Christmas Evans
1766-1838
Welch Baptist minister. Christmas Evans was born near the
village of Llandyssul, Cardiganshire, on Christmas day, 1766.
His father, a shoemaker, died soon after, and Christmas grew
up as an illiterate farm laborer in the care of a godless,
cruel uncle. At the age of 17, he became a servant to a Pres-
byterian minister, in whose church he was converted during a
revival meeting. He began to learn to read and to write and
to take an interest in spiritual things, which caused his
former companions in sin to beat him severely and to put out
one of his eyes.
        The Baptists of Llandyssul influenced him greatly,
and he joined the Baptist church there in 1790, at the age of
24. He was ordained and began to travel the entire country of
Wales, preaching in churches, in the coal mines, and in the
fields. A remarkable manifestation of the Holy Spirit accom-
panied his ministry, and revival like a prairie fire swept
the country. Thousands of Christians began to openly witness
for Christ and to sing hymns publicly as testimony of their
salvation. This resulted in the Welch Revival.
        In spite of his early disadvantages and personal
disfigurement, Christmas Evans was a remarkably powerful
preacher. To a natural aptitude for this calling, he united a
nimble mind and an inquiring spirit. His character was sim-
ple, his piety genuine, and his faith fervently evangelical.
His chief characteristic was a vivid and a fluent imagina-
tion, which, under the control of the Holy Spirit, earned for
him the name of “The Bunyan of Wales.”

Ruckman ’67