The Life And Ministry Of Thomas Burns
Gospel Standard 1898:
Death. On March 25th, 1897, Thomas Burns, of Walsall, Baptist minister. He was the son of Simeon Burns, who was for many years Baptist minister at Gornal. Thomas, when a young man at home, was often present at family prayer; but when he heard his father mention his name in the petitions, his heart would fill with hatred and disgust. When young he was very self-willed and stubborn, and possessed no small amount of pride; but the Lord had a set time and place for the effectual call of his child. This happened when he was about twenty-two years old; and the Lord so worked upon his heart and conscience, that he was brought down from the mount of haughtiness into the valley of humiliation. Often has he told me that he was a naughty lad at home, and disregarded his dear father’s advice, and that he would get anywhere out of the hearing of his father’s prayer. But mighty is the strength of grace, and Thomas had to come, and since then he has often thanked his God for a praying father, who baptized him at Gornal. The date of his call to the ministry, I am unable to ascertain, but I think it was something like eighteen years before he died.
His ministerial path was not a serene one, but it was the means of plunging him into very deep spiritual trials. Very often has the devil tempted him to doubt his call thereto, which caused him great anxiety of mind, and on several occasions he has been on the brink of resigning his pastoral duties. He used to say to me: “To think of the Lord sending such a poor fool as me to preach his blessed gospel!” The Lord, however, was pleased to keep him thus occupied until he died. He never gave up; he died in harness. The dear man preached when—speaking naturally—he had not ought to have done. Many times during the last twelve months of his ministry have I seen him ascend the pulpit steps with his poor hands trembling like an aspen leaf, while his head seemed muddled and confused; still he obeyed the sovereign call. He was always pleasant in company, and greatly appreciated the smallest kindness. After preaching at Oldbury on Lord’s day mornings, he would come with me to dinner, and my wife, who is not a professor of religion, liked Mr. Burns very much, and she used to get him that which she thought he liked the best. Tears would often stream down her cheeks while the dear man of God was asking a blessing at the table.
His business was very trying to him at times, but he experienced great answers to prayer therein. Oh how his poor soul has gone out to the Lord, soliciting his kind interposition in providential affairs. How he has begged of the dear Lord to send him work, and the money which was owing to him. Many times he has scarcely known what to do—very few orders in the shop, and very little money in the house; sometimes an overdue account rushing through his brain, coupled with a fear lest he should bring disgrace upon the Lord’s children by not being able to meet the bill, and legal proceedings taken to exact the same from him. Oh how these things would send him to his God, to beg of him, like a little child, to help him, and to keep him out of this disgrace; and the blessed Lord helped and delivered him. His work was very hard, working at the fire and anvil many hours a day. He did his own traveling, and had to meet all kinds of worldly gentlemen in his business. His conscience was very tender, which made him careful in his prices, and his spirit was often depressed on account of the keen competition. The temptations also in relation to his moral conduct were many, at times, but the Lord caused him to hate the ways of the world, and thereby saved him from many snares.
Such ministers as Thomas Burns go down into deep waters. They get where the majority of the Lord’s people are, and have to meet the open world face to face. These ministers can tell a poor soul where he is, because their own experience is a very similar one. Mr. Burns did not go about fancying himself more righteous than other men, which is the quintessence of Phariseeism, but humbly admitted his faults. He submitted his conduct to the grace of God, and he used to say, “My mouth is stopped; I have no stones to throw at anyone.” The Lord showed him that if there was any difference in the degree of his sanctification, it was done by grace; no boasting, but thankful; a sinner in himself, but complete in his Saviour. Oh that God would send us more ministers with similar experience to that of Thomas Burns. His sermons were not squeezed out of an imaginative heart, and brought only from a house and parlour experience; but they were brought honestly out of a heavy and a cloudy walk, from going out into the world, and having to mix with numerous temptations in his business, as his poor hearers have to do. He used to sympathize with, and encourage poor souls who had billows of trouble rolling over them, because he knew, by bitter experience, the very spot they were in. He was unconscious for many hours before he died, and never regained consciousness. His last words in reference to spiritual things were, “I feel that I am on the foundation.”
Egbert James Taylor
Thomas Burns (?-1897) was a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher. He served as pastor for the church meting at Walsall, Staffordshire.
