John Owen

John Owen was born in 1616, in Stadhampton, near Oxford, England. His father, Henry Owen, was a Puritan clergyman. John was a gifted boy who entered Queen's College, Oxford, at the age of twelve. He took his bachelor's degree at sixteen and his master's degree at nineteen. He was a dedicated student, and he is said to have slept only four hours a night. He was also a man of athletic gifts, who enjoyed jumping and throwing the bar. He was ordained in the Church of England, but he soon left because he could not accept the high church policies of Archbishop William Laud.

He went through a period of deep spiritual distress. For several years, he suffered from doubts about his salvation and from a sense of failure. He was set free one day in 1642, when he went to hear a famous preacher, who did not come. A country minister took his place, and he chose as his text the verse in Matthew, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Owen found that the sermon was addressed to his own condition. His doubts left him. He later said that he had received peace and that his soul rested in Christ.

He became a Puritan pastor, first in Fordham, in Essex, and then in Coggeshall. He preached with great force, and in 1643, he published his first work, A Display of Arminianism. It attracted attention and led to an invitation to preach to Parliament in 1646, on the day after the execution of Charles I. He was a supporter of the parliamentary cause. He became a friend of Oliver Cromwell and served as his chaplain on the campaigns in Ireland and Scotland. In 1651, he was appointed dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1652, he became vice chancellor of the university. He ran the university with firmness and fairness. He was a generous man who encouraged the students and helped the poor.

He wrote a number of great works of theology. In 1647, he published The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, a defense of the doctrine of particular redemption. In 1656, he published Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, a short but searching work on the fight against sin. He also wrote Communion with God, a book on the believer's fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit, and A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit, a work in four volumes. His magnum opus was the exposition of the letter to the Hebrews, in seven volumes. He was a deep and demanding writer. His style is heavy, but it has a depth of insight that few can match.

After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he lost his positions and his influence. He was a Nonconformist and was barred from the ministry in the established church. He lived for a number of years in Stadhampton, then in London. He was a pastor of an independent congregation, in London, and he preached to them. He was often in danger of arrest. He also wrote works in defense of the rights of dissenters. He was a friend of the powerful, including Charles II and James, Duke of York, who treated him with respect, but he did not receive any relief.

He suffered a great deal in his personal life. He lost eleven of his twelve children in infancy or early life, and his wife died after a long illness. He also experienced the pain of ill health, which included stone and asthma. He bore these trials with faith. He spent his last years in Ealing, where he continued to write. He died on August 24, 1683, at the age of sixty-seven. On the day he died, he was working on the preface to a new book, and he was told that it was in the press. He said that he was glad to hear it, but that the long-looked-for day had come at last, in which he would see the glory of Christ in another manner than he ever could in this world.

His works have been read for centuries and have been prized by many, among them J. I. Packer and Charles Spurgeon. His life shows the value of a mind that is given to the study of God, and the way that a man who has suffered may write of the things of the Spirit.