- Home
- Speakers
- James Bourne
- Letter 176.
James Bourne
James Bourne (February 8, 1781 – January 15, 1860) was an English preacher and Primitive Methodist leader whose calling from God helped establish a vibrant evangelical movement across the early 19th century. Born at Ford Hayes, Bucknall, Staffordshire, England, to Joseph Bourne, a farmer, and Ellen Steele, he was the youngest of eight children in a modest rural family. His formal education was limited to local schooling, but his spiritual awakening came in 1799 at age 18 when he joined the Methodist society at Ridgeway near Tunstall, embracing a faith that propelled him into ministry without formal theological training. Bourne’s calling from God unfolded alongside his brother Hugh, beginning with open-air preaching and support for the 1807 Mow Cop camp meetings, defying Methodist Conference bans to spread revivalist zeal. Ordained informally within the Primitive Methodist Connexion he co-founded in 1811–1812, he preached tirelessly, traveling miles—such as 20 miles to Tean in 1808 to form a society—and served as a local preacher in the first Primitive Methodist circuit at Tunstall. His sermons called for personal salvation and practical faith, notably supporting the construction of the first chapel at Tunstall and later managing the Connexion’s printing press at Bemersley Farm from 1821 as book steward. Married to Sarah Rowley in 1807, with whom he had five children, he faced business reverses in later years but attended the 1857 Jubilee Camp Meeting at Mow Cop in frail health, passing away at age 78 at Bemersley, Staffordshire, buried with Hugh at Englesea Brook.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
James Bourne encourages M. and J. G. to remain steadfast in the face of adversity, emphasizing the importance of prayer, confession, and trusting in the Lord's sovereignty. He reminds them that in times of desperation, crying out to the Lord brings relief, especially when faced with impossible situations. Bourne urges them to humbly confess their sins and weaknesses, knowing that God exalts the humble and refines them like precious metal in a furnace. He emphasizes the need for both judgment and mercy in true religion, pointing to God's wise purposes even in difficult circumstances.
Letter 176.
[To M. and J. G.] London, 4 February 1840. My dear Friends, "If ye faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." The Lord has called you to the battle, and has in many ways told you that it is not yours, but his. While you have a breath to draw, spend it in prayer and confession to him. "A righteous man falling down before the wicked, is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring." It is said of one of old, "His heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz . . . and say unto him, Take heed, AND BE QUIET; fear not, neither be fainthearted" [Isa. vii. 2-7]. Let not your carnal fears nor any human threats drive you from an earnest and continual cry to the Lord. I have often in the course of my life been driven into such desperate places that I must either cry to the Lord or sink, and have always found the Lord to answer me in the extremity; and the greater the impossibility, the clearer has been the relief. If taught of the Spirit, you will find enough of your misery and sin to lay before the Lord; and you cannot abase yourselves too low. He will exalt such as abase themselves. It has pleased God to put you into the hot furnace, and he will sit as a refiner, and see that no pure metal shall be lost. True religion consists of JUDGMENT and MERCY. "Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it," (and that for the wisest purposes)? [Amos iii. 6.] O what a mercy it will be for you both, if you turn out apt scholars under this severe teaching! "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." Let your secret moments be much spent in confession, and you will then find that "like as a father pitieth his children," so, even so, will the Lord pity you. Do not look at your mountains of difficulty; that would make them the more impassable: but look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has tenderly invited you to cast your burden upon him; especially if you are "weary and heavy laden." If once you can believe he has a kind intention towards you, you will then feel a greater readiness to make use of him, and not be so frightened at the threats of your enemies. The Lord is stronger than all that oppose. Read Isaiah vii. 1-9, and you will then see who has the ordering of all things, in heaven above and on earth beneath; and I am sure they that touch Jerusalem will find it a "burdensome stone" [Zech. xii. 3]. With many prayers and hearty good wishes, I commit you both into the hands of the Lord. You know he can do you no wrong, and this trial will work for good. I doubt not (nor will you in the end think it a strange thing) but God has something peculiar to do in it, which as yet cannot be fathomed. Patiently wait therefore, and quietly hope for his salvation; and remember they that wait for him never can nor shall be disappointed, world without end. Yours affectionately, J. B.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
James Bourne (February 8, 1781 – January 15, 1860) was an English preacher and Primitive Methodist leader whose calling from God helped establish a vibrant evangelical movement across the early 19th century. Born at Ford Hayes, Bucknall, Staffordshire, England, to Joseph Bourne, a farmer, and Ellen Steele, he was the youngest of eight children in a modest rural family. His formal education was limited to local schooling, but his spiritual awakening came in 1799 at age 18 when he joined the Methodist society at Ridgeway near Tunstall, embracing a faith that propelled him into ministry without formal theological training. Bourne’s calling from God unfolded alongside his brother Hugh, beginning with open-air preaching and support for the 1807 Mow Cop camp meetings, defying Methodist Conference bans to spread revivalist zeal. Ordained informally within the Primitive Methodist Connexion he co-founded in 1811–1812, he preached tirelessly, traveling miles—such as 20 miles to Tean in 1808 to form a society—and served as a local preacher in the first Primitive Methodist circuit at Tunstall. His sermons called for personal salvation and practical faith, notably supporting the construction of the first chapel at Tunstall and later managing the Connexion’s printing press at Bemersley Farm from 1821 as book steward. Married to Sarah Rowley in 1807, with whom he had five children, he faced business reverses in later years but attended the 1857 Jubilee Camp Meeting at Mow Cop in frail health, passing away at age 78 at Bemersley, Staffordshire, buried with Hugh at Englesea Brook.