REV. SHUBAL G. EVANS was born August 28, 1804, and died
on February 17, 1858. He married Polly Nelson, in 1849, but they had no children. He was a charter member of the church at Pleasant Hill, and was
ordained a deacon of the church in 1827, by order of the General Meeting as the conference was then called. In 1828, he received authority from the church "to exhort and advance doctrines as the good Spirit might direct" (this being the language used in the old church book at Pleasant Hill, Chatham county, North Carolina). In 1834, he was ordained an Elder in the Conference. He attended the General Meeting at O'Kelly's chapel in 1836. At the Conference at Union, in Orange (now Alamance) county, in 1840, he was appointed on the committee to examine the Treasurer's accounts, and at this Conference he was also reported as located. In 1841, at the Conference at Apple's church in Guilford county, North Carolina, he was appointed on the committee on the Elder's office.
At the Conference at Pleasant Grove, in Randolph county, in 1843, he served on the ordaining presbytery with Elders D. W. Kerr and T. J. Fowler to ordain Ashbel S. Nelson and John R. Holt. In 1844, at the Conference at Hanks' chapel, in Chatham county, he was present, and was appointed to travel as an itinerant the ensuing year. At Apple's chapel, in 1845, he was appointed by the committee on itinerancy to "travel in extenso." In 1848, at the Conference at New Providence, he was on the committee to examine candidates for the ministry, and assisted in the ordination of Thomas G. Craven and William S. Jordan. He attended Conference at New Providence in 1855, and served on the committee on ordination.
In 1857, at the North Carolina and Virginia Conference at Bethlehem, in Alamance county, he served as chairman of the committee on Sabbath schools. This was the last Conference that he attended. He is remembered as an earnest, faithful, and worthy Christian minister. In 1860, at the Conference at Pleasant Hill, in Chatham county, $20 was appropriated to his widow.
The following selection from his writings, in which he exhorts his brethren to walk uprightly, shows the spirit and character of this good man. It is worthy of a careful reading:--
"To my beloved fellow laborers in the vineyard of the Lord, Brethren, are you in the spirit and power of the gospel, and actively and vigorously engaged in the cause of our common Lord and Master, and in the promotion of virtue and temperance? If those who have been called as delegated shepherds, walk uprightly in the fear of the Lord and in the power of his gospel, the sheep will be most likely induced to follow the great Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, and will be filled with a longing desire for the heavenly manna that cometh down from God out of heaven. As every life has its own proper food and nutriment, so a soul panting after heavenly joys cannot be satisfied with any thing short of the bread which cometh down from heaven, whereof if a man eat he shall live forever. It is important that the ministers of the gospel should examine themselves strictly and carefully upon the subject of their call to the holy ministry of the word. Let no one imagine that his call to the ministry has been committed by the great Head of the church to man, or to any set of men; but he has retained the subject in his own hands, and therefore none are properly called and have entered into the work correctly and efficiently, but such as have been called of God, as was Aaron. Again, it is written, he maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. Although the term angel is generally understood to be a glorified spirit in heaven; yet as it means also a messenger, I incline to the belief that in this place it means the ministers of the everlasting gospel; and if so, how appropriate the appellation to those who have been sent forth by the Almighty to excite and enliven his church.
"My brethren, by a faithful adherence to the duties of gospel ministers, and a firm reliance upon the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, you may enjoy much peace and quietness of mind, and you will be filled with a fixed and sacred flame of love and light, never to be extinguished. Your care and toil will be but for a moment; your reward, everlasting life and glory. In view of these things, with what alacrity and delight should we enter upon the various important duties which devolve upon us as ministers of the holy word, and never cease proclaiming the everlasting gospel to a dying world, until the Master shall bid us leave our present important position." |
