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terminated after a few years in the loss of the use of his lower limbs . This afflictive malady , rendering him wholly dependent on the assistance of his family , materially interfered with that active personal intercourse which he had been in the daily habit of enjoying with his various friends . It , however , enabled , or rather compelled , him to apply himself with increased ardour to his
literary pursuits , and to the cultivation of those friendships which , from the distant residence of the parties , many of them beyond the Atlantic , admitted only of epistolary intercourse . In September , 1819 , a gratifying testimony of the estimation in which his character and talents were held in the
United States of America , was evinced in the degree of Doctor of Laws , then conferred on him by Brown University in Rhode Island . A twelvemonth , however , had scarcely elapsed before he had to sustain one of the heaviest afflictions to which
humanity is liable . His third son , Caleb , whose strength of understanding was equalled only by his sweetness of disposition , after completing his education at the University of Edinburgh , became an efficient coadjutor of his father in the instruction of youth , and shortly afterwards also devoted himself to the
Christian ministry . His services had been listened to in various pulpits , as well in the country as in the metropolis , with great admiration and interest : the reviving hopes of the General Baptist denomination , to which he had from deliberate conviction attached himself , had already anticipated in his rising talents a brilliant ornament and powerful
champion of their depressed cause : and the fond wishes of Jus exulting father had already beheld in him his probable successor in the pulpit and in the school : when by an inscrutably mysterious providence all was marred by death—and by death rendered more awful by its suddenness and its origin . This beloved
son died Dec . 6 , J 820 , after a few days ' illness , in consequence of having swallowed a scarlet bean . The spirit of the parent was indeed wounded : the hopes of Christianity alone supported him i and on resuming his pastoral duties he delivered an affecting discourse on resignation , which was listened to with painful interest .
For the last few years , although his regular discharge of the duties of his pulpit and , while it continued , of his school , might have prevented His friends from Inferring any peculiar decline of his bpiiUy length , closer observers percbW& thftthia fragile existence depended
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on the unremitting attentions of those about him , and that his debilitated frame must inevitably sink under any material accession of indisposition . He had on the last Christmas-day exhibited an extraordinary degree of cheerfulness in the society of a few cherished relatives and friends , and on the Sunday which closed the year , he preached with more than his wonted animation . But on the next
day a severe cold , which confined him to his bed , gradually wore down his scanty strength , until at last he tranquilly expired on the 25 th of January , in the 60 th year of his age . His remains were on Thursday , the 1 st of February , followed to the tomb by a numerous train of relatives and friends , and the funeral procession received a peculiar interest from being attended
from his house to the grave by the children of the Wood-Street School , an institution supported by four congregations , that of Worship Street being one . His friend , the Rev . James Gilchrist , pronounced an impressive address at the interment before a large concourse of assembled spectators , and on the following Sunday morning delivered an affectionate funeral discourse from Heb .
xiii . 7 , to a crowded an , 4 deeply attentive audience . The death of this estimable man has left a void in the religious world , and particularly in the denomination to which he more immediately belonged , that will not be speedily or easily filled up . Besides his pastoral connexion at Worship Street , Dr . Evans occupied various important
stations among his own denomination . For upwards of twenty years he filled the office ( now held by Mr . Smallfield ) of Secretary to the Annual Association of General Baptists , holden at Worship Street on the Tuesday in Whitsun-week , under the appellation of the General Assembly . He was likewise for many years Tutor of the institutrqn supported by that denomination for the education of
young men for the ministry , and which , since his resignation in 1818 , has been ably superintended by Mr . Gilchrist . For many years preceding his decease , he was a member of the General Baptist Committee . When requested to take his part in the late Lectures on Baptism , suggested by that Commitee , the sense of his corporeal debility almost deterred him from the task : but his enthusiasm
being soon roused , no lengthened persuasion was requisite : and the vigour and ability with which he fulfilled the duty assigned Kim , left an indelible impression on his hearers . Designed as these lectures were to induce attention , especially among the more enlightened
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226- Obituary . —Dr . Evtms *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1827, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/66/
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