Nathaniel JONES

JONES, NATHANIEL (b. Oswestry, Shropshire, England, 1863; d. Sydney, NSW, 1911). Anglican clergyman and college principal.

Nathaniel Jones grew up on the Welsh border, where the Irish evangelical Frederick Cashel had been vicar of Oswestry since 1851, and in a rural society much influenced by Welsh traditions, dialect and experience. He worked on the family farm as a youth, and was influenced by local 'Plymouth' Brethren with their emphasis on dispensatiomalism, as well as Canon Cashel. About 1877 Jones was rebaptised by Cashel, as a sign of his awakening to faith.

After Oxford (MA first class in theology), Jones was ordained deacon in the Church of England and served at Wortley near Leeds. Threatening throat cancer drove him to Australia, where he served in a variety of Victorian appointments, rising to be principal of Perry Hall, Bendigo, 1894-6.

In 1897 he was appointed to be principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney. Here he expounded his premillennial vision of the gathered church, eager in evangelism, anxiously awaiting the return of her Lord. This was no ecstatic revivalistic style, such as had been espoused by Methodists in the Welsh Revival of c. 1859, but a more overt Calvinism focussing on the declaration of God's righteousness. Nevertheless he supported Keswick-style movements for holiness (in Sydney the Katoomba convention) along with his preoccupation with unfulfilled prophecy.

Mervyn Archdall was an early friend, Herbert Begbie (q.v.) an early follower. Archdall's establishment of a deaconess' institute (1891) gained Jones' support for its importance in promoting the urgent work of evangelism. Jones, like Archdall, feared the invasion of secularism, which they answered with biblical literalism: 'As the Christian fabric of society seemed to them to be crumbling, they concentrated on the community of faith ... Their theology turned its back on the world, emphasising a division between sacred and secular that characterised so much of late 19th century Evangelicalism.'(Lawton, thesis, 67)

Jones also gave energetic support to the work of Florence Young (q.v.) among Kanakas, as well as encouraging open air and holiness preaching in Sydney, but above all to the formation of his students at MTC. There he sought to shape them 'into earnest, enthusiastic preachers who would inculcate "holiness" into their congregations'. (Lawton, 84) He warned them and the public of the dangers of worldliness contrasted with the meaning of the millennium and the subsequent return of Christ. The Roman Catholic church was readily identified with the evil forces described in the book of Revelation, while Jones emphasised by contrast the constant struggle against sin and the need for a 'voluntary surrender' to promote personal holiness. 'We live in the dispensation of the Spirit .... Claim the power of the Spirit'. (Lawton, 104 citing Jones in Church Standard 2 Sept 1899) This was not teaching 'second blessing', but 'deeper life' as a confirmation of a Christian profession.

'Few matched Jones' ability to turn a text to advantage. His addresses breathe a spirit of deep piety, with a passion for the spiritual needs of his hearers.' (Lawton, 109) At the college, which Jones often ran single handed, the students were often little more than poorly prepared lower-middle class recruits. Yet he created a core of disciples, imbued with his outlook, if at the cost of declining health.

It was this outlook which led him in 1909 to promote the candidature of Griffith Thomas to succeed Saumarez Smith (q.v.) as abp of Sydney . Thomas was a boyhood friend who shared Jones' theology, his hostility to biblical criticism and his occupancy of a college principalship. But Jones was outmanoeuvred by the pragmatic F B Boyce (q.v.), who successfully promoted the election of J C Wright (q.v.). This effort was probably Jones' principal intervention in diocesan affairs, for he does not appear to have served on any diocesan committees, preferring instead to encourage the 'little flock' in its pursuit of holiness.

W J Lawton, "'The better time to be": The Kingdom of God and social reform. Anglicans and the diocese of Sydney 1885-1914', PhD thesis, Univ of NSW, 1985; W J Lawton, The better time to be: Utopian attitudes to society among Sydney Anglicans, 1885 to 1914 (Sydney, 1990)

BRIAN DICKEY