Sweetness of natural temper, which betrays many into criminal indifference for religion, under the specious pretext of candour, was no snare to Mr. Jones. Though he possessed the most mild and amiable disposition, it was so tempered with zeal according to knowledge, that he was firmly and invariably attached to all the essential truths of the Gospel. He loved sincere and good men of all denomina tions, but never could endure the conduct of those temporising professors whose avowed sentiments are always in coincidence with their secular interests. When it was generally understood that the Arminian and Arian doctrines. prevailed in the dissenting academy at Carmarthen, which was supported partly by the Presbyterian, and partly by the Independent Fund in London, he was much grieved, and laudably exerted himself to call the attention of the Independents to the matter. At length he prevailed so far, that a committee was appointed to enquire into it. Having examined the evidences on both sides, they reported that those errors had prevailed; in consequence of which the Independents withdrew their patronage from that seminary, and instituted another at Abergavenny, upon evangelical principles. Such was his zeal for the promotion of the Redeemer's glory, that, when he was eighty years old, he travelled near four hundred miles in North Wales, and preached. twice a day. When spoken to upon the hazard of so long a journey at his advanced period of life he replied with confidence," I shall not die yet. No; I shall live and labour for God some years longer." He continued abounding in the work of the Lord till within the last year of his life, when the grasshopper became a burden, and the time of his departure was evidently at hand. It is not to be wondered at that such a man greatly rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. Being asked, if he feared death? he answered with surprize, "I fear death! No, I know too much of Jesus Christ to fear death. It is in itself terrible, but I do not fear it."-In that last illness, which delivered his pure spirit from the bondage of corruption, he experienced the most acute pain. He often told his surrounding friends, that dying was hard work for nature: yet he never murmured. That religion under the influence of which be so long lived, kept him submissive to his Heavenly Fa ther's will: but he was not merely submissive, he was VOL. III.-No. 54. N happy; happy; and felt in death the energy of that grace which had frequently enabled him to glory in tribulation. When asked by a friend, how it was with his soul? he replied, "The heavenly country is clear in view; there is no cloud nor fear between me and glory." Though the extremity of pain prevented his talking much, yet he frequently expressed his victory over death, and his assurance of eternal blessedness. During the last twenty-four hours of his life, however, the conflict of nature was so severe, that it was with difficulty any of his friends could collect resolution enough to witness his distress. But before he departed, his agony ceased, and he became composed. Incapable of speaking, he made signs of great joy and triumph, by lifting up his hands. Thus died, Nov. 1793, in the ninety-second year of his age, a man whose memory will be blessed-a man who, all things considered, probably left behind him but few equals. Such was his inflexible integrity, so conspicuously in him appeared the image of his divine Master, so pure was his life, and so amiable his manners, that the enemies of religion bowed with reverence before him, and confessed, "If there was a good man upon earth, Edmund Jones was one." He was buried in his own meeting house. The rev. Mr. Griffiths of Abergavenny, whom he had appointed, preached upon the solemn and affecting occasion, from 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. a text chosen by himself, and which Mr. Griffiths well improved, amidst a numerous and weeping congrega tion. He was author of, 1." A Sermon on Noah's Ark."-2. One on "the Light of the Gospel."-3. Another on "Sampson's Hair."-4. The History of Aberystwyth."-5. "Of his native parish." He was writing the history of his own life, and had proceeded so far as the first fifty years of it, when death put a period to that and all his other labours. He had scarcely any property to leave behind him but his books; and, as he never had a child, he bequeathed part of them to his successor in the ministry, and part to a near relation. JONES, JOHN, pastor of an Independent Church of Christ at St. John's Harbour, the principal settlement in the Island of Newfoundland, was born in Britain, in 1735. His mother was a pious Dissenter, whose prayers, example, and attention, produced so little effect upon the mind of her her son, that, after wasting his youth in idleness, he entered, at twenty-two years of age, into the Royal Artillery, as a private soldier. In that situation he vied with his com rades in various kinds of profligacy; but not without frequent convictions of guilt, arising from his religious education. He never could throw off a reverence for real godliness, and especially for the office of a minister of the Gospel; so that.. even in the most abandoned part of his life, he thought it the happiest of all employments. In 1765, the company of artillery to which he belonged was removed to St. John's. The first step toward his being awakened to a spiritual concern was in 1770, by the sight of a fellow soldier, who died blaspheming. At that time, scarcely any part of the world could be more destitute either of the power or form of christianity, than St. John's. The Lord's day is allowed by an act of parliament to be employed in the codfishery, which occupies the inhabitants of Newfoundland in general. Most of them are Irish Papists, of the meanest sort; and at that time they were not allowed to have public worship, nor a priest to reside among them. The only minister at St. John's was a missionary from the Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts; and