father, and adds, 'I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. Now glorify Thou Me, according to Thy promise, with Thine own Self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Father, I will also that they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory. Thine they were, and Thou hast given them to Me, on condition of My pouring out My soul unto death. Thou hast promised them, through My righteousness and meritorious sacrifice, the kingdom of heaven, which I now claim on their behalf. Father, glorify My people, with Him whom Thou lovedst before the foundation of the world!'

"This intercession of Christ for His saints, begun on earth, is continued in heaven. This is our confidence and joy in our journey through the wilderness. We know that our Joshua has gone over into the land of our inheritance, where He is preparing the place of our habitation for Israel; for it is His will that all whom He has redeemed should be with Him for ever!

"And there is a text which speaks of the period when the great purposes of our Lord's ascension shall be fully accomplished: 'Until the times of the rest.i.tution of all things.'

"The period here mentioned is 'the dispensation of the fulness of time,' when 'the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in,' and 'the dispersed of Judah' shall be restored, and Christ shall 'gather together in Himself all things in heaven and in earth,' overthrow his enemies, establish his everlasting kingdom, deliver the groaning creation from its bondage, glorify His people with Himself, imprison the devil with his angels in the bottomless pit, and punish with banishment from His presence them that obey not the Gospel.

"To this glorious consummation, the great travail of redemption, and all the events of time, are only preparatory. It was promised in Eden, and the promise was renewed and enlarged to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It was described in gorgeous oriental imagery by Isaiah, and 'the sweet Psalmist of Israel;' and 'spoken of by all the Prophets, since the world began.' Christ came into the world to prepare the way for His future triumph-to lay on Calvary the 'chief corner-stone' of a temple, which shall be completed at the end of time, and endure through all eternity. He began the great rest.i.tution. He redeemed His people with a price, and gave them a pledge of redemption by power. He made an end of sin, abolished the Levitical priesthood, and swallowed up all the types and shadows in Himself. He sent home the beasts, overthrew the altars, and quenched the holy fire; and, upon the sanctifying altar of His own divinity, offered His own sinless humanity, which was consumed by fire from heaven. He removed the seat of government from Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, to Mount Zion above, where He sits-'a Priest upon His throne,' drawing heaven and earth together, and establis.h.i.+ng 'the covenant of peace between them both.'

"Blessed be G.o.d! we can now go to Jesus, the Mediator; pa.s.sing by millions of angels, and all 'the spirits of just men made perfect;'

till we 'come to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.' And we look for that blessed day, when 'this gospel of the kingdom' shall be universally prevalent; 'and all shall know the Lord, from the least even to the greatest;' when there shall be a 'new heaven, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;' when both the political, and the moral aspects of our world shall be changed; and a happier state of things shall exist than has ever been known before,-when the pestilence, the famine, and the sword shall cease to destroy, and 'the saints of the Most High shall possess the kingdom' in 'quietness, and a.s.surance for ever.'

Then cometh the end, when Emmanuel 'shall destroy in this mountain the veil of the covering cast over all people, and swallow up death in victory!'"

Such sermons as we have quoted surely convey a living and distinct idea of the kind of power which made the man remarkable. It is, from every aspect, very unlike the preaching to which we are now accustomed, and which, therefore, finds general favour with us; it is dogmatic in the last degree; nothing in it is tentative, or hypothetical, yet the dogmatism is not that of a schoolman, or a casuist; it is the dogmatism of burning conviction, of a profound and unquestioning faith in the veracity of New Testament truth, and the corresponding light and ill.u.s.tration from the Old. In these sermons, and others we shall place before our readers, there is nothing pretty, no nice metaphysical or critical a.n.a.lysis, no attempt to carve giants' heads on cherry-stones.

He realized his office as a preacher, not as one set apart to minister to intellectual luxury, or vanity, but to stand, announcing eternal truth.

The people to whom he spoke were not _dilettantic_, he was no _dilettante_. We can quite conceive,-and therefore these remarks,-that the greater number even of the more eminent men in our modern pulpit will regard the style of Christmas Evans with contempt. We are only setting it forth in these pages. Evidently it told marvellously on the Princ.i.p.ality; it "searched Jerusalem with candles;" those who despise it had better settle the question with Christmas Evans himself, and show the superiority of their method by their larger ministerial usefulness.

The worth and value of great preaching and great sermons must depend upon the measure to which they represent the preacher's own familiarity with the truths he touches, and proclaims. The history of the mind of Christmas Evans is, from this point of view, very interesting. We can only get at it from the papers found after his death; but they reveal the story of the life, walk, and triumph of faith in his mind and heart. He kept no journal; but still we have the record of his communions with G.o.d amongst the mountains,-acts of consecration to G.o.d quite remarkable, which he had thought it well to commit to paper, that he might remind himself of the engagements he had made. It was after some such season that he said to a brother minister, "Brother, the doctrine, the confidence, and strength I feel will make people dance with joy in some parts of Wales;" and then, as the tears came into his eyes whilst he was speaking, he said again, "Yes, brother!"

Little idea can be formed of the Welsh preacher from the life of the minister in England. The congregations, we have seen, lay wide, and scattered far apart. Often, in Wales ourselves, we have met the minister pursuing his way on his horse, or pony, to his next "publication;" very often, his Bible in his hand, reading it as he slowly jogged along. So Christmas Evans pa.s.sed his life, constantly, either on foot or on horseback, urging his way; sometimes through a country frowning as if smitten by a blow of desolation, and at others, laughing in loveliness and beauty; sometimes through the hot summer, when the burning beams poured from the craggy mountains; sometimes in winter, through the snow and rain and coldest inclemency, to fulfil his engagements. For the greater part of his life his income was never more than thirty pounds a year, and for the first part only about from ten to seventeen. It looks a wretched sum; but we may remember that Luther's income was never much more; and, probably, what seems to us a miserable little income, was very much further removed from want, and even poverty, than in other, less primitive, circ.u.mstances is often an income of hundreds. Certainly, Christmas Evans was never in want; always, not only comfortable, but able even to spare, from his limited means, subscriptions to some of the great societies of the day.