Mason, Francis

Mason, Francis (1), B.D., an English divine, was born in the county of Durham in 1566; was educated at Merton College, Oxford, about 1583, where he was chosen probationer fellow; became rector of Oxford, Suffolk, and chaplain to king James 1, and archdeacon of Norfolk in 1619. He died in 1621. He published Sermons (Lond. 1607, 4to; Oxford, 1634, 4to): — Vindicae ecclesiae Anglicanae (1613, fol.; published in an English dress, entitled A Vindication of the Church of England, and of the Lawful Ministry thereof, etc.; greatly enlarged by Rev. John Lindsay, with additions, 1728, fol.; 1778, fol.). This book contains a complete refutation of the Nag's Head story: — Two Sermons (1621, 8vo): — The Lawfulness of the Ordination of Ministers of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas (Oxford, 1641, 4to). See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. vol. 2, s.v.