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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
JOHN JONES, TALSARN AND
DR THOMAS CHALMERS
A Welsh-Scottish Gospel Connection
Dr Alan C. Clifford
John Jones, Talsarn Dr Thomas Chalmers
On 3 March 1899, the Welsh-language paper Y Negesydd published a
fascinating item about the great Methodist preacher John Jones,
Talsarn (1796-1857). With a charming anecdote, Dr D. Rees, Bronant
reminded readers that the seraphic preacher was still fondly
remembered forty years after his death:
A brief word about the story of John Jones, Talsarn when he was
showing the preaching unction that was within him. It is said that
when a boy he would go to something like a pulpit, read a chapter, give
out a hymn to sing, take a text, preach and thank at the end for the
help he had received. Once when he was standing on a river bank
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
where there were lots of geese cackling he began preaching to them
and in the height of his preaching said to the geese compose yourselves
a little and I will release you soon. However much skill is shown by the
crosses of Rome there is no need for Wales to hide its head. The King
of Zion has able soldiers in Wales. There could be the wrath of an
Eliab inflaming and inflicting a boy from Wales disdainfully and asking,
with whom did you leave some sheep, and another leaving the quarry,
and another the hammer. Amongst such as these the Lord raised up
giants for the pulpit in Wales. Someone sent part of John Jones,
Talsarns sermon to Dr. Chalmers and the doctor drowned in
amazement about his great mind. We could write much about (him,
and about his other brothers shining comets in the firmament of the
church). Do not be cast down. The Master and the equipment are
working with us. The Lord has an excellent band these days.1
While we note with great interest that Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was
born later that year (20 December 1899), we also note an intriguing
indication that the eminent Scottish Free Church leader Dr Thomas
Chalmers (1780-1847) had been deeply impressed by the preaching of
John Jones, Talsarn. The identity of both the sender and the
1 I am grateful to Dr Lynda Newcombe for her translation of the original: Y PARCH. JOHN JONES, TALSARN. GAN DR. D. REES, BRONANT Gair yn fyi o hanes John Jones, Talsarn, pan oedd yn dangos yr elien bregethu oedd ynddo. Dywedir pan yn fachgen ei fod yn arfer myned i ben rhywbeth fel pwipud, yn darllen penod, rhoddi emyn i ganu, cymeryd testyn, pregethu, a diolch ar y diwedd am y cymorth gafodd. Tra yn sefyll un tro ar Ian afon lie yr oedd awer o wyddau yn clegar, dechreuodd bregethu iddynt, ac yn mhoethder ei bregeth, meddai wrth y gwyddau, Ymlon- yddwch am chydig, a mi a'ch gollyngaf ymaith yn fuan.' Pa faint bynag o fedrusrwydd ddangoswyd gan groesau Rhufain, nid oes raid i Gymru guddio ei phen mae gan Frenin Seion iilwyr medrus drosto yn Nghymru. Gall fod digofaint arribell Eliab yn enyn ac yn peri iddo edrych ar ami fachgen o Gymro yn ddiystyrllyd a gofyn, Gyda phwy y gadewaist ti yr ychydig ddefaid,' un arall yn gadael y chwarel, y llall yr engan a'r morthwyl, arall y myniawyd, &c. O fysg rhai fel hyn y cododd yr Arglwydd gewri pwlpud Cymru. Anfonodd rhywun ran o bregeth John Jones, Talsarn, i Dr. Chalmers; ac yr oedd y Dr wedi boddi mewn syndod uwchben eliediadau ei feddwl mawr. Gallasem ysgrifenu llawer (am dano, ac am frodyr eraill fuont gomedau disglaer yn ffurfafen yr eglwys). Na ddigalonwn, mae y Meistr a'r offer gweithio gyda ninau. Mae gan yr Arglwydd fintai ar- dderchog ar y maes y dyddiau hyn.
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
presumably-translated sermon extract2 sent to Dr Chalmers is
uncertain. However, a significant theological and spiritual affinity may
be demonstrated between the two men. This affinity was shared and
reflected in the life and ministry of the eminent Dr Owen Thomas of
Liverpool (1812-91), whose epoch-making biography of John Jones,
Talsarn was published in 1874.3
I have in my possession Dr Owen Thomass personal copy of Dr
Chalmerss Institutes of Theology (1849). It was presented in December
1891 to the Theological College at Bala by William Thomas of Bootle,
Liverpool. It is worth noting that Thomas had studied under Chalmers
in Edinburgh. One wonders if he might have sent the unknown
sermon extract to Dr Chalmers? Judging by an extant letter from the
latter to the former, John Aaron points out that the two men enjoyed a
warm and close relationship:
I rejoice in the spirit of your denomination; and there are few things
which would delight me more than a union between the Calvinistic
Methodists of Wales, and the Presbyterians of Scotland, England and
Ireland.4
Now, in the extended Chapter XI of his biography of John Jones,
Talsarn, Owen Thomas provided a historical theological survey of the
atonement controversy which had brought widespread soul-deadening
distress to Christians in early 19th-century Wales. Such over-
reactionary hypercalvinism had been provoked by the advent of
2 Currently being researched. 3 Owen Thomas, Cofiant Y Parchedig John Jones, Talsarn (Wrexham: Hughes and Son, 1874). 4 See Owen Thomas, Owen, tr. John Aaron, The Atonement Controversy in Welsh
Theological Literature and debate, 1707-1841 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), p. xii.
