EV. MILLS BARRETT was born in Southampton county, Virginia, December 15, 1789, and died at his residence in Isle of Wight county, April 2,1865, in his seventy-seventh year. On April 80, 1811, he married Sarah J. Smith, and to them were born six children, two of whom were ministers in the Christian Church,--Stephen S. Barrett and Mills B. Barrett. The oldest daughter, Lucy by name, a beautiful woman, married Rev. William R. Stowe, and they moved Worth and finally to the West. Rev. Mills Barrett's first wife died September 22, 1844, in the fifty-first year of her age, and [85] in 1845 he married Mrs. Nancy Boykin of Southampton county, a lady with good property.

      In 1809, Rev. Mills Barrett, while Rev. Joseph Thomas was preaching at his father's house at night, was convicted of sin, and a few days later Mr. Thomas preached there again. "Here Brother B.'s son Mills was relieved from his guilt and condemnation; was justified by faith and obtained peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ." Soon afterwards Rev. Mills Barrett made known the impressions of his mind to preach the gospel. He had been faithful and already somewhat successful in exhorting his neighbors and acquaintances. He made preparations to travel and preach, having "willingly and freely given up all the pleasures and prospects of the world." The White Pilgrim received him as a fellow laborer, and they went on together to fill his appointments, Rev. Mills Barrett exhorting frequently and exercising himself "profitably to the people, oftentimes suffering much hunger, cold, persecution and temptations." "Brother Mills Barrett, who had patiently endured with me many of the distresses, difficulties and oppositions of the preceding winter had by this time made great improvement in speaking. He was now able to deliver an agreeable and useful sermon, and with that zeal and energy, which generally had a good effect upon his hearers. He was now well able to travel by himself and preach the gospel without the help of man." Again, Rev. Mills Barrett met the White Pilgrim in North Carolina, and they traveled together through Warren, Granville, Orange, and Caswell counties, crossed over Dan river into Halifax county, Virginia, then returned into North Carolina, through Caswell, Rockingham, Guilford, and came to his mother's in Orange, "having preached almost every day and frequently at candle-light." "Here Brother Barrett tarried two days with me and we held a few meetings and saw some of the [86] young people weeping and enquiring the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward." This was during the summer of 1810; they then separated, and Mills Barrett went forth preaching the word. Soon he became a powerful revivalist. He was also present at the General Meeting in 1810, when the division between the Christians occurred, which led to the organization of the North Carolina and Virginia Conference. In 1811, the General Meeting was held in Carolina county, Virginia, beginning on first Friday in October; he preached on Saturday with zeal and profit to his hearers.

      Rev. Mills Barrett was the first President of the Eastern Virginia Christian Conference, which was permanently organized at Cypress chapel, in Nansemond county, May 25-27, 1819. In 1822, he was a messenger to the North Carolina Conference, and assisted in the ordination of Rev. Littlejohn Utley. At first, however, the title of the presiding officer was "Speaker" which prevailed till 1838. At the Conference at Union chapel, in Southampton county, in 1828, Rev. Mills Barrett (though absent) was continued on the Standing committee to act, in the "recess" of Conference, upon all business not of sufficient importance to convene the Conference. It was also agreed to have a "second edition of the Christian Hymn Book by Mills Barrett printed," which accordingly was printed by Shields and Ashburn at the Beacon office, 1828, Norfolk, Virginia, The book is entitled "Hymns and Spiritual Songs, selected for the use of Christians by Mills Barrett." Respecting the hymn book he says, "The Christian churches in Virginia and North Carolina, not being supplied with a sufficient number of hymn books, some of the brethren solicited me to collect a number of the most approved Hymns and Spiritual Songs, which are best suited to religious worship, as believed and practiced among us. Therefore, the only apology I offer for presenting this [87] to the public, is a willingness to serve." The book contains 222 hymns, followed by a "Form of Marriage Ceremony."

      In 1886, he was Standing secretary, which office he filled a number of years. The Conference met at Cypress chapel in 1887, and at Barrett's in 1838, and at this latter Rev. Mills Barrett and John P. Tatem from Providence withdrew from the Conference, because as the secretary records "the constitution was illegally destroyed." But when the Conference met at Antioch, according to adjournment, a month later, Rev. Mills Barrett appeared and took his seat in the body. The Conference met at Providence chapel in Norfolk county, in 1889, and Rev. Mills Barrett was one of the ordaining presbytery to ordain Rev. William O. Baily. At the Conference at Antioch, in 1840, he was appointed one of the committee to represent this Conference in a General Conference of the Christians. About this time he makes this singular record of himself, "I, by request, preached my grandfather's and grandmother's funeral sermons; I was baptized with my father and father-in-law; was married by my father, and then married my father to his second wife: baptized my wife and wife's mother, and my oldest son and daughter."

      The annual "Conference of the Elders and Brethren of the Christian Church," at Antioch, in 1841, adjourned to meet at Cypress chapel, in 1842, Rev. Mills Barrett still in charge of Providence chapel in Norfolk county. At the Conference at Antioch, in 1844, it was ordered, "that Rev. Mills Barrett be appointed an itinerant minister, to travel within the bounds of this Conference the ensuing year, and that a committee be appointed to provide funds for his support. He conducted, in 1846, a meeting at Union chapel after the adjournment of Conference, and at Holy Neck Cypress, Providence and [88] Barrett's, in which time there were ninety-five converts and sixty-two additions to these churches.

