Arthur Cleveland Coxe
Encyclopedia

Arthur Cleveland Coxe DD LLD (May 10, 1818 – July 20, 1896) was the second Episcopal bishop of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He used Cleveland as his given name and is often referred to as A. Cleveland Coxe.

Biography

He was the son of Samuel Hanson Cox
Samuel Hanson Cox
Samuel Hanson Cox was an American Presbyterian minister and a leading abolitionist.Cox was born in Rahway, New Jersey, of Quaker stock. After renouncing his religion and serving in the War of 1812, he studied law before entering the ministry He was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mendham, New...

 and Abiah Hyde Cleveland, but changed the spelling of the family name. He was born at Mendham, New Jersey
Mendham, New Jersey
Mendham is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,097.While New Jersey was an English colony, Mendham Township was formed on March 29, 1749 as a new governmental entity, from portions of Hanover Township, Morris Township,...

, May 10, 1818. On his mother's side he was a grandson of the Rev. Aaron Cleveland, an early poet of Connecticut. His parents moved to New York in 1820, where he received his education.

Coxe was prepared for college under the private tuition of Professor George Bush. He entered the University of the City of New York, and was graduated in 1838. During his freshman year he wrote a poem, The Progress of Ambition, and in 1837 published Advent, a Mystery, a poem after the manner of the religious dramas of the Middle Ages. In 1838 appeared Athwold, a Romaunt, and Saint Jonathan, the Lay of the Scald, designed as the commencement of a semi-humorous poem, in the Don Juan style.

Coxe in 1841 became a student in the General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....

, New York. While at this institution he delivered a poem, Athanasion, before the Alumni of Washington College, Hartford, at the Commencement in 1840. In the same year he published Christian Ballads, a collection of poems, suggested for the most part by the holy seasons and services of his church. The volume went into numerous editions, so much so that "their place in American literature has long been secure."

He was ordained deacon on June 27, 1841 by Bishop B.T.Onderdonk in St. Paul's Chapel, priest on September 25, 1842, at St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut)
St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut)
The parish of St. John's Episcopal Church, Hartford, Connecticut, was formed in 1841. Its first building, designed by Henry Austin , was constructed on Main Street just south of the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1842. The parish left Hartford in 1907 and is now St. John's Episcopal Church .-Congregation...

. As a deacon he took charge of St. Anne's church, Morrisania, where he wrote his poem, Halloween, privately printed in 1842.

He then became rector of St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut)
St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut)
The parish of St. John's Episcopal Church, Hartford, Connecticut, was formed in 1841. Its first building, designed by Henry Austin , was constructed on Main Street just south of the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1842. The parish left Hartford in 1907 and is now St. John's Episcopal Church .-Congregation...

, from 1842–1854. While there he published a dramatic poem Saul: a mystery, of the same kind as his earlier productions but at much greater length. But it was condemned by reviewers including Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

.

He also published an Apology for the English Bible against revisions of the Authorised Version by the American Bible Society, and the work ultimately prompted the suppression of these revised versions. Here as elsewhere he was hostile to any revised translation of the Bible.

Anglican Orders was a series of papers, originally contributed to the Paris journal, Union Chrétienne. An open letter to Pius IX (1869) was in answer to the brief convoking the first Vatican Council, and was widely read and translated into many languages in Europe. L'Episcopat de l'Occident was published at Paris in 1872 and contained a history of the Church of England and a refutation of Roman Catholic attacks.

He became rector of Grace Church, Baltimore, in 1854-1863. While there he was elected bishop of Texas, but declined. He received a doctorate in divinity from St. James College, Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...

 in 1856; again from Trinity, Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

 in 1868, and again from Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

 in the United Kingdom in 1888. He received a doctorate of laws from Kenyon College
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...

, Gambier, Ohio
Gambier, Ohio
Gambier is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,871 at the 2000 census.Gambier is the home of Kenyon College and was named after one of Kenyon College's early benefactors, Lord Gambier....

 in 1868.

He was rector of Calvary Church
Calvary Church (Manhattan)
Calvary Church is an Episcopal church located at 273 Park Avenue South on the corner of East 21st Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on the border of the Flatiron District. It was designed by James Renwick, Jr., the architect who designed St. Patrick's Cathedral...

, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, in 1863. Then he went to Trinity Church, Geneva, New York on January 4, 1865. On January 4, 1865 he became bishop coadjutor to the first bishop of Western New York, and on April 5, on the death of bishop De Lancey
William Heathcote DeLancey
The Right Reverend William Heathcote DeLancey was a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the sixth Provost of the University of Pennsylvania...

, second bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Western New York
Episcopal Diocese of Western New York
The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming in western New York. It is in Province 2 and its cathedral, St. Paul's...

. In 1868 he agreed to the division of the diocese, to create the diocese of Central New York.

During his time the diocese prospered. In 1868 there were 69 resident clergy and 76 parishes, and 6,296 families associated with them. The value of the church property was about $1m. In 1890 there were 123 resident clergy and 133 parishes, while the number of families was 16,699, and the property was worth $2.3m.

In 1872 the missions of the church in Haiti were placed under the control of his diocese. Late in the year he visited the island, consecrating a church, ordaining six priests and five deacons, holding a convocation of the clergy and administering confirmation to a large number of candidates. He retained the charge of the Haitian church until the consecration of its own bishop, J. T. Holly, in 1874.

Bishop Coxe wrote spirited defences of Anglican orders. He entered controversy with various contemporary Roman Catholic clergymen, such as Bishop Stephen V. Ryan
Stephen V. Ryan
Stephen Vincent Ryan, C.M. was a Canadian-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Buffalo from 1868 until his death in 1896....

 of the Diocese of Buffalo, who, in 1880, published against Coxe Claims of a Protestant episcopal bishop to apostolical succession and valid orders disproved....

Among Coxe's own theological works were: The Criterion, (1866); Apollos, or the Way of God, (1873); and The Institutes of Christian History, (1887). He also translated a work by the Abbe Labord, on the Impossibility of the Immaculate Conception, with notes. He also edited the United States Ante-Nicene Fathers
Ante-Nicene Fathers
The Ante-Nicene Fathers, subtitled "The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325", is a collection of books in 10 volumes containing English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings. The period covers the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed...

 series of early Christian texts. Other works included Impressions of England (1855), originally contributed to his New York Church Journal.

He is buried at Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...

. A memorial volume was in preparation at the time of the Buffalo Historical Society article.

External links


Sources

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