THE KING’ S
705 BUSINESS time to visit Canada, from whence he had received several invitations. In 1844 the way seemed open for him, some Christian business men providing him with free pass age on one o f their boats. He made the trip in forty-seven days, landing at Montreal with two shillings in his pocket. His travel ling library seems, to have consisted o f two books—his Bible and a copy o f Dr. Owen’s Thè Glory o f Christ.” In Montreal he met with many o f his soldier friends belonging to the 93rd and 71st Regiments whom he had come to know at Aberdeen and Dun dee. The joy o f meeting again was mutual. Mr. Burns found that the soldiers held meetings several times a week and o f course he was invited to speak to them, which he was very glad to do. He was also invited to meet with the men o f the 89th Irish Reg iment, though the commander o f it was a Romanist. He soon came to be a great favorite among the men, irrespective o f their denominational affiliations, and much good was done not only through his public meetings, but also through his private min istrations. He could not confine his min istry, however, to ' indoors, and finding a suitable open place before the Roman Catholic Cathedral he proceded to preach the Gospel there. One evening the usual Interruptions o f jeers, gravel and stones developed into an attack by the mob,' dur ing which his Bible was torn from his hand and one-half o f his coat torn away. His hat was also lost in the scuffle and his cheek was so badly cut by a stone that a friendly surgeon had to sew it up for him. One Roman Catholic magistrate came to command him to desist, which Mr. Burns declined to do on the grpilnd that he was exercising his simple rights. When the magistrate threatened to arrest him, Mr. Burns told him he was quite ready to go, which rather nonplussed the magistrate. On another occasion the mayor o f the city, likewise a Roman Catholic, came to stop him, but he was not allowed to interfere, and indeed went so far as to offer to pro tect him. Some time later the Roman Catholic mayor was succeeded by a mayor
AMONG IRISH ROMANISTS. Nowhere up to this time had Mr. Burns experienced such treatment as awaited him in Dublin. A burden was laid on him to try and reach the Irish Roman Catholics with the Gospel. He was invited to Dub lin by his friend the Rev. Dr. Kirkpatrick, one o f the ministers- o f Mary’s Abbey Church. He selected as his preaching place an open piece o f ground in front o f the Custom House, where the world-famed Father Matthew had once proclaimed his temperance crusade. Here Mr. Burns would mount a chair and begin to speak to a crowd that was not only unsympathetic, but positively hostile. Yells and howls would drown the voice o f the speaker, and again and again a company would rush at the chair to overthrow it and its occupant. Three young men whose hearts God had touched usually accompanied the evangelist and more than once rescued him from these onslaughts. The policeman on duty attempted to silence the preacher, but the latter insisted that tie was well within his rights in what he was doing. On one occa- soin, however, the mob got so riotous that the policeman begged Mr. Burns not to attempt to go home on that side o f the river, as he could not save him from’ the mob. He told Mr. Burns to jump on the ferry boat and cross to the other side. On finding that Mr. Burns had not the halfpenny (one, cent) with which to pay the ferryman, the policeman shoved him on board and paid his fare. Mr. Burns cried out to -the people on shore: “ See this (holding up the halfpenny) my friends, I have got a free passage. In like manner you may have-a free Gospel, a free forgive ness o f all your sins, a free passage to the Kingdom o f Heaven, without money and without price.” In addition to his out door meetings he preached in the church, but his visit to Ireland did not seem to produce any great results other than that he was following in the path o f obedience and delivering his soul o f its burden. V IS ITS CANADA. It had been on Mr. Burns’ heart for some
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