of them, nor have I any more recollection of my using them than if they had never been uttered by me. I also know very well that they do not sound like my words, nor was I ever in the habit of using such harsh and crabbed words in the pulpit; therefore, admitting they were used by me, it must have been done under somè vehement and undue excitement of mind, and may very justly be so viewed, without tacking to them, or to him that uttered them, such a vast amount of censure.

And as to the term bugbear, when applied to what makes part of our depravity, surely there is nothing so very inflammatory about it. As to the term fibbing, I deny it to be mine. I never saw nor heard the term till I saw it in the pamphlet you sent me; and the manner it is there used against me is to me shocking, and no more mine than Paul's. In reference to calling fears and doubts in believers bugbears, I think it is a term quite good enough for them, unless they were more friendly to the regenerate family of Christ. You surely cannot suppose that by the term bugbear I meant doubts and fears in the children of God were but mere spectres or phantoms. If I used the term bugbear, that meaning I never intended to tack to it, knowing that doubts and fears are too troublesome to the saints to be no more than mere phantoms; and yet I know very well that they are not the fruits and effects of the Gospel, but belong to old nature, as all my preachings and writings show. And as to what Mr. Tryon or anybody else says about my preaching and Christianity, it affects me no more than does the whistling of the wind. "Let them curse, but bless thou." (Psalm cix. 28.)

I know by the testimony of the Holy Spirit what the Lord hath done for my soul; and I have good reason to believe that he will take care of me through life, and in the midst of all the storms here below he will sustain me, and keep me in his fear and truth. The Lord hath won my heart with his love, and already bathed my soul in heaven, and sweet refreshment he still affords me at times; but at other times I have fierce conflicts within with sin and foul corruption, and old Apollyon, and the world; but with me the struggle will soon be over. God bless you.

Bath, Sept. 15th, 1847.

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JAMES OSBOURN.

It will be seen from this letter that Mr. Osbourn does not actually deny having made use of the objectionable expressions mentioned in our first letter; but we could wish that he had expressed his unqualified disapprobation of them. He merely speaks of them as "harsh and crabbed words," and if used by him, as 'done under some vehement and undue excitement of mind." Now this is not our objection to them. Their being "harsh and crabbed" is not their fault, or if it were, of very minor importance, being a mere matter of style. It is their meaning and drift which we think so highly objectionable; and we think so upon two accounts 1, such expressions are calculated to foster that dead presumptuous assurance which is so rife in the Calvinistic churches; and 2, to wound and distress many of God's living, exercised family. But we think it the fairest way to Mr. Osbourn not to condemn him for what might have dropped from him in a moment of undue excitement, but to show.his real opinion about doubts and fears. And this we think we shall best do by quoting some extracts from a sermon of his, preached at Zoar, and published in the Zoar Pulpit. These we have numbered, and in several places put into Italics, for the sake of easier reference.

1. "Slavish fears and dismal doubts are often found to dwell in the same breast where divine grace dwells; but still it makes no part of the new man, but of the old, for a true saint of God is quite complex in this character, and hence there

Yes,

is the new man and the old, and these are contrary the one to the other.' beloved, so contrary are these two men, that they never can agree though they dwell together in the same tenement. They are at strife all the year round. The great and principal discordant string between them, however, is-one says 'I will trust and not be afraid,' &c.-and the other (fool like) says, 'I must mistrust, and doubt, and fear, or else I cannot be a Christian.' Here lies the contest. This is the seat of war, and yet but few Christians can or do see it or know it."

2. "Yes, we must and we will conclude, that the passage now quoted from the 130th Psalm, together with parallel texts which might be produced, when applied by Jehovah the Spirit, is quite a sufficient grant for a poor self-con demned and self-despairing sinner to hope; yes, and more than to hope, even to believe that he is interested in the blood of the cross; and this is much more honourable to God, more creditable to the believer, more compatible with the gospel, and a thousand per cent more galling to the father of lies, than indulging in doubts and fears. But we read in the Scriptures of truth of the city of Zoar being near to flee unto, (Gen. xix. 20;) and it seems to me that some people make a Zoar of doubts and fears, and consider it a city near to flee unto. take shelter in this mystical Zoar for the purpose of avoiding daring presumption' is the talk of the day among some religionists. But this, even to make the best of it, is running into one error in order to shun another; and to resort to doubts and fears, to shun 'faith in God,' and a holy confidence in his word of promise, is worse than the sin of Sodom; yea, verily, it is a gross libel on the Holy Scriptures.

