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extended to him shows in what high esteem he was held, even then, by spiritu ally minded men, for no ordinary man would have been entrusted with such a charge. A couple o f months after accept ing the charge at St. Peter’s, the board wanted him to sail for India, which, of course, he could not do then. Another invi tation which he had to decline for the same reason yras from the Jewish committee to go to Aden and labour there among the Jews. REV IVAL A T K ILSYTH Soon after entering upon his ministry at St. Peter’s, there came one o f the most remarkable outpourings o f the Holy Spirit that the church has ever experienced, and one that will never be forgotten in Scot land, at least. Mr. Burns was invited by his father, the pastor at Kilsyth, to come and assist at the communion service to be held in the month o f July. The.parish church had been blessed for years with a succession o f godly Gospel ministers, men who labored for the definite conversion o f their parishioners and from time to time there were evidences of God’s working in the community/ Let no one fall into the mistake o f thinking that the remarkable manifestation o f God’s power which we are about to relate—or rather to let Mr. Burns himself relate^— came without any preparation. Such a thought, it will be seen, would be alto gether contrary to Mr. Burns’ own view o f this blessed visitation. It is well to remember, too, that the Lord’s chosen instrument at thiá time was but little over twenty-four years o f age and had only been out o f college a few months. The following account was written by Mr. Burns just one year after the occurrences related: “ Having a spare hour, it has occurred to my mind that it may be for the glory o f God that I should at last record my recol lections o f the marvellous commencement o f the Lord’s glorious wprk in this place in the month o f July, 1839, and I entreat the special áid o f the Holy Ghost, that I
may write according to His own will and for the divine glory regarding these won ders o f the Lord Jehovah. During the first four months o f my ministry, which were spent at Dundee, I enjoyed much o f the Lord’s presence in my own soul, and laid in large stores o f divine knowledge in pre paring from week to week for my pulpit services In St. Peter’s Church. But though I endeavoured to speak the truth fully, and to press it earnestly on tfye souls o f the people, there was still a defect in my preaching at that time which I have since learned to correct, viz., that partly from unbelieving doubts regarding the truth in all its infinite magnitude, and partly from a tendency to shrink back from speaking in such a way as visibly and generally to alarm the people, I never came'as it were, to throw down the gauntlet to the enemy by the unreserved declaration and urgent application o f the divine testimony regard ing the state o f fallen man and the neces sity o f an unreserved surrender to the Lord Jesus in all his offices in order that- he may be saved. GAINS COURAGE “However, I was gradually approaching to this point, which I had had in my eye as the grand means o f success in convert ing souls, from the first time I entered the pulpit, and even from the day o f my own remarkable conversion, o f which I trust the Lord may enable me to leave some record behind on this earth, for the glory o f his own infinite sovereign and everlast ing love in Christ. During the last three Sabbaths that I was at Dundee, before coming to Kilsyth I was* led in a great measure to preach without writing, not because I neglected to study, but in order that I might study and pray for a longer time; and in preaching on the subjects which I had thus prepared, I was more than usually sensible o f the divine support. The people also seemed to feel more deeply solemnized, and I was told o f some who were shedding silent tears under the word o f the Lord. “I was to have preached on the evening
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