the second a splendid portrait of himself, presented to him in 1859, by some of his fellow-townsmen. When Dr. Evans came to the town, in 1826, the corporation was Tory to the core, and ruled with rather an iron rod. Men of known liberal principles, such as he, were excluded from all municipal and magisterial offices, and the influence of that body was all-powerful. Now all this was altered. At the large and influential public meeting called to present this tribute of respect for Dr. Evans's disinterested services to the Baptist Church, and to the town of Scarborough at large, the Mayor presided, and Dr. Evans, in acknowledging the gift, remarked, "that not only was it one of the most pleasing features that had marked the effort, that Christian friends of every Protestant denomination in the town had contributed to the testimonial, but that amongst these were the names of gentlemen who, forty years ago, would have preferred expelling him from Scarborough; and of this expression of their love and regard he should ever, while life lasted, retain a grateful remembrance." He added, "There is one work yet I hope to live to accomplish that is to found a Society for the education of the sons of our poorer ministers." After three or four years' effort he was enabled to effect this object by organizing, under the auspices of the Baptist Union, the present much valued Society for the Education of the Children of Baptist Ministers of limited income, and by his unwearied efforts, made at much detriment to his health, he has been enabled to place it in its present financial position, intending to consecrate to the active furtherance of its interests the remainder of his days. This he did up to a year of his death, when the prostration of his health made active physical work impossible, though his solicitude for its prosperity remained as deep as ever; and he has been deservedly honoured, by his brethren electing him its president, from year to year. On Dr. Evans's retirement from the pastorate, the Church was weakened by a large secession of members holding open communion views. This had been talked of for many years; but so long as he remained it was not carried out, and he, knowing that through respect and love to him alone, the Church was kept united, was, perhaps to the detriment of his health, induced to re-consider his resignation so ofter tendered, when otherwise he would have preferred an earlier release from the anxieties of the pastorate. At the age of sixty-four, a period when most men retire from the activities of public life, when paralysis and a combination of other diseases had weakened his physical powers, but left his mind as vigorous as ever, he, with other friends, founded the Theological College at Bury, and undertook the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History therein, and in connection therewith established and edited the Baptist Record, a quarterly journal, intended to supply the want felt by the Strict Baptists for a periodical enunciating their views. This publication, to the regret of many of its readers, the committee have discontinued, on the grounds that there is no one sufficiently well-known in the denomination, with leisure and ability for the work, who will accept, and whom they can entrust with, the editorship. Surely, "instead of the fathers should come up the children!" Labour had now become almost a necessity of Dr. Evans's nature; he rose at five o'clock each morning, to the day of his death, and finished his literary work before breakfast. His last public secular work was forming a local committee, under the presidency of the vicar of Scarborough, for the Palestine Exploration Fund, of which he acted as secretary; and his last public religious effort was the holding of Centenary services for his old chapel. Dr. Evans's name as a writer stood high; his works are known and appreciated, not only in England, but on the continent of Europe, and in America. His style was terse and graphic; remarkable for short decisivelyworded sentences, easily apprehended, and adapted for historical details. His first large work was the editing and enlarging of an octavo history of Scarborough, to perfect which he toiled, deciphering and transcribing old records and manuscripts, often past the midnight hour; and so successful was he in this attempt, that although forty years have elapsed since the issue of this enlarged edition, no attempt to improve this branch of local knowledge has ever been made, and it now stands as a standard work. Of the Baptist colleges at Horton and Rawdon, he was also the historian, and at the Jubilee of this latter, in 1854, he delivered a graphic historical sketch, which was afterwards printed in a small volume. Of his " History of the Early English Baptists," little need be said; as forming part of the Bunyan Library it is no stranger in the denomination. This history had been a comparatively favourite study, and he had at various times contributed to different periodicals articles on this subject. He entered on the labour con amore, and to render it as accurate as possible spent much time in London, ransacking the archives of the British Museum, and other places, and by correspondence, availed himself of the treasures stored in continental and other libraries. His reading, researches, and correspondence with his learned and attached friend, the Rev. Professor Müller, D.D., of Amsterdam, soon proved that a