THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 MAJOR GENERAL 
 
 ANDREW BURN, 
 
 OF THE ROYAL HARINESf. 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 WILLIAM 3. MARTIEN, PUBLISHING AOENT. 
 
 1840. 
 
LIFE 
 
 MAJ. GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 Major General Andrew Burn was accus- 
 tomed to keep a diary, in which he recorded 
 the principal occurrences of his life. From 
 this document the present memoir has been 
 chiefly selected. He says, — 
 
 It has long been a common observation with 
 Christians, that, among the number of pious 
 books which daily teem from the press, few 
 or none are perused with more pleasure and 
 profit by the religious world, than those which 
 give a genuine and incontestable proof of the 
 power of divine grace in the conversion of a sin- 
 ner from the pollutions of corrupt nature to a 
 holy newness of life in Christ Jesus; or which 
 beautifully and comfortably illustrate the more 
 than fatherly care and infinite pity of the Al- 
 mighty in his various and wonderful provi- 
 
4 LIFE OF 
 
 dential dealings with some of his favoured 
 people. 
 
 This prevailing consideration, as already 
 mentioned, inseparably connected, I trust, with 
 a single eye to the glory of God, first led me 
 to form the resolution of throwing in my mite 
 towards increasing the Christian's biographical 
 library. 
 
 I am well aware, that some who may pe- 
 ruse this narrative will be disappointed at not 
 finding so much of the marvellous in it, as 
 perhaps they expected on reading the title- 
 page; but sure I am, the well-experienced 
 Christian, whose eyes are opened by divine 
 grace, will perceive the finger of God as dis- 
 tinctly in the common incidents it contains, 
 as in the more remarkable events dispersed 
 through it ; though they most probably will 
 produce little more than momentary astonish- 
 ment in the carnal mind. Believers in gene- 
 ral lose much comfort by not carefully watch- 
 ing the footsteps of Providence in common 
 incidents; which are sometimes big with fu- 
 ture designs of the highest importance, and are 
 always fraught with rich displays of their dear 
 Redeemer's love. While in a state of nature, 
 carelessly gliding down the stream of dissipa- 
 
3IAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 5 
 
 tion, I never once regarded those things which 
 befel me, in any other light than as matters of 
 course, or of accident, trivial in their nature 
 and consequences, which in no respect de- 
 manded my attention: but through grace, 
 having since been better taught, I now stand 
 amazed at my former blind stupidity ; and 
 from a deliberate review of the various occur- 
 rences in my past existence, can as plainly 
 discover the supporting and protecting arm of 
 my heavenly Father, as I at this moment do 
 the most conspicuous objects by the light of 
 the noon-day sun. Circumstances which for- 
 merly appeared as blanks in my life, now 
 stand forth and vindicate the conduct of the 
 wise and sovereign Disposer of all things; 
 clearly proving, from subsequent events, that 
 they really were of the utmost importance, 
 and that on them depended the whole of my 
 present and future happiness. I therefore 
 humbly hope, the disciple of Jesus Christ who 
 delights to walk closely with his Master, and 
 whose happy privilege it is, by the light of the 
 Spirit, carefully to mark, and sweetly to me- 
 ditate upon, the gracious leadings of divine 
 Providence, with respect to his own soul, will 
 not disdain to learn how the same almighty 
 A 2 
 
b LIFE OF 
 
 arm, in infinite mercy, hath led a poor fellow- 
 traveller through many a rough and thorny 
 path. 
 
 It can be of little use to mention here, the par- 
 ticular time and place of my birth.* " God is 
 no respecter of persons." But surely there is 
 a debt of gratitude due from me, and many 
 thousands more, to the great Source of being, 
 for giving us an existence in this highly fa- 
 voured isle, under the bright shining of the 
 everlasting gospel! Who dare presume to say, 
 that, as a Sovereign, he might not as justly 
 have ranked us among the ignorant Hotten- 
 tots, or brought us into being among the 
 savage inhabitants of New Holland? I am 
 afraid, very few even of religious people put 
 a sufiicient estimate upon this blessing. Be- 
 cause it is common to this generation, in this 
 part of the world, it is either slighted, or for- 
 gotten; but it ought to be remembered, that 
 it is not common to all the human race. To 
 have a just idea of its value, we need but cast 
 the eye of reflection a few centuries back, and 
 behold what gross ignorance, superstition, and 
 more than midnight darkness, covered the 
 
 * He was born 8th of September, 1742, at Dundee. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 7 
 
 poor untutored inhabitants of this land. Mul- 
 titudes did not know there was such a book 
 as the Bible in the world: numbers more could 
 not obtain a sight of it in a language they 
 understood; and the very few that did, after 
 spending many painful years in the study 
 of the respective languages, were frequently 
 obliged to travel many hundred miles, to some 
 university, or monk's cloister, for a Greek or 
 Hebrew copy of it. Blessed be God, it is not 
 so in our day; although to our shame we 
 sadly undervalue the great privileges we en- 
 joy- 
 Besides this common mercy, of being born 
 
 in a Christian land, God was pleased to bestow 
 upon me another, which is not common to 
 all his children; that of being born of godly 
 parents, and surrounded on all sides by truly 
 pious relations. Infant reason no sooner 
 dawned, than they began to use every possi- 
 ble means to give that reason a right bias to- 
 wards its proper object; and they daily ap- 
 proached the throne of grace with fervent 
 prayer for their helpless child, befare he knew 
 how to pray for himself. When a rude un- 
 thinking boy at school, I have sometimes 
 stood at my pious grandmother's closet door; 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 and how many heart-affecting groans and ar- 
 dent supplications have I heard poured forth 
 for me, for which I then never imagined 
 there was the smallest occasion ! Yet if the 
 prayers of the righteous avail much, and 
 surely I can confirm the truth of this scrip- 
 ture, how greatly am I indebted to God, who 
 blessed me with such parents! There are 
 many in the world, who take as much pains 
 to inculcate into the minds of their tender off- 
 spring the love of sinful pleasures and perish- 
 ing vanities, as mine did to persuade me to 
 the love of God and the pursuit of eternal 
 things. A religious education, it is true, will 
 not always restrain the vicious inclinations of 
 youth; as many a pious father and mother 
 know to their sorrow: but it is nevertheless a 
 means of grace, of God's appointment, and 
 from which many have reaped the most salu- 
 tary effects. Though the fruits of such an 
 education may not appear for many years, yet, 
 sooner or later, the assiduous labours of the 
 godly parent will certainly, in one respect or 
 other, be amply rewarded. I, among a mul- 
 titude of others, am a living witness to this 
 truth. The virtuous and evangelical princi- 
 ples I imbibed in my youth, and the pious ex- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 9 
 
 amples constantly set before me, though fre- 
 quently slighted, and sometimes in the course 
 of a wicked life entirely forgotten, yet seldom 
 or never failed to witness against me in the 
 wilful commission of sin; and frequently were 
 the means of preventing its perpetration: and 
 what prevents sin, must surely be a great 
 blessing. 
 
 I can give but a very imperfect account of 
 what passed in the early part of my life. 
 Here memory fails me; but I have frequently 
 heard my grandmother and aunt say, I was of 
 a very delicate constitution, and many times, 
 contrary to all expectation, was delivered from 
 the very brink of the grave. The unseen arm 
 of the Lord was graciously extended to pro- 
 tect me in an infant state, and led me safe 
 through all the dangers to which rash un- 
 thinking youth is hourly exposed. When 
 nearly three years old, I was sent to live with 
 my grandfather, a faithful minister of the gos- 
 pel in the church of Scotland; who laboured 
 zealously in his Master's vineyard for up- 
 wards of sixty years, and died, universally re- 
 gretted, at a very advanced age. Here my 
 elder brother and myself became the peculiar 
 charge of this venerable guide, and under his 
 
10 LIFE OF 
 
 immediate inspection were carefully and re- 
 ligiously educated. At the age of fourteen, 
 when 1 had made as great a progress in my 
 studies as I could well attain at the best gram- 
 mar school in the place, my father judged it 
 full time for me to think of entering into some 
 line of life in which I might be enabled, under 
 God, to provide for myself; his own situation 
 in the mercantile world being such as left him 
 little hope of ever being able to make any set- 
 tlement for his children. Accordingly, in a 
 letter he wrote to me about this time, he pro- 
 posed to my consideration, the three follow- 
 ing professions: either to continue my studies 
 at the university, with a view to the church; 
 to study physic; or to follow the law. The 
 last of these he rather recommended, on ac- 
 count of his having a valuable friend in that 
 profession, with whom he could then advan- 
 tageously place me, so as to be more immedi- 
 ately under his own eye. Having no fixed 
 choice of my own, I readily fell in with that 
 of a kind parent, whom I had every reason to 
 love and respect; and soon after, I left my 
 grandfather's house, went home, and in a few 
 days was placed in the office of my father's 
 friend, followed by many a fervent prayer. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 11 
 
 and by many a godly admonition to beware of 
 the alluring temptations to which I should be 
 exposed, and many an exhortation to be very 
 assiduous in endeavouring to gain a thorough 
 knowledge of the profession I had chosen. 
 The latter part of this advice I strictly ob- 
 served; and, having paid a close attention to 
 business for about a year, flattered myself, 
 from the progress I thought I was making, 
 that in a very little time I should be able to 
 procure a comfortable livelihood, and perhaps 
 in the course of a few years accumulate that 
 wealth in which I vainly imagined true hap- 
 piness to consist. The enemy of souls has 
 lulled me into many of these golden dreams, 
 from which I never should have awaked, had 
 not God, who is rich in mercy, graciously in- 
 terposed to break the snare. This he now 
 did, by one of those sudden turns of provi- 
 dence, of which, in the course of this narra- 
 tive, it will be found I was frequently the 
 subject. I have often thought of the pleasure 
 the redeemed soul must feel in the world of 
 spirits, when permitted to see the intricate 
 thread of providence fully unravelled : and as I 
 humbly hope, through grace, to be thus highly 
 favoured, methinks I shall stand amazed, and 
 
12 LIFE OF 
 
 with glowing gratitude admire the divine 
 goodness and wisdom, in not permitting me 
 to prosecute a business, in which many dan- 
 gers and snares frequently, I fear, occur to 
 perplex the mind of the conscientious Chris- 
 tian, and into which I might have fallen, and 
 have been ruined for ever! How this sudden 
 change of situation was effected, with the cir- 
 cumstances that introduced me into an en- 
 tirely new scene, will appear in the subse- 
 quent narrative. 
 
 From my infancy to the age of sixteen, 
 having none but virtuous examples before me, 
 and being surrounded with pious relatives, 
 ready to warn and correct me on the least 
 failure, I should have been in a manner con- 
 strained to walk circumspectly, even if I had 
 been most viciously inclined : that, however, 
 was not the case; for my compassionate Crea- 
 tor, among all his other favours, gave me a 
 tender conscience, which in those early days 
 was more hearkened to than it has frequently 
 been since; and, if I mistake not, the princi- 
 pal part, if not the whole, of my religion then 
 consisted in attempts to pacify this clamorous 
 monitor. My parents carefully taught me to 
 pray with the lip; but it was beyond their 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. IS 
 
 power to make me pray with the heart, and 
 that I seldom or never did. I was obliged to 
 repeat the Assembly's Catechism, at least, once 
 a week, for eight or ten years together; but I 
 may safely venture to affirm, I did not know 
 the spiritual meaning of one sentence in it. 
 The Bible I also read over several times, but 
 with no more profit at that period than I re- 
 ceived from repeating the catechism. The 
 name of Jesus Christ, with salvation through 
 him alone, was continually sounding in my 
 ears; but, alas! I neither saw my need of such 
 a Saviour, nor at all understood the extreme 
 importance of this declaration. Indeed I 
 thought it was my indispensable duty to be 
 religious like those about me, that I might 
 escape the pains of hell, and lay in a claim to 
 the joys of heaven. A pharisee in miniature, 
 I delighted to think of heaven, and often 
 longed to be one of its inhabitants; though I 
 never rightly relished the nature of their di- 
 vine employment. The idea of happiness 
 flowing from the uninterrupted worship of 
 God and the Lamb, was then too spiritual 
 and sublime for me to comprehend. Conse- 
 quently, my religious duties were for the most 
 part very burdensome. I particularly remem- 
 
 B 
 
14 LIFE OF 
 
 ber, the sabbath day generally appeared as 
 long as any two other days in the week; and 
 a sacramental occasion I dreaded as the great- 
 est evil, because the Thursday and Saturday 
 before, and the Monday after, were days 
 more immediately devoted to God by fasting, 
 preaching, and prayer. In short I had no 
 other religion to boast of at that period, than 
 that which thousands are contented with in 
 the present day: I mean that of education and 
 example. Had I been born and educated at 
 Constantinople, I certainly had been as good 
 a Mussulman, as I was then a Christian. A 
 " form of godliness," without any thing of its 
 power, was all of which I could boast; I 
 neither wished for, nor felt the necessity of, 
 a better. Something which I then fancied of 
 far greater moment, wholly engrossed my at- 
 tention; and that was, how I should most 
 speedily acquire honour, wealth, and power, 
 in the world; — totally ignorant of what I 
 have since found by experience to be true, 
 that " the blessing of the Lord, it maketh 
 rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it/' Prov. 
 X. 22. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 15 
 
 ENTRANCE ON A SEA LIFE. 
 
 But to return to my narrative. My father 
 about this time, having met with many heavy 
 losses and disappointments in trade, particu- 
 larly by the foundering of a ship that was not 
 insured, found it impracticable any longer to 
 maintain his family in that line of business in 
 which he had been engaged; and having no 
 promising prospect of soon entering into any 
 other, he obtained, though with some diffi- 
 culty, through the instrumentality of Sir H. 
 Erskine, a purser's warrant to a sloop of war. 
 To a man of my father's domestic character, 
 the thought of separation from his beloved 
 family, his friends, and connexions, was one 
 of the heaviest trials he had ever met with; 
 but necessity, sad necessity, left no room to 
 hesitate. He therefore set off immediately to 
 join his ship, the M — , and embarked in Yar- 
 mouth Roads. 
 
 From this period I felt insensibly stealing 
 upon me a strong desire to follow my father's 
 steps, and share his fortune at sea. This wish 
 increased upon me every day; so that I soon 
 began to disrelish the slow and painful way of 
 scraping riches together with my pen, and 
 
16 LIFE OF 
 
 thought and talked of nothing but a man-of- 
 war. My youthful mind, filled with strange 
 notions of noble warlike achievements, and 
 puffed up with false hopes of accumulating 
 immense riches from the spoils of the enemy, 
 soon arrived at the height of its frenzy; and 
 brought me, at last, fully and foolishly to 
 determine, at all events, to leave the profes- 
 sion of which I had already acquired some 
 little knowledge, in order to strike out a new, 
 and, as I then imagined, a far more honour- 
 able, way of rising in the world, and, upon 
 the very face of it, a much easier method of 
 attaining to a state of opulence, which, in my 
 eyes, was the " one thing needful." 
 
 When my father was informed of my de- 
 termination, he rather encouraged than op- 
 posed it; and only insisted upon my first em- 
 ploying a few months more in the study of 
 navigation, and other necessary branches of 
 mathematics; a request with which I cheer- 
 fully complied. I was just preparing to set 
 off to join the M — , then at the Nore, when 
 providentially she was ordered to convoy a 
 fleet of merchantmen from a seaport within 
 twenty miles of my abode. After waiting 
 impatiently several days for her arrival, I at 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 17 
 
 last set off from my native place, accompanied 
 part of the way by an elder brother; and em- 
 barked on board this vessel on my birth-day 
 in the year 1758, being then sixteen years of 
 age. 
 
 Before I proceed, I must for a moment in- 
 dulge a pleasing reflection on the goodness of 
 our heavenly Father to me his unworthy 
 creature, in the transactions of this day; that 
 my heart, so very prone to forget the Lord's 
 mercies, may once more enjoy the pleasure of 
 feeling a glow of gratitude and love. What 
 a peculiar blessing was it, for instance, that 
 now, when in the bloom of youth, strong and 
 healthy, every passion ready to burst into a 
 flame of sinful gratification, I embarked on 
 board of a man-of-war (a place so unfavour- 
 able to the growth of religion), I there found 
 a pious father, like another guardian angel, 
 warning me of the approach of danger, point- 
 ing out the path of safety, and serving as a 
 powerful restraint against the commission of 
 those gross iniquities, in the midst of which 
 we were both obliged to dwell! What would 
 have become of me in this dangerous situa- 
 tion, if God had not there placed such an in- 
 strument to protect me! Instead of being 
 B 2 
 
18 LIFE OF 
 
 frequently shut up in a cabin with an afifec- 
 tionate parent, there spending many an hour 
 in prayer, reading the scriptures, and listen- 
 ing to his pious instructions, while he pointed 
 out Jesus, and the way of salvation through 
 him, I most probably should have been ca- 
 rousing with my abandoned messmates below, 
 wallowing in all manner of sin and unclean- 
 ness, blaspheming my Saviour, perhaps, with 
 every breath I drew. Little did I then think 
 of the advantages I reaped from a father's 
 care; much less did I ever imagine that God 
 had any influence in it: but now that, through 
 grace, my eyes are open, and I call to remem- 
 brance the many promising youths I have seen 
 entirely ruined in a few months after they en- 
 tered the navy, and how few there are, who 
 enjoy such a powerful protection from its con- 
 taminating pollutions as I did, I stand amazed 
 at the love of God; and, while I gaze at the 
 danger escaped, wonder that I do not love him 
 more. 
 
 I was just entering into my seventeenth 
 year, when I embarked with my beloved pa- 
 rent, though not in that line of service in 
 which I had formed all my foolish plans of 
 glory and riches; for my father well knew 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 19 
 
 the great difSculty there was of procuring a 
 commission in the naval department, and 
 how many years of service it was necessary 
 I should go through, before I could be duly 
 qualified. He therefore judged it would be 
 most for my advantage, to get a competent 
 knowledge of his own business; hoping that 
 with the interest he had, he might soon be 
 enabled to procure me a purser's warrant. 
 With this view I was employed, during my 
 continuance on board the M — , in the cap- 
 tain's cabin, to assist his clerk in keeping 
 the ship's books, and my father's accounts. 
 Those who were my companions when walk- 
 ing the quarter-deck, and who are now all 
 dead, were of the most abandoned descrip- 
 tion; my messmate, the captain's clerk, being 
 one of the worst of them. Though too often 
 enticed into the paths of sin by their bad ex- 
 ample, yet, thanks be to God! through means 
 of the powerful restraint just mentioned, I 
 was not then suffered to be entirely carried 
 away into the current of their iniquitous prac- 
 tices. 
 
 A few days after I embarked, we sailed 
 from Leith, and soon arrived in the North 
 Sea, where we were stationed during the win- 
 
20 LIFE OF 
 
 ter, to protect the cod-fishery, on the Dogger- 
 bank. But surely never poor mortal went 
 through a more severe ordeal than 1 did here; 
 being constantly sea-sick, and almost in hour- 
 ly dread of perishing on a lee-shore, or foun- 
 dering in the ocean. Such was my truly un- 
 comfortable situation, that I often wished my- 
 self any where, or any thing, rather than 
 where and what I was; but now it was too 
 late to repent. I could only exclaim bitter- 
 ly, in secret, at my own consummate folly, 
 in leaving a promising profession at home, 
 for one so very disagreeable and precarious 
 abroad; especially since I saw no probability 
 of ever amassing the immense fortune my 
 covetous heart so eagerly desired.* 
 
 Thus fallacious are the dreams of those, 
 who expect to find happiness in any thing 
 short of true religion. 
 
 Happy was it for me that our station on the 
 Dogger-bank did not last so long as we ex- 
 pected. On the 7th of January following, 
 1759, we were relieved by the Grampus 
 sloop, and ordered immediately to the Nore. 
 
 * The sum total of the prize-money I made during this 
 war, amounted to three shillings and sixpence. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 21 
 
 In a few days after, we were sent into dock 
 at Sheerness. From this place, I went for 
 the first time, with my wicked messmate, to 
 London; and have surely great reason to 
 bless God that during the time I was there, 
 under such a truly diabolical guide, I could 
 not be prevailed upon to partake of those im- 
 pure pleasures which destroy many a hopeful 
 youth in that abandoned city. Yet, never- 
 theless, I was in the very jaws of death, tread- 
 ing the paths that lead down to hell, Prov. 
 vii. 27; and had I then been permitted to 
 fall, who could say that I should ever have 
 emerged from this sink of pollution? Sove- 
 reign grace will be the ransomed sinner's 
 song all through the wilderness: for my own 
 part, I can sing no other. 
 
 About the beginning of March, 1759, we 
 sailed from the Nore on a cruise toward the 
 north; but soon meeting with very heavy 
 gales of wind, were driven over to the coast 
 of Holland, and obliged to run for shelter in- 
 to Helvoetsluys. Here we remained wind- 
 bound nearly three weeks. During this time, 
 while my father was at Rotterdam, I spent 
 some very agreeable hours in strolling about 
 the country villages; viewing these rural 
 
22 LIFE OF 
 
 scenes with all the luxur}^ of enjoyment, so 
 peculiar to sea-faring people, just returned 
 from a boisterous element. 
 
 On the 1st April, we left Holland, and ar- 
 rived next day in the Downs, where we re- 
 ceived orders to proceed to Portsmouth to be 
 docked. In ten days the ship was sheathed 
 and fitted for foreign service, and we then 
 sailed from Spithead with the Crescent fri- 
 gate and a large fleet of merchantmen, for the 
 West Indies. 
 
 A journal of our voyage across the Atlan- 
 tic, is more likely to tire than to amuse; I 
 shall therefore only mention one incident that 
 then occurred, which, while it may tend to 
 humble me in the dust, may also serve as a 
 specimen of the fruit of the religion I then 
 possessed. Having on the 16th of May, 
 crossed the tropic, the boatswain, gunner, 
 and carpenter, my messmate, and myself, got 
 together in a cabin, to spend the evening, and 
 drink (as they termed it) a cheerful glass; but 
 instead of a " cheerful" it soon became a sin- 
 ful one. Before the party broke up, I was, 
 for the first time in my life, so completely in- 
 toxicated, that I lost the use of my reason, 
 and was unable to move hand or foot. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 23 
 
 In this state, I was thrown by my stagger- 
 ing companions into a hammock. The next 
 day I began to feel the usual efTects of an eve- 
 ning's debauch. My aflfectionate father was 
 very inquisitive to know what was the matter 
 with me; but dreading to inform him of the 
 real cause, I told him a direct falsehood, and 
 said I was only sea-sick and should soon be 
 well. One sin is seldom committed without 
 drawing a numerous train after it. When he 
 began to interrogate me a little more closely, 
 and seem surprised at my being sea-sick when 
 the weather was so tine, I was led, for fear of 
 discovery, to confirm the first falsehood by tell- 
 ing a dozen more. When I had thus satisfied 
 him, I found my mind very easy; and never 
 thought (or if I did, it was very superficially) 
 that I had ofiended God by such wicked con- 
 duct. So little did I then see or feel of the 
 deceitful nature and tendency of sin! 
 
 On the 6th of June we arrived at Barba- 
 does, and the same day in the evening I ex- 
 perienced another proof of the gracious in- 
 terposition of that divine Providence, which 
 rules over all, and in a thousand instances of 
 imminent danger has seasonably appeared for 
 my preservation. Having procured leave to 
 
24 LIFE OF 
 
 take a ramble on shore, for a few hours, with 
 my messmate, we immediately on landing 
 strolled np the country. Being at a little 
 distance before him, under a grove of man- 
 chineel trees, I hastily stooped down and 
 picked up some of the apples. Altogether 
 ignorant of their poisonous quality, and sup- 
 posing them to be limes, I was eagerly put- 
 ting them to my mouth, to quench my thirst, 
 when my messmate, though at some distance, 
 saw the danger, called out, and prevented it; 
 otherwise, in a few moments more, it is very 
 probable I should have drunk the deadly poi- 
 son, and perished in my sins. 
 
 The third day after our arrival here, we 
 sailed for Antigua, and thence to St. Kitts, 
 and arrived at Jamaica on the 25th, where it 
 pleased God, once more, to give a sudden 
 turn to all my worldly views and schemes, 
 by entirely cutting off all hope of future ad- 
 vancement in the navy; so ordering circum- 
 stances, that both my father and I were 
 obliged to quit it. Having spent but a few 
 days at Port Royal in watering and victual- 
 ling the ship, we sailed on a cruise round the 
 island, full of expectation that we should not 
 return without making some captures; but the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 25 
 
 pilot had scarcely brought us out of the har- 
 bour, when either through ignorance, or from 
 some unusual current, or sudden shift of wind, 
 he ran the ship fast aground. The sea-breeze 
 beginning to freshen, she struck several times 
 violently upon the shoals, carried away her 
 false keel, and great part of her sheathing; 
 but by the timely assistance of the boats in 
 the fleet, she was soon got off again, towed 
 into harbour, and ordered to be hove down. 
 
 During this tedious operation, my father 
 was seized with a diarrhoea and slow fever, 
 and declined visibly in his health every day. 
 He was at last brought so low, that his medi- 
 cal attendants advised him speedily to leave 
 the West Indies, as the only probable means 
 of saving his life. He therefore determined 
 at all events to embrace the first opportunity 
 of returning to England; in order to which 
 he was obliged to throw up his warrant as 
 purser of the M — . At the same time he ob- 
 tained my discharge; though the captain used 
 all his interest with the admiral to prevent it, 
 from a selfish view, that, if his own clerk 
 should die, I might be ready to supply his 
 place. Indeed, his anticipations were soon 
 realized; for shortly after we left the ship, 
 
26 LIFE OF 
 
 my messmate died. His death was taken 
 particular notice of by all on board: for, 
 during the voyage from England, he used 
 frequently to say amongst his inconsiderate 
 companions, that as he had formerly been 
 well seasoned in the West Indies, he should 
 now live to see them all in their graves; and 
 being appointed to read the burial service 
 when any one died at sea, he often swore he 
 would perform that ceremony for none of 
 them, unless they would pay him beforehand. 
 Poor unhappy man! He was death's first 
 victim! 
 
 SITUATION IN JAMAICA. 
 
 My father would gladly have taken me to 
 England with him, had he entertained the 
 smallest hope of providing for me there; but 
 as I enjoyed a good state of health, and seem- 
 ed rather inclined to remain in Jamaica, he 
 thought it might tend much more to my 
 temporal advantage to leave me behind. He 
 therefore agreed with a gentleman of his ac- 
 quaintance at Kingston, the deputy secretary 
 of the island, to take me as a clerk in his of- 
 fice. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 27 
 
 Having earnestly recommended me to the 
 divine favour, and offered up many ardent 
 prayers for my preservation, he took an affec- 
 tionate leave of me on the 31st of July, and 
 sailed from Port Royal the same day, in the 
 Ludlow Castle. 
 
 What an unspeakable mercy it is to be 
 blessed with truly religious parents! If ever 
 the prayers of the righteous were prevalent 
 in behalf of a fellow-mortal, surely those 
 which a pious father now put up for an un- 
 worthy son were amongst the number. To 
 their efficacy in calling down the goodness 
 of God upon me, I attribute the many hair- 
 breadth escapes and wonderful deliverances 
 I afterwards experienced. 
 
 In a biographical narrative, such as I am 
 now writing, it must be evident to every can- 
 did reader, that the principal thing requisite 
 is a strict adherence to truth. However de- 
 ficient the present performance may be in 
 many other qualities necessary to make it ac- 
 ceptable, I am very confident it will not be 
 defective in this. Had I no other resource 
 from which to collect materials than a falla- 
 cious memory, I should hardly venture to 
 make this assertion; but ever since I left my 
 
28 LIFE OF 
 
 native place, I have almost constantly kept a 
 diary, in which I have faithfully recorded 
 every material circumstance that has befallen 
 me: so that I have now many volumes of 
 manuscripts of this nature before me, from 
 which to draw the substance of these me- 
 moirs. So scrupulously particular have I 
 been, when inserting recent facts in my 
 journal, that I have frequently omitted very 
 striking incidents, where there appeared the 
 smallest doubt of their authenticity. 
 
 This short digression is made with a view 
 to convince those who may peruse this narra- 
 tive, that they are not reading a romance. 
 
 To return: — When I lost my father, I lost 
 the best part, if not the whole, of my reli- 
 gion. Left, for the first time, in the midst of 
 strangers, to act entirely for myself, the Lord 
 knows I acted very sinfully. Had not his 
 all-wise providence graciously interfered to 
 overrule my wicked conduct, I had certainly 
 fallen a victim to my own folly. 
 
 The serious impressions which a religious 
 education had made upon my mind were not 
 immediately, nor ever entirely, obliterated; 
 but the restraint of an earthly parent being 
 removed, the fear I then had of God was not 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 29 
 
 sufficiently strong to keep me from the com- 
 mission of those particular sins to which my 
 constitution and a depraved inclination natu- 
 rally led me: though in the first open devia- 
 tions from the path of rectitude, I enjoyed 
 very little satisfaction. Conscience was yet 
 tender, and her authority was not altogether 
 denied. In the cup of sinful gratification, the 
 bitter, at times, far exceeded the sweet. Such, 
 more or less, is the nature of those pleasures 
 which the carnal mind so eagerly pursues. A 
 few months after I was thus left to act for 
 myself, an epidemical fever broke out, and 
 raged very violently in Kingston, which 
 proved fatal to numbers. This alarmed me, 
 and the fear of death was so strongly impress- 
 ed upon my mind, that I had no rest night or 
 day, till I determined to retire into the coun- 
 try. To this resolution I sacrificed a more 
 lucrative situation than I could possibly ex- 
 pect to obtain there. But consequences of 
 this nature I seldom attended to in those early 
 days. I saw a very serious danger approach- 
 ing, and I verily believe that I was influenced 
 from above to flee from it. When I commu- 
 nicated my intention to the gentleman with 
 whom I lived, he consented to my leaving his 
 c 2 
 
30 LIFE OP 
 
 office, and through his interest procured me a 
 book-keeper's place upon a very healthy plan- 
 tation only a few miles from town. Here, for 
 the fourth time, I entered upon an entirely 
 new employment; which did not altogether 
 suit my inclination; yet my removal to it af- 
 forded another striking instance of the Lord's 
 watchful providence. About three months 
 afterwards, having occasion to be in town 
 upon some business, I called to see several of 
 my old acquaintances; but heard that one had 
 died of a yellow fever, about two months be- 
 fore; another of a putrid fever, and a third of 
 a purple fever, within a few days. In short, 
 I found upon further inquiry, that nearly all 
 the young men with whom I had formerly 
 associated, had, in the short space of three 
 months, been launched into eternity! I left 
 them immersed in sin, and for aught I know 
 they died in that state. Had I remained at 
 Kingston, I certainly should have visited my 
 friends in their illness, and in this case it is 
 morally certain I should have caught some of 
 their many-coloured fevers, and shared the 
 same fate. But divine mercy interposed, 
 urged me to flee, and thus gave me further 
 space for repentance. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 81 
 
 I continued on this plantation about nine 
 or ten months, frequently experiencing this 
 same protecting mercy in various instances of 
 imminent danger, yet still plunging deeper 
 into the mire of sinful indulgence, totally re- 
 gardless of that kind arm which kept me from 
 sinking into perdition. 
 
 In the latter end of the year 1759, when 
 the general insurrection of the negroes took 
 place, which proved so fatal to numbers of Eu- 
 ropeans, (some being cruelly murdered in 
 their beds, and others inhumanly tortured,) it 
 pleased God to restrain those amongst whom 
 I lived, so that not one of them offered the 
 least act of hostility, though there were up- 
 wards of two hundred sufficiently armed to do 
 mischief, and there were but two white men 
 (the overseer and myself) on the plantation to 
 oppose them. This signal deliverance was 
 the prelude to many others. For several 
 months after, guards were constantly placed 
 on all the high-ways, to prevent the rebellious 
 negroes from assembling in numbers, and dur- 
 ing that time it came to my turn almost every 
 other night, to stand sentry for several hours 
 in the open air, exposed to all the rains and 
 dews of the season, which brought on many 
 
32 LIFE or 
 
 disorders, and carried multitudes to their 
 graves. Through mercy, I was still continued 
 among the living and the healthy. In short, 
 scarcely a day or an hour passed, whilst I re- 
 mained on this island, that did not evidently 
 display, in one respect or other, the watchful 
 care of divine Providence in my preservation. 
 Yet, wilfully ignorant, or criminally forgetful 
 of the gracious power that thus sustained me, 
 I slighted his goodness, overlooked his mer- 
 cies, and deplorably departed from him both 
 in heart and practice. I have already hinted 
 that the serious impressions imbibed from a 
 pious education, were not entirely obliterated; 
 but by this time they had lost great part of 
 their influence, and as tliat diminished, the 
 darling inclinations of a corrupt heart gradu- 
 ally prevailed, and so far gained the ascen- 
 dency, that some of the most glaring sins, 
 which at first appearance struck me with hor- 
 ror, imperceptibly lost their deformity in my 
 eyes, and, Proteus-like, transformed them- 
 selves into innocent enjoyments. Thus ad- 
 vancing, step by step, in the dangerous road 
 of sin, I soon arrived at dreadful lengths; 
 drank in the deadly poison with as much 
 eagerness as the thirsty ox drinks in water, 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 33 
 
 and rushed on rapidly with the wicked multi- 
 tude, in the broad way to eternal ruin. 
 
 Oh! what infinite obligations am I under to 
 the best of Beings, who would not suffer me 
 to continue on this unhallowed spot I Had I 
 died there, which to all human appearance was 
 very probable, my soul must have been irre- 
 trievably lost. It is a common expression 
 amongst the wicked inhabitants of this island, 
 and used to palliate their impious deeds: 
 " Well, there's no God in Jamaica." Hap- 
 pily for me, I found one there, of boundless 
 compassion; or rather such an one found me 
 there, and forced me to flee from it, as he did 
 Lot out of Sodom, with the utmost precipi- 
 tation. 
 
