THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
OVERTON, JOHN HENRY: Church of England historian; b. at Louth (24 m. n.e. of Lincoln), England, Jan. 4, 1835; d. at Market Harborough (12 m. s.e. of Leicester), England, Sept. 15, 1903. He studied at Rugby, and at Lincoln College, Oxford (B.A., 1858; M.A., 1860); was ordained deacon in 1858, and priest 1859; was curate of Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, 1858-60; vicar of Legbourne, Lincolnshire, 1860-83; became canon of Stow Longa in Lincoln Cathedral, 1879; was rector of Epworth, diocese of Lincoln, 1883-98; rural dean of Axholme, 1883-98; select preacher at Oxford University, 1901; and Birkbeck lecturer in ecclesiastical history at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1902-03. He was the author of The English Church in the Eighteenth Century (in collaboration with C. J. Abbey, 2 vols., London, 1878); William Law, Nonjuror and Mystic: A Sketch of his Life, Character and Opinions (1881); Life in the English Church (1660-1714) (1885); Evangelical Revival in the Eighteenth Century (1886); Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln (in collaboration with Miss E. Wordsworth, 1888); The English Church in the Nineteenth Century (1894); John Wesley (1895); The Church in England (2 vols., 1897); The Anglican Revival (1S97); The Nonjurors, their Lives, Principles and Writings (1902) ; The English Church: From Accession of George I. to End of Eighteenth Century (1714~ 1800) (in collaboration with F. Relton, 1906).
OWEN, JOHN: The name of two prominent English theologians.
1. Independent scholar and Reformer; b. at Stadham or Stadhampton (5 m. s.s.e. of Oxford) in 1616; d. at Ealing (9 m. w. of St. Paul's Cathedral, London) Aug. 24, 1683. His father was a clergyman of Welsh extraction, tracing a descent from Gwegan ap Ithel, Prince of Glamorgan. The son was sent to Oxford when only twelve years of age, and studied classics, mathematics, philosophy, theology, Hebrew, and rabbinical lore (B.A., 1632; M.A., 1635); leaving Oxford in 1637. Laud was then powerful in the university, and endeavored to carry out his High-church (see Church of England, II., § 8) plans, and Owen refused to submit to the Laudian discipline; and being both in spiritual and temporal difficulties, he sunk into a state of deep melancholy. Before he left college he took orders, and became chaplain to Lord Lovelace, one of the Royalist party. From him Owen separated, on account of his own sympathy with the patriots, as the Parliamentarians were called. Retiring to London, a sermon on the words " Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? " led to a spiritual decision. Soon after, Owen published a decidedly Calvinistic book, entitled Display of Arminianism (London, 1643), by which he identified himself with the Anti- High-church party, and was presented to the living of Fordham, Essex. There he preached with success, delivering a sermon before Parliament in 1646, and, rising in reputation, was promoted to the important incumbency of Coggeshall, near Fordham.
He then adopted the principles of Independency; and while parish pastor, and preaching from the parish pulpit, he gathered an Independent Church. Here also he published an exposition of Congrega-
tional church principles entitled, Eschol; or Rules of Direction for the Walking of the Saints in Fellowship (1648). During his residence at Coggeshall he further engaged in the Calvinistic controversy, and wrote his Salus electorum, sanguis Jesu (1648), a polemic against Arminianism. The antinomian tendency of this work elicited protests from Richard Baxter and John Home. He also preached and published sermons to the Parliamentarians at Colchester and Rumford, entitled, A Memorial of the Deliverance of Essex County and Committee (1648). Thoroughly identified with the Parliamentarians, he was invited to preach before parliament on the day after King Charles' execution, when he acquitted himself with great prudence. Soon afterward he met with Cromwell, whom he attended in his expedition to Ireland. His sermons before parliament previous to his embarkation, and again on his return, on the spiritual state of Ireland, resulted in the reendowment of Trinity College, Dublin. He accompanied Cromwell to Scotland, and occupied Presbyterian pulpits there while the conflict was going on between parliament and the Scotch Loyalists. Owen returned to Coggeshall in 1651, and the House of Commons voted that he should be appointed dean of Christ Church, Oxford, in the place of Dr. Reynolds, the Presbyterian.
His career at Oxford was remarkable. The university had fallen into great disorder during the civil wars, and the new dean acted as a vigorous and successful reformer. The heads of houses during Owen's administration were men of eminent learning: they promoted education, as well as religion, and many distinguished persons in Church and State passed through a successful training. Owen was made vice-chancellor in 1652, and preached before parliament the next year, at the thanksgiving for a naval victory over the Dutch. After the dissolution of the Long Parliament, in 1653, the university chose Owen as its representative in the House of Commons; but he was unseated on account of his orders. In the same year, he was one of the commissioners for ejecting and settling ministers, and in 1654 one of the Tryers, a body of Independents, Presbyterians, and Baptists, thirtyeight in number, authorized to inquire into the fitness of incumbents for the posts they held. Owen behaved with wisdom and moderation, and saved the celebrated Edward Pocock (q.v.), Arabic professor, from harsh and unrighteous treatment. When a conspiracy against Cromwell's government broke out in the West, in 1655, the vice-chancellor exerted himself to preserve the public peace, and raised a troop of sixty horse; and the same year attended a conference at Whitehall touching the treatment of Jews. The next year he preached a well-known sermon at Westminster Abbey entitled, God's Work in founding Zion, and his People's Duty thereupon (Oxford, 1656). Owen was replaced as vice-chancellor, in 1658, by John Conant. During this period he produced several theological treatises. He opposed the Socinians by deducing the absolute necessity of satisfaction for sin from the constitution of divine nature, in Diatriba de Divina Justitia seu Justitim Vindicatricis Vindicim (1658). The Arminians were again attacked in Doctrine of