Owen, JOHN, a great Puritan divine, was born at the vicarage of Stadhampston, Oxfordshire, in 1616. At twelve he was admitted at Queen's College, Oxford, where he worked with amazing diligence, for years taking no more than four hours' sleep a night. In 1632 he took his B.A. degree, and M.A. in 1635, and two years after was driven from Oxford by dislike to Laud's new statutes. The next three or four years of his life were spent in a state of anxious and melancholy introspection, as chaplain first to Sir Robert Dormer of Ascot, next to Lord Lovelace of Hurley; but the outbreak of the war left him without a patron, and about the same time his zealous Puritanism cost him the estate a wealthy Welsh uncle meant to have bequeathed him. He now removed to London, where a casual sermon, preached by a stranger in Calamy's church, brought to his heart that peace he had long laboured after in vain. In 1642 he published The Display of Arminianism, a work for which the 'Committee for Purging the Church of Scandalous Ministers' rewarded him with the living of Fordham in Essex. Here he married a lady named Rooke, who bore him eleven children. In 1646 he removed to Coggeshall, and here made public his growing aversion to Presbyterianism, and preference for a moderate form of Independent church government. The Presbyterian ministers fell upon him at once for his apostasy, but all their acrimony, dogmatism, and intolerance failed to perturb his sober temper. At Coggeshall he wrote his Salus Electorum, Sanguis Jesu, 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.' On April 29, 1646, he preached before parliament, and to his discourse, when printed under the title of A Vision of Free Mercy, he added an Appendix in which he pleads for liberty of conscience in matters of religion. He was again chosen to preach before the House of Commons the day after the execution of King Charles I. (January 31, 1649), but discreetly avoided a vindication of the act by making no reference to it whatever. About this time Cromwell made his acquaintance, and thought so highly both of his preaching and character that he carried him to Ireland as his chaplain. Here he remained about half a year, regulating the affairs of Trinity College. Next year (1650) he went with Cromwell to Scotland, and resided in Edinburgh for several months. In 1651 the House of Commons appointed him dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1652 he was admitted vice-chancellor of the university. The manner in which he discharged his duties reflects the highest credit on his moderation and impartiality. Most of the vaecant 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 Independence,' as Wood styles him, wrote his Diatriba de Divina Justitia, his Doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance, his Vindiciae Evangelicae—against Biddle and the Socinians—and his Mortification of Sin in Believers. He was one of the well-known Triers appointed to purge the church of scandalous ministers, and in this capacity signalised himself by his friendly offices on behalf of men of learning and merit like Dr Edward Poeock, Laud's professor of Arabic. Owen opposed the giving the crown to the Protector, and it appears that a coldness arose between the two. In 1657 he was succeeded as vice-chancellor of the university by Dr Conant, and the year after Cromwell's death he was ejected from his deanery. He retired to Stadhampston, in Oxfordshire, where he had purchased an estate, and here he formed a congregation, to which he ministered until his removal to London shortly after the Restoration. The writings belonging to this period of retirement are Communion with God; On the Divine Original, Authority, Self-evidencing Light and Power of the Scriptures; Theologoumena, or De Natura, Ortu, Progressu, et Studio Veræ Theologiae; and an uncritical and irreflective diatribe against Walton's Polyglott. In 1662 he published, at Clarendon's request, Animadversions to Fiat Lux, a treatise written by a Franciscan friar in the interests of Roman Catholicism. It was followed by works on Indwelling Sin, 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 greatest work. In 1669 he published Truth and Innocence Vindicated, a reply to Sammel (afterwards Bishop) Parker's Discourse on Ecclesiastical Policy, and in 1673 became pastor of a large congregation in Leadenhall Street. His last publications of importance were a Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit (1674); Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677), a treatise still much admired by many; and Christologia, or Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ.
Already in 1663 he had declined a call to Boston in New England, as he did an invitation in 1670 to become president of Harvard. In his later years he was held in the highest esteem by many of the most influential personalities in the land, and he had repeatedly long conversations with both Charles II. and the Duke of York on the subject of Nonconformity. In his controversies with Sherlock and Stillingfleet he came off triumphant, and to the end of life he preached and wrote incessantly, notwithstanding the torments of the stone and asthma. He died at Ealing, 24th August 1683, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, being followed to the grave we are told by as many as sixty noblemen. Owen was learned, considerate, and generous.
For his life, see the Rev. W. Orme's Memoirs (1820), and the Life, by the Rev. A. Thomson, prefixed to the most complete edition of Owen's more than eighty works, that edited by Dr Good (24 vols. Edin. 1850-55).