advice for his going, prepared for his journey, erver, a hypocrite whose godliness was gain, When Cromwell summoned a parliament in 1654, Dr. Owen became a candidate for representing the university, if we are to give credit to Anthony Wood's narrative; and when his profession of a divine was urged as a reason why he was ineligible, he renounced his orders, and pleaded that he was a mere layman. That writer adds, that he was accordingly returned; but his election being questioned by the committee of elections, he sat only a short time in the house. It is proper to be observed, however, that neither Calamy, nor the author of the memoirs prefixed to the collection of his "Sermons," take the least notice of these circumstances. Dr. Owen was continued in the office of vice-chancellor for five years, during which, notwithstanding the many hours necessarily devoted to the duties of his public appointments, he found time to prosecute his studies, with great assiduity, and ped by an express order of council. He also received an offer of a professorship of divinity in the United Provinces, which he declined. The In the year 1665, the dreadful calamities of the plague and of the fire of London so wholly engaged the public attention, that the laws against non-conformists were for some time suffered to lie dormant, and not long afterwards his majesty's declaration of indulgence came out, and licences were granted to all who desired them, for public assemblies. While this liberty lasted, Dr. Owen was very assiduous in preaching, and was attended by many people of quality and eminent citizens. jealousy of the church of England, however, taking an alarm, these assemblies were suppressed, by a proclamation issued against unlawful conventicles in 1667; upon which Dr. Owen went to pay a visit to his old friends at Oxford, and to settle some affairs of his estate at Stadham. In this neighbourhood he ventured to preach privately to some of his friends; but intelligence of it having transpired, endeavours were used to apprehend him, which he narrowly escaped, and returned to London. He now received fresh invitations to remove to New England, which his attachment to his native country would not permit him to write many learned, and some excellent In the year 1671, when the bill to prevent and suppress what were called seditious conventicles was depending before the lords, our author was desired to draw up some reasons against it, which were laid before the lords by several eminent citizens and gentlemen of distinction; but the bill was notwithstanding passed into a law. However, the doctor's mo deration and learning procured hin the respect and esteem of several persons of honour and quality, who took delight in his conversation; particularly the earls of Orrery and Anglesey, lord Willoughby of Parham, lord Berkeley, and sir John Trevor, one of the secretaries of state. What is more, even the king himself, and the duke of York, paid him particular attention. When Dr. Owen was at TunbridgeWells, the duke of York being there, sent for him into his tent, and held several conversationswith him on the subjects of conventicles, and dissent, and after the doctor's return to London, the king sent for him, and conversed with him for more than two hours together, assuring him of his favour, and telling him that he might have access to him a tall times. His majesty also assured Dr. Owen, that he was a friend to liberty of conscience, and was sensible that the dissenters had met with injurious. treatment. At the same time the king gave him a thousand guineas, to distribute among those who had suffered most by the late severities; which royal bounty the doctor received with proper acknowledgments, and faithfully applied it to the objects intended. Dr. Owen had likewise some friends among the bishops, particularly Dr. Wilkins of Chester, and Dr. Barlow of Lincoln, who had been formerly his tutor. In the latter part of his life, Dr. Owen's health became very infirm, and he was often confined to his bed, or chamber; yet whenever he was able to sit up, he would be continually writing, when not prevented by company. Finding himself grow worse, he went to Kensington for the benefit of the air, and lived there some time. As he was one day coming from thence to London, two informers seized upon his coach and horses in the Strand, and drew round him a considerable mob; but sir Edmundbury Godfrey, who was a justice of the peace, happening to pass by, ordered the parties to meet him at a brother justice's, on a fixed day when some others of the bench should be convened to hear the cause. At the time appointed, sir Edmundbury being in the chair, it was found upon examination that the informers had acted illegally; on which account they were severely reprimanded, and the doctor was discharged and no more molested by them. From Kensington, Dr. Owen removed to a house of his own at Ealing, where he died on the 24th of August, 1683, in the sixtyseventh year of his age. Dr. Owen was tall and graceful in person, of a grave and majestic countenance, and possessed a genteel deportment and manners. His temper was serene and even, his disposition liberal, generous, and friendly, and his conduct in the domestic relations was peculiarly amiable and affectionate. Of his ardent and un affected piety, and of his firm integrity, his whole history affords sufficient evidence. To his great learning and industry his works bear abundant witness, as well as the testimonies of his biographers. Dr. Calamy says, "he was a man of universal reading, and had digested it. He was especially conversant in those sciences that are assistant to divinity, and master of them in an unusual degree. He was reckoned the brightest ornament of the university of Oxford." The writer of his life referred to below, observes, that "he was a perfect master of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues. He was a great philosopher; and also well read in the civil law. A great historian; hav 66 ing a perfect comprehension of church history in particular. He was thoroughly versed in all the Greek and Latin poets; well skilled in the rabbis, and made great