In the interval between these arrangements and his departure for Ireland, we discover Owen once more preaching before the oflficers of state and the House of Commons, on occasion of the destruction of the Levellers;^ and about the middle of August we find the army ready to embark for Ireland. On the day before the embarkation it pre- sented one of those characteristic pictures which are almost without a parallel in the history of nations. The entire day was devoted to fasting and prayer; — three ministers in succession, among whom we
' Asty, pp. ix. X.
^ The title of the sermon was, "Human Power Defeated," Ps. Ixxvi. 5.
HIS PASTORATE. XiJIl
cannot doubt was Owen, solemnly invoked the divine protection and blessing ; after which Colonels Gough and Harrison, with Cromwell himself, expounded certain pertinent passages of Scripture. No oath was heard throughout the whole camp, the twelve thousand soldiers spending theh leisure hours in reading their Bibles, in the smging of psalms, and in religious conferences. Thus was trained that amazing armament, to whom victory seemed entailed, — whose soldiers com- bined the courage of the ancient Roman with the virtues of the private citizen, and have been well described as " uniting the most rigid dis- cipline with the fiercest enthusiasm, and moving to victory with the precision of machines, while burning with the wildest fanaticism of crusaders."'^ There were elements at work here that have seldom gone to the composition of armies. " Does the reader look upon it all as madness? Madness lies close by, as madness does to the highest wis- dom in man's life always ; but this is not mad ! This dark element, it is the mother of the lightnings and the splendours ; it is very sure this?"'
It is no task of ours to follow the course of Cromwell in his rapid and terrible campaign, in which he descended upon Ireland " like the hammer of Thor," and by a few tremendous and almost extemiinating strokes, as before the walls of Drogheda, spread universal terror throughout the garrisons of Ireland, saving more blood than if he had adopted a more feeble and hesitating course. His policy in Ire- land finds its explanation in two circumstances, — the impression that he had come as the instrument of a just God to avenge the innocent blood of more than a hundred thousand Protestants, — and the con- viction that, in repressing a rebellion which threatened the existence of the infant Commonwealth, the "iron hand," though the least ami- able, was the most merciful, and would save the necessity of a wider though more prolonged vengeance.* But our business is with Owen, whom we find meanwhile employed within the friendly walls of Dub- lin in preaching to "a numerous multitude of as thirsting people after the gospel as ever he conversed with," investigating the condition of the university, and devising measures for its extension and efiiciency. His preaching was " not in vain," while his representations to Par- liament led to measures which raised the university from its half- ruinous condition, and obtained for it some of its most valuable im- munities.* In the course of nine months, Cromwell, whose career in Ireland had been that of the lightning followed by the shower, terrific yet beneficent, returned to England to receive the thanks of the Par- liament and the people, and to be appointed General-in-chief of the armies of the Commonwealth; and Owen, mourning over the fact
' Whitelock, p. 434. Neal, iv. 4-6. Macau'ay's History of England, i. p. 121. 2 Carlyle's Cromwell, i. p. 341. ^ D'Aubigue's Protector, ch, vi. * Orme, p. 88. VOL. I 1>
XLIV LIFE OF DR OWEN.
" that there was not one gospel preacher for every walled town in Ireland/'^ was restored to his rejoicing flock at Coggeshall.
But the release which he was to enjoy was short. Cromwell had scarcely returned from Ireland, when the state of Scotland demanded his presence. That nation, which had begim the resistance to the tyranny of the Stuarts, and to the worse tyranny of Rome, had almost unanimously disapproved of the death of Charles, and now looked with jealousy and hostility upon the government of the Common- wealth. They had actually invited Charles from the midst of his debaucheries at Breda to become their king; and, deceived by his signing of the Covenant, were now meditating an attempt to restore him to his father's throne. In all this Cromwell saw, on the part of the best of the Scottish people, an honest and misguided zeal, which was aiming substantially at the same ends as himself; but he saw in it not the less the most imminent danger to the liberty, religion, and morality of England, and hastened to assert and estabhsh in Scotland the authority of the Commonwealth. Simultaneously with this, an order passed the Commons requiring Joseph Caryl and John Owen to attend on the Conunander-general as ministers;^ and Owen was thus a second time torn away from his pastoral plans and studious toils to the society of camps, and the din and carnage of sieges and battle- fields. Cromwell's motives for thus surrounding himself with the great preachers of his age have been variously represented, according to the general theory that has been formed of his character. Believing as we do in his religious sincerity, we cannot doubt that he felt, like other religious men, the powerful attraction of their intercourse. There Avas sound policy, besides, in seeking by this means to convince an age remarkable for its rehgious earnestness that he enjoyed the confidence and friendship of the chiefs of the religious world ; and hence we find him at a later period securing the presence of John Howe at White- hall, and aiming by repeated efforts to subdue the jealous penetration of Baxter. This latter motive, we cannot doubt, had its own influence in inducing him to take Caryl and Owen with him to Scotland ; and it is very probable, moreover, that, with all his passion for theological polemics, he foresaw tliat, in his anticipated discussions with the Scottish clergy, he would be all the better of these Puritan chiefs to help him at times in untying the Gordian knots which they were sure to present to him.