John Barnard | Biography

A friend and contemporary of the Mathers, regarded by some as their "mimic and tool," John Barnard is best remembered, in the words of Perry Miller, as "one of the finest examples of the eighteenth-century New England parson." As minister at Marblehead, Massachusetts, from 1716 to the year of his death, the enlightened and politically aware Barnard proved himself to be a master of the jeremiad, and, as Sacvan Bercovitch has noted, he played a role in "harnessing the Puritan vision to the conditions of eighteenth-century life." Barnard had a number of sermons published during his lifetime as well as a version of the psalms of David with hymns, an effort which one early reviewer noted did not lead him "to discover that he had music in his soul." Barnard's autobiography, which is more noteworthy for its clerical gossip than for its eloquence, was circulated among his friends and acquaintances and was finally published in 1836. He also progressively championed the benefits of inoculation and was well acquainted with the intricacies of linguistics, mathematics, and shipbuilding. In a 6 May 1768 letter to President Ezra Stiles of Yale College, Dr. Charles Chauncy wrote that Barnard, "Had he turned his studies that way, 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 readiness of invention, liveliness of imagination, or strength and clearness in reasoning." Barnard's claim to literary distinction is based primarily on his published sermons, which combine energetic argument with theological erudition.

John Barnard, in his own words, "was born at Boston, 6th November, 1681, descended from reputable parents, John and Esther Barnard, remarkable for their piety and benevolence, who devoted me to the service of God, in the work of the ministry from my very conception and birth." A precocious child, Barnard, by the time he was six years old, had read the Bible through "thrice, and was appointed to tutor children both older and younger than himself at the local 'reading-school.'" When he was eight Barnard was sent to the Boston Latin School, then under the tutelage of the renowned Ezekiel Cheever. Barnard was, by his own accounts, a bright pupil whose sole intellectual shortcoming was a lack of "poetical fancy." "Nor had I anything of a poetical genius," he continues, "till after I had been at College some time, when upon reading some of Mr. Cowley's works, I was highly pleased, and a new scene opened before me."

Barnard entered Harvard College in 1696, during Increase Mather's presidency. At Harvard, known as "Johnny" to all, he was a popular though unremarkable student. After his graduation in 1700 Barnard applied himself more seriously to scholarly studies, particularly to the subjects of mathematics, divinity, and Hebrew. In his postcollege years Barnard was active in the ministry, preaching at various pulpits in and around Boston. But he experienced a round of professional disappointments, being passed over for permanent pulpits at Reading, Newton, and the North Church in Boston. Barnard attributed these failures to his temporary disfavor with the Mathers, who thought his sermons smacked of Arminianism, and to his candid friendship with the generally unpopular Governor Joseph Dudley. Finally in July of 1716, he was ordained minister for the church at Marblehead in a ceremony which featured a sermon by Barnard, with "the Charge" given by Cotton Mather and "the Right Hand of Fellowship" given by Benjamin Colman. Two years later, on 18 September 1718, Barnard was married to Anna Woodbury. They had no children.

In Marblehead Barnard served as more than his congregants' spiritual adviser. He showed a propensity for commercial affairs, which exemplifies the more liberal interests of the eighteenth-century minister. Observing the poverty of the town fishermen and the inefficient way in which they allowed their fish to be distributed and marketed by American and European merchants in the bigger ports, Barnard encouraged them to eliminate the middlemen and deal directly with foreign markets. Largely as a result of Barnard's efforts, by 1766 all the fish caught by Marblehead fishermen were locally cured and distributed, mostly to foreign markets. Town wealth increased accordingly.

In his autobiography Barnard interprets the affair in scriptural terms. Formerly, "The people contented themselves to be the slaves that digged in the mines, and left the merchants of Boston, Salem, and Europe, to carry away the gains; by which means the town was always in dismally poor circumstances..." But now, "we have between thirty and forty ships, brigs, snows, and topsail schooners, engaged in foreign trade. From so small a beginning the town has risen into its present flourishing circumstances, and we need no foreigner to transport our fish, but we are able ourselves to send it all to the market. Let God have the praise, who has redeemed the town from a state of bondage into a state of liberty and freedom." It is evident from Barnard's detailing of his own efforts to bring prosperity to Marblehead that rational human agency goes hand in hand with Providential favor.

Belief in the powers of human reason in both government and daily life is the trademark of Barnard's sermonizing. Barnard's election sermon of 29 May 1734, The Throne Established by Righteousness ..., provides a good illustration of Barnard's thoughts on government and human nature. Barnard begins his address, significantly, with an appeal to human reason: "That the supreme Ruler of the world is to be acknowledged in all our ways and more especially in all the grand and important concerns, whether of public societies or of private persons, is a principle that stands in the strongest light to the natural reason and conscience of every man who is not sunk into the lowest stupidity and the vilest atheism." Barnard then moves to assert that while government is ordained by God, a ruler's authority derives from the commission of the people ruled. Barnard, like Jonathan Edwards in his 1748 eulogy for Col. John Stoddard, emphasizes the practical necessities of leadership. Government, he insists, is for the good of the governed, and there must be mutual respect between the governors and the governed. Governments must abide by constitutions of written laws, which act as checks on the powers of leaders. And good leaders will distribute the rewards of official positions in accordance with ability and merit. Never shall governmental favors be given to those "who have the impudence to offer at the purchasing of them." Rather, "the distribution shall be made to able men, men suitably qualified, furnished with wisdom and knowledge, sagacity and penetration, fortitude and resolution, vigor and diligence." Barnard also relegates to the responsibilities of government the promotion of industry and manufactures. Governments should actively facilitate the prosperity of their constituents by "due encouragement of labor and industry, by proper premiums for serviceable manufactures, by suppressing all that tends to promote idleness and prodigal wasting and consuming of estates, by a due testimony against all fraud and deceit and unrighteousness in dealings, by cultivating frugality and good husbandry."

Barnard stresses the rational processes of government, the role human reason can play in bringing about an orderly and just society. The force and benevolence of God speaks through the rational designs of men. Appropriately, Barnard's election sermon focuses on human possibility, on the promised fulfillment of God's divine errand for the benefit of future generations of Americans. Though Barnard in his sermon expresses unshakable loyalty to English governors, it would not be long before similar testimonies to the reasonableness of man would be invoked for the purposes of more nativist forms of government.

A "sweet reasonableness" is the predominant tone of Barnard's sermons. It is not surprising that Barnard guided his congregation at Marblehead through the enthusiasms of the Great Awakening with a minimal amount of conflict. Barnard's persuasiveness was a model for other congregations as well. His sermon A Zeal for Good Works, Excited and Directed ..., preached at Boston on 25 March 1742, was recognized as a contribution to the checking of religious disorders throughout New England. The spirit of Barnard's works can be summed up in his own words, "zeal guided by knowledge, tempered with prudence, and accomplished with charity."