use of them as there was occasion." And Anthony Wood, though, as we have seen, he treated his memory with the most opprobrious language, yet acknowledges that he was a person well skilled in the tongues, rabbinical learning, Jewish rites and customs; that he had a great command of his English pen, and was one of the most genteel and fairest writers who have appeared against the church of England, as handling his adversaries with far more civil, decent, and temperate language than many of his fiery brethren, and by confining himself wholly to the cause without the unbecoming mixture of personal slanders, and reflection." He also adds, "he had a very graceful behaviour in the pulpit, an eloquent elocution, a winning and insinuating deportment, and could by the persuasion of his oratory, in conjunction with some other outward advantages, move and wind the affections of his admiring auditory almost as he pleased." Dr. Owen's works are very voluminous, amounting to seven volumes in folio, twenty in quarto, and about thirty in octavo. In this number are, "An Exposition on the Epistle to the Hebrews," 1668, in four volumes, folio; "A Discourse of the Holy Spirit," 1674, folio; "A Complete Collection of Sermons, and severalTracts," with memoirs of the author prefixed, published in 1721, folio; "A Display of Arminianism" already mentioned; "oyeμena; sive de Natura, Ortu, Progressu, et Studio veræ Theologiæ," 1661, quarto; "An Enquiry into the Original, Nature, Institution, Power,Órder, and Communion of Evangelical Churches," 1681, quarto; "A Vindication of the Nonconformists from the Charge of Schism," in reply to Dr. Stillingfleet, 1686, quarto; Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion," quarto; "The Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures," 1659, octavo, &c. Biog. Brit. Life prefixed to a complete Collection of Sermons, &c. Brit. Biog. Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. II. Calamy's Account of ejected Ministers, vol. II. Granger's Biog. Hist. England, vol. II.—M. OXENSTIERNA, AXEL, COUNT, a celebrated Swedish minister, son of baron Gabriel Oxenstierna, was born at Fano in Upland, in 1583. His father having died during his infancy he was educated with great care, under the inspection of a tender mother; and on leaving school was sent for farther improve ment, along with his younger brother, to Germany, where he studied at Rostoc, Wittenberg and Jena; and made great progress in the languages, and in various branches of science. The principal object of his application, however, was theology, which he prosecuted with great diligence; and in this was encouraged by his relations, who intended him for the ecclesiastical state: and though he afterwards devoted himself to a secular employment, he retained, during his whole life, a strong attachment to the study of theology, and an ardent desire to promote the diffusion of the evangelic doctrine. He was, therefore, often consulted in important affairs respecting the church; and his advice on these occasions was always such as might be expected from a combination of knowledge and judgment. When he had finished his academic courses, he paid a visit to most of the German courts; and being recalled in 1602, with all the other Swedish nobility then in foreign countries, to take the oath of fidelity to Charles IX. he was soon after received into the service of that monarch; who, in 1606, sent him as envoy to the court of Mecklenburg. In 1609, when he had completed the twenty-sixth year of his age, he was admitted a member of the senate; being the fourteenth of his family, who, in uninterrupted succession from father to son, had sitten in that assembly. The first public business undertaken by him after this period, was the adjustment of some differences which had arisen in Esthonia between the Livonian nobility and the city of Revel, and which he brought to a happy conclusion. He had now given such a favourable display of his talents that the king, finding the powers of his own mind weakened by the infirmity of years, made choice of Oxenstierna to be guardian to the royal family, and placed him at the head of the regency. On the accession of the new sovereign, Gustavus Adolphus, he was promoted to be chancellor; and in 1613, when overtures were made for peace between Sweden and Denmark, he was appointed chief negotiator on the part of the former. Next year he accompanied the king on his expedition into Germany, and soon after had the satisfaction of seeing an end put to hostilities between Russia and Sweden by an honourable peace, concluded at Stolborn. In 1620, he conveyed the intended consort of his sovereign from Brandenburg; in 1622, he attended the king to Livonia, and being afterwards sent to Prussia with several regiments, he was nominated governor-general of all the districts in that country subjected to the Swedish arms. When the imperialists entered Pomerania, in order to make themselves masters of the shores of the Baltic, Oxenstierna was dispatched to the duke of Pomerania, to treat respecting the admittance of a Swedish garrison into Stralsund, in room of the Danish troops, which at that time were in possession of the place; he then proceeded to Denmark to prevail on his Danish majesty to sanction this arrangement, and afterwards through the mediation of the French and English courts brought the negotiations for peace with Poland to such a length that a suspension of hostilities, for six years, was agreed upon. That Oxenstierna was now in high favour with his sovereign, appears by a letter which he wrote to him in 1630, from Pomerania, when he was about to take the field against the imperialists. When the seat of the war was transferred farther towards the centre of Germany, Gustavus found the presence of his chancellor necessary, in order that he might profit by his talents and advice. He was, therefore, invested with full authority in all civil and military affairs on the Rhine; and the king having afterwards advanced into Bavaria and Franconia, Oxenstierna fixed his head quarters at Mentz; whence he proceeded with the troops he had collected to join his majesty, and then took up