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FOR OCTOBER, 1839.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE MR. GEORGE OSBORN,
Of Rochester:

BY HIS ELDEST SON.

My father was born at Rochester, April 10th, 1764. His parents were persons of strictly moral habits; and he was trained from his childhood to a regular attendance on the worship of God in the cathedral of his native city. On the day before he completed his seventh year his father died suddenly, leaving him, with two sisters younger than himself, entirely dependent on the exertions of his mother. The business which my grandfather had carried on could not be superintended by a female, and his widow was therefore compelled to decline it; but before she attempted to make any permanent provision for herself or her infant children, she resolved to discharge in full the debts due from her husband's estate. At first this determination involved her in many difficulties, and brought upon her many privations; but the Lord honoured and recompensed her integrity in a remarkable way. She found friends where she had no reason to expect them, her difficulties were gradually overcome, and for twentyone years she proved the truth of that promise, "Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." One of her last sayings deserves to be recorded, as showing that she never departed from the principle with which she set out. Calling my father to her bedside, a few days before her death, she said, "George, I can leave you but little; but that little will wear well. You may expect the blessing of God upon it; for I believe every penny of it has been honestly gotten." How well would it be for some possessors of large estates, if they could transmit them to their heirs with the same confidence! But my grandmother did not build her hope in death on any real or supposed excellence in herself. There is reason to believe, that in her later years she was led forward from the faith of a servant, which she had long possessed and exercised, to the faith of a child, which she maintained, amidst many constitutional infirmities, until she finished her course, November 30th, 1794.

Until he was eighteen years of age, my father walked according to the course of this world, and had his conversation among the children of disobedience. He was, indeed, free from gross sin, and had even VOL. XVIII. Third Series. OCTOBER, 1839. 3 I

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at that early age, acquired a high character for diligence, punctuality, and honesty but he went no further. These things, together with his regular attendance at church on the morning of the Lord's day, constituted his righteousness, for which, of course, he trusted to himself, and in the pride of which he despised others, and especially the Methodists. "He was no thief, no drunkard, no swearer; surely he need not be better than he was:" so his own heart told him, and so said most of his acquaintance. The delusion continued till the providence of God brought him under the Methodist ministry. He was spending a Sabbath afternoon, in the spring of 1782, with Mr. John Johnson, a worthy Methodist who had known his father, when, to his great surprise, he was invited to accompany his host to chapel in the evening. He was very unwilling to go, but more unwilling to disoblige his father's friend; and therefore at length he consented. The invitation was repeated several times; and the novelty of the entire proceedings at the chapel having excited his curiosity, my father went again and yet again; always, however, taking care that none of his familiar friends saw him entering "the Methodist meeting." Part of one side of the high-street of Rochester stands considerably above the other; and the chapel was then situated on the lower side. On a Sunday evening my father would take his stand on "the bank" opposite the chapel door, and reconnoitre the street. If he saw any of his gay associates coming, he retreated or hid himself till they had passed by; but if, to use his own phrase, he "found the coast clear," he ran across the road into the chapel as fast as he could. The Methodists of that day little thought, that this timid lad would in a few years become the most active and influential member of their society in that city and its neighbourhood. But "who hath despised the day of small things?"

After a little while he ceased to attend from motives of curiosity, and came under the influence of better feelings. A sermon preached by Mr. James Hindmarsh was made a great blessing to him. The text was the parable of the two sons; (Matt. xxi. 28–30;) and the scope of the sermon was to expose the folly of those persons who constantly used the Liturgy of the established Church, and yet were strangers, and perhaps enemies, to vital godliness. The Preacher proved that they were in the habit of lying unto God, and had incurred the double guilt of disobedience and falsehood. My father heard with astonishment; and was convinced that, not being a true Christian, he could not be a true Churchman. He now understood that religion is first and chiefly an affair of the heart; he saw that, however blameless he might have been before men, he had been a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God, and had therefore wanted the prime characteristic of a Christian; in a word, the strong man armed was overcome, and his armour wherein he trusted taken from him.

