I
HIS \aCE-CHANCELLOESKIP. LXl
tion in those whom they examined, and somewhat too lax in admit- ting of unlearned and erroneous men that favoured Antinomianism or Anabaptism; yet, to give them their due, they did abundance of good in the church. They saved many a congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken teachers, — that sort of men who intend no more in the ministry than to read a sermon on Sunday, and all the rest of the week go with the people to the ale-house and harden them in sin ; and that sort of ministers who either preached against a holy life, or preached as men who were never acquainted with it. These they usually rejected, and in their stead admitted of any that were able, serious preachers, and lived a godly life, of what tolerable opinion soever they were ; so that, though many of them were a little partial for the Independents, Separatists, Fifth-monarchy Men, and Anabap- tists, and against the Prelatists and Arminians, yet so great was the benefit above the hurt which they brought to the church, that many thousands of souls blessed God for the faithful ministers whom they let in, and grieved when the Prelatists afterwards cast them out again. "^
Every student of the Puritan history is familia,r with the magnani- mous act of Howe, in recommending Fuller the historian for ordina- tion, though a Royalist, because he "made conscience of his thoughts;"^ and an equally high-minded and generous act of impartiality is re- corded of Owen. Dr Pocock, professor of Arabic in Oxford, and one of the gTeatest scholars in Europe, held a living in Berks, and was about to have hard measure dealt to him by the commissioners for that county. No sooner did Owen hear of this than he wrote to Thurloe, Cromwell's secretary, imploring him to stay such rash and disgraceful procedure. Not satisfied with this, he hastened into Berk- shire in jDerson, warmly remonstrated Avith the commissioners on the course which they seemed bent on pursuing, and only ceased when he had obtained the honourable discharge of the menaced scholar from farther attendance.'*
Owen's wisdom in council involved the natm-al penalty of frequent consultation; and, accordingly, we find him in the following year again invited to confer with Cromwell on a subject which, in addition to its own intrinsic interest, acquires a new interest from recent agi- tation. Manasseh Ben Israel, a learned Jew from Amsterdam, had asked of Cromwell and his government permission for the Jews to settle and trade in England, from which they had been excluded since the thirteenth century. Cromwell, favourable to the proposal him-
' Neal, iv. 92-97. Baxter's own Life, part i. p. 72. Orme, pp. 116-119. Vaii.(,^hai>'s Stuart Dynasty, pp. 247-250. D'Anbigne's Protectorate, ]ip. 231-236. 2 Calamy's Life of Howe, prefixed to works, p. v. Neal, iv. 97. » Biog. Diet., X. 103. Oiine, p. 1 18.
LXII LIFE OF DR OWEN.
self, submitted the question to a conference of lawyers, merchants, and divines, whom he assembled, and whom he wished to consider it in relation to the interests which they might be held respectively to represent. The lawyers saw nothing in the admission of the Jews contrary to the laws of England ; some of the merchants were friendly, and some opposed ; and though a living historian has described the theologians as unanimous in their opposition, they were, in fact, divided in their opinion too ; some, like Mr Dury, being fierce in their opposi- tion, even to fanaticism ; and others, of whom there is reason to think Dr Owen was one, being prepared to admit them under certain re- strictions. Cromwell, however, was on this subject in advance of all his counsellors, and indeed of his age, " from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people," and displayed a faith in the power of truth, and an ingenuity in turning the timid objections of his advisers into arguments by which they might at once have been instructed and rebuked. " Since there is a promise in holy Scrip- ture of the conversion of the Jews," he said, " I do not know but the preaching of the gospel, as it is now in England, without idolatry or superstition, may conduce to it." " I never heard a man speak so well," was the future testimony of Sir Paul Ricaut, who had pressed into the crowd. The good intentions of the Protector were defeated ; but, as an expression of his respect for the rabbi, he ordered ,£'200 to be paid to him out of the public treasury.^
In the midst of these public events, Owen's pen had once more been turned to authorship by the immediate command of the Council of State. The catechisms of Bid die, the father of English Socinianism, had given vogue to the errors of that school; and though various writers of ability, such as Poole and Cheynel in England, and Cloppen- burg, Arnold, and Maretz on the Continent, had already remarked on them, it was deemed advisable that they should obtain a more com- plete and sifting exposure ; and Owen was selected, by the high autho- rity we have named, to undertake the task. His " Vindicise Evange- licae," a work of seven hundred quarto pages, embracing all the great points of controversy between the Socinian and the Calvinist, was the fruit of this command ; and was certainly a far more suitable and effi- cient way of extinguishing the poor heresiarch, than the repeated im- prisonments to which he was subjected. Dr Owen, however, does not confine himself to the ^vriting6 of Biddle, but includes in his review the Racovian Catechism, which was the confession of the foreign So- cinians of that age ; and the Annotations of Grotius, — which, though nowhere directly teaching Socinian opinions, are justly charged by him with explaining away those passages on which the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel lean for their support, and thus, by extinguishing one » Whitelock's Memorials, p. 673. Neal, iv. 126-128.