Life

He was a younger brother of Francis Mason

Francis Mason (archdeacon)

Francis Mason was an English churchman, archdeacon of Norfolk and author of Of the Consecration of the Bishops in the Church of England , a defence of the Church of England and the first serious rebuttal of the Nag's Head Fable put about as denigration of Matthew Parker and Anglican...

, archdeacon of Norfolk, and was born at Wigan

Wigan

Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, about 1573. He entered Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 as a servitor in 1592, and was elected Humphrey Ogle's exhibitioner on 2 November 1593. He graduated B.A. in January 1594, and M.A. (from Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

) in May 1603. He had previously taken holy orders, and became chaplain of Corpus Christi College in 1602. He proceeded to the degree of B.D. in June 1610, and in the following year was collated to the vicarage of Hillingdon

Hillingdon

Hillingdon is a suburban area within the London Borough of Hillingdon, situated 14.2 miles west of Charing Cross.Much of Hillingdon is represented as the Hillingdon East ward within the local authority, Hillingdon Council...

, which he resigned in 1612, when he became rector of St. Matthew's, Friday Street, London.

John King

John King (bishop)

John King was an English churchman, patron of the Church of Pertenhall in Bedfordshire....

, bishop of London, appointed him his chaplain, and on 14 February 1613 he was collated to St. Andrew Undershaft with St. Mary Axe, London. In 1616 he was installed prebendary of Willesden in St. Paul's Cathedral. This prebend he resigned in March 1637, retaining the rectory of St. Andrew until 1641. When the presbyterians became dominant, he resigned his rectory, and retired to Wigan, where he died early in August 1647, and was buried in Wigan churchyard; he had during his lifetime (in 1632 and 1639) bestowed £240 in trust for the relief of the poor of Wigan. He also gave his library to the grammar school, and made other benefactions to the town.

Works

His writings include:

• 'The New Art of Lying, covered by Jesuits under the vaile of Equivocation, discovered and disproved,' 1624, 1634.
• 'Christian Humiliation, or a Treatise of Fasting,' 1625, 1627.
• 'Epicure's Fast, or a Short Discourse discovering the Licenciousnesse of the Roman Church in her Religious Fasts,' 1626, 1628.
• 'Tribunal of the Conscience,' 1626; 2nd edit. 1627; 1634.
• 'The Cure of Cares,' 1627, 1628; 3rd edit. 1634.
• 'Contentment in God's Gifts,' 1630, 1634.

Letters of his appear in Dr. Thomas Jackson

Thomas Jackson (theologian)

Thomas Jackson was an English theologian, and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Originally a Calvinist, he became in later life an Arminian.-Life:...

's Works, i, 600, and Joseph Mede

Joseph Mede

Joseph Mede was an English scholar with a wide range of interests. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow from 1613. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist and Egyptologist...

's Works, p. 767, and some of his pieces occur in Samuel Hoard

Samuel Hoard

Samuel Hoard was an English clergyman and controversialist in the Arminian interest. He is credited with the first worked-out attack on Calvinistic doctrine by an English churchman.-Life:...

's God's Love to Mankind, 1653. He left a folio volume of theology in manuscript to Gilbert Sheldon

Gilbert Sheldon

Gilbert Sheldon was an English Archbishop of Canterbury.-Early life:He was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 July 1598, the youngest son of Roger Sheldon; his father worked for Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford; he...

.