Gravimetric analysis of barium or sulfate
I think $\ce{BaCl2}$ should be added later. This is because $\ce{BaCl2}$ is soluble in water, but the metal sulphate you will be given may not be soluble. So if you add $\ce{M2SO4}$ later, you may get a wrong result as you have to make sure that the whole of $\ce{BaCl2}$ is used up. On the other hand all chloride salts are soluble. So while filtering the $\ce{MCl}$ will be removed easily along with the solvent and you will get $\ce{BaSO4}$.