Philip Furneaux

Philip Furneaux (1726–1783) was an English independent minister.

Early life

Furneaux was born in December 1726 at

. He appears to have remained at the academy till 1749, probably assisting Jennings, whose Hebrew Antiquities he later edited (1766).

After ordination he became (1749) assistant to

Salters' Hall. Retaining this lectureship, in 1753 he succeeded Moses Lowman in the pastorate of the independent congregation at Clapham

. Despite hesitant delivery in preaching, he drew a large congregation.

He received the degree of D.D. on 3 August 1767, from

Coward Trust he had much to do with the revised plan of education adopted by the trustees on Philip Doddridge's death. He was also from 1766 to 1778 a trustee of Daniel Williams

's foundations.

Activist

Furneaux was known for his work on behalf of the rights of

Lord Mansfield delivered the speech in which occurs the remark that the 'dissenters' way of worship' is not only lawful but 'established.' This speech was reported, without notes, by Furneaux with assistance from another hearer, Samuel Wilton, D.D., independent minister of the Weighhouse, Eastcheap

. Mansfield, who revised the report, found in it only ta few small errors.

In 1769 the fourth volume of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England appeared, in which, under the head of 'Offences against God and Religion,’ nonconformity is treated as a crime. Joseph Priestley was the first to attack this opinion; Blackstone replied in a pamphlet (2 September 1769). In the following year Furneaux published his 'Letters to Mr. Justice Blackstone,’ with a moral argument against enforcing religious truths by civil penalties.

Furneaux was present on 6 February 1772 in the gallery of the

Thirty-Nine Articles

.

Later life

In 1777 he was seized with

Manchester New College

and the Ministers' Benevolent Society.

Works

He published:

Letters to the Honourable Mr. Justice Blackstone concerning his Exposition of the Act of Toleration, &c., 1770; the 2nd edition, 1771, has additions, and Mansfield's speech as appendix; reprinted, Philadelphia, 1773.
An Essay on Toleration, &c., 1773.

Other works were: a sermon on education (1755), a fast sermon (1758), funeral sermon for Henry Miles, D.D. (1763), sermon at ordination of Samuel Wilton (1766), ordination charge to George Waters and William Youat (1769), and sermon to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Highlands (1775).

In 1771 Furneaux was engaged in transcribing and editing the biblical annotations of Samuel Chandler, but the work was never published.

References

^ Carlisle, Nicholas (1818). A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. Vol. 1. London: Baldwin, Craddock and Joy. pp. 360–361.

"Furneaux, Philip" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Furneaux, Philip". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

[1] Carlisle, Nicholas (1818). A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. Vol. 1. London: Baldwin, Craddock and Joy. pp. 360–361.

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