Editing Albert Barnes (theologian) (section)

==Biography==
Barnes was born in [[Rome, New York]]. He graduated from [[Hamilton College]] in [[Clinton, Oneida County, New York|Clinton, New York]] in 1820, and from [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] in 1823. Barnes was [[Ordination|ordained]] as a [[Presbyterian]] [[Religious minister|minister]] by the [[Presbytery (church polity)|presbytery]] of [[Elizabethtown, New Jersey]], in 1825, and was the pastor successively of the Presbyterian Church in [[Morristown, New Jersey]] (1825–1830), and of the [[First Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia)|First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia]] (1830–1868).<ref name=Britannica>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barnes, Albert}}</ref>

[[File:Albert Barnes (1798 – 1870).jpg|thumb|left|Albert Barnes (by [[James Neagle]])]]
Barnes held a prominent place in the New School branch of the Presbyterians during the [[Old School-New School Controversy]], to which he adhered on the division of the [[Christian denomination|denomination]] in 1837. He had been [[Trial (law)|tried]] (but not convicted) for [[heresy]] in 1836, mostly due to the views he expressed in ''Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Romans'' (1834) of the [[Imputation of sin|imputation]] of the [[sin]] of [[Adam]], original sin and the atonement; the bitterness stirred up by this trial contributed towards widening the breach between the conservative and the progressive elements in the church.<ref name=Britannica/>{{efn|For the views he expressed, see: {{cite book|last= Barnes |first= Albert |author-link= Albert Barnes (theologian) |title= Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Romans |date= 1834 |publisher= Leavitt, Lord & Company |location= [[New York City]] |url= https://archive.org/details/notesexplana00barn |page= [https://archive.org/details/notesexplana00barn/page/n20 1] }} Selectable text: [http://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/barnes/rom.htm sacred-texts.com]}}

During the [[Old School-New School Controversy|Old School-New School]] split in the [[Presbyterian Church in the United States of America]], Barnes allied himself with the New School Branch. He served as moderator of the General Assembly to the New School branch in 1851.<ref name="PHS">{{cite news|url=http://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/findingaids/fa.cfm?record_id=13|title=Guide to the Albert Barnes Papers - Presbyterian Historical Society|newspaper=Presbyterian Historical Society|date=May 5, 2014 }}</ref> According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'': "He was an eloquent preacher, but his reputation rests chiefly on his expository works, which are said to have had a larger circulation both in Europe and America than any others of their class."<ref name=Britannica/>

Of the well-known ''Notes on the New Testament'', it is said that more than a million volumes had been issued by 1870. The Notes on Job, the Psalms, Isaiah and Daniel were also popularly distributed. The popularity of these works rested on how Barnes simplified [[Biblical criticism]] so that new developments in the field were made accessible to the general public. Barnes was the author of several other works, including ''Scriptural Views of Slavery'' (1846) and ''The Way of Salvation'' (1863). A collection of his theological works was published in [[Philadelphia]] in 1875.

Barnes was an [[abolitionist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scholar.library.miami.edu/emancipation/religion4.htm|title=Emancipation: The Caribbean Experience|access-date=February 5, 2021|author=Curley, Carmen|work=Miami - School of Education and Human Development}}</ref> In his book ''The Church and Slavery'' (1857),  Barnes excoriates slavery as evil and immoral, and calls for it to be dealt with from the pulpit "as other sins and wrongs are" (most pointedly in chapter VII, "The Duty of the Church at Large on the Subject of Slavery").{{original research inline|date=December 2021}} In his famous 1852 oratory, "[[What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?]]", [[Frederick Douglass]] quoted Barnes as saying: "There is no power out of the church that could sustain [[slavery]] an hour, if it were not sustained in it."<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last= Foner |editor1-first= Philip Sheldon |editor1-link= Philip S. Foner |editor2-last= Branham |editor2-first= Robert J. |title= Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900 |publisher= [[University of Alabama Press]] |year= 1998 |page= 263 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hhSFxq5ZxqEC&pg=PA263 |isbn= 9780817309060 |quote= Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that 'There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Barnes |first= Albert |author-link= Albert Barnes (theologian) |title= An inquiry into the Scriptural views of slavery |year= 1857 |orig-year= 1846 |publisher= Parry & McMillan |location= [[Philadelphia]] |page= [https://archive.org/details/inquiryintoscrip00barnuoft/page/383 383] |url= https://archive.org/details/inquiryintoscrip00barnuoft|quote= editions:kwlReKlBg-8C. }}</ref>{{efn|For Douglass's speech, see: {{cite speech|last= Douglass |first= Frederick |author-link= Frederick Douglass |title= What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? |event= Ladies Antislavery Society of Rochester |location= Corinthian Hall, [[Rochester, New York]] |date= July 5, 1852 |url= https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/What_to_the_Slave_is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F}}}}

Barnes was a [[Temperance movement|temperance advocate]] who encouraged complete [[abstinence#Alcohol|abstinence]] from alcohol.<ref>{{cite web|title=Albert Barnes|website=SwordSearcher|url=https://www.swordsearcher.com/christian-authors/albert-barnes.html|access-date=3 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728125855/http://www.swordsearcher.com/christian-authors/albert-barnes.html|archive-date=28 July 2017}}</ref>

Barnes was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1855.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Albert+Barnes&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2020-12-15|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> While serving as pastor at the [[First Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia)|First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia]], Barnes became the President of the Pennsylvania Bible Society<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pabible.org|title=Pennsylvania Bible Society|website=www.pabible.org}}</ref> (located at 7th and Walnut) in 1858 – a position he served until his death in 1870. He served at First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia until 1868. He was then granted the title Pastor Emeritus.<ref name="PHS" />