' Dr Manton declared, that at "Wallingford House he heard Dr Owen say with vehemence, " He must come down, and he shall come down ;" and this was under- stood to refer to Richard; — but it is material to notice that Dr Manton did not so understand it till after the event. — Palmer's note to Calamy's Life of Owen. Noncon. Mem., i. 20L Add to this Owen's solemn denial of the charge, Vindic. of Animadversions on Fiat Lux, p. 127; and the testimony of a " woi-thy minis- ter," preserved by Asty, that Dr Owen was against the pulling down of Richard, and that his dissatisfaction at what they were doing at Wallingford House was such as to drive him into illness. — Asty, p. xix.
LXXVIII LIFE OF DR OWEN.
restored the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, to the state in which they had been at the commencement of the war, re-established the hierarchy, and constituted all classes of separatists a proscribed class ; and Owen and his party had little to trust to for the continuance of their religious liberties but the promise of Charles at Breda, that he "would have a respect to tender consciences."^ A little time sufficed to show that the king's word was but a miserable security; and the beautiful words of Baxter now began to be fulfilled in their darkest part : "Ordinarily, God would have vicissitudes of summer and winter, day and night, that the church may grow externally in the summer of prosperity, and internally and radically in the winter of adversity ; yet usually their night is longer than their day, and that day itself hath its storms and tempests." The night was now coming to the Puritans.
A few months before the restoration of Charles, Owen had been displaced from the deanery of Christ Church, and thus his last offi- cial connection with Oxford severed. He now retired to his native village of Stadham in the neighbourhood, where he had become the proprietor of a small estate. During his vice-chancellorship, it had been his custom to preach in this place on the afternoons of those Sabbaths in which he was not employed at St Mary's ; and a little congregation which he had gathered by this means now joyfully wel- comed him among them as their pastor. It was probably while at Stadham that he finished the preparation of one of his most elaborate theological works, whose title will supply a pretty accurate idea at once of its general plan and of its remarkable variety of matter, — " Theologoumena, etc. ; or, six books on the nature, rise, progress, and study of true theology. In which, also, the origin and growth of true and false religious worship, and the more remarkable declensions and restorations of the church are traced from their first sources. To which are added digressions concerning universal grace, — the origin of the sciences, — notes of the Roman Church, — the origin of letters, — the ancient Hebrew letters, — Hebrew punctuation, — versions of the Scriptures, — Jewish rites," etc. It is matter of regret that the " Theo- logoumena" has hitherto been locked up in the Latin tongue; for though parts have been superseded by more recent works, there is no book in the English language that occupies the wide field over which Owen travels with his usual power, and scatters around him his learned stores.^
In all likelihood Owen hoped that he would be permitted to re- main unmolested in his quiet village, and that his very obscurity
' Neal, iv. 191-220. Vaughan's Stuart Dynasty, ii. 266-271.
* A portion of the "Theologoumena" was translated and published by the Rev. J. Craig of Avonbridge iu Scotland; but the encouragement was not such as to in- duce him to persevere.
I
HIS RETIEEMENT AND LAST DAYS. LXXIX
would prove his protection ; but he had miscalculated the leniency of the new rulers. An act passed against the Quakers, declared it illegal for more than five persons to assemble in any unauthorized place for re- ligious worship ; and this act admitting of application to all separatists, soon led to the expulsion of Owen from his charge, and to the disper- sion of his little flock.^ In a little while he saw himself surrounded by many companions in tribulation. The Presbyterians, who had shown such eagerness for the restoration of Charles to his throne, naturally expected that such measures would be taken as would comprehend them within the establishment, without doing violence to their con- scientious difficulties; and Charles and his ministers flattered the hope so long as they thought it unsafe to despise it ; but it was not long ere the Act of Uniformity drove nearly two thousand of them from their churches into persecution and poverty, and brought once more into closer fellowship with Owen those excellent men whom he had continued to love and esteem in the midst of all their mutual dif- ferences.
Sir Edward Hyde, the future Lord Clarendon, was now lord chancellor, and the most influential member of the government, and means were used to obtain an interview between Owen and him, with the view, it is probable, of inducing him to relax the growing severity of his measures against the Nonconformists. But the proud minister was inexorable. He insisted that Owen should abstain from preach- ing; but at the same time, not ignorant of the great talents of the Puritan, strongly urged him to employ his pen at the present junc- ture in writing against Popery. Owen did not comply with the first part of the injunction, but continued to preach in London and else- where, to little secret assemblies, and even at times more publicly, when the vigilance of informers was relaxed, or the winds of persecu- tion blew for a little moment less fiercely. But circumstances soon put it in his power to comply with the latter part of it ; and those circumstances are interesting, both as illustrative of the character of Owen and of the spirit and tendencies of the times.