 In the present dissipated age, I am well 
 aware that the doctrine of a supernatural im- 
 pulse on the human mind, is, by many who 
 call themselves Christians, entirely exploded 
 as enthusiastic; but without a full assent to this 
 revealed truth, I really cannot rationally ac- 
 count for many circumstances in my past life, 
 particularly for my conduct in the present in- 
 stance, when a strange, and otherwise unac- 
 countable, impulse induced me to leave this 
 polluted country. 
 
34 LIFE OF 
 
 I had, for some time past, fondly indulged 
 the hope of making a fortune in Jamaica; but, 
 all on a sudden, I conceived such an invete- 
 rate dislike to the place, and to every thing 
 connected with it, the heat of the climate, the 
 impiety of its inhabitants, and danger of my 
 situation, both with respect to body and soul, 
 that I resolved to leave it the first opportunity 
 that offered. I sat down to deliberate on the 
 step I was about to take, and could not forbear 
 lamenting how much I should disoblige the 
 best of parents, by thus throwing myself out 
 of employment. Neither was I unmindful of 
 the poverty and distress which would proba- 
 bly await me in England. Without money, 
 and without friends, I had no other prospect 
 before me than that of becoming a common 
 sailor or soldier. On the other hand, the gen- 
 tleman on whose estate I lived, kindly pro- 
 mised, if I would stay with him, to make me 
 overseer of another plantation, a place worth 
 upwards of $800 a year. But all would not 
 avail. Heaven had prompted me to flee from 
 this island, and no arguments, prospects of 
 gain, or dread of consequences, could induce 
 me to stay. Amongst the multitude of mer- 
 cies with which the Lord has favoured me, 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 35 
 
 my escape from this abandoned island must 
 ever stand prominent. 
 
 RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 On the 22d of July, 1760, I left the planta- 
 tion where I had been situated for nine or ten 
 months, and went into town; and being by a 
 friend introduced to the admiral, I solicited 
 him (as having formerly belonged to the navy) 
 to grant me a passage to England, in the Edin- 
 burgh, about to sail with the first fleet. With 
 this he readily complied, and gave an order 
 for my being borne as a supernumerary. 
 While the fleet was getting ready, I spent a 
 few weeks very agreeably with a friend in the 
 country; and, with no small degree of plea- 
 sure, embarked at Port Royal, on the 24th of 
 August following; thus once more setting out 
 anew in the world, altogether unprovided for, 
 not knowing w^hat future plan I was to pur- 
 sue. But the same faithful God who pre- 
 served me in Jamaica, was with me also in 
 the midst of many perils on the great deep; 
 and, having landed me safe in England, gra- 
 ciously provided for me a few months after 
 my arrival. 
 
36 LIFE OF 
 
 On the day I embarked, coming from 
 Kingston in an open boat, T wis overtaken in 
 a thunder-storm, and thoroughly drenched 
 with rain; and, as my clothes were not then 
 on board, I was obliged to continue in that 
 uncomfortable situation the remainder of the 
 day, which brought on the first fit of sickness 
 I ever had since my infancy. Two days be- 
 fore the ship sailed, I was confined to my 
 hammock, and when out at sea, was brought 
 so low by a violent fever, that I expected 
 every hour to be thrown overboard, with se- 
 veral others around me, who died of the same 
 complaint. Yet, dreadful to think of! though 
 perfectly sensible of my danger, I had not the 
 least painful conviction of my accumulated 
 guilt, nor the smallest notion of Jesus Christ 
 as a Saviour. The prospect of a future state, 
 just at hand, made no impression upon me; 
 neither did I feel the least terror at the ap- 
 proaching pains of death. In short, I was dy- 
 ing, and in every respect like the brute that 
 perisheth, though endued with all the faculties 
 of a rational being, and these in full exercise, 
 unimpaired by bodily pain. Oh what a mer- 
 cy, that I did not then die! Where would 
 my soul now have been? Surely, not con- 
 
MAJOR GENEKAL ANDREW BURN. 37 
 
 templating, as I trust it does with some de- 
 gree of thankfulness, the imminent danger it 
 has escaped. When I was, to all human ap- 
 pearance, hreathing my last, the surgeon of 
 the ship administered a medicine, which God 
 so singularly hlessed, that it gave a sudden 
 and favourable turn to my disorder, and in a 
 few days 1 was pronounced out of danger. 
 
 The first time I got out of my hammock to 
 make my bed, I found a large scorpion in it, 
 which had probably lain there a considerable 
 time, and yet had never stung me. 
 
 Such incidents as these may be thought by 
 some too trivial to be mentioned; but I trust 
 I shall ever be enabled to look upon my de- 
 liverances from danger of this and every other 
 kind, as the secret but certain effects of that 
 overruling Providence, to whose care I thank- 
 fully acknowledge myself indebted for my 
 present safety. Many striking circumstances 
 occurred during our voyage, to confirm this 
 truth, as will appear in the sequel. 
 
 The Edinburgh having been many years in 
 the West Indies, and frequently hove down, 
 was quite worm-eaten, rotten, and leaky, 
 when we sailed from Port Royal. Before we 
 had got through the Gulf of Florida, the leaks 
 
38 LIFE OF 
 
 increased to such a degree, that when we 
 reached the Atlantic, the hope of safety had 
 nearly expired; and from fatigue, and the 
 dread of sinking, a solemn seriousness per- 
 vaded the whole crew. So awfully alarming 
 was our situation, that I well remember the 
 captain's reproving an officer for laughing. 
 On a very moderate calculation, we pumped 
 out at least two thousand tons of water a day ! 
 However incredible this may appear, it cer- 
 tainly was the case for several weeks; and 
 some days, it amounted to double that quan- 
 tity. Beside the chain-pumps, that are sup- 
 posed to throw out two or three tons in a 
 minute, we had also four hand-pumps in use, 
 and were frequently obliged to bale with buck- 
 ets from the fore-hold. In this deplorable 
 <;ondition, on the 12th of October, 1760, we 
 sustained the shock of one of the most vio- 
 lent tempests that perhaps had ever been 
 known. Those who had been at sea for 
 many years, and we had several such on 
 board, particularly the captain, who had been 
 round the world with Lord Anson, all agreed 
 they had never seen a hurricane continue so 
 long with such unabated fury. Three days 
 and three nights we were exposed to its un- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 39 
 
 controllable power. To those who have never 
 experienced a tempest at sea, it may be diffi- 
 cult to give a just idea of it, yet something of 
 our distressed situation may be conceived from 
 its dreadful and destructive effects. When it 
 first came on, we were under a double-reefed 
 mainsail and foresail, both of which it tore to 
 pieces, and blew overboard like a sheet of thin 
 paper; and when a new mainsail was with 
 difficulty bent and set, it shared the same fate. 
 Nothing but the mast and yard now remained, 
 and these were expected every moment to 
 follow. At first, the force of the wind was so 
 great that the waves could not rise, but were 
 compelled to dash and break into a white 
 foam, so that the whole ocean, as far as the 
 eye could reach, appeared, in the day-time, 
 like an extended plain of driven snow, and at 
 night like an immense forest on fire. This 
 terrific scene was soon succeeded by another; 
 the sea began to rise "mountains high," and 
 beat with such violence against our rotten 
 ship, which we could scarcely keep above 
 water in a calm, that it seemed next to impos- 
 sible to keep her from foundering. Unable to 
 keep her to the wind, we were obliged to scud 
 before it without any sail, at an amazing rate. 
 
40 LIFE OF 
 
 rolling the quarter-deck guns under water, 
 her sides separating some inches from the 
 deck, one of the quarter galleries heing wash- 
 ed away, and the water pouring in, in torrents, 
 and carrying all before it. Had the storm 
 continued but a few hours longer, we must 
 inevitably have perished. The Lord beheld 
 with pity our perilous situation, and (to speak 
 in the language of Scripture,) " rebuked the 
 wind, and said unto the sea. Peace, be still," 
 Mark iv. 39. Our astonishment was some- 
 thing like that of the disciples on the occasion 
 alluded to ver. 41; for almost instantaneously 
 about noon on the third day, the whole hori- 
 zon cleared up, the wind gradually subsided 
 to a gentle breeze, and the whole face of the 
 ocean was changed. But not so the hearts of 
 those on board. If I may judge by myself, 
 very few, if any, were truly sensible of this 
 great deliverance. I might, indeed, unite 
 with some others in thanking God with the 
 tongue; but that, alas! was the utmost extent 
 of my gratitude. 
 
 On looking round for the fleet under our 
 care, though there were fifty-two sail in sight 
 when the. storm began, not a single ship was 
 now to be seen. Many of them had made the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 41 
 
 signals of distress, and we afterwards learned 
 that seven of them were never heard of more. 
 We had one man washed overboard, and seve- 
 ral much hurt, and although we did not all 
 perish, we still continued in the most immi- 
 nent danger. The uncommon agitation of the 
 ship, during the tempest, had greatly increased 
 her leaks; to stop which all possible means 
 were used, but without effect. From constant 
 labour, and a very short allowance of fresh 
 water, with salt provisions, the men began to 
 fall sick; and, what was very alarming, the 
 leathers of the chain-pumps were nearly worn 
 out, and every day became less useful. To 
 heighten the dismal prospect, we were many 
 hundred miles further from land than before 
 the commencement of the hurricane, and 
 were totally undetermined what course to 
 steer. However, on the 16th of October, 
 1760, the day after the storm, early in the 
 morning, a vessel was descried at some dis- 
 tance, to which, imagining her to be one of 
 our convoy, we crowded sail, fired guns, and 
 hoisted signals of distress. When she per- 
 ceived us, she bore down within hail, and 
 proved to be a Virginia trader, laden with to- 
 bacco, and bound to Whitehaven. A boat 
 D 2 
 
42 LIFE OF 
 
 was immediately sent on board, with an officer, 
 to examine whether she was large enough to 
 hold the Edinburgh's complement of men, 
 (which was six hundred) with a sufficient 
 quantity of provisions to carry them to the 
 nearest port, in case it should be found neces- 
 sary to leave his Majesty's ship to sink at sea; 
 but upon examination it was found that she 
 had not the means of accommodating three 
 hundred, much less our whole complement, 
 exclusive of provisions. She was therefore 
 ordered to keep company with us till the next 
 morning, to receive despatches for the Admi- 
 ralty. The captain then called all the officers 
 into his cabin to consult with them upon the 
 best means which could be taken, for the pre- 
 servation of the ship and the lives of all on 
 board. The wind being fair, it was soon 
 unanimously agreed, that we should bear 
 away for the "trade winds," get into smooth 
 water, and steer for Antigua, the nearest port, 
 where we could be refitted. This was a very 
 unexpected resolution to all on board, and a 
 great disappointment to us passengers, who 
 had no disposition to revisit the West Indies. 
 But where life is at stake, the least glimmer- 
 ing of hope is eagerly pursued; consequently 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 43 
 
 the inclinations of a few individuals were not 
 consulted. About noon the next day a sig- 
 nal was made for the Virginia trader to bear 
 down for despatches and other letters for 
 England. However, whilst all pens were at 
 work, it was hinted by one of the passengers, 
 that although this vessel could not contain six 
 hundred men, she might very easily accom- 
 modate us, who were but seven in number, 
 and no way bound to risk our lives in a king's 
 ship with those who belonged to her. No 
 sooner was the thought communicated to the 
 rest than it was eagerly embraced ; and appli- 
 cation was immediately made to captain Lang- 
 don, requesting permission to seize on this fa- 
 vourable opportunity of returning to England. 
 He readily granted our request, and one of 
 us went on board the vessel by the first boat, 
 and agreed with the captain for our passage to 
 Whitehaven. A little before sun-set we all 
 embarked, after having taken a sorrowful fare- 
 well of our unhappy friends, whom we never 
 expected to see or hear of more. The next 
 morning the wind being fair for them, and 
 foul for us, we soon lost sight of each other. 
 Before I continue my narrative of what oc- 
 curred to us in the Whitehaven vessel, I must 
 
44 LIFE OF 
 
 glance at what befel the ship we had just left, 
 and reflect for a moment on the mysterious 
 hand of Providence, which so unexpectedly- 
 removed us from one to the other. We had 
 not long separated, before the wind became fair 
 for us, but against them. In this very distress- 
 ing situation, almost given up to despair, they 
 providentially fell in with an English seventy- 
 four, which greatly assisted in stopping their 
 leaks, furnished them with materials for re- 
 pairing their chain-pumps, supplied them with 
 fresh water, and having induced them to 
 change their resolution of returning to the 
 West Indies, brought them safe into Ply- 
 mouth, a fortnight before we arrived at 
 Whitehaven! 
 
 Thus we often behold the sovereign Dis- 
 poser of events, by trivial circumstances, sud- 
 denly defeat and overturn the wisest counsels 
 of the most sagacious of his creatures! How 
 unexpected was our removal from the Edin- 
 burgh ! Who would not say it was a wise 
 step? Yet we afterwards repented taking it, 
 although we never entertained a thought that 
 the crazy, rotten ship we left steering for the 
 West Indies, could arrive in England before 
 us. When men who live " without God in 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 45 
 
 the world," Eph. ii. 12, meet with such sud- 
 den and unexpected changes, they never re- 
 gard them in any other light than as the effect 
 of chance; or as events which daily happen in 
 the common course of things. But surely that 
 God, who numbers the hairs of the head, and 
 ordains the sparrow's fall. Matt. x. 29, 30, 
 will never let matters of far greater conse- 
 quence pass without his notice, or suffer 
 events to take place, big with importance to 
 his rational creatures, without his special di- 
 rection. I have often been amused in specu- 
 lating on what would have been the future 
 course of my life, if such and such incidents, 
 trivial in appearance, had not come to pass. 
 For instance: had I remained in the Edin- 
 burgh, in all probability I should have moved 
 in a very different line of life from that in 
 which I am now engaged. I certainly should 
 not have been a marine officer, for there was 
 a purser's warrant lying for me at the Admi- 
 ralty when the Edinburgh arrived in Eng- 
 land. If a purser, I must have formed very 
 different connexions from those into wliich I 
 was afterwards led. In these visionary wan- 
 derings I have been frequently constrained to 
 admire the wisdom, power, and goodness of 
 
46 LIFE OF 
 
 a compassionate God, in ordering and over- 
 ruling ail these circumstances, to promote his 
 own glory, and my permanent happiness. As 
 a marine officer, I became acquainted with re- 
 ligious people, who directed me to heaven: 
 had I been a purser, it is very probable I might 
 have fallen among deists and atheists, who 
 would have led me with themselves to de- 
 struction. " Bless the Lord, my soul, and 
 forget not all his benefits!'^ Psalm ciii. 2. 
 
 Christians are said to be the " salt of the 
 earth," Matt. v. 13. Happy was it for us, 
 that there was at least one such character in 
 the ship I was now on board. The captain 
 was an upright, godly man, w^hose unaffected 
 piety and fervent zeal in his Master's cause, 
 were like " pricks in our eyes, and thorns in 
 our sides;" damping the gratification of our 
 favourite vices, though he could not entirely 
 prevent them. For the sake of propriety, 
 we were obliged to join with him every day 
 in public worship; but neither his pious ex- 
 ample nor his friendly admonitions could pre- 
 vail on us to leave off gaming, swearing, and 
 drinking. On the fourth of November, 1760, 
 we began to look out for land, but were not 
 favoured with a sight of it till the 7th, when 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 47 
 
 we entered St. George's Channel; but the 
 wind blowing strong for two days, right 
 against our reaching Whitehaven, we were 
 obliged to bear up for the Irish coast, and on 
 the 9th, about sun-set, we came to an anchor 
 in Lough Swilly, where we remained some 
 days weather-bound. 
 
 How wonderfully mysterious are the appa- 
 rently dark and intricate paths through which 
 the God of providence frequently leads his 
 people! And how various, yet constantly 
 uniform, are the powerful operations of his 
 blessed Spirit, in calling them from the dark- 
 ness of nature into the glorious light of the 
 gospel ! A few years before, one of the tro- 
 phies of sovereign grace, with whom I have 
 passed many pleasant hours in spiritual con- 
 verse, the Rev. John Newton, was miracu- 
 lously preserved, and brought to this very 
 place. How different his experience from 
 mine? '^ We have not," as he beautifully 
 describes in the 10th letter of his narrative, 
 " met with the same wind and weather, been 
 ready to perish in the same storm of tempta- 
 tion, nor always encountered the same ene- 
 mies;" — but I trust it is nevertheless true, 
 that " we have had the same compass to steer 
 
48 LIFE OF 
 
 by, and the same Polar Star and Sun of Righ- 
 teousness to guide our faces Zion-ward." 
 
 If any thing at this time could render my 
 conversion more difficult than that of the emi- 
 nent person above alluded to, it was the circum- 
 stance of my having a form of godliness with- 
 out the power, 2 Tim. iii. 5, whereas he then 
 had none at all. Conscience, however, would 
 not sutfer me to neglect calling upon God in 
 prayer, sometimes twice a-day; and while I 
 thus worshipped him with the lip, I consider- 
 ed all as right, though my heart was seldom 
 or never engaged. But conscience, which 
 thus urged me to pray, could not, with all its 
 remonstrances, prevent me from sinning 
 when prompted thereto by custom, tempta- 
 tion, or the example of others. I was an en- 
 tire stranger to true contrition, but rather for- 
 got ray transgressions almost as soon as they 
 were committed. Thus blindly I cherished 
 the monster sin in my bosom, and for many 
 years never perceived its hideous form, nor 
 dreaded the awful consequences. How great 
 the compassion of that God, who was daily 
 conferring favours upon me, whilst I was 
 heaping up acts of rebellion against him! 
 May my soul be deeply impressed and truly 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 49 
 
 humbled under this reflection. But to re- 
 turn to my narrative. 
 
 On the 14th we sailed from Lough Svvilly, 
 and the next day anchored in Ramsay bay, in 
 the Isle of Man; where we remained for 
 some days, until the spring-tides afforded a 
 sufficient depth of water to take us into 
 Whitehaven harbour. On the morning of 
 the 21st of November, the wind, which had 
 blown exceedingly hard all the week, having 
 subsided a little, we seized the favourable 
 moment, and with some difficulty, hove up 
 anchors, intending, if possible, to push into 
 Whitehaven before night; but we had scarce- 
 ly got safe out of the bay, when it grew thick 
 and hazy, and began to blow more furiously 
 than ever; so that we could neither regain 
 our anchorage, nor carry sufficient sail to ob- 
 tain our destined port: having no alternative, 
 we kept running towards it, over tremendous 
 and terrific waves. About one o'clock we 
 assembled in the cabin to take some refresh- 
 ment, but the motion of the ship was so vio- 
 lent, it was impossible to sit at table. While 
 we were thus engaged, not apprehending our 
 present danger, the vessel struck with such 
 violence against a bank of sand, as threw most 
 
 E 
 
50 LIFE OF 
 
 of US flat upon the deck. We were all dread- 
 fully alarmed; and the scene that followed 
 made an impression on my mind that can 
 never be obliterated. 
 
 As beings imagining they had but a few 
 moments to live, all strove with dying eager- 
 ness to reach the quarter-deck; but we had 
 scarcely raised ourselves upright, when the 
 ship struck a second time, more violently 
 than before, and again threw us all prostrate. 
 We now considered our destruction as inevi- 
 table. The most dreadful bowlings and la- 
 mentations were heard from some, whilst the 
 disfigured countenances of others manifested 
 the deepest anguish. The scene was enough 
 to make the heart of the stoutest sinner trem- 
 ble. Though I cannot exactly describe the 
 state of my own mind at the trying moment, 
 I very well remember the agony of one of 
 my poor messmates. This man had acquired 
 considerable property in Jamaica, and during 
 the voyage, like the rich man in the parable, 
 Luke xii. 16, was frequently devising plans 
 of future happiness. At this awful moment 
 he exclaimed most bitterly against the treat- 
 ment of Heaven, that had made him spend so 
 many toilsome years in a scorching and un- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 51 
 
 healthy climate to procure a little wealth; 
 and when with pain and trouble he had heap- 
 ed it together, had tantalized him with a sight 
 of the happy shore where he expected peace- 
 ably to enjoy it; but now with one cruel, sud- 
 den stroke had defeated all his hopes. The 
 cutting reflections and bitter complaints which 
 came from this man's mouth expressed such 
 black despair, that he appeared more like a 
 fiend of the bottomless pit, than a sinner yet 
 in the land of hope. Oh! how unlike in eve- 
 ry respect to the conduct of that exemplary 
 Christian, the captain of the ship! When she 
 first struck, it is rather remarkable that he 
 was kept from falling as the rest of us did; 
 and being providentially next the cabin-door, 
 he ran immediately upon deck, and gave his 
 orders with so much composure and wisdom, 
 that he appeared to be raised above the fear 
 of death, having a smile on his countenance, 
 though speedy dissolution seemed inevitable. 
 From his exterior behaviour at this alarming 
 moment, we may fairly conclude that he en- 
 joyed the greatest peace and serenity within, 
 as a foretaste of that heaven of glory, into 
 which, to all appearance, he was just entering. 
 When we reached the deck, saw our danger, 
 
62 LIFE OF 
 
 and witnessed his unshaken conduct, we were 
 ready to fall down and worship him, and ever 
 after held him in the highest esteem. Were 
 there no other advantage to be derived from 
 true religion, than the composure of mind it 
 gives in the time of danger, and the blessed 
 hope it holds out in the prospect of death, 
 surely it ought to be anxiously cultivated by 
 rational beings, who are surrounded every 
 moment with dangers and deaths of various 
 descriptions. By the captain's distinct or- 
 ders the vessel was presently put before the 
 wind, and thus it pleased the Lord to prevent 
 her striking a third time, which in all proba- 
 bility would have stove her to pieces. In 
 this case all hope of preservation must have 
 vanished; for the ship's boat, if it could have 
 contained us all, could not have swam five 
 minutes in such a tempestuous sea; and our 
 distance from the shore excluded all hope of 
 being saved in any other way. Indeed, it 
 was next to a miracle that the ship did not 
 founder at the first or second shock. It can 
 only be accounted for, from the goodness of 
 a compassionate God, who in the midst of 
 wrath remembered mercy, and spared the 
 whole for the sake of one real Christian. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 53 
 
 Through divine goodness we were soon de- 
 livered from our fears. Upon sounding the 
 ship's well, we found that she did not admit 
 more water than usual. Still an awful dread 
 hung over us of what might befal us, during 
 the long, dark night just approaching; close 
 on a lee-shore, blowing a hurricane, and afraid 
 to carry sail to work off, lest the vessel, from 
 the severe shocks she had suffered, should be 
 overstrained. 
 
 The captain determined not to keep the sea 
 that night, but to run at all events for the 
 light on Whitehaven pier-head. The danger 
 was great if he should overshoot the mark 
 but a few feet on either side. He took the 
 hehii himself, and trusting to that omniscient 
 God to whom the darkness and the light are 
 both alike. Psalm cxxxix. 12, he piloted us 
 safe into our long desired haven; and before 
 ten o'clock that night, we were all safely 
 landed. 
 
 Who would not suppose, after such won- 
 derful deliverances, that we should all have 
 been anxious to express our gratitude to God, 
 who had so graciously preserved our lives? 
 For my own part it was quite the reverse. 
 The shameful truth must not be concealed. 
 E 2 
 
54 LIFE OF 
 
 This unmerited kindness had not the least 
 effect on my future conduct. Perhaps on 
 stepping out of the ship, I might carelessly 
 thank God that I was once more on shore; 
 but even this feeling soon passed away. 
 
 The ingratitude of man in his unregenerate 
 state is beyond all conception astonishing! 
 Repeated terrors, and doubly repeated mer- 
 cies, perils, and deliverances from death itself, 
 in all its hideous forms, will prove ineffectual 
 to rouse the sinner to a sense of gratitude. 
 Only the Spirit of God, by his quickening in- 
 fluence, can effect the gracious work. This 
 solemn truth, alas! was too fully confirmed in 
 me. Notwithstanding all that had passed, I 
 continued to drink into the spirit of the world 
 with as much eagerness as ever; was not only 
 found delighting in all its foolish pleasures and 
 vanities, as far as my pecuniary circumstances 
 would allow; but was too frequently drawn 
 into the commission of grosser sins, with lit- 
 tle or no remorse. A few days after our sig- 
 nal deliverance, I well remember spending the 
 evening in a gentleman's house at cards, and, 
 though never habitually given to drinking, I 
 afterwards became so completely intoxicated, 
 that I was removed in a senseless state to 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 55 
 
 another part of the room ; and, when the com- 
 pany broke up, was carried through the streets 
 to my lodgings, more like a brute than a hu- 
 man being. Thus did I requite the Almighty 
 for his preserving mercy! What will not the 
 human mind be guilty of, when left to its own 
 propensities! In reviewing the past, I have 
 enough to humble me, to mourn over, and be 
 ashamed of, all my days. 
 
 Undetermined what course to take, and 
 having little or no money to discharge my 
 lodgings, I waited three weeks at White- 
 haven, until I should hear from my parents, 
 or some of my relations in Scotland. 
 
 I dreaded the receipt of a letter from my 
 father, knowing how much he would be dis- 
 pleased with the hasty step I had taken in 
 leaving Jamaica. I was not disappointed in 
 what I feared; for he sent a long epistle, 
 sharply reproving me for my very inconsi- 
 derate conduct; at the same time laying open 
 the distressing state of his own affairs in such 
 a feeling manner, that I regretted as much as 
 he did the rashness of my late decision. But 
 it was now too late to repent, and I had the 
 satisfaction to find, that notwithstanding my 
 father's displeasure, his parental affection was 
 
56 LIFE OF 
 
 not abated. He pitied my situation, and sent 
 a sufficiency to supply my present wants. 
 Among other domestic intelligence, he in- 
 formed me of the death of my pious grand- 
 father, with whom I was brought up in my 
 youth, and who was dear to me on many ac- 
 counts. The venerable saint had reached his 
 ninetieth year, and in his dying moments 
 prayed for me, and expressed a very anxious 
 concern for my welfare. The manner in 
 which my father communicated this circum- 
 stance, affected me very much; and for a time 
 it threw a veil of seriousness over my outward 
 deportment: but the impression soon wore off, 
 and I returned to my old sinful course, having 
 all my thoughts, words, and actions, almost 
 wholly directed to temporal enjoyments. 
 
 On the 13th of December, 1760, I began 
 my journey to London; and having no in- 
 ducement to be expeditious, I thought it my 
 duty to be careful of the little pittance I had, 
 and therefore chose the cheapest rather than 
 the quickest mode of travelling: sometinries 
 walking, sometimes riding on horseback, but 
 mostly in the stage wagon. At the end of 
 three weeks, I arrived in Cheapside. If the 
 Lord had not been with me now, what would 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 57 
 
 have become of me? I shudder at the thought! 
 In the centre of a profligate city, exposed to 
 all its alluring vices, with a constitution ready- 
 to comply with the first temptation, and not a 
 friend to compassionate or direct me; was it 
 not more than probable that I should take a 
 wrong rather than a right step? Especially 
 as my pecuniary resources were so nearly ex- 
 hausted, that I had not more than sufficient to 
 defray my expenses through half of another 
 week. Glory to God ! He did not suffer me 
 to fall in this dangerous situation; but brought 
 me at last through every difficulty, and placed 
 me in that line of life in which I continue to 
 the present day: yet, not before he had en- 
 tirely overturned all my own plans, as well as 
 those of my friends. 
 
 The first step I took, after my arrival in 
 London, was to wait on one of my fellow- 
 passengers, a man of property in Jamaica, 
 who, intending to return thither, had, in the 
 course of our short acquaintance, promised to 
 take me with him as a clerk, in case I was not 
 better provided for at home. Thus, however 
 courageous I was in my determination to leave 
 that wicked and unhealthy island, thinking I 
 could go through any hardship rather than re- 
 
58 LIFE OF 
 
 main there; 5^et, when it came to the push, 
 poverty and wretchedness fast approaching, 
 my heart failed, and I determined one way 
 or other to effect my return. My pretended 
 friend received me coolly, stating that he had 
 made up his mind to remain in England, and 
 was sorry that he could do nothing for me; I 
 therefore immediately resolved, as a last re- 
 source, to ship myself off" in the first vessel 
 I should meet with bound to Jamaica, well 
 knowing I could there find immediate em- 
 ployment. What a mercy that I was not suf- 
 fered to put this design into execution! The 
 very thought of it, at this distance of time, 
 makes me shudder! Had not the Lord inter- 
 posed, I should in all probability have return- 
 ed, and died there, a perfect stranger to every 
 thing good. Fully bent on this plan, I thought 
 it was my duty, first to deliver some messages 
 my father had given me to particular friends 
 in London, and accordingly went early, in the 
 morning of the third day after my arrival, to 
 my father's agent, on Tower-hill; but how 
 great was my surprise, after having made 
 myself known, to be informed that I was ap- 
 pointed purser of the Sea-horse man-of-war. 
 With a mixture of joy and fear, I eagerly in- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 59 
 
 quired further. He told me the warrant had 
 been given to my father some weeks before, 
 but he, declining to accept of it, had prevailed 
 with his patron. Sir Harry Erskine, to have it 
 filled up in my name. Overjoyed at this very 
 unexpected good news, I set off with all pos- 
 sible speed, to pay my respects to my gene- 
 rous benefactor. But, alas! this promised joy, 
 like all others in the present world, was very 
 transient. Sir Harry told me that I had, 
 through his influence, been appointed purser 
 of the Sea-horse; but as he had not been able 
 to get any intelligence of me among my fa- 
 ther's friends in London, and as the ship was 
 ready to sail, the Admiralty had given the 
 warrant to another person only eight days be- 
 fore. 
 
 How clearly do these incidents mark the 
 intentions of an all-wise Providence towards 
 me. Had I come home in the Edinburgh, I 
 certainly should have been purser of the Sea- 
 horse; or if I had remained three hours longer 
 in Whitehaven, I should, as I afterwards as- 
 certained, have received another letter from 
 my father, informing me of this appointment; 
 and of course I should have posted to London 
 to take up my warrant. But no! This was 
 
60 LIFE OF •' 
 
 not the will of my heavenly Father. How- 
 ever I might then grieve and murmur, at what 
 I called an adverse Providence, I now clearly 
 see his wisdom and goodness in ordering it as 
 he did. All hope of procuring a situation in 
 London being at an end, I opened my case to 
 Sir Harry, and begged the favour of his in- 
 terest to do something for me. He very 
 obligingly said he would try to get me a 
 commission in the marines, but observed he 
 had very little hope of succeeding. 
 
 No sooner had I made my bow, than I 
 again determined to pursue my former reso- 
 lution of returning to the West Indies. 
 what shall I render to the Lord, who would 
 not suffer me thus to run headlong to destruc- 
 tion! While depriving me of every prospect 
 of being comfortably settled in the world, he 
 was secretly leading me through the intricate 
 mazes of his providence, in a way that I knew 
 not, that at the end I might be constrained to 
 exclaim, with the Israelites on Mount Carmel, 
 <'The Lord, he is God," 1 Kings xviii. 39. 
 
 From Sir Harry Erskine's, I went directly 
 to Chelsea, to call on a Mrs. Hay, one of my 
 father's friends; and although I had never 
 seen this lady before, the Lord inclined her 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 61 
 
 heart to become a true and valuable friend to 
 me also. And surely never poor mortal had 
 more need of one than I, behig at that time 
 reduced to my last shilling. How seasonably 
 the Lord's mercies are distributed! It has 
 been well observed by Dr. Watts: 
 
 " Just in the last distressing hour 
 The Lord displays delivering power." 
 
 I have often proved it so in my weary pil- 
 grimage through life, and particularly at this 
 juncture, though I did not see then as I do 
 now. When Mrs. Hay knew who I was, and 
 was made acquainted with my situation, she 
 first very kindly invited me to remain in her 
 house, and afterwards treated me more like a 
 son than a stranger. She supplied my pecu- 
 niary wants, and purchased several articles of 
 apparel in which I was deficient. After some 
 days, she advised me to go to her husband on 
 board the Royal George, who was then secre- 
 tary to Sir Edward Hawke, who might have 
 it in his power to provide for me in the line 
 of a purser; and in the meantime I was sure 
 to be employed as a clerk in his office, and 
 should be upon the spot if any thing desirable 
 occurred. This I much approved of, and by 
 
 F 
 
6^ LIFE OF 
 
 her advice, waited on Sir H. Erskine to in- 
 form him where he would find me, in case he 
 should have it in his power to make good his 
 promise. 
 
 On the 14th of January, 1761, I set oflf in 
 the stage-coach for Portsmouth, having at last 
 relinquished my visionary plan of returning 
 to Jamaica. 
 
 Though I am anxious to shorten my narra- 
 tive as much as possible, yet I cannot forbear 
 taking notice of some of the providential mer- 
 cies I experienced at this period. 
 
 Before we reached Portsmouth, the coach 
 being full of passengers, was overturned, and 
 the coachman thrown from his box; yet not 
 one person was in the least hurt, not even an 
 infant who fell from its mother's arms, in the 
 inside, and was found beneath us. Had the 
 horses taken fright, the consequences might 
 have been fatal. 
 
 On my arrival at Portsmouth, I fully ex- 
 pected to find the Royal George at Spithead, 
 or to procure a speedy passage to her in the 
 bay, where she was cruising; but in this I was 
 disappointed, and must have gone on board of 
 the guard-ship, had not the Lord, who never 
 forsook me in an extremity, inclined the heart 
 
3IAJ0R GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 63 
 
 of one of my coach companions to invite me 
 to stay with him on board the Blenheim hos- 
 pital ship, till a convenient opportunity should 
 offer of going out to the Royal George. Here 
 I remained upwards of three weeks, when 
 finding that the only certain conveyance to 
 the men-of-war off Brest, was from Plymouth, 
 1 determined to go thither, and accordingly 
 embarked on board the Cormorant fire-ship, 
 under orders for that port. Here again, I 
 found myself in a great strait: my finances 
 being exhausted, I had not wherewith to pay 
 my quota, if I messed with the petty officers; 
 but the surgeon of the Blenheim had recom- 
 mended me to the captain, who very obliging- 
 ly invited me to his table. 
 
