365 Quotations from Welsh Christians

Always have a book to read, instead of indulging in vain conversation. ... Remember this, that you cannot commit some loved sin in private, and perform the work of the ministry in public, with facility and acceptance. Christmas Evans 1766-1838

The flame of Calvary's love is intens and should cause a glow in the pulpit. Christmas Evans

Prayer is the rope up in the belfry; we pull it and it rings the bell up in heaven. Christmas Evans

My friend, the mole in the meadow has never seen a king; shall he therefore say there is no king? O thou atheistic mole! thou hast never travelled out of thy own narrow field; and if thou hadst, thou hast no eyes to see with; and wilt thou dare to say there is no God? Dost thou think all others as blind as thyself? All that thou canst say is, that thou dost not see God, and dost not wish to see him. How dost thou know that the being of a God is not so manifest on the other side of the river of death, that no doubt is entertained concerning it throughout all the expanse of eternity? Can the earth-mole say there is no grand Lama in Tibet? Poor worm! thou must travel through the gates of death, and fathom the bottomless pit, and measure the land of destruction, and scale the very heaven of heavens, and surround all the borders of time and eternity, before thou canst assure thyself there is no God! Christmas Evans 1766-1838

A cradle a cross and a grave all of his Father's appointing must Jesus have in order to open a fountain of living water to the world. Christmas Evans 1766-1838

Faith is the wedding ring by which the poor daughter of the old Ammonite is married to the Prince of Peace; she is raised from poverty to opulence from degradation to honour not because of the intrinsic value of the ring though it is a golden one but on account of the union which it signifies between her and the beloved Prince, Christmas Evans 1766-1838

Our immortal souls although in perishable bodies are evidently originally birds of Paradise and our faculties are the beautiful wings by which we understand remember fear believe love hope and delight in immortal and eternal things. Christmas Evans

How vast the difference between Messiah's first and second advents! When he “tabernacled and dwelt among us,” he appeared “in the form of a servant;" but when he shall come again, he shall come as a judge, and “ sit upon the throne of his glory;" and “all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Christmas Evans 1766-1838

Christ is making intercession on our behalf without us, and independently of us.  But the Holy Spirit is making intercession through us - pleading in our prayers “with groanings that cannot be uttered.”  He never acts without us.  True repentance and faith are his gifts, but they are also our exercises.  He draws us to Christ, but we must yield to his attractions.  He inspires us to pray, but the act of prayer is our own.  He “worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure,” but he does not will and do for us.  He gives us the life and the power, but he requires us to use them.  Christmas Evans 1766-1838

On a day ever to be remembered by me, as I was going from Dolgelley to Machynlleth, and climbing up towards Cadair Idris, I considered it to be incumbent upon me to pray, however hard I felt my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. Having begun in the name of Jesus, I soon felt as it were the fetters loosening, and the old hardness of heart softening, and, as I thought, mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me. This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost. Christmas Evans 1766-1838

Whom do I see in the garden yonder, in such agony of soul, prostrate in prayer, and sweating great drops of blood ? Job's Living Redeemer. Why is his heart thus wrung with anguish ? Is there a dark register of sins in his conscience, like the fiery hand-writing of God upon the wall? No, he has not a single crime to confess. He has done no iniquity, neither is guile found in his mouth. Why then does he suffer? He is bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, and receiving the chastisement of our peace. Christmas Evans 1766-1838

I felt great calmness and perfect peace. I had the feelings of a poor man who has just come under the protection of the Royal Family, and has obtained an annual pension for life-the dreadful fear of poverty and want having left his house for ever; I felt the safety and shelter which the little chickens feel under the wings of the hen. This is what it is to abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and to hide under His wings until all dangers are past. Christmas Evans 1766-1838