single volume would be all but useless, and leave the history only at the beginning; a second volume followed, and that has left the work still unfinished. The historical documents quoted in these volumes are of great value. A history of the Church at Scarborough he published last year, and in 1843 he printed one of all the Baptist Churches in the district association. On the introduction of the Roman Catholic hierarchy into this kingdom he issued a series of "Letters to a Romanist." With the Patristic and Biblical arguments he was somewhat familiar, but he thought that an insight into the system, drawn from its popular manuals of devotion-the spiritual food provided for the masses of its communion - would do more to counteract its influence than anything else. These letters were afterwards enlarged, and formed into a volume, under the title of "Modern Popery." His work, "Hints to Young Christians," did much local good. His "Life of Wickliffe," his "History of the German Reformation," and his sketch of the "Religious State of Belgium," were much appreciated. His lectures on ecclesiastical history through a course of which he was taking the students at Bury, the first of which was published in 1867, and was favourably received begin at the Christian era, and go down to the fifth century. The unpublished portion fills five volumes of microscopically written manuscript. The materials for their elaboration have been the accumulation of Dr. Evans's whole life. To recapitulate only the names of the numerous pamphlets that he wrote and published, would be practically impossible. To his own members, to those of the associated Churches, and to his fellow-townsmen he issued many; but the following are worthy of enumeration, viz. "The Doctrine of the Trinity," the "Moral Government of God," "The Nature and Importance of Bible Classes," "The Design of the Bible," and "Christian Female Agency in the Church." No sooner did he see political, moral, or religious error raise its head, then he attempted to combat its diffusion by the use of the pen. The town at large he endeavoured to benefit by his publications on "Church Rates;" by his "Letter to the Bailiffs of Scarborough," who, before the passing of the Municipal Act, governed the town; by his "Thoughts on the Claims of Dissenters to Church Reform;" on the Duties of Christians in Relation to the Present Times," and during the Russian War, in a pamphlet enti led the "Duty of Christians in Relation to War," he warmly advocated the adoption of the system of National Arbitration, which is now arousing public opinion. During the so-called "Revival" in religion, that some years ago passed like a galvanic shock through the Protestant world, and more especially throughout the United Kingdom and America, he made great and most successful efforts. For fifteen weeks united prayermeetings were held at noon and in the evening for prayer and praise. The interest continued unabated to the close. All evangelical congregations united. Every place of worship, especially in the evenings, was filled. No excited addresses were delivered. The exercises were strictly devotional. Request for prayer came from all classes, and for every condition of relatives. Enquirers, with deep couvictions, multiplied daily; the hours of the day were devoted to intercourse with them, either at their own houses or in the vestry. An immense addition to the members at "Ebenezer" ensued. For some months the remarkable manifestations of Divine mercy in the United States had excited interest, and it was felt that an address on this subject, would tend to prepare the people at Scarborough for a similar visitation, if God so willed. At the request of his ministerial brethren of all denominations, Dr. Evans undertook the task, and the largest chapel in the town was placed at his disposal. This lecture, under the title of "American Revivals," was delivered in many places, and afterwards printed; and he had the gratification of hearing from his ministerial brother at Banbridge, when he visited Ireland, that the reading of that lecture to his congregation, was the origin of a remarkable revival in his Church and in that town. Sermons preached by him on the accession of our present Queen— on the death of the Duke of Wellington on the "Signs of the Times "on the death of the Rev. William Hague, William Hague, the venerable founder of the Baptists in Scarborough, and on that of the Rev. S. Bottomly, who, on Dr. Evans's arrival, was the oldest minister in Scarborough, were all published by request. His address to the students at Bury College, on the "Greatness and Grandeur of the Christian Ministry," delivered at the annual meeting held at the close of the Summer Session of 1870, was admirable as an example of earnest Christian eloquence, and was published by the committee, and copies sent to every denominational college in the kingdom. For some years Dr. Evans con ducted a monthly magazine for Sunday-schools. He was editor of the Northern Baptist, until its union with the Church, to which he was also a frequent contributor. Most of the articles were supplied by himself, and his labours in this, and in every thing he undertook, while a pastor, were gratuitous. He may indisputably claim the fatherhood of the Freeman. When first projected many, nearly all, held aloof. Letter after letter did he receive from his leading ministerial and lay brethren, highly appreciating his motives, and