-w^ D\OZ>'D VJfjj^o , j7C-//»^ eANAOfANA OHPARTft^Nr MORTH VOfiK PU81.JC UBRAW' REV. JOSHUA N. BARNES. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF EIGHTY YEARS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY BY Rev. Joshua N. Barnes. Revised and Edited by His Son, EDWIN N. C. BARNES. Author of 'The Reconciliation of Randall Claymore," "King Sol in Flowerland," etc. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY REV. JOSEPH McLEOD, D. D., Editor of The Maritime Baptist, Vice-President for Canada of The World's Baptist Alliance. PRICE, $1.35. ST. JOHN, N. B. Printed by Barnes & Company, Ltd. 1911. Copyright, in Canada, 1911. BY EDWIN N. C. BARNES. REV. B. H. NOBLES. Pastor Victoria Street United Baptist Chinch, St. John. INTRODUCTION. This little book tells the life story of a good man. It makes no pretension to literary finish. It is purely a record, simply phrased, of more than fifty years in the Christian ministry. The writer has been known through all these years as a man of real humbleness, great faith, deep devotion and tireless activity in the work of the Lord. His work has been abundantly blessed. The results of his consecrated service are not alone in the large number won to the faith of Jesus, in churches established, and in the care of the flock of God, but in the number of young men converted under his ministry, who became preachers of the gospel and successful winners of souls. Rarely has a minister a more striking record in this respect. The story furnishes some knowledge of religious conditions in earlier years in New Brunswick, and of the diflficulties which confronted the servants of God. Incidents of great faith and of the triumphs of faith are numerous. The whole story reveals (1) INTRODUCTION. and magnifies the grace of God. Older readers, whose lives have been spent in the places referred to, will have tender memories revived and will live over again the precious experiences of earlier days. To younger readers it will be an instructive page in the history of the times of their fathers, with glimpses of the religious struggles and achievements of that time. To all it shows what God can do by one man, who, without special equipment other than a personal experience of the saving power of divine grace, and with an immovable purpose of obedience "to the heavenly vision," goes forth to preach the gospel. Joseph McLeod. (2) ACKNOWLEDGMENT. I wish to gratefully acknowledge the labor of love rendered by my son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin N. C. Barnefe, of Boston, Massachu- setts, whose co-operation made this volume possible. Acknowledgment is also made of the very material assistance given by Rev. Joseph Mc- Leod, D. D., and Rev. W. E. Mclntyre, D. D., of St. John, N. B., in the compilation of the short biographical sketches of ministerial converts. J. N. Barnes. Cedarhurst, Oak Point, N. B., September 1st, 1911. (3) FOREWORD. This little book does not lay claim to any literary merit, but is simply the tale of my life, told from a heart of love. The record is written entirely from memory, which will, in some measure, account for any seeming lack of continuity. Many of the experience*!s herein relate^d, God has made of great blessing to me, and I trust the story of them may help others. It is not that I wish to tell you what I have done, but to make you understand what He can do through such a weak instrument as I have been. It has not been me, but Christ in me, that has made the work blessed to many. As I relate some of the things which God has permitted me to see, I feel like hiding in the dust before Him. Many times during my fifty years' ministry I have been painfully conscious of my insufficiency, but at such moments I have come to realize more and more that my strength is of the Lord. How much of failure, and how many lost opportunities! No one knows the (4) FORWORD. record better than I. There have been mistakes —so many of them, but He has known that my purpose has ever been to do His blessed will. My life has been one of alternate cloud and sunshine — there have been valley experiences, but I do not forget the hours spent with God on the hill-top. I labor wholly at His command. The field is wide — the laborers are few. Be- cause of this, I hope to continue active unto the end. In public ministration and personal appeal the message and results have always been my Master's. The Glory is the Lord's! (5) CAfiUDIANA Of:PAR7M£NT MMTH YORK PUBUC UMMti '7 know not what the future hath Of marvel or surprise. Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlies. And if my heart and flesh are weak To hear an untried pain, The bruised reed He will not break, But strengthen and, sustain. No offering of my own I have. Nor works my faith to prove; I can but give the gifts He gave. And plead His love for love. And so beside the silent sea I wait the muffled oar; No harm from Him can come to me On ocean or on shore. I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care." From Whittier's ''The Eternal Goodness." (6) LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF EIGHTY YEARS. **That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life;—that declare we unto your— I John 1: 1, 3. CHAPTER I. T WAS born in the Parish of Greenwich, " Kings County, New Brunswick, on the seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord, 1830. My father, Joshua James Barnes, was the eldest son of Joshua, and grandson of James Barnes, who, with other Loyalists, came to this country in the year 1782, from White Plains, New York, bringing with him a family of eight children. Joshua, my grandparent, was the only boy and youngest child. The family settled on the west side of Long Reach, St. John River, near Brown's Flat. 2 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS There, James Barnes and his wife lived and died. They are buried at Oak Point, N. B. During the Revolutionary War my great- grandfather served the King as a captain of cavalry. The sword with which he fought is still preserved as one of our family relics. In religious belief the family adhered to the Church of England. Joshua, my grandfather, married Sarah, daughter of Joseph Flewelling, who came to this country from New Jersey, about the time that James Barnes settled on the banks of the St. John. The Flewellings settled in what is now known as St. John, West, at that time a wilderness. My father, James Barnes, married Phoebe Maria, the second daughter of Ninyon Chaloner, who spent the last years of his life in Kingston. Mr. Chaloner was a teacher by profession, but for many years, up to the time of his death, he was Recorder for the County of Kings.. The union of James Barnes and Phoebe Chaloner was blessed with six children, two boys and four girls. Five, by the grace of God, still live: Benjamin Barnes of St. John; Mrs. OF EIGHTY YEARS. James McFarland of Chelsea, Mass.; Mrs. John Fowler of South Dakota; Mrs. William Watson of Winnipeg, Man., and the writer. My father was jailer at Kingston, so most of my boyhood days were spent there. In the autumn of 1836 I went to Carleton (St. John, West) to spend the winter at the home of my great-grandmother Flewelling. She was a dear, good, old lady, a Baptist in faith. Her husband, during his lifetime, had been a Quaker. I have always remembered the earnest, godly life of that noble. Christian woman. The impressions I received in that home remained with me in all the after years, until the time of rny conversion-, and probably played a strong part in bringing me to know Christ. My father came to Carleton for a short visit, in the month of March, and I returned home with him. This was in the spring of 1837, just a short time before our beloved Quebn came to the throne. The day of the coronation is yet fresh in my memory. The first bridge across the St. John River was then in the course of erection. My father walked out on it quite a distance, just as we were 4 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS leaving for home. A few weeks later it fell, and a number of precious lives were lost. On my return to Kingston I began to attend Sabbath school. The rectorate of the Parish of Kingston was filled, at that time, by the R^v. Elias Schofield. My teacher gave me a New Testament and a small hymn book. These I prized very highly, and read with great interest. The impressions m(ade by such passages as my young mind comprehended, were lasting, and now, after many years of expeHence, I believe most heartily in putting the Word of God into the hands of the young. It alone is able to make them wise unto salvation.—Deut. 6: 5-9. One of the hymns I learned at that time is still fresh in my memory. " I sing the Almighty Power of God, That made the mountains rise; He spread the flowing seas abroad, And built the lofty skies.