John Owen, born in Oxfordshire, received divine orders at Oxford but left the university rather than submit to Laud’s High Church policies. He espoused the Parliamentarian cause, and when the Civil War broke out he moved to Charterhouse Yard, London.
He preached before Parliament in 1649, the day after the execution of Charles I. He was one of Cromwell’s chaplains and later dean of Christ Church College, Oxford, where William Penn came under his influence. Owen was tolerated and allowed to preach after the Restoration. In 1673 he became minister of a large congregation in Leadenhall Street, London.
His written works include Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews, On the Holy Spirit, The Divine Origin of the Scriptures and Union Among Protestants.