Oxenbridge, John, a celebrated English Noncon- formist, for some time minister in this country, was born at Daveutry, England, Jan. 30, 1609. He was educated at Oxford, and also at Cambridge, and at the last uni- versity he took his degree in 1631. He was tutor of Magdalen Hall, Oxford ; but was deprived of this posi- tion in 1634, because he refused to give up the practice of persuading his pupils to subscribe to certain religious articles of his own framing. He spent the next few years as a missionary in the Bermuda Islands. Through
the intervention of the Long Parliament, he was ap- pointed fellow of Eton College in 1642; and was or- dained pastor of a church in Beverly in 1644. He afterwards settled at Berwick-on-Tweed, where he was silenced by the Bartholomew act in 1662. Having for some time urged the importance of the new settlements in Dutch Guiana, then under lord Willoughby, as a field of missionary labor, he now himself led the way to Surinam, where he labored for some time diligently "and with success. In 1667 he visited Barbadoes, whence in 1669 he proceeded to Boston. He was ordained pastor of the First Church, Boston, in conjunction with the Kev. James Allen, April 10, 1670; and remained there until his death, Dec. 28, 1674. Though Oxenbridge was a very popular preacher, his wliole life seems to have been passed in religious controversy. His pub- lications are, A Double Watchword (1661) -.—A Sea- sonable Projwsition/or P?-opa(/ating the Gospel by Chris- tian Colonies in the Continent of Neic Guiana (Lon- don). The arguments employed by Oxenbridge in this pamphlet are well chosen and ably pursued ; but their influence was much weakened by a spirit of in- tolerant strife : — Election Sermon (1671) : — A Sermon on Seasonable Seekinff of God. See Anderson, History of the Colonial Church, ii, 245-249; Brown, History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen, iii, 490; Drake, Dictionary of American Biography, s. v. ; AUi- bone. Dictionary of British and A merican A uthors, s. v.
Oxendiiie, Alexander W., an American Baptist minister, of Bevolutionar}' fame, was born in South Car- olina Aug. 26, 1759. At the outbreak of the colonial struggle he enlisted, and was one of the famous Marion men. After the war he preached for many j'ears, and died at a ver\^ advanced age, with sight, hearing, and intellect unimpaired, at Benton's Creek, Phelps County, Mo., Sept. 3, 1869.
Oxenstiern(a), Axel Gustavsson, one of the most illustrious statesmen of the 17th century, especial- ly prominent in upholding the cause of the Reformation at a most critical period, was born June 16, 1583, at Fanoe, in the province of Upland, Sweden. He was descended from an ancient highly aristocratic family, distinguished in Swedish historj'. Earlj' deprived of his father, he received under the direction of his moth- er an educational training becoming his rank. As if in preparation for the ministrj' in the Lutheran Church, which had already been introduced and established as the state religion by Gustavus Vasa (1523-60), he at- tended the German universities of Rostock, Witten- berg, and Jena, studying at the same time jurispru- dence ; but it does not appear that he ever held an ec- clesiastical office : j-et even in his subsequent career of diplomacy', he always preserved a fondness for theo- logical subjects, and a zealous enthusiasm for the main- tenance and propagation of the evangelical doctrines. After having finished his academical course by gradu- ating at Wittenberg, he visited most of the German courts. In 1603 he returned home, and was called into state service by Charles IX (1604-1611). He was sent on several diplomatic missions, in which he showed such tact and skill that the king, verging on the grave, appointed him guardian of the royal family, and placed him with six others at the head of the regency. It was at Oxenstiern's urgent suggestion, after the death of the king, that the crown prince, though only seven- teen years old, was declared of age at Nykoeping (1611), and succeeded to the throne as Gustavus Adol- phus. Oxcnstiern was selected to act as chancellor of the kingdom, and in this high office he enjoyed and justified the full confidence and friendship of his sov- ereign, who leaned on him, as did Henry IV of France on Sulh", in all the political conflicts and complica- tions in which his reign from beginning to end was involved, his cool insight and prudence tempering the ardent impulses of the king, and contributing thereby not a little to his glory. It was also bj- Oxen-
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