      In 1847, he was a member of the Southern Christian Association, organized at Good Hope, in North Carolina. In 1852, he represented his Conference in the Southern Christian Association at Providence, in Virginia. At the organization of the Southern Christian Convention, in 1856, he was chairman of the committee on Convention Organization, and outlined the general policy of the Convention. He was a delegate from the Eastern Virginia Conference to the Southern Christian Convention at Cypress chapel, in 1858, and was chosen Vice-President of the Convention Home Missionary Society. At the Conference at Providence, in 1859, he was chairman of the committee on the Ministry and Ordination, and at Cypress chapel was continued as chairman of the Conference (Executive) committee. He served in this latter capacity for many years, and soon after the organization of the Eastern Virginia Conference he became its clerk or secretary,--an office which he held till compelled by old age to resign. A memorial resolution offered at Holy Neck in 1865, says, "Elder Mills Barrett entered the service of the Church in the days of his boyhood and in the infancy of the denomination and was, therefore, one of the pioneer preachers, enduring much hardness, yet remaining faithful to his calling for more than half a century, and true to the end of his days, passing to the light of heaven above, just as the war storm had culminated and its furious bloat was heard all over the land."

      He used his pen freely, and as a writer he was clear and comprehensive, with enough of earnestness to impress the thought upon the mind of the reader. The following selections are from his pen:--

      "While I live, my object is to do good, and make my life a blessing to my fellow man. I am always glad of an opportunity to do or say anything that will have the [89] least tendency to promote the cause of Christ. I have been very careful to shun all the isms and ultra measures of the present age. My time has been devoted to the advocacy of pure gospel principles. I trust alone to pure, unmixed gospel influences, to right all the wrongs on earth. But let men become wise above what is written, and mix their whims and peculiar notions with the gospel, and influence is retarded; and we have no cheering accounts of reformations and additions to our churches; but there follows a coldness and dull formality, while division and diminution pervade them. And while the spoilers of Zion's peace are boasting, and condemning those who will not join them in their motley mixture, the sons of Zion go with an aching heart and tearful eye, when they see the havoc that is made. A view of these has often caused me to weep.

      "But my tears have been dried, and my heart made glad the past summer, while the word of God run among us, and was glorified in the salvation of sinners. . . . .

      "I hope, Mr. Editor, the day of isms and ites is nearly past, and that we shall have more gospel preaching, more of the spirit of Christ, more prayer, that we may have more reformations, and additions to our churches, and we all become more spiritual; our periodicals become the messengers of peace; then wars and fightings among us, which proceed from our lusts, would cease, sinners would be converted, and God's name glorified."--Berlin, Va., Nov. 11, 1846.

      From a sermon by Elder Barrett on Eph. 3:14, 15, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

      . . . . We are not only taught that the righteous generation on earth belongs to the family of God, but John, the revelator, teaches that in heaven the Father is seated on a throne, and round about the throne are four beasts, [90] and twenty-four elders; and in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the beasts and elders he saw the Lamb of God, and round about the throne are ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels; and a hundred and forty-four thousand of the tribes of Israel, which were redeemed from the earth; and a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stand before the throne, and before the Lamb. That these, with those on earth, constitute the family of God, is evident from what Paul says, Heb. 12:22, 23, 24. "But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . ." Again, the employment of all is the same; they in heaven do the will of God, and we are taught to pray that it may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The nature of all is the same; they in heaven are spiritual, and those on earth are a spiritual people; and all worship God, who is a spirit, in spirit and in truth. The same relation exists among all. "All are brethren;" and one of the inhabitants of heaven said to John, "I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus." Rev. 19:10. There is a family likeness, and a unity of feeling throughout the whole household. Again, they are all under the same government, and have the same rulers. In Heb. 10:21 it is said, "We have a High Priest over the house of God;" that the High Priest is Christ, is evident from Heb. 3:6. "But Christ is a Son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence," etc. In Col. 1:18 it is said, "And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." And Paul says, Eph. 1:20-23, "Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him on his own right hand . . . ." He is the one lawgiver, and has given the perfect law of [91] liberty; and has established the same great principles of government and rules of order on earth, that are ordained in heaven.

      And lastly, they all bear the same name. The family is named after Christ Christ signifies anointed; Christian is derived from Christ, and signifies anointed ones. 1 John 2:27. God's people were anciently called Israel, but Isaiah 65:15 says, "He will call his servant by another name." Isaiah 62:2 says, "And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." The name was first given at Antioch, Acts 11:26. "And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." The original word which is here rendered called, seems to intimate that they were called Christians by divine appointment, for it generally signifies an oracular nomination, or a declaration from God, and to this purpose it is generally translated. Hence it follows, that the very name Christian, as well as the thing, was a divine original; assumed not by a private agreement of the disciples among themselves, but by the appointment of God. And it is a remarkable fulfilment of the prophecies above quoted. See Smith's New Testament Dictionary, and Dr. Clarke on Acts 11:26. There is no other name known in heaven, and God will own no other on earth. And so soon as a man forms any other government, or as a disciple of Christ submits to any other in the church, or assumes, or submits to wear any other name, he by so doing raises a barrier to the unity of God's family; and just as far as they are separated from Christians on earth, are they separated from saints in glory. There are none but Christians in heaven. A man may have another name, and go to heaven, but no other can give him admittance. What folly, then, to wear a name on earth, which must be dropped without the gates of heaven. The members of this family are easily distinguished from another large family, called [92] the house of the wicked, and the house divided against itself, of which the devil is the father. In the house of God is found love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and the light of life is enjoyed. In the other there is darkness, hypocrisy, prevarication, misrepresentation, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reviling, etc. They that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Though these two families now exist, and on earth are growing together like the tares and the wheat, the time is coming when the earth shall be reaped, and the wheat gathered into the garner, and the tares bound in bundles to be burned. Let us be wise, and have our names written in heaven; let us lay up our treasure there, that our hearts and conversation may be there, from whence we look for our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body, at his appearing and kingdom.

[LCM 85-93]