For
forty years there was no better or more favorably known preacher in Knox,
Blount and Sevier counties, or a more stalwart defender of the Baptist faith,
than W. M. Burnett, son of Jeremiah B. Burnett.
The
subject of our sketch was born in Knox County, Tennessee, June 10, 1814.
He was not gifted with physical beauty, as his picture shows, but he was
gifted with brains and had force of character. His mixed features leave
the casual observer in doubt as to whether he was most Roman, Jew, or Indian -
or a combination; whereas, in point of fact, he was no blood kin to any of
these ancient historic peoples. His physiognomy - high cheek bones,
aquiline nose, sunken face and swarthy complexion - as well as the family
records, show him to be a scion of an ancient black stock of the Burnetts,
which now and then, in all the tribes, puts forth an occasional unexpected
shoot.
He
was converted in his youth; in his twenty-first year was licensed to preach by
Hopewell Church, Knox County; and was married, March 21, 1838, to Latitia Sharp, Elder James Lankford officiating. He
was ordained by Nail's Creek Church, at the regular May meeting in 1840, James
Lankford, William Billue and William
Hodges acting as presbytery.
He
served as pastor the following churches: Hopewell, Nail's Creek, Ellijoy,
Sugar Loaf, Pleasant Grove, Henderson's Chapel, Knob Creek, Maryville,
Sevierville, and Boyd's Creek. He was pastor of the last mentioned
church twenty-six years, building a new house of worship to take the place of
the old brick house, which was falling into ruins. Besides being pastor,
he was Circuit Court Clerk, Deputy County Court Clerk and County Trustee of
Sevier County, farmer and school teacher. I have met scores of grown-up
girls and gray-bearded boys who went to school to him and received mental
training and "physical stimulus" at his hands.
He
was not a classical scholar, technically so-called; however, he was a hard
student, and knew some Greek. "His learning was varied and extensive, and
he was specially familiar with the doctrines and principles of
Baptists." He preached in plain, forcible English, easy to be
understood by the common people.
As
a defender of "the faith delivered once for all to the saints," he
was bold and unflinching. Armed with Henry's and Clark's
Commentaries, Wesley's Journal, and what he considered a Baptist Bible, he was
ready to meet doughty champions of error whenever it seemed necessary.
His four days' debate with a champion of Methodism is still fresh in the
memory of the Boyd's Creek people. His Moderators were M. Hillsman and
C. C. Tipton, and the cause of truth, on that occasion, it is said, "did
not suffer in his hands." He was not a "fighting
preacher," in the popular sense of that term, but, as his brethren
testified, was only and always a 'faithful expounder of the Scriptures, and an
able advocate of the principles and practices of the Baptist people," in
sermon or debate. That he was not a sectarian or a bigot or bellicose in
spirit was evidenced by the fact that, in time of the Civil War, when he was
not serving as "chaplain" in the army, be was preaching everywhere
at home to men as men, to Baptists and Methodists alike, weeping, like the
prophet Jeremiah, over the desolations of Zion and the war-stricken condition
of his people.
His
last sermon was at Boyd's Creek, from the text: "Keep thy heart with all
diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
A brother preacher, who was in feeble health, had begun the sermon but
began coughing so badly he could not finish. He called upon
"Brother Burnett to take up the thread of the discourse and
finish." It was an inspiring and uplifting sermon. which the people
"never forgot." His greatest sermon was preached from his
death-bed, with Paul's triumphant words as a text: "I have fought the
good fight." He died April 14, 1881, and was buried in Pleasant
Hill cemetery, in the neighborhood of Antioch Church, nearby the old home
where the deceased had lived for many years.
By
special request the funeral discourse was preached by Elder John Russell, from
Paul's words above quoted, "I have fought the good fight." On
the minutes of the Boyd's Creek Church is this memorial: "For more than a
quarter of a century our brother has served this church with perfect
acceptance and without a jar. Under his ministry the church has passed
through many precious revivals, and by his solemn appeals and persuasive
eloquence many souls were led into the fold of the good Shepherd.
His
toils are past, his work is done,
And he is fully blest;
He fought the fight, the vict'ry won,
And entered into rest."
