He was the son of the Reverend
Samuel Hanson Cox and Abiah Hyde Cox
née Cleveland, but changed the spelling of the family name. He was born at
Mendham, New Jersey, 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, and he received his education there. Coxe was prepared for college under the private tuition of Professor George Bush. He entered the
University of the City of New York, and 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, 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
Benjamin T. Onderdonk in St. Paul's Chapel, priest on September 25, 1842, at
St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut). He then became rector of
St. John's Episcopal Church (Hartford, Connecticut), from 1842 to 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. 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, in 1856; again from Trinity,
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1868, and again from
Durham University in the United Kingdom in 1888. He received a doctorate of laws from
Kenyon College,
Gambier, Ohio, in 1868. He was rector of
Calvary Church,
New York City, 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, second
bishop of
Western New York. 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,
James Theodore 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 of the Diocese of Buffalo, who, in 1880, published against Coxe
Claims of a Protestant episcopal bishop to apostolical succession and valid orders disproved.... He strongly opposed the initiative for a Church Congress that would be a forum for debating current social questions among different parties in the church. 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 series of early Christian texts. Other works included
Impressions of England (1855), originally contributed to his
New York Church Journal. Coxe designed the seal of
Hobart College and the main administrative building of the college is named in his honor. He died at
Clifton Springs, New York on July 20, 1896, and was buried in
Geneva, New York. A memorial volume was in preparation at the time of the Buffalo Historical Society article. ==References==