Christmas Evans was a Baptist from conviction. He was for some years a member of a Pedobaptist community, and it was not until he began to study the New Testament carefully, with a view of exposing the Anabaptist heresy, as he was pleased to call it, that he discovered the utter untenableness of his position. He went into the royal armory to equip himself with weapons with which to slay an opponent, when to his dismay he found the edge of every blade turned against himself. "Having read the New Testament through," says he, "I found not a single verse in favor of infant sprinkling, while about forty passages seemed to me to testify clearly for baptism on a profession of faith." After a struggle, which, however, was not protracted, he was baptized in the year 1788 in the river Duar by the Rev. Timothy Thomas.[From The Baptist Encyclopedia, 1881, pp. 382- 383.]
The Bible Makes a Baptist: the Story of Why Christmas Evans Became a Baptist Christmas Evans, a Welsh Baptist preacher, was born on Christmas day in 1766. He preached fervently and effectually to the Welsh people from about 1787 until his death In July 1838. He gives the following account of how he became a Baptist.
"A person of the name of Amos had left the (Presbyterian) church at Llwynrhydowen, and had been baptized at Aberduar. He came to see me, and I began to assail the Anabaptist heresy, as I had been accustomed to consider it. But Amos soon silenced me. I attributed my defeat to my ignorance of the New Testament, and therefore began to read from the beginning of Matthew, to prepare myself for the next interview. Having read the New Testament through, I found not a single verse in favour of Paedobaptism, (i.e. baptizing Infants). I met frequently with passages in the Old and New Testaments referring to the circumcision and naming of children, their bringing up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord,' etc. but with none making any mention of their baptism; while about forty passages seemed to me to testify clearly of baptism on a profession of faith. These scriptures spoke to my conscience, and convinced me of the necessity of personal obedience to the baptism which Christ had ordained. After a little struggle between the flesh and the spirit, obedience and disobedience, I applied to the Baptist church at Aberduar. I was cordially received, but not without some fear on my part that I was a rank Arminian still!"This took place in the summer of 1787, four years after his conversion. At age twenty, he was baptized in the river Duar by Timothy Thomas.========= [From R. L. Vaughn's Blog: Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths. Scanned and Formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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