his character was notoriously immoral. That Society, which had but too often been mistaken in the persons it employs, was however more happy in one of its missionaries, who was then stationed at Harbour Grace, a settlement in Conception Bay, to the N. W. of St. John's. An elderly inhabitant of that place was accustomed to read a sermon, on a Lord's day evening, to his family, and a few of his neighbours attended. Some young men from Poole, in Dorsetshire, who had been accustomed to lead the singing in Mr. Ashburner's congregation, proposed to introduce this part of worship, in addition to the family lecture; and the notice it attracted was so general, that the inhabitants determined to build a place of worship, and to apply for a minister from England, there being at that time only one in the island, beside the clergyman at St. John's. The late Mr. Coughlan, of lady Huntingdon's connexion, was sent to them by the society beforementioned; and after labouring for three years without evidence. of success, was honoured with great usefulnes to the conversion of souls. Visiting St. John's, he preached there once or twice in 1771, greatly to the advantage of Mr. N 2 Jones, Jones, who had endured much spiritual distress. They afterward corresponded by writing. Two or three soldiers in the garrison, being brought to a desire of salvation, met with Mr. Jones for social prayer, till the company returned to England in 1773. He joined the Independent Church at Chatham, where he was stationed for two years; and then, to his surprize and regret, he was appointed to return, with another company of artillery, to the same desolate spot where he had so lately served for eight years. Thus the Lord often accomplishes his gracious purposes, and fulfils our utmost desires, by means that appear to us not only unaccountable, but distressing. Mr. Jones had risen through the subordinate ranks of gunner, bombardier, and corporal; and his exemplary conduct, subsequent to his conversion, recommended him so strongly to his commanding officers, that he was intrusted with every charge compatible with his station. Upon his return to Newfoundland, he had at once to fill the posts of serjeant-major, quarter-master, pay-master, and clerk to the company of artillery. Being thereby entitled to the occupation of a separate room, a pious serjeant of the company and his family shared it with him; and they maintained social worship twice a day, and more publicly on the Lord's day evening, when many persons attended, both from the garrison and the town of St. John's. He read to them printed discourses, and six or seven persons joined in society with him. They even obtained from the magistrates the use of the court house at the harbour, for their Lord's day evening worship, during the winter, which season the governor (who is usually an admiral) always spends in England. In the following spring, when the governor returned, this indulgence was withdrawn from them, through the influence of the clergyman at St. John's. On this gentleman's ministry, although far from evangelical, they had steadily attended; but they then determined upon meeting together each part of the Lord's day and the town's people being at length excluded from Mr. Jones's room in the barracks, he met with them, during, the summer, in the open air, upon the neighbouring barren hills; exhorting them from portions of Scripture, as he had begun to do while they met in the court house. This mode of assembling being impracticable in the winters, which are extremely cold, they determined, although destitute of pra : perty, perty, to attempt erecting a small place of worship; and having cut down some slight trees in the woods, with which most of the island is covered, they raised their building, chiefly by the labour of their own hands, in the spring of 1777, on a spot of ground of which they had obtained a lease. A chamber belonging to one of their society had sheltered them during the winter, and they had worshipped in their new house a few weeks only, when the governor returned, and endeavoured, but at that time in vain, to deprive them of it. Mr. Jones continued preaching in it regularly till the next year, when the company of artillery was ordered to England, and he was under the necessity of leaving his little flock. They wrote, however, to him in England an earnest request that he would get his discharge from the military service, and come out the next year to reside with them as their minister. This was accomplished with some difficulty, during his stay at Plymouth, where the company was stationed; and the rev. Christopher and Herbert Mends, Mr. Ashburner, and the late Mr. Rooker of Bridport, gave their approbation and instructions on the occasion, in which they were also joined by the late rev. Simon Reader, and four other respectable ministers in the neighbourhood. Upon Mr. Jones's third and last arrival at St. John's, in July, 1779, he was only suffered to preach in the meeting house about a month, before the new governor, at the instigation of the clergyman already spoken of, by a strain of his authority, prohibited the farther use of it for worship, and restricted their meetings to Mr. Jones's private lodgings. He was thereby so much disheartened, that he would have returned to England, but for the entreaties of the little society, which then consisted of fifteen members. Their privileges were, however, restored to them the following year; the admiral having found that his conduct. had attracted more notice and censure in the mother country than he expected. From that period Mr. Jones regularly administered to them the ordinances of Christ, preached to them three times on the Lord's day, and every other sabbath a fourth time, at a place two miles distant. He also preached at St. John's one evening besides in the week, and met them two other evenings for prayer and religious conversation. The church, which was then regularly constituted, had an annual increase of twenty members for se |