 These are trivial incidents; but they were 
 very important ones to me at that time, and I 
 wish ever to remember them as marks of di- 
 vine care for me; and as such, I shall here 
 mention another of a similar kind. Being 
 detained on board the Cormorant, at Cowes, 
 in the Isle of Wight, for nearly a month, by 
 strong westerly winds, I grew weary; and 
 being anxious to know something about the 
 Royal George, I set off early one fine morn- 
 ing in the passage-boat for Portsmouth, pur- 
 
64 LIFE OF 
 
 posely to inquire at the admiraPs office, if she 
 were soon expected in port. I fully intended 
 to return to Cowes by the first boat, as I had 
 but just money enough left for this purpose; 
 but, to my great sorrow, about noon it began 
 to blow a most violent gale, so that none of 
 the boats would venture out for several days. 
 Never was I placed in a more distressing 
 situation. A perfect stranger in Portsmouth, 
 with only a few pence in my pocket, I con- 
 tinued walking round and round the ramparts 
 nearly the whole day, till I was so completely 
 worn out with fatigue and hunger, that the 
 violence of the wind almost drove me off my 
 legs. Night was approaching. Finding it 
 impossible to continue in this state much 
 longer, and being well nigh distracted, I be- 
 gan to devise schemes where I should rest, 
 and how I could satisfy a craving appetite. 
 At last I fixed on the following expedient: 
 having a pair of silver buckles on my shoes, 
 the gift of an affectionate sister, I determined, 
 though grieved at the deed, to take them to 
 some Jew in the town, and exchange them for 
 metal ones; in hope that the overplus would 
 procure me a lodging and purchase some food. 
 Just as I was stepping off the rampart to put 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 65 
 
 my plan into execution, I was accosted in a 
 very friendly manner by an old acquaintance, 
 who shook me by the hand, and asked me if 
 I had dined. When I answered in the nega- 
 tive, he replied, "Then come along with me, 
 we are just in time." By this friend I was 
 plentifully supplied for a few days, till the 
 weather permitted me to return to the Cor- 
 morant at Cowes. Thus the same compas- 
 sionate God who feeds the ravens when they 
 cry. Psalm cxlvii. 9, was at no loss to find 
 means to supply the wants of an ungrateful 
 mortal, who did not then seek him by prayer, 
 nor acknowledge the benefit so seasonably be- 
 stowed. 
 
 But having since been several times at 
 Portsmouth, I have walked round the ram- 
 parts with a glad heart, in the recollection of 
 his mercy, praising the Lord under a feeling 
 sense of his goodness. 
 
 Two days after my return, the Cormorant 
 sailed for Plymouth; but no sooner had I 
 landed there to inquire for the Royal George, 
 than I was informed she had just arrived at 
 Spithead! 
 
 I obtained a passage back to Portsmouth in 
 the Southampton frigate, after a short cruise 
 F 2 
 
66 LIFE OF 
 
 in the channel. At length on the 16th of 
 March, after long and anxious expectation, I 
 got on board the Royal George. My friend, 
 Mr. Hay, received me with great cordiality, 
 entered me on the ship's books, and placed 
 me in the admiral's office till something more 
 advantageous should offer. Here I enjoyed a 
 quiet and easy life for about two months, hav- 
 ing little more to do than to write out and 
 copy orders; but I still remained perfectly in- 
 sensible of the goodness of God, and even 
 without a thought that I was in any way in- 
 debted to him for my present situation. 
 
 COMMISSION IN THE MARINE SERVICE. 
 
 On the 22d of May I was sent for by the 
 commanding officer, who informed me that 
 my friend Sir Harry Erskine had procured 
 me a commission in the marines, and that he 
 had received orders to discharge me from the 
 Royal George, that I might proceed to Chat- 
 ham, the division to which I was appointed. 
 This was rejoicing news, as it placed me at 
 once beyond the dread of future poverty, and 
 fixed me in a line of life which my proud 
 heart approved, and in which, through rich 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 67 
 
 mercy, I have now been preserved upwards 
 of fifty-three years. Having obtained from 
 my friend a sufficiency to pay my expenses, I 
 proceeded to London, and calling on my kind 
 benefactress at Chelsea, remained there seve- 
 ral days, until I was completely equipped as 
 an officer. On the 4th of June I went to court 
 in my uniform, and on the 6th I joined head- 
 quarters at Chatham. 
 
 To enumerate the various and multiplied 
 mercies, both of a temporal and of a spiritual 
 nature, which I have received at the hands of 
 God in this well-known spot, would be an un- 
 dertaking far beyond my power to accomplish. 
 Though infinite Wisdom found it necessary 
 frequently to correct me, to prevent my fall- 
 ing, or to restore my soul. Psalm xxiii, yet, 
 blessed be his name, he has favoured me with 
 many visits of his reconciled countenance, the 
 remembrance of which is sweet to me at this 
 moment, when viewed as pledges of my ere 
 long enjoying the full blaze of his glory in 
 heaven. In this town, ten years after the 
 events I am now narrating, the Lord was gra- 
 ciously pleased to reveal to my rejoicing heart 
 the best of all his blessings — the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; witnessing by his Spirit that he was 
 
68 LIFE OF 
 
 bestowed freely, "without money and with- 
 out price," Isaiah Iv. 1, that the whole praise 
 might redound to his infinite mercy. Of what 
 avail would all his other blessings have been 
 without this? This alone constitutes them 
 real blessings. Without Christ Jesus, I had 
 turned them all into a curse. The possession 
 of this "unspeakable gift," 2 Cor. ix. 15, turns 
 every thing to gold: losses, crosses, disap- 
 pointments, and threats of every description, 
 are made to answer the most salutary pur- 
 poses; while riches, honours, and worldly 
 prosperity, without it, have the seal of con- 
 demnation visibly impressed upon them. 
 
 For the three years previous to this period, 
 having been tossed about from place to place, 
 in a very unsettled state, I had little opportu- 
 nity and much less inclination, to attend the 
 means of grace, or to read good books. But 
 now having more spare time than I well knew 
 how to employ, my early habits involuntarily 
 returned to my recollection. I began to con- 
 sider how I could most advantageously em- 
 ploy my leisure, and accordingly laid down a 
 regular plan for the performance of religious 
 duties, to which I strictly adhered. Most of 
 my ancestors having been members of the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW RURN. 69 
 
 church of Scotland, and having myself been 
 educated under my pious grandfather, a mi- 
 nister of that church, in West x\nstruther, I 
 thought it was not my duty to leave it, and 
 therefore joined a Presbyterian congregation 
 at Rochester. I constantly attended divine 
 service, received the sacrament once a month, 
 made a conscience of strictly performing my 
 private devotions, and I believe was consi- 
 dered by most who knew me, to be a very 
 good Christian. Nay, Pharisee like, I was 
 very much inclined to think so myself. But 
 whatever I might be in my own eyes, or in 
 the eyes of others, I certainly was far from 
 being right in the sight of a pure and holy 
 God. As yet I was ignorant of the depth of 
 iniquity in my depraved heart; I had but very 
 indistinct views of the extent and spirituality 
 of God's holy lavv, and no just conceptions of 
 the heinous nature and dreadful effects of sin; 
 consequently could not fully appreciate the 
 value of the precious blood shed to take it 
 away, or heartily love or believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who was manifested to rescue 
 his people from the bondage of sin. Matt. i. 
 21. So far from partaking of this happy 
 freedom, I still remained the willing slave to 
 
70 LIFE OF 
 
 various sinful lusts and passions, and felt 
 no remorse in daily doing many things I 
 should shudder to think of now. Naturally 
 led to keep company with my brother oJQS- 
 cers, though not habitually addicted to their 
 common vices (except that of gaming); yet 
 too fond of associating with them, I was im- 
 perceptibly induced to imitate their bad cus- 
 toms, and too frequently their grosser sins. 
 Thus I continued for several months; and, 
 however strange it may appear, even then, 
 from the severe checks of an awakened and 
 tender conscience, I made some progress in a 
 religious life. Indeed my experience at this 
 period appears a perfect paradox, and obliges 
 me to relate things apparently irreconcilable, 
 because they were true. Though I was fre- 
 quently with little remorse falling into sin, 
 yet by the power of restraining grace, I was 
 enabled to cut off many sins as dear to me as 
 a right hand, or a right eye. Having had 
 great experience then, and since, in these 
 painful operations, I would recommend it to 
 those who are determined to be ^' on the 
 Lord's side," Exod. xxxii. 26, to be resolute- 
 ly expeditious. If a limb of our body is to be 
 amputated, and an unskilful surgeon, instead 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 71 
 
 of doing it in a few minutes, should keep saw- 
 ing and cutting it for a whole day, how dread- 
 fully excruciating would such an operation be! 
 Just so it is in a spiritual sense; the more you 
 prune and spare a beloved lust, the more vio- 
 lent it grows, and the more difficult afterwards 
 to subdue: but if you have courage effectually 
 to destroy it at one stroke, the soul is imme- 
 diately set at a happy liberty. When the 
 Lord was pleased to convince me of the sin 
 of spending so much valuable tim.e at cards, 
 (my whole attention and thoughts being car- 
 ried after them) I found it necessary, for the 
 peace of my conscience, to set about a reforma- 
 tion. First I vowed, and that very solemn- 
 ly, that I would only devote a certain time to 
 them, and no more; but this resolution con- 
 tinually failing, I next determined only to 
 play for a certain sum and never to exceed it. 
 When that would not do, I vowed still more 
 resolutely to play only for recreation, deter- 
 mining to be careful in the choice of the per- 
 sons with whom I played. But all proved in- 
 effectual. The more I resolved, the stronger 
 grew the sin. A multitude of broken vows 
 heaped guilt upon guilt, and brought an accu- 
 mulated load of sorrow upon my mind. So 
 
72 LIFE OF 
 
 much so, that on one Lord's-day, when I was 
 to receive the sacrament, before I approached 
 that sacred ordinance, my conscience so keen- 
 ly accused me on account of this beloved idol, 
 that I hardly knew what to do with myself. 
 I tried to pacify it by a renewal of all my 
 resolutions, with many additions and amend- 
 ments. I parleyed and reasoned the matter 
 over for hours, trying, if possible, to come to 
 some terms of accommodation, but still the 
 obstinate monitor within cried out — " There's 
 an Achan in the camp: approach the table of 
 the Lord if you dare." Scared at the threat, 
 and yet unwilling to part with my darling 
 lust, I became like one possessed. Restless 
 and uneasy, I flew out of the house to vent 
 my misery with more freedom in the fields, 
 under the wide canopy of heaven. Here I 
 was led to meditate on the happiness of the 
 righteous, and the misery of the wicked in a 
 future state. The importance of eternity fall- 
 ing with a ponderous weight upon my soul, 
 raised such a vehement indignation against 
 "the accursed thing" within, that, crying to 
 God for help, I kneeled down under a hedge, 
 and taking heaven and earth to witness, wrote 
 on a piece of paper with my pencil a solemn 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 73 
 
 VOW that I never would play at cards, on any 
 pretence whatsoever, so long as I lived. No 
 sooner had I put my name to this solemn 
 vow, than I felt myself another creature. Sor- 
 row took wing and flew away, and a delight- 
 ful peace succeeded. The intolerable burden 
 being removed from my mind, I approached 
 the sacred table of the Lord with an unusual 
 degree of pleasure and delight. This was not 
 my only idol. I had many others to contend 
 with. But while I was endeavouring to heal 
 my wounded soul in one place, ere I was 
 aware, sin broke out in another. 
 
 Yet still I kept striving, and at that time 
 was far from thinking myself unsuccessful: 
 conceiving my state a very safe one, I was 
 comfortable and cheerful. Indeed I have of- 
 ten wondered since at the happiness I then 
 enjoyed. The thought has sometimes almost 
 stumbled me. I loved the society of Chris- 
 tians, and sometimes had sweet communion 
 with God in prayer and other ordinances. 
 Nay, I have at times enjoyed such happy mo- 
 ments, such delightful intercourse with Hea- 
 ven, particularly on an evening, that after hav- 
 ing recommended my soul to God in fervent 
 supplication, I have laid down with the great- 
 
74 I'IFE OF 
 
 est serenity of mind, and been indifferent 
 whether I should ever open my eyes again in 
 this world or not. My reliance at this time 
 was not on my own works, but on the mercy 
 of God as freely manifested in Christ Jesus. 
 Yet I remained a stranger to the quickening 
 power of divine grace on my soul. The 
 sound doctrines of the gospel floated in my 
 head, but I believe they had not fully, if at 
 all, reached my heart. If I am not much mis- 
 taken, I was as yet in a great measure carnal, 
 unaffected, and ignorant. The world was nei- 
 ther crucified to me, nor I to it; Gal. vi. 14. 
 I had not learned wholly to deny myself, to 
 take up my cross, and to follow Christ; Mark 
 X. 21. But whatever my state might be at 
 that time, whether I enjoyed a true or a false 
 peace, this one thing I am sure of — the Lord 
 in infinite mercy and goodness has since, by 
 various means, imperceptibly brought me to 
 a more feeling sense of my own vileness and 
 wretched state by nature, and to a greater ac- 
 quaintance with the iniquity of my depraved 
 heart, and has given me clearer apprehensions 
 of his love to lost sinners, as displayed in the 
 gift of his only Son Christ Jesus. Though I 
 am yet a babe in this saving knowledge, I 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 75 
 
 humbly trust he will perfect the work he has 
 begun to the praise of the glory of his grace. 
 
 During my stay at Chatham, which at this 
 time was about a year and a half, I expe- 
 rienced, as I always have, the goodness of the 
 Lord, in blessing me with spiritual and tem- 
 poral mercies. Among many others, I can- 
 not forbear mentioning with what fatherly 
 care he led me into the acquaintance of pious 
 people, in whose society I not only acquired 
 a further knowledge in divine things, but was 
 kept from being entirely carried away by the 
 wicked examples with which I was daily sur- 
 rounded. Besides, the Lord was pleased, 
 many years afterwards, to employ these same 
 persons as instruments to bring about my 
 thorough conversion. But the greatest rea- 
 son which I had at this time to praise God, 
 was for his bringing me, in a very singular 
 manner, to an intimate acquaintance with the 
 person to whom I was afterwards closely 
 united in the nearest of all earthly ties; al- 
 though that happy connexion, through a va- 
 riety of dark and intricate providences, did not 
 take place till nine or ten years afterwards. 
 
 In November, 1762, 1 was sent with a party 
 of marines to Harwich, and sailed from thence 
 
76 LIFE OF 
 
 a few weeks afterwards in the T — , and ar- 
 rived at Plymouth about the beginning of 
 1763. Preliminaries of peace being signed, 
 I was ordered to disembark, and to wait for 
 a convenient opportunity of coming round 
 again with the detachment to Chatham. I re- 
 mained a few days at Plymouth, then em- 
 barked on board the P — F — , and soon after 
 joined head-quarters. During this short cruise, 
 I experienced two very singular instances of 
 God's protecting mercy. Indeed, my whole 
 life hitherto has been one continued scene of 
 such interpositions; and though I have forgot- 
 ten the greatest part of them, and thought but 
 little of others when they happened, yet I 
 cannot forbear mentioning some of those 
 which are still strongly imprinted on my me- 
 mory. May I be enabled to do it with a 
 thankful heart! Foreseeing that on my dis- 
 charge from the ship at Plj^mouth, I should be 
 reduced to half-pay, and consequently almost 
 as much at a loss for a proper settlement in 
 life as ever, I adopted an old plan of returning 
 to the West Indies, and with that view enter- 
 ed into an agreement to change duties with an 
 officer going to the coast of Guinea. We 
 made a joint application for leave, but without 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 77 
 
 much success; for though such a request is 
 very readily granted in general, it was abso- 
 lutely refused to us. Thus, greatly against 
 my inclination, was I obliged, in much mercy, 
 to return to Chatham, where I sat under the 
 glad sound of the glorious gospel of peace, in- 
 stead of going to an unhealthy climate, where 
 I never should have heard it, and whence, in 
 all probability, I never should have returned. 
 The other providential mercy with which I 
 was at this time favoured, was a very narrow 
 escape from sudden death. The evening I 
 embarked on board the P — F — , to come 
 round to Chatham, there was a hammock put 
 up for me in the gun-room, into which I got 
 very carelessly, never examining how it was 
 hung. About day-break, the quartermaster 
 being obliged to shift the helm, on account of 
 the tide's turning, the ship then at anchor in 
 the Sound, the tiller came foul of my ham- 
 mock, that was hung close up to the deck, and 
 squeezed my head against one of the beams. 
 I awoke rather surprised, with an unusual pain 
 in my head, but soon found it was jammed so 
 fast between the tiller and the beam, that I 
 could not get it disengaged. I then cried out 
 for help, and a midshipman that happened to 
 g2 
 
78 LIFE OF 
 
 be there, seeing my distress, ran upon deck, 
 shifted the hehii, and released me. Upon my 
 knees, I thanked God for this wonderful deli- 
 verance. With David, I could say, " There 
 is but a step between me and death,'^ 1 Sam. 
 XX. 3; for had the quartermaster continued 
 to turn the wheel, which he would have done 
 if the midshipman had not seen my situation, 
 and prevented him, he must have fractured 
 my skull, and put a period to my life. Alas! 
 I was then very ill prepared for dying. 
 
 Soon after my arrival at Chatham, being 
 with many others reduced to half-pay, I set 
 oflf for London; and being very desirous of 
 visiting my parents, whom I had not seen for 
 several years, I engaged in the first ship sail- 
 ing for Scotland, and arrived at my father's 
 house in June, 1763. The state of my mind 
 at this time, as near as I can recollect, was 
 that of a proud Pharisee. I had too high an 
 opinion of my own holiness: and although my 
 outward carriage and conversation might indi- 
 cate a species of humility, the language of my 
 heart was to those around me, "Stand off: for 
 I am holier than you." I foolishly imagined 
 that I had now attained to such a happy pro- 
 ficiency in the religion of Jesus, that it was 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 79 
 
 impossible for me ever to fall into gross sins 
 again. I do not recollect that I had even 
 the least idea of my own weakness, or once 
 saw the absolute need of constantly deriving 
 strength from Christ, to withstand the slight- 
 est temptation to evil. My heart also began 
 to be again carried away by an anxious solici- 
 tude about what measures I should take to 
 provide for myself in the world. To give 
 myself up entirely into the hands of Provi- 
 dence in this matter, was a lesson I had not 
 yet learned, neither did I see it requisite that 
 my religion should be constantly interwoven 
 with all I did; that whether I ate or drank, it 
 should all be done to the glory of God : 1 Cor. 
 X. 31. My idea of religion at this time seem- 
 ed to be very different from that of the apos- 
 tle in the place above alluded to. I thought it 
 should never interfere with our worldly busi- 
 ness; and as is too frequently the case with 
 others, when engaged in secular affairs, I fre- 
 quently left it behind, and forgot I had any. 
 
 JOURNEY TO AND RESIDENCE IN FRANCE. 
 
 A restless, worldly spirit, kept me from 
 settling with my parents in Scotland; I re- 
 
80 LIFE OF 
 
 mained with them only a few months, and 
 then set out for London, with a view to push 
 all my interest to get into full pay, and if that 
 should fail, to try to get into some public of- 
 fice, or merchant's counting housej but God 
 in his providence having designed a very dif- 
 ferent plan for me, overturned all my schemes. 
 I remained nearly a year in the house of my 
 kind friend, Mr. Hay, and when I was quite 
 worn out with disappointments, being as far 
 from any appearance of a settlement as ever, 
 a proposal was made to me by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hay, to accompany their son to France. I 
 readily accepted the offer, but very undutifully 
 neither consulted nor acquainted my parents 
 about it, till it was too late; for I had left 
 England almost as soon as they knew my in- 
 tention. But never did a poor deluded crea- 
 ture repent any thing so much as I did this 
 rash step. I then saw no danger; but when I 
 now take a serious review of the six long years 
 of bondage I endured in that strange land of 
 levity and guilt, how melancholy does the re- 
 trospect appear! Oh, what a valuable portion 
 of the prime of my life did I there impiously 
 squander ! How far, very far, did I depart 
 from God, and by my repeated and aggra- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 81 
 
 vated crimes, provoke him to his face! And, 
 yet — (Oh love inexpressible, long-suffering 
 past all comprehension!) I was not consumed. 
 Though I was frequently brought, by severe 
 fits of sickness, to the verge of the grave, his 
 supporting arms were underneath, snatching 
 me in the critical hour from the jaws of de- 
 struction — " that in me He might show forth 
 all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which 
 should hereafter believe on him to life ever- 
 lasting," 1 Tim. i. 16. So dreadfully puffed 
 up was my pharisaical heart, that if an angel 
 from heaven had told me when I embarked 
 for France, that I should there depart from 
 God in the manner I really did, both in heart 
 and practice, I verily believe I should have 
 flatly contradicted him. I bless God, whose 
 prerogative alone it is to bring good out of 
 evil, that with infinite wisdom and love, he 
 so ordered this circumstance as in a great de- 
 gree to make me humble and circumspect. If 
 I can trust my own heart in any thing, I now 
 dread the thought of being left to myself as 
 the worst of evils. But God forbid that I, or 
 any professor of Christianity, should ever 
 take encouragement from this "to do evil 
 that good may come," Rom. iii. 8. I here so- 
 
82 LIFE OF 
 
 lemnly declare, I would not be again in such 
 a dangerous state as I then was for several 
 years in France, for millions of worlds. If 
 God had not mercifully preserved my life, 
 and given me timely repentance, how awful 
 would have been the consequences! 
 
 During the first year of my abode in France, 
 I was so constantly employed in the study of 
 the language, the mathematics, &c., that I was 
 not so much exposed to those temptations 
 which afterwards proved so fatal to me. But 
 being deprived of the conversation of pious 
 people, and of all the public means of grace, 
 such a coldness and deadness of soul ensued, 
 to every thing of a spiritual nature, that the 
 fear of God and the power of religion gradu- 
 ally wore off my mind, until a broad and easy 
 way was made for all the mischief that suc- 
 ceeded. Had I returned to my native coun- 
 try with the person who took me out, it 
 would have been a happy circumstance; but, 
 to my great regret, Mrs. Hay, who had hi- 
 therto been my best friend, now became my 
 greatest enemy, and was so inveterately pre- 
 possessed with a false notion that I had ill- 
 used her son, that all the arguments I could 
 possibly use, never altered her opinion. But 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 83 
 
 God, who sees the hearts and actions of men, 
 knows I was unjustly accused. The breach 
 was several times made up, through the me- 
 dium of her son, and an intimate French ac- 
 quaintance; but the enmity in her heart 
 against me still remained, and we finally part- 
 ed. She lived several months afterwards in 
 the same place; and, although I showed her all 
 possible respect during that interval, (and 
 every body that knew her blamed her conduct 
 with respect to me,) yet so strongly was the 
 prejudice rooted, that she went to England 
 with her son, and left me behind to shift for 
 myself in the centre of a strange country, at 
 least eight hundred miles from home, with 
 nothing more than my half-pay to subsist on. 
 
 I then thought this would have been suffi- 
 cient, but a few years' trial convinced me to 
 the contrary. 
 
 Mr. Hay, the father, notwithstanding what 
 had happened, still continued my friend, and 
 some time after sent me sufficient money to 
 carry me home. Unhappily for me, ere this 
 help came, I had been unwarily led into a fa- 
 tal connexion, which I had no inclination to 
 break off; and Satan had so effectually blind- 
 ed my eyes that I wrapped myself up in a 
 
84 LIFE OF 
 
 golden dream of ease and pleasure, and deter- 
 mined to spend the remainder of my days in 
 France. But when I awoke from this slum- 
 ber, a few years after, and saw my error, I 
 had not the means of returning to England. 
 When Mrs. Hay left me to myself, I had not 
 altogether forgotten the religion I imbibed at 
 Chatham; which prevented me from plung- 
 ing directly into an open course of sin. But 
 Satan, who knew a much more effectual way 
 to draw me over to his side than by a direct 
 attack, made use of fraud, and fatally succeed- 
 ed in his cruel purpose. Had he tempted me 
 at first to the commission of some flagrant sin, 
 I probably should have spurned the tempter 
 with horror. But he being too crafty for me, 
 gilded his bait so well, that I could not forbear 
 swallowing it; and when the hook was well 
 fastened, he led me wherever he ^ pleased. 
 Oh how fatal is the first deviation from the 
 path of rectitude! Though it may perhaps 
 appear so trifling as to be deemed innocent, 
 yet, alarming thought! it is wrapped up with 
 death and destruction, and may terminate in 
 both. 
 
 To set the subtlety of the enemy of souls in 
 a clearer point of view, I will here select one 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 85 
 
 instance out of many, to delineate the multi- 
 tude of ensnaring traps he laid for me, and the 
 artful insinuations he used, to oblige me to 
 break the vow I had made respecting card- 
 playing. A thousand times it was suggested 
 to me that I had made a rash vow. I had not 
 been long in the country, before my French 
 acquaintance, who saw I had an eager desire 
 to learn the language, used every argument to 
 persuade me to play at cards, as the most ef- 
 fectual way of learning the common conversa- 
 tion: but I was not altogether so much off my 
 guard as to be foiled by the first attack. I 
 saw the force of their repeated arguments, but 
 durst not yet comply with their requests. 
 When I visited any neighbouring family, 
 where my countrymen joined in the dance 
 and at the card-table, while I obstinately de- 
 clined these amusements, (at least the cards,) 
 they were caressed and esteemed, whilst I 
 was looked upon as a poor creature who 
 had no education, who did not know the 
 knave of clubs from the king of diamonds. 
 This my proud heart could hardly bear, espe- 
 cially when looking over their shoulders, I 
 have perceived that I knew the game much 
 better than those who held the cards. I won- 
 
86 I^IFE OF 
 
 der I held out so long; for I was then alto- 
 gether ignorant of Satan's devices in this 
 matter. His plan of operation was so deeply 
 laid, that I did not perceive it till God by his 
 Spirit opened my eyes some years afterwards. 
 And then looking back, as near as I can re- 
 collect, these and the following were the me- 
 thods the devil made use of to ensnare me. 
 My greatest conflicts with this temptation 
 were wlien I happened to be the fourth per- 
 son in a company of select friends, and a par- 
 ty of cards was proposed, when there was no 
 possibility of playing without me. Imme- 
 diately followed the most earnest solicita- 
 tions, not to deprive them of the pleasure of 
 an innocent amusement. Perhaps two of 
 the three would be female acquaintance, for 
 whom I had a very sincere and tender re- 
 gard. These latter, with a thousand insinua- 
 ating and persuasive arts, would exert their 
 utmost skill to engage me to a compliance; 
 but still I was enabled resolutely to resist and 
 avoid the snare. 
 
 After this defeat, one might naturally think 
 the enemy would desist from any further at- 
 tack; but Satan is not so soon discouraged as 
 many Christians are. He began a fresh onset 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 87 
 
 from another quarter, in which, to my shame, 
 he at last too well succeeded. It was hardly 
 possible for me, had I been disposed, to avoid 
 company; consequently I was every day an 
 eye-witness to card-playing. It sometimes 
 happened that one of the party being called 
 out of the room upon urgent business, would 
 leave his cards and money upon the table, and 
 earnestly beg of me to take his hand till he 
 returned. The other players would back his 
 solicitations, and use all the force of argument 
 to induce a compliance. When I alleged my 
 vow, (for by this time I had been obliged 
 in my own defence to acknowledge that I had 
 made a very solemn one,) they very artfully 
 told me that they did not look upon the pre- 
 sent circumstance as a breach of it; that the 
 money and cards were not mine, but be- 
 longed to the person who had only begged of 
 me to take them in his absence. Won, alas! 
 by this argument, I at last consented. Con- 
 science took the alarm, and grew clamorous: 
 I endeavoured to silence it as well as I could, 
 by replying that I was not playing for myself, 
 but merely for the person who had left the 
 room. This I did several times, till at last it 
 happened that I lost all the person's money 
 
88 LIFE OF 
 
 for whom I was playing. He not returning 
 during this run of bad luck, some of the com- 
 pany would lend him money, and sometimes 
 I resorted to my own purse; till at length the 
 cards grew so familiar to me by frequent re- 
 petitions of this kind, and the itch for gaming 
 became so predominant, that, proceeding from 
 one step to another, I at last persuaded myself 
 that the vow I had formerly made was a very 
 rash one, and not now to be regarded. This 
 reasoning suiting my inclination, I broke 
 through it with little or no remorse. The 
 Lord left me to myself, till, in a very short 
 time, I ran to such a length that not only 
 every week-day, but almost every sabbath- 
 day, for two or three years together, I spent 
 my time at cards, the billiard-table, or the 
 theatre. Without the least regard to that sa- 
 cred day, I constantly polluted it by indul- 
 gence in every carnal pleasure; and though 
 my conscience did not fail to tell me it ought 
 to be kept holy, and 1 was even so far con- 
 vinced of it as to admonish others; yet so pre- 
 valent was the force of example, that I swam 
 down the torrent of iniquity without inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 It would be too tedious to enter into a mi- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 89 
 
 nute detail of my wicked practices at this 
 time; neither would such a particular account 
 be either useful or agreeable to some of my 
 pious friends, who may perhaps hereafter pe- 
 ruse this narrative. Let it suffice that my 
 time was almost wholly employed in gaming, 
 dancing, and reading. The first of these was 
 my bosom sin, in which I delighted, and to 
 which I sacrificed many valuable hours. The 
 second, with all that train of soul-deceiving 
 amusements and carnal pleasures, beyond 
 which Frenchmen in general have hardly any 
 idea of happiness, I should have been con- 
 strained to pursue, even though my natural 
 disposition had been averse to them. I was 
 always fond of reading, and when once fairly 
 set down to it, I read a great deal. But what 
 may perhaps appear very strange to some, 
 though certainly true, I received more real 
 injury from this, than from the other two 
 amusements. I kept a catalogue of the books 
 I read during my stay in France, which 
 amounted to about four hundred volumes, 
 chiefly French and Italian authors; such as 
 Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert, Tasso, Ari- 
 osto, &c. &c. In English, I read Hume, and 
 some others. In the perusal of these authors 
 H 2 
 
90 LIFE OF 
 
 I bewildered my mind with a confused train 
 of philosophical notions, and I gradually lost 
 sight of true religion, and all revealed truth; 
 so that the grossest sins, which formerly 
 seemed heinous, now assumed a very different 
 aspect, and appeared to be nothing more than 
 lawful gratifications. In short, I was prepared 
 by these emissaries of Satan for the commis- 
 sion of almost any sin to which occasion or 
 inclination might lead me. Not that I be- 
 came altogether a convert to their atheistical 
 principles; for, as I never could find any two 
 of them exactly agree in any one thing, I na- 
 turally concluded they were all wrong. Still 
 their poisonous notions so infected my mind, 
 that from them I drew consequences of my 
 own; plunged into an abstruse labyrinth of 
 diabolical reasoning, and gradually begun to 
 doubt the authenticity of the scriptures, the 
 immortality of the soul, and even the exist- 
 ence of a God. Not that I ever acted from 
 the full persuasion that there was no God, no 
 future state, nor any truth in the scriptures; 
 but these things frequently appearing very 
 dubious, I was kept in a kind of perplexing 
 uncertainty, and acted from no principle at 
 all, living just as a wicked heart and the "god 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 91 
 
 of this world'' chose to lead me. I well re- 
 member suffering a great deal about this time, 
 from the tormenting fears that my soul would 
 perish with my body. I saw no evil in what 
 Christians called sin, and consequently had no 
 dread on that account; besides, I had made a 
 God of my own, (when I could persuade my- 
 self there really was one) so merciful and so 
 very kind, that I thought if I could but be 
 assured my soul was immortal, I was pretty 
 certain it would be happy. Nay, I so much 
 dreaded the horrors of non-existence, that at 
 times I was ready to wish there might be a 
 hell of endless torment in which the soul 
 should live, rather than that it should die with 
 the body, and be buried in eternal night. I 
 used frequently to say to a friend who lived 
 in the same house with me, that I would give 
 any thing to know if my soul were immortal. 
 The following free translation from my jour- 
 nal contains the genuine breathings of my 
 soul, and gives a true picture of the unhappy 
 state of my mind at this period. " The last 
 day of December, 1768. The sun is just 
 set, and ere it again tinges the top of yonder 
 mountains with its cheering rays, the past year 
 (short portion of human life!) will no more be 
 
92 LIFE OF 
 
 reckoned among the number of those which 
 the Supreme Being has destined to measure 
 the duration of our abode in this world! I 
 cannot then better employ the little that re- 
 mains of it than in seriously reflecting upon 
 the end of my existence; which approaches 
 with such constant rapidity. A thousand 
 doubts arise, one after another, in my soul, 
 and make me tremble, ignorant of what I now 
 am, and still more so as to what I shall be! 
 If death is to destroy in me this part which 
 thinks, which reasons, and with so much ar- 
 dour breathes after an assurance of its exist- 
 ence in a future state, what a despicable being 
 do I appear in my own eyes! Beyond all 
 expression miserable! If my soul is nothing 
 more than an organ of my body more deli- 
 cately wound up, whose secret and wonderful 
 movements lie beyond the reach of human 
 conception, but which notwithstanding will 
 one day moulder into dust with the rest, and 
 return to its primitive nothing — how much 
 reason have I to curse the day in which I was 
 born! And what a horrid idea must I enter- 
 tain of Him who has only endued me with the 
 faculty of thinking, that I may better conceive 
 his almighty power thus exerted to make me 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 93 
 
 wretched! death, if thy dominion extends 
 to this dreadful length, I have too much rea- 
 son to tremble at thy approach! What! lose 
 all at once my flattering hopes of immortality, 
 fall in one moment from that state of perfec- 
 tion where I fondly placed myself after this 
 life, into all the horrors of non-existence! 
 Dreadful thought!" 
 
