Rev. John Griffing
Jones' life was virtually synonymous with the history of Methodism in Mississippi. Born in 1804 from parents married by the first
Methodist missionary in Mississippi, he witnessed his world change dramatically as he lived
through the split of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
His experience of 84 years placed him in a unique position to write four volumes of history of Methodism in Mississippi.
This journal is unique from his history books, and even his three volume personal autobiography, in that it is an unfiltered, unedited
and very personal glimpse into his life. The 65-page publication includes a transcription of the journal he kept, starting in March of 1835 at the age of 30 – 31, while serving as a traveling preacher north of Natchez
and then a presiding elder north and east of Jackson. It gives insight into
his personal thoughts, motivations, habits, and concerns. The original copy is held in the J.B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism at Millsaps College.
The text includes a great number of names, and it documents the life of a traveling preacher and early Mississippi settler. It features his personal patterns of life in his faith tradition, the revival of the church, and his personal involvement
with slavery.
Pastors will find
inspiration as Jones’ struggles with his own call to ministry and places his
next appointment in God’s hands. Historians will gain insight from his personal
struggle with slavery, believing it to be evil yet unable to find a way to avoid
it. The journal features multiple stories of interactions between people of
different races – hosting Choctaws at his home, staying at the home of a black
man, preaching to a free black community, and the like.
He records the examination of his own soul as he wrestles all night with his call
to ministry. He
misses his wife, Jane, but longs for quiet when he gets home to a house full of
company and children. He is appointed to circuits near his place of birth, giving us a unique glimpse into the relationship he has with his extended family. When he is sent 140 miles away, he no longer mentions relatives, traveling mostly among strangers. After they move into their newly erected District Parsonage (the first in Mississippi), he writes “O how sweet is home. Our little cottage in the woods is like an earthly paradise.”
Jones remains in conflict about the issue of slavery
throughout, yet he is
not able to avoid owning slaves as he seeks help for his wife while traveling. He is conflicted about preaching
against slavery, but privately distributes
Wesley’s Thoughts on Slavery to influence people to avoid its evils. He concludes that it is nothing but "barefaced Christian injustice." He
gives his two slaves the choice of moving with him and gaining eventual
freedom or remaining in the community and selecting who they would like to work for.
Converting lost souls was his passion and the focus of his
ministry as he goes about his work laying the foundation for the Methodist
church that stands today. He describes the perils circuit riding preachers
faced. He writes of his
experiences riding the circuit, being away from home for many days at a time,
preaching at camp meetings, exhorting at worship, conducting love feasts, administering “the sacrament” (communion) and baptism, holding class meetings, praying with the sick and dying, and taking care of the
business of the Methodist movement.
He records the names
of each of his congregations, as well as the people who provide him with meals
and lodging. He tells in detail
of revivals, giving witness to “shouting” in worship and great increase in numbers. He writes a stirring tribute to his brother, a courageous and faithful
minister until his last days, seemingly content to die of congestive
fever on his circuit rather than to live not spreading the Gospel. Jones has a difficult
time preaching in the Brandon courthouse with “hallooing”, talking and gunfire
outside, but concluded the two
days by starting a fund for Brandon’s first church building.
Throughout Rev. John G. Jones' journal, he conveys a
commitment to Jesus Christ and preaching the Word of God, a passion for
converting the lost, faithfulness to the work of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, a camaraderie with the other Methodist preachers, and a constant reassessment of the state of his
own soul.
