William Evans (d. 1720?), was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister.

Life

Evans was educated at the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

at Ystradwalter, then under the presidency of the Rev. Rees Prytherch. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

at Pencader, near

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

, in 1688, and continued pastor there for fifteen years. In 1703 he removed to Carmarthen to become pastor of the presbyterian congregation, and received in his house students for the Christian ministry. He has been regarded as the founder of the Welsh Academy, from the fact that the education of divinity students first assumed under him a collegiate form. Evans was patronised both by the London funds and by the liberality of wealthy dissenters. Dr. Daniel Williams bequeathed a sum of money towards his support, and it continued to his successors. He is supposed to have retired in 1718, and he died in 1720.

Works

In 1707 Evans published in

''The Principles of the Christian Religion'', based apparently on

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...

's catechism; in 1714 he published and wrote a preface for ''Gemmeu Doethineb'' ("Gems of Wisdom"), a work by his old tutor Rees Prytherch. In 1717 he wrote and long preface to his friend and neighbour Iago ab Dewi's translation of

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition o ...

's ''Catechism''; in 1757 Abel Morgan published Evans's ''Principles of the Christian Religion'', which he had adapted so as to teach

adult baptism Believer's baptism (also called credobaptism, from the Latin word meaning "I believe") is the practice of baptizing those who are able to make a conscious profession of faith, as contrasted to the practice of baptizing infants. Credobaptists b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, William Year of birth missing 1720 deaths 17th-century births 18th-century Welsh clergy 18th-century British Christian theologians Welsh-language writers Welsh Presbyterians 18th-century Presbyterian ministers 18th-century Welsh writers 18th-century Welsh male writers 17th-century Welsh writers Welsh male non-fiction writers 18th-century Welsh theologians