 I generally concluded such reflections as 
 these with arguments to prove the immortality 
 of the soul, and drew a species of real comfort 
 from them J but my doubts and fears were far 
 from being removed: they frequently return- 
 ed to grieve me, and perhaps would have been 
 more intolerable had I not drowned them in 
 pleasure and dissipation. This was a sad re- 
 medy; but I thought it the best that could be 
 applied in such a case, when I had no one near 
 to give me better advice. I believe very few 
 of God's people have been permitted to plunge 
 so deeply into sinful levity and pleasure as 
 myself; but, by the grace of God, being now 
 drawn out of it, I feel impelled to stand up as 
 an experienced witness, loudly to proclaim its 
 total inability to administer one single grain 
 of substantial happiness. It may, and too of- 
 ten does, silence for a while the unwelcome 
 
94 LIFE OF 
 
 checks of conscience, and please the fancy 
 with a multitude of empty dreams and pro- 
 mises which are never realized. In its amuse- 
 ments time may imperceptibly steal away in 
 mirth and laughter; but I never could find it 
 stand the test of one hour's serious reflection. 
 In health, without the restraints of religion, it 
 is next to impossible to withstand its allure- 
 ments. In sickness, its aspect is deformed 
 and disgusting, and the thought of it gives 
 pain instead of pleasure. In death, no sight 
 is so horrid and tormenting as a life spent in 
 such vanity; it is the earnest of future and 
 eternal misery. Oh how different, and how 
 much more to be prized, is that pure unsullied 
 pleasure which flows from a life of faith in the 
 Son of God! In the hour of trial it will stand 
 the strictest scrutiny. It acquires fresh lustre 
 at the approach of sickness, sweetens the bit- 
 ter cup of death, and transforms all its terrors 
 into joys. Jesus will at last crown this grace 
 with glory, and eternity will never witness its 
 termination. Whatever portion of such hea- 
 venly pleasure I might have formerly enjoyed, 
 I certainly was an entire stranger to it now. 
 The various foolish pastimes, carnal pleasures, 
 and sinful gratifications, in which the children 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 95 
 
 of this world continually indulge, engrossed 
 all my attention. I was firmly persuaded that 
 if happiness was to be found in this world, it 
 must be in such a life. Satan had so efiec- 
 tually blinded my eyes in this and many other 
 respects, that I saw nothing of the gulf of sin 
 into which I was now plunged, and conse- 
 quently I had no dread of danger. Nay, so 
 far was I from this, that I thought myself as 
 safe as ever I had been; and what may per- 
 haps appear very strange, notwithstanding I 
 was thus far gone into sin, I continued to pray 
 twice a-day, and every morning read a chap- 
 ter in the Bible, supinely thinking while I did 
 so all was well: when, God knows, such pray- 
 ers as mine, so far from being acceptable, are 
 an abomination in his sight. So little was my 
 heart engaged in them, that I not only found 
 it for the most part thinking on something 
 else, but frequently detected it so deeply en- 
 gaged in a party at whist, or in a game of bil- 
 liards, that I have left off pronouncing words, 
 and never recollected what I was about till 
 some sudden turn in the game, or unusual 
 change of thought, would rouse me to reflect 
 that 1 had kneeled down to pray. 
 
 Being, by the grace of God, at the time I 
 
96 LIFE OF 
 
 am writing this, brought to my right mind, 
 and enabled to take a clear view of my former 
 provocations against him, and of his unbound- 
 ed mercy in not cutting me off, when wilfully 
 transgressing his holy law, or even in the 
 midst of such sinful prayers as these, I am 
 filled with wonder and astonishment that I 
 should love him no more. It is the grief of 
 my soul, that I cannot render unto him that 
 thankful heart, which I know is more than 
 due for his great forbearing love towards me. 
 How often, while in this state of real rebellion 
 against him, was I brought by severe fits of 
 sickness to the very brink of the grave! And 
 yet a secret something, which I could not then 
 rightly comprehend, sweetly whispered that I 
 should not die. Out of how many perils did 
 he deliver me! And from what dangers was 
 I wonderfully rescued! I will mention one 
 out of many, as an instance of his protecting 
 goodness. I was riding one evening along a 
 very rugged road, with a son of the duke of 
 
 N s, and two or three more of my giddy 
 
 companions. My horse, when at full gallop, 
 stumbled, and threw me over his head, to a 
 distance of several paces, among the stones, 
 without my receiving the least hurt; though 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 97 
 
 any one, who witnessed the circumstance, 
 must have conckided my death to be inevita- 
 ble: and no doubt this would have been my 
 fate, if the hand of God had not interposed. 
 Surely his fatherly care was evidently shown 
 towards me in repeated instances of this kind; 
 but in nothing so much as in bringing me out 
 of that dreadful state of security and sin, into 
 which I was voluntarily plunged. The gra- 
 cious work, from first to last, was entirely his 
 own. He rejected my plan, and used another 
 of his own appointment. Therefore I shall 
 endeavour to be particular in this part of my 
 narrative; and may the whole glory redound 
 to Him to whom alone it is due. 
 
 About two years before I was delivered 
 from this worse than Egyptian bondage, the 
 Lord implanted in my heart such a strong de- 
 sire to return to my native country, that no- 
 thing could divert my thoughts from the sub- 
 ject; so that I had little or no relish for most 
 of those worldly pleasures, in which I for- 
 merly took so much delight. I retired from 
 company, and grew reserved and melancholy. 
 But when, like the prodigal, I came seriously 
 to consider about ways and means to return to 
 my earthly father's house, (for as yet I had no 
 
98 LIFE OF 
 
 desire to return to my heavenly Father,) I be- 
 came completely miserable, from the seeming 
 impossibility of ever accomplishing my de- 
 sires. I grieved and pined so much from this 
 melancholy reflection, that my health began 
 to be greatly impaired: I did not, however, 
 remain inactive, but used every method that I 
 could possibly think of, though in vain, to ex- 
 tricate myself from a thraldom that was now 
 become intolerable. The principal obstacle 
 that lay in the way, was my pecuniary em- 
 barrassment. How to discharge my debts, 
 employed my daily thoughts. My father, 
 with all the bowels of paternal love, offered to 
 do his utmost for me; but without essentially 
 hurting himself and family, it was not in his 
 power fully to extricate me. I was foolish 
 enough to attempt to save a sufficiency for 
 this purpose out of my half-pay; but a very 
 short time convinced me that, with the great- 
 est possible economy, it was hardly sufficient 
 to keep me from running further into debt. 
 I then turned my thoughts another way, and 
 endeavoured by a close application to gaming, 
 to amass as much money as would just dis- 
 charge what I owed, and carry me home to 
 England. I sometimes had very sanguine 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 99 
 
 hopes of succeeding, till at length the fancied 
 Babel came tumbling down about my ears, 
 and almost buried me in the ruins. By con- 
 stantly dabbling in the French lotteries, I lost 
 my ready cash, and at the conclusion, found 
 myself twenty pounds worse than when I 
 begun. 
 
 The last resource to which I flew, proved 
 by far the most tedious and laborious; but it 
 gave me much more flattering hopes than 
 either of the others. It not only promised to 
 procure me the necessary assistance, but puff- 
 ed me up with imaginary notions of honour, 
 and of gaining a shining name in the literary 
 world. Spurred on by these prevailing mo- 
 tives, it is surprising what I went through in 
 a close application to study for the space of a 
 year and a half, in order to accomplish my 
 design. Perhaps few Englishmen ever gave 
 themselves half the trouble I did, to acquire a 
 thorough knowledge of the French language. 
 Many a morning has the rising sun found me 
 worn out with poring over my grammar and 
 other rudiments of this tongue ; till by pe- 
 rusing such numbers, and making my own 
 comments upon them, for three or four years, 
 I imbibed the true spirit of them allj and haV' 
 
100 LIFE OF 
 
 ing, from a constant and extensive correspond- 
 ence, acquired some accuracy of style and fa- 
 cility of expression, I began to write short es- 
 says on various subjects, both in prose and 
 verse, particularly the latter, of which I was 
 very fond. Some of these being handed about 
 among my acquaintance, were generally ap- 
 plauded; more I believe from French polite- 
 ness, than because they really merited it. 
 This, however, had such an effect on my vain 
 mind, as urged me not only to continue com- 
 posing, but now and then to publish some 
 pieces in the periodical pamphlets that were 
 constantly teeming from the press. These 
 being generally well received, I was induced 
 to look a little further still, and, from an anec- 
 dote in the history of Scotland, laid the plan 
 of a tragedy. I contrived the plot, fixed upon 
 the characters, measured the acts, sketched 
 out some of the scenes, &c., without any in- 
 tention at first of making it a finished piece; 
 but when I showed it to some very intimate 
 friends, they advised me to execute the plan I 
 had so accurately laid down; and they paint- 
 ed, in such a pleasing manner, not only the 
 profit, but the great honour that would accrue 
 to me from such a performance, that I was in- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 101 
 
 duced to commence the work immediately, 
 big with the most sanguine hopes, that in 
 a very short time 1 should be able, by the 
 strength of my own genius, to work out a 
 glorious deliverance from that state of bondage 
 into which my own folly had brought me. 
 Poor, proud, insignificant worm! This empty 
 bubble supported me for eighteen months, 
 and kept me all that time so constantly writ- 
 ing, that a severe pain in my breast was the 
 consequence, which I feel to this very hour, 
 and probably shall through life. When I had 
 finished this mighty work, from which such 
 great things were expected, I gave it to be 
 corrected by a great connoisseur in the French 
 language, who found such a number of faults 
 in it, and advised me to make so many altera- 
 tions and amendments, that the second effort 
 proved fully as laborious as the first. But the 
 hopes of success supported a weak body, and 
 carried me quite through it. I then sent my 
 tragedy, completely finished, as I imagined, to 
 be perused by an author at Paris, well known 
 there among men of letters, for his ingenious 
 works. To his judgment I thought I might 
 safely submit, and it proved so favourable, 
 that I was quite elated, and thought myself 
 I 2 
 
102 LIFE OF 
 
 sure, not only of its appearing, but succeeding 
 on the stage. However, before this, I was ad- 
 vised to give it another revisal, which, although 
 loath, I was obliged to do. In short, after 
 much fatigue and labour, it was put into the 
 hands of Monsieur le Kain, the first actor and 
 manager of the theatre at Paris, where it re- 
 mained several weeks; I all that time suffer- 
 ing the most excruciating suspense. At last 
 the fatal sentence arrived, couched in a few 
 words: — " That though there were some well- 
 executed scenes in it, there was also a stiffness 
 of style, and many other blemishes, which 
 would hinder its succeeding on the stage." 
 This stunned me like a stroke of thunder. 
 The disappointment was so great, I was hard- 
 ly able to bear up under the intolerable load 
 of grief that fell upon my mind, especially 
 when my friend wrote me word from Paris, 
 that unless I would give the manager money, 
 and bribe some of the other principal actors, 
 there would be no prevailing with them to 
 bring my piece on the stage, even though it 
 were preferable to many that were brought 
 forward. This was a finishing blow; cut off 
 all hope, and rendered every future attempt 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 103 
 
 of amendment altogether needless. It was 
 money I wanted — I had none to give away. 
 
 I have been the more particular in relating 
 every little incident concerning this matter, 
 because by it I was reduced to the lowest 
 possible distress; my body pained and ema- 
 ciated; my soul bowed down under the weight 
 of the most pungent sorrow, with the dismal 
 prospect before me of perishing at last in a 
 strange land, far from every one that was near 
 or dear to me. Oh the boundless mercy of 
 that Being who beheld me in this woful 
 plight, and graciously brought me relief! 
 While all my airy projects were ending in 
 disappointment, he was planning effectual 
 means for my deliverance; and just at the 
 very crisis when my soul was sinking under 
 its grief, and the balm of comfort was most 
 wanted, he was at hand to administer it. For 
 nearly the space of two years before this, by 
 the close application I gave to writing, and an 
 irresistible bias to a melancholy disposition, I 
 had willingly dropped the greatest part of my 
 worldly acquaintance, especially those of my 
 own nation, and had formed a resolution to 
 contract no new connexion with any of them 
 that might afterwards come to the place. But 
 
104 LIFE OF 
 
 God had determined otherwise, and my weak 
 resolves were soon thrown down to make way 
 for him to work. A gentleman that had lived 
 in the same house, importuned me from day 
 to day to visit an English lady, who had been 
 some time in the town, whose company he 
 assured me I should certainly like, from the 
 amiable qualities she possessed. Prevailed on 
 by his repeated solicitations, I at last com- 
 plied, and found her to be really what he had 
 described. Her sweetness of temper, affabil- 
 ity, and generous and humane disposition, 
 were so attractive, that I could not forbear 
 often repeating my visits, till, by degrees, I 
 became her most confidential friend. My 
 pride would never suffer me to mention to 
 her the unhappy situation I was in; but her 
 penetration pierced through a forced com- 
 posure of countenance to the latent grief that 
 was preying on my heart, and from some un- 
 guarded words dropped in conversation, she 
 guessed at the real cause of my dejection, and 
 immediately determined (as she has since told 
 me) to embrace the first favourable opportu- 
 nity of removing it. Some months after- 
 wards, she left the place to go to Italy, and 
 desired I would take care of a few trifling 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 105 
 
 things that were making for her in town, for 
 which she could not wait; promising to send 
 me money from Lyons to pay for them. In 
 a few weeks she sent me a considerable sum 
 to pay for her things, and in the most enga- 
 ging generous manner, insisted on my making 
 use of the overplus to carry me to England. 
 This, with the gift sent me by an indulgent 
 father, was not only amply sufficient to pay 
 my debts, but enough to defray the expense of 
 travelling home. my soul, stop here and 
 admire the goodness, the exuberant goodness, 
 of that gracious Being, who, in infinite love, 
 sent this unexpected and seasonable supply to 
 the most undeserving of all his creatures! and 
 that (as I have already mentioned) at the dis- 
 tressing juncture when all my hopes of deli- 
 verance from every other quarter had entirely 
 vanished! Who would not love such a God? 
 How comes it to pass, my unfeeling heart, 
 that thou dost not love him more? Has he 
 done so much for me, and shall I not love 
 him? Yes, blessed Jesus, under the influ- 
 ence of thy rich grace, my soul, my body, my 
 time, my talents, and every thing I have, shall 
 be wholly devoted to thee. Having thus ob- 
 tained the means of returning home, I longed 
 
106 LIFE OF 
 
 to set off without a moment's delay: but was 
 persuaded to stay a few weeks longer for some 
 of my countrymen who proposed going with 
 me, that travelling might be made cheaper 
 and mare agreeable. 
 
 In the month of May, 1770, about three 
 o'clock in the morning, I was released from 
 my six years' heavy bondage; and w4th a heart 
 filled with joy, though not truly sensible of its 
 mercy, I kneeled down on the stones, and ia 
 a very irreverent manner, with my laughing 
 companions around me, thanked God for my 
 deliverance. Happy would it be for me, 
 could I now feel imprinted on my soul a more 
 grateful sense of this unmerited favour. Be- 
 fore I land myself on English ground,^ let me 
 take another cursory review of my mind at 
 this rejoicing period. I know very well 
 how it was, but find it altogether beyond ray 
 power to describe in any degree to my satis- 
 faction. My confused brain was teeming with 
 a multitude of philosophical notions, which I 
 could not rightly digest; and from this rank 
 soil, that poisonous weed, pride, seemed to 
 shoot up to an unusual height. I now looked 
 upon myself as one who, by dint of study and 
 reflection, had entirely shaken off the preju^ 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 107 
 
 dices of education, and got above the religion 
 of the country in which I was born. I seem- 
 ed free from the spirit of persecution, and did 
 not hate those who lirmly adhered to the 
 Christian faith; but I looked down upon them 
 with an eye of pity, as well-meaning people, 
 who knew no better. My religion I thought 
 was now of the most refined description, tho- 
 roughly purged from every bigoted principle, 
 and what all men of sense would readily ap- 
 prove: though it would puzzle an abler judg- 
 ment than mine rightly to define what it was. 
 I did not rely on my own works for salva- 
 tion; neither did I trust to the merits of Jesus 
 Christ. I believe my chief prop for heaven 
 was a wavering, unstable hope, that the Su- 
 preme Being (if there were any) would rather 
 choose to make me happy, than eternally mi- 
 serable. Amidst this confused crowd of hel- 
 lish ideas, I frequently heard the murmuring 
 of two distinct voices, which sometimes forced 
 me alternately to listen to them, and even 
 obliged me to acknowledge the truth of what 
 they said. One, an importunate visiter, very 
 roughly told me I was wrong; and when I 
 endeavoured to convince him to the contrary, 
 would grow so bold and clamorous, that, for 
 
108 LIFE OF 
 
 the sake of a little peace, I was obliged as it 
 were to stifle him for a time in the pursuit of 
 some worldly pleasure; but I never could si- 
 lence him altogether. The other I listened to 
 with delight, while he sweetly whispered to 
 me in the language of hope, that a day would 
 come when I should alter my present way of 
 thinking, and adopt one far better. This se- 
 cret internal something, in a manner which I 
 cannot describe, gave me friendly hints that 
 my state was far from being safe, and that God 
 would not suffer me to perish in it. 
 
 RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 In this frame of mind, as nearly as I can 
 recollect, I arrived in England, after having 
 spent six weeks at Paris, at the time of the 
 marriage of king Louis, rolling in every for- 
 bidden pleasure, and delighting without re- 
 morse in all the sinful gratifications which 
 that polluted city could present to its votaries. 
 On my coming to London, I was so surfeit- 
 ed with those pleasures in which the world 
 places its chief happiness, that for a time, I 
 had no relish to partake any more of them; 
 but God knows, that, notwithstanding this, I 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 109 
 
 had not the least desire after any thing that 
 was good. My whole conduct and way of 
 thinking were so visibly different from what 
 they were when I left England, that all my 
 former acquaintance, especially those at Chat- 
 ham, could not forbear taking particular no- 
 tice of the change. They that feared God 
 saw it with sorrow, and I believe prayed for 
 me — (the Lord reward them for their pray- 
 ers, for they were surely heard). To others 
 it was a matter of satisfaction, and a good 
 subject for mirth, to perceive that their for- 
 mer bigoted companion had now effectual- 
 ly wiped off what they and I were pleased 
 to call the prejudices of religion. Upon 
 my arrival in Scotland, it was still worse. 
 A pious father and mother, with sorrow of 
 heart, soon remarked the melancholy change, 
 which I had not hypocrisy enough to con- 
 ceal. They so often repeated this expres- 
 sion, "France has been your ruin," that I 
 begun seriously to reflect, whether it really 
 was so or not. Upon a strict examination 
 of what I had experienced seven or eight 
 years before, I could hardly persuade myself 
 it was all a delusion; but was rather inclined 
 to think there might be some reality in it: 
 
 K 
 
110 LIFE OF 
 
 and if so, I naturally concluded I could not 
 be right now, because nothing could be more 
 clear than the difference there was between 
 the state of my mind at that period and at 
 the present. Notwithstanding these secret 
 misgivings, I was both ashamed and loath to 
 give up a system of religion, or I should rather 
 say of irreligion, so well suited to my natural 
 inclination, and probably should have carried 
 it with me to the grave, if grace had not pre- 
 vented. The chief cause why I afterwards 
 discarded it was, that God in mercy to me 
 would not let me keep it. The repeated ad- 
 monitions of my pious relatives, to which I 
 was forced to listen, helped greatly to con- 
 firm the suspicions about the safety of my 
 state; and from one step to another, my doubts 
 imperceptibly increased, till at last I began to 
 grow restless and uneasy. I sometimes wished 
 I had never imbibed these pernicious princi- 
 ples, which still retained their chief seat in 
 my heart. What seemed most to shake my 
 suspicions at this time, was the remembrance 
 of that Pharisaical disposition and spiritual 
 pride with which I was puffed up when I 
 left Chatham; and a secret and strong persua- 
 sion that God had thus left me on purpose, to 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. Ill 
 
 root it out effectually, by showing me how 
 unable I was to stand when left to myself, 
 and to what dreadful lengths I was liable to 
 run. These reflections were accompanied by 
 a hope that God would one daj^ restore me to 
 his favour; but how, or when, or where, this 
 mighty change should be effected, I had no 
 conception. So far from this, I was led to 
 believe it a thing almost impossible: the 
 whole bent of my mind was so diametrical- 
 ly opposite to a practical reception of the 
 truths revealed in the gospel, that had it not 
 been for this secret hope that encouraged me, 
 I never should have attempted to search after 
 them. I attended on the means of grace. I 
 read; I prayed; but my heart remained just 
 as hard and insensible, and, if possible, more 
 prone than ever to every thing that was bad. 
 But God, who is "rich in mercy, worketh 
 and none can let.'^ He, therefore, made use 
 of such instruments as proved effectual, to 
 raze the foundation of all those false hopes 
 and erroneous notions by which the devil 
 held me fast. 
 
 The first things that made any evident im- 
 pression upon me, were the pious letters of 
 my Christian correspondents: though I could 
 
112 LIFE OF 
 
 not then embrace what they advanced, yet I 
 clearly saw its truth, and longed to be in their 
 safe and happy state. I disputed with them^ 
 but it was with a kind of reluctance; and one 
 thing has frequently struck me, that though I 
 was well persuaded of my ability to stagger 
 them by raising arguments, which I had pick- 
 ed up in disputing with the Roman Catholics, 
 yet I never was permitted to make use of 
 them. When I attempted it, a se<;ret im- 
 pulse from within seemed to whisper thus: — 
 "What! turn advocate for Satan! Not con- 
 tent with being blinded by him yourself,, 
 must you endeavour to delude others!'^ 
 This, together with a kind of secret pride, 
 lest my friends should think I was ten times 
 worse than they at first imagined, prevented 
 my throwing stumbling-blocks in their way* 
 Though I was unwilling to yield to the force 
 of my correspondents' arguments, yet I could 
 not help being convinced that they were 
 agreeable to the word of God, and I found 
 they gained more and more upon me every 
 day, till by the grace of Jesus they had im- 
 perceptibly created a secret and growing de- 
 sire to be reconciled to the infinitely gracious 
 Being, whom I was now made sensible I 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 113 
 
 had most grievously offended. Blessed be 
 the name of the Lord ! he did not stop here. 
 If he had, these slight impressions would soon 
 have worn off, and I had now been either en- 
 during torment, or, what is next to it, wal- 
 lowing in sin. But his rich mercy followed 
 me from one means to another, till my im- 
 penitent heart felt the power of his grace, was 
 made willing to submit to his sovereign will, 
 and to accept of free and full salvation by a 
 crucified Redeemer. 
 
 I had been but a few months with my 
 friends in Scotland, when I was unexpectedly 
 ordered upon actual service, and obliged to 
 repair to London with all speed. I arrived 
 there in December, 1770, after a tedious and 
 perilous passage by sea, having more than 
 once or twice experienced the goodness of 
 God in delivering me from the most immi- 
 nent danger. He had gracious purposes of 
 love towards me, which were ripening apace, 
 and just ready to be manifested. Some mili- 
 tary business detained me in London nearly 
 two months; in which interval God was 
 pleased to employ two very powerful means 
 to break asunder the chains of darkness, by 
 which Satan had long led me captive at his 
 K 2 
 
114 LIFE OF 
 
 will. The first was the unexpected and me- 
 lancholy account of the death of a dearly be- 
 loved brother. He was my only brother, and 
 I loved him as my own soul ! The painful, 
 though friendly stroke, fell with uncommon 
 weight upon my mind, and a circumstance, 
 somewhat remarkable, served to render it still 
 more affecting. I received the gloomy com- 
 munication upon nearly the same spot where, 
 seven or eight years before, we had taken our 
 last affectionate farewell of each other. Oh 
 how pungent and solemn was the thought! It 
 preyed upon my soul, making me seriously 
 reflect upon my latter end, and compelling 
 me (though with dread) to look beyond the 
 grave, towards that awful and eternal state 
 into which my dear brother had just entered. 
 I now began, in good earnest, to see the vani- 
 ty and dangerous tendency of those abomi- 
 nable and erroneous notions to which I had 
 tenaciously adhered for several years. They 
 now stood dressed in their proper colours, 
 and loudly proclaimed their diabolical origin. 
 A strong and restless desire to be savingly 
 united to God and his people, drove them 
 from the place they held in my heart, and 
 evidently prevailed in their room. I saw the 
 
MA JOE GENEEAL ANDEEW BURN. 115 
 
 absolute necessity there was of such a Saviour 
 as Jesus Christ, and was convinced there was 
 no possibility of being saved any other way 
 than by him. But not feeling as yet any love 
 in my heart towards him, nor perceiving in 
 his glorious person any thing that I thought 
 would ever attract my affections, I grieved, 
 and mourned, and wept; being well per- 
 suaded, that unless I loved Jesus Christ, there 
 could be no hope of my salvation. Besides, I 
 was as yet under the domineering power of 
 sin, neither had the Lord shewn me its hei- 
 nous nature, nor that most dreadful of all 
 sights, my abominably wicked heart. That 
 he reserved for another period. He seemed 
 now to be drawing me to himself with " the 
 cords of love." 
 
 About a fortnight or more after my bro- 
 ther's death, while I continued in a mournful- 
 ly disconsolate state of mind, because I could 
 not love Christ, I dreamed a very distinct and 
 remarkable dream, which had such a happy ef- 
 fect upon my heart, that I have ever since look- 
 ed upon it as the principal means the Almighty 
 was pleased to employ in bringing about my 
 thorough conversion. I thought I was sitting 
 a little before daylight in the morning, with 
 
116 LIFE OF 
 
 my deceased brother, on the wall of the pa- 
 rish church-yard, where we had lived many 
 years together. We remained silent for some 
 time, and then he asked me if I would not go 
 with him into the church. I readily consent- 
 ed, and immediately rising up, walked with 
 him towards the porch, or outer gate, which 
 I thought was very large and spacious; but 
 when we had passed through it, and came to 
 the inner door that led directly into the body 
 of the church, some way or other, but how I 
 could not well conceive, my brother slipt in 
 before me; and when I attempted to follow, 
 which I was all eagerness to do, the door, 
 which slid from the top to the bottom, like 
 those in some fortified towns on the conti- 
 nent, was instantly let down more than half 
 way, so that I now found it requisite to bend 
 myself almost double before I could possibly 
 enter. But as I stooped to try, the door con- 
 tinued falling lower and lower, and conse- 
 quently the passage became so narrow that I 
 found it altogether impracticable in that pos- 
 ture. Grieved to be left behind, and deter- 
 mined to get in, if possible, I fell down on 
 my hands, and tried to squeeze my head and 
 shoulders through; but finding myself still too 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 117 
 
 high, I then kneeled down, crept, wrestled, 
 and pushed more eagerly, but all to no pur- 
 pose. Vexed to the last degree, yet unwill- 
 ing to be left outside, I came to the resolution 
 of throwing off all my clothes, and crawling 
 like a worm; but being very desirous to pre- 
 serve a fine silk embroidered waistcoat which 
 I had brought from France, I kept that on in 
 hopes of being able to carry it with me. Then 
 laying myself flat on my face, I toiled and 
 pushed, and strove, soiled my embroidered 
 waistcoat, but could not get in, after all. At 
 last, driven almost to despair, I stripped my- 
 self entirely, and forced my body between the 
 door and the ground, till the rough stones 
 and gravel tore all the skin and flesh upon 
 my breast, and (as I thought) covered me 
 with blood. Indifferent, however, about this, 
 and perceiving I advanced a little, I continued 
 to strive and squeeze with more violence than 
 ever, till at last I got safely through. As soon 
 as I stood upon my feet on the inside, an invi- 
 sible hand clothed me in a long white robe; 
 and as I turned round to view the place, I saw 
 a goodly company of saints, among whom was 
 my brother, all dressed in the same manner, 
 partaking of the Lord's supper. I sat down 
 
118 LIFE OF 
 
 in the midst of them, and the bread and wine 
 being administered to me, I felt such seraphic 
 joy, such celestial ecstasy, as no mortal can 
 express. I heard a voice call me three times 
 by name, saying I was wanted at home. My 
 joy was so great and overcoming, that it soon 
 broke asunder the silken bands of sleep, and 
 made me start up in my bed, singing the high 
 praises of God. 
 
 So much was I impressed by this remark- 
 able dream, that from this day I was enabled 
 to begin an entirely new life, which (as I ad- 
 vanced in the saving knowledge of divine 
 things) proved as different from the life I had 
 led for several years back, as it is possible any 
 two opposites can be. Old things were now 
 done away, and all things became new. Not 
 that I obtained a complete victory over my 
 domineering sins all at once, or renounced all 
 my false opinions in one day: but a bitter and 
 eternal war was instantly declared against the 
 one, and as God made the discovery to me, I 
 let go the other. My mind was gradually 
 enlightened to comprehend the glorious and 
 important truths of the everlasting gospel, 
 and the eyes of my understanding were so 
 opened, to discern spiritual things, that I now 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREAV BURN. 119 
 
 read my Bible with wonder and astonish- 
 ment. I paused almost at every sentence, 
 ruminating within myself; and could hardly 
 be persuaded whether or not I had ever read 
 many of the passages before, so amazingly 
 were they opened, and so very different did 
 the meaning of them appear to be from what 
 I had previously apprehended. The sweet 
 and comfortable impression which this dream 
 left upon my mind for many days, encouraged 
 and inspired me with fresh vigour in the pur- 
 suit of heavenly things. I now plainly saw 
 that I had long strayed in the wilderness of 
 error, and was fully and delightfully con- 
 vinced the good Shepherd had found me out, 
 and was determined to carry me back again 
 to his fold. But what is very astonishing, I 
 did not yet perceive any sensible drawings of 
 affection after him, or feel in my heart that 
 love and delight which, blessed be his name! 
 I humbly trust, I have at times since sweetly 
 experienced. Nor, till nearly a year after- 
 wards, did I rightly conceive in any adequate 
 degree what was meant by the intolerable 
 burden of sin. But as the Lord increased 
 and strengthened my faith, and shed abroad 
 his love in my heart, sin, that accursed thing, 
 
120 LIFE OF 
 
 grew blacker and blacker, till at last the sight 
 became so odious, that had not he first very 
 tenderly comforted me, I never could have 
 borne what I felt of it in my own breast. 
 While God continued gradually to initiate me 
 in the divine life, and graciously condescended 
 to give me brighter discoveries of his redeem- 
 ing love, my spiritual enemies were not inac- 
 tive. Many secret and dangerous snares were 
 laid to entrap my soul, and hinder my pro- 
 gress in the heavenly road; but the God of 
 boundless love and pity, who kindly beheld 
 my critical situation, not only kept them from 
 hurting me, but exerted in my behalf that 
 power which is peculiar to himself, of bring- 
 ing good out of evil. 
 
 A few weeks after my dream, though I had 
 every reason to fear being sent to the West 
 Indies, (as an officer who exchanged duties 
 with me was,) yet the Lord, whose watchful 
 eye was over me, so overruled events, that I 
 was securely and speedily fixed among my 
 former pious friends and acquaintance at 
 Chatham, and to my great joy at last happily 
 united to the person I had loved for many 
 years: in short, I was now more comfortably 
 settled in life than I had ever yet been; freed 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 121 
 
 from the pressure of poverty, and a number 
 of otlier worldly cares and embarrassments, 
 to which I had long been exposed. But here 
 a vigilant enemy contrived his well-timed 
 scheme, and brought it to a dreadful length 
 ere I perceived the danger. Wrapping me 
 round in the comforts of this world, he found 
 an easy passage into my corrupt heart, and 
 insensibly drew away my affections into an 
 eager, restless desire for the enjoyment of 
 those poor perishing vanities. So deeply 
 was my attention at last engaged in this pur- 
 suit, and so effectually had the god of this 
 world blinded the eyes of my understanding, 
 that I not only begun to lose a relish for spi- 
 ritual things, and the believing view of hea- 
 venly objects, but a thick veil was likewise 
 drawing over all that the Lord had just been 
 doing for me; and had not his grace speedily 
 prevented, I had undoubtedly fallen a prey 
 to the snare of the enemy, and, like Demas, 
 should entirely have forsaken the cause of 
 a crucified Saviour. But I was suddenly 
 aroused from my spiritual lethargy by a 
 friendly but severe stroke of his rod; so se- 
 vere that to this day I feel the smart of it in 
 my body, and probably shall carry the marks 
 
122 LIFE OF 
 
 of it to my grave. It was nothing more at 
 first than a little swelling on my neck about 
 the size of a nut, of which for some time I 
 took little or no notice, imagining it would 
 go away, as it came, without giving me any 
 pain or trouble. But God, seeing it was high 
 time to afflict me, used this swelling as a rod, 
 causing it to increase to such a degree, that I 
 was glad to have recourse to medical advice ; 
 but without effect. It enlarged inwardly, and 
 gradually spread till it got below the clavicle, 
 or collar-bone, and gave me so much pain that 
 I was at last obliged to undergo the excruciat- 
 ing operation of having it cut; and after all, 
 the infected part was found to be so deep, 
 there was no getting at the bottom to heal it 
 by any outward application. It grew worse 
 and worse, threw me every now and then 
 into a fever, and by a constant and copious 
 discharge emaciated my body, and reduced 
 me to so low a state, that all who saw me na- 
 turally concluded it would soon put a period 
 to my life. In this crisis, the happy effects 
 which a God of love intended should flow 
 from this affliction began to appear; the 
 thoughts of death in my present state, lay 
 with uncommon weight upon my mind, and 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 123 
 
 caused such deep searchings of heart, that I 
 was made willing to forsake all for some com- 
 fortable hope of my eternal bliss by Jesus 
 Christ. The world, that gilded vanity, which 
 I had been sinfully hugging in my bosom till 
 it had well nigh destroyed me, now shrunk 
 from my fond embrace, an ugly, deformed 
 thing. I blushed to think I had been so mean 
 as to place my affections one moment upon it, 
 and resolutely determined for the future to 
 give my heart entirely to God, who had an 
 indisputable right to it. 
 
