Then followed his heart-searching, heart-inspiring treatise on " The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually-minded," first preached to his own hear-t, and then to a private congregation ; and which reveals to us the almost untouched and untrodden eminences on which Owen walked in the last years of his pilgTimage, — eminences for reaching which,
C LIFE OF DR OWEN.
it has been said by one of the humblest and holiest of men of our own times, "it would almost appear indispensable that the spiritual life should be nourished in solitude ; and that, afar from the din, and the broil, and the tumult of ordinary life, the candidate for heaven should give himself up to the discipline of prayer and of constant watch- fulness."^
The last production of Owen's pen was his " Meditations and Dis- courses on the Glory of Christ."^ It embodies the holy musings of his latest days, and in many parts of it seems actually to echo the praises of the heavenly worshippers. We may apply to Owen's me- ditations, as recorded in this book, the words of Bunyan in reference to his pilgTim, — " Drawing near to the city, he had yet a more perfect view thereof" It is a striking circumstance, that each of the three great Puritan divines wrote a treatise on the subject of heaven, and that each had his own distinct aspect in which he delighted to view it. To the mind of Baxter, the most prominent idea of heaven was that of rest; and who can wonder, Avhen it is remembered that his earthly life was little else than one prolonged disease? — to the mind of Howe, ever aspiring after a purer state of being, the favourite conception of heaven was that of holy happiness; — while to the mind of Owen, heaven's glory was regarded as consisting in the unveiled manifesta- tion of Christ. The conceptions, though varied, are aU true; and Christ, fully seen and perfectly enjoyed, will secure all the others. Let us now trace the few remaining steps that conducted Owen into the midst of this exceeding weight of glory.
We have already mentioned Lord Wharton, as one of those noblemen who continued their kindness to the Nonconformists in the midst of all their trovibles. His country residence at Wo- bum, in Buckinghamshire, afforded a frequent asylum to the per- secuted ministers; just as we find the castles of Mornay and De Plessis in France opened by their noble owners as a refuge to the Huguenots.
During his gro%ving infirmities, Owen was invited to Wobum, to try the effect of change of air ; and also that othei'S of his persecuted brethren, meeting him in this safe retreat, might enjoy the benefit of united counsel and devotion. It appears that while here his infirmities increased upon him, and that he was unable to return to his flock in London at the time that he had hoped ; and a letter wait- ten to them from this place, gives us so vivid a reflection of the anxieties of a period of persecution, and so interesting a specimen of Owen's fldelity and affection to his people, in the present experience
' Introductory Essay to Owen on Spiritual-mindedness, by Dr Chalmers, p. xxiv. * " Weakness, weariness, and the near approaches of death, do call me off from any farther labour in this kind." — Preface to reader.
HIS RETIEEMENT AND LAST DAYS. CI
of suffering, and in the dread of more, tliat we have pecuHar dehght in interweaving it with our narrative : —
" Beloved in the Lord, — Mercy, grace, and peace be multiplied to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, by the communication of the Holy Ghost. I thought and hoped that by this time I might have been present with you, according to my desire and resolution ; but it has pleased our holy, gracious Father otherwise to dispose of me, at least for a season. The continuance of my painful infirmities, and the increase of my weaknesses, will not allow me at present to hope that I should be able to bear the journey. How great an exercise this is to me, considering the season, he knows, to whose will I would in all things cheer- fully submit myself. But although I am absent from you in body, I am in mind, affection, and spirit, present with you, and in your assemblies ; for I hope you will be found my crown and rejoicing in the day of the Lord ; and my prayer for you night and day is, that you may stand fast in the whole will of God, and maintain the beginning of your confidence without wavering, firm unto the end. I know it is needless for me, at this distance, to write to you about what concerns you in point of duty at this season, that worli being well supplied by my brother in the ministry ; you will give me leave, out of my abundant affections towards you, to bring some few things to your remembrance, as my Aveakness will permit.
" In the first place, I pray God it may be rooted and fixed in our minds, that the shame and loss we may undergo for the sake of Christ and the profession of the Gospel is the greatest honour which in this life we can be made partakers of. So it was esteemed by the apostles, — they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake. It is a privilege superadded to the grace of faith, which all are not made partakers of. Hence it is reckoned to the Philip- pians in a peculiar manner, that it was given to them, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him, — that it is far more honourable to suffer with Christ than to reign with the greatest of his enemies. If this be fixed by faith in our minds, it will tend greatly to our encouragement. I mention these things only, as knowing that they are more at large pressed on you.