GRAFTON-STREET.-Particular Baptist.

Mr. William Anderson, who being a person of some property, contributed largely towards the building of the new meeting-house. The ungrateful return he afterwards met with from some of his people is well known to many persons, and contributed in a great measure to hasten his death. Mr. Anderson's congregation continued to assemble in Grafton-street, for nearly half a century; but, in 1795, they resolved upon rearing a new meeting-house upon a larger and more expensive scale. From thence arose the present handsome building in Keppel-street. The history of this congregation, of which the Rev. John Martin has been for many years, the pastor, will fall more properly under a subsequent division of our work.

Upon the relinquishment of Grafton-street meeting by Mr. Martin's congregation, it was taken upon lease by another society of Particular Baptists, under the pastoral care of Mr. Richard Burnham, lately deceased. This person, who was very popular, soon raised a considerable congregation, though they were mostly of the poorer sort. Being himself a high Calvinist, and possessing no small share of confidence, he innoculated his people with similar principles, and they looked up to his decisions as little short of oracular. His church may be called a school of the prophets, having produced several preachers, who, like himself, despised the common forms of education. The congregation is in a flourishing state under his successor.

Grafton-street meeting-house is a small square building, with three galleries, and fitted up in a convenient manner with pews and benches. Of the late pastor, the reader must be satisfied with the following brief account.

RICHARD BURNHAM was born about the year 1749. As his parents were in poor circumstances, his education became neglected, and he spent the early part of his life in VOL. IV.

GRAFTON-STREET-Particular Baptist.

gaiety and dissipation. When the mind lies uncultivated it becomes easily susceptible of vicious principles, which gain strength by age, and are with difficulty eradicated. Mr. Burnham is said to have taken great delight in the vain amusements of plays, balls, and concerts, which, as they were his element, so they engrossed the principal part of his time. Providence having cast his lot at High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, he was led to attend the chapel of the Wesleyan Methodists in that town. It was there that he is said to have received his first serious impressions of religion, under the ministry of a Mr. Williams, one of the preachers in that connexion. His external conduct was now reformed, and he is said to have reaped much pleasure in the change. His happiness, however, was only short-lived; for he was accustomed to relate a variety of mental conflicts respecting the nature of faith, which agitated him for a considerable time afterwards. The result of his speculations and suggestions was a settlement in those doctrines which usually pass under the name of Antinomianism; and he felt a strong desire to communicate them to others. It was not long, therefore, before he commenced preacher, and the success he met with was proportionate to his zeal and confidence. After he had been a preacher for some time, he embraced the sentiments of the Anti-pædobaptists, and received baptism by immersion from Mr. Thomas Davis of Reading. Not long afterwards he went to reside at Staines, in Middlesex, and was instrumental in planting a small Baptist church in that town. There he met with considerable opposition, from a prevailing dislike to evangelical religion, which operated in the removal from the parochial church of an excellent clergyman, the Rev. W. J. Abdy, now rector of St. John's, Horsleydown. Mr. Burnham's congregation being poor, and unable to contribute much to his support, he became embarrassed in his circumstances, which induced him to solicit the assistance of his London brethren. Although

GRAFTON-STREET.-Particular Baptist.

it would have been very difficult for any person of a penetrating judgment to discover the peculiar attractions of Mr. Burnham's pulpit performances, yet we are assured that during this visit to London he attracted large crowds of people to hear him preach, so that it was not long before he accomplished the object of his journey. Another beneficial event, however, resulted from this visit; for, the good people who crowded after him, did not fail to express the satisfaction they received from his preaching, and to represent the benefits that would result from his settlement in the metropolis. Mr. Burnham was not blind to the force of this reasoning, for he easily foresaw that if he continued at Staines, his difficulties would speedily recur; he therefore closed with the wishes of his friends in London, and removed thither about the year 1780. A suitable place of worship baving been found on the Surry side of Blackfriars'-bridge, in Green-walk, a church was formed there upon Antipædobaptist principles, and Mr. Burnham constituted pastor. The success of his preaching was soon apparent in the number of persons who presented themselves for churchfellowship, and both pastor and people grew into mutual attachment. At the above place Mr. Burnham preached, as we are informed, about two years, at the end of which period he removed with a part of his people, we believe, to Gate-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, and from thence, after a short interval, in consequence of a division in his church, occasioned by his own misconduct, to another place which he called Salem chapel, in Edward-street, Soho. Upon the removal of Mr. Martin's church to a new meeting-house in Store-street, Mr. Burnham's people took a lease of the place in Grafton-street, whither they removed in 1795. There, after a period of fifteen years, he closed his ministerial labours.

Of Mr. Burnham's character we shall say but little, because we can say very little to his advantage. Popula

GRAFTON-STREET.-Particular Baptist.

rity is an acquisition of very uncertain tenure, and though it continued with him till the last, it was no criterion either of the excellency of his preaching, or of the judgment of his hearers. A teacher of christianity, if a good man, although destitute of the embellishments of a liberal education, may be very usefully employed in a variety of situations, and is deserving of honour; but it is expected of a public teacher that he should be endowed with a decent portion of common sense, and not be ignorant of the usual forms of language. No pretensions to spirituality can be a sufficient counterbalance to the effusions of nonsense. It is no uncommon thing for people to over-rate their own talents; but when they are forced incautiously upon the public, society suffers. Religious dispositions are absolutely necessary to the formation of a Christian: But every religious man is not called to be a public instructor; nor should he assume that office when destitute of those qualifications that command respect and attention. Mr. Burnham possessed a very large portion of zeal, and if we add an equal degree of familiarity, they constituted his principal attainments as a preacher. These, however, were sufficient to attract a numerous congregation, who looked upon him as possessing extraordinary endowments. Of the preacher's private character we shall say nothing, because we do not choose to make our work a vehicle for scandal. The writer of his funeral sermon recounts a conflict which he had with the enemy of souls in his last moments, but says, that he died in peace. This event took place October 30, 1810, in the sixtysecond year of his age, Mr. Burnham was interred in the burial-ground adjoining to Tottenham-court chapel, where may be seen the following inscription upon his grave

stone.

GRAFTON-STREET.-Particular Baptist.

Beneath this stone

Are deposited the Remains of

Mr. RICHARD BURNHAM,

near 30 years

Pastor of the Baptist Church,

Now meeting in Grafton Street, Soho;
Endow'd with an ardent zeal for the Redeemer's interest,

an acute penetration

and

Vigour of mind, seldom equall'd;
His Ministry

was remarkably owned

To the Conversion of many

Who will be his crown of rejoicing in the Great Day;
His Humility

and Sympathetic tenderness

to the afflicted,

Endeared him to all who knew him bes;

The Truths he had preached
Were his support in his illness;

With steady confidence

And serene peace

He hail'd the approach of death,

and calmly enter'd into the joy of his Lord,
October 30th, 1810,

in the 62nd year of his age.

But now no more the honour'd man of God

Appears below to sound the Saviour's blood,

He's dead! but lives! and shines and reigns on high

In worlds of light where praises never die.

JOHN STEVENS.-After a short interval, Mr. Burnham was succeeded by the present minister, Mr. Stevens, who came last from Boston in Lincolnshire. He is very popular, and has a large congregation. Since his settlement here, he has published a work in favour of the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, for which hypothesis he is a warm advocate. The title of his book is, "A Scriptural Display of the TRIUNE GOD, and the early existence of Jesus' human Soul." An engraved portrait of Mr. Stevens has also been lately published.

By what figure of speech can blood be said to be sounded? Query!