 The finger of the Lord was so evidently 
 manifest to me in this affliction, that I can 
 truly say, if ever I was in any degree thank- 
 ful for any of his mercies, it was for this. At 
 first indeed it was grievous, very grievous to 
 bear, but as soon as I perceived its happy ef- 
 fects, and saw the absolute necessity there was 
 for it, (I desire to speak to the glory of his 
 grace) I really in some measure delighted in 
 my pain; seemed to enjoy it as a valuable 
 thing, and blessed his holy name, for this soul- 
 satisfying token of his fatherly love and care. 
 Yet, strange to think, so strong is my natural 
 propensity to doubt, that I frequently question 
 whether God ever loved me or not. Cursed 
 
124 LIFE OF 
 
 sin! May that all-sufficient grace which has 
 upheld me hitherto, now give me an entire 
 dominion over it. Surely I, of all men, have 
 no reason to douht of the love of God, were I 
 only to allege this affliction as a proof of it. 
 When my wandering heart is too much drawn 
 out after the objects of time and sense, a gen- 
 tle stroke of this rod (which is still suspended 
 over me) gives the friendly warning, puts me 
 in mind of my latter end, and points toward 
 heaven. Oh what a treasure is sanctified af- 
 fliction! No sooner did I feel the happy ef- 
 fects of it upon my soul at this time, than I 
 began with more earnestness than ever to seek 
 after God. I longed for close communion 
 with him; I delighted in his courts, and in 
 the solemn assemblies of the more select com- 
 pany of his spiritual worshippers. In short, I 
 could not rest till I had become, in a more in- 
 timate and public manner, one of those de- 
 spised people whom, a few months before, I 
 had looked upon with pity and contempt, as 
 ignorant fanatics, deceiving themselves and 
 willing to deceive others. The people of God, 
 of every denomination, poor or rich, now be- 
 came to me "the excellent of the earth,'^ in 
 whom was all my delight. I loved them from 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 125 
 
 my heart, because they belonged to Christ and 
 bore his image, and through his grace, I can 
 do so still. I have not perceived my affection 
 for them abated, and humbly trust I never 
 shall. Surely nothing less than divine power 
 could in the space of a few months have thus 
 effectually overthrown the massive bulwarks 
 of infidelity, which Satan had been continually 
 strengthening for the space of six years in my 
 corrupt heart, or have bent my vicious and 
 stubborn will to embrace the self-abasing doc- 
 trines of the gospel. That such a change has 
 been wrought, I am as certain as of my own 
 existence: so likewise am I confident that it 
 was not in the smallest degree attributable to 
 any inherent strength of my own. God alone 
 must have been the author of it. To him 
 therefore be all the glory. Nothing but 
 shame and confusion belongs to me, for hav- 
 ing so ill-requited a God of such boundless 
 compassion. He has done great things for 
 me, I have done but little for him in return; 
 yet still the same grace that begun the work, 
 has I trust hitherto carried it on; so that I can 
 say with the apostle, "By the help of God, I 
 continue unto this day." 
 
 Before I conclude this feeble attempt to il- 
 l2 
 
126 LIFE or 
 
 lustrate the freeness of Jesus's love to the 
 most undeserving of all his creatures, I will 
 just mention some marks of his tenderness and 
 care, which in great condescension he deigned 
 to confer upon me, after he had mercifully 
 called me from the tyranny of Satan into the 
 happy freedom of the gospel. Some time be- 
 fore, and even after, I had joined a society of 
 Christians, I frequently doubted the soundness 
 of my conversion, and consequently the safety 
 of my state from not having keenly felt what 
 I so often heard them talking about — terrors 
 of conscience, deep convictions of sin, horrors 
 of mind on account of the impending wrath 
 of God, and the impossibility of entering the 
 kingdom of heaven without feeling something 
 of such emotions. It was not long before 
 these doubts and fears were graciously re- 
 moved; but, as I have already hinted, in pro- 
 portion as the love of Christ increased in my 
 soul, a daily hatred to sin was excited. I gra- 
 dually saw the dreadful consequences that at- 
 tended it, and how odious it was in the sight 
 of a pure and holy God. At these happy sea- 
 sons when the Lord was pleased to give me 
 any singular manifestations of his love, a holy 
 tremor seemed to seize me, lest I should do 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 127 
 
 any thing that might offend him. Whenever 
 I was made sensible of sinning, either by omis- 
 sion or commission, in thought, word, or deed, 
 the bitter tears, heavy groans, and excruciating 
 pangs of soul I went through, till they were 
 removed by a believing view of the atoning 
 sacrifice of our Lord, no mortal can conceive 
 but those who have experienced something of 
 the same kind. And to this day, as I am 
 never without sin, I can truly say it is a con- 
 tinual source of sorrow to me. It is a heavy 
 burden under which I should soon sink, if I 
 did not experimentally know that Jesus died 
 to save me from its reigning power, as well 
 as from the punishment it deserves. 
 
 As I have every reason to praise God for 
 these favours, so ought I also to bless and 
 magnify his holy name as the hearer and an- 
 swerer of prayer generally. I can boldly say 
 from my heart, I have truly found him such, 
 and never more so than when he has refused 
 a direct and immediate grant of my petitions. 
 For then I have frequently seen in the issue, 
 that I had ten times more reason to thank him 
 for the refusal, than if he had at once granted 
 me what I asked. I will just mention one 
 instance of this kind as a specimen of many, 
 
128 LIFE OF 
 
 previously observing that when clear views of 
 divine truth were first imparted to me, I fre- 
 quently prayed that whenever he called me 
 to embark in a man-of-war, (that dreadful 
 abode for a Christian, which I had long in- 
 habited) I might even there find some serious 
 person to converse with, who, by good advice 
 and a pious example, might be the means of 
 preventing me from falling. But this prayer 
 I had for some time neglected to offer up, and 
 indeed had entirely forgotten; though God 
 had not, as will be seen by tbe sequel. About 
 forty years ago, when I was a subaltern in the 
 royal marine corps, two other officers and my- 
 self were ordered to embark, one in each of 
 the three guard ships then stationed in the 
 Medway. Two of them lay close to the 
 Dock-yard, affording at all times easy access 
 to the shore; but the other, the Resolution of 
 74 guns, was moored half-way down the river, 
 towards Sheerness, from whence in winter and 
 bad weather it was troublesome to land, and 
 sometimes impracticable. For this reason it 
 was natural for each of us to wish for one of 
 the Chatham ships, and strong interest was 
 accordingly made by us respectively with the 
 commanding officer, for this purpose. But he. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 129 
 
 finding he must necessarily disoblige one of 
 the three, ordered us to attend the parade next 
 morning, and draw lots for our ships. This 
 of course drove me to my strong hold, and if 
 ever I prayed with fervency in my life, it was 
 now. I pleaded hard with the Searcher of 
 hearts, that he knew my chief motive for de- 
 siring one of the Chatham ships was, that I 
 might constantly attend the means of grace 
 and the ordinances of his house; and I felt 
 confidence that if I really was a child of God, 
 he would grant my request — since the "lot 
 thus cast into the lap" was wholly at his dis- 
 posal! The important morning came, and I 
 drew the dreaded ship, down the river. Had 
 I drawn my death warrant, I hardly think it 
 would have affected me more. My prayer 
 was now apparently rejected, and the enemy 
 of souls taking advantage of the agitated state 
 of my depraved heart, easily made me draw 
 the conclusion, either that I was no Christian, 
 or that God paid no attention to those who 
 professed to be such. In this gloomy despond- 
 ing state, like a criminal going to execution, I 
 embarked the same forenoon in His Majesty's 
 ship Resolution, lying in a dreary part of the 
 Medway, a few miles from Sheerness. I had 
 
130 LIFE OF 
 
 just time to be introduced to the officers in the 
 ward-room, when dinner came in. The third 
 lieutenant, happening to be caterer that week, 
 of course stood up at the head of the table and 
 asked a blessing; but with so much serious- 
 ness as quite astonished me; for being well 
 acquainted with the customs of the ward-room 
 in a king's ship, I had never heard any thing 
 of the kind so solemnly pronounced there be- 
 fore, and I determined to mark every word 
 which proceeded from that gentleman's lips, 
 in the hope of hearing something that might 
 enable me to ascertain his character. Nothing 
 decisive occurred during dinner; but no sooner 
 was the wine placed upon the table, than he 
 was attacked by several of his messmates on 
 his religious sentiments, and I soon discovered 
 that he bore the genuine marks of a true 
 Christian, by his judicious reproofs, and the 
 very able manner in which he confuted all 
 their infidel arguments. Wishing, I suppose, 
 to know what spirit I was of, they frequently 
 appealed to me for the truth of what they ad- 
 vanced; but having always decided against 
 them, I was imperceptibly drawn into the dis- 
 putation on the side of the caterer. When the 
 allowance of wine was drunk (for it was a so- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 131 
 
 ber well-regulated mess) the purser rose and 
 broke up the company, exclaiming with an 
 oath, " Our new messmate is as great a Metho- 
 dist as Tomlinson."* I smiled, well pleased 
 to be associated with such a man. As two 
 needles touched with the loadstone, when they 
 fall near to each other among chaff, will soon 
 come together, so this Methodist lieutenant 
 and myself speedily came into contact. After 
 having exchanged a few questions, we went 
 down to his cabin in the gun-room, had an 
 hour's comfortable conversation, and con- 
 cluded with prayer, although a few hours be- 
 fore we had never seen one another's faces. 
 This singular circumstance could not fail to 
 bring to my recollection, the prayer I had so 
 culpably forgotten, now completely granted, 
 and I began to be reconciled to the ship pro- 
 vidence had assigned me; but that God, who 
 abounds in goodness, and delights in mercy, 
 never confers his favours by halves. A few 
 days had hardly elapsed when an order came 
 from the Admiralty, to send the Resolution 
 up to Chatham, and one of the ships there to 
 
 * Lieutenant Tomlinson was a pious, sensible, and 
 well-informed man, then well known in the Christian 
 
 world. 
 
132 LIFE OF 
 
 take its place. This was such welcome news 
 to all on board, that lest the order should be 
 countermanded, we obeyed it the same day; 
 for the wind and tide favouring, we weighed, 
 and came to an anchor off the Dock-yard be- 
 fore two o'clock. Thus my prayer, at first 
 apparently rejected, was now completely an- 
 swered; but it was in the Lord's way. Had 
 mine been attended to, and I had drawn the 
 ship that went down the river, I should have 
 been miserable. So true it is, we ^Minow not 
 what we should pray for as we ought," Rom. 
 viii. 26. 
 
 As God had thus been very merciful in not 
 granting my requests in my own way, so like- 
 wise has he been remarkably gracious at other 
 times in hearing and answering my petitions. 
 An instance or two will be sufficient to esta- 
 blish this soul-comforting truth. Some time 
 ago, finding my heart and aflfections (as, alas! 
 I too frequently have done since) very much 
 carried away after the perishing things of the 
 world, my zeal abating, and my love for spi- 
 ritual things growing cold and languid, and of 
 course, my joy and peace in believing almost 
 entirely vanished, I tried every means to re- 
 move the growing evil; went from duty to 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 133 
 
 duty, made resolution upon resolution, wres- 
 tled and prayed, but all to no purpose. The 
 love of the world seemed to prevail over the 
 love of Christ. At last, weighed down under 
 the heavy burden, and almost ready to give 
 over, I prayed fervently to God, that as he 
 had formerly blessed afflictions to me in this 
 respect, I should now be willing, were it con- 
 sistent with his will, that he should use that 
 means to disentangle my heart from the 
 world, and direct it to the proper object of 
 its love. The very next day, I was laid up 
 with a fever, and before I recovered, the 
 world in a great measure lost for a time its 
 alluring charms. I am far from justifying 
 this method of prescribing to the Lordj but 
 in this instance it appears evident he heard 
 my prayer. 
 
 At another time I prevailed upon one of 
 my brother officers, a most notorious swxarer, 
 to go to worship with me, and we had just sat 
 down in the pew, when I put up a mental 
 prayer that the preacher might be led to say 
 something against swearing, that he might be 
 useful to my companion; and while I endea- 
 voured to recollect some text of scripture that 
 was against this vice, the third commandment 
 
 M 
 
134 LIFE or 
 
 immediately presented itself with full force to 
 my mind. I thought, if this were but pronoun- 
 ced with solemn energy and power from the 
 pulpit, what good might it not do ! According- 
 ly, towards the close of the sermon, which 
 by-the-by, seemed quite foreign from what I 
 had been meditating upon, the preacher began 
 to reprove the odious vice of swearing, and 
 was a full quarter of an hour demonstrating, 
 with uncommon eloquence and convincing 
 arguments, its sinfulness, meanness, unprofita- 
 bleness, and dangerous consequences, and at 
 last concluded by repeating the third com- 
 mandment with such solemnity, that it forced 
 the whole auditory into the most serious at- 
 tention; while I rejoiced to think the Lord 
 had graciously condescended to hear my 
 prayer, in a manner so admirably calculated 
 to impress the conscience of my profane com- 
 panion. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM HIS JOURNALS UNTIL 1778. 
 
 The preceding narrative brings down the 
 author's history to the middle of his thirtieth 
 year, the 19th of April, 1772. We must now 
 proceed through the remainder, chiefly by 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 135 
 
 the aid of his journals, in which he continued 
 to notice all the material occurrences of his 
 life. Nothing which he deemed deserving 
 of being recorded, seems to have happened 
 for a considerable time after the period at 
 which the narrative closes. In the following 
 year he determined to include in his future 
 journals, not only a register of external trans- 
 actions and circumstances, but accounts of his 
 progress or decline in the Christian life, and 
 of the pains and pleasures arising from the con- 
 flicts experienced in his mind between error 
 and truth, sin and grace. We cannot bet- 
 ter commence our continuation of Lieutenant 
 Burn's history, than with the introduction to 
 this new series of journals: and as this part of 
 his life appears to have been diversified only 
 by internal anxieties and enjoyments, we shall 
 proceed to transcribe some other passages, 
 written at various times during his residence 
 at Chatham; which contain particular descrip- 
 tions of his religious views and feelings, and 
 exhibit him as a vigilant self-observer, mind- 
 ful of that injunction of heavenly wisdom: — 
 "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of 
 it are the issues of life.'' 
 August 15, 1773. In the year 1771, the 
 
136 LIFE OF 
 
 Lord, in a gracious and more effectual manner 
 than I had ever before experienced, having 
 been pleased to enlighten my mind by the 
 blessed illumination of his Holy Spirit, to see 
 the reality and importance of the glorious and 
 mysterious truths revealed in the Bible; and 
 to direct my soul to the Lamb of God, who 
 taketh away the sins of the world; I have fre- 
 quently thought it might be useful to commit 
 my experience to paper: but through one im- 
 pediment or other, I have always put it off 
 till this day. And now, by the grace of God, 
 the heaven of heavens, where God my Sa- 
 viour reigns, and where thousands of my bro- 
 ther sinners are already arrived and entered 
 into bliss, being the happy port towards which 
 I am steering, I am determined to keep an exact 
 journal of my voyage through the tempestu- 
 ous ocean of this life, where nothing but rocks, 
 and sands, and shoals present themselves on 
 every side, in order that one day's experience 
 may, under God, be a kind of guide to the 
 next, and that after I shall have finished my 
 course, and safely arrived at home, others who 
 come after me may see the ruin into which I 
 had well nigh fallen, and take timely warning. 
 But before I begin, let me earnestly beg of 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 137 
 
 God, that his Holy Spirit may be my con- 
 stant instructer and pilot; that always diffi- 
 dent of my own skill, I may never venture to 
 proceed on my voyage without his special di- 
 rection, and the sweet influence of his auspi- 
 cious gales, lest I should suffer loss, and be 
 driven backward instead of forward. that 
 the blessed Jesus would grant that every day 
 I might sail with as prosperous a gale as I 
 have this day ! How good, how kind, how 
 astonishingly gracious has he been to my un- 
 worthy soul on this day of rest! Delightful 
 prelude to that eternal Sabbath of bliss, which 
 I humbly trust, through his blood and righ- 
 teousness alone, I shall ere long enjoy in a 
 world above ! When I went out in the morn- 
 ing to the house of God, my mind seemed 
 composed, and enjoyed, as it were before- 
 hand, the glad sound of the everlasting gospel. 
 But when in the sanctuary, oh! what pleasure 
 in praying, and praising, and listening to the 
 overtures of a merciful God and Father, in 
 and through the Lord Jesus Christ I And 
 when the service was over, as I returned home 
 through the fields, the Lord blessed me in 
 such a manner, that " my cup run over.'^ I 
 could hardly support myself under the trans- 
 M 2 
 
138 LIFE OF 
 
 porting pressure of such ecstatic joy, such un- 
 utterable rapture. A carnal world may laugh 
 at these expressions, and call them enthusias- 
 tic; but all the men upon earth will never 
 convince me, but that I then really experi- 
 enced a joy to which all that the world calls 
 joy can bear no comparison; nor can they 
 persuade me but that the source from which 
 this joy sprung, was truly scriptural and evan- 
 gelical. My eyes directed toward heaven, 
 and my heart breathing out fervent desires 
 after a spiritual sight of an all-sufficient Sa- 
 viour, I was imperceptibly led to reflect, that 
 far beyond the blue canopy so magnificently 
 extended over my head, that same Saviour 
 was undoubtedly seated at the right hand of 
 Jehovah, and pleading for poor, guilty, help- 
 less me. This thought struck me with such 
 compunction of soul, and infused into my 
 breast such a sweet and full assurance of eter- 
 nal bliss, that, as I have already mentioned, 
 feeble flesh and blood could hardly stand un- 
 der it. I walked along, praising God with 
 such ecstasy of soul, that it brought to my re- 
 membrance a carnal notion I have frequently 
 had, of the employment of the saints in hea- 
 ven. Before I knew what the sweets of re- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 139 
 
 ligion were, I never could rightly conceive 
 how the blessed hosts above could find so 
 much pleasure in continually worshipping 
 around the throne: surely, I thought, they 
 must some time or other be tired, or at least, 
 by way of relaxation, seek to vary their em- 
 ployment. But how differently did I think 
 now! What worlds would I have given to 
 remain always in such a frame as this! The 
 idea that there was such a praising state of 
 bliss that would never have an end, ravished 
 my soul. I could not help crying out aloud 
 to the inanimate things around me, — Now I 
 know what the joy of saints and angels means, 
 and no longer wonder that they continually 
 cry, " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almigh- 
 ty, which was, and is, and is to come;" and 
 unweariedly repeat, "Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
 and blessing." that I were among them! 
 
 August 22. Any one who shall take a 
 view of the state of my mind, as described in 
 the foregoing passage, would naturally think 
 I was a very happy Christian indeed, and 
 knew not what it was to pass through the dif- 
 ficult and gloomy part of the road that leads 
 
140 LIFE OF 
 
 to heaven. But he would be very much mis- 
 taken: for God and my own soul know, that 
 for one comfortable step I take, I go ten 
 mourning and sorrowing. The bright and 
 ravishing gleams of God's love to my soul are 
 so soon clouded by the workings of a deceit- 
 ful heart, and that sinful nature which I carry 
 about me, that I am presently left, without 
 the light of his countenance, to grapple my 
 way in the dark, through a sea of doubt and 
 dejection. I hate sin; blessed be the name of 
 the Lord: but I am every day sinning, in 
 thought, word, or deed, by omission and com- 
 mission; and then a murmuring conscience, 
 and a tempting and accusing devil, so beset 
 me, that the burden of sin becomes intolerably 
 heavy. And when at this season my faith 
 should be particularly in exercise, it is so very 
 weak, so little, and mixed with so many 
 doubts and fears, that it can hardly be called 
 faith. I believe that the blood of Jesus is suf- 
 ficient to take away all sin; but when I would 
 go to him for pardon, the devil throws a 
 stumbling-block in my way, that this is mak- 
 ing Christ the minister of sin. Though my 
 soul abhors the very idea, yet I too often 
 hearken to the deceiver, and for fear of abus- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 141 
 
 ing God's mercy, neglect going hourly to 
 Jesus for remission. O Christian, whoever 
 you are that may read this, beware of mistake 
 here, and pray fervently to God for his Holy 
 Spirit to direct you how to shape your course 
 between these two shoals. Never sin, be- 
 cause grace abounds: never be deterred by 
 Satan, as I have been, from going continually 
 to Jesus Christ for remission. 
 
 September 12. Among the many enemies 
 that I have to grapple with in my spiritual 
 warfare, I find few so constant in the field and 
 so difficult to subdue, as spiritual pride. For 
 some days past, it has haunted me more than 
 usual. I can scarcely apply to any duty, but 
 it is sure to be there; and when one would 
 imagine that such a poor, frail, simple being 
 as I could never have any thing to do with 
 pride. Yet, alas! too true it is, that cursed 
 sin frequently discovers itself in my heart. 
 But blessed be the name of Jesus, he enables 
 me to battle hard against it. And a very 
 subtle foe it is to encounter; for where I 
 least expect it, there it is sure to be. When 
 my heart is big with grief, and groaning un- 
 der the weight of sin, even there it mixes 
 with almost every sigh. If God lifts upon 
 
142 LIFE OF 
 
 me the light of his countenance, this gigan- 
 tic form at the same time is sure to erect its 
 stately head. Nay, at the very moment I am 
 writing, it keeps whispering its infernal lan- 
 guage with every letter my pen forms; and, 
 if grace did not prevent, would force me to 
 give a listening ear to its smooth, insinuating 
 voice. 
 
 November 24. Last Sunday, blessed be 
 the name of Jesus! I was not disappointed in 
 my hopes. I enjoyed a goodly portion of his 
 love. I could " call him Lord, by the Holy 
 Ghost," appropriate him to myself and se- 
 curely venture my eternal all on his everlast- 
 ing love. Oh what a blessed Sabbath did I 
 experience ! What sweet composure of mind ! 
 What solid joy at heart! What peace of con- 
 science! I was not carried out in seraphic 
 flights, or rapturous ecstacies. I felt some- 
 thing, if possible, more sublime and elevating 
 within me. I cannot describe it in a more 
 distinct and comprehensive manner, than by 
 saying it was faith in exercise, the clearest 
 " evidence of things not seen, and the" very 
 " substance of" what I " hoped for." Christ 
 was all to me. I held him fast, and feared 
 nothing, no, not death itself. Jesus enabled 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 143 
 
 me, by putting his love in my soul, to bid 
 defiance to all his terrors. that he would 
 in like manner stand by me, when this terri- 
 ble, though conquered king, makes his ap- 
 pearance! Then shall I not fear, though I 
 see his well-aimed arrow pointed at my heart. 
 My soul has been greatly encouraged and es- 
 tablished, within these few days past, by the 
 preaching of the word, and by the pious con- 
 versation of some eminent and humble Chris- 
 tians, particularly the Rev. John Newton. 
 that the Lord would always grant me such 
 company! It would be a little heaven on 
 earth. But then perhaps I should be apt to 
 forget the great heaven above. The Lord 
 keep me from resting here! 
 
 December 7. Well might the royal pro- 
 phet break out into the pathetic and affecting 
 exclamation, " Lord, what is man!'^ Weak- 
 ness in the very abstract; unable for a mo- 
 ment to preserve himself where grace has 
 brought him, unless continuing grace uphold 
 him there. But a few days ago, how happy 
 was my situation! With Jesus Christ in 
 the arms of my faith, I could exult in the 
 strongest hopes of eternal bliss, and bid a 
 bold defiance to all the powers of hell. 
 
144 LIFE OF 
 
 Alas! how changed! Weak and fearful, full 
 of doubts and murmuring surmlsings; with- 
 out my all-sufficient prop, I reel and stagger, 
 ready every moment to be overcome by the 
 powerful enemies that beset me on every side. 
 Oh that I have been so foolish ! for I am sen- 
 sible whence all this comes. I have neglect- 
 ed to obey that salutary command of my com- 
 passionate Redeemer: "Watch and pray, lest 
 ye enter into temptation!" In the midst of 
 danger, I have dreamed that all was secure, 
 and ere I was aware, have let the world and 
 the devil creep into my heart, naturally prone 
 to receive them: and who knows what I shall 
 suffer ere they be driven out; but by the grace 
 of God, they shall not lodge there. May that 
 all-sufficient grace which has opened my 
 eyes to see my foes, a blessing not bestowed 
 on all men, give me strength also to fight 
 manfully against them; and, in its own good 
 time and way, drive them all out before me. 
 
 In the month of March this year, Lieu- 
 tenant Burn was visited with a dangerous ill- 
 ness. The next entry in his journal de- 
 scribes the state of his mind under that afflic- 
 tion, and immediately after its removal. 
 
 April 2. Blessed be the name of the Lord, 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 145 
 
 I am still in the land of the living, still on 
 praying ground, and, by his grace, still hun- 
 gering and thirsting after Jesus Christ: and 
 though the devil, my own wandering wicked 
 heart, and an ensnaring world, have robbed 
 me of my comfort and many precious bless- 
 ings, yet through mercy, rich unmerited mer- 
 cy, they have not bereaved me of this seeking 
 wrestling spirit: and if Jesus Christ hath pro- 
 mised that such shall be filled, that such shall 
 find, that such shall overcome, what have I to 
 fear? Nothing but unbelief. Lord, destroy 
 that, and I am happy. I thank thee, blessed 
 Jesus, that it is not so prevalent as it was, and 
 that thou hast given me grace to rely upon 
 thee, be my frames and feelings what they 
 will; and, amidst the working of a deceitful 
 heart and the suggestions of a cunning devil, 
 still to hang upon thee. Lord, increase my 
 faith. — Within the last month the Lord has 
 been pleased to lay his afflicting hand upon 
 me, even to bring me to the very brink of the 
 grave; and, what was more grievous to bear 
 than all my bodily pain, during the greatest 
 part of my illness the enemy was permitted 
 to bufiet me, the comfortable presence of my 
 God was withdrawn from me, and darkness, 
 
 N 
 
146 LIFE OF 
 
 doubts, and fears, took possession of my soul; 
 a state which those only who have experi- 
 enced it can conceive. It is dreadful, with 
 one foot in the grave, and the other almost 
 there, to look into eternity without a strong 
 hold of Jesus Christ. I have at times looked 
 death in the face with pleasure; but it was al- 
 ways when I had Jesus near my heart. I 
 never could bear the sight of that grisly mo- 
 narch, if Christ was at any distance from me. 
 Come then. Lord Jesus, and dwell for ever in 
 this heart of mine; purge it; make it a holy- 
 receptacle for thy blessed self. — I trust this 
 sickness has been truly sanctified to me; for, 
 if I am not greatly deceived, it has filled me 
 with fresh ardour after that Almighty Saviour, 
 who alone is able to deliver from the fears of 
 death and the pains of hell. 
 
 About a month after his recovery. Lieu- 
 tenant B. went to Scotland. An observation 
 made just before he set out on the voyage, 
 discovers a deep sense of his religious obliga- 
 tions, and great diffidence of his own heart. 
 
 May 1. For some weeks past I have pur- 
 posed, in compliance with the earnest re- 
 quest of an aflfectionate father, to pay him a 
 visit, with my wife and child; but the dread 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 147 
 
 of dishonouring the cause of God, when I 
 get among my relatives, or in the midst of 
 strangers, by being ashamed boldly to act up 
 to the profession I have made for three years 
 past, makes me quite miserable. I know by 
 bitter experience, what dreadful havoc shame 
 can make in the heart of an awakened sinner; 
 and I tremble at the thought of being put to 
 the trial. 
 
 After an absence of nearly three months he 
 returned to Chatham, inspired with fervent 
 gratitude to the Father of mercies for all the 
 goodness which had attended himself and fa- 
 mily. He writes, 
 
 August 1. Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. His 
 word is faithful and true, and all his promises 
 are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. He will 
 never leave nor forsake his people; his ever- 
 lasting arms shall be underneath them: "the 
 bruised reed he will not break, neither will he 
 quench the smoking flax.'^ Eternally bless- 
 ed be his great name, that he hath evidently 
 accomplished these precious promises in the 
 behalf of my poor, weak, trembling soul. Oh 
 how was I tempted! how did I doubt! how 
 did I fear and tremble, but three months ago 
 
148 LIFE OF 
 
 before I set out on my voyage, lest I should 
 turn my back upon him, be ashamed of him 
 before men, and bring reproach upon his 
 cause. Alas ! I came far, very far short of 
 what I ought to have done. Yet to his glory, 
 and his alone, be it spoken, his strength was 
 made manifest in my weakness, and his 
 sovereign grace, in a wonderful, unexpected 
 manner, was always at hand to support and 
 encourage me in the trying hour. When I 
 began to sink, and despair of being able to 
 speak for him, he raised up means to rouse 
 and strengthen me, so that at times I was 
 made to rejoice in his love, to speak boldly in 
 his name, and to fear the face of no man. — 
 When we embarked, and indeed for some 
 time before, I was led to see that it was my 
 indispensable duty to endeavour to establish 
 public prayer while we were on board the 
 ship; but to propose it to the Captain was a 
 task I dreaded. When evening drew near, 
 that I knew I must do it then or not at all, I 
 began to tremble, ruminated on various ways 
 by which I should first open the proposal to 
 him, and prayed to the Lord for his grace to 
 help me. While I was thus employed, the 
 Lord put it into the hearts of my wife and 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 149 
 
 another person, altogether without my know- 
 ledge, to propose it to the captain; and he 
 readily consented to it; just in the midst of all 
 my fears they came into the cabin, and recom- 
 mended our going to prayer. This unex- 
 pected instance of the Almighty's condescen- 
 sion, in answering my mental petitions, so 
 struck me that I could hardly restrain myself 
 from rising up and leaping for joy; every 
 doubt and fear vanished in a moment, and the 
 captain declining to officiate himself, I was 
 pitched upon; and, had the whole assembled 
 world been there, I should not then have de- 
 clined calling upon the God of my salvation 
 before them all. — The Lord's providential 
 care over us during the voyage, was still more 
 evident and remarkable. The prayers of 
 many saints went with us! and if ever the 
 petitions of poor sinners were heard at a 
 throne of grace, they certainly were. No 
 sooner was the day fixed for our sailing, than 
 the weather, which but a few hours before was 
 stormy, became unexpectedly fine, and the 
 wind, that was quite contrary, became alto- 
 gether favourable; and what was even re- 
 marked by the unthinking part of the crew, 
 when we were about to sail round a head-land, 
 n3 
 
150 LIFE OF 
 
 and consequently to alter our course, and an 
 alteration in the wind became necessary, it 
 never failed to happen the very moment it 
 was wanted : so that long before we expected 
 it, we were gently and imperceptibly wafted 
 to our desired port, where we had scarcely 
 been landed an hour, when the weather again 
 changed to the reverse of what it had been, 
 and continued so for a long time. Thus did 
 the Lord evidently protect and favour us; and 
 not only here, but in many other instances. 
 Oh that I should have made such an unworthy 
 return! Instead of growing warmer in my 
 affections towards him, I think I grew colder 
 and colder. The lukewarm spirit of most of 
 those among whom I had been in Scotland, 
 had so much infected me, that when I return- 
 ed I found my soul almost dead to spiritual 
 things. May the Lord quicken me, and 
 kindle in my heart a flame of love to his bless- 
 ed self; that I may set out afresh in his ways, 
 and live more to his glory than I have ever 
 yet done. 
 
 Lieutenant Burn's papers contain no account 
 of any circumstance that occurred for more 
 than twelve months after his return from 
 Scotland. We proceed to transcribe a few 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 151 
 
 more of his pious reflections, among which 
 we cannot overlook the devout and humble 
 sentiments with which he closed the year 
 1774. 
 
 December 30. If the Lord in mercy spares 
 me to the end of another year, I hope I shall 
 be enabled to look upon it with more pleasure 
 than I now do upon this. Alas ! how little 
 have I lived to the glory of God! What a 
 very small portion of my heart has God had! 
 And without the heart, all my bodily exer- 
 cise, praying, reading, hearing, singing, re- 
 proving, exhorting, giving of alms, meditat- 
 ing, examining, groaning, sighing, weeping, 
 &c., will signify little or nothing. Without 
 faith, it is impossible to please God! and 
 where the heart is not, there can be no faith ; 
 " for with the heart man believeth.'^ How 
 very ignorant and foolish, then, are those who 
 content themselves with being found in the 
 ordinances of God, without carefully exami- 
 ning whether they carry their hearts with 
 them! And how often, my soul, hast thou 
 been thus foolish! Surely with such sacrifices 
 God was not well pleased. The Lord have 
 mercy upon me a sinner. I can see nothing 
 but what is vile in myself; but all fulness 
 
152 LIFE OF 
 
 dwelleth in Jesus: therefore to him I come, 
 on him alone will I rely; for I have learned 
 more this year than I have ever yet done, that 
 w^ithout him I can do nothing; but through 
 him I am more than conqueror over all my 
 foes. I therefore desire to conclude the year, 
 to begin another, to continue through life, 
 and to finish my last moments with crying 
 from the heart, " None but Christ! None but 
 Christ!" 
 
 Among the favours of Providence which 
 demanded the most grateful acknowledg- 
 ments, Lieutenant B. considered it far from 
 the least, that he was kept so long on shore, 
 while all his brother officers, not one except- 
 ed, had been sent to sea. He had been sta- 
 tioned at Chatham for five years; but the time 
 was now approaching for his removal. The 
 prospect of separation from a beloved family, 
 could not fail to excite many painful emotioi>6 
 in an affectionate heart; but the principal con- 
 cern which occupied his mind appears to have 
 been for the consistency and purity of his 
 Christian character. 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1775, with a de- 
 tachment of marines, he embarked on board 
 the Milford, a frigate of 28 guns, commanded 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 153 
 
 by Captain J. Burr. Captain Burr allowed 
 him to return and remain on shore as long as 
 the Milford lay at Chatham, and until she was 
 about to sail from Sheerness. On the 18th, 
 he took an affectionate leave of his family, 
 and went on board. The commencement of 
 the voyage was distinguished by a season- 
 able discovery and prevention of danger, cal- 
 culated to make a serious impression on every 
 thoughtful mind. He writes — 
 
 December 19. We sailed from Sheerness 
 and came to an anchor at the Warp, the day 
 being hazy and the wind rather too short to 
 carry us through the Narrows. Here the 
 providence of God began to be evidently 
 manifested in our favour. A sailor in the 
 foretop perceived something the matter with 
 the topmast, that it did not sit as it should, 
 but could not well tell why. This brought 
 on a more strict examination, and the top- 
 mast was found so thoroughly rotten, that its 
 own weight had carried it several inches be- 
 low the iron bar on which it rested. The 
 Captain immediately consulted with his offi- 
 cers; and though our orders were very press- 
 ing to proceed to Portsmouth, it was unani- 
 mously agreed to return to Sheerness; which 
 
154 LIFE OF 
 
 we accordingly did, and got another topmast 
 up in three days. What the consequence 
 would have been, had we gone to sea with 
 the other, God only knows. We are certain 
 it could not have stood long; some devoted 
 wretch might have sufiered from its fall; or, 
 perhaps, had it gone on a lee-shore, it might 
 have proved the loss, not only of the ship, but 
 of every soul in her. that men could but 
 see the goodness of God, and be thankful ! He 
 foresees and prevents the evil that would 
 prove their destruction; while they, uncon- 
 cerned about the matter, forget or despise him 
 and his mercies too. 
 
 Delayed by calms and contrary winds, they 
 did not reach Spithead till the first of January. 
 Portsmouth was a place which could not be 
 visited by Lieutenant B. without awakening 
 some interesting recollections of former days, 
 and thankfulness for the contrast of his pre- 
 sent circumstances. He writes — 
 
 January 6, 1776. I went ashore early this 
 morning, after breakfast; the weather being 
 fair, I seized the opportunity, sauntered about 
 the town, and had a most agreeable walk upon 
 the ramparts. Oh how my heart glowed with 
 gratitude the instant I began to recollect that 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 155 
 
 there was a time I travelled round these walls, 
 when my situation in every respect was most 
 wretched, compared to what it is at present: 
 blessed be the name of the Lord, who brought 
 about the happy change. Then, tired out with 
 hunger and fatigue, I passed one tedious hour 
 after another, not knowing where to satisfy a 
 craving appetite or to lay my head at night, 
 no money to purchase either, and without any 
 solid prospect of a future maintenance in the 
 world; and, what is worst of all, my eyes 
 sealed to the true light of the gospel, and 
 my mind as yet ignorant of the saving 
 knowledge of Christ. Now, glory to his 
 name! I am neither tired nor hungry; I 
 know where to go for a good dinner and 
 where to lay my head peaceably at night, 
 with a sufficiency in my pocket to pur- 
 chase whatever I want. My fortune in the 
 world is not great, but sufficient. Blessed 
 with the woman I love, and my dear little 
 prattling babes, I desire no more. But, what 
 is far preferable to all this, I humbly trust the 
 Lord hath opened the eyes of my understand- 
 ing, to see my ruined state by nature, and to 
 know and embrace the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 Transported with pleasing reflections on what 
 
156 LIFE OF 
 
 God had thus graciously done for me, I could 
 not forbear tuning a hymn of thanksgiving to 
 his praise, while I cheerfully tripped along the 
 ramparts; my outward gesture sufficiently de- 
 monstrating what joy and satisfaction reigned 
 within. Surely, I thought, God must be my 
 God, or he would not thus have blessed me. 
 
 While they were at Spithead they received 
 orders from the Admiralty to proceed to Ply- 
 mouth, to take on board artificers for Halifax. 
 Having now the prospect of a long voyage. 
 Lieutenant B. thought it right to fix on some 
 regular method of distributing and employing 
 his time: and accordingly prescribed to him- 
 self the following rules for that purpose. He 
 writes — 
 
 January 12. Having perceived, within 
 these few days past, indolence and inactivity 
 gradually creeping upon me, and being very 
 sensible, from former experience, that, if not 
 speedily checked, it may prove in the end 
 very prejudicial both to soul and body; I am 
 therefore determined, by the blessing of God, 
 in order to stop its further progress, to adopt 
 the following plan of living while I remain on 
 board the Milford; which I purpose closely 
 and perseveringly to adhere to, unless pre- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 157 
 
 vented by sickness, urgent business, or any 
 other unforeseen hindrance which I cannot 
 possibly avoid: — 
 
 In the months of November, December, 
 January, and February, to rise at seven 
 o'clock; in October and March at six; and 
 the rest of the year at five. 
 
 The first thing to be done in the morning, 
 the instant I wake, is, to lift up my heart in 
 prayer to God, to thank him for his mercies 
 during the night, and to implore his protec- 
 tion through the ensuing day: then to rise, 
 and dress myself as I purpose going the whole 
 day: after which, to retire to my cabin, and 
 spend some time in prayer, reading the scrip- 
 ture, and chaunting a hymn: and if breakfast 
 is not ready, take a walk upon deck till it is. 
 
 After breakfast, I will spend some time in 
 reading or writing, according as the pain in 
 my breast will permit me, if not otherwise 
 employed in my duty as an officer; after 
 which I will spend some time in walking 
 upon deck till dinner. 
 
 Dinner over, I will again retire to my ca- 
 bin, offer up my soul to God in prayer, and 
 read a passage in the Spiritual Treasury, and 
 then take a walk upon deck till dark; spend- 
 
158 LIFE OF 
 
 ing the evening in reading or writing, if I find 
 the company of my messmates otherwise than 
 useful or entertaining. 
 
 At nine or ten, but never later than eleven, 
 to retire to my cabin, pray to God, and to go 
 to rest. 
 
 N. B. At twelve at noon, never to forget 
 to retire, to pray for my wife, my children, 
 my parents, and all my Christian brethren: if 
 I have not an opportunity of doing this at 
 noon, to do it as soon after as possible. — 
 Lord Jesus, thou knowest how imperfect I 
 am, and how unable to act any way suitably 
 to the profession I have made; in mercy 
 therefore assist me to keep this resolution, as 
 far as it is consistent with thy will, and enable 
 me to live to thy glory. 
 
 On the 16th of January, when they were 
 near the Eddystone, the master was at the 
 helm and undertook to carry the ship into 
 Plymouth Sound that night. About ten or 
 eleven o'clock, it was discovered that, instead 
 of being in Plymouth Sound, they were 
 " hampered in Bigbury-bay," a few miles 
 eastward of Plymouth; a bay which appears 
 to offer the finest anchorage, but the bottom 
 is full of sharp rocks, which presently cut the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 15^ 
 
 cables of any anchors that can be thrown out ; 
 so that few vessels that have run into that 
 bay have ever been known to get out again. 
 In the present case, the discovery was made 
 at the critical juncture: if it had been a little 
 later, or if the wind had blown strongly to- 
 wards the shore, they must inevitably have 
 been wrecked, and it is not likely that any 
 would have escaped; but the mistake was 
 happily discovered in time to admit of their 
 standing out to sea, and the next morning 
 they reached their desired port. The several 
 hair-breadth escapes they had experienced, be- 
 tween their departure from Sheerness and 
 their arrival at Plymouth, were justly re- 
 garded by Lieutenant B. as so many in- 
 stances of the divine goodness towards them. 
 He says — 
 
 January 17. The Lord hath been remark- 
 ably gracious to us. that we could but be 
 truly thankful. The care of the Almighty 
 has been so evidently manifested in our fa- 
 vour, than even those on board the ship who 
 have not the fear of God before their eyes, 
 could not help observing it. I need only re- 
 peat the speech of one of my messmates to- 
 day at dinner. ' When I consider,' said he 
 
160 LIFE OF 
 
 ^how badly this ship was fitted out, the raw- 
 ness and inexperience of our hands, the sea- 
 son of the year, the stormy weather we have 
 had, and our last night's affair in Bigbury- 
 bay, I cannot account for our being here, un- 
 less it was downright Providence that brought 
 us.' Surely, and that same Providence must 
 attend us all our journey through, or we shall 
 never prosper. 
 
 On the 20th they sailed from Plymouth, 
 and on the 22d lost sight of England. He 
 observes — 
 
 February 11. To-day, about noon, the 
 mizen-yard fell down, and was within a fev/ 
 inches of killing the first lieutenant and a 
 midshipman; but fortunately did no other 
 damage than making a few dents in the quar- 
 ter-deck. I cannot forbear mentioning a par- 
 ticular circumstance with regard to myself. 
 It has been a constant custom with me ever 
 since we sailed, to walk the quarter-deck 
 about noon ; but to-day (having had little 
 rest in the night) I lay down upon my bed, 
 where I was dozing in safety, when the yard 
 fell. It came down between the lieutenant 
 and the binnacle, the side I generally walk on 
 when we are upon deck together. Who can 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 161 
 
 tell what the event would have been had I 
 been there. Surely the Lord kept me out of 
 the way of harm. 
 
 The delays they had experienced from 
 storms and contrary winds, excited an appre- 
 hension that their stock of water might not 
 be sufficient for the remainder of the voyage; 
 and it was therefore determined to stop at 
 Fayal, one of the Azores, or Western Islands, 
 to take in a fresh supply. 
 
 Nothing that requires our recital occurred 
 during the remainder of their voyage across 
 the Atlantic. On the 26th of March, 1776, 
 after a passage of four weeks from Fayal, and 
 above nine weeks from England, they reach- 
 ed the port of Boston. Before their arrival, 
 the British troops had been constrained to 
 evacuate the town and retire on board the 
 fleet; which retained possession of Nantasket 
 bay. 
 
 This month terminated with two more es- 
 capes from shipwreck, which impressed the 
 mind of Lieutenant B. with a sense of his in- 
 creasing obligations to the divine goodness, and 
 compelled even the lips of the profane to ac- 
 knowledge the hand of God in their preserva- 
 tion. The Milford vvas ordered on a cruise 
 o 2 
 
162 LIFE OF 
 
 to clear the coast from the enemy's armed 
 vessels. On the 30th Lieutenant B. says, 
 " In turning out of the road, the ship missed 
 staySj just as we were close in with the rocks 
 on the Lighthouse Island, and was within a 
 few yards of being on shore: had she missed 
 stays a second time, she must inevitably have 
 been lost. We were all thoroughly frightened 
 at the danger, but not half thankful enough 
 for the deliverance." 
 
 31st. This afternoon, being able to see a 
 little way a-head, we were wuthin a trifle of 
 foundering on a rock near Marble-Head. Af- 
 ter this second escape, the captain said in the 
 cabin, before several of his officers, "Gentle- 
 men, you have heard me often say, and I re- 
 peat it again, since we sailed from England, 
 we have been so frequently upon the brink of 
 destruction, that nothing but the goodness of 
 God could have saved us from it." Oh how 
 lamentable it is, to be brought to acknowledge 
 this truth with the lips, and yet daily and 
 hourly, by cursing, and swearing, and all man- 
 ner of blasphemy, to be ungratefully sinning 
 against that God who is so very kind. Glory 
 to his name for his long forbearing mercy! 
 
 It would be tedious to the reader to go 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BTTRN. 163 
 
 through the details which Lieutenant B.'s jour- 
 nal contains of this and the subsequent cruises 
 of the Milford, during her continuance on the 
 American station, for nearly two years of his 
 life. 
 
 In the course of the last cruise, which lasted 
 about seven weeks, they met with several 
 very remarkable deliverances from the jaws 
 of death. At such seasons of trouble, in a pe- 
 culiar manner. Lieutenant B. felt it to be both 
 his duty and his privilege to call upon God; 
 and he has recorded many instances of pre- 
 servation, which he considered as answers to 
 his prayers. "Oh what a treasure,^' says he, 
 "is a throne of grace; and how blessed the 
 man who has learned to approach it! Not all 
 the riches of the Indies can be compared with 
 this. Here I can get freely, for Christ's sake, 
 what gold cannot purchase, — the protection of 
 the Almighty." 
 
 The best of men have shown the most rigid 
 severity in the judgments which they have 
 passed upon their own conduct. Comparing 
 themselves with the standard of Christian per- 
 fection, and the claims of infinite goodness, 
 they have often confessed and lamented great 
 defects and small attainments, even in those 
 
164 LIFE OF 
 
 parts of their characters in which they have 
 excelled the generality of their fellow Chris- 
 tians. Few men have been more submissive 
 to divine allotments, or more grateful for di- 
 vine interpositions, than Lieutenant B.; yet, 
 on this very cruise, he seems to include him- 
 self with his companions in the following con- 
 fession: — "Though we are always ready to 
 murmur against a God of providence, when 
 his ways seem to thwart our selfish inclina- 
 tions, w^e are not so apt to acknowledge his 
 goodness, when things are brought about to 
 our utmost wishes in an unexpected manner." 
 On returning once more to Halifax, he says: 
 — "This last cruise will prove one of the least 
 advantageous of any we have had on the coast; 
 but I hope I shall ever remember it as one of 
 the most fortunate: it exhibits so many in- 
 stances of a divine providence displayed in 
 our behalf — In this frail, imperfect, sinful 
 state, we may now and then get a glimpse of 
 some of the outlines of that amazuig plan by 
 which the God of providence directs and rules 
 over all his creatures. But to trace all the 
 mysterious, intricate windings and turnings 
 by which events are brought to pass, is re- 
 served for those only who, through the bless- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 165 
 
 ed JesuSj shall be found worthy to reign with 
 him in another world. Yet even here, the 
 displays of his goodness are so manifest and 
 numerous, that, to the attentive observer, they 
 cannot but afford a continual feast of solid 
 pleasure. What we once thought our greatest 
 misfortune, we now see proves to be our great- 
 est mercy. — In judging of events, we are all 
 too apt to ^call good evil and evil good:' and 
 this should teach us to leave the issue of every 
 event to the Ruler of the universe, without the 
 least repining; because he certainly cannot err, 
 as we do daily, but must act for his own glory 
 and our good!'^ 
 
 In the course of the next week, they were 
 in the greatest danger of being shipwrecked 
 in Halifax harbour, by a violent storm. He 
 writes — 
 
 Dec. 27. The Milford is ordered home, and 
 we are now fitting her out with the greatest 
 expedition for the purpose: but whether it 
 will please God to send me home in her, is 
 yet very doubtful: as the marines of the ships 
 that went home last year, were taken out just 
 before they sailed. At any rate, if the com- 
 modore does not change his mind, this sudden 
 measure must produce a great change in my 
 
166 LIFE OF 
 
 situation. Nothing that I can possibly con- 
 ceive in this life, could give me so much plea- 
 sure and satisfaction, as being once more com- 
 fortably fixed with my wife and children. 
 But, if it be the Lord's will to determine it 
 otherwise, my heart deceives me very much, 
 if after a few struggles, it would not cheerfully 
 acquiesce in the decree of providence. Let 
 me go or stay, my whole heart and soul shall 
 cry, The will of the Lord be done. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of January, Lieu- 
 tenant Burn had the pleasure of sailing from 
 Halifax. After a passage of twenty days, the 
 Milford was safely anchored at Spithead. It 
 soon became matter of universal astonishment 
 that she had escaped foundering; for when 
 the bottom was examined, the main keel was 
 found to be broken in two. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of February, Lieu- 
 tenant B. says: "This afternoon, by the bless- 
 ing of God, I arrived safe at home, to the 
 great joy of my famil}^, all of whom 1 found 
 in tolerable health. 1 would now pour out 
 my soul in gratitude to that indulgent Father, 
 who for above these two years past hath so 
 amazingly preserved me. When I look back 
 upon the path I have travelled, there is a re- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 167 
 
 dundancy of love and mercy attending every 
 step. Lord! I adore and bless thee; and 
 from the bottom of my soul desire to be 
 wholly thine." 
 
 TO CAPTAIN burn's RETURN FROM INDIA, 
 
 1781. 
 
 The happiness which Lieutenant B. enjoyed 
 in the bosom of his family and the society of 
 his friends, was not to continue long uninter- 
 rupted. At the end of ten weeks, he was or- 
 dered on the recruiting service. In this ser- 
 vice he spent above six months, principally at 
 Bristol; returning to head-quarters with re- 
 cruits, and so having the opportunity of seeing 
 his family two or three times during that pe- 
 riod. 
 
 From this part of the journal, we cannot 
 forbear transcribing an incidental attestation 
 to the practical efficacy of a doctrine, which 
 its rejectors have stigmatised as "relaxing the 
 obligations of virtue;" we mean the doctrine 
 of atonement for sin by the death of Christ. 
 
 Yesterday morning I had some glances of 
 the preciousness of Jesus and his great salva- 
 tion, and in the evening, Mr. preached 
 
168 LIFE OF 
 
 an excellent sermon, which filled me with 
 holy ardour to know and enjoy more and 
 more of that glorious subject. how the 
 truths of the gospel, when preached in their 
 purity, lead the soul to pant after holiness! I 
 will leave this testimony behind me; that I 
 never wished nor wrestled half so much to be 
 holy, as when I saw my sins wholly done 
 away in Christ. 
 
 The last month of this year Lieutenant B. 
 remained at Chatham. He entered on the 
 year 1779 with the prospect of being soon 
 ordered on more active service, and with sen- 
 timents suitable to such an expectation. 
 
 Some time in this month Mr. B. was ap- 
 pointed captain-lieutenant; and, soon after, he 
 was again ordered on sea-duty. 
 
 After a few days spent in preparing for the 
 voyage, captain B. took leave of his family 
 with feelings more easily conceived than de- 
 scribed. "Dreadful morning this!'^ says he, 
 "I cannot describe it. Those who have such 
 an affectionate wife, and such engaging pledges 
 of the purest love, may guess what I suffered 
 when obliged to leave them.'' He lost no 
 time in proceeding to Portsmouth; and in 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 169 
 
 less than a fortnight from the date of the or- 
 der, he entered upon duty on board the Eagle. 
 
 While the vessel lay at Spithead, there was 
 some probability of captain B. being relieved 
 by another officer; and he was encouraged to 
 write both to the general and to the Admi- 
 ralty with the hope of accomplishing this ob- 
 ject. But, though his application was granted 
 by the general, he failed of obtaining his wish; 
 for the captain who was ordered to replace 
 him, took care not to arrive at Portsmouth in 
 time. 
 
 Captain B. viewed this disappointment as 
 the direction of Him who governs all m.ortal 
 things, and manages even the minutest affairs 
 with a special regard to the good of those who 
 serve him and trust in his mercy. "Now," 
 says he, the day before they sailed, "I have 
 given up every hope of being relieved from 
 this India voyage; and I trust the Lord will 
 ere long make me to see it was good for me I 
 had not my own will." A few extracts will 
 now be given from his journal. 
 
 March 7, 1779. This morning the whole 
 
 East India fleet, under the command of Sir 
 
 Edward Hughes, got under sail with a fair 
 
 wind. — Now, my soul, look back, and see 
 
 p 
 
170 LIFE or 
 
 how the Lord has defeated all my efforts, and 
 every hope of being delivered from this long 
 voyage, and say without murmuring. His 
 sovereign will be done! Grant that with all 
 humility and patience I may ever submit to 
 what thou ordainest; and while through thy 
 grace I shall be enabled to trace thy footsteps 
 in the various dispensations of thy providence, 
 may I every day have fresh cause to cry out, 
 Good is the Lord, just and righteous are all 
 his ways! 
 
 24. Since I have been in this ship, many 
 concurring circumstances, several trials, and 
 the prospect of a long voyage, have forced me 
 as it were, to let go my eager grasp of every 
 worldly enjoyment: and if I am not deceived, 
 I have been hereby led to look more stead- 
 fastly to Heaven, and to pray earnestly that 
 my heart may be set on things above, which 
 will never cloy, and of which I can never be 
 deprived, if, through Christ, I can once lay a 
 solid claim to them. To-day I began to ex- 
 hort the party of marines under my direction 
 in this ship, by speaking to one at a time in 
 my cabin: a duty that has lain much upon my 
 mind, but which I am sure I shall never be 
 able rightly to perform without assistance from 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 171 
 
 above: for so timid is my natural disposition, 
 that I blush and tremble when called to speak 
 before a fellow-mortal of that Jesus who suf- 
 fered so much for me. Gracious God! de- 
 liver me from this cowardice. 
 
 May 1. The admiral made the signal to 
 speak with our captain. When he returned, 
 the budget was opened. Before we proceed 
 to India, we are going to attack Goree. The 
 Eagle is to cover the bombs. The troops are 
 ordered to hold themselves in readiness to dis- 
 embark, among whom are sixty marines from 
 this ship: and every other necessary prepara- 
 tion is making for a vigorous descent. What 
 the issue will be, God only knows. I desire 
 to look only to him for help and protection, 
 while lawfully engaged in that to which his 
 providence hath called me. 1 am persuaded 
 no evil shall befall me without his permission. 
 I desire to go to battle in his name; and in 
 his name I hope to conquer. ^ 
 
 8. At two in the afternoon, we anchored 
 before the batteries of Goree, and to our great 
 surprise found the island evacuated by the 
 French, who left it in the possession of the 
 black inhabitants; the principal of whom came 
 off to the admiral to acknowledge their sub' 
 
172 LIFE OF 
 
 jectlon to the king of England. — Glory to 
 God, that matters have turned out so very 
 favourably for us! Little did we think that 
 this would be the case. But He in whom I 
 ever desire to trust, has always been better to 
 me than all my fears : and from this renewed 
 instance of his goodness, I would draw a fresh 
 argument for gratitude and praise, and for ba- 
 nishing all future doubts of his protecting care. 
 
 12. Sailed with a fair wind for the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 June 2. In the course of my Christian ex- 
 perience, I have frequently remarked, that af- 
 ter having made sincere resolutions against 
 such and such evils with the greatest care; I 
 have, notwithstanding, the same day been in- 
 sensibly drawn aside from the path of duty, 
 led on by degrees into the snares of the ene- 
 my, and at last involved in deeper guilt than 
 before. I have just had a striking example 
 of this, which I wish to retain as a profitable 
 memento for my future conduct. — Yesterday 
 morning I was resolving, through divine as- 
 sistance, to watch against all unruly passion, 
 anger, and hasty words, when in conversation 
 with my messmates; and to learn to be meek, 
 lowly and forbearing with every body. I 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 173 
 
 had not to complain of any glaring violation 
 of this resolution through the day. But after 
 I went to bed, the captain, having spent the 
 evening in the ward-room with two or three 
 more, became intoxicated, and about eleven 
 o'clock fell into a dispute with the lieutenant 
 of marines. Their noise kept me awake. I 
 was grieved to find my brother-officer, a 
 harmless inoffensive lad, very ill used. How- 
 ever I still lay quiet. But the captain, at last, 
 without the smallest provocation, gave him 
 several blows; I could bear it no longer; my 
 blood boiled, I rose hastily, and was in a vio- 
 lent passion indeed. The Lord forgive me! 
 What a poor frail creature I am, with all my 
 resolutions! I sometimes think I ought never 
 to make any: and yet, as a means, with a 
 firm reliance on divine grace alone, they may 
 prove beneficial in promoting watchfulness. 
 Lord! make me more watchful every day, 
 that I may not thus fall into temptation. 
 
 August 3. By the blessing of God, we this 
 evening came to an anchor at the entrance of 
 Simon's Bay; overjoyed at having escaped 
 all the dangers we were in dread of while 
 hovering near the Cape. 
 
 14. To-day the Lord, in a remarkable 
 p 2 
 
174 LIFE OF 
 
 manner, heard my prayer, and gave me a 
 complete victory over one of my brother offi- 
 cers, who has long been my enemy, and who, 
 in attempting to asperse my character, ex- 
 posed his own to universal censure; and was 
 this morning obliged to make a public apo- 
 logy for his behaviour. I hope the Lord gave 
 me grace to forgive him from the bottom of 
 my heart, and to receive him for the future 
 with every mark of brotherly affection. 
 my God ! make me truly thankful for this fa- 
 vour. 
 
 January 1. 1780. Oif the north-west end 
 of Sumatra. About the beginning of last year 
 I could not forbear viewing it as a period 
 which I should not pass through without an 
 unusual share of trouble and distress. Expe- 
 rience has shown I was not far out in my 
 conjectures. But it is past; and thanks be to 
 that kind hand which, surmounting every 
 difficulty, hath safely brought me thus far! 
 What may be in store for me during this 
 year I am now entered upon, the same gra- 
 cious Protector only knows. Into thy hands, 
 blessed Jesus, I desire this day solemnly to 
 resign myself, without the least reserve what- 
 ever. Keep me in India; bring me home; 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 175 
 
 health or sickness; life or death; still my 
 heart would say, Thy will be done. 
 
 March 24. Finding myself with every 
 symptom of a declining state of health in this 
 scorching climate, I this morning wa^ote to 
 the admiral for leave to go home in any of 
 the ships of war bound to the Cape; and at 
 the same time, acquainted my friend. Captain 
 Simonton, with my reasons for so doing. 
 
 25. Captain Simonton informs me that 
 the admiral not only consents to my going 
 home, but intends to remove me as captain of 
 marines to one of the ships. This will be 
 of great advantage to me; as I shall not only 
 have a share of any prizes that may be taken, 
 but be entitled to good accommodation, and 
 probably be able to complete a tour of sea- 
 duty as full captain: advantages none of which 
 I could have enjoyed, had I been sent home 
 sick as a passenger only. The Lord has been 
 pleased to grant more than I asked. that 
 my heart would dissolve in gratitude for so 
 many mercies so freely conferred ! 
 
 April 4. This morning I left the Eagle 
 and embarked on board the Rippon. I would 
 now humbly approach a throne of grace, and 
 solicit the same favours which were gracious- 
 
176 LIFE OF 
 
 \y granted to me on my arrival from Ameri- 
 ca. May the Lord take me soon, in health, 
 peace, and safety, to my native country! — 
 may I find my wife in health, earnestly seek- 
 ing after God; and our dear little ones alive 
 and well, to prove future blessings! — may I 
 find my parents still alive; to give me their 
 blessing ere they go home: may I find the 
 gospel of Christ flourishing in England, and 
 those I am more intimately acquainted and 
 connected with, at Chatham, increased in num- 
 ber, faith, hope, and love! Lord! hear these 
 prayers, and the glory shall be thine. 
 
 June 4. When I was first informed of my 
 appointment to the Rippon, she was far from 
 being the ship I liked best. My attention 
 was fixed on the Asia, and there my choice 
 had been placed. But now I rejoice to find 
 myself in the Rippon, as being by far the most 
 agreeable ship of the three. The epidemical 
 distemper in the Asia, with which upwards of 
 a hundred of her people are now infected, is 
 a loud call for thankfulness, that I am not sent 
 among them. Besides, the Rippon sails bet- 
 ter, and is better manned and officered. It is 
 often a great mercy, when God will not per- 
 mit us to have our own choice! 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 177 
 
 October 29. Early this morning we made 
 sail towards the island of St. Helena, and 
 came to an anchor before twelve o'clock. A 
 few days will complete our watering, and then 
 we know of nothing else to interrupt our pas- 
 sage home. 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1781, the fleet put 
 into Crookhaven in Ireland, and remained 
 there above three weeks. On the ninth of 
 February they anchored in the Downs. There 
 Captain B. received intelligence from home, 
 both pleasing and painful. His wife and chil- 
 dren were in good health: but his father had 
 died early in the preceding year; an event 
 which Captain B. describes as an everlasting 
 advantage to him, but a great and irreparable 
 loss to his surviving friends. 
 
 In the beginning of March, having solicited 
 and obtained from the Admiralty, leave for a 
 month's relaxation from official duty. Captain 
 B. had the happiness of once more rejoining 
 his beloved family; deeply impressed with the 
 divine goodness towards himself and them, 
 during their absence from each other, and 
 especially with the gracious interposition of 
 Providence in his behalf, which had rendered 
 a state of extreme debility, induced by the 
 
178 LIFE OF 
 
 climate of India, the occasion of his return to 
 them several years sooner than could other- 
 wise have been expected. 
 
 TO HIS APPOINTMENT AS LIEUTENANT 
 COLONEL. 
 
 The joy of Captain Burn's reunion with his 
 family was soon succeeded by an occasion of 
 sorrow. "I had not been home," says he, 
 "above a fortnight, before the Lord was 
 pleased to make a breach in the family. My 
 youngest child, a sweet healthy boy, about 
 two years and a quarter old, was playing with 
 me in the garden, on the 21st of March; and 
 the next day, after a few hours' illness, his 
 soul took its flight to heaven, and left his dis- 
 consolate parents to mourn their loss." 
 
 Shortly after Captain B.'s return to his ship, 
 she was condemned as unfit for service, and 
 ordered to Chatham: which gave him another 
 opportunity of being with his family for seve- 
 ral weeks. 
 
 About the end of July, he was appointed 
 to the command of a party of ninety men, 
 including officers, on board the Sampson; 
 which joined admiral Parker's fleet, a few days 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 179 
 
 after the engagement near the Dogger Bank, 
 and was then left with several other vessels 
 cruising off the Texel to watch the motions 
 of the Dutch. The unpleasantness of this sta- 
 tion was not compensated by any captures, 
 and the stormy weather which occurred to- 
 wards the end of October, obliged them to 
 return to the Downs. The very ill state of 
 health which Captain B. had experienced for 
 two months, and the prospect that the ad- 
 vance of winter at sea would aggravate his 
 complaints, induced the surgeon to advise his 
 going ashore to sick quarters. His applica- 
 tion for this purpose was instantly granted, 
 and he returned home, regarding this leave of 
 absence as a signal interposition of Providence 
 in his favour, especially as the Sampson was 
 immediately ordered to Elsineur, with some 
 other men-of-war, to fetch a convoy from 
 thence. After her return, he says, I was 
 congratulated by all my messmates on having 
 so happily escaped the cruise to the Baltic. 
 They all agree that the excessive cold they 
 experienced there would have entirely knock- 
 ed me up. Oh how good the Lord has been 
 to me I When shall I learn to be sufficiently 
 thankful! Lord, increase my faith! 
 
180 LIFE OF 
 
 About this time he was made a full cap- 
 tain, and remained by his own fire-side du- 
 ring the months of November and December, 
 1781, and January and February, 1782. We 
 will give one extract from his journal, dated, 
 
 January 13, 1782. Sunday, I was this day 
 unexpectedly admitted a guest to the Lord's 
 table, and received the blessing of a soft heart. 
 I wept and mourned before Him: and though 
 I soon lost this pleasure, for a pleasure it is; 
 yet still the remembrance of it is sweet. 
 
 His health being in a great measure re- 
 established. Captain B. returned to the Samp- 
 son, which then lay at Sheerness, but soon 
 after went round to Spithead, awaiting further 
 orders; and apprehensions were entertained 
 that she was destined for the West Indies. 
 Though his constitution was ill able to bear a 
 West Indian summer, he endeavoured to re- 
 concile himself to his lot, whatever it might 
 be, in a reliance on that mercy w^hich had 
 never yet forsaken him, but in many a time 
 of extremity had opportunely interposed for 
 his relief. In the beginning of April the 
 Sampson was appointed one of the channel 
 fleet, and was just about to sail, when a cap- 
 tain of marines, who was to go ashore in con- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 181 
 
 sequence of the party he commanded being 
 drafted into other ships, came on board the 
 Sampson and proposed an exchange of duties 
 with Captain B. Welcome as this unexpect- 
 ed oflfer was, on some accounts, Captain B. 
 at first hesitated to accept it; because several 
 days were wanting to complete his tour of 
 sea-duty, and in case he should be ordered to 
 sea again immediately, the exchange might 
 eventually be to his disadvantage. This diffi- 
 culty, however, was removed by the kindness 
 of the captain of tlie Sampson, who permitted 
 Captain B. still to remain on the books of the 
 ship, and discharged him from it two days af- 
 ter the completion of his tour of duty. The 
 only service assigned him during the remain- 
 der of this year was the charge of a recruiting 
 party for a few weeks at Romford. 
 
 The opening of the next year was distin- 
 guished by the restoration of peace. Every 
 humane and Christian heart will sympathize 
 with the feelings of Captain B. on this occa- 
 sion. He writes — 
 
 January 24, 1783. To-day the news ar- 
 rived that the preliminary articles of peace 
 were signed on the 20th instant at Paris. 
 Rejoice, my soul, at this long looked for 
 
182 LIFE OF 
 
 blessing! Stand amazed at the goodness of 
 God to thee: he has now brought thee safe 
 through two bloody wars without loss of life, 
 limb, or liberty; while thousands younger and 
 more deserving have been hurried into the 
 eternal world by the fatal bullet, or pestilen- 
 tial climate. How many of my messmates, 
 companions, and friends, can I call to mind, 
 who at the beginning of this eight years' war 
 were much more likely than myself to see it 
 out, but who are now no more! my soul! 
 praise the Lord for his mercy!" 
 
 The exchange of the ratifications of peace 
 was soon followed by a reduction in the ma- 
 rine corps, and Captain B. went upon half- 
 pay. He observes — 
 
 August 4, 1783. Yesterday the order for 
 the reduction of the corps arrived at quarters, 
 and was immediately notified in the divisional 
 orders. I went this morning to the parade 
 and bade adieu to military service, with a 
 heart, I hope, in some measure, thankful to 
 that all gracious Being who has brought me 
 safe to the conclusion of two wars, after five 
 and twenty years' travel through dangers of 
 every description: for I may say with the 
 apostle on another occasion, I have been * in 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 183 
 
 deaths oft, in weariness and painfulness, in 
 watchings, in hunger and thirst, in cold and 
 heat;' and through them all, the Lord has 
 safely led me to the present joyful hour. 
 that my future life may be wholly devoted to 
 his service! If I know any thing at all of 
 my heart, it is sincere and fervent in this re- 
 quest. 
 
 After Captain B.'s retirement on half-pay, 
 a considerable time elapsed without any oc- 
 currences which it would now be interesting 
 to record. His journals continue to exhibit 
 the experience of a real Christian. 
 
 Captain B. was now about to be visited 
 with a severer affliction than he had ever be- 
 fore experienced. The following passage de- 
 scribes his feelings under the painful appre- 
 hension. 
 
 January 6, 1785. This year begun with a 
 melancholy aspect. The Lord only knows 
 how^ it will end! My dear wife, who has 
 long laboured under a complication of disor- 
 ders, seems to grow worse and worse; so that 
 I now live in an agonizing state, between 
 hope and fear. The Lord help us both, and 
 prepare her for his will, and help me to ac- 
 quiesce in it! 
 
