"William
Chalmers Burns, born in Dun, Scotland in 1815 died at the port of New Chwang,
China in 1868. His life was characterised by a deeply-felt devotion to Jesus
Christ wherever he was led. Licensed as a minister of the gospel in 1839 by
the Church of Scotland, his anticipated departure to the East was delayed for
several years while his remarkable gifts in evangelism were employed in
Scotland and beyond. He was one of the group of young men God raised up in the
days of M'Cheyne and the Bonar brothers whose only concern was for the
universal triumph of the Cross. From the limelight of revival, he sailed to
the obscurity of China in 1847, and laboured incessantly there, taking little
rest, until on April 4 1868, he breathed his last words: 'Thine is the
kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.' In few lives have these
words been more eloquently portrayed."
(Introductory
paragraph from the Banner of Truth edition of Burns' sermons entitled "Revival
Sermons")
Letter
to the Highlanders of Perthshire
