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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1812.

MEMOIR

OF

THE LATE MR. JAMES ROBERT BURCHETT,

OF DOCTORS' COMMONS.

Ir has been the lot of a multitude of persons to pass thro' our world, and leave no memorial behind them: they were not distinguished from those who surrounded them; and having quitted this state of existence, are remembered for nothing they. have been or done.-To compile memoirs of such persons is a mere waste of time, and a vain attempt to retard their passage to oblivion; but when a man dies, who is followed to the grave by the admiration and regret of all who knew him; when we have to deplore the loss of activity and piety, it is criminal to be silent. To let such characters depart without some tribute of respect to their memory, by holding up their example for the imitation of others, is to bury in silence the noblest works of God, and to defeat one great end of their appearance among us. Such a character was James Robert Burchett; and every one who knew him will acknowledge, that this is not the language of panegyric, but the honest praise of genuine worth.

He was born in London, 14th August, 1765. His father died previously to his birth, so that the care of his education devolved entirely upon his mother: she always took him with. her to hear the gospel, and he was at times considerably af-. fected by it, so as to form resolutions for the amendment of his life; but his convictions were like the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away. He thus entered upon the dangerous paths of youth, without possessing the best preservative against those innumerable temptations by which that most critical time of life is assiduously beset by the great enemy of souls.

At an early period he engaged himself in a respectable house in Doctors' Commons; in which he continued till his death. -Being hereby introduced to new acquaintances, he was led to forget his early impressions, and to join with others in violating the Sabbath, and in other acts of folly and sin. He was not, however, left without checks of conscience, and warnings to abandon his dangerous course. At one time, when

going out upon the water on a Sabbath-day, one of the party fell overboard, and was in danger of being drowned. He was thus deterred from persevering in that recreation; but fear being his only motive for refraining, he amused himself with parties of pleasure on horseback; and thus might his youth and his riper years have been spent, and thus night his talents have been lost to society, had not the Lord alarmed him with a view of his situation, and given him a taste for something nobler than the vanities by which he had hitherto been enslaved. -He was equipped one Sunday afternoon (in 1785) for an excursion, and was going for his horse, when he chanced ('such chances Providence obey') to pass the door of the late Mr. Towers' Meeting in Barbican, which was opened on that day, and into which many were entering. Upon enquiry he found that the late Rev Mr. Jones, of Llangan, was to preach; and, influenced by curiosity, he determined to stay to hear him.Mr. Jones's text was Haggai ii. 8, 9. This sermon made a deep impression upon his mind; and the consequences were immediate-Seeing the importance of eternal things, and feeling his lost and ruined condition, he could no longer be regardless. of God's ordinances. His former companions and pleasures were at once forsaken, and he endeavoured to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling; but his views of truth being indistinct, he failed in the means he employed. He felt his own exceeding sinfulness, and the deep depravity of his nature; but he did not at once clearly perceive the only way in which these evils may be overcome; he therefore endeavoured to amend himself by vows, resolutions, and prayers; but he found himself nothing better, but rather growing worse: by this he was almost driven to despair; but, under a sermon he heard from Romans v. 21, he was led to more scriptural views, and found that Jesus was not only a Saviour to pardon our sins, but to save us from them; and that the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, not only took away the guilt of sin, but its power and doniinion also. He was thus brought into the possession of peace and joy; and being now a partaker of that berty with which Christ makes his people free, his immediate enquiry was, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? He then eagerly looked around him for opportunities of displaying his gratitude to Him who had bought him with his blood. He had just removed his residence near to Kingsland, then a dissolute place; and his active mind began immediately to plan schemes of usefulness.-He joined with others in establishing schools, promoting a benevolent society for visiting the sick poor, and in devising various plans for doing good to the souls and bodies of men.

In July 1786, he married the daughter of a respectable farmer of Worcestershire, by whom he had six children, four sons and two daughters; 'one died in infancy; and another, at the