Page "John Owen (theologian)" Paragraph 11

In 1663, Owen was invited by the Congregational churches in Boston, Massachusetts, to become their minister, but declined.

The Conventicle and Five Mile Acts drove him to London ; and in 1666, after the Great Fire, he, like other leading Nonconformist ministers, set up a room for public service and gathered a congregation, composed chiefly of the old Commonwealth officers.

Meanwhile he was incessantly writing ; and in 1667 he published his Catechism, which led to a proposal, " more acute than diplomatic ," from Baxter for union.

Various papers passed, and after a year the attempt was closed by the following laconical note from Owen: " I am still a well-wisher to these mathematics.

" It was now, too, that he published the first part of his vast work upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, together with his Practical Exposition upon Psalm 130 ( 1668 ) and his searching book on Indwelling Sin.