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    there are so many temptations to dissipation , that regular and strict discipline which he wished to support . I His active mind , however , was always ready to embrace every opportunity of usefulness ; S . nd after his retirement from the Academy , he began to take a lively interest In the concerns of the Manchester

    Infirmary , which continued to be a very favourite object of his attention to the time of his death , and in the conduct of which his assistance has been generally considered and acknowledged to be of jgreat use . The Rev . Dr . Barnes undoubtedly possessed both natural abilities and acquired attainments , which

    qualified him to have distinguished himself in the literary world , and he had a considerable taste for those studies and pursuits which might have led to this result ; in proof of which it may be mentioned , that he was one of the first

    promoters of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society ; and that , for several years , he took an active part in its proceedings , and wrote several papers , which were published in the early volumes of its Memoirs , which his friend ,

    Dr . Perceval , who was certainly a competent judge of their merit , considered to be so far creditable to his literary reputation , that he repeatedly urged him to revise and enlarge them , and to publish them in a separate volume , but

    with this recommendation , though it came from so respectable a quarter , he never complied . Some circumstances afterwards arose which , together with the multiplicity of his other engagements , induced him to discontinue his

    attendance of the meetings of the Society just mentioned , and , since that time , hehasnot taken any further part in its proceedings . He was a good classical scholar ; read and studied the New Testament , in particular in the original Greek , with great care and minute critical attention ; was

    able to read the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament with' considerable ease : and had a very general knowledge of what is called polite literature ; but he did not devote much attention , at least in the latter part of his life , to philosophical subjects ; as it was a matter

    of principle ivith him tp make all his studies subservient to the great object of ministerial usefulness ; and amidst all Jiis other engagements and avocations , he always discharged the duties of his sacred office with uncommon zeal , fidelity , and diligence * He was very remarkable

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    for the regular distribution of his tirrfc for the strict application of it to the several duties and engagements to which it was allotted , for punctuality in the observance of all his appointments , and for neglecting no single person or object to which his attention was due . He had an uncommonly fertile . mind :

    great quickness of conception , as well as readiness of expression , and composed with wonderful facility ; so that writing was rather a pleasure than a work of labour to him ; and he has actually written many hundreds of sermons which he never preached , and other serious compositions which have lain dormant in

    his stiidy . Beside the pieces above mentioned , which were inserted in the Memoirs of the iVTanchester Literary and Philosophical Society , he never published any thing but a discourse upon the commencement of the Academy , which he undertook to conduct ; a funeral sermon upon the death of his friend , the Rev . ThoV Threlkeld , of Rochdale , with

    some account of his life , and particularly of his extraordinary memory , annexed to it ; and some smaller pieces which have been given to the public without his name , chiefly in different periodical works . But though Dr . Barnes has published so little , he has written more than most men ; probably the truth would not be exceeded by saying , as much as Richard Baxter himself wrote , in

    the course of his uncommonly active and laborious life . Considered as a preacher he possessed great excellencies . He had a strong and sonorous voice ; his sermons were serious and striking , and he delivered them with uncommon animation , and in a very impressive manner . He usually wrote them at full length ; but , in the delivery of them he seldom confined himself to his

    notes ; and at his lectures , which were perhaps his most popular addresses , he always spoke extempore . One of the last objects of a public nature which engaged his attention was a Bible Society which has lately been established in Manchester , auxiliary to the grand association of this kind in London . In the

    promotion and formation of this noble institution , he felt a warm interest ; and one pf the last times that he ever spoke in , public was at a meeting of its friends and promoters ; upon which occasion , though his impaired strength did not permit him to say much , he delivered bis sentiments with peculiar animate

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    410 Obituary . — Rev , Dr . Barnes .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1810, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2407/page/34/