his death, he appears occasionally to have had a presentiment of it, and expressed himself as aware of some change just at hand; but on the subjects of death and eternity he always spake as one habitually conversant with them. Hundreds who survive him recollect that on the Easter Sunday before he was called hence, at the love-feast in King-street chapel, (the last time he related his Christian experience in public,) he remarked that "that day was the anniversary of his spiritual birth; that near forty years ago, after deep repentance for sin, he was enabled, through grace, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and experienced a blessed inward testimony, that God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven his transgressions; that the Lord had been his God ever since; and that of late he had been reviewing the mercies of his past days, and, although deeply humbled before God, he never at any period felt more decided on the work of his own salvation, or more devoted to the work of the Christian ministry."

How frail is the tenure of life! In three or four weeks after this, the church militant was bereaved of this excellent man. On Thursday evening, April 25th, 1816, he preached his last sermon at Keynsham, from Eph. iii. 8, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

On the following morning, in walking with the friend at whose house he had slept, in order to take his horse, he was seized with a severe pain in his chest, and in that state he reached home with much difficulty. Early on Saturday morning the writer was called in, and found him suffering under increasing pain; he was bled immediately, which, together with other means, appeared to afford considerable relief through the day, so that he was enabled to make the usual arrangements with his colleagues, for the ensuing week. The writer saw him again in the evening. He found the pain considerably mitigated, and the patient in every respect apparently much relieved, and enabled to converse with his usual cheerfulness, so late as ten o'clock. This, however, was only a delusive calm; at one o'clock the following morning all the symptoms returned, with greater violence than ever, and the writer was again summoned to attend; when, after some deliberation, it was determined to call in additional medical aid. The means which had already been employed, with such other as the circumstances of the case suggested, were again had recourse to, and some temporary relief was obtained; the pain, however, which had never wholly subsided, at half past three in the afternoon was exceedingly aggravated. At this period the writer stepped out for the purpose of preparing a blister; he had not been absent, however, more than a quarter of an hour, before he was recalled; but on his arrival at the door found that Mr. Barber had breathed his last! This took place at four o'clock, on Sunday evening, April 28th, 1816.

Of the precise nature of the disease, no conclusive or satisfactory opinion can be formed. To the medical attendants it appeared probable that there existed some organic affection of, or near the heart, and that towards the close, an effusion took place in the chest, two of the most dangerous and distressing maladies to which humanity is liable. But whatever the complaint might be, the writer is firmly persuaded that it was beyond the reach of art; two exactly similar cases have recently come under his care, and although every possible mean was tried, both terminated fatally.

During this short but severe affliction, Mr. Barber's deportment was strictly in consonance with his character and profession; and that unvarying consistency which he had maintained through the whole progress of his Christian course, did not forsake him at the close of it. He said little, but his conduct at this awful and interesting moment expressed much. For more than thirty years the writer of this narrative has been an occasional spectator of the closing scene of life; never before, however, did he witness any thing like the one here recorded. The groan of agonizing nature could not be wholly suppressed; but under pain, which, to a mind less firm, would have been insupportable, the sufferer meekly and patiently endured without complaint: and on Mrs. Barber's inquiring if he could now rejoice in the support afforded by those truths which he had so long and so faithfully preached to others, and in the prospects which they unfolded to him, he replied, "My dear, I have too much pain to rejoice, but I have peace." And when the messenger arrived to summon his immortal spirit to the regions of everlasting repose, he died with the dignified calmness of a Christian hero, whose warfare was accomplished. Thus of him may be truly affirmed what was said, not many years ago, on the fall of a brave soldier in the service of his country, that, "as his life was honourable, so was his death glorious;" whilst his personal excellence justly claims the grateful recollection of those who know how to appreciate steriing worth or scriptural piety.

The distress which this sudden and unexpected stroke caused throughout the society may be more easily conceived than described; but the wounds which natural affection and personal friendship had received, are soothed by the cheering consolation and assurance, that the husband, the father, the pastor, and the friend, whose loss they have so feelingly deplored, now, through the redemption that is in Jesus, inherits, as the purchased, promised, and glorious reward of all his sufferings, and of all his toils, a kingdom which endureth for ever; and wears a crown of righteousness which shall continue to shine with increasing lustre, when generations shall have ceased to exist, and ages to roll; when the kingdoms of this world shall have passed away, and * 2 S 2*

earthly diadems shall be mouldered into their native dust, or melted down in the last flame..

The stewards of the society, in concert with Mr. Barber's colleagues, and private friends, made such arrangements for the funeral, as were calculated to prove not only expressive of their own personal affection and esteem, but also to afford the society. at large an opportunity of shewing their respect for the memory of their deceased pastor. Accordingly, on Friday morning, May 3, at eleven o'clock, Mr. Barber's remains were conveyed from his late residence, in Montague-street, to Portland chapel. The procession was preceded by two of his senior brethren in the ministry, and one of the medical attendants; and the body, which was borne on the shoulders of eight persons, was followed by his late colleagues, the male part of his family, as mourners, and at least one hundred and fifty members of the society. When the procession had reached the chapel, which was crowded to excess, the usual service was read by the Rev. Walter Griffith. The body was then deposited with the accustomed forms, in a vault beneath, and the mournful scene was closed by an affecting address from the Rev. James Wood.

