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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1811.

MEMOIR

OF

THE REV. JOSEPH BARBER.

[Extracted from his Funeral Sermon, by the Rev. Dr. Smith.]

THE Rev. Joseph Barber was born January 23, 1726-7, old stile, at Willenhall, near Walsal, in Staffordshire. His parents were respectable in their worldly circumstances,→→ greatly and justly honoured for the prudence, propriety, and wisdom of their personal and domestic character, and still more happily distinguished for their honourable profession of pure and undefiled religion. The father of our late venerable friend was a deacon of the church at Walsal, then under the ministry of Mr. Godley; and he filled that situation, through many years, with such piety and activity, sound judgement, and exemplary conduct, as rendered him a great blessing to that religious community.

Mr. Barber received a valuable portion of classical learning in one of the best grammar schools in those parts of the kingdom, at Wolverhampton. He was, through life, averse from even the semblance of ostentation; but his intimate friends knew that his attainments were entitled to honourable mention in the classical and mathematical departments, and particularly in his subsequent attention to the original languages, and the critical study of the Scriptures.

At about the age of fourteen years, our valuable friend exemplified the happy effects of parental instruction and example, in the substantial evidences of serious and decided godliness. His religion was of early growth, and it was far from being of a languid constitution, or of transient continuance. Like the good seeds sown in fertile and wellprepared ground, its roots were strong and deep, its advancement was uniform and vigorous, and its excellent fruits were abundant and durable. As a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, he flourished in the courts of our God; and he still brought forth fruit in old age.

In this very early part of life, he desired to devote himself to a course of laborious usefulness in the Christian ministry among Protestant Dissenters.. He was therefore placed, at the expence of his affectionate father, for the acquisition of academical learning, under the Rev. John Kirkpatrick, at Bedworth, in Warwickshire. In this retired seminary were educated the late Mr. T. Reader, of Taunton; Mr. Simon Reader, of Wareham; and Mr. J. Rooker, of Bridport; ministers whose memory will long be revered in the western counties of England. The first of these was contemporary with Mr. Barber; as was the late Mr. J. Burgess, a respected dissenting minister at Whitworth, in Lancashire. Mr. Barber, having passed through the course of theological and other studies professed by Mr. Kirkpatrick, was examined by a committee of ministers, and received from them a testimonial of his skill in the languages, his talents for preaching, and his other qualifications for the Christian ministry. This instrument is dated June 26, 1745.

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In the same year, he was invited to preach to the congregation at Basingstoke in Hampshire; and was chosen by that Jespectable church as successor to the Rev. W. Moth. On August 5th, 1746, he was ordained to the pastoral office. On that occasion, the charge to this young and promising minister was delivered by Dr. Guyse, from 1 Tim. iv. 16, Take heed unto thyself, and unto thy doctrine,' &c. The same charge was afterwards addressed to the late Rev. Mr. Towle; and was twice published. The sermon to the church at Basingstoke, on Mr. Barber's ordination, was preached by Dr. David Jennings, from 2 Thess. iii. 1, " Brethren, pray for us," " &c.

Mr. Barber's evangelical labours in this situation were very acceptable and useful; and he enjoyed, as he deserved, great personal respect. During his residence here he was most happily married to Miss Hunt, of Crondall, near Basingstoke, and became the parent of a numerous family.

The circumstances of a straitened income, which was quite insufficient to support an increasing family, obliged Mr. Barber to remove from Basingstoke in September, 1755* He was invited to a church at Brentwood in Essex; and he accepted the call. In the year 1761, he removed from Brentwood to London. This removal was occasioned by no restlessness of disposition, but by his conscientious ad

* Mutual respect and affection still continued between Mr. Barber and his friends at Basingstoke. He occasionally visited this scene of his first pastoral labours; and he often spoke of the happpiness which he enjoyed during that period of his life. At the very time when this dis course was in delivery, the worthy minister of that church, the Rev. Joseph Jefferson, preached a sermon at Basingstoke, upon Zech. i. 5.

herence to the doctrine of the gospel, and the consistency of holy practice.

He now became pastor of that respectable church of Christ which, so honourably to him and to itself, this day affords its public testimony of affectionate attachment to his memory. And assuredly, my honoured friends, you have the best reason for your attachment. You have had ample opportunities to know and to estimate the character of your late Reverend Pastor. You have enjoyed his valued labours for near fortynine years and you will bear your ready testimony that he was, indeed, a man formed to attract respect, love, and veneration.

Mr. Barber possessed a sound, clear, and correct understanding. Of few men could it ever be affirmed, with more strict propriety, that he' understood righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path;' that 'discretion preserved him, and understanding kept him.' His life was long, and exposed to much and scrutinizing observation. But how few have passed through a shorter course, with a discretion so free from defects, a propriety so universally undeviating! This rare quality distinguished him no less in the communications of friendship, than in his personal deportment. The numerous persons who have been benefitted by his counsels, can attest the candour and prudence with which he formed his opinion of persons and occurrences, and the meekness of wisdom which characterized his advices.

His passions were under the best government of reason and religion. Who ever beheld him with agitated anger, or inflamed with resentment, or jaundiced with envy, or swollen with pride?

It may with justice be said, that his characteristic disposi tions were kindness and sympathy, tender and condescending consideration, mildness, benevolence, pure candour, and unaffected humility. It was observed, with a just felicity of expression, by my highly esteemed friend, who addressed you at the grave of your beloved pastor, that he carried the modesty of youth with the venerable dignity of age.'

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If such as had the happiness of knowing Mr. Barber as a friend only, so fully witnessed the various but constant and steady display of these qualities, it may be presumed that a deeper impression remains in the minds of those who were members of his own family. His excellence was not a garb assumed to attract the public eye, and to decorate his professional character. It was pure, genuine, unmanaging, unostentatious worth. It shone brightest in the eyes of those who viewed it nearest. Never, never, I trust, will his surviving children cease to cherish the tender and profitable recollection of the warm affections of their father's heart; of the be

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