John Owen
The seventeenth century in England was a period of intense religious debate and political instability, as questions of faith, governance, and civil authority pressed themselves upon public life with unusual force. It was in this setting that John Owen worked as a theologian, a religious figure, and a politician.
Born in Stadhampton in 1616, Owen was educated at The Queen's College before going on to occupy roles in both theology and public life. He worked in the English language throughout his career, engaging with the religious and political concerns of his era from within that dual position. The combination of theological vocation and political engagement placed him at a particular intersection of the century's competing demands, and he held both roles across the long span of his adult life.
As a theologian, Owen's work gave him standing as a religious figure of some consequence, while his role as a politician drew him into the practical governance of his time. These two aspects of his life were not easily separated in an era when religious conviction and political authority were frequently entangled. He continued to operate within both spheres for decades, working in English and moving between the doctrinal and the civic without abandoning either.
Owen died in Ealing on 24 August 1683, having been born in Stadhampton sixty-seven years earlier. His life had begun at The Queen's College and extended across a long career that combined the work of a theologian with the responsibilities of a politician. That pairing, relatively uncommon in any age, defined the shape of his public life and remained consistent from his early years to his death in Ealing.
Quotes by John Owen
John Owen's insights on:
Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.
All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless, it must be done by the Spirit.
He can make the dry parched ground of my soul to become a pool and my thirsty barren heart as springs of water. Yes he can make this habitation of dragons this heart which is so full of abominable lusts and fiery temptations to be a place of bounty and fruitfulness unto Himself.
Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin, – what.
The stronghold of the contemplation of Christ’s glory affords the soul rest, for it will be made evident that our troubles grow on the root of an over-valuation of temporal things. The mind is its own greatest troubler.
Mortification is the soul’s vigorous opposition to self, wherein sincerity is most evident.
We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks. This is a law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment. But alas, this is a secret we often fail to discover.
Selfishness is the making a man’s self his own centre, the beginning and end of all he doeth.
If I have observed anything by experience, it is this: a man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations upon the person of Christ, and the glory of Christ’s Kingdom, and of His love.