MEMOIRS 
tk . fSept. 1 
AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PE ERSONS. 
SrEMOIRS Of the LATE REV, 
. JOSEPH BARNES, 
Ry the er JosEPH BEALEY. 
HE late Rev. Dr. Barnes was bora 
»at Warrington, in the county of 
Tancaster, on what was then called the 
first, but now the thirteenth, day of Fe- 
bruary, in the year 1747. His maternal 
grandiather was the Rev. Thomas Blin- 
ston, an eminently pious and useful mt- 
nister of the gospel among the Non-con- 
furmists, for whom the Protestant dis-- 
senters’ present place of worship at Park 
Lane, near Wigan, was originally builc. 
His father, Mr. William Barnes, died 
when he was young; not more than three 
years old. His mother, however, Ehiza- 
heth Barnes, daughter of the above-mea- 
tioned worthy divine, was a very pious 
and excelient woman ; and, under her 
tender care and good instruction, he was, 
in his early youth, brought under very 
serious impressions of rejigion. In con- 
sequence of the views arid feelings which - 
were thus excited in his min d, “he soon 
discovered a strong inclination to the 
sacred office of the Christian ministry. 
He was according!y educated with a view 
to this empioyment, first at the grammar- 
school in his native town, under the 
tuition of the late Rev. Mr. Owen, who 
is well] known to have been an excellent 
elassical echolar;-then, under the care 
of the Rev. Phihp Holland, who kept 
a very respectable boarding-school at 
Bolton, to which place be went in the 
year 1761; and hence he removed, in 
the summer ef 4764, to the ancilemy at 
Warrington, of Ehich the Rev, Dr. Adkin 
was, at that time, principal tutor, a 
gentleman equally distinguished by his 
Jearning and piety, and ‘for whose me- 
mory his pupil, the subject of this me- 
molr, always expressed tiie highest vene- 
ration. He was also upon tering of very 
considerable intimacy, during his acade- 
mical course of studies, and 4 par ticularly 
in the latter part of i, with the late Dr. 
Priestley, who was then a tutor in the 
departinent of the languages and belies- 
Jettres, in the War See Ae eademy, and 
: ésisted him materially in some parts of 
the Rudiments of English Grammar, 
_ which the doctor published ahout tins pe- 
as 
riod, particularly in collecting the exam- 
, the academy; having 
ples cf false grammatical construction: 
which are given in it from Hume, ang 
other authors of established celebrity. En 
the suminer of 1768, the Rev. Thomas 
Barnes, for so he was now become, left 
gone through his 
course of studies there with great honour 
to himself, and given full satisfaction to 
his-tutors, both by his ca behaviours. 
and by his proficiency in ali those branches 
of learning to which his attention had 
been directed, and which are usually 
studied by candidates for the ministry 
among the Protestant dissenters of this 
kingdom, in their most respectable se- 
minaries of education. His first settle- 
ment in the ministry, which took place 
immediately upon his leaving the acade- 
my, was at. Cockey Moor, near Bolton, 
in his nativg county; and in the following: 
year, he was there reguiarly set apart to 
the sacred office, by ordination, for 
which service he contmued, through life, 
a strenuous advocate. From his first 
entrance upon the work of the Christian. 
ministry, he applied to the discharge of 
its important duties with uncommon zeal 
and diligence, and bis labours were 
crowned with correspondent success. 
During his continuance at Cockey Moor, 
which was near! ly twelve years, the con- 
gregation was much more. than doubled. 
probably more than trebled in number of’ 
its members, under his Peeters eare ; 
and he was. an eminently useful labourer 
in the vineyard of Gis master, though in 
a plain country situation. In May, 
1780, he removed to Manchester, and. 
became connected there, in the pastorak 
relation, witn oue of the largest, most 
wealthy, and respectable congregations- 
among the Protestant dissenters, of what 
i called the Presbyterian denomination 
in this kingdom; and in this connexion 
he continued during a period of apwards 
of thirty years, to the time of his death. 
tere also he approved himself a faitaful, 
zealous, and affectionate pastor, and wie. 
held in very bigh estimation, not only by 
the people of his name dni: charge, but 
also by the inhabitants of the townar 
general. His regular duty only cailed 
him to perform one public service on fhe 
sabbath; but, not long after his settle. 
ment in Manchester, in the winter 2f 
..(» BGS, 
a 
