The Biographical Dictionary of America/Barnes, Albert

​BARNES, Albert, clergyman, was born in Rome, N.Y., Dec. 1, 1798. The greater part of his boyhood was passed at work in a tannery, and though able to secure but limited schooling, his thoughtful nature led him to read much. At the age of seventeen he left his father's employ to begin the study of law. After attending the Fairfield, Conn., academy, earning his board and tuition by means of teaching a district school, he prepared to enter Hamilton college, from which he was graduated in 1820. Having abandoned his purpose of becoming a lawyer, he entered Princeton, N.J., theological seminary in April, 1824; he was licensed to preach, and in February, 1825, was ordained and installed at the First Presbyterian church in Morristown, N.J. During his five years' pastorate of that church his parishioners became devotedly attached to him. In 1830 he resigned to take charge of the First Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and he was installed in his new pastorate June 25, 1830. On the publication of his "Notes on the Epistle to the Romans" he was tried for heresy before the Presbytery and acquitted, and he thereupon changed the phraseology of the sentences in the work that called forth the charge. "When the case was brought before the synod he was condemned, and was forbidden to preach for six months At the end of this time an appeal was made to the general assembly, and he was acquitted. His "defence" was published in New York, and his trial as reported, in Philadelphia. This charge and trial was the occasion of the organization of the new-school Presbyterians. Mr. Barnes was a man of eminent ability as a preacher, of clear mind and beautiful character. He was loved by his people, toward whom he was sympathetic and tender. He was a conscientious and interested student, reading the scriptures in the original, and studying philosophy, history and the natural sciences. He wrote "Scriptural Views of Slavery" (1846); "The Way of Salvation" (1863); "Manual of Prayers"; "The Atonement"; "Claims of Episcopacy"; "Church Manual"; "Practical Sermons for Vacant Congregations and Families"; "Closest Companion" (1854); "How shall Man be Just with God?" (1855); "Miscellaneous Essays and Reviews" (1855); "The Church and Slavery" (1856); "Way of Salvation Illustrated" (1856); "Inquiries and Suggestions in regard to the Foundation of Faith in the Word of God"; "Life at Three-score" (1858); "The Atonement"; "Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity in the Nineteenth Century" (1868), His name in Class G, Preachers and Theologians, received three votes for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. New York University, Oct., 1900. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 24, 1870.