OWEN, Dr. JOHN, an eminent nonconformist divine, descended from an ancient Welsh family, was the son of the rev. Henry Owen, vicar of Stadham, in Oxfordshire, and was born at the vicarage in In his 12th year he was entered of Queens' col lege, Oxford, where he worked with amazing diligence; for years taking no more than four hours sleep a night. In 1635 he "commenced" At this period (if his own statement does not exaggerate) his great ambition was to acquire celebrity either in church or state, he didn't particularly care which; and he affirms the irreligiousness and worldliness of his motives with entire frankness. Yet he appears, for all that, to have been agi.ated, even during his student-life, by the quattiones vexatte of ecclesiastical poli tics, and made himself so conspicuous by his anli-Laudianism that he was forced to leave Oxford. In fact, his Puritanism had become so decided that most of his former friends had abandoued his society. The next five or six years of his life were spent, speaking generally, in a state of anxious and melancholy introspection. When the civil war finally broke out, Owen was living as chaplain with lord Lovelace of Hurley, in Berkshire. His lordship was a royalist, and went to join the king's army, whither Owen, who had warmly espoused the cause of the parliament, could not accompany him. About the same time his uncle, a gentleman of •property in Wales, who, having no children of his own, meant to have made Owen his heir, indignant at the zealous Puritanism of his nephew, settled his estate upon another, and died without leaving him a farthing. The ahnost friendless scholar now removed to London, where a casual sermon, preached by a stranger in Calamy's church, had the effect of imparting to his soul the peace he so ardently desired. In 1642 he published his Display of Armimanisra, a work that proved very acceptable to the Puritan party. and drew upon him the favorable regards of the house of commons. Soon after, the." committee for purging the church of scandalous ministers" presented him with the living of Fordham, in Essex. His ministrations were exceedingly popular, people coming from great distances to hear him preach. While residing at Fordham he married a lady named Rooke, by whom he had several children. Not long after he removed to Coggeshall, where his views of church government under went a modification. Up to this point he had been a Presbyterian, but he now became a moderate independent or Congregationalist. It is almost superfluous to add that the Presbyterian ministers—intolerant, dogmatical, and acrimonious to a degree that is scarcely credible—fell upon him at once for his apostacy, but failed to perturb his sober temper. At Coggeshall he wrote his Salus Electorum, Sanguis Jesu ("The Blood of Jesus, the Salvation of the Elect"), a work the result of seven years study, and of which he himself said that "he did not believe he should live to see a solid answer given to it." His fame still increasing, he was sent for in 1646 to preach before the parliament. Tc his discourse, entitled A Vision of Free Mercy, he added an appendix, in which he pleads for liberty of conscience in ma"or; of religion. He was again chosen to preach before the house of commons the day alter the execution of king Charles I. (.Jan. 31, 1649), but discreetly avoided a vindication of the act. About this time Cromwell made his acquaintance, and thought so highly both of his preaching and character tha the insisted on Owen accompanying him to Irelaud, where the latter remained about half a year. In 1650 he went with Cromwell to Scotland, and resided in Edinburgh for several months in 1631 the house of commons appointed him dean Christ church, Oxford; and in 1652, when only in his 36th year, he was admitted vice-chancellor of the university.
The manner in which he discharged his duties reflects the highest credit on the impar tiality of his disposition. Though himself an Independent, and owing his honors directly to the Independent party, Owen never showed himself a partisan. Most of the vacant livings in his patronage were bestowed on Presbyterians; and Episcopalians were allowed to celebrate divine worship in their own way, nor could the vice-chancellor ever be induced to offer them the slightest molestation. While at Oxford, the "Atlas of Independency," as 'Wood grandiloquently dubs Owen, wrote his Diatriba de Divina Jus ' •t,d,his Doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance, his Vindicia &angelica—against Biddle (q. v.) and the Soeinians—and his Mortification of Sin, in, Belisters, He was one of the well known "tryers" appointed to "purge" the church of " scanda:ons" (i.e., royalist) " min isters," and in this capacity signalized himself by his friendly offices on behalf of men of learning and merit, among whom may be mentioned (lie celebrated Dr. Edward Poeneke, professor of Arabic. A coldness 110W appears to have sprung up betwet n him and Crom well. Owen is said to have been opposed to what ninny people call the '' ambitious" designs of the protector, and in 1657 lie was succeeded as vice-chancellor of the univer sity by Dr. Conaut. The year after Cromwell's death he was ejected trout his deanery, and retired to Stadhani, in Oxfordshire, where he had purchased an estate, and wla re lie formed a congregation, to which he ministered until his removal to London shortly after the restoration. The writings to this period of retirement. if we 11 ay so call it, are, Communion with God; On the krine Original, Authority, 1,1614 and Power of the Scriptures; Theoloyoumena, or De Natalia, Ortu, Progresso, 01 Steal° row. Thologice; and an uncritical irretlective, and unscholarly diatribe against Wallow's Po.'ggtott, in which the different readings of scripture were learnedly set forth. In 1062 he published Aninzadrersions to Fiat Lux, a treatise w ritten by a Franciscan friar in the interest of Homan Catholicism. It was followed by works on b7n, on the 130th Psalm, and on "The Epistle to the Hebrews,' the last of which began to appear in 1668, and is usually reckoned Owen's 111agnym Opus. In 1660 he published Truth anti Innocence Vindicated, a reply to Samuel (afterwards bishop) Parker's ]),:worse on Ecclesiastical Policy, and in 1673 became pastor of a large congregation in Loalenhall street. His last publications of importance were a Discou•se CO cerniug Inc Ray "j'irit (1674); Doetrine of Justification by Faith (1677), a treatise still much admired by many; and Cirri:do/via, or Glo•iaus Mystery of the Person qf Christ.
Owen in his later years was held in the highest esteem by many of the most influen tial personages in the land, such as the earl of Orrery, the earl of.Anglesen, lord Wil loughby, lord Berkley, sir Jchn Trevor. When drinking the waters at Ti nhridge, even the duke of York and Charles IL paid him particular attention, and had long conversa tions with him on the subject of nonconformity. Owen died at Ealing. Aug. 24, 1(83, and was buried in Burthill EIelds. His funeral was attended by no less than sixty hoble men. Owen was the most voluminous, hut by no means the most powerful writer among the Puritan divines. His prolix and passionless disquisitions, his 111111, 1«l/Ous, and exhausting argnmentations, his lack of subtile spiritual perception, his ponderous and lumbering style, make his writings the reverse of interesting; and one can almost pardon the irreverent criticism of Hobert Hall, who is said to have pronounced tit m " continent of mud." Net Owen deserves respect for his learning and moderation. The best edition of his works was published at Edinburgh (1836, et seq.).