Edward Pelling (baptised 1640 – died 1718) was an English cleric and academic, a significant author in the first generation of

High churchmen The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originated ...

Life

Pelling was born in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and was admitted on 3 July 1658 to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, becoming a scholar on 14 April 1659. He was elected minor fellow 1664, and major fellow in the following year. He graduated B.A. 1661–2, M.A. 1665, and D.D. on the occasion of William III's visit to Cambridge in October 1689. From 11 May 1674 to the autumn of 1678 Pelling was vicar of

St Helen's Bishopsgate St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. Several notable figures are buried there, and it contains more monumen ...

, in London; from 1 October 1678 till the close of 1691 vicar of St Martin, Ludgate; from 3 May 1683 till his resignation on 4 July 1691 a prebendary of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

; and from 1691 rector of

Petworth Petworth is a small town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Before October 1679 he was chaplain to Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. He was also chaplain in ordinary to

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...

and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...

, and to Queen Anne. Pelling died on 19 March 1718. His son Thomas was elected from Westminster School to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

in 1689.

Works

Pelling was a defender of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

against both

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and dissenters. He printed numerous sermons which he preached on public occasions, many before the king or the House of Lords at Westminster Abbey. Besides sermons, and a series of "practical discourses", he also published: * ''Ancient and Modern Delusions discoursed of in Three Sermons upon 2 Thess. ii. 11, concerning some Errors now prevailing in the Church of Rome'', London, 1679. * ''The Good Old Way …'' London, 1680; a treatise aimed against concessions to dissenters for the sake of unity. This work became a High Church classic. * ''The Apostate Protestant. A Letter to a Friend occasioned by the late reprinting of a Jesuit's Book about Succession to the Crown of England, pretended to have been written by R. Doleman'', London, 1682; 2nd edition, 1685. An attack on the Exclusion Bill; R. Doleman is generally taken to be Robert Persons. * ''The Antiquity of the Protestant Religion. … In a Letter to a Person of Quality''’ London, 1687, 2 parts. In the British Library copy there follows a manuscript tract attacking Pelling's arguments concerning the "use of images", with ''Third and Fourth Letters to a Person of Quality'' vindicating them. * ''A Discourse concerning the Existence of God'', London, 1696; reissued in 1704, when the title-page describes it as an exposition of the principles of the Epicureans and Hobbists of our age". It is dedicated to Queen Anne. Part ii., issued separately, with same title-page, London, 1755. Pelling edited in 1688 the ''Dialecticon'' of John Poynet.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelling, Edward Year of birth missing 1718 deaths 17th-century English Anglican priests English theologians Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge