James Drummond Burns.

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The many empty pews told most unmistakeably that such preaching is not calculated to be popular in the best sense, as it would fail to reach those who would not, from any cause, give the requisite attention.

In spite of the dingy place and high pews, so distasteful to the young, I was a frequent attendant on the ministry of this gentleman; and soon after my residence at Hampstead, I had the privilege of making his acquaintance. I owe this pleasure to the united prayer-meetings, held at the lecture-room there; and this is not the only friendship resulting from those hallowed meetings.

As he was a man of nervous temperament, and had, like most of us that are so constituted, suffered a good deal from depression of spirits, there were many points that brought us into more intimate relationship, and frequent were the quiet walks, when we had long talks upon all sorts of subjects. I had the mournful pleasure of spending an hour with him alone, the evening before he left Hampstead for Mentone, never again to return alive.

All that could die of this good and gifted man lies buried in the cemetery on the neighbouring hill, where the sacred ashes of so many of God's saints repose, watched over by the Eye that never sleeps, and whence the Almighty Voice will one day call them forth to be clothed upon with immortality.

I was a privileged and delighted listener to the beautiful tribute to his memory by his illustrious countryman, Dr. James Hamilton, of the Scotch Church, Regentsquare, a man in every respect able to do justice to the high Christian character and great attainments of the late lamented James Drummond Burns.

The poems of Mr. Burns, re-published in a collective form, with a biographical notice of the poet, from the accomplished pen of Dr. Hamilton, as a memorial volume, would be highly valued by the personal friends of the poet, and would moreover extend his fame among all lovers of good poetry.

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Unitarian Worthies.

What Mr. Burns was as a poet and preacher was known to many beyond his own denomination; but only those who knew him in the private walks of life could estimate him as he deserved. His conversational powers were of a high order; but he was so modest and retiring that he was always more ready to listen than to speak. His removal from his much-loved work, just as an elegant sanctuary had been erected for him by a wealthy and attached congregation, was felt to be a great loss; he has, however, been succeeded by a gentleman well qualified to carry out the work so ably begun by one who will ever be gratefully remembered at Hampstead. Mr. Burns has left a young widow and some dear little ones to mourn his loss, as only those do who have been bereft of such a husband and father.

As I was desirous of seeing and judging for myself of the various places of worship in the neighbourhood, I went once or twice to the Unitarian Chapel. The minister of this chapel was a man of superior mental attainments, and one highly respected in the parish. There was, however, a coldness and chilliness about the service that was anything but attractive, and which it seems to me is the necessary consequence of excluding from their belief the heart-stirring, and deeply felt want, not only of the sympathy and help to be found in the human nature of Christ, but also that which our inner and deeper nature yearns for, His vicarious sacrifice and death. This want has been felt and acknowledged by some of their best writers. A denomination that can number among their ranks such men as Priestley, Channing, Theodore Parker, Martineau, Thom, and Sadler, will ever command the respect and admiration of their Christian brethren. To all of these writers I gratefully acknowledge my own obligations for many profitable hours spent in perusing their writings.

I visited our Wesleyan brethren, who met in what was once the Independent Chapel. The congregation was small and uninfluential, and the preaching very ordinary. I have often wondered that the shrewd and active men who

Adoniram Judson.

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compose the "Conference" should neglect such a place as Hampstead. My attachment to the Wesleyans is great. I have heard sermons from Robert Newton and Morley Punshon that I shall never forget, and my obligation to John Wesley and Richard Watson, for the pleasure and profit derived from their writings, is greater than I can express. The sermons of Richard Watson, I think, are equal to any that I have ever read; in times of sickness and sorrow, I have found them a source of never-failing comfort and help. I regret that I never had the opportunity of hearing the living voice of this great preacher. The memoir of his life and writings, by Thomas Jackson, is one of the most interesting and instructive biographies I have ever read.