his station with some regiments in the upper part of Germany, while Gustavus advanced to Lutzen, where he fell gloriously in the arms of victory in the year 1632. Oxenstierna was much affected, but not dispirited, by this melancholy event. He collected more troops for the defence of Sweden and the allies; and undertook a journey to Dresden and Berlin to concert measures with the electors of Brandenburgh and Saxony regard to the prosecution of the war. limited commission was now given him by the Swedish government to pursue such plans, both in regard to negotiations and to the Swedish army in Germany, as he might think most conducive to the benefit of his country. In consequence of the power thus delegated to him, he entered into a correspondence with different foreign states; proceeded to the congress at Heilbrun, and was there acknowledged as director of the allied powers, distinguished by the name of the evangelic league. This elevation gave rise to much discontent, and excited against him no little jealousy, which was greatly fomented by the French; but the efforts of his enemies were ineffectual, and were not able to lessen his con An un sideration, nor to prevent the flattering mark of respect offered to him by the evangelic states, of being created elector of Mentz. In the mean time, he undertook a journey to France and Holland in order to gain over these two powers to the evangelical party; but on his return to Saxony he was much mortified to find every thing in the utmost disorder. The foreign generals were wavering in their attachment to Sweden; the soldiers, discontented on account of their pay being in arrears, manifested a mutinous spirit; a great part of the allies had become disheartened, in consequence of the blow given to their cause by the unfortunate battle of Norlingen; and to complete this disastrous state of affairs, the elector of Saxony had declared in favour of the enemies of Sweden. Oxenstierna, however, by his prudent and judicious conduct found means to revive the drooping spirits of his party, and to surmount all these difficulties. Having thus retrieved the affairs of Germany and placed them on a more secure footing, he was recalled to Sweden in 1636, after being absent from it about ten years; and as he now wished to retire from the more busy scenes of life, he resigned the authority with which he had been invested, and took his seat in the senate as chancellor of the kingdom, and as one of the five guardians of the queen. His chief care after this period was to instruct the queen in every thing that related to the art of government. With this view, he communicated to her the best rules and most useful maxims for the regulation of her conduct; and as he had nothing so much at heart as to bring the German war to a happy termination, he dispatched, as plenipotentiary, his son, John Oxenstierna, to co-operate for that purpose; and peace was at length concluded by the famous treaty of Westphalia. Oxenstierna assisted at Bromsebo at the negotiation with Denmark, in 1645, and on his return queen Christina conferred on him the title of count. At the same time he was chosen chancellor of the academy of Upsal; an office which he discharged with great zeal for the success and prosperity of that seminary. When Christina made known her resolution of naming a successor to the Swedish throne, Oxenstierna was one of those members of the senate who strongly opposed this measure: he, however, shewed a much greater opposition to the steps which the queen took to abdicate the crown; and when the act of abdication was discussed, he figned indisposition, that he might avoid the mortification of being present at the debates on a measure which he conceived to be fraught with so much evil. From that day he became more and more dissatisfied with public affairs, but without deserting his duty, which he continued to discharge with credit to himself, and advantage to his country. To add to his uneasiness he found that the finances of the kingdom were in a deranged state, and that the national debt amounted to several millions: a circumstance which gave him more pain, as the Swedish territories had been considerably enlarged during the course of preceding years, and as trade and the public revenue, in consequence of his judicious measures, had been more improved in the reign of Gustavus Adolphus than they had been in those of his predecessors. In the latter part of his life he was subject to frequent fits of weakness, which often threatened his dissolution. With one of these he was one day seized in the king's apartment, and being unable to go home without assistance, he began seriously to prepare for that awful change which he expected, and which took place soon after, in the month of August 1654. Oxenstierna was undoubtedly a man of great talents. His character may be put in competition with that of the most celebrated men who have acted a distinguished part on the grand theatre of the world; and his name will, at all times, be classed among those of the immortal geniuses who have done honour to mankind. The natural powers of his mind were strengthened by an excellent education and by the study of the most useful sciences. No person was better acquainted with the art of prying into the recesses of the human heart; and the knowledge which he thus obtained he endeavoured to employ to the best advantage. His political sagacity excited no less respect than admiration; and he lived at a period which gave him an opportunity of displaying, to its full extent, the strength and solidity of his judgment. The form of government which he drew up, at the command of his sovereign, and which was adopted by the Swedish states in 1634, was considered as a master-piece of political wisdom. His eloquence was concise, but nervous. He possessed the happy talent of foreseeing the various results with which any measure might be attended, and of thence deducing the best rules for directing him in his public conduct.. His integrity not only procured him friends, but enabled him to outstrip all his competitors, and to overawe those who were hostile to his designs. The storms and vexations to |
