Joseph Barker and the Quaker.
SOME twenty-five or thirty years ago, Joseph Barker had quite a notoriety as an avowed infidel —highly intelligent, and actively earnest in spreading his views and opposing the Bible and the Christian religion. On one occasion, when in the United States, he went out to Frankford, now a part of Philadelphia, and there lectured against the Bible to a large audience. At the close of his address, when he evidently felt that he had made a strong impression, he invited either replies or questions from any of the audience. After a moment's silence, a substantial looking Quaker rose up and said, "Friend Barker, thou saidst that the Bible was not only a pack of lies and fables, but that every preacher was a hypocrite, and well knew that in his preaching he was telling what was not true—didst thou not?" Barker asserted that he did say so, and that it was true. "Well, friend Barker, wast thou not a preacher so many years ago, and didst thou not then preach just as other ministers do?" Barker was taken by surprise, for he did not suppose that any one present knew his early history (for he had been a minister before he apostatized to infidelity), but coloring not a little, he was compelled to admit that he had been a preacher, but had long ago given up everything like preaching. "Well," said the Quaker, "if thou wast not a hypocrite then, surely thou couldst not say that all preachers were hypocrites; and if thou wast a hypocrite then, thou mayst be so now, in what thou art telling us. And besides," he continued, "the Bible must be true, for ages ago it exactly described thyself, saying, 'in the last days there shall come scoffers, false teachers, bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, . . . . of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of,' and this is just what thou art doing." Barker seemed not a little confused, and making no reply, the Quaker again said, "Friend Barker, I would ask thee another question—Didst thou ever know a mother to teach her child to be an infidel? And if thou wast dying, wouldst thou not just as lief have a Christian's faith and hope as to be without them?" The questions evidently cut poor Barker to the quick, and made a strong impression on the audience. Barker did not attempt to answer them, and the assembly soon dispersed. And they may, by God's blessing, have made a lasting impression on Barker himself, for some years afterward, about 1870, he renounced his infidelity, and again professed the truth of Christianity. He has since died, leaving behind him a remarkable recantation of his infidel views, which may be found in his memoirs, published by his son.—Selected.