S. Barnard, Jr., Boston, to John Sutcliff, Olney, 5 February 1806.   

Boston. Febr 5, 1806

My dear Sir

         I have just recd my Manuscript & your Letter, by the hand of Mr Talbot, & by him I now write these few Lines in Return—& thank you for the few Hints you have given me concerning them.  At present I am not at work upon the other Parts of them. A smaller Work has risen out of them, which I am now publishing, having just set my finishing hand to the Work. It will comprise about 300 Pages of common Octavo & nearly 1/2 is printed off. It consists of short Remarks on the Verses in the New Testament which begin with the double Expression Verily, verily. They are in Number about 22, are all contained in John’s Gospel, & are the Words of our Saviour, & my design in writing was to discuss what might be the doctrinal Points which our Lord pressed upon his Disciples here below. Williams & Smith have it in Lonn & I hope it will be out in 3 or 4 months.

         I think with you that the Manuscript I sent you is not in a suitable State for the public Eye, & I think would be more suitable to present taste in some kind of [illegible word].

         Mr Stevens[3] who preaches at St Neots is yet with us & I think it seems probable will soon have an Invitation from the Particular Bap. Church to take the office of Pastor here. He is much liked by People in the Country, more so than by the Town People, tho the former in general can only get to hear him in the Summer.

         I am glad to hear so good an Acct of John Smith, to whom please remember me, also to Mr Dopney if still with you.

                                             I remain in best Wishes

                                                                        Dear Sir Yours truly

                                                                                          S. Barnard, Junr

[1]

Text: Eng. MS. 372, f. 113, JRULM. On the back page Sutcliff has written: “Rec. Mar. 14. 1806. Ans: — 20. —.” Two Samuel Barnards, father and son, lived at Boston at this time, and were most likely Baptists, for the elder Barnard was a subscriber to Robert Robinson’s Ecclesiastical Researches (1792). The writer of this letter and author of the work under discussion, The Essence, Spirituality, and Glorious Issue of the Religion of Christ Jesus to All God’s Chosen: Exhibited in Remarks on the Expression, “Verily, Verily,” as used by our Blessed Saviour in many Parts of Scripture(1806), is Samuel Barnard the younger (b. 1784). The work was published by W. Nicholson of London, not Thomas Williams and William Smith. Samuel Barnard the elder (1752-1810) was a banker and merchant in Boston. The author of the above letter and work should not be confused with another Samuel Barnard (d. 1807), Independent minister for many years at the New Chapel, Dagger-lane, Hull, and later at Hope Street, Hull, and finally at Howard Street, Sheffield, from 1803 until his death in June 1807. His publications appeared between 1786 and 1804. Some papers belonging to the Boston Barnards can be found in the Barnard-Talcot-Hollerith family papers at George Washington University. John Stevens was the Baptist minister at St. Neots (1799-1805) and later at Meard’s Court, Wardour Street, London. John Smith, originally from Boston, was a student of Sutcliff’s at Olney and was ordained pastor of the Baptist congregation at Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 10 May 1809, having been dismissed from the Olney church on 23 February 1809. George Dobney was also one of Sutcliff’s students, ministering at Wallingford in 1814. See Universal British Directory, vol. 2, p. 338; Miall, James, Congregationalism in Yorkshire: A Chapter in Modern Church History (London: J. Snow, 1868), 293, 355; Baptist Magazine 1 (1809), 341; Olney Church Book, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford, f. 58; P. B. Gravett, Over Three Hundred Years of God’s Grace: A Short History of Sutcliff Baptist Church (Olney: n.p., 1987), 27; and “Sutcliff’s Academy at Olney,” Baptist Quarterly 4 (1928-29), 277.