Christopher Fowler (1610–1678) was an English

ejected minister The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the Stuart Restoration, Restoration of Charles II of England, Charles II ...

Life

He was the son of John Fowler, and was born at

Marlborough, Wiltshire Marlborough ( , ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English Counties of England, county of Wiltshire on the A4 road (England), Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath, Somerset, Bath. Th ...

, about 1610. He entered

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, as a servitor in 1627, and graduated B.A. on 9 February 1632. Moving to St. Edmund Hall, he graduated M.A. on 29 October 1634. To

John Prideaux John Prideaux (7 September 1578 – 29 July 1650) was an English academic and Bishop of Worcester. Early life The fourth son of John and Agnes Prideaux, he was born at Stowford House in the parish of Harford, near Ivybridge, Devon, England, ...

he owed a strong attachment to

Reformed theology Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

. He took holy orders, and was a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

preacher in and about Oxford, until he obtained a living at West Woodhay,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, before 1641. On the surrender of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

(26 April 1643), Thomas Bunbury, vicar of St. Mary's, joined King Charles in Oxford; his living was sequestered and given to Fowler. He took the

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

(1643), and was a strong

presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

cause. Thinking himself unsafe in the neighbourhood of the royalist troops at

Donnington Castle Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle, situated in the small village of Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386 and was bought by Tho ...

, garrisoned for the king at the time of the

second battle of Newbury The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in la ...

(27 October 1644), Fowler went to London. Here his preaching attracted a crowd of hearers, and Anthony Wood suggested that he was at this time preacher at St Margaret's, Lothbury; it seems, however, from other sources that he first obtained an appointment at

Albourne Albourne is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A23 road three miles (4.8 km) east of Henfield. The parish has a land area of 772.9 hectares (1909&nbs ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and was at St Margaret's from about 1652. In 1649 Fowler refused to take the

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''f ...

; but he was later made a fellow of

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. Fowler was an assistant to the commissioners for Berkshire, appointed under the ordinance of 28 August 1654, for ejecting scandalous ministers. In this capacity he was mixed up with the proceedings against

John Pordage John Pordage (1607–1681) was a Church of England priest, astrologer, alchemist and Christian mystic. He founded the 17th-century English Behmenist group, which would later become known as the Philadelphian Society when it was led by his disci ...

, formerly of

St Laurence's Church, Reading St Laurence's Church is a Church of England mission and former parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated alongside the site of Reading Abbey, formerly bounded by the main Compter Gate to the south ...

, whom the commissioners ejected (by order 8 December 1654, to take effect 2 February 1655) from the rectory of

Bradfield, Berkshire Bradfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 2,208, which was slightly more than the 2,177 recorded at the 2011 census. Aside from farms and a smaller amount of woodland its ...

. Fowler wrote an account and defence of this business, in which he and John Tickel, presbyterian minister at Abingdon, had taken a leading part. Somewhat later he entered the debates against the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s. With

Simon Ford Simon Gary Ford (born 17 November 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender from 2001 to 2013. Having started his career with Charlton Athletic as a youngster, he transferred to Grimsby Town in 2001. He moved on to Bri ...

, vicar of St. Laurence's, Reading, he published (1656) an answer to the 'quaking doctrines' of Thomas Speed of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

; and he engaged in controversy (1659) with

Edward Burrough Edward Burrough (1634–1663) was an early English Quaker leader and controversialist. He is regarded as one of the Valiant Sixty, who were early Quaker preachers and missionaries. Convincement Burrough was born in Underbarrow, Westmorland, and ...

. On

the restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state. This may refer to: *Conservation and restoration of cultural property **Audio restoration **Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property **Film restoration ** Image ...

of the monarchy Fowler lost his fellowship at Eton, but retained the Reading vicarage till he was ejected by the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayer ...

. He then moved to London, was successively at

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

and

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, and exercised his ministry in private. He was an interpreter of

prophecy In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain di ...

and

chronologist Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of t ...

; according to Wood, Fowler was later considered somewhat crazed, but

William Cooper William Cooper may refer to: Business *William Cooper (accountant) (1826–1871), founder of Cooper Brothers * William Cooper (businessman) (1761–1840), Canadian businessman * William Cooper (co-operator) (1822–1868), English co-operator * Wil ...

praised him. A warrant was out for his apprehension as a

conventicle A conventicle originally meant "an assembly" and was frequently used by ancient writers to mean "a church." At a semantic level, ''conventicle'' is a Latinized synonym of the Greek word for ''church'', and references Jesus' promise in Matthew 18: ...

preacher at the time of his death. He died in Southwark in January 1678, and was buried within the precincts of St. John the Baptist, Dowgate Hill. Cooper preached his

funeral sermon A Christian funeral sermon is a formal religious oration or address given at a funeral ceremony, or sometimes a short time after, which may combine elements of eulogy with biographical comments and expository preaching. To qualify as a sermon, it sh ...

Works

He published: * ''Dæmonium Meridianum'', 1655, an account of the proceedings against Pordage, who had already published his own account, 1654; with appendix in reply to Pordage's ''Innocency Appearing'', 1655. * ''Dæmonium Meridianum. The Second Part'', 1656, in reply to Pordage's ''Truth Appearing'', 1655, and a tract entitled ''The Case of Reading'', 1656; appendices on infant baptism in answer to John Pendarves, and on the Reading case addressed to the municipal authorities. * ''A Sober Answer to an angry Epistle … by Thomas Speed'', 1656, by Fowler and Simon Ford; Speed replied to these and another adversary in ''The Guilty-Covered Clergyman'', 1657). * ''A True Charge in Ten Particulars against the people called Quakers''

659 __NOTOC__ Year 659 ( DCLIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 659 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

Thids does not seem to have been separately printed; it is handled in ''A Discovery'', 1659, by Edward Burrough, and is reprinted in Burrough's ''Works'', 1672. * ''Sermon on John xix. 42'', 1666, mentioned by Wood, but not seen by him; the date seems to show that Fowler was one of those nonconformists who resumed their ministry after the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

in defiance of the law, giving a little support to theory that Fowler founded the presbyterian congregation which met in a wooden structure at Unicorn Yard, Tooley Street. Also a sermon in the '' Morning Exercise at Cripplegate'', 1674–6, and another in the ''Morning Exercise against Popery preached in Southwark'', 1675.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Christopher 1610 births 1678 deaths Ejected English ministers of 1662 Chronologists Fellows of Eton College People from Marlborough, Wiltshire People from West Berkshire District Clergy from Reading, Berkshire People from West Sussex Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford