Thomas Sherlock (167818 July 1761) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

who served as a

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 ...

bishop for 33 years. He is also noted in church history as an important contributor to

Christian apologetics Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity. Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...

Life

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, he was the son of the Very Reverend

William Sherlock William Sherlock (c. 1639/1641June 19, 1707) was an English church leader. Life He was born at Southwark, the son of a tradesman, and was educated at St Saviour's Grammar School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1669 he became r ...

Dean of St Paul's The dean of St Paul's is a member of, and chair of the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London in the Church of England. The dean of St Paul's is also ''ex officio'' dean of the Order of the British Empire. The current dean is Andrew Tremlett, ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

. In 1704 he succeeded his father as Master of the Temple, where he was very popular. Sherlock died in July 1761, and is buried in the churchyard of

All Saints Church, Fulham All Saints' Church is the ancient parish church of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, pre-dating the Reformation. It is now an Anglican church in Fulham, London, sited close to the River Thames, beside the northern approach to Putney Bridge. ...

, Middlesex. Much of his ancestral and earned wealth passed to the

Gooch baronets There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Gooch, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Gooch Baronets of Benacre Hall The Gooch Baronetcy of Benacre Hall, in the Count ...

who took Sherlock for many generations thereafter in tribute; his picture hanging in Benacre Hall, their purchased home in the period of his passing.

Career

In 1714 he became

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of his old college at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and later the university's vice-chancellor, whose privileges he defended against Richard Bentley. In 1715, he was appointed Dean of Chichester. He took a prominent part in the Bangorian controversy against

Benjamin Hoadly Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676 – 17 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. Li ...

. Sherlock became

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...

in 1728. He was translated to

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

in 1734, where he was ex officio Chancellor of the Order of the Garter; and in 1748 to

, where he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. Sherlock was a capable administrator and cultivated friendly relations with

Dissenters A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, an ...

. In

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

he gave good service to his old schoolfellow,

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

Prime Minister of Great Britain The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pri ...

Writings

He published against Anthony Collins's

deistic Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of t ...

''Grounds of the Christian Religion'' a volume of sermons entitled ''The Use and Intent of Prophecy in the Several Ages of the World'' (1725); and in reply to Thomas Woolston's ''Discourses on the Miracles'' he wrote a volume entitled ''The Tryal of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus'' (1729), which soon ran through fourteen editions. His ''Pastoral Letter'' (1750) on the late earthquakes had a circulation of many thousands, and four or five volumes of ''Sermons'' which he published in his later years (1754–1758) were also at one time highly esteemed.

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

, wrote to her niece Anna in 1814, "I am very fond of Sherlock's Sermons, prefer them to almost any."Ross, Josephine. ''Jane Austen: A Companion,'' ch. 4'','' Thistle Publishing. Kindle Edition. A collected edition of his works, with a memoir, in five volumes, by

Thomas Smart Hughes Thomas Smart Hughes (1786–1847) was an English cleric, theologian and historian. Life Born at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 25 August 1786, he was the eldest surviving son of Hugh Hughes, curate of Nuneaton, and rector of Hardwick, Northamptonsh ...

, appeared in 1830. Sherlock's ''Tryal of the Witnesses'' is generally understood by scholars such as Edward Carpenter, Colin Brown and William Lane Craig, to be a work that the Scottish philosopher

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

had probably read, and to which Hume offered a counter viewpoint in his empiricist arguments against the possibility of miracles. Sherlock also wrote a respected work entitled ''A Discourse Concerning the Divine Providence'', in which he argues that the Sovereignty and Providence of God are unimpeachable.

Apologetics

Since the Deist controversy Sherlock's argument for the evidences of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has continued to interest later Christian apologists such as

William Lane Craig William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, Christian apologist, author and Wesleyan theologian who upholds the view of Molinism and neo-Apollinarianism. He is Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist ...

and

John Warwick Montgomery John Warwick Montgomery (born October 18, 1931) is a lawyer, professor, Lutheran theologian, and author living in France. He was born in Warsaw, New York, United States. From 2014 to 2017, he was Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at ...

. His place in the history of apologetics has been classified by Ross Clifford as belonging to the legal or juridical school of Christian apologetics.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherlock, Thomas 1678 births 1761 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Bishops of Bangor Bishops of London Deans of the Chapel Royal Bishops of Salisbury Chancellors of the College of William & Mary Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Writers from London Masters of the Temple Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge English sermon writers Deans of Chichester 18th-century Church of England bishops Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Chancellors of the Order of the Garter Burials at All Saints Church, Fulham 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians