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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.
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James Bourne, in his sermon to Mr. H. H. on March 22, 1837, passionately recommends a Friend who is the best Physician, capable of healing any ailment no matter how desperate. He shares his personal testimony of being in a dire condition but finding relief and wondrous healing through this Friend. Bourne urges his young friend to fully trust and venture on this incomparable Friend who provides comfort, care, and healing beyond measure, promising to never forsake those who come to Him with sincerity and wholeheartedness.
Letter 120.
[To Mr. H. H.] London, 22 March 1837. My dear young Friend, I have a Friend to recommend to your notice whom I have tried for many years. Your frail appearance leads me to hope that you will listen to my recommendation. He is the best Physician I ever met with; no complaint is hid from him, nor any too desperate for his skill. No poor mortal was ever in a more dangerous condition than myself, under sentence of death for the worst of crimes, and lost to all hopes of relief; yet even then this Friend appeared, and while I looked on, "he did wondrously." Can you be excited to listen? Can you believe the report? I assure you the half cannot be told of his skill and power, his bowels of compassion and tender care. I would say, "Venture on him, venture wholly." The oil and the wine which he will give will cheer and comfort your drooping spirits, and the ointment when poured forth will cause you to love him with all your heart. He will take care of you on your journey through life, and bind up that which is broken. Can I yet prevail on you to bring your complaints to him? He never leaves his patients nor forsakes them, though they have neither money nor price, but puts underneath them his everlasting arms, and supports them in their greatest pangs, and is gentle towards them, even as a nurse cherisheth her children; so that whatever they stand in need of, under all their calamities, HE is that. I entreat you not to delay to present your case before him. Be assured, if you come with all your heart, you will not long lie unnoticed, but you will have some such kind word as this - "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" Then tell him of all your sores, and you will find a complete cure; and you will be most glad to give the whole glory unto such an incomparable Friend. From your sincere well-wisher, in the service of the best Physician, J. B.
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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.