John Mason (1706–1763) was an Englishnonconformist minister and author.
Born atDunmow, Essex, he was son of John Mason (died 1723), Independent minister there, and subsequently atSpaldwick, Huntingdonshire; his grandfather wasJohn Mason (died 1694). He began training for the ministry underJohn Jennings. Aged 17 when Jennings died, he may have completed his studies in London.[1]
Mason's first employment was as tutor and chaplain in the family ofSamuel Feake, nearHatfield, Hertfordshire. In 1729 he became minister of thePresbyterian congregation atDorking, Surrey. He moved in July 1746, to succeed John Oakes as minister of a congregation at Carbuckle Street (or Crossbrook),Cheshunt, formed by a union in 1733 of Presbyterians and Independents.[1]
Mason died atCheshunt on 10 February 1763, and was buried in the parish churchyard. Hisfuneral sermon was preached on 20 February by John Hodge, D.D., Presbyterian minister at Crosby Square, London.[1]
Mason's theological positions were for the most part conservative, and moderately stated. He claimed the theory of Christ's temptation put forth in 1761 byHugh Farmer; but Mason retained the belief in the reality of miracles performed by Satanic agency, against Farmer.[1]
Mason published, besides separate sermons, 1740–56:[1]
Posthumous wasThe Tears of the Dying annihilated by the Hope of Heaven, a Dialogue. 1826, ed., withMemoir, byJohn Evans (1767–1827). Sermons by Mason are inThe Protestant System, 1758, vol. ii.; inThe Practical Preacher, 1762, vol. ii.; and inSermons for Families, 1808, ed.James Hews Bransby.[1]
Mason was said to have received, for his early works and at the suggestion of John Walker, D.D., classical tutor atIndependent College, Homerton, the diploma of M.A. fromEdinburgh University. He editedSermons to Young People, 1747, by John Oakes, his predecessor at Cheshunt. He undertook the training of students for the ministry. Selections from his tutorial lectures were published in theProtestant Dissenter's Magazine,’1794–6. They begin September 1794, p. 190, under the headingLectiones Polemicæ. By the late Rev. John Mason, A.M., of Cheshunt.[1]
Mason married at Dorking in 1732 Mary Walters, daughter of the Rev. James Walters ofUxbridge.[2] His niece married Peter Good, Congregationalist minister, and was mother ofJohn Mason Good.[1]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Mason, John (1706-1763)".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co.