Benjamin Cox, sometimes Coxe or Cockes (), was an English
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
minister.
Life
Born in Oxfordshire about 1595, he was probably a member of the family of
Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely and entered Oxford as a commoner of
Christ Church in 1609, when he was about fourteen. Afterwards he became a member of
Broadgates Hall
Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...
, whence he took his degrees in arts, proceeding MA in 1617. He was ordained, and held a living at
Sampford Peverell in Devon. According to
Thomas Crosby in his ''History of the English General Baptists'', he was strongly in favour of ceremonies in Archbishop
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
's time, and was afterwards taunted by his presbyterian opponents for his zeal in this direction. Wood, however in his ''Athenae Oxonienses'', says that he was always a
puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
at heart, and it appears that in 1639 he was convened by
Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, for preaching that the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
did not hold
episcopacy
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
to be ''
jure divino'', but according to
Thomas Brooks Thomas, Thom, Tom, or Tommy Brooks may refer to:
Politics and religion
* Thomas Brooks (Puritan) (1608–1680), Puritan minister and author
* Thomas Brooks, American minister after whom Brookfield, Connecticut, was named
* Thomas Brooks, 1st Ba ...
made "a handsome retractation". Although a puritan and an enemy to episcopacy, Cox in his earlier days may have upheld the sacramental system as warmly as many other presbyterians did. After the outbreak of the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
in 1642, he ventured to express opinions that he had thought it prudent to conceal up to that time.
He later became a minister at Bedford, and openly preached the invalidity of infant baptism. In 1643 he was invited to form a congregation at Coventry. On his arrival
Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he ...
, who was then chaplain to the
rebel forces in the town, challenged him to a controversy. Cox imprudently accepted the challenge of an opponent whose arguments were supported by the swords of an admiring congregation. After the discussion had been held, the presbyterians ordered him to quit the town, and when he refused or delayed to do so they imprisoned him. Baxter was afterwards reproached for having instigated this act of intolerance; and though he denied that he had done so, he can scarcely have opposed it. After his release Cox went to London, and preached to a congregation of baptists. A 1645 debate between supporters of the invalidity of infant baptism,
Hanserd Knollys
Hanserd Knollys (1599–1691) was an English particular Baptist minister.
Life
He was born at Cawkwell, Lincolnshire, about 1599. He was educated privately under a tutor, was for a short time at Great Grimsby grammar school, and afterwards ma ...
,
William Kiffin
William Kiffin (1616–1701), sometimes spelled William Kiffen, was a seventeenth-century English Baptist minister. He was also a successful merchant in the woollen trade.
Life
He was born in London early in 1616. His family appears to have bee ...
and Cox on the one side with the
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
Edmund Calamy on the other had to be cancelled when it was rumoured that the Baptists "planned to bring 'swords, clubs and staves' to ensure that their view prevailed."
He was one of the managers of a public dispute that was to be held at Aldermanbury on 3December 1645, and, when it was forbidden, joined in writing a declaration on the subject. He signed his name as Benjamin Cockes to the second edition of the ''Declaration of Faith of the Seven Congregations in London,'' published in 1647. He conformed in 1662, but afterwards renounced his living, and continued a baptist until his death at an advanced age.
Works
*A treatise answered by ''The great question … touching scandalous Christians, as yet not legally convicted, whether or no they may be admitted … at the Lord's Table,'' by M. Blake, B.D., 1645.
*According to Wood, a treatise on ''Infant Baptism.''
*Also according to Wood, ''A True and Sober Answer.''
*With
Hanserd Knollys
Hanserd Knollys (1599–1691) was an English particular Baptist minister.
Life
He was born at Cawkwell, Lincolnshire, about 1599. He was educated privately under a tutor, was for a short time at Great Grimsby grammar school, and afterwards ma ...
and others, ''A Declaration concerning the Publicke Dispute which should have been in the Meeting House of Aldermanbury, Dec. 3
645 concerning Infant Baptism.''
*''An Appendix to a Confession of Faith. … Occasioned by the inquiry of persons in the County,'' 1646; republished by the Hansard Knollys Society in ''Confessions of Faith,'' 49.
*''God's Ordinance … the Saint's Priviledge,'' 1646.
*
References
;Attribution
External links
Online text of Cox's ''Some mistaken Scriptures sincerely explained, In answer to one infected with some Pelagian Errours''
{{authority control
Early modern Christian devotional writers
English Baptist ministers
Alumni of Broadgates Hall, Oxford