preached against Luther's doctrine. He took, the same text as Gardiner had done, and taught a doctrine absolutely contrary to what this prelate had laid down concerning justification; nay he even attacked the bishop personally, and jested upon the name of Gardiner. Gardiner's friends. complained to the king of this, who ordered Barnes to give him satisfaction, to sign certain articles, and to make a formal recantation in the pulpit. All this was done, but in such a manner, that there was a complaint, that in one part of his sermon he artfully maintained what he had retracted in the other. Upon these complaints he was sent to the Tower by the king's command, which he never came out of but to suffer death in the midst of the flames; for he was condemned as an heretic by the parliament, without being permitted to make his defence. He declared his belief a little before his death; he rejected justification by works, invocation of saints, &c. and desired that the king would undertake a thorough reformation. His freedom of speech had for a long time before exposed him to trouble. While Wolsey was in favour, he preached so vehemently at Cambridge against the luxury of prelates, that every body saw immediately that he designed it against the cardinal. Upon that account he was carried to London, where by the solicitations of Gardiner and Fox, he was rescued from that prosecution, having agreed to abjure some articles which were proposed to him. Afterwards he was again committed to prison upon some new accusations; and then it was generally believed that he would be burnt, but he escaped, and went over into Germany, where he applied himself entirely to the study of the bible and divinity in which he made so great a progress, that he was very much esteemed by the doctors and princes. When the king of Denmark sent ambassadors to England, he desired Barnes to accompany them, or even to be one of them. We have at least two books written by Barnes, one, the "Articles of his Faith," published in Latin, with a preface by Pomeranus, and again in Dutch in 1531. The other is his "Lives of the Popes," from St. Peter to Alexander II. published, with a preface by Luther, at Wirtemberg, 1536, and afterwards at Leyden, 1615; together with Bale's Lives of the Popes. Luther also published an account of his martyrdom. ' 1 Gen. Dict.-Fox's Acts and Monuments.-Burnet's Hist. of Reformation. BARNES (THOMAS), D. D. a learned dissenter, was born at Warrington in Lancashire, Feb. 13, 1747. His father died when he was only three years old; but he had the happiness to be instructed in the principles of piety by a sensible and affectionate mother, and early discovered an inclination to study with a view to the ministerial function. He was accordingly placed at the grammar school of Warrington, under the Rev. Mr. Owen, an able classical scholar, and afterwards became a boarder at a school kept by the Rev. Philip Holland, at Bolton. From this he removed in 1764 to the academy at Warrington, where Dr. Aikin and Dr. Priestley were tutors. In 1769 he was ordained a preacher, and settled at Cockey Moor, near Bolton, for twelve years, during which he became highly acceptable to his congregation, and more than trebled their number. In May 1780, he removed to Manchester, and became connected there as co-pastor, with one of the largest and most wealthy congregations among the Protestant dissenters, of the presbyterian denomination, and here he remained during the space of thirty years, preaching from 1782, twice each Sunday. In the beginning of 1784, the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the university of Edinburgh, on the recommendation of his friends, particularly the late learned Dr. Percival. Not long after, Dr. Barnes was induced, by the solicitations of his friends, to undertake, in conjunction with his colleague in the ministry, the Rev. Ralph Harrison, the charge of an academical institution at Manchester. On this he entered in the summer of 1786, and presided as principal, with great reputation, until 1798, when he determined to resign it, in consequence of the difficulty which he had for some time experienced, in maintaining in so large a town as Manchester, where there are many temptations to dissipation, that regular and strict discipline which he wished to support. His active mind, however, was always ready to embrace every opportunity of usefulness; and 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 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 great use. He was also one of the first promoters of the Manchester literary and philosophical society, and wrote several papers in the early volumes of its memoirs, which his friend Dr. Percival, a very competent judge, repeatedly urged him to revise and enlarge for separate publication, but he appears to have been unambitious of literary fame, although he had undoubted claims; and never published any thing, but "A Discourse upon the commencement of the Academy," 1786, which he undertook to conduct; a funeral sermon on the death of the Rev. Thomas Threlkeld, of Rochdale; and some smaller pieces, without his name, in the periodical journals. This is the more to be regretted, as he was a man of uncommon activity and diligence with his pen, and is said to have written many hundred sermons which he never preached, a fact very extraordinary, if we consider the number he must have been obliged to preach in the course of fortytwo years. One of his last labours was the establishment of a bible society at Manchester, as auxiliary to that of London. In his private character, Dr. Barnes was truly amiable and exemplary. What his religious principles were, is not very clearly stated in our authority, but if we are not misinformed, they were of that kind to which the epithet liberal has been annexed. He died June 28, 1810. 1 Funeral Sermon, by Mr. Bealey, 8vo. 1810. |