Burnham was for ma­ny years pas­tor of a Bap­tist church in Lon­don, first in Lit­tle Cha­pel Street, then in Graf­ton Street, So­ho. He is said to have been an ex­cel­lent preach­er. He wrote some 452 hymns in his life­time. His works in­clude:

• New Hymns on Di­vers Sub­jects (Lon­don: Gil­bert and Plu­mmer, 1783, 1785, 1794, 1796)
• New Hymns on Di­vine Love, Chief­ly De­signed for Love Feasts or Christ­ian So­ci­e­ties (Lon­don: W. Smith, cir­ca 1787)
• A ser­mon on Believer’s Bap­tism, 1805

• Hatfield, pp. 117-8
• Julian, pp. 112, 196, 600

1. Free Grace, Mel­o­dious Sound
2. God in Three Appears All Glor­i­ous
3. Goodness of Our Glor­i­ous God, The
4. Great Je­ho­vah’s Love En­dur­eth
5. How Truly Glor­i­ous Is the Love
6. Jesus Draws the Cho­sen Race
7. Jesus, Thou Art the Sin­ner’s Friend
8. Love Will I Ev­er Sing
9. Now I Know the Great Re­deem­er
10. O Glor­i­ous God of Grace
11. People of the Lord Were Cho­sen, The
12. Who Can e’er Fa­thom God’s Rich Love