About this time, in my ordinary course of reading, I met with "The Life of Adoniram Judson," the American Missionary, by the late Professor Wayland, President of Brown University, U.S.; a book in every respect worthy of perusal, as containing a highly interesting and able account of the life and labours of one of the grandest men and most heroic missionaries of modern times.

Among many other things, in the life of that extraordinary man, that made a deep impression on me was the account there given of the alteration that took place in his views on baptism.

When Dr. Judson and his wife left the American shores for the scene of their missionary labours they were PædoBaptists, and were sent out as missionaries to India under the auspices of the American Board for Foreign Missions. At the commencement of the voyage to India it occurred to Dr. Judson and his wife that, as they were going to make known the Gospel of Christ to the heathen, they might reasonably expect to make converts from heathenism to Christianity, and the question naturally arose in their minds as to how they should treat the servants and children of these converts. Was he authorized to baptize the children and servants of converts that might be made to Christianity?

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A Baptist Convert.

And if so, what would be their relation to the Christian Church afterwards?

In addition to this, Dr. Judson knew that he was going, in the first instance, to Serampore, to reside for a time with the Baptist missionaries there. He felt, therefore, the necessity for re-examining the subject of baptism, as he thought he might be called upon to defend his position as a PædoBaptist. In this latter respect, however, he found himself singularly disappointed; the Baptist missionaries at Serampore, as might have been expected when such men as Carey, Marshman, and Ward were among that noble band, made it a matter of principle never to introduce the subject of their peculiar belief to any of their brethren of other denominations who happened to be their guests.

Under these circumstances, Dr. Judson and his devoted wife set themselves, during the voyage, to examine, from the Scriptures alone, the question of baptism-its subjects and mode. The result of this investigation, extending through several weeks, landed them in the full belief that in apostolic times none but believers were baptized, and that the mode of administering the ordinance was by immersion.

The change thus brought about in the minds of these devoted servants of Christ and His Church, placed them in a most painful position. They had been sent out to India as the Agents of the American Board for Foreign Missions, who were Pædo-Baptists; and having so entirely changed their views on the important subject of Baptism, they felt that they must at once avow the alteration that had taken place with reference to this point of faith and practice, whatever the consequences might be.

Dr. Judson and his wife were baptized at Calcutta shortly after their arrival there, and they wrote home to their family connections, as well as to the association under whose auspices they had left their native shores, informing them of their altered views on baptism.

As may be supposed, Dr. Judson's friends in America,

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as well as the Board of Missions, were not a little surprised at the alteration that had taken place in their views. Arrangements were at once made that Dr. and Mrs. Judson should be transferred from the American Board for Foreign Missions to the American Baptist Missionary Society, with whom they continued to work most honourably and successfully to the end of their lives.

The account given in the "Life of Dr. Judson" referred to is highly interesting; and I was very much struck, not only with the conduct of these devoted and self-denying servants of Christ, but also with the arguments brought forward by Dr. Judson as those which had wrought the change in his views relating to baptism as we find it in the New Testament.

I pondered the matter a good deal in my own mind, and was induced, without the knowledge of any one, to renew my inquiry into the Scriptures as to the correctness of my own views on this important subject. After a careful and thoughtful examination I was led to the conclusion that infant baptism is nowhere to be found in the New Testament, and that only those who believed the Gospel, and made a profession of their faith in Christ, were baptized in apostolic times.

My wife and more intimate friends were astounded at the change that had taken place in my mind, as I had been known to hold very positive views on the opposite side.

I may here mention the fact that, though the Church of which I was a member was composed of Christians of almost every denomination, I do not remember a single instance where this diversity of sentiment was the means, in any way, of interrupting the Christian intercourse of its members, or of impeding the various associations for Christian work that distinguished that church and congregation. The ordinance of believers' baptism is administered there as often as occasion requires, and the minister is a determined Baptist; yet all the members of that Christian society, whether Pædo-Baptist or Baptist,