Barnes, William

Barnes, William a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born near Cookstown, Tyrone county, Ireland, about Easter, 1795. At an early age he came with some relatives to America, and resided for some time at Baltimore, where, at nineteen, he was converted, and was admitted into the church. Soon after, his talents attracted the attention of the Rev. S. G. Roszel, and he was called out to labor on a circuit. He was admitted into the Baltimore Conference in 1817, and for nearly fifty years preached, almost without intermission and with extraordinary success, as an itinerant minister, in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Nearly forty years of this time he spent within the bounds of the Philadelphia Conference, the rest in the Baltimore and Pittsburg Conferences. His mind was active and imaginative to a rare degree, and his preaching was very original and striking; few men of his time were more popular or useful. A poetical vein was manifest in his style, and he left a number of pieces of verse in manuscript. He died suddenly November 24, 1865. Among his manuscript remains are a number of sermons and controversial writings, which are now (1866) preparing for the press. The Rev. Dr. Castle, in a discourse at the funeral of Mr. Barnes, thus spoke of him: "In the world he was not of the world. He was a chosen vessel, called of God and sanctified, and sent to bear his Master's message to his fellow-men. For this he bowed his neck to the yoke. For this he consecrated his towering intellect, the gushing feelings of a generous heart, and the energies of his whole life. Equal ability, fidelity, and perseverance, devoted to any earth-born calling, would have led to fame and fortune. But, like the Italian painter, he worked for eternity, and in eternity he receives his rich reward." — Christian Adv. and Journ. No. 2050.