The following Sabbath evening, funeral sermons were preached in King-street, Guinea-street, and Portland chapels, by the Rev. James Wood, the Rev. Walter Griffith, and the Rev. Jabez Bunting, to crowded congregations, who heard with that deeply serious attention which the solemnity of the occasion was calculated to inspire, and whose tears bare testimony to the loss which the church had sustained.-A few months ago, a neat marble tablet was erected at the east end of Portland chapel, to the memory of the deceased, which bears the following inscription, from the pen of a highly valued friend:

Sacred to the Memory

Of the Rev. JOHN BARBER,

Who was born near Hayfield, in Derbyshire,
Dec. 16, 1757; and died in this City,
April 28, 1816; being then the Superintendant
Of the Methodist Societies in this Circuit,
And also, for the second time,

The President of the Methodist Conference.
His Conversion to God

Was clear, sound, and effectual.
His labours in the Ministry
Were acceptable, abundant, and successful.
His private Life was adorned

By genuine and habitual Piety,
By tender sympathy with the afflicted,
And by every kind and generous affection
Towards his Family, Friends, and Colleagues,
In his public Character,

Stern Integrity, honest Independence,
And undaunted Zeal

For what he deemed to be the cause of God and of Truth,
Were eminently conspicuous.

His mourning widow

Has caused this Tablet to be erected,
As a small Memorial of his worth.

To the preceding narrative the writer will now subjoin a sketch of Mr. Barber's character:

As a Minister,-He fully appreciated the importance of his high and holy calling, and laboured with unwearied and incessant application to discharge its various obligations. For nearly five and thirty years he did the work of an evangelist with all his heart and with all his soul. Whatever his hand found to do, he did it with all his might. The history of his labours in Bristol for the nineteen months immediately preceding his death, not only affords ample proof of the truth of this assertion, but exhibits an example of his whole ministerial life. For his office in the church he was eminently qualified: his understanding was vigorous, clear, manly, and comprehensive, and had been cultivated with no ordinary degree of diligence and care, for the exclusive service of the sanctuary. His judgment was sound and discriminative, and his memory almost proverbially retentive. In the pulpit he was plain, pointed, forcible, and perspicuous; and his appeals to the hearts and consciences of his hearers, were enforced with an energy and earnestness peculiarly his own. His phraseology was strictly scriptural, and he never degraded either the dignity of his subject, or the character of his ministry, by low and unbecoming illustration or allusion. His acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures was uncommonly extensive, and his almost numberless quotations, in his public discourses, strictly apposite. His views of the leading and infinitely important truths of the everlasting gospel, were vivid, clear, and deep: and these he unfolded in a manner easily comprehensible by the meanest understanding. In a word, he was "a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

From his long standing in the Methodist connexion, his intimate acquaintance with it, and his very general knowledge of mankind, he became possessed of an almost inexhaustible fund of useful anecdote, which, on every proper occasion, he pressed into the service of truth, and employed to the most edifying purposes. With his brethren in the ministry he stood deservedly high; and the writer has unquestionable authority for stating, that there probably is not, in our whole connexion, one more intimately acquainted with our peculiar doctrines, or who better understood, or more highly appreciated our social economy; to illustrate, enforce, support, or defend which he never accounted even his life dear. And it is honourable to his memory, that, in all things, he exhibited a living picture of a primitive Methodist preacher; a distinction inexpressibly dear to that part of the church of the Lord Jesus, amongst whom he so long and so faithfully laboured. In short, his life was a practical commentary on the glorious truths which he taught; he read and studied,

preached and prayed, thought and acted, lived and died, for the glory of God and the benefit of mankind.

In the different relations of social and domestic life, it is not a small thing to be able to say, that he filled his place. As a Husband and a Father, he was uniformly kind and affectionate, and incessantly studied and laboured to promote and secure the present welfare and everlasting happiness of those who, by the closest of natural ties, were connected with him.

As a Friend,-The law of kindness was written on his heart; and no sacrifice, within the compass of possibility, was thought too great to serve those who stood in that relation: his judgment, his advice, his kindest sympathy, and his best services, were promptly and on every call at their command. His surviving colleagues, through the long period of his ministry, will bear testimony to the truth of this statement.

As a Member of Civil Society, his worth will only be fully known at the resurrection of the just. His eye, his car, and his heart were ever open to the just claims of suffering humanity, and the extent of his liberality was only limited by the boundary of his means. With peculiar propriety might he adopt the language of the holy and benevolent patriarch of Uz:-" When the ear heard me then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me then it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.-I was a father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out."

Bristol bears witness to this, for the tears of the objects of his Christian benevolence, have, as yet, scarcely ceased to water his tomb.

In the intercourse of ordinary life, his powers and acquirements rendered him a profitable, instructive, and agreeable companion, equally avoiding the extremes of unbecoming levity, and unchristian harshness. In the collision of opinion, on disputed points, he would listen with patient attention to others, but, with his native independence of character, on every subject, he would think and decide for himself. And whenever the cause of God and of truth were concerned, he was immovable as a rock, and firm as a tower of adamant.

As he feared the face of no man, neither the tyranny of power nor the haughty insolence of pride, could influence his conduct or decision. He took his ground well; and when once this was done, nothing short of convincing argument, or solid proof, could induce him to abandon his views, or change his determination. -In the strictest accordance with truth, therefore, may it be said of him, that in Christian simplicity and in godly sincerity,