184 LIFE OF 
 
 At another time during this season of dis- 
 tress, he says: "In the midst of severe and 
 overwhelming trials, I find a sweet compo- 
 sure of soul in leaving all to the sovereignty 
 of God. He can do nothing wrong; and that 
 is my consolation. Then why should I re- 
 pine, though he afflicts me in the tenderest 
 part, the wife of my bosom? Even this shall 
 work for his glory; and, I trust, for the bene- 
 fit of both her and me. This trial bears heavy 
 upon me. for more patience, and all shall 
 be well!" 
 
 Three days after Mrs. B.'s death he writes: 
 " Of all the trials I ever had to sustain, none 
 is to be compared to what I have gone through 
 for these three or four days past. My wife, 
 in whom all my earthly happiness centered, 
 suddenly taken from me! Oh how hard, to 
 say with the heart, the will of the Lord be 
 done! I am like one in despair; all nature 
 seems clothed in sackcloth. Lord, help me 
 in this hour of darkness!'^ 
 
 It is one of those things w^hich indicate 
 the control of infinite wisdom and goodness 
 over human affairs, that violent emotions are 
 seldom of long continuance. In general 
 the floods of grief which rise to the most 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 185 
 
 alarming height, soon subside within mode- 
 rate limits, and time gradually dries up their 
 sources. In the sorrow of Christian hearts 
 for the death of pious relatives, this process is 
 accelerated by reflections on the happiness of 
 the deceased, and anticipations of reunion in a 
 better world. 
 
 A little while after. Captain B. writes: 
 " God be praised ! the melancholy, despair- 
 ing frame of mind which my late loss had 
 thrown me into, seems to be wearing off. 
 And happy for me that it is so; for, had it 
 lasted in its first force much longer, 1 must 
 have sunk under it. I still find God the 
 hearer and answerer of prayer, and this en- 
 courages me to persevere. Like a kind pa- 
 rent, he has always been near to succour me 
 in my greatest conflicts. What a blessing to 
 have such a God! I should be the most mi- 
 serable of all wretches, if I had no access to 
 the throne of grace. But my troubles and 
 distresses, however great, keen, and heavj'' 
 they may be, when brought there, lose all 
 their force and bitterness." 
 
 By reason of a variety of circumstances 
 which need not be detailed. Captain B. dis- 
 continued his journal for more than five years; 
 q2 
 
186 LIFE OF 
 
 but his pen was never more actively or use- 
 fully employed. Desirous, after his own con- 
 version, to strengthen his brethren, he dili- 
 gently read several eminent writers on the 
 evidences of the Christian religion, and ab- 
 stracted their most striking and popular argu- 
 ments, to which he gave the form of dialogues 
 between two military ojfficers. 
 
 Few persons, if any, were ever better quali- 
 fied for so useful an undertaking. Experience 
 and observation had rendered the subject fa- 
 miliar and important to him; and the ease, 
 vivacity, and good humour, with which he 
 habitually wrote, were adapted to render such 
 a work, in his hands, equally interesting and 
 agreeable. When, however, he had brought 
 it nearly to a close, he laid it by for some 
 years, from uncertainty how best to finish it. 
 Becoming acquainted at this juncture with 
 two young military men, one of whom had 
 been brought to religious concern by means 
 of conversation with the other, he introduced 
 their history as a closing dialogue, and pub- 
 lished the whole in 17S9, under the appro- 
 priate title of " The Christian Officer's Pano- 
 ply: containing Arguments in favour of Di- 
 vine Revelation; by a Marine Officer." To 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 187 
 
 a second edition, published in 1806, he affixed 
 his name; substituting the words "Complete 
 Armour'^ for "Panoply," as more intelligi- 
 ble. 
 
 That the immediate reception of Captain 
 B.'s principal work was encouraging, might 
 be inferred from his publication, during the 
 same year, of a pamphlet somewhat similar 
 both in its form and purport. This was enti- 
 tled "Who Fares Best; the Christian or the 
 Man of the World? or, The Advantages of a 
 Life of real Piety above a Life of fashionable 
 Dissipation. By a Marine Officer.'^ The at- 
 tractions of this lively dialogue being equal to 
 those of Captain B.'s larger volume, and the 
 perusal easier, it outstripped the former in 
 popularity, and probably in extensive useful- 
 ness. It succeeded in the immediate purpose 
 which induced the author so soon to return to 
 the press, which was to raise for a religious 
 object some charitable assistance, which he 
 could not otherwise have afforded to impart. 
 In 1792, it was reprinted, and again in 1810. 
 
 It was not till 1791 that the author's diary 
 was resumed. It commences, however, with 
 a retrospect, which, though very brief, and 
 wholly silent on his literary employments. 
 
188 LIFE OF 
 
 serves, in other respects, to connect the chain 
 of his history. 
 
 "March 25, 1791. Since 1786, I have the 
 greatest reason to bless God for giving me a 
 partner for life, who has proved a source of 
 real comfort and happiness to me under all 
 the troubles of this uncertain state. He has 
 also blessed us with four fine children, one of 
 whom he has taken to himself; and though 
 we are sometimes straitly put to it, yet we 
 have never been without the necessaries and 
 comforts of life. On the 1st of September, 
 1788, I was called in upon full pay to this 
 division, where I continued ever since, daily 
 experiencing fresh instances of God's kind- 
 ness towards me. 
 
 " When a dispute with Spain was likely to 
 take place, last year, I was ordered on the re- 
 cruiting service; but so near quarters, Croy- 
 don in Surrey, that I easily managed that 
 business without moving from home. But 
 several captains, who were for sea-duty be- 
 fore me, having then embarked, brought me 
 to be one of the first to go in this fresh ar- 
 mament against Russia. Accordingly, I this 
 morning embarked on board his majesty's ship 
 Arrogant, Captain Harvey, who commanded 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 189 
 
 the Sampson last war when I left her in the 
 year 1782." 
 
 In this duty Captain B. spent nearly six 
 months, but without going to sea, except from 
 Chatham or Sheerness to Portsmouth, and 
 back to Chatham; where he disembarked 
 with his party, and went into barracks on the 
 ship being paid off. 
 
 In May, 1792, Captain B. received a com- 
 munication from the directors of the Sierra 
 Leone Company, who offered to appoint him 
 second in command at their new settlement 
 on the coast of Africa. But the interests of 
 his family forbade a relinquishment of the pre- 
 sent advantages and future prospects of the 
 marine service for any emolument which the 
 directors could with propriety grant. He also 
 dreaded the effects of that climate on his con- 
 stitution, but he declined, with great reluc- 
 tance, a charge so congenial with his desire to 
 promote religion and humanity. He publish- 
 ed the same year, some tracts in favour of the 
 abolition of the slave trade, which has since 
 been happily accomplished. 
 
 About the same time he was appointed to 
 the Assistance, in which he made a voyage to 
 Newfoundland. Just after his arrival at St. 
 
190 LIFE OF 
 
 John's harbour, he completed the fiftieth year 
 of his age. He writes — 
 
 September 8, 1792. I have now lived half 
 a century; but how very little of that time 
 has been truly devoted to God's glory! I am 
 constrained to acknowledge that I am a most 
 unprofitable servant indeed ! Were it not for 
 the atoning blood and perfect righteousness of 
 Christ, I should despair of ever reaching hea- 
 ven. But this is a strong tower, into which I 
 trust I have been enabled to flee, and where I 
 find myself perfectly secure: and the more I 
 see and feel this security, the more I am ena- 
 bled to live to the praise of God. 
 
 Towards the end of the year, the Assistance 
 returned from Newfoundland, and in the fol- 
 lowing spring went to Corunna and Gibraltar. 
 On both these voyages, and especially the last, 
 Captain B. found a sea-faring life increasingly 
 unfavourable to his health. He was afflicted 
 with lowness of spirits, uneasy sleep, frightful 
 dreams, nocturnal perspirations, constant pain 
 in his right side, and other distressing symp- 
 toms. Severe indisposition induced him, im- 
 mediately on his return from Gibraltar, to ap- 
 ply to the Admiralty for leave of absence for 
 two months; which he had no sooner obtained 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 191 
 
 than an order was given for the removal of all 
 the marines from the Assistance to the Mon- 
 tague, then on the point of sailing for the 
 West Indies. This combination of events 
 Captain B. considered as a remarkable inter- 
 position of Providence in his favour; at once 
 terminating his career of duty on board the 
 Assistance, and saving him from the disagree- 
 ables and dangers of a West Indian voyage, 
 from which, under existing circumstances, it 
 was not probable he could live to return. 
 
 In consequence of the precarious and lan- 
 guishing state of his health, his term of relax- 
 ation from duty was extended to four months, 
 at the end of which he was again employed in 
 the recruiting service. He was first stationed 
 at Colchester; but having spent a month there 
 with scarcely any success, he was ordered to 
 remove his station to Rochford. 
 
 This removal was highly gratifying, as the 
 situation of Rochford admitted of his passing 
 most of his time at home, without neglecting 
 the business confided to him; in which he had 
 the satisfaction of being very successful, "send- 
 ing in more men to serve their country as 
 marines, than any two officers in the corps on 
 the same service." 
 
192 LIFE OF 
 
 Captain B. had for some years felt "a strong 
 desire to spend the remainder of his days in 
 the country, secluded from the bustle of the 
 world." A principal reason for this wish was 
 the hope of diminishing the expenses of his 
 growing family, which he found great diffi- 
 culty in supporting. About Michaelmas, 1 794, 
 he entered upon a small estate, situated two 
 miles from Strood, consisting of a cottage and 
 thirteen acres of meadow-land, of which he 
 had taken a lease for fourteen years, at one 
 hundred dollars a-year. 
 
 This measure, however, was far from ac- 
 complishing the expected improvement in his 
 circumstances. The repairs required to ren- 
 der the house fit for the reception of his fami- 
 ly, involved him in considerable expense, and 
 he was too little acquainted with rural affairs 
 and the arts of the world, to manage his little 
 farm with any advantage. The distress of his 
 mind under the increase of pecuniary difficul- 
 ties, can only be conceived by those, who, 
 with equal delicacy of feeling and integrity of 
 principle, have laboured under similar embar- 
 rassments. 
 
 There appeared no prospect of deliverance 
 from these difficulties, unless the means should 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 193 
 
 be afforded by the liberality of some opulent 
 friend. No one occurred to his mind so likely 
 to assist as the earl of B — y, with whom he 
 had formerly been intimate in France, but 
 whom he had not seen for the last twenty 
 years: and the long suspension of their inter- 
 course left but little hopes of success. To this 
 nobleman, however, with an aching heart and 
 trembling hand, he ventured to write, stating 
 his necessities and soliciting aid. The fifth 
 day brought a letter from the earl, containing 
 an order on his lordship's banker for five hun- 
 dred dollars. The satisfaction produced by 
 this donation bore a proportion to the anxiety 
 which had preceded it. With the liveliest 
 gratitude for the generosity of his noble friend, 
 Captain B. did not forget his obligations to his 
 Supreme Benefactor, but received this season- 
 able supply as the answer of his heavenly Fa- 
 ther to the many prayers for relief which had 
 ascended from his troubled heart. About a 
 week after, he says: "The great deliverance 
 the Lord has just wrought for me by means of 
 lord B — 's generous present, has enabled me 
 to close this year with joy. I have now nearly 
 paid it all away, that I might enjoy the satis- 
 faction of saying, at the close of the year 1794, 
 
 R 
 
194 LIFE OF 
 
 that I am out of debt. Methinks I shall never 
 forget it, or doubt of the Lord's goodness any 
 more: it was so seasonable, just adequate to 
 my wants, that the more I think of it, the 
 more I see the love of God, and consequently 
 enjoy a continual feast in praising him." 
 
 In the autumn of 1795, Captain B. was call- 
 ed in from the recruiting service, in which he 
 had spent about two years; and was ordered 
 to hold himself in readiness for sea-duty. Af- 
 ter waiting some time, he was appointed to the 
 Goliath, and embarked at Portsmouth on the 
 24th of March, 1796. 
 
 At Portsmouth, Captain B. had the pleasure 
 of an interview with Captain James Wilson, 
 and of hearing from himself an account of the 
 religious benefit which he had obtained by 
 means of "The Christian Officer's Panoply," 
 which had directed his attention to the con- 
 cerns of his soul. Captain B.'s gratitude to 
 God for this event was combined with humi- 
 lity, which led him to regard it as an example 
 of the declaration of the scripture, that " God 
 hath chosen the weak things of the world to 
 confound the mighty." 
 
 The Goliath sailed with a convoy, first to 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 195 
 
 Gibraltar, then to Corsica, and thence to Leg- 
 horn. 
 
 From Leghorn they proceeded to join the 
 fleet, under the command of Sir John Jervis, 
 then blockading the port of Toulon. Though 
 far from the sanctuary of God, and in a place 
 where the sabbath received not even the ex- 
 ternal homage of a few hours' intermission of 
 accustomed iniquities, Captain B. knew what 
 it was to enjoy a sabbath of the mind. 
 
 The approach of winter rendered it neces- 
 sary for the fleet to leave Toulon. They sailed 
 to Corsica, then to Gibraltar, then to Lisbon, 
 and thence proceeded on a cruise in hopes of 
 falling in with the Spaniards. At length, on 
 the 14th of February, 1797, the two fleets met 
 ofi* Cape St. Vincent, and a victory over the 
 Spaniards added fresh laurels to the navy of 
 Britain. It would be foreign to our purpose 
 to enter into the details or results of this en- 
 gagement, any further than Captain B. was 
 particularly concerned. He expressed the 
 gratitude of his heart to the Lord of hosts; as 
 a patriot and a soldier, for the triumph gained 
 over the enemies of his country; and as a 
 man, for his own preservation amidst all the 
 dangers of the fight. 
 
196 LIFE OF 
 
 " God be praised ! the battle is fought, the 
 victory gained, and my worthless life pre- 
 served. The Goliath had two three deckers 
 upon her at one time, and sufiered much in 
 masts, sails, and rigging; but, thank God! 
 had only eight men wounded. What shall I 
 render to the God of all my mercies for hear- 
 ing my prayer, giving me courage, and pro- 
 tecting me in the 'day of battle!" 
 
 For his active exertions in the momentous 
 business of this day he was soon afterwards 
 promoted. There are extant some patriotic 
 poetical efifusions he composed on occasion of 
 this victory. 
 
 After the engagement the British fleet went 
 into Lagos bay to refit; and as soon as they 
 were in a condition to put to sea, proceeded 
 with their prizes to Lisbon. Here Captain 
 Dunsmuire of the marines was about to return 
 home; but preferred remaining in the fleet if 
 he could prevail on some other captain to re- 
 linquish his command, and could obtain the 
 Admiral's consent to the exchange. He ac- 
 cordingly made the proposal to Captain B. 
 whose ill state of health was well known, and 
 to whom an exchange might therefore be sup- 
 posed to be acceptable. Captain B. objected 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 197 
 
 that he wanted several months to complete 
 his tour of sea-duty, and, if he should go 
 home as a passenger, would be liable to be 
 sent to sea again before the expiration of the 
 year. To remove this difficulty. Captain D. 
 proposed an application to the Admiral, to en- 
 deavour to get Captain B. into one of the 
 Spanish prizes; by which he would accom- 
 plish his wish to complete his tour of duty, 
 and would be likely to arrive at home in the 
 course of the summer. The Admiral con- 
 sented to the plan, discharged Captain B. from 
 the Goliath, and appointed him to the com- 
 mand of the marines on board the San Josef. 
 
 After this removal Captain B. remained at 
 Lisbon nearly six months, during which his 
 health was much improved by " frequent ex- 
 cursions into the delightful country along the 
 banks of the Tagus." The day that com- 
 pleted Captain B.'s fifty-fifth year he left 
 Lisbon. 
 
 In the passage home they encountered some 
 of those dangers from which a seafaring life is 
 seldom exempted; but through the goodness 
 of a merciful Providence, they escaped them 
 all, and at the end of four weeks were safely 
 anchored at Plymouth. As soon as the San 
 R 2 
 
198 LIFE OF 
 
 Josef was paid off, Captain B. proceeded to 
 London, and on the 17th of November had 
 the happiness of returning to his beloved and 
 affectionate family. 
 
 Having been senior marine captain in the 
 action with the Spaniards off Cape St. Vin- 
 cent, soon after his return, he was, as already 
 alluded to, appointed to the rank of lieutenant 
 colonel in the army, and was called upon to 
 command the detachment of marines that at- 
 tended his majesty in the procession to St. 
 Paul's, on the day of public thanksgiving for 
 that and other victories. These honours 
 brought no pecuniary advantage, but were 
 attended with an expense, which, though not 
 large, was more than his finances were in a 
 situation to bear. 
 
 TO HIS RETIREMENT FROM MILITARY DUTY. 
 
 The present state has no pleasures unac- 
 companied with pain. The satisfaction of 
 being at home was greatly diminished when 
 Col. B. came to inquire into the progress of 
 his affairs during his absence. The expenses 
 occasioned by a long illness which had afflict- 
 ed Mrs. B. and the losses which the person 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 199 
 
 who had the care of his little farm had met 
 with ill farming and trading, had brought 
 upon him a heavy load of debt, which threw 
 a gloom over the close of the year 1797. 
 
 From this period Colonel B. no longer 
 continued his journal with his former regular- 
 ity. Being for the most part stationary, he 
 had fewer incidents to record; and he com- 
 mitted his reflections to writing so seldom, 
 that between the dates of two successive pa- 
 ragraphs, we frequently find an interval of se- 
 veral months. Our materials for the remain- 
 der of his history, therefore, lie within a small 
 compass. 
 
 In April, 1798, a major in the Plymouth 
 division of marines being reduced to half-pay, 
 colonel B. was fixed upon as successor. Wel- 
 come as this promotion was, to incur the ex- 
 pense of removing his large family, and to be 
 placed at such a distance from all his old 
 friends and connexions, could not but be con- 
 templated as forming a considerable deduction 
 from the pleasure and advantage. To remain 
 in the Chatham division was the object of his 
 desires and prayers, though at that time he 
 could see no prospect of its attainment. With- 
 in ten days, however, a vacancy happened in 
 
200 LIFE OF 
 
 the Chatham division, and he was appointed 
 to fill it. Thus his wishes were accomplished 
 beyond his utmost expectations. His promo- 
 tion added one hundred pounds a year to his 
 income, and exempted him from all sea-duty 
 in future. 
 
 In the ensuing autumn, colonel B. disposed 
 of the lease of his cottage and farm, and re- 
 moved his residence to Strood. In this place 
 Colonel B. used his influence in promoting 
 true religion amongst his neighbours and 
 townsmen, and his exertions were accompa- 
 nied with considerable success. Long will 
 his memory be cherished with reverence and 
 affection amongst a little band of Christians, 
 with whom he often associated for the pur- 
 poses of reading the Scriptures, prayer, and 
 conversation on religious topics; and many 
 will have reason to bless God through eter- 
 nity for his excellent advice, and the holy ex- 
 ample he set before them. In his private 
 concerns nothing remarkable occurred for a 
 considerable time after this. The following 
 extracts exhibit the state of his mind and his 
 experience as a Christian on several occasions 
 in the next and some following years. 
 
 January 1, 1799. After being tossed about 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 201 
 
 the globe, from one side of it to the other, for 
 these last forty years, I am now brought, by 
 the kind hand of my heavenl}^ Father, to a 
 quiet and peaceable retreat in my old age; 
 delivered, I trust, through his great goodness, 
 from all future wanderings on this earth. 
 But surely my deceitful heart can never be so 
 foolish as to entertain the thought for a mo- 
 ment that this is to be my rest. Blessed be 
 the name of my God, and all thanks to his 
 rich grace! I have not so learned Christ, and 
 the precious truths contained in his word. 
 In this world I never expect permanent rest; 
 it is the abode of sin and misery: and there- 
 fore I desire, in the Lord's strength, still to 
 wait patiently for the accomplishment of this 
 divine truth, " In the world ye shall have 
 tribulation." But I hope and earnestly pray, 
 that the Lord will be pleased to fulfil to me 
 his most gracious promise, and bless my soul 
 with his own all-cheering peace: then I shall 
 be properly prepared for the worst that may 
 come. — Let the will of the Lord be done! If 
 his grace be bestowed, it will be sufficient for 
 me, and I shall have nothing to fear. 
 
 September 8, 1800. This day I am fifty- 
 eight years old, a poor, trembling, highly- 
 
202 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 favoured sinner still, who can just say, with a 
 stammering voice, "Lord, I believe; help 
 thou my unbelief." The near approach of 
 that awful and important period, when I must 
 bid adieu to time, and launch into an eternal 
 world, makes me sometimes startle with inex- 
 pressible dismay; or rather, an anxious con- 
 cern, accompanied with painful fear lest after 
 all I should prove a cast-away, shakes my 
 whole frame. Not that I have the shadow of 
 a doubt respecting the glorious truths of the 
 gospel, nor altogether that I doubt of my in- 
 terest in a Saviour's love; but the inconceiv- 
 able importance of an eternal state strikes my 
 mind so forcibly, that the bare shadow of a 
 possibility of my not being happy in it, makes 
 me dread to launch into it. Lord, increase 
 my faith! 
 
 The following letter, written at this period, 
 will beautifully display Colonel B.'s desire to 
 promote the spiritual welfare of his children; 
 it is addressed to his eldest daughter, and was 
 accompanied with a Bible. 
 
 Strood, Dec. 12, 1801. 
 
 My dear R. — In sending you so valuable a 
 
 gift as a Bible, you will naturally expect 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 203 
 
 my parental advice to accompany it. If the 
 prayers of an affectionate father can prevail, 
 you will find it one of the richest presents 
 you ever received. Above forty years ago 
 my grandfather gave me a Bible, which I still 
 preserve, out of which, through rich grace, I 
 have enjoyed more exalted and refined plea- 
 sure than all the pomp and grandeur of a vain 
 world could ever boast of: I have found pre- 
 sent and effectual relief in the hour of deepest 
 distress, and consolations of a heavenly nature 
 far beyond the power of human language to 
 
 express. I only wish my dear R may 
 
 enjoy as much real benefit from the one I now 
 send her. Read it with reverence and atten- 
 tion, as the word and will of the most high 
 God; — pray over it, and wrestle hard till you 
 obtain a blessing from it: — it is a mine full of 
 the richest jewels, and God's people some- 
 times dig deep before they get at them, but 
 never pray in vain. 
 
 It gave your mother and me great pleasure 
 to see some dawnings of a serious concern 
 upon your mind before you left Strood ; but 
 still greater when we heard that concern was 
 increased at Plymouth, and likely to issue in a 
 true conversion and thorough devotedness to 
 
204 LIFE OF 
 
 God. — that we may not be disappointed in 
 the pleasing prospect we have concerning 
 you! for nothing in this world can give equal 
 pleasure to that which a godly parent feels 
 when he sees his children called by divine 
 grace to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the 
 Saviour of sinners. take care, my dear 
 
 R , that you do not quench the Spirit of 
 
 grace, by imbibing too much of the spirit of 
 the world: they never did, never can, nor 
 ever will agree together. Form no close 
 connexion with any female friend that is not 
 more spiritual than yourself. Seek to be 
 much with those who talk about divine things; 
 cherish the means of grace, and pray daily for 
 a lowly, humble, gentle, and affable spirit, that 
 the dear relatives, with whom you now are, 
 may rejoice to see that grace has made a hap- 
 py change in the whole of your deportment. 
 A form of godliness will not effect this, but 
 the power of it felt in the heart will; — and do 
 you never rest contented till you feel and en- 
 joy this power: — it is an awful and dangerous 
 thing to rest short of it. 
 
 September S, 1S02. To-day I finish my 
 threescore years. Will my foolish heart still 
 say they may be threescore and ten? Per- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 205 
 
 haps I may never see another birth-day. The 
 one is as likely to happen as the other. But 
 God has fixed the day of my departure hence; 
 and my wisdom is, to be constantly living in 
 the daily expectation of its approach. Lord, 
 help me to do so! 
 
 Notwithstanding the rigid economy with 
 which Colonel B.'s domestic concerns had 
 been uniformly conducted, yet the expenses 
 of his numerous family, whose wants were 
 continually increasing, exceeded his income, 
 and unavoidably involved him in debts, which 
 he had no present means of discharging. The 
 amount of these debts at the beginning of the 
 year 1803, was about sixty pounds. This cir- 
 cumstance, which he felt and deplored as a 
 heavy affliction, rendered him very desirous 
 of future promotion; and about this time he 
 had some hopes of obtaining it. But the re- 
 tirement solicited by an officer above him not 
 being granted, all prospect of immediate pro- 
 motion was at an end. The disappointment 
 seemed to increase the pressure under which 
 he laboured; his only hope was in the mercy 
 of his heavenly Father. To him he commit- 
 ted all his cares, praying that he would grant 
 s- 
 
206 LIFE OF 
 
 relief in his own way. The same week his 
 prayers were answered. He observes — 
 
 February 14, 1803. Last week, just as my 
 heart was poring over the disappointment I 
 met with in my expected promotion, and an- 
 ticipating all the miseries of accumulating 
 debt, a dear friend of mine in the military 
 profession called upon me; and taking me 
 aside into a private room, made me promise I 
 would ask him no questions: which, when I 
 had done, with some hesitation — he put a 
 bank note into my hand, saying, he was de- 
 sired to give it to me, but with the strongest 
 injunctions never to divulge whence it came. 
 I put it in my pocket without looking at it, 
 repeatedly thanking him and my generous 
 benefactor for the very acceptable present. 
 Dinner being upon the table, we went in, sat 
 down and dined; my mind all the while occu- 
 pied about which of my creditors I should pay 
 off first, imagining I had perhaps a ten or 
 twenty pound note, which I longed to look at, 
 but was ashamed to do it before my friend. 
 Soon after dinner I took an opportunity to 
 step out of the room to satisfy my anxious cu- 
 riosity. But oh! how my heart was filled 
 with grateful emotions when I found two 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 207 
 
 notes, one of five and the other of a hundred 
 pounds; — a present of one hundred guineas! 
 To attempt a description of my feelings at 
 this time, would be in vain: those who have 
 experienced the overflowings of a grateful 
 heart can only guess at them. I was so over- 
 come with a view of the Lord's goodness, that 
 I knew not how to express myself, and was 
 afraid my friend would think me insensible 
 of the favour bestowed. When he was gone, 
 and I had communicated the purport of my 
 visit to Mrs. B., we both wept, and in broken 
 accents, with eyes and hearts directed to Hea- 
 ven, expressed our obligation to the God of all 
 our mercies, for this seasonable and ample 
 supply, in answer to our united and repeated 
 prayers. I have now enjoyed the pleasure of 
 paying all my debts, of contributing to the re- 
 lief of others, and of purchasing many articles 
 absolutely necessary in the family. Oh how 
 good the Lord has been to us, unworthy as 
 we are of the least of all his mercies ! 
 
 The principle of true piety which divine 
 grace had implanted in the heart of Colonel 
 B., would not allow him to be an unconcern- 
 ed spectator of any thing passing around him, 
 that would affect the moral and religious in- 
 
208 LIFE OF 
 
 terests of his fellow-men. The societies form- 
 ed by good men of various communions for 
 the evangelization of the world, interested all 
 his Christian feelings, and called forth his 
 most fervent wishes and constant prayers. 
 Nor was he content with approving of their 
 objects and praying for the success of their ef- 
 forts: he felt an ambition to be himself a la- 
 bourer in the same noble cause, and to contri- 
 bute by all the means in his power towards 
 the promotion of the plans of Christian bene- 
 volence. Among other institutions, the Reli- 
 gious Tract Society appears to have attracted 
 his particular attention. He added one to the 
 number of their tracts: it is written in a very 
 plain and familiar style, well adapted to the 
 class of readers for whose use it was design- 
 ed the title is — " Two Dialogues between a 
 Corporal and a Private Soldier." Humble 
 as this little production may be deemed, ac- 
 cording to the gradations of literary merit, it 
 has received an honour to which many ela- 
 borate theological writers may in vain aspire. 
 At a subsequent annual meeting of that So- 
 ciety, its friends were gratified with the infor- 
 mation that this tract had been eminently use- 
 ful to a poor soldier; who by the divine bless- 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 209 
 
 ing on its perusal, had been reclaimed from 
 his sinful courses, made acquainted with the 
 way of salvation, and brought to walk in the 
 paths of righteousness. If this should be the 
 only instance of spiritual benefit ever derived 
 from a perusal of these dialogues, it was a rich 
 reward for the author. So he esteemed it: 
 he heard the relation of the circumstance with 
 emotions which were expressed in tears of joy 
 more forcible than any words. To be the 
 writer of a tract which converts one sinner 
 from the error of his way, and thus saves a 
 soul from the second death, confers a name as 
 far above every name of literary distinction, 
 as heaven is superior to earth, or eternity to 
 time. 
 
 But we return to the journal: — 
 
 September 1. Within the last three months 
 greater and more unexpected changes have 
 taken place in my situation, than at any for- 
 mer period; and, what loudly calls for the 
 warmest gratitude, they are all favourable, 
 undeserving as I am of so much kind atten- 
 tion from the hands of a gracious God, who 
 constrains me by his goodness to call him my 
 God and Father. A great promotion of field- 
 officers being expected in June, which would 
 s2 
 
210 LIFE OF 
 
 of course make me a lieutenant-colonel in the 
 corps; I applied to all my friends at the Ad- 
 miralty to get me appointed to Chatham; and 
 • they assured me it should be done. But to 
 my great surprise, when the promotion came 
 out, I was appointed to Plymouth. This 
 seemed to plunge me into many difficulties 
 and great expense; but I was not left to mur- 
 mur long: for next day an order came for six 
 field-officers, from Plymouth division only, to 
 superintend the recruiting districts; and I, 
 being a senior officer at that division, of course 
 was one of the number. Now I saw clearly 
 the goodness of God in sending me to Ply- 
 mouth contrary to my prayers; for, if he had 
 not, I should not have got this appointment, 
 which adds a guinea a-day to my pay, with 
 travelling expenses; and if he should spare 
 me to enjoy it any time, it will be the means 
 of extricating me from all pecuniary embar- 
 rassments. On the 1st of June, an order came 
 for me to repair to Cambridge, as inspecting 
 field-officer in that district, taking under my 
 command the recruiting officers in Suffolk, 
 Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, 
 Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Rut- 
 land. On ihe 4th, I left home and went to 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 211 
 
 London; where, having soon settled money- 
 matters with the paymaster, I arrived next 
 day at this place (Cambridge), a perfect 
 stranger to every creature in it. About the 
 middle of August, I removed my family from 
 Strood, having with great difficulty procured 
 a house in Cambridge, where we now com- 
 fortably reside. The loss sustained in parting 
 with our furniture at Strood, the expense of 
 travelling, and the greater expense of furnish- 
 ing an empty house, have thrown us consi- 
 derably behind-hand ; but if the Lord is pleased 
 to spare us and keep us any time here, with 
 his blessing we shall get above all incum- 
 brances. But, my soul, rest not content 
 with these temporal blessings. Look higher, 
 and give all diligence to obtain a full assurance 
 of interest in the great and finished work of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. This, and this only, 
 can make happy in time, in death, and to all 
 eternity. — I can ha^e but very few more days 
 to live on earth. my God and Saviour, 
 may they be blessed with a full assurance of 
 faith unto the end, that I shall spend an eter- 
 nity with thee in heaven. 
 
 December 31. This year has to me been 
 full of wonders and striking displays of divine 
 
212 LIFE OF 
 
 providence. It began with one of a most ac- 
 ceptable nature, and is now closing with ano- 
 ther. The first lord of the Admiralty, in a 
 very unexpected manner, has put the five se- 
 nior officers at the head of the corps, on the 
 retired list, and promoted five others in their 
 room; which just brings me in to be second 
 colonel-commandant, and, to my great joy, 
 once more placed at Chatham, before I knew 
 any thing of the promotion. In all probability 
 I shall in a few days lose my lucrative employ 
 at Cambridge, and remove to one much less 
 so; but as it is a permanent situation, and far 
 preferable to what I enjoyed when last at 
 Chatham, I ought to be truly thankful for it; 
 especially as, in case of my dying first, my 
 widow will now be entitled to three hundred 
 and fifty dollars annually. We had just 
 formed an agreeable acquaintance at Cam- 
 bridge: and, without rightly considering the 
 uncertainty of all earthly enjoyments, were 
 promising ourselves a great deal of satisfaction 
 among them. But these and other delightful 
 things, however rational to expect, are entirely 
 fled with the fleeting year. Lord give me 
 more permanent enjoyments in a better world, 
 for Christ's sake! 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 213 
 
 Early in the next year Colonel B. removed 
 to his new appointment at Chatham. The ex- 
 penses of two removals, losses by two sales 
 of furniture, and furnishing two houses, within 
 six months, involved him in new debts; which, 
 though they did not much exceed a hundred 
 pounds, yet formed a constant drawback on 
 all his comforts. He endeavoured to console 
 himself with a reflection worthy of a Chris- 
 tian; resolving all into the divine allotments, 
 and confiding for the future in the divine 
 goodness. He said, " God will not suffer us 
 to be rich in this world's goods ; but surely, 
 from the last year's experience, we ought ne- 
 ver to doubt of his readiness to supply our 
 every want." When we state, that up to this 
 period, the sixty-second year of his age, his 
 income had not regularly amounted to two 
 hundred and sixty pounds a-year, it cannot fail 
 to excite the surprise of every reader, how, 
 with a family of ten children, and with the 
 strictest economy, he could have avoided 
 much greater incumbrances. 
 
 In the summer of 1805, Colonel B. was call- 
 ed to part with one of his infant children, " a 
 sweet little girl," he says, " of two years and 
 three months old. She had so entwined her- 
 
214 LIFE OF 
 
 self about my heart, that separation proved 
 bitter indeed. — Oh the precious word of God ! 
 I love it more than ever. Life and immor- 
 tality are brought to light by the gospel. There 
 is the immateriality and immortality of the 
 soul fully demonstrated. If it were not so, 
 where is the use of moral rectitude? What 
 need was there for a Saviour? He does not 
 deliver his followers from the evils of this 
 life: and if there be no hereafter, why did he 
 bleed and die? All the perfections of the un- 
 changeable I AM, are engaged to secure the 
 immortality of his redeemed." 
 
