John Elias (1774–1841)

by Hugh Jones, 1838

by courtesy of the National Library of Wales

Elias, John (1774–1841), Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister, was born at Crymllwyn Bach farm in the parish of Aber-erch, Caernarvonshire, on 6 May 1774, the eldest of the six children of Elias Jones (1752–1822) and his wife, Jane Roberts (1749–1833). The most decisive influence upon his early religious development was his paternal grandfather, John Cadwaladr (c.1710–1789), a devout Anglican who served as sexton at Aber-erch church. He taught him to read Welsh, took him to hear visiting preachers, and taught him the essentials of theology. His father and grandfather were weavers as well as farmers, and when Elias was twelve years of age he began to learn their craft. From 1788 to 1790 he suffered a prolonged spiritual crisis with doubts about his own religious sincerity accompanied by intense self-loathing. Although he does not use the word ‘conversion’ in his autobiography, it is clear that his despondence yielded to a growing Christian conviction when, together with a group of friends, he attended the Calvinistic Methodist Association at Bala in 1792; this was followed by a vivid mystical experience of the efficacy of Christ's redemptive work. He now wished to join a Methodist society, and with that end in view he sought employment with one of the pioneers of Methodism in Caernarvonshire, Griffith Jones of Ynys-y-pandy, near Porthmadog. Jones was a member of the Methodist society that met at Hendre Hywel, near Pren-teg, and under his influence Elias was admitted into the society there in September 1793. The members encouraged him to seek recognition by the Caernarvonshire monthly meeting and it was duly granted on Christmas day 1794. That allowed him to accept invitations to preach in the county.

One difficulty was Elias's lack of education. He asked permission to attend a school at Manchester but the Methodist distrust of higher education led the monthly meeting to refuse his request although it did allow him to spend a few months at the school conducted by Evan Richardson (1759–1824) at Caernarfon. This was all the formal education he had; otherwise Elias was an autodidact. He worked hard at his studies throughout his life, and became sufficiently familiar with Hebrew and Greek to appreciate the finer points of biblical exposition. His main field of interest, however, was the theology of Dr John Owen (1616–1683), and Owen's Calvinistic contemporaries and successors.

On 22 February 1799 Elias married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Richard Broadhead, Tre'r-gof, Llanbadrig, Anglesey. She kept a shop at Llanfechell; Elias joined her, and so began his lifelong association with Anglesey. She died on 2 April 1828, and of their four children, two died in infancy. The survivors were John (d. 1875) and Phoebe. On 10 February 1830, in St David's Church, Liverpool, Elias married as his second wife the widow of Sir John Bulkeley (1767–1819). Bulkeley was the squire of Presaddfed, Bodedern, Anglesey, and had married, rather romantically, one of his maids, Ann Williams (1787–1851), at Bodedern church on 10 October 1806. She was the daughter of Owen Williams, tailor, and his wife, Elizabeth, of Aberffraw. At the death of Sir John, Lady Bulkeley inherited an estate which extended over five parishes, and so her wealth provided Elias with every comfort at their new home, Y Fron, Llangefni.

In 1796 Elias had made his first preaching tour in south Wales, and that was the beginning of a tireless itinerant ministry of the kind typical of the Methodist movement, and which was to dominate his career until his death. From his first appearance as a preacher, he drew huge congregations to hear him. His early eminence made him an obvious choice for inclusion among the first group of men to be ordained in 1811 by the Calvinistic Methodists, the step that marked the formal secession of the movement from the Church of England. He preached in the fields or in the streets or in public fairs—even on one occasion at Manchester racecourse—as well as in chapels. During the first half of his career he preached with controlled passion, combining lucid exposition of his theme with a vivid oratorical imagination which transformed the sermon into an existentialist confrontation between God and the sinner. His tall, lean figure and intense seriousness conveyed to his hearers the impression of overwhelming authority: hundreds attributed their conversion to him. His preaching produced tempestuous emotional reactions expressed in weeping, shouts of joy, jumping, and even uncontrollable laughter. The result was that he became the most popular preacher of his generation; his ten published works are mostly sermons.

Elias's growing influence in the Methodist movement provided him with the authority to enforce moral discipline with unbending rigour. He condemned the theatre, horse-racing, morality plays, drunkenness, musical concerts, and the rural practice of courting in bed. In theology he insisted on strict adherence to Calvinistic orthodoxy: the one point of controversy which was to convulse the movement for several years was his adherence to the view that Christ's sufferings were precisely sufficient to atone for the sins of the elect, and that they had no reference to those outside that divinely pre-ordained group. It was in order to safeguard that orthodoxy that he advocated the formulation of the confession of faith that was adopted in 1823. His readiness to believe irresponsible accusations of deviation from orthodoxy made life unhappy for many.

In politics Elias was an unrepentant tory, who had no sympathy with democratic agitation. When members of Jewin Crescent Church in London signed a petition in 1828 advocating Catholic emancipation, he called for their immediate excommunication; so they were expelled. Similarly when a young preacher from Holyhead, William Roberts (1809–1887), spoke in support of the whig candidate, William Owen Stanley (1802–1884), in the election of 1837, Elias threatened him with excommunication, but this time his view did not prevail.

By 1830 Elias had become the dominating force in the councils of his denomination. The older generation which could check his impetuosity and autocratic temper were all dead by 1833. But a new generation of younger men was emerging. They tended to embrace the more liberal modern Calvinism associated with such thinkers as Dr Edward Williams (1750–1813). In addition, they sympathized with the growing spirit of reform that characterized contemporary society. It was these tendencies that explain the gloom with which Elias looked to the future during his closing years. But his reactionary social attitudes and his imperious spirit within his denomination did nothing to lessen public recognition of his greatness as a preacher and his utter devotion to the service of his faith. He remains a major figure in the evangelical tradition.

Elias was injured in 1832 when a gig in which he was travelling overturned, and he never fully recovered. He suffered a number of illnesses during his closing years and died at his home in Llangefni on 8 June 1841. Ten thousand mourners joined in the funeral procession when his remains were interred at Llan-faes churchyard, near Beaumaris, on 15 June.