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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 9rrata to pelure, >n d D 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ane ©lement Jones REPRINTED FROM THE METHODIST MAGAZINE, June, 1895. JANE CLEMENT JONES VICTCniAMA DEC 1 2 f979 JANE CLEMENT JONES. BY THE REV. N. BURVVASH, S.T.I)., L.L.D. Chancellor of Victoria University. The early years of this century still witnessed the movement of population from the United States to Upper Canada. A few years before the ^reat Loyalist movement had broken in upon the solitude of our primaeval forests and had proved that underneath their dark shadows there lav concealed a soil rich in all the resources of a prosperous people. And so for nearly half a century a portion of the stream of youn^ enterprise and ability which was flowing- from the rocky hillsides of New England, found its way to our Canadian shores. It would scarcely be fair to think or speak of these early settlers as foreigners or immi- f^rants. They, or their fathers, were born under our British fla^; they spoke our lanj^ua^'e ; they were fam- iliar with all the ways of our new country. They were often the old neighbours, sometimes the blood- relations, of the Loyalist founders of Upper Canada, and when they came among us they were at once at home— loyal citizens of the young land and loyal subjects of its King. Among these incomers, in the year 1811, was a young harness-maker named Clement, from „he village of GofFstown, in New Hampshire. There was at that time, tradition says, no one of his trade between Montreal and Kingston, and when he built his little backwoods home, at what is now the town of Brock- ville, he soon obtained a contract from the Government to refit the cavalry, who then were continually moving from east to west— along the shores of the St. Lawrence and the lakes. Here, in the November of that year, he planted his wife, Elizabeth Ba-ncroft, and two little daughters, Phoebe and Elizabeth. 6 In the course of years the little group grew to seven, Lucy, Martha, Sarah, Jane, and George being born in the Canadian home, on the banks of the beautiful St. Lawrence. Here, by the beginning of the thirties, the two elder daughters, Phoebe and Elizabeth, were married, the first to young Billa Flint, the son of the prosperous merchant of the same name, the second to Rufus Hoi den, then a young man in mercantile life, and afterwards for long years a prominent citizen and physician of the city of Belleville. Shortly after, in the second cholera year, 1834, the father, who was evidently a man of ability, entrusted by the Canadian Government with im- portant commissions, and who has left behind him a record as a friend of the poor, the sick and the afflicted, was suddenly taken from his house- hold by the fatal epidemic. The name of the mother, Elizabeth Bancroft, contains a history in itself. We meet it in places of influence far back in English history. In New England it stands on the earliest rolls of the colony, and holds a proud place in American history, for the lar^e number of the name distinguished in literature and in public life. It carries with it many of the best intellectual and religious traditions both of Old England and of New England. Certain it is that Elizabeth Bancroft was not unworthy of her name, and handed down to her children, both in natural en- dowments and in careful Christian training, those noble traits which have distinguished both the family and the race to which they be- longed. Already, in 1834, they had become connected with Methodism, which, in those early days, gathered to itself through its devoted pioneers all the earnest religious spirits of the land, except those attached to the two established Churches in the centres of population. The Flints, father and son, were both promi- nent and active Methodists, and it is not yet a year since the son, the Hon. Senator Flint, passed to his rest, in Belleville, at the ripe age of eighty-nine, after more than fifty years of active toil in Sabbath- school, temperance, and general church work. The Holdens were also a family widely influential and honoured, both in the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. Thus from the very beginning this family became linked with the best elements of our young Cana- dian life in religion, in commerce, and in public affairs; and when, in 1834, Mrs. Clement was left a widow, she was not without attached and influential friends. In the same year she removed to Belleville, where her son-in-law, Mr. Flint, was now established in business; and from this date her descendants were iden- tified with all that is most important in the history of this city. Here she was again called to drink the cup of sorrow in the sudden death of her only son, and of a loved daughter. And here, in after years, she was permitted to see all her remaining children settled about her in beautiful, prosperous and happy homes. And here, in 1851, sur- 8 rounded by her children, she died in peace in a