John Taylor Jones was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire in 1802, and at the age of 15 he joined the Congregational church. After graduating from Amherst in 1825 he began to train for the ministry at Andover Seminary, but then he was confronted with the mode and subject of baptism. Protestants, in an effort to make society “Christian” christen every available baby, but the Bible clearly teaches only believers baptism – by immersion, and this became obvious to John Jones, so he was baptized into the Federal Street Baptist Church in Boston and finished his schooling at Newton Seminary.
Answering the call of God, in February of 1831, Brother Jones arrived in Moulmein, Burma. Diligently applying himself, he learned both Burmese and the Taling language of Thailand. Two years later he moved to Bangkok preaching Christ and trying to establish Baptist churches in that country. Putting the Word of God into the hands of the people was also a priority, and Jones finished a translation of the New Testament in October 1842. It is said to have been as accurate as that of William Carey in India.
A testimony in Cathcart’s Encyclopedia says, “I have never seen the equal of John Jones, and among more than a hundred men I have met among the heathen, I would select Dr. Jones as the model missionary.”
He died, on this day in 1851, of dysentery while serving the Lord on His mission field.