7V 3 G-7 ilillJiiliiiiilllll 014 079 553 7 • HOLLINGER pH8J MILL RUN F3-1544 P 74 .M3 G7 Copy 2 REV. JOHN BARNARD, OF MARBLEHEAD. So. r \ ^ '\ J'J At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, June 11, 1896, Dr. Samuel A. Green made the following remarks : — . There is in the Historical Library a note-book, kept by the Reverend John Barnard, of Marblehead, which contains a memorandum of all the sermons preached by him through a long life, giving the texts of his various discourses and the places and dates of their delivery, as well as the honorarium received for the same. The book begins with August 10, 1701, and ends with January 21, 1770, though the latest entries are read with some difficulty, as they are written in a feeble hand, after he had become almost blind from the infirmities of age. In early life his handwriting very closely resembled that of Thomas Prince, the annalist. Mr. Barnard was a son of John and Esther Barnard, and was born in Boston, on November 6, 1681. He received his pre- paratory education at the Boston Latin School, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1700. An autobiographical sketch of him is printed in the Society's Collections (third t f-^ series, V. 177-243), from which some of the following facts are taken. Soon after his graduation he joined the North Church, then under the pastoral care of the two Mathers, father and son, and began to study for the gospel ministry. He preached his first sermon on August 10, 1701, at Mr. [William] Robie's house, before a society of young men that used to meet on Sunday evenings for religious worship. According to the note-book, Mr. Barnard during his life delivered more than six thousand sermons, of which he gives the various texts by a reference to the chapter and verse ; and throughout this long period he received for his services more than ten thousand pounds. In one instance during his early life he was given a Bible for such service, and in several other instances some theological work. At divers times he supplied the pulpit of many congregations in various parts of the Province, and for some years was a chaplain both in the pro- vincial army and navy. On July 18, 1716, he was settled over the Church of Christ at Marblehead, where he remained until his death, on January 24, 1770, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. By his will he gave to Harvard College the sum of two hundred pounds in token of his thankfulness for the education he there received. When President Wads worth died in the spring of 1717, Mr. Barnard was talked of as his successor to the presidency of that institution. The Reverend Charles Chauncy, D.D., of Boston, in a letter to Dr. Ezra Stiles, then of Newport, Rhode Island, dated May 6, 1768, says : — Mr. John Barnard, of Marblehead, has been a long and near friend and acquaintance of mine. He is now in his 85th [87th] year, and I hear is seized this winter with blindness. I esteem him to have been one of our greatest men. Had he turned his studies that way, he would perhaps have been as great a mathematician as any in this country, I had almost said in England itself. He is equalled by few in regard either of iuvention, liveliness of imagination, or strength and clearnesa in reasoning. (Collections, X. 157, 158.) Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton, while treating of the ecclesiastical affairs of the town immediately following the pastorate of the Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, who was dis- missed in the summer of 1712, says: — Before settling another minister, after the dismission of Mr. Brad- street, three persons at least were hired as candidates for settlement ; two of whom, Mr. [John] Tufts and Mr. [John] Cotton, received in- vitations to settle. A Mr. Barnard preached for some time, and he and Mr. Tufts were rival candidates before the town, and Mr. Tufts had the major vote (pages 170, 171). Mr. Tufts did not accept the invitation, but soon afterward was settled over the church at Newbury. According to entries in the note-book, it was Mr. John Barnard who was preaching as the other candidate at Groton, where he supplied the pulpit for many Sundays during this period. Usually for his services in that town he received a pound for each day's preaching, though sometimes the sum was a little less, and once he had a guinea. From time to time Mr. Barnard notes the fact in the volume that a sermon was printed, and also the occasion of its deliv- ery. Many times during his early life he held Sunday even- ing services at his father's house in Boston, all which are mentioned in the list. The note-book, containing 133 pages, was given to the Historical Library, on February 4, 1814, by the Reverend Samuel Dana, a successor of Mr. Barnard in the ministry at Marblehead. At the same time there was given by Mr. Dana another manuscript volume (pp. 277) entitled " A new Version of the Psalms of David ; with Hymns out of the Old, and New, Testament; fitted to the Tunes used in the Churches. By LIBRHRY OF CONGRESS ^H ^ 014 079 553 7 John Barnard. A.M. Pastor of a Church in Marblehead." It is substantially identical with the printed edition that appeared in the year 1752 under Mr. Barnard's supervision, and is written in a very clear and clean hand, almost page for page and line for line with the published copy. At the beginning, pasted in front of the fly-leaf, are three notes commendatory of the work, which were written by Samuel Mather, Mather Byles, and Samuel Cooper, respectively, and all dated November 20, 1751. Presumably this was the copy sent to them, in advance of its publication, for their critical notice, and in the Preface to the printed volume the services of the two former ministers are acknowledged. In connection with this subject, I may as well call attention to another manuscript volume, containing 184 pages, by Mr, Barnard, which was given to the Library by Colonel Samuel Swett. on July 28, 1836. It consists mainly of private medi- tations and self-examinations, written down by the pious author, which have no historical interest at the present time. The book begins with entries on January 28, 1715-16, and ends with those on October 31, 1719. It is marked on the inside of the front cover, " Lib — 9 : " as if there were other volumes belonging to the series. H Hill i nil' nil 014 0' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 079 553 7 HOLUNGER pH8.5 MILL RUN F3-1544