To

"We readily admit that the children of God are often overrun with these servile doubts and fears: but to indulge in them, and to encourage them, and to conclude that they are the production of divine grace, and congenial with the spirit of the gospel of Christ, is not admissible by the true church of the living God."

3. "Some people seem to talk as if the Scriptures of truth, and all the light, power, comfort, and benefit of them, were just at their own option. But it is not so, brethren, as ye know and are persuaded. But still you are not to indulge yourselves in those groundless fears and doubts which some of the saints of God appear to make a hobbyhorse of. You, beloved, in all your straits, and embarrassments, and conflicts of mind, and inward disquietude, and gloomy darkness, I say you, under all these things, are to hope in God rather than to think you do right because you fear and doubt. Christ said to Peter, "O, thou of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt?" Hoping in the mercy of a covenant God is acting more like a Christian than that of doubting of his goodness and compassion toward a poor, burdened, and sin-sick soul. But you will say, ‘I cannot help it.' Well, then, I suppose that what you cannot cure you must endure. But we proceed."

4. “Yes, surely he may; for he may go to court, and see the king, shake hands with him, and kiss him; but not as Judas did. These are Christian acts, and far more to God's glory than falling to doubting and fearing, which is dishonouring to God, disparaging to the gospel, and gratifying to the devil."

5. "Every saint in the world has a right to argue like this. And thus I cannot but show my disapprobation of indulging in those gloomy doubts that are disgraceful to the everlasting gospel of Christ. It is such a serious wrong, and is attended with so many bad consequences, that we, my brethren, ought to pray against them very earnestly, and to beg of God to give us faith and confidence in him and his word, that thereby we may walk worthy of him, seeing he hath called us to his kingdom and glory. But slavish fears and doubts are not conducive to worthy walking with God, nor yet to the health of the soul."

6. "We have a right to come to him, as poor guilty sinners, and say, 'My Beloved is mine, and I am his." He who does not do this, lives beneath his

privileges, if the Bible is true; and the Bible is true-ergo, he lives beneath his privileges. Many of God's people, I know, are in this state; and I attribute much of it to a gospel preached under a cloud. As true as I breathe, if there there was a general development of the gospel by the Lord's servants, it would help poor souls that are plunged in this sad dilemma by the devil."

7. "Yes; he comes into his garden, eats his pleasant fruits, and takes cognisance of all that is there; and he finds abundance to please him, too. What does not please him, then? Why, doubts and fears do not-that you may take for a certainty. They are found among those fruits that are dishonouring and reproachful to God; so we will put our negative on them. God will never approbate doubting and fearing. He will call you a fool for it. Surely he will not talk so,' say you. He did once; O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!" (Luke xxiv. 25.) You think, perhaps, that because your faith is small you may doubt. What business have you to doubt on that account? If you have but little faith, that little faith secures the salvation of your soul; therefore, take hold of Christ as your Saviour and your God. It is true that this cannot be done without the interference of the Holy Spirit. But, then, will not our heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask him ? Beloved, laying hold on eternal life by faith is a noble act, and it looks just like Christianity, and I believe it is all that; and if it is not, I must for ever despair of going to heaven."

As the tenor of the above extracts corresponds so closely with Mr. Osbourn's first letter to us, we cannot but think that we have his real and matured opinions fairly and impartially represented in them; and that, therefore, we may rely upon them as expressive of his real sentiments, much more than upon flying rumours, which may or may not be true.

We think, then, that we may safely assume the above extracts (which we may, by the way, observe are of some length, and mutually tally with each other) to be a correct representation of Mr. Osbourn's sentiments upon the doubts and fears to which God's children are subject.

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Now, can we approve of such sentiments, or of the manner in which they are expressed? We must say at once, Decidedly not;" and to speak our mind with all candour, we must say that we have not the slightest hesitation in condemning the drift of the above extracts, as well as the flippant tone in several expressions marked in Italics. But, besides this light and flippant tone, we object to the general drift of the above extracts on two grounds.

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1. They assume that many of God's children encourage doubts and fears, make a Zoar of them," and think they cannot be Christians without them. Now this we believe to be quite erroneous; that graceless professors may do so is very probable, but we cannot believe that any really exercised souls encourage or "make a hobbyhorse" of doubts and fears. They are their grief and torment, not their boast or refuge. Mr. Osbourn by not showing the difference between graceless professors, who rest on doubts because they have no faith, and the exercised children of God, who feel and mourn over their unbelief because they have faith, has confounded things that widely differ, and adopted a strain to our mind very objectionable.

