Sermons & Devotionals by James Bourne

[To a Friend.] Tunbridge Wells, 11 September 1836. Dear Friend, There is nothing in this life that can equal or be compared to the least and most transient view of God's love in Christ Jesus to a broken-hearted sinner. I was much cast down this afternoon, and saw no end of that melancholy which turn... Read More

[To - ]. Handcross, 22 September 1836. My dear - , I wish particularly to remind you of the beginning of the despair of poor S.; was it not a fear of coming to want? Your letter has much of this in it, and therefore I would caution you. What has been provided hitherto, and who has provided? Are you ... Read More

[To M. C. B.] London, 10 October 1836. Dear Madam, I have been long absent from home, and have almost lost sight of you. May I declare what I sometimes hear a little of? That my friend is at times very light-hearted, and has business to do for which I hope she is not fully qualified; that is, to ent... Read More

[To M. C. B.] London, 25 October 1836. My dear Friend, Your letter demands my earliest attention and acknowledgment. I wonder at your forbearance, and must claim a little more of it. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it" - and very few of that ... Read More

[To Mrs. H(arley).] London, 3 March 1837. My dear Friend, I am exceedingly anxious to see that the profession we enter into is not merely a system of morality and opinion, but that we attain to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we are troubled in our minds about the salvation of our souls, we m... Read More

[To his Wife.] Southampton, 1812. My dear Wife, It is indeed a grief to me to hear of my little boy's relapse. It is my earnest desire to leave the event with God. On opening your letter I felt it sorely, but no contention. It immediately came into my mind how tenderly and kindly the Lord had dealt ... Read More

London, 1 May 1837. To the Church of God, or little hill of Zion, at Pulverbach in Shropshire. I have been much pleased with the accounts which my friends have lately sent, and I cannot but be thankful to see that teach-able spirit which so much abounds, and its sweet effects. Godly simplicity is an... Read More

[To M. C. B.] London, 12 May 1837. My dear Friend, Christ says "I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear" (by our spirits being dry, flat, barren, and lifeless); "and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest s... Read More

London, 12 May 1837. Dear Mrs. H. Much of your future happiness depends upon your present measures, and how far you prevail with the Lord to give you that spiritual discretion without which you cannot take one step aright. He himself declares, "Without me ye can do nothing;" yet how many vain plans ... Read More

[To M. C. B.] London, 18 May 1837. My dear Friend, - Do pardon my liberty in so quickly answering your letter, which has laden me with mach sorrow. I have seen much of the world, as well as much affliction in the church of God, and have met with a great variety of characters; and therefore am often ... Read More

[To the Rev. B. G.] London, 18 May 1837. My dear Friend, - The spirit of your letter comforted me greatly. I myself am under many trials, and am often cast down because of the way. The troubles of our church fill me with much grief, and being ignorant, I know not how to handle them. I have some fear... Read More

[To Mr. Yeomans.] London, 18 May 1837. My dear Friend, Since I wrote last I have been in many afflictions, both personal and in the church. In the latter, though not directly concerned, yet I have fallen into much anxiety and some heavy fears. I was one morning reading the word, and this portion fir... Read More

London, 4 June 1837. Dear Mrs. Tims, I am sorry I have so greatly neglected you, but a variety of exercises have drawn my mind another way. I perceive the gospel net has enclosed you, and though flesh and blood would rend you from it, yet the Saviour gave the command to cast the net on the right sid... Read More

[To J. G.] Hertford, 20 August 1837. Dear Friend, I have been much comforted with your letter, and cannot but perceive that the Lord deals very graciously with you in an increase of divine knowledge and godly simplicity. It has been your mercy that the Lord has given you a teachable, tractable spiri... Read More

[To M. B.] London, 1819. Dear Cousin, I have many anxious fears about you, when I consider the reasoning of these people. All genuine experience is called impulse and natural, feeling; all faith without doubt, upon the written word, is called the true confidence; and all those sweet visitations and ... Read More

Hertford, 30 August 1837. Dear Mrs. H. I feel anxious to hear of your welfare, and peculiarly so now, seeing it has pleased God to lay his hand upon Mr. H, which in a measure unfolds the wisdom of God in impressing your mind with divine truths at such a time as this. When the Lord began to work upon... Read More

Hertford, 5 September 1837. Dear Mrs. H. I have been pondering upon various things that have come within my observation, and cannot help remarking that there is a necessity laid upon all that fear God, or manifest the early budding of reverence, not to seek to contrive after the wisdom of the flesh,... Read More

[To one whose conduct was inconsistent.] London, 10 October 1837. Dear __, I have read carefully your account, and perceive you have set forth many things that are well worth our mutual attention. That part wherein you write, "I did not find the fruits and effects equal to the power," shows the chie... Read More

[To the Rev. B. G.] London, 3 November 1837. My dear Friend, I have been made deeply to feel the various cases in your little church, and the various circumstances under which they lie. When I first went down in the beginning of last summer, there was an evident sleep pervaded the whole, and the cas... Read More

[To M. and J. G.] London, January 1837. My dear Friends, I have been thinking a good deal about young P., and sometimes wonder what the nature of that work was which appeared so genuine upon his heart, and the simplicity that continued for some time. I am truly sorry to hear that he has fallen among... Read More