those of Billa Flint and his brothersin-law. Not last among these noble men was Nathan Jones, and not least among the elements which from the outset contributed to his success, were the splendid talents of his young wife. No one could select the most attractive goods for the season's trade as could she; and no one could find just what each lady customer required, whether she were the dashing belle of twenty from the town, or the elderly lady of sixty from the farm, as could she. With keen, sympathetic insight she seemed to understand everything; and the spare hours which at their first start in life she gave to helping her husband in his business, were worth more to him than thousands of capital. They grew and prospered rapidly, and soon built the beautiful Bridge Street home which many of us remember for nearly forty years past. Her little family, too, began now to engross her time and strength, and other fields of consecrated work began to open before her, but still for long years her husband enjoyed and prized her company and counsel in the purchase of stock for the ladies' department of his now extensive business. If she shared his wealth she had the proud satisfaction of knowing she had shared the toil by which it was made. But we now approach a point from which her talents were to find a wider field and accomplish rarely successful work for God and for His Church. In the winter of 1855-6 the Rev. James Caughey visited Belleville, and for several months conducted services in the Pinnacle Street church, the Rev. John Carroll being the superintendent of the cir cuit. Our older people will well remember the character of the work of this man of God in various parts of our country. It was not merely a large ingathering of the young and the undecided, or the openly ungodly, into the church, though some five hundred of these were added to the membership of our own and other churches. But it was a work which lifted the leaders in the church to a higher plane of Christian life. For fifteen or twenty years, under the labours of Caughey and the Palmers, the doctrine of entire sanctification was very familiar to our Canadian Methodism. We will not claim that the form of teaching and preaching this doctrine was beyond criticism. Perhaps it made too much of the instantaneous work. Perhaps it tended to undue subjectivity in religion, turned the thoughts too much within and too little to the calls to work without. Perhaps, in its call to work it looked more at the spiritual than at the temporal needs of humanity. Perhaps it exalted simple faith above works, beyond the measure of St. James. But it certainly did this: It aroused the conscience of the Church to a sense of the sin of lukewarmness. It called true followers of Christ up to a far higher consecration and a more earnest perfect Christian life than they had ever attempted before. It brought a baptism of power, of living present joy and peace, of abiding indwelling of the Spirit, unknown before; and certainly John Wesley would have rejoiced over it with great joy. Mrs. Jones was now thirty years of age, rich in rare gifts temporal and spiritual, physical, intellectual and social, and all were now and forever consecrated to the Master's service, and for forty years her fidelity to that consecration never weakened. During the last five years the consecration was that of the patient sufferer, but for thirtyfive it was that of work, amazing in its abundant labours, its energetic zeal, and its triumphant faith. It was this active consecration to work which saved her from that mere subjectivity which has marred the Christian perfection of so many good men, and which in our day has fallen into fanaticism, bringing reproach upon the very name of holiness. Nor was that work the mere pursuit of hobbies. She had heart and hand for everything that was good. She was faithful to her share in all the activities, agencies and means of grace of the Church. Her pastor could always depend on her for prayer meeting, class-meeting, lovefeast, special service or public wor ship. Home was not neglected, but time must be found and was found in a wonderful way for every part of the work of God. It was matter of conscience. "I would feel guilty if I did not go," she would say in her cheery yet serious way. Yet God had given her some special gifts; these she understood, and around them she consecrated and concentrated her special energies. In these she excelled, and anticipated by many years some of the most important achievements of the Church of to-day. a The three fields which now specially opened up before her were: 1. The class-meeting. 2. The organization of young men for Bible study, self-improvement and Christian work. 3. The care of the sick and the poor. We can give but an outline of what she accomplished in each of these important departments. Her class-books, which she carefully preserved, date from 1857, so that at the time of her death she had been a class-leader for nearly thirtyeight years. She began with a class of seventeen and an average attendance of six or seven. In a short time the membership increased to thirty, and ultimately to as many as fifty young ladies. These young women came from all classes of society. Rich and poor literally met together and their leader was the common link that bound them in one. During these years the class-meeting was frequently on its trial. Discussions arose in the Church again and again which compelled it to vindicate its place in the constitution of the Church by its inherent usefulness, and in few places was that vindication more satisfactory than in the town of Belleville, and in such a class as that of Mrs. Jones. I have before me twelve class-books, each covering a period of about three years, all carefully marked. for attendance each week, not merely as