John Austin was an English lawyer and controversial writer.

Life

He was a student of St. John's College, Cambridge, and of Lincoln's Inn, and about 1640 became a Catholic. He was well regarded in his profession and was looked on as a master of English style.

His time was entirely devoted to books and literary pursuits. He enjoyed the friendship of such scholars as the antiquary Thomas Blount

Thomas Blount (lexicographer)

Thomas Blount was an English antiquarian and lexicographer.-Background:He was the son of Myles Blount of Orleton in Herefordshire and was born at Bordesley, Tardebigge, Worcestershire...

, Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport, also known as Franciscus a Sancta Clara , was an English Catholic theologian, a Franciscan Recollect, and royal chaplain.-Life:...

 (Franciscus a Santa Clara), John Sergeant

John Sergeant (priest)

John Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest, controversialist and theologian.-Life:He was son of William Sergeant, a yeoman in Barrow-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, and was admitted in 1639 as a sub-sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1643...

, and others.

Works

• The Christian Moderator; or Persecution for Religion condemned by the Light of Nature, by the Law of God, the Evidence of our Principles, but not by the Practice of our Commissioners for Sequestrations—In Four Parts (London, 1652, 4to.) Published under the pseudonym of William Birchley, and in it he disclaims the papal deposing power
  Papal deposing power
  The papal deposing power was the most powerful tool of the political authority claimed by and on behalf of the Roman Pontiff, in medieval and early modern thought, amounting to the assertion of the Pope's power to declare a Christian monarch heretical and powerless to rule.Pope Gregory VII's...
  
  . "In his work, Austin assuming the disguise of an independent, shows that Catholics did not really hold the odious doctrines vulgarly attributed to them, and makes an energetic appeal to the independents to extend to the adherents of the persecuted church such rights and privileges as were granted to other religious bodies"
• The Catholique's Plea; or an Explanation of the Roman Catholik Belief, concerning their Church, Manner of Worship, Justification, Civil Government, Together with a Catalogue of all the Poenal Statutes against popish Recusants, all which is humbly submitted to serious consideration, By a Catholick Gentleman (London, 1659, 18mo.) also under the pseudonym of William Birchley
• Reflections upon the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance; or the Christian Moderator, The Fourth Part, By a Catholick Gentleman, an obedient son of the Church and loyal subject of his Majesty (London, 1661)
• A Punctual Answer to Doctor John Tillotson's book called 'The Rule of Faith'. (unfinished)
• Devotions, First Part: In the Ancient Way of Offices, With Psalms, Hymns, and Prayers for every Day in the Week, and every Holiday in the Year. It is not known when and where the first edition appeared; the second, a duodecimo, is dated 1672. An edition printed at Edinburgh, 1789, contains a life of the author, presumably by Charles Dodd. This work was adapted to the uses of the Anglican Church in Hick's Harmony of the Gospels, etc., (London, 1701), and has been often reprinted as a stock book under the Hick's Devotions.
• Devotions, Second Part, The Four Gospels in one, broken into Lessons, with Responsories, To be used with the Offices, Printed Anno Domini 1675 (2 vols.,Paris, 12mo), a posthumous work, divided into short chapters with a verse and prayer at the end of each. The prayers, says Joseph Gillow
  Joseph Gillow
  Joseph Gillow was an English Roman Catholic antiquary and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics"....
  
  , "gave rise to offense under the impression that they favoured Blackloe's doctrine concerning the middle state of souls, and on account of this the work was not republished". A third part of the "Devotions" was never printed; it contained, according to the author's own statement "Prayers for all occasions framed by an intimate friend according to his (Austin's) directions, and overlooked by himself".

Austin also wrote several anonymous pamphlets against the theologians who sat in the Westminster Assembly

Westminster Assembly

The Westminster Assembly of Divines was appointed by the Long Parliament to restructure the Church of England. It also included representatives of religious leaders from Scotland...

.

External links

Attribution