The next great public transaction in which we find Dr Owen en- gaged, was the celebrated meeting of ministers and delegates from the Independent Churches, for the purpose of preparing a confession of their faith and order, commonly known by the name of the Savoy Assembly or Synod. The Independents had greatly flourished during
^ Conclusion of Oratio qninta, translated by Orme. — Six Latin OTations, deli- vered by Owen at Oxford while he presided over the university, have been pre- served, and used to be pi-inted at the end of the volume that contained his sei-nions and tracts. They will appear in the seventh volume of the jire^jcnt edition of Owen's ivorks.
HIS RETIREMENT AND LAST DAYS. LXIX
the Protectorate ; and many circumstances rendered sucli a meeting desirable. The Presbyterian members of the Westminster Assembly had often pressed on them the importance of such a public and for- mal exposition of their sentiments. Their Independent brethren iii New England had set them the example ten years before ; and the frequent misrepresentations to which they were exposed, especially through their being confounded "VNath extravagant sectaries who shel- tered themselves beneath the common name of Independents, as well as the religious benefits that were hkely to accrue from mutual con- ference and comparison of views, appeared strongly to recommend such a measure. " We confess," say they, " that from the very first, all, or at least the generality of our chiurches, have been in a manner like so many ships, though holding forth the same general colours, launched singly, and sailing apart and alone on the vast ocean of these tumultuous times, and exposed to every wind of doctrine, under no other conduct than that of the Word and Spirit, and their particular elders and principal brethren, without association among themselves, or so much as holding out common lights to others, whereby to know where they were."^
It was with considerable reluctance, however, that Cromwell yielded his sanction to the calling of such a meeting. He remembered the anxious jealousy with which the proceedings of the Westminster As- sembly had been watched, and probably had his own fears that what now began in theological discussion might end in the perilous can- vassing of public measures. But his scruples were at length over- come,— circulars were issued, inviting the churches to send up their pastors and delegates, and more than two hundred brethren appeared in answer to the summons. They met in a building in the Strand, which was now commonly devoted to the accommodation of the offi- cers of Cromwell's court, but which had formerly been a convent and an hospital, and originally the palace of the Duke of Savoy, from whom it took its name. A committee, in which Owen and Goodwin evidently bore the burden of the duties, prepared a statement of doc- triae each morning, which was laid before the Assembly, discussed, and approved. They found, to their delight, that "though they had been launched singly, they had all been steering their course by the same chart, and been bound for one and the same port ; and that upon the general search now made, the same holy and blessed truths of all sorts which are current and warrantable among the other churches of Christ in the world, had been their lading."^ It is an interesting fact, that, with the exception of its statements on church order, the articles of the Savoy Confession bear a close resemblance to those of the famous Confession of the Westminster divines, — in most places ' Confess. Pref., p. 6. Neal, iv. 173. 2 Ibid.
LXX LIFE OF DR OWEN.
retaining its very words. This was a higli and graceful tribute to the excellence of that noble compend. And though Baxter, irritated by the form of some of its statements/ wrote severely against the Savoy Assembly, yet a spirit of extraordinary devotion appears to have animated and sustained its conferences. " There was the most eminent presence of the Lord," says an eye-witness, " with those who were then assembled, that ever I knew since I had a being." ^ And, as the natural consequence of this piety, there was an enlarged charity towards other churches " holding the Head." In the preface to the Confession, which Owen is understood to have written, and from which we have already made some beautiful extracts, this blessed temper shines forth in language that seems to have anticipated the standing-point to which the hving churches of our own times are so hopefully pointing. We are reminded in one place that " the differ- ences between Presbyterians and Independents are differences be- tween fellow-servants ;" and in another place, the principle is avowed, that " churches consisting of persons sound in the faith and of good conversation, ought not to refuse communion with each other, though they walk not in all things according to the same rule of church order. "^ It is well known that the Savoy Confession has never come into general use among the Independents; but there is reason to think that its first publication had the best effects ; and in all Hkeli- hood the happy state of things which Philip Henry describes as dis- tinguishing this period is referable, in part at least, to the assurance of essential unity which the Savoy Confession afforded. " There was a great change," says he, "in the tempers of good people throughout the nation, and a mighty tendency to peace and unity, as if they were by consent weary of their long clashings."^