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JOHN COSIN (1594–1672)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 214 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:COSIN (1594–1672)  , See also:English divine, was See also:born at See also:Norwich on the 3oth of See also:November 1594 . He was educated at Norwich See also:grammar school and at See also:Caius See also:College, See also:Cambridge, where he was See also:scholar and afterwards See also:fellow . On taking orders he was appointed secretary to See also:Bishop Overall of See also:Lichfield, and then domestic See also:chaplain to Bishop See also:Neile of See also:Durham . In See also:December 1624 he was made a See also:prebendary of Durham, and in the following See also:year See also:archdeacon of the See also:East See also:Riding of See also:Yorkshire . In 1628 he took his degree of D.D . He first became known as an author in 1627, when he published his Collection of Private Devotions, a See also:manual stated to have been prepared by command of See also:Charles I., for the use of the See also:queen's maids of See also:honour.' This See also:book, together with his insistence on points of See also:ritual in his See also:cathedral See also:church and his friendship with See also:Laud, exposed him to the suspicions and hostility of the Puritans; and the book was rudely handled by See also:William See also:Prynne and See also:Henry See also:Burton . In 1628 See also:Cosin took See also:part in the See also:prosecution of a See also:brother prebendary, See also:Peter See also:Smart, for a See also:sermon against high church practices; and the prebendary was deprived . In 1634 Cosin was appointed See also:master of Peterhouse, Cambridge; and in 164o he became See also:vice-See also:chancellor of the university . In See also:October of this year he was promoted to the deanery of See also:Peterborough . A few days before his See also:installation the See also:Long See also:Parliament had met; and among the complainants who hastened to See also:appeal to it for redress was the ex-prebendary, Smart . His See also:petition against the new See also:dean was considered; and See also:early in 1641 Cosin was sequestered from his benefices . Articles of See also:impeachment, were, two months later, presented against him, but he was dismissed on See also:bail, and was not again called for .

For sending the university See also:

plate to the See also:king, he was deprived of the mastership of Peterhouse (1642) . He thereupon withdrew to See also:France, preached at See also:Paris, and served as chaplain to some members of the See also:house-hold of the exiled royal See also:family . At the Restoration he returned to See also:England, was reinstated in the mastership, restored to all his benefices, and in a few months raised to the see of Durham (December 1660) . At the See also:convocation in 1661 he played a prominent part in the revision of the See also:prayer-book, and endeavoured with some success to bring both prayers and rubrics into completer agreement with See also:ancient liturgies . He administered his See also:diocese with conspicuous ability and success for about eleven years; and applied a large See also:share of his revenues to the promotion of the interests of the Church, of See also:schools and of charitable institutions . He died in See also:London on the 15th of See also:January 1672 . Cosin occupies an interesting and See also:peculiar position among the churchmen of his See also:time . Though a ritualist and a rigorous enforcer of outward conformity, he was uncompromisingly hostile to See also:Roman Catholicism, and most of his writings illustrate this antagonism . In France he was on friendly terms with ' See See also:John See also:Evelyn's See also:Diary (Oct . 12, 1651) . See also:Huguenots, justifying himself on the ground that their non-episcopal ordination had not been of their own seeking, and at the See also:Savoy See also:conference in 1661 he tried hard to effect a reconciliation with the Presbyterians . He differed from the See also:majority of his colleagues in his strict attitude towards See also:Sunday observance and in favouring, in thecase of See also:adultery, both See also:divorce and the re-See also:marriage of the See also:innocent party .

He was a genial See also:

companion, See also:frank and outspoken, and a See also:good See also:man of business . Among his writings (most of which were published posthumously) are a Historia Transubstantiationis Papalis (1675), Notes and Collections on the Book of See also:Common Prayer (171o) and A Scholastical See also:History of the See also:Canon of See also:Holy Scripture (1657) . A collected edition of his See also:works, forming 5 vols. of the See also:Oxford Library of Anglo-See also:Catholic See also:Theology, was published between 1843 and 1855 ; and his See also:Correspondence (2 vols.) was edited by Canon Ornsby for the See also:Surtees Society (1868–187o) .

End of Article: JOHN COSIN (1594–1672)
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