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
Arminianism in North-eastern Wales. Looking at the broad theological
scene (and just before giving a favourable account of Mose Amyrauts
contribution in France) the author outlined developments in
Scotland.5 Surprisingly however, he did not quote Thomas Chalmers.
Yet under his nose - in Chalmerss Institutes - was a statement which
supports John Jones, Owen Thomas and other brethren in Wales who
sought to express a more biblical and compassionate authentic
Calvinism. The Scottish colossus stated:
I cannot but think that the doctrine of Particular Redemption has been
expounded by many of its defenders in such a way as to give an
unfortunate aspect to the Christian dispensation. As often treated, we
hold it to be a most unpractical and useless theory, and not easy to be
vindicated, without the infliction of an unnatural violence on many
passages of Scripture...Its ministers are made to feel the chilling
influence of a limitation upon their warrant. If Christ died only for the
elect, and not for all, they are puzzled to understand how they should
proceed with the calls and invitations of the gospel. ... Now for the
specific end of conversion, the available scripture is not that Christ laid
down His life for the sheep, but that Christ is set forth a propitiation for
the sins of the world. It is not because I know myself to be one of the
sheep, or one of the elect, but because I know myself to be one of the
world, that I take to myself the calls and promises of the New
Testament.6
Doubtless, young Owen Thomas heard statements like this from
Chalmerss own lips. This one undoubtedly justifies his assessment
and verdict on the entire controversy. Interestingly, the Scottish Free
Church leader was never seemingly-challenged for exceeding the
soteriological limits of the Westminster Confession of Faith! He was
5 Ibid. 134ff. 6 Thomas Chalmers, Institutes of Theology (Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox, 1849), ii. 403-6.
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
probably as uncomfortable with some statements of the WCF7 as John
Jones arguably was with Chapter 18 of the 1823 Welsh Calvinistic
Cyffes Ffydd.8 Neither of them questioned the sovereignty of God in
salvation, but they felt that an unhealthy fatalistic preoccupation
with predestination undercut human responsibility and the free offer
of the Gospel. Thomas Chalmers, John Jones and Owen Thomas
clearly believed that Christian evangelism would be more biblical and
healthy if it avoided the distortions of both Arminianism and Owenite
High Calvinism (the precursor of hypercalvinism proper). In addition,
was Owen Thomas ever aware that, shortly before his death, Chalmers
expressed considerable sympathy with the views of Richard Baxter
whose undeniably-important stance he also omitted in his survey?
Yes, Baxter holds that Christ died for all men; but I cannot say that I
am quite at one with what some of our friends have written on the
subject of the atonement. I do not, for example, entirely agree with
what Mr. Haldane says on the subject. I think that the word world, as
applied in Scripture to the sacrifice of Christ, has been unnecessarily
restricted; the common way of explaining it is, that it simply includes
Gentiles as well as Jews. I do not like that explanation; and I think that
there is one text that puts that interpretation entirely aside. The text to
which I allude is, that God commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent
[Acts 17:30b]. Here the Doctor spoke of the connexion between the
election of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and the freeness of the offer of
the Gospel. He spoke with great eloquence, and I felt that he was in the
pulpit, as some of his finest bursts rolled from his lips. In the offer of
the Gospel, said he, we must make no limitations whatever. I
compare the world to a multitude of iron filings in a vessel, and the
7 See Gervase Charmley, Thomas Chalmers: Scottish Amyraldian? at http://www.nrchurch.co.uk/pdf/Thomas%20Chalmers%20-%20Scottish%20Amyraldian.pdf 8 See Alan C. Clifford, John Jones Talsarn - Pregethwr y Bobl/Preacher of the People (Norwich: Charenton Reformed Publishing, 2013), 30, 83, 237-8.