The gracious work which was thus begun advanced gently and

gradually, but surely, until he had abandoned his former courses, relinquished his vain amusements, and forsaken the society of the frivolous and the proud for "the fellowship of saints." At what time he united himself to the Methodists I cannot now state exactly. It was certainly not later that 1784, and may have been two years sooner. There is the same uncertainty as to the time at which he first obtained peace and joy through believing; the few private memoranda which remain leaving it doubtful whether it was in 1783 or 1786. But that he did, at some early period of his life, believe with the heart unto righteousness, and so became a new creature in Christ Jesus, is a fact which (blessed be God!) admits of no doubt. It is proved to demonstration by a long subsequent course of holy living. "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

Among my father's early Methodistical associates were several persons of great worth. Mr. Abraham Brames, and Mr. W. Palmer, who afterwards became an Itinerant Preacher, deserve to be particularly mentioned, as having taken notice of him from the first, and contributed in various ways to his spiritual advancement. Under their direction he read and purchased many excellent books; and to their friendship he was indebted for the privilege of being invited to meet Mr. Wesley, when he paid his annual visit to the societies in that neighbourhood. I have heard my father say, that the first impression made upon his mind by what he saw and heard on an occasion of this nature, was, "This man is a scholar." I suppose that some of his early associates had represented our Founder in a very different light: and hence the prominence given to this consideration. Mr. Wesley's frequent references to recent publications, his natural and unostentatious manner of quoting the original Scriptures, his whole bearing and demeanour, even to his manner of handling the pulpit-books, were all noticed as bearing on this point; and my father concluded that, so far as these indications might be relied on, there was nothing more of fanaticism in the Founder of Methodism than in any of the more dignified and wealthy Clergymen whom he had been accustomed to

hear at the cathedral.

He was also forcibly impressed with the difference that existed between Mr. Wesley and the great bulk of his people in point of mental habits and endowments. "This man," he said to himself, "must be an eminent Christian, or he would not associate so much with poor ignorant folk like us, and make himself at home with us as he does." The longer he lived the more he admired this feature of Mr. Wesley's character; and he would often apply to him the language of St. Paul respecting himself: "To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some;" observing, at the same time, that only a scholar could estimate the amount of self-denial which would be required in carrying out this principle through half a century.

Not less remarkable in my father's eyes was Mr. Wesley's habitually devout spirit. He used to relate, as illustrations of this, some circumstances of which he had been witness. On one occasion Mr. Wesley's host and some other friends accompanied him to one of the hills behind the town of Chatham, which commands a very beautiful prospect. All were pleased; and when they had freely expressed their admiration, Mr. Wesley took off his hat, and began to sing,—

"Praise ye the Lord, 'tis good to raise," &c.

When they had sung the hymn, they returned home; but my father never forgot the lesson he learned that morning; and often, when looking on fine scenery, he would say, with allusion to this anecdote, "Why should we give the landscape all the praise, and the Author none?" At another time a large party of friends, who had met to take tea, were exceedingly diverted at some anecdote which either Mr. Wesley, or one of the Preachers who accompanied him, had told. The hearty laugh was followed, as usual, by a momentary silence; and just when the conversation was about to be resumed, Mr. Wesley stood up, and all eyes were, of course, turned to him. He paused a moment, and then, lifting up his hand in a manner quite his own, began,—

"Still may I walk as in thy sight,

My strict observer see;
And thou by reverent love unite

My child-like heart to thee:
Still let me, till my days are past,
At Jesu's feet abide;

So shall he lift me up at last,
And seat me by his side."

The effect may be easily imagined. It was as happy as instantaneous. The full stream of feeling was diverted into the right channel, and the pleasures of the parlour became a preparation for the services of the sanctuary.

My father had now identified himself with Methodism, and was prepared to share its burdens and its reproach. But, to his great surprise, most of his old acquaintance, when they met him, dismissed the subject of his conversion with a harmless jest; and the man from whom he had feared most contented himself with telling him "that he would soon be promoted to be candle-snuffer at the meeting." He felt that, having found the pearl of great price, and obtained possession of it, he could well afford to be laughed at; so he thanked God, and took courage. He had, however, one severe trial. His employer was in the habit of attending to business on the Lord's day, and expected him to do the same. On the first Sabbath after he had taken his solemn resolution to serve the Lord, his master was from home. The family treated him with much kindness, and he was therefore the more reluctant to disoblige them; while, to one in his humble circumstances,

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