prominent churchmen of his day. He represented the school, more numerous than is commonly supposed, which formed the link between the non-jurors and the later Oxford school. Jones's leaning to the Hutchinsonians led him into some scientific errors, but did not injure his orthodoxy. It gave him a more spiritual tone than was common in his day, and deepened his attachment to Holy Scripture. Bishop Horsley, in a charge delivered to the clergy in the year of Jones's death, speaks warmly of his penetration, learning, piety, and ‘talent of writing upon the deepest subjects to the plainest understanding.’ Jones has also an attractive vein of humour, which, though his tone is always courteous, enabled him to deal shrewd blows at the methodists, William Law, the heathen taste in church architecture, and other objects of his dislike. He was a zealous student of music and of natural science, as well as of theology.
Jones's most important writings were:
- ‘A Full Answer to Bishop Clayton's Essay on Spirits,’ 1753 [see Clayton, Robert, 1695–1758]; he was assisted by Horne in this work, which shows Hutchinsonian tendencies.
- ‘The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity proved from Scripture,’ 1756; to the third edition (1767) was added ‘A Letter to the Common People in Answer to some Popular Arguments against the Trinity.’ This is praised in Newman's ‘Apologia.’
- ‘Essay on the First Principles of Natural Philosophy,’ 1762.
- A larger work on a similar subject, ‘Physiological Disquisitions; or, Discourses on the Natural Philosophy of the Elements,’ 1781. Both works follow the Hutchinsonian theories.
- ‘Remarks on “The Confessional,”’ a work by Francis Blackburne [q. v.], 1770.
- ‘Disquisitions on some Select Subjects of Scripture,’ 1773.
- ‘Lectures on the Figurative Language of the Scriptures,’ 1786 (new edition, 1849).
- ‘Sermons on Moral and Religious Subjects,’ in 2 vols. 1790, including ‘Discourses on Natural History,’ delivered on Mr. Fairchild's foundation (the Royal Society appointing the preacher) at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch.
- ‘The Grand Analogy; or, the Testimony of Nature and Heathen Antiquity to the Truth of a Trinity in Unity,’ propounding a singularly ingenious but perhaps rather fanciful theory, 1793.
- ‘Life of Bishop Horne,’ his ‘dear friend and patron,’ 1795.
- ‘The Art of Music.’
- ‘Ten Church Pieces for the Organ with Four Anthems in Score, for the Use of the Church of Nayland.’
His writings were collected in twelve volumes, with a short ‘Life’ of the author, by William Stevens, in 1801, and a portrait engraved by James Basire. These were afterwards (1810) compressed into six volumes, octavo. They contain forty-seven separate pieces, besides sermons.
[Jones's Works, passim; Wesley's Journal, iii. 231, 398, 439; Hunt's Religious Thought in England, iii. 306–319; Brown's Biographical Dict. of Musicians; Nichols's Lit. Illustr. v. 647; Life by William Stevens.]
JONES, WILLIAM (1763–1831), optician. [See under Jones, Thomas, 1775–1852.]
JONES, WILLIAM (1784–1842), independent minister, was born in Birmingham on 6 Feb. 1784. The members of his family appear to have been distinguished by mechanical skill; his father was the inventor of springs for carriages, and an uncle introduced the first weighing-machine into Lancashire. William received his elementary education at a school in Oxfordshire. In 1800 he resolved to study for the independent ministry. In his twentieth year he entered Hoxton academy, and entered on his first and only pastorate at Bolton in September 1807. At the suggestion of Dr. Simpson, formerly pastor of Duke's Alley Chapel, Bolton, and afterwards resident tutor at Hoxton, a second independent church had just been formed in Bolton, a chapel had been erected in Mawdsley Street, capable of accommodating a congregation of about eight hundred persons, and Jones was the first minister. Under Jones's efficient ministry the Mawdsley Street Chapel was enlarged, a spacious schoolhouse was erected, and Jones's chapel became the parent of other congregations in the neighbourhood. He died 19 Oct. 1842.
Jones published, besides separate sermons, tracts, books for children, and articles in religious periodicals:
- ‘The Teacher's or Parent's Assistant,’ 1821.
- ‘An Essay, the Deity of Christ,’ 1824.
- ‘Address to Young People in early receiving the Lord's Supper,’ 1831, three editions.
- ‘Essay on Covetousness, and the Claims of the Redeemer,’ 1836.
- ‘The Teacher's Help, or Prayers in Verse.’
- ‘The Faintings of a Standard-Bearer.’
- ‘Improper and Unhappy Marriages,’ 1842.
In 1832 and in 1833 he helped to edit ‘The Voice of Truth,’ a monthly periodical, published at Bolton.
[Evangelical Magazine, 1843; Scholes's Bolton Biography.]
JONES, WILLIAM (1762–1846), religious writer, born at Poulton, Lancashire, was a bookseller and pastor of the Scotch baptist church in Finsbury, London, till his death.
