BENEFIELD, SEBASTIAN, a very eminent divine, born in 1559, at Prestonbury in Gloucestershire, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1613 he was chosen Margaret professor in that university; which appointment he held with great reputation till 1626, when he resigned it and retired to his rectory of Meysey-Hampton, in Gloucestershire. He published commentaries upon the first, second, and third chapters of Amos; a considerable number of sermons; and some Latin treatises. He died in 1630.