 Colonel B.'s affection for his children was 
 that of a Christian parent ; not limited to their 
 condition in the present life, but regarding 
 their highest interest as heirs of an immortal 
 existence. The evidences of piety which 
 some of them exhibited could not but afford 
 him the most exquisite pleasure. He writes — 
 
 December, 1805. Last Friday my two eld- 
 est daughters were received into the church of 
 Christ under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
 Mr. Slatterie, and yesterday were admitted, 
 for the first time, to the Lord's table; where 
 I have every reason to believe they were wel- 
 come guests, as being savingly united by faith 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 215 
 
 to Christ their living head. — Oh the consola- 
 tion flowing from such a scene as this! What 
 a mercy, to behold two, so dear to me, snatch- 
 ed from destruction, and preparing for eternal 
 bliss! that I could be sufficiently thankful! 
 Lord, accept my feeble praise; and uphold 
 them and me from falling; and let my other 
 children also find favour in thy sight. 
 
 The same lively gratitude to his God, and 
 pious affection for his children, appears in the 
 following extracts of letters written to one of 
 his sons. 
 
 " Of all the pleasures, joys, and gratifications 
 that ever I enjoyed, none ever gave me so 
 much delight as when I had good reason to 
 conclude that your two sisters and yourself 
 were savingly united to Jesus Christ. The 
 more I think of it, the more I stand astonished 
 at the Lord's goodness, and rejoice in his 
 amazing love. When I am overwhelmed and 
 perplexed with domestic cares, goaded with 
 foreboding, unbelieving fears, and pecuniary 
 embarrassments, I look with gratitude to Hea- 
 ven, on my converted children, and instantly 
 the whole of my troubles vanish, and my hap- 
 py heart cheerfully sings, All's well." 
 
 On the 20th of April, 1808, he writes: 
 
216 LIFE OF 
 
 "From the easy, uniform, uninteresting life 
 which I am now called in Providence to lead, 
 seldom any thing occurs sufficiently important 
 to be recorded: and the feelings of my mind, 
 in a religious point of view, being much the 
 same from one end of the month to the other, 
 I feel but little desh^e to commit my Christian 
 experience to writing. Added to this, a pain- 
 ful habit of indolence creeping upon me with 
 old age, will probably make the future relation 
 of my experience very short indeed." 
 
 This period of his life was not, however, 
 spent in vain; his diligence in promoting Sun- 
 day Schools and every other good work was 
 not abated by the infirmities of age; whilst 
 the consistent example of Christian piety 
 which he exhibited, his affectionate concern 
 for the spiritual welfare of others, and his edi- 
 fying conversation, were very useful in con- 
 firming the minds of several young Christians, 
 with whom he became acquainted, in the faith 
 and hope of the gospel. 
 
 About midsummer, 180S, there was some 
 reason to expect a promotion among the senior 
 officers of the corps; which would include 
 Colonel B. and make a considerable addition 
 to his income. This prospect inspired him 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 217 
 
 with the hope of speedy relief from the pe- 
 cuniary difficulties under which he still la- 
 boured; and he felt not a little anxiety for its 
 accomplishment. " It is not," said he, '- an 
 ambition to rise, I hope, that makes me wish 
 for promotion; but an anxious desire to be in 
 a way to pay my just debts." But the ex- 
 pected promotion did not take place. He re- 
 fers to the disappointment in his reflections on 
 his next birth-day. 
 
 "Sept. 8, 1808. To-day I complete my 
 sixty-sixth year. Let me forget my late dis- 
 appointment, and turn to the bright sight of 
 my lot, and contemplate what the Lord has 
 done for me above thousands around me. I 
 am the only one left of a numerous family, 
 and have attained to a greater age, I believe, 
 than either of my parents. Is not this a mercy? 
 Why should I be thus distinguished, permit- 
 ted to live so long on the earth ; enjoying, as 
 I now do, a tolerable state of health? The 
 Lord has blessed me with an affectionate wife, 
 with whom I walk comfortably in the narrow 
 path to glory. He hath given us a numerous 
 family of children; some are in heaven, and 
 ten are still living: the four eldest, I have 
 reason to conclude, are children of God by 
 
 T 
 
218 LIFE OF 
 
 adoption and grace. Where is the family in 
 these towns, so highly favoured as mine? — 
 Do I enjoy a good hope through grace, full of 
 a glorious immortality, and can I be over so- 
 licitous about the trash of this world? Lord! 
 wean me from earth, which I must shortly 
 leave; and draw my attention and affections 
 towards heavenly objects, that I may live 
 more to thy glory, and be ready, at thy call, 
 to enter into that rest which I humbly trust 
 thou hast prepared even for worthless me. 
 for more of that faith which worketh by love 
 and overcometh the world ! Then would my 
 heart be filled with joy and peace in believing, 
 and the God of all my mercies be glorified. 
 
 The disappointment which Colonel B. ex- 
 perienced in not obtaining promotion when 
 he had reason to expect it, served to heighten 
 the pleasure of the acquisition when it was 
 unexpectedly conferred upon him. Before 
 the end of the year the Colonel-commandant 
 at Woolwich was dismissed upon half-pay, 
 and Colonel B. was appointed to succeed him. 
 He writes — 
 
 November 10. This day I am ordered by the 
 Admiralty to take the command of the Wool- 
 wich division. Thus hath the Lord, in his 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 219 
 
 own good time and way, provided the means 
 of my getting clear of all pecuniary embar- 
 rassments, should it be his blessed will to 
 spare me a little longer; for, though I must 
 be at great expense in removing, and much 
 greater in my present situation as command- 
 ing-officer; yet my pay being much greater 
 than before, I make no doubt, but with God's 
 blessing, I shall be able to pay all my debts in 
 the course of twelve or fourteen months. 
 
 Colonel B. entered without delay on his 
 new command, and as soon as he could pro- 
 cure a suitable house, removed all his family 
 to Woolwich. There, in the regular discharge 
 of his official duties, he passed day after day, 
 and month after month, with no greater va- 
 riety of incident than he had experienced at 
 Chatham; but by a deportment equally be- 
 coming a soldier and a Christian, ensuring the 
 respect and winning the affection of all around 
 him. He observes — 
 
 June 6, 1S09. Nothing of any consequence 
 in my situation has occurred lately, but ample 
 cause for gratitude and praise to the God of all 
 my mercies, for the blessings I enjoy as head 
 of a family, and as having under me a num- 
 ber of officers and men, who, I have reason to 
 
220 LIFE OF 
 
 believe, are perfectly satisfied with my eon- 
 duct towards them. I had an instance of this 
 yesterday, in celebrating the king's birth-day, 
 when some tokens of respect and honour were 
 shown me, which I had no reason to expect. 
 I have always endeavoured to make them hap- 
 py, by granting every indulgence the service 
 would admit of: and they seem to be sensible 
 of it. 
 
 February 28, 1810. The last and present 
 months have been, as usual, months of sick- 
 ness, pain, and debility: yet I have reason to 
 bless God, that though my poor crazy frame 
 is much shattered by these annual shocks, it 
 still holds together, and I am able to execute 
 the duties of the station where God in his 
 mercy hath placed me. But I cannot expect 
 to do this long: every winter brings me nearer 
 the closing scene. May the Lord in mercy 
 prepare me for it. 
 
 The following letter will unfold more fully 
 to the reader the state of General B.'s mind. 
 
 Woolwich, 1th June, 1810. 
 
 My dear C. — I am now an old man, at the 
 
 close of my race, standing on the brink of the 
 
 grave, looking with solemn awe into the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 221 
 
 boundless prospects of an eternal world; and 
 you are just entering upon one, fallacious, de- 
 lusive, and transitory. I have hitherto passed 
 through it safe (thank God!), and of course 
 am qualified, from long experience, and as a 
 parent and friend, to give you some salutary 
 advice, faithful warning, and seasonable in- 
 struction, to guide you safe (through divine 
 assistance) to the end of your journey. I 
 would not have you, for a moment, indulge 
 the thought that you will live to my age; 
 there is a thousand to one against you for 
 this. But let the journey through life be cur- 
 tailed or prolonged, an end must come at last; 
 and what will then be most desirable when 
 death is just ready to strike the irreversible 
 blow? Surely, whatever that is, it ought to 
 be sought after and secured, above all other 
 things. And nothing but a well-grounded 
 hope of an interest in Jesus Christ, can then 
 be of any use to support the sinking soul: all 
 other props will surely fail. — Let me then, 
 my dear C, earnestly beseech you, with that 
 anxious solicitude which an affectionate father 
 alone can feel, to seek first of all the kingdom 
 of heaven and God's righteousness, and the lip 
 of eternal truth hath promised that every 
 T 2 
 
222 LIFE OF 
 
 thing else needful for your journey through 
 life will be granted: not perhaps what you 
 may wish or expect, but what infinite wisdom 
 shall deem best for your real welfare. Were 
 I to preach to you for years, I could give you 
 no better advice than the above, for it contains 
 every thing. If once, through sovereign grace, 
 you become united to Jesus Christ as the only 
 Saviour of perishing sinners, your salvation is 
 secure. Trials, difficulties, temptations, fears, 
 and doubts, you will encounter; but his grace 
 is promised to be sufficient for you, and to 
 make you more than conqueror over them all. 
 I would fain hope, from what I have seen 
 and heard, that the Spirit of the Lord has 
 been at work on your mind. beware of re- 
 sisting his gracious influences, and cherish 
 every desire that tends heavenward. Be much 
 in secret prayer for direction from above, 
 and embrace every opportunity of instructing 
 yourself in the knowledge of divine things, 
 and never forget that you are but a pilgrim 
 and stranger in this world, travelling post-haste 
 to an eternal state. — My prayers for your pre- 
 sent and eternal welfare shall never be want- 
 ing. 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 223 
 
 That the Lord may bless my dear C — with 
 his saving grace, is the fervent prayer of 
 
 Your affectionate father. 
 
 On the 25th of July, 1810, Colonel B. ob- 
 tained the rank of major-general in the army; 
 a promotion not attended with any additional 
 emolument. But whatever gratification he 
 may have derived from this honour, was far 
 exceeded by the satisfaction he enjoyed in the 
 discharge of all his pecuniary obligations, 
 which had long been an object of his strenuous 
 exertions and fervent prayers, and which he 
 was enabled to accomplish in the course of 
 this year. 
 
 In the autumn he had a severe fit of illness, 
 his recovery from which he regarded as a 
 merciful dispensation of Providence towards 
 his numerous and young family, which on their 
 account demanded his peculiar gratitude. In 
 reference to his feelings and views under this 
 visitation of the Almighty, he says: "In these 
 trying moments the soul is called upon to 
 prepare for death; but if it has not been pre- 
 pared before, it has chosen the very worst pe- 
 riod to think of such a vast concern. Who 
 can reflect with composure, when pain tor- 
 
224 LIFE OF 
 
 ments the body and fever depresses the spirits? 
 If I was not prepared to die nearly forty years 
 ago, I never shall be. Then my only hope 
 and sole dependence was on Jesus Christ and 
 his finished salvation, his atoning blood and 
 perfect righteousness: and so it is at this mo- 
 ment; and so I hope it will be when God 
 shall be pleased to call me hence. If he is 
 pleased to smile upon me, a poor sinner, in 
 my dying moments, I will bless his name: if 
 not, I will cling to the rock of ages, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 General Burn's reflections on the com- 
 mencement of the next year cannot be pe- 
 rused without touching the finer sympathies 
 of every feeling heart. 
 
 January 1, 1811. Heart and flesh begin to 
 fail, and I can no longer enter into active life 
 as I used to do. The grasshopper is a burden; 
 and an indolent, drowsy habit, daily increases 
 upon me. If the Spirit at any time is willing, 
 the flesh is always weak and backward. I try 
 to think on heaven and eternal things, pray- 
 ing daily that I may long to be with Jesus; 
 but after all, I cannot wholly overcome the 
 dread of dissolution. Lord Jesus! increase 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 225 
 
 my faith, and give me grace to trust in thee 
 when I come to grapple with death. 
 
 In the spring of 1812, General Burn wrote 
 and published a small pamphlet, entitled the 
 "Resurrection of the Two Witnesses, exhibit- 
 ed in the Formation and Great Success of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society: being a 
 Paraphrase on the Eleventh Chapter of the 
 Revelations. In a letter to a friend." 
 
 Amidst all his infirmities of body and anx- 
 ieties of mind, however, General B. appears, 
 with growing years, to have been growing in 
 grace, and quietly waiting for his dismission 
 from the present state and introduction to the 
 blissful presence of his God and Saviour. 
 
 On the 8th of September, 1813, he says: — 
 "Who could have thought some years ago, 
 that I should live to the age of seventy-one, 
 at which I arrive this day. It is true I am 
 not well ; nor have I been so for some time: 
 but I bless God, his chastising rod has been 
 sanctified to me; I have seen the necessity of 
 it, and felt the salutary effects it has produced. 
 The Lord's judgments and his mercies have 
 been truly and equally blessed to me. that 
 I had a heart truly sensible of so much un- 
 merited goodness ! Lord grant it. 
 
226 LIFE OF 
 
 The last event mentioned in General B.'s 
 journal, is his retirement from all military 
 duty. 
 
 May 10th, 1814. The Board of Admiralty, 
 on the prospect of a long continued peace, 
 being determined to reduce a great part of the 
 Royal Marine Corps, have begun with the 
 head; and ordered the four senior officers to 
 retire on their full pay; depriving them of all 
 their emoluments; which to me, commanding 
 this division, is a loss of full thirteen hundred 
 dollars a year. 
 
 HIS LAST DAYS. 
 
 In consequence of this diminution of in- 
 come, the general found it expedient to quit 
 Woolwich, where he had resided nearly five 
 years. In the course of a fortnight he met 
 with a suitable house at Gillingham, (a plea- 
 sant village near Chatham,) which he took, 
 and to which he removed with his family 
 early in the month of July following. 
 
 This was a situation where he could enjoy 
 complete retirement, and was, therefore, well 
 suited to preparation for the solemn period 
 when he was to remove from the seen to the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 227 
 
 unseen world. To this period he had been 
 looking forward for several years, with all the 
 anxiety and deep seriousness which its im- 
 portance demands from every rational being. 
 Owing to a considerable degree of deafness 
 in his later years, which prevented his dis- 
 tinctly hearing the subjects of conversation, 
 he became habitually silent: — difficulty of 
 hearing, however, was not the only occasion 
 of his silence; from sentences which inciden- 
 tally escaped him, and from the peculiar ex- 
 pression of his countenance, it evidently ap- 
 peared that he regarded himself as walking 
 along the awful shores of eternity, and that 
 he was striving by the eye of faith to pierce 
 through the intervening shades, and by self- 
 examination to learn his fitness for the glories 
 of heaven. This interesting employment en- 
 grossed his thoughts, and its solemnity made 
 him silent. His w^ife and children, w^ho watch- 
 ed his countenance, and knew that something 
 important was passing within, often wished 
 this silence were broken, that they might hear 
 from his own lips what God was doing for his 
 soul. Their desires, however, were not often 
 realized in the way of conversation ; but in 
 the family devotions, when he was accustom- 
 
^28 LIFE OF 
 
 ed, as the priest of his household, to pour out 
 the desires of his heart before God, they often 
 learned the state of his mind; — sometimes awed 
 at the prospect of death; at others filled with 
 the peace of God which passeth all under- 
 standing. 
 
 It is not intended by these remarks to con- 
 vey any idea that gloominess was predominant 
 in General B/s character; or that domestic 
 events and the circumstances of his friends 
 and of the neighbourhood passed unheeded by 
 him. So far from this, he was eminently of a 
 social disposition; he delighted in the conver- 
 sation of his friends; he took an affectionate 
 interest in all their concerns; and by his 
 meekness and amiable disposition, was pecu- 
 liarly successful in winning the confidence 
 and esteem of young persons, amongst whom 
 he did not fail to use all his influence to en- 
 courage them to zeal and perseverance in the 
 Christian race. However his thoughtfulness 
 for his family and deep concern about eternity, 
 might at times cast a gloom over his counte- 
 nance, and abstract his mind from what was 
 passing around; yet he often excited and kept 
 alive the cheerfulness of the social party. Nor 
 was his heart a stranger to those exquisite 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 229 
 
 feelings, which are then most alive, when a 
 large family meet together in harmony and 
 love; when the sprightliness and vivacity of 
 youth is controlled but not suppressed by the 
 more sober joys of maturer years; and when 
 every domestic enjoyment is heightened and 
 sanctified by the superior pleasures of religion. 
 Not many weeks before his death, on a birth- 
 day occasion, General B. witnessed a scene 
 such as this in his own family. He contri- 
 buted his full share to the enjoyment of the 
 evening, and by the benignity of his counte- 
 nance, and the cheerfulness of his expressions 
 coming from, a full heart, raised the admira- 
 tion and delight of his children, almost to en- 
 thusiasm. When every heart was thus ele- 
 vated and softened, he seized the favourable 
 moment for producing religious impressions, 
 and, repeating a hymn of praise to God with 
 something like seraphic devotion, he called 
 upon all his children to join in singing it. 
 
 For some time before, and during his resi- 
 dence at Gillingham, Baxter's Dying Thoughts 
 became his favourite book. Like that excel- 
 lent man, although he had spent a long life in 
 exemplary holiness, and in great nearness to 
 God and heaven, yet doubts and fears often 
 
230 LIFE OF 
 
 invaded his mind in the prospect of eternity. 
 Perhaps in General B. this was accompanied 
 with a weakness of faith, which gave those 
 doubts and fears an undue influence over his 
 spiritual comforts and peace of mind. In this 
 weakness of faith he is not to be imitated; but 
 in his serious anxiet}^ that all should be right 
 with him in the next world, surely his exam- 
 ple cannot be too closely copied. 
 
 On his arrival at Gillingham, he marked 
 out for himself a regular plan for spending his 
 time, which was now all his own. He con- 
 tinued his habit of early rising, and after his 
 own private devotions, went down to family 
 prayers and breakfast; he then read his daily 
 portion of the Scripture, and employed him- 
 self for two hours afterwards in revising the 
 preceding narrative for the press. Garden- 
 ing, which had always been his favourite 
 amusement, occupied him till dinner-time; 
 and when his family and endeared friends ob- 
 served the cheerfulness and the activity with 
 which he pruned his trees, and superintended 
 others in more laborious occupations, they 
 were willing to hope that the stamina of life 
 were still vigorous, and that God designed to 
 bless them with his society for some years 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 231 
 
 longer. But the mercies of Jehovah towards 
 him were about to receive their consummation 
 by his removal to glory. The harvest was 
 reajDing in the surrounding fields, and almost 
 ready to be housed: — and from the fields of 
 Sion, called by St. Paul "the husbandry of 
 God," this shock of corn, now fully ripe, was 
 about to be gathered into the garner of the 
 Lord. 
 
 But before we bring the reader to the last 
 trying scene, it will be interesting to mention 
 some particulars, which show the holy feelings 
 and dispositions of this advanced Christian. 
 
 It has just been observed that General B.'s 
 mind seemed to be generally occupied in the 
 contemplation of eternity, and in preparing to 
 enter it; but there were some subjects con- 
 nected with this world, which still dwelt in 
 his thoughts, and engaged the warmest affec- 
 tions of his heart. Amongst these, the ad- 
 vancement of Christ's kingdom in the world 
 was a subject of peculiar interest. Tears of 
 joy would roll plentifully down his venerable 
 face, whenever he heard of sinners brought to 
 repentance and faith in Christ; when he learn- 
 ed the success of Christ's missionaries pro- 
 claiming to the ignorant heathen the glad 
 
232 LIFE OF 
 
 news of salvation: but most especially did he 
 rejoice with feelings of peculiar exultation in 
 the general distribution of the Scriptures, by 
 means of the British and Foreign Bible So- 
 ciety. The 10th Report of that admirable 
 institution was read to him the evening pre- 
 ceding the day on which he was confined to 
 his bed, never to rise from it again: the en- 
 couraging nature of the contents of the Re- 
 port, the glorious prospects it opens of uni- 
 versal good by means of the society, broke 
 forth with resplendent light, to illuminate the 
 entrance of this devoted Christian into the 
 valley of the shadow of death, and refreshed 
 his spirit for his encounter with the last ene- 
 my. 
 
 The maturity of divine grace in General B. 
 became daily more evident from his abound- 
 ing in Christian love and charity: his heart 
 was purged from every party feeling which 
 could alienate his affections from Christians 
 who differed from him in matters of less 
 moment. The language of St. Paul was the 
 constant breathing of his pious mind: " Grace 
 be with all them that love our Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity." To a Christian in such 
 a state of mind it was to be expected that the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 233 
 
 great increase of faithful ministers in the esta- 
 blished church would be cause of unfeigned 
 rejoicing: nor will it soon be forgotten how 
 he received the officiating minister of a neigh- 
 bouring church, who was faithfully and zeal- 
 ously labouring in the vineyard of his Lord. 
 
 In the village of Gillingham, there was a 
 little band of pious men, in connexion with 
 the Methodists. Although General B. differ- 
 ed from them in several points of doctrine and 
 discipline, yet when he beheld much of the 
 true spirit of Christianity amongst them, he 
 cheerfully joined their social meetings, and 
 sometimes attended to hear their preachers. 
 In their more private meetings for prayer, he 
 often led their devotions, to the great delight 
 and profit of his Christian friends, who were 
 comforted and edified with the heavenly- 
 mindedness, the holy triumph over death and 
 the grave, which often animated his prayers. 
 The last sermon he heard was in their little 
 chapel, from Rev. chap. xxii. ver. 17. "And 
 the Spirit and the Bride say. Come. — And let 
 him that heareth say. Come. — And let him 
 that is athirst. Come. And whosoever will, 
 let him take the water of life freely.'^ Gene- 
 ral B. listened to the discourse with holy joy 
 
234 LIFE OF 
 
 beaming in his countenance, and often spoke 
 of it afterwards with great satisfaction. In- 
 deed, both the text and the sermon were pe- 
 culiarly adapted to prepare his mind for ap- 
 proaching death. 
 
 After about two months of sweet enjoyment 
 in this retired situation, the family of General 
 B. were alarmed, early in September, by the 
 return of his annual complaint at the fall of 
 the year, with symptoms more dangerous 
 than usual. This alarm was much increased 
 when the disorder confined him to his bed, 
 and a considerable degree of fever began to 
 prey on his frame. But their endeared rela- 
 tive had so frequently recovered from threat- 
 ening indispositions, that they did not appre- 
 hend his death was near, and were willing to 
 hope that, even from this unusually severe at- 
 tack he might be restored to their wishes and 
 their prayers. — How wisely, how mercifully, 
 is futurity hid from mortal sight! The ex- 
 pectation of soon losing so beloved a friend 
 would have rendered his wife and children 
 unfit for the duties of the sick chamber. 
 Those duties became severely trying to the 
 spirits from the distressing nature of his com- 
 plaint: the fever raged almost incessantly, 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 235 
 
 robbing him of his wonted rest, and disturb- 
 ing the usual serenity of his mind. His asth- 
 matic disease also became violent, and contin- 
 ual coughing left him scarcely an interval for 
 repose. It was a trial of faith to see an aged 
 Christian suffering such distress and weariness 
 as to prevent a due attention to eternal things. 
 But "God's ways are not as our ways;" his 
 family were looking for a triumphant depar- 
 ture into the world of glory, but God was 
 pleased to afford tliem perhaps a more useful 
 lesson, when they beheld the faith of their 
 venerable relative, unaided by spiritual joys, 
 and in the midst of extreme suffering, still 
 fastening on the Son of God, the Saviour of 
 sinners, and expecting victory over death 
 through him. They were also brought to re- 
 gard his long life of consistent piety, and zeal- 
 ous attachment to the Saviour's cause, as a 
 firmer basis for their hopes of his eternal safe- 
 ty, than any death-bed sayings, or remarkable 
 ecstasies of joy. Not that they were left 
 without testimony of his sincere and mature 
 piety in these last scenes of his life; this was 
 beautifully manifested in his patience and en- 
 tire resignation to the will of God. Several 
 interesting circumstances might be related to 
 
236 LIFE OF 
 
 show that divine grace was still in lively ex- 
 ercise in his heart, and afforded him effectual 
 support under his sufferings. 
 
 The day after his first severe attack, on his 
 third daughter inquiring how he felt, he re- 
 plied, with a countenance expressive of hum- 
 ble confidence, " I hope I shall meet you in 
 heaven." — And a few days after, when she 
 again approached his bed, he said, "iVh! is it 
 you, my love? you will have need of faith; 
 exercise faith." His own faith was deeply 
 exercised at one period of his illness. The 
 reader will recollect that the General had, du- 
 ring his residence in France, unhappily im- 
 bibed infidel sentiments, so far at one time as to 
 doubt the immortality of the soul. Though 
 these sentiments and doubts were afterwards 
 removed, not only by a thorough conviction 
 of the truth of Christianity, after diligent in- 
 vestigation, hut by personal experience of the 
 power of religion on his own heart; they 
 nevertheless did him lasting injury, and in 
 after-life often afforded Satan the means of 
 distressing this holy man. At one period of 
 extreme weakness and suffering during his 
 last illness, the great enemy of souls was 
 permitted to harass him, by suggesting the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 237 
 
 thought, that perhaps annihilation would fol- 
 low death. He mentioned this temptation 
 to one of his children, standing by the bed- 
 side; who replied, " Life and immortality are 
 brought to light by the gospel." This pas- 
 sage of Scripture immediately dissipated his 
 fears, and proved a shield against the fiery 
 darts of the devil; he reclined his head again 
 on the pillow, and for some time after, his 
 beaming countenance indicated the sweetest 
 serenity and joy. 
 
 The Sabbath preceding that on which he 
 died, one of the family, returning from public 
 worship, went to the sick chamber, anxious to 
 hear of the beloved invalid, who inquired the 
 subject of the minister's sermon. The text 
 was repeated, " This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners, of whom 
 I am chief" This comprehensive text awak- 
 ened all his Christian feelings; he inquired 
 nothing about the sermon, but closing his 
 eyes, appeared to be feeding on the pure 
 word of God, and delightfully meditating on 
 the power and love of the Saviour. His son, 
 who repeated the text to him, longed to hear 
 
238 LIFE OF 
 
 him speak; but his joys seemed too great for 
 utterance. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 13th of September, the 
 General revived considerably, and the hopes 
 of his friends were excited that they should 
 still be blessed with his beloved presence. 
 During this interval of ease all the temporal 
 concerns of the family were settled. This 
 subject had been a source of great anxiety to 
 him for many of the latter years of his life; 
 and if one circumstance more than another 
 made him shrink from death, it was the fear 
 of leaving his numerous family destitute. It 
 is a delightful instance of the tender mercy 
 of God, and of the power of faith, that this 
 anxiety was completely removed during his 
 illness, and that no trace of it was left to dis- 
 turb his last moments. After making every 
 necessary arrangement, and doing all in his 
 power towards the future comfort of his wife 
 and children, he commended them in faith 
 to the guardianship of his God and Saviour, 
 and seemed to feel that they were safe in His 
 hands. 
 
 As he had been uniformly anxious respect- 
 ing the spiritual welfare of all his children, it 
 was natural that he should frequently pray for 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 239 
 
 them on his dying bed: — but he had a par- 
 ticular anxiety for one of his younger sons, 
 just then about to enter into the world, that 
 he might be truly converted to God before 
 encountering its temptations and snares. To 
 this beloved child he had, just before his ill- 
 ness, given a Bible, accompanied with affec- 
 tionate advice and serious exhortation to be 
 constant in its perusal. On his dying bed he 
 sent for him, and pressing him by the hand, 
 he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and earnestly 
 supplicated the grace of God to change his 
 heart: — he then said to him, "My dear boy, 
 I have prayed for you, that you might be- 
 come a child of God." His feelings were too 
 powerful to allow him to say more: but it 
 was enough: his prayer was answered: and 
 the dear youth from that time began, in good 
 earnest, to seek the God of his father, and 
 ever since has given evidence that divine 
 grace is working within. — "The effectual, 
 fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth 
 much." 
 
 In the course of his illness. General B. was 
 visited by the minister in whose congregation 
 he had long worshipped, and in whose minis- 
 trations he delighted above all others, the 
 
240 LIFE OF 
 
 Rev. Mr. Slatterie, of Chatham. They united 
 fervently in prayer, and conversed on divine 
 subjects, chiefly dwelling on the glorious 
 theme of salvation by a crucified Saviour. 
 The General again declared, with much feel- 
 ing, that the atoning blood and justifying 
 righteousness of Christ were the sole founda- 
 tion on which he built his hopes of everlast- 
 ing happiness. 
 
 On the Wednesday and Thursday after the 
 temporary revival just now mentioned, he 
 gradually grew worse, and on Friday the 
 fever increased, and the cough became so 
 violent, that all hopes of his recovery were 
 abandoned, and he himself felt that his end 
 was drawing nigh. The severity of the dis- 
 ease entirely prevented any continued atten- 
 tion to heavenly objects, and all the dear suf- 
 ferer could do was to pray aloud for patience, 
 and a speedy removal to his eternal rest. He 
 at one time expressed a desire that, if it were 
 God's will, he might die on the Sabbath morn- 
 ing, and spend that holy day in the worship 
 of heaven. The disorder continued unabated 
 throughout Saturday, and, after a night of ex- 
 treme suffering, he ceased coughing about 
 nine o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 
 
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN. 241 
 
 18th September. His friends saw that the 
 symptoms of death were upon him, and he 
 was asked if he wished to see any one in 
 particular; he replied, with much emphasis, 
 "Nobody, nobody, but Jesus Christ: Christ 
 crucified is the stay of my poor soul." These 
 were the last words he uttered: and at half 
 past nine he gently breathed his last; accord- 
 ing to his desire and prayer, worshipping that 
 Sabbath in heaven! 
 
 On the succeeding Thursday morning the 
 corpse was interred in the church-yard of St. 
 Margaret's, Rochester. 
 
 A tablet, with the following inscription, is 
 placed over his grave: 
 
 Sacred to the Memory 
 of 
 MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW BURN, 
 Born September 8th, 1742, at Dundee, in Fifeshire: 
 Died September 18th, 1814, at GilHngham, in this County- 
 Fifty- three years he served his King and Country 
 as a Brave and Honourable Officer 
 in the Corps of Royal Marines; 
 Forty-three Years he served his God, 
 as a faithful Soldier of Jesus Christ. — 
 Consistent and Conscientious 
 In the Discharge of every Personal and Relative Duty: 
 X 
 
242 LIFE OF GENERAL BURN. 
 
 He was uniformly 
 
 Affectionate as a Husband and a Parent, 
 
 Kind as a Master, Exemplary as an Officer, 
 
 Constant and Sympathizing as a Friend, 
 
 Humble and Devout as a Christian: 
 
 Ever ascribing 
 
 All he was in this Life, 
 
 and 
 
 All he hoped to be in the next, 
 
 to the 
 
 Grace of God in Christ. 
 
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 edifying Mode. By Samuel Miller, D. D. 
 Price 38 cents. 
 
 As tracts, these excellent treatises have been 
 extensively read; they are now bound in a 
 handsome volume. 
 
 19. The Spirit of Prayer. By Rev. Na- 
 thaniel Vincent. Price 19 cents. 
 
 This may safely be pronounced to be an 
 admirable treatise on Prayer, which, although 
 bearing some of the traces of an old fashioned 
 style, is full of the most impressive and in- 
 structive matter. 
 
 20. A Guide to Christian Communi- 
 cants, in the Exercise of Self-Examination. 
 By Rev. William Trail. Price 15 cents. 
 
 The Christian who will faithfully apply the 
 rules here recommended for self-examination, 
 will soon be able to converse with his own 
 soul, and to ascertain its true state. 
 
 21. The Doctrine of Regeneration; 
 selected from the writings of the Rev. Stephen 
 Charnock. Price 63 cents. 
 
 This, like all Charnock's works, is scriptu- 
 ral, discriminating, and highly instructive. 
 
 22. An Exposition of a portion of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, in the form of Ques- 
 tions and Answers. By J. J. Janeway, D. D. 
 Price 15 cts. 
 
PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 To those who wish to study this important 
 Epistle, and especially to Bible classes, this 
 will be a very valuable aid. 
 
 23. The Spruce Street Lectures, deli- 
 vered by several clergymen, during the years 
 1831-32. Price one dollar. 
 
 These Lectures on important Presbyterian 
 doctrines, are from the pens of some of our 
 ablest divines. It is a valuable book, and de- 
 serves attention. 
 
 24. Love to Christ, chiefly extracted from 
 " The true Christian's love of the unseen 
 Christ." By Thomas Vincent. 
 
 The Christian and unbeliever will find in 
 this book the most pathetic and forcible ap- 
 peals to stir up in their souls true love to the 
 Saviour. 
 
 25. The authorized version of the Psalms 
 and Hymns, of various sizes and bindings. 
 
 TRACTS. 
 
 Twenty-one tracts have been published; 
 the smallest consisting of 12 pages, and the 
 larger of 129 pages. Of these, various edi- 
 tions have been issued. Nine of these are 
 also published in a volume. 
 
 The Board of Publication will produce their 
 publications as rapidly as circumstances will 
 permit. A benignant Providence has smiled 
 on the efforts of this infant institution, but, as 
 
PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 must be perceived, its prosperity and enlarged 
 operations must mainly depend on the demand 
 that shall be created for its publications. 
 
 (j3^ Orders for Books or Tracts, from Pres- 
 byteries, Churches, Booksellers, and others, 
 should be addressed to Wm. S. Martien, 
 Publishing Agent of the Board, South-east 
 corner of Seventh and George streets, Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 *^* Donations to the Board should be sent 
 to A. W. Mitchell, M. D., Treasurer, Wal- 
 nut, above Broad street, Philadelphia. 
 
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