wishing him the success he deserved, but one and all avowed their belief that it could not be successfully supported. He persisted in devoting his time, his money, and his intellectual powers gratuitously to the work. He did not know what failure meant; and the result is, that through his efforts alone the Baptist denomination has a weekly newspaper of its own, and that of no mean standing. For a long time he was the writer of its ecclesiastical articles, and longer still the contributor of those on American affairs; and he never accepted any remuneration, but looked for his recompense hereafter. To one of the leading journals of that great nation, he was the English Correspondent, and continued so for years. To the "Appeal," the "Revivalist," the "Primitive Church," the "Baptist Magazine," and other periodicals, he was a frequent contributor. The mass of manuscript he has left is immense; and considering his active life, and the varied work he did, it is wonderful how a single brain and pen could have composed and written so much. A member of the University of Rochester, and a valued contributor to the Baptist Ilistorical Society of Philadelphia, in the United States, he was well known in the New World, and it was only a few days after his death that the intimation of another degree to be conferred upon him, was received by his family. Those who knew him best, revered him most. As an affectionate and self-sacrificing father, his loss can never be replaced nor forgotten. Respected by his fellow-townsmen, implicitly looked up to by the members of his Church-a sincere and generous friend, ever r aid by his advice and pus be long held in remembrance. As a preacher, his sermons were intensely real, sound, and always evangelical; one of his friends observed, "I have often, very often, heard him preach, but never yet have I heard a poor sermon." Sound on the doctrine of the Atonement, he was never carried away by new phases of thought or of dogma; he remained to the close faithful to truth, and conscience; and the last ministerial act of his life, only two days before his death, was to administer the rite of baptism to his daughter-in which he evinced his affection as a father, and his fidelity as a servant of Christ. Looking only for the reward of those who faithfully love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the pecuniary benefit of his labours, literary and professional, was often reaped by others, and advantage taken of his great benevolence and selfabnegation. On Thursday, the 6th April, 1871, God took him; and so from this world passed away a great and good man, who has left behind him a bright example of a life well and nobly spent, and a name that will live for ever before the throne of God and the Lamb. His family, for whom he always manifested a most affectionate solicitule, has suffered an irreparable bereavement; the 3 Church and town of Scarborough, the cause of Christ generally, and the world at large, have lost a faithful, self-denying labourer; but heaven has received another accession to the multitude of the saved. His death was unexpected. He was in his usual health, his spirits were high, and his mind calm. He had walked out three times that day, and after supper had retired to his library, where he was seated conversing with his son-in-law. About a quarter-past ten he stooped to stir the fire, raised himself, and leant back in his chair with a smile on his face, closed his eyes, and without a word, a sign, or a movement of any kind, passed away. The cause of death was 66 syncope,' brought on by "cardial dilatation." In a moment his heart had ceased to beat, and his spirit fled instantaneously to Him who gave it, leaving a smile on his countenance as if, like Moses when he came down from the Mount, he had indeed met God face to face, and His glory was reflected from the contact, visibly remaining for many days after death. In very truth, Christ came to him, personally, in the midst of his labour, and received him unto himself. a large concourse of people, which was much augmented at the cemetery, the chapel there being crowded by an attentive and sorrowing audience, who had gathered to pay the last tribute of respect to him who had so well and faithfully served, his day and generation. On the Sunday following, his death formed the topic of the sermon in most of the pulpits in the town. His funeral sermon was preached in "Ebenezer Chapel," on the 23rd of April, by the Rev. H. Dowson. Numbers were unable to find admittance, every available seat, even to the pulpit stairs, being filled. To have seen his old chapel once more crowded to the fullest extent, and that by Christians of al! denominations, as well as by his old members, and by those who had attended his ministry in days gone by, would, indeed, have filled with gladness the heart and soul of Dr. Evans, could he have beheld it; and it was a proof of the high affection, veneration, and respect entertained for him by all classes of his fellowtownsmen, which, by his life of self-denying, earnest usefulness, working always for Christ and for the good of others-and that often to his own pecuniary loss and detriment-he had well merited. He, in life, stamped his mark on the town, and his death has made it indelible. "He fought a good fight, he has finished his course, he has kept the faith," and now he is crowned with the brightness of His glory beyond death and the grave. B. H. EVANS. |