j^ood old ai^-e. It is out of sucii a family history as this that we are introduced to Jane Ciement Jones, the youn,i»"est surviving member of the household. We first meet her as the bright, happy, beautiful child, full of the energy and spirits of youth, enjoying all life to th^ full. There comes to us, out of the tradition of childhood, a picture of the playhouse of the children in the shadow of the ^reat rocks, under the overhanging vines, close by the ^lidinj]^ stream of the ^reat St. Lawrence. In such a lumie as this was imaf>-ination quick- ened and the capacity foi* the purest enjoyments of life called out in full streng"th. Another picture sits before us — the round, rr.virry face of the happy child, with basket in hand, tripping her way to the cabin of some poor or sick neig-hbour with the f^ood tilings provided by father's and mothers kindness. Nor must we forget the other picture, which fills with beauty the simple furnish- ings of every Puritan home, of the 9 old HiMe, the family ;iltar, the hlaziiif? fireside, tlie sweet son^'-s of Zion, mother's te.'iehinj::, and tlie sunny quiet of tiie ehamber where she prayed for and with tl^c ehii- dren till their lu^arts were melted into penitence by her tears. Hut there were other fearful pic- tures as' well in this younjj: life. In a few short iiours the father so kind and loved was stricken with the phifi^ue, died and was hurried away to the j^rave by the tremblin^^ nei^'''hl)()urs. With almost ecjual suddennuss, if not with equal terror, sister Sarah was taken by the rupture of a blood-vessel, and finally the only little brother she had ever known w;iy cnrried Ixmie from the cold, dark waters of the river, drowned. It is easy to follow the results of all this on* the sensitive, emotional spirit of the child, 'rhe unseen world came very near. The c«)n- viction of sin under the stern old Puritan teaching? was deep and lasting?". At ten years oi' aj?e, just after her father's death, the decision 10 of life appears to have been fully made in a revival which at that time touched the Sunday-school and feathered in many of the children; after earnest, prayerful seekinjj: she found the peace of God. With the example before them of this one of the noblest Christian lives of our time thus layinji: its deep founda- tions of repentance and faith in early childhood, let no one presume to question the reality of childhood piety. But let us lay, as here, the old foundations of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, not trusting to some shadowy modern conception of a universal regeneration. But with this healthful, moral and religious development there was also the furnishing of education such as the facilities of that day afforded. The elementary schools of the thirties did not offer a very extensive curriculum, and all they could give was soon mastered by a bright young mind; and as yet but few higher schools had been planted in our country, and to these 11 the youn^ ladies were not admitted. Hut 'Methodism, both in its laity and ministry, had already appreciated the importance of this problem. The resolution had been taken as early as 1830 to found an academy for the liberal education of the youth of both sexes. After some six years of heroic effort the work was 'accomplished, and for the next six years the youn^ men and the young- women of our best Canadian Metliodist families were found in Upper Canada Academy, pursuing studios which would fit them for lives of wider usefulness. Here we next find Jane Clement laying? the foundations which enabled her to be the leader and teacher of hun- dreds of men and women in after days. Very speedily, indeed, did she enter on the employment of her talents, for already at sixteen we find her teaching in the Sabbath-school, a place maintained for fifty years until the last long affliction shut her out from work. But we have been studying these early years of life as the training- 12 school for her subsequent eminently useful career. Not least important amonf2f the influences of this period was her close contact with the active business of life. Wlien left alone with her one child her mother found her home with her elder daufi^hter, Mrs. Flint. Mr. Flint wns a prac- tical, energetic and eminently suc- cessful merchant. Then other sisters, Mrs. llolden, Mrs. Ilolton, Mrs. Har- rison, were all married to young men in Mr. Flint's employ, and who, a little later, founded successful business places of their own. The growing, active young woman was in daily contact with the plans and cares, the difficulties and the success of business, and with the strong, practical genius of her people, drank in its spirit and was familiar with its lessons. In 1847, she linked her life with another of Mr. Flint's assistants, Mr. Nathan Jones, and togetlier they started to push the fortunes of life. We have often had reason to admire the results of the ♦' business colleges of those olden days." A If ', 13 Flint in Belleville, a Jackson in Hamilton, a Ferrier in Montreal, were typical