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
Gospel to a magnet. The minister of the Gospel must bring the magnet
into contact with them all: the secret agency of God is to produce the
attraction. 9
Baxters name nowhere appears in the index of Cofiant John Jones,
Talsarn.10 A possible reason for this is that the puritan preacher was
ignorantly dismissed as an Arminian by William Williams,
Pantycelyn.11 Hence he wouldnt have been regarded as a sympathetic
supporting authority. Whether or not they ever read his works, John
Jones and Owen Thomas were one with the seraphic 17th-century
English Puritan Richard Baxter, as Thomas Chalmers evidently was.
As I have demonstrated in my recent review of Crossways From
Heaven He came and Sought Her,12 the simple fact is that these
preachers saw the need to moderate not Calvins teaching but the
ultra-Calvinism of the day in order to return to a Bible-based
Authentic Calvinism. One may say that - with the approval of
Thomas Chalmers - the Welshmen sought to rescue their
denomination from Owenistic Methodism and to be true to correctly-
defined Calvinistic Methodism. In this respect, contrary to the
standpoint of both translator and publisher, the author - despite
ignoring Chalmers and Baxter - produced a persuasive, praise-worthy
and illuminating study in historical theology in Cofiant Y Parchedig
9 W. Hanna, Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable, 1854), ii. 773. 10 However, several of Baxters works were translated into Welsh, including the
famous Call to the Unconverted; see Eifion Evans, Richard Baxters Influence in
Wales in The National Library of Wales Journal, XXXIII. 2, Winter 2003, 149ff. 11 Ibid. 150. This might well explain why Owen Thomas did not present Baxters views in his historical survey. His whole case would have been reinforced had he known Baxters agreement with Amyraut whom he did cite. Of a kind Dr Thomas
would have approved, Baxters views on the atonement are clearly evident in the Call
to the Unconverted. 12http://www.nrchurch.co.uk/pdf/Crossway%20Book%20Review.pdf
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
John Jones, Talsarn.
Whatever proves to be the actual sermon extract that so impressed
Thomas Chalmers, the following passage from John Joness famous
Bala Association sermon of 1835 fully accords with the perspective of
the preachers Scottish contemporary, drowned in amazement at the
sacred oratory of his Welsh brother:
If the Government of England were to send an order to the British
Admiral to bring the Fleet home from the Mediterranean Sea, you
would not suppose that the Government intended that the Admiral and
his men should carry the ships home? Nothing of the kind. We all know
full well that the meaning of the order would simply be that the
Admiral should make the proper preparations; that they should employ
the proper means in order to bring the ships homeweigh the anchors,
turn their prows towards the deep, that they should put them in the
way of the great forces of nature: spread the sails, and steer the vessels
home; let the winds play upon them, and the waves and the tides carry
them. Meanwhile, the men on deck might take it easy; they could enjoy
themselves, and sing their native songs, while the mighty elements co-
operated to bring them home.
In the same manner, God in the Gospel calls upon you to repent, to
believe, and to lead a pious and godly life. But He does not mean that
you should do all this of your own individual resources. No; He intends
that you should put yourselves as you are under the operation of the
mighty forces of the Gospel; that you should faithfully employ the
means which He has commanded. Turn the prow of thy little vessel to
the deep; let it sail upon the wide ocean of Christs Atonement; spread
the sails, and steer it on by the guidance of the Word of God. The winds
will blow, the mighty forces of redemption will play upon thy vessel; the
tides will carry it, and thou shalt find thy little bark one day in the
haven of eternal rest.
You have, my friends, something yourselves to do, and it is of no use at
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John Jones, Talsarn & Thomas Chalmers Alan C. Clifford
all to expect the operations of the Spirit of God, while we ourselves
neglect our duty. But what can I do? Canst thou not read? Open thy
Bible; look at it, read it bring thy mind into contact with the great
saving forces, and wait for help from above. But I cannot pray. Canst
thou not try? Canst thou not bend thy knee, and put it down on the
ground? But I must pray from the heart, and this I cannot do. Wouldst
thou give Him thy heart? Give Him thy body, give Him thy tongue; and
if thou canst not say a word, there is One up there who can open His
lips to intercede for thee. Try fairly; do your best for your own
salvation. Do not, at least, rush headlong into perdition. I, indeed, have
made up my mind long ago that I shall not go there so. If I must go to
hell at all, I shall not go there straight along. No; I shall loiter a good
deal about the Garden of Gethsemane; I shall go many a round about
the hill of Calvary; I shall bend my knees daily at the throne of grace. I
shall be good enough for hell, if I have to go there, after all these
efforts. But, blessed be the name of God, we have every reason to
believe that this is the high road to heaven, and that no one ever went
to hell in that way, and that no one ever will.13
May we all be likewise drowned in amazement at the glorious Gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world and ever-
merciful Redeemer of all who flee to Him for salvation. Amen!
13 Cited from Owen Jones, Some of the Great Preachers of Wales (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1885), 487-9.