BURNS, Rev. JABEZ, D.D., a Baptist minister, and one of the most prolific religious writers of the 19th c., was b. at Oldham, near Manchester, in 1805. and was educated at Chester, and afterwards at Oldham grammar-school. After helping his father as a medical practitioner, and acting as assistant in a drapery establishment, he joined the Methodist New Connection, and removed at the age of 21 to London. In 1828 and 1829, lie published his first two works, The Christian Skitch-book and The Spiritual Cabinet, which gained him much popularity among the religious public. After having exercised the functions of the ministry at 'Perth, in Scotland, for a few years, he returned to London in 1835, to become minister of the General Baptist congregation assembling in New Church street chapel, Marylebone. Here his fame increased so much, that it was found necessary twice to enlarge his chapel during the first 25 years of his ministry, in order to afford room for the large numbers who flocked to hear him. He was elected by the body to which he belonged to fill various posts of honor, and lectured in all parts of the United Kingdom on temperance, peace, abolition of capital punishment, etc. In
1839, Dr. B. became editor of the Temperance Journal. About 1846, he received the degree of D.D. from the Wesleyan university of Middleton, Conn. Meantime his pen had not been idle. the number of his separate works, being upwards of 30, some of them consisting of a number of volumes, and one of them, Sketches and Skeletons of Ser mons, of 15 vols. having reached the 14th edition. The following are the names of a few: Christian vols., for erery Lord's Day (1858); Christian Philosophy (1849); Death bed Triumphs of Eminent Chthtians; Light for the House of Mourning (1850); Pulpit Cyclopedia, 4 vols. (1846-60); Marriage Gift-book and Bridal Token (1862); etc., which are all highly popular among a large section of the English and American evangelical religious world. Dr. B. died in 1876.