We are able to trace but a few of the steps of Owen in Scotland. He appears to have joined Cromwell at Berwick, where he preached
^ Sermon on the Steadfastness of Promises, and the Sinfulness of Staggering, preached before Parliament after his return from Ireland, on a day of humiliation, Rom. iv. 20.
' Wood's Athen. Oxon., iv. 98.
HIS PASTORATE. XLV
from the text, Isa. Ivi. 7, " For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people;" and, as we conclude from a letter of Crom- well's,^ assisted, with " some other godly ministers," in drawing up a reply to the Declaration of the General Assembly, which had already been sent to Cromwell ere he could cross the borders. We next find him writing from Musselburgh to Lisle, one of the commissioners of the Great Seal, describing a skirmish between some of CromweH's troops and those of "cautious" Leslie. Next, the battle of Dunbar has been fought. Cromwell is in possession of Edinburgh, but the castle still holds out against him, and the ministers of the city have sought protection within its walls. The pulpits of Edinburgh are consequently in the hands of Cromwell's preachers. Owen preaches repeatedly in old St Giles', and is listened to at first with wonder and jealousy, which gradually melt into kindlier feelings, as the multitude trace in his words a sweet savour of Christ.^ It is the opinion of many that Owen's hand is visible in the letters which passed between Crom- well and the governor of Edinburgh castle, on the offer of the Lord- General to allow the ministers to come out and occupy their pulpits on the Sabbath-day; when, on their somewhat suspicious and sulky refusal, Cromwell addressed them in that celebrated letter of which Car- lyle says, that "the Scotch clergy never got such a reprimand since they first took ordination."^ Undoubtedly there are striking resemblances to Owen's turn of thought, especially in the paper of " Queries," which abounds in " lumbering sentences with noble meanings." We next follow him with CromAvell to Glasgow, where Zachary Boyd thunders against the Lord-General in the old cathedral, and Cromwell listens with calm forbearance, and where a discussion takes place between Owen and the Scottish ministers, of which the following anecdote is told: — A young Scottish minister, named Hugh Binning, not yet twenty -six years of age, so managed the dispute as to confound Owen and the other English divines. Oliver, surprised and half-pleased, in- quired, after the meeting was over, who this bold young man was ; and being told that his name was Binning, — "He hath hound well, indeed," said he ; "but," laying his hand on his sword, "this will loose all again." The discussion, with Binning's victory, is not improbable; but the bad pun and the braggart threat are not like Oliver, and may safely be consigned to those other " anecdotes of Cromwell at Glasgow," of which Carlyle says, that " they are not to be repeated anywhere except in the nursery."*
But long ere Cromwell's campaign in Scotland was over, and that last battle, in which he gained " Worcester's laureate wi-eath," had
^ Carlyle's Cromwell, ii. 18.
' His second sermon, on Isa. Ivi. 7, was preached at Edinburgh.
3 Carlyle's Cromwell, ii. 59. * Ibid., ii. 79.
XLVI LIFE OF DR OWEN.
been fought, which drove Charles back to Breda, and reduced Scot- laud under the generous sway of the Commonwealth, Owen had been permitted to return to his books and to his quiet pastorate in Essex. It was only a short breathing-time, however, before his connection with Coggeshall was loosed for ever. One morning he read, to his surprise, in the newspapers of the day, the following order : — " On the 18th March 1651, the House, taking into consideration the worth and usefulness of John Owen, M.A., of Queen's College, ordered that he be settled in the deanery of Christ Church, in room of Dr Reynolds."^ A letter soon after followed this from the principal students of Christ Church, expressing their great satisfaction at the appointment. Crom- well before this had been chosen Chancellor of Oxford. And on the 9 th of September of the following year, letters from Cromwell nominated Owen vice-chancellor of the university, and thus placed him at the head of that great and ancient seat of learning from which we have seen him, ten years before, walk forth an exile for conscience' sake.^
CHAP. III.
HIS VICE-CHANCELLORSHIP.
The office of dean of Christ Church involved in it the duty of pre- siding at all the meetings of the college, and delivering lectures in divinity; while that of vice-chancellor virtually committed to the hands of Owen the general government of the university. A charge of inconsistency has sometimes been brought against him, as an Inde- pendent, for accepting such offices, especially that of dean ; and even some sentences of Milton have been adduced to give sanction to the complaint. But the whole charge proceeds on a mistake. It should be remembered that the University of Oxford during the Common- wealth shared in those changes which befell so many other institu- tions, and had ceased to be a mere appendage and buttress of Episco- pacy, and that the office as held by Owen was separated from its ecclesiastical functions, and retained nothing, in fact, of Episcopacy