present or absent, but as distant or sick, showing that each week she made it a point to know just where each member of this large class was, and the cause of absence when absent. The former pastors of Belleville know well, too, how carefully this accurate bookkeeping was followed up by personal visitation, so that we doubt whether she ever lost a member except where, through some unfortunate influence, there was a wilful determination to give up the Christian life. Those committed to her care did not easily slip away from her. This, of course, implied great watchfulness for souls. Few leaders kept such perfect trace of the spiritual advancement of each individual member from month to month, as she. Each one seemed to lie as a burden on her soul. If any were in danger or difficulty they were always the subject of special prayer. When she felt that the safety of any one of her charge needed special effort she called for the help of the pastor, although few of us felt that we could be successful when she failed. The intelligent conduct of the class-meeting was with her a matter of special study. Dealing with young people whose experience of the things of God was limited, and many of whom were as yet but in the rudiments of Christian life, it became her special concern to develop a more complete Christianity. As a foundation for this she aimed first of all to bring each one out to the clear, abiding witness of the Spirit. She never felt that one of her charge was safe until they were sure of sins forgiven. Next to this she inculcated high ideals of Christian duty and consecration. Holiness to the Lord was the motto of her own life, and the standard of life which she constantly and consistently held up before all her class. But in this she was very far from depending on mere emotion. The Word was her touchstone, and few possessed in more eminent degree the power to use the Word to enlarge and enrich the work of the class-meeting hour. While fond of music, and deeply appreciating the power of song in the social means, the precepts and promises of the Word were her sheet-anchor, and her aim was to fashion and perfect both the inner faith and the outer life of her class by the rule of the Word. The year 1869 marked the commencement of another of Mrs. Jones' distinctive fields of work. She had now been for twenty-eight years a Sabbath-school teacher and a careful Bible student. This experience led her to appreciate fully the importance of a link between the Sabbath-school and the Church, some agency by which the young men trained in the Sabbath-school might be held in touch with the school until they became fully established as members of the Church of Christ. In that year she was placed in charge of the senior Bible-class of boys, which henceforth became one of the most successful agencies of the Belleville church. She immediately estimated at full value the impor tance and the claims of the task before her. She felt that to hold these young men she must give them work worthy of keen, active, educated young minds. Hence she laid the foundation of her success in careful, thorough, and high-class preparation. Her notes of preparation indicate Biblical scholarship of no mean order. Geography, his tory, antiquities, books of travel, all contributed their light on the section studied. She possessed that essential requisite of the successful exegete -the historical imagination. She converted brief annals into living pictures filled with real, moving, acting men, and out of these she taught the great lessons of morals and religion with such attractive power that in a short time her class was overflowing. The situation in Belleville was peculiarly favourable to her work. Two large colleges, Albert and the Ontario Business College, brought young men from all parts of the Dominion and even from beyond the seas. In the course of fourteen years in this work seven hundred and seven young men passed through her class, which often consisted of more than one hundred members. The gathering together of these young men was to her a golden opportunity. Her first thought was the conversion of each one. On the blank page of her roll of members is pasted this verse: My class for Jesus! nothing less Of the result of her work in this respect we have no exact record, but the belief of some of the old members is that the great majority were led to Christ. Once they were clearly converted, her next effort was to develop and organize their powers of work along lines which would give character to their after life. They formed themselves into a mutual improvement class: "The object the intellectual and moral improvement of those who unite therewith." In the minute-book of this society we find that they collected a library, visited sick members, kept up a weekly programme of discussions and entertainments, organized a temperance society, and organized a band to pray and work for the con version of such of their class-mates as were not yet decided for Christ. In addition to this work, which implied three meetings each week, one for prayer, one for Bible study and one of a literary and social character, a detachment of the class were always ready to assist Mrs. Jones in the cottage prayer-meetings among the poor of the city. Here was certainly the Epworth League in all its essential elements already in operation twenty-five years ago. It will surprise no one to learn that out of this work came eight or nine ministers of the Gospel, besides Sabbath-school teachers and workers beyond our power to number. This work for young men was just fairly started when, in 1872, a terrible accident opened the door to a new field of work for Mrs. Jones. Through some mistake two trains collided a short distance east of Belleville, and in a moment cars filled with passengers were converted