hionables are Spencer,
and Cowley, and Sir William Davenant. And the new books which crown the
upper shelves, still uncut and fresh from the publisher, are the last
brochures of Mr. Jeremy Taylor and Mr. Richard Baxter.[J]

This night, however, the Doctor is intent on a new book nowise to his
mind. It is the "Redemption Redeemed" of John Goodwin. Its hydra-headed
errors have already drawn from the scabbard the sword of many an
orthodox Hercules on either side of the Tweed; and now, after a
conference with the other Goodwin, the Dean takes up a ream of
manuscript, and adds a finishing touch to his refutation.

At this period Dr. Owen would be forty years of age, for he was born in
1616. His father was minister of a little parish in Oxfordshire, and his
ancestors were princes in Wales; indeed, the genealogists claimed for
him a descent from King Caractacus. He himself was educated at Queen's
College, and, under the impulse of an ardent ambition, the young student
had fully availed himself of his academic privileges. For several years
he took no more sleep than four hours a-night, and in his eagerness for
future distinction he mastered all attainable knowledge, from
mathematics to music. But about the time of his reaching majority, all
his ambitious projects were suspended by a visitation of religious
earnestness. In much ignorance of the divine specific, his conscience
grew tender, and sin appeared exceeding sinful. It was at this
conjuncture that Archbishop Laud imposed on Oxford a new code of
statutes which scared away from the University the now scrupulous
scholar. Years of anxious thoughtfulness followed, partly filled up by
his duties as chaplain successively to Sir Robert Dormer and Lord
Lovelace, when about the year 1641 he had occasion to reside in London.
Whilst there he went one day to hear Edward Calamy; but instead of the
famous preacher there entered the pulpit a country minister, who, after
a fervent prayer, gave out for his text--"Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith?" The sermon was a very plain one, and Owen never
ascertained the preacher's name; but the perplexities with which he had
long been harassed disappeared, and in the joy of a discovered gospel
and an ascertained salvation, the natural energy of his character and
the vigor of his constitution found again their wonted play.

Soon after this happy change, his first publication appeared. It was a
"Display of Arminianism," and, attracting the a