examples. Their young men were not mere paid underlings or servants. They were rather as younger brothers, or as sons with their father, rendering due reverence and faithful and obedient work, but with nothing of the degradation of servitude, They were members of one household, they worshipped around one family altar. They had common thoughts and ambitions. The younger was impressed by the character of the elder and learned all his methods of business. It was both the ambition and the advantage of the senior to set his boys up for themselves as soon as they had proved their capacity, in branches and extensions of his business. So was it here, and Belleville has on its roll of successful citizens, who through a long life built up the commercial strength of the Bay City and its back country, no more honoured and successful names than those of Billa Flint and his brothers- in-law. Not last among these noble 14 men was Natlian Jones, and not least amon^ the elements which from the outset contributed to his success, were the splendid talents of his youn^ 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 beauti- ful 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 I 15 ladies' department of his now exten- sive 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 ;md 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 v% tr! 16 the labours of Caughey and the Palmers, the doctrine of entire sanc- titication 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 ex- alted 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. I I 1 17 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 thirty- five 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 re- proach upon the very name of holiness. Nor was that work the mere pur- suit 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, love- 18 feast, special service or public wor- ship, llome was not neglected, but time must be found ana was found in a wonderful way for every part of the work of God. It was a 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 m?ny years some of the most im- portant achievements of the Church of to-day. The three fields which now spec- ially opened up before her were : 1. The class-meeting. 2. The or- ganization of young men for Bible study, self-improvement and Chris- tian work. 3. The care of the sick and the poor. We can give but an outline of what she accom- plished in each of these important departments. Her class-books, which she care- fully preserved, date from 1857, so that at the time of her death she had il 19 been a class-leader for nearly thirty- eight 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-meet- ing was frequently on its trial. Discussions arose in the Church again and again which compelled it to vindicate its place in the consti- tution 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 20 each member of this hirge 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 visit- ation, 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 cf 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 de- velop a more complete Christianity. As a foundation for this she aimed Hrst 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 Chris- tian duty and consecration. Holi-^ ness to the Lord was the motto of her own life, and the standard of life which she constantly and con- sistently 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 cn- laro-e and enrich the work of the class-meeting hour. While fond ol music, and deeply appreciating the power of song in the social means, the precepts and promises of the 22 Word were her shcelniiclior, and Irt aim was to fasluon niul i)erfect both tlie inner faith a:»(l tiic outer life of her chiss by the rule of tiie Word. The ye'ir IBGl) marked the com- nieneenient of another of Mrs. Jones' distinetive fields of worl^. Slie had now been for twenty-eiji^ht years a, Sabbatli-seliool teaclier and a care- ful Bible student. Tiiis experience led her to api)reciate fully the im- portance of a linl^ between the Sab- bath-school and the Cimrch, some aj^ency by wliicli tlie youn^^ men trained in tlie Sabbath-school mif^ht be held in touch with the school until they became fully established as members of the Church of Clhrist. In that year she was placed in charge of the senior Bible-class of boys, which henceforth became one of "the most successful a^^enciesof 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 youn^^ men she must ^ive them work worthy of keen, active, i>:i educated youii^^ minds. Hence she laid the foundation of her success in careful, thorou«j:h, and hi^^h class ])reparation. Her notes of [)re])Mr- ation indicate lUblical scholarship of no mean oitler. (ieo<,n-apliy, iiis- tory, Mntiijuities, books of travel, all coiitribuied their li^^hton the section studied. She possessed that essential requisite of the successful exe^^otc, — the historical imagination. She eonverted brief annals into livin^^ pictures lilled with real, movin^s actinji^ men, and oui of these she tauf:^ht the j^i'cat lessons of morals an