Francis Fox (1675–1738) was an English

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

who became vicar of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Fox, son of Francis Fox, was born at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in 1675. He entered

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

, as a commoner in April 1698, after having, according to Hearne, served six and a half years of his time as apprentice to a glover in London. He took the degree of B.A. in 1701, and that of M.A. in 1704. In 1705 he was chaplain to the lord mayor, Sir Owen Buckingham, and apparently about this time was 'commonly known as Father Fox'.

Bishop Burnet Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, ...

appointed him rector of Boscombe, Wiltshire, in 1708, and promoted him to the vicarage of

Potterne Potterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. The village is south of Devizes and lies on the A360 which links Devizes to Salisbury. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Potterne Wick. History There is evide ...

in 1711. He was chaplain to Lord Cadogan, and, from 1713 till his death, prebendary of Salisbury. In 1726 the Lord Chancellor presented him to the vicarage of St Mary's, Reading. There he died in July 1738.

Politics

He was, at any rate for most of his life, a strong Whig, and in 1727 he preached at what was called the Reading lecture a sermon which gave great offence to a number of the clergy who formed the audience. After being repeated as an assize sermon at Abingdon, it was published under the title of ''Judgment, Mercy, and Fidelity, the Weightier Matters or Duties of the Law'' (Matt. xxiii. 23). It was considered to undervalue the efficacy of the sacraments, and to depreciate unduly the usefulness of preaching against dissenters. Angry letters about it were exchanged between Fox and the Rev. Joseph Slade of St Laurence's, Reading, who eventually published a sermon in reply to it, with the letters prefixed. This in its turn was attacked by the Rev. Lancelot Carleton in 'A Letter to the Rev. Jos. Slade'.

Publications

Besides the sermon, 'Judgment, Mercy, and Fidelity', Fox published: # ‘The Superintendency of Divine Providence over Human Affairs,’ a sermon preached in St Paul's before the lord mayor on Restoration-day, 1705. # An anonymously printed folio sheet entitled ‘The Obligations Christians are under to shun Vice and Immorality and to practise Piety and Virtue shown from the express words of Holy Scripture,’ about 1707. # ‘The Lawfulness of Oaths and the Sin of Perjury and Profane Swearing,’ an assize sermon at Salisbury, 1710. # ‘The Duty of Public Worship proved, with directions for a devout behaviour therein,’ 1713 (19th ed. S.P.C.K., 1818). # ‘A Sermon on the Sunday next after 5 Nov.’ (Num. xxiii. 23), 1715. # ‘The New Testament, with references and notes,’ 1722. # ‘An Introduction to Spelling and Reading, containing lessons for children,’ 7th ed. 1754.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Francis 1675 births 1738 deaths People from Brentford 18th-century English non-fiction writers 18th-century English male writers Alumni of the University of Oxford English theologians