into a mass of mangled and scalded suffering. The wounded and dying were brought to Belleville to be cared for. A building was extemporized for a hospital. The ladies of the city volunteered as nurses, and, with a unanimity which was her most emphatic testimonial, they turned to Mrs. Jones as their leader. The service of mercy was a protracted one, for it was many weeks before all could be removed to their own homes. But it brought to the ladies of Belleville the conviction that permanent provision must be made for the wounded, the sick, and the aged and infirm poor in their young city. Movements of this kind advance slowly, but in 1879 a Woman's Christian Association was formed for the care of the poor and the building of a home and a hospital. It was organized upon the common basis of Christian charity, without distinction of race or creed. first president was Mrs. Jacques, who shortly after passed to her reward Its and Mrs. Jones took her place, and thus almost from its beginning was the leader of the work. They began by visiting the gaol, where in the severe weather the poor found refuge with the criminals. Their hearts were at once drawn out toward these unfortunates, who for no crime but their poverty and age were driven to find their winter home surrounded by sin. They hired a little house. The furniture was begged from the members from house to house, Mrs. Jones conveying it in her own carriage to the new and humble institution. Presently their quarters were too small for their work and a larger house was taken. Then the city council transferred to them the entire care of the aged and destitute of the city. This they willingly undertook, combining with it efforts for the salvation of unfortunate young women. In the next twenty years they reduced the expenses to the city of this work by at least onehalf, while they far more than doubled its efficiency. For in the meantime they had conceived and carried by faith and prayer to a successful issue a great city charity, an honour and an ornament to their town. They built on the shores of the beautiful Bay of Quinte a group of noble buildings in which the aged and the poor could be sheltered and cared for in comfort both to body and soul and surrounded by pure and holy influences, and in which the sick could be nursed back to health again. The faith and effort needed to struggle through to the culmination of such a work can scarcely be realized. At one time their treasury was reduced to twenty-seven cents with fifteen people in their home to be fed, when an anonymous letter to Mrs. Jones brought ten dollars to their relief. She lived herself in an atmosphere of wondrous faith in God and in the sure success of His work, and she possessed the rare gift of inspiring others with a portion of her own gracious spirit. The Hospital and Home for the Friendless, in Belleville, are to-day an imperishable monument of her consecration to duty. Our sketch of this eminent saint would be imperfect without a glimpse of that inner home-life in which the highest type of womanhood appears in its richest beauty and glory. The faithful, zealous class-leader, the leader and teacher of the young people, and the soul and life and head of large charitable enterprises, was at the same time the centre and soul of a remarkably happy home. Her husband was a man of remarkably quiet, even temperament, refined tastes, and excellent judgment, and the two were united in the tenderest affection. We have already noted the helpful spirit with which she began married life when fortune was still to be made. The memory of those early days of work together seems to have been treasured as a very sacred thing, only referred to once in a long time to most intimate friends. But in after years, when the children were grown up, we find husband and wife repeating the old trip to make purchases together in Montreal or holidays to the seaside, and the little records of those trips are full of the most beautiful spirit of tender wedded love purified and perfected by the sweetest graces of religion The story of all the little incidents of the way, of the little gifts of husband to wife and wife to husband, of the daily little remembrances of the children, and of the heightened pleasure which came to all their enjoyment of nature and art as they tasted their good things of life together, is told at fifty with the artless simplicity and sweetness of a honeymoon. In their children also they were greatly blessed. The eldest son became the companion, almost the compeer, of his mother in varied work for the Master. They lived to see their daughters settled in life, united to Christian men of sterling character and ability and growing influence in the country, while to one fell the quiet but blessed portion of tenderly caring for father and mother in the declining years of weakness and suffering, until first one and then the other entered into the rest of God. For the last four or five years the house which had in days past been bright with the prattle of children, or cheery with the merry voices of young people, or vocal with the sweet sounds of praise and prayer, for father and children were rarely gifted in lute and song and led the devotions of the house of God for many long years, the house thus the brightest with pure joys in all the city was hushed into the saddened quiet of suffering. First father and then mother were called to pass under the rod. The grace which in the toil of life had made them strong to labour now made them patient to suffer, until after some years in this twilight of life Nathan Jones passed to his rest at seventy-six, April 22nd, 1892, and Jane Clement Jones in great peace and child-like faith followed, January 4th, 1895. Their record is well worthy of the study and imitation of coming generations of Methodists. |