Note 79 — Chapter IX

Mr. Barker had the reputation of being one of the most popular preachers in the metropolis amongst the Dissenters. He was a great favourite with Lady Huntingdon, whom he frequently visited when in London, and on some occasions expounded at her house. Few ministers lamented more the decay of evangelical truth amongst the Dissenters in London, and the open departure of many of his brethren from some of those doctrines which lie at the foundation of Christian hope. Through life he discovered an uniform and zealous attachment to the great doctrines of the Reformation, and heartily longed for the union of all real Christians, and the breaking down of the wall of separation between the Church of England and the Dissenters. Though firmly attached to the principles of Protestant Dissent, yet he had the interest of vital godliness more at heart; and he considered a lively evangelical mode of preaching, such as then chiefly prevailed amongst those denominated Methodists, as best adapted to extend its influence. In one of his letters to Lady Huntingdon he feelingly laments the decay of evangelical truth in the pulpits of many of the Dissenting churches in London. “Alas! (says he), the distinguished doctrines of the Gospel—Christ crucified, the only ground of hope for fallen man—salvation through his atoning blood—the sanctification by his eternal Spirit, are old-fashioned things now, seldom heard in our churches. A cold comfortless kind of preaching prevails almost everywhere; and reason, the great law of reason, and the eternal law of reason, is idolized and deified. But blessed be God for the revival that has taken place in another branch of the Church of Christ; the labours of the Methodists will, I hope, infuse new life into some of our dying churches, and be the means, under God, of spreading such a stream of light in England, that all the vain efforts of false doctrines and false philosophy can never darken. We are much indebted to the zeal and catholic charity which your Ladyship, Mr. Whitefield, and some others, have evinced. I am now in the decline of life, having attained more than seventy years. Assist me with your prayers, my dear Madam, that my few remaining years may be devoted to the interests of my Divine Master, and the spread of his kingdom amongst men.”