2. Our second objection to the drift of the above extracts is, that they tacitly imply a power in the creature to believe, and therefore substitute letter faith for divine faith. It is true that this is denied in the extracts 3 and 7; but look at the following expressions (5): "Every saint in the world has a right to argue thus." (6) "We have a right to come to him as poor guilty sinners, and say My beloved is mine and I am his.' He who does not do this lives beneath his privileges." Take hold of Christ as your Saviour and your God." (4) "He may go to court and see the king, and shake hands with him, and kiss him." The general drift of all these expressions is to encourage a letter faith, and what is called "taking God at his word."

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We might well ask Mr. Osbourn why he did not do all this when first convinced of sin, and after his long backsliding, when he first went to America? Could he then "go to court and kiss the king?" or, because he was a poor guilty sinner, could he come to Christ and say, "My beloved is mine, and I am his?" And what would he have thought of a minister who told him he had a right to argue thus ?" and that the cause of his doubts and fears was because "the gospel was preached under a cloud?"

We freely acknowledge that we have been disappointed in Mr. Osbourn. Though, from reading some of his later works, we did not expect from him so much as we should have anticipated had we read only his Lawful Captive; yet we confess we did hope to find in him, not only more power and savour, but a sounder line of truth. We expected that he would have been more separating and discriminating, more experimental, and borne more marks of being tried and exercised in his own soul. Instead of that, we are sorry to say, the drift of his preaching has been to encourage too much a notional letter faith, and to strengthen the hands of those ministers who shoot their arrows against God's exercised family.

But if we condemn Mr. Osbourn's drift, are we not bound in strict justice to make some remarks upon the spirit that breathes through Mr. Tryon's work? Is that the spirit of the gospel? Is he warranted from one expression imputed to Mr. Osbourn, viz. that of calling doubts and fears "bugbears," to cut him off as a "wolf"? Is this a part of the wisdom that cometh from above, which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated; full of mercy and of good fruits; without partiality, and without hypocrisy ?" Does it agree with that love which "believeth all things, hopeth all things?" And what right has he to say that Mr. O. "has come to England to eat the fat and clothe himself with the wool, while poor deceived people are pleased to pay him well for daubing them with untempered morter?" Is it agreeable to the spirit of the gospel thus recklessly to stab the character and ministry of Mr. Osbourn? Should he not have clear, decided facts, and certain proofs, before he imputes to him such hypocrisy?

Mr. Osbourn's experience is before the churches, and one confessedly of no common character; we should think it, therefore,

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more becoming one who professes to fear God, if there be things in Mr. Osbourn which he thinks inconsistent with truth, to write to him and obtain some explanation, or at least patiently wait what time may manifest, instead of hastily cutting him off as a deceiver. 'Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses." (1 Tim. v. 19.) Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." (Psalm cv. 15.) “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ?" (Matt. vii. 1—3.) “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” (Rom. xiv. 4.) Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" (James iv. 11, 12.)

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These scriptures cannot be broken; and we would wish Mr. Tryon seriously to consider whether the spirit he manifests is not in direct contradiction to them.

GLEANINGS.

I see more and more the need of deep and heart-searching preaching in these days, for we swarm with professors. But what are they? They know not what they hear in general, nor in what they believe. The fan, therefore, must come, and will come, to purge the floor.-Huntington.

By the death of Christ we are greatly stirred up, both to a caution against, and a detestation of, sin; for that must needs be deadly which could be healed in no other way than by the death of Christ. Who, therefore, seriously considering that his sins could be no other ways expiated than by the death of the Son of God himself, would not tremble to tread as it were this precious blood under foot by daily sinning?-Davenant.

Can we be exalted in the righteousness of a creature? Would God the Father accept, and command us to trust in, the atonement of a finite being? By the same rule, we might, with the impudent Papists, trust in the supposed merits of the Virgin Mary, or of St. any body else. And by the same rule, we might descend a step lower, and with the still more impudent Pelagians, trust in our own supposed merits, and burn incense to the withered arm of our own blasted free-will. In short, there is no end to the horrible impieties which flow from trampling the divinity and the righteousness of Christ under foot.-Toplady.

ERRATUM. In our last Number, p. 309, third line of third paragraph, for "conscience" read "spiritually mindedness."