Thomas Sherlock

Thomas Sherlock
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon; Thomas Sherlock
	Bishop of London
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of London
Elected	1748
Term ended	1761 (death)
Predecessor	Edmund Gibson
Successor	Thomas Hayter
Other posts	Bishop of Salisbury; 1734–1748; Bishop of Bangor; 1728–1734
Orders
Consecration	c. 1728
Personal details
Born	1678; London
Died	18 July 1761
Buried	All Saints Church, Fulham, Middlesex
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	William Sherlock
Profession	Academic
Alma mater	St Catharine's College, Cambridge (MA, DD)

Thomas Sherlock (1678 – 18 July 1761) was a British divine who served as a Church of England bishop for 33 years. He is also noted in church history as an important contributor to Christian apologetics.

Life

Born in London, he was the son of the Very Revd William Sherlock, Dean of St Paul's. He was educated at Eton College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.^[1] In 1704 he succeeded his father as Master of the Temple, where he was very popular.

Sherlock died in 1761 and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Fulham, Middlesex.

Career

In 1714 he became master of his old college at Cambridge 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. Sherlock became Bishop of Bangor in 1728; he was afterwards translated to Salisbury in 1734 and then to London in 1748, when he was sworn of the Privy Council. Sherlock was a capable administrator and cultivated friendly relations with Dissenters. In Parliament he gave good service to his old schoolfellow, Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Writings

Dr Sherlock's funerary monument at All Saints' Church, Fulham

He published against Anthony Collins's deistic 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.

A collected edition of his works, with a memoir, in five volumes, by Thomas Smart Hughes, 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 probably had read and to which Hume offered a counter viewpoint in his empiricist arguments against the possibility of miracles.

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

References

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External links

Works by Thomas Sherlock at Project Gutenberg
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Archival material relating to Thomas Sherlock listed at the UK National Archives

Academic offices
Preceded by Thomas Green	Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1714-5	Succeeded by Daniel Waterland
Preceded by William Dawes	Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge 1714–1719	Succeeded by Thomas Crosse
Church of England titles
Preceded by William Baker	Bishop of Bangor 1728–1734	Succeeded by Charles Cecil
Preceded by Benjamin Hoadly	Bishop of Salisbury 1734–1748	Succeeded by John Gilbert
Preceded by Edmund Gibson	Bishop of London 1748–1761	Succeeded by Thomas Hayter

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[1]

v t e Deans of Chichester
High Medieval	Odo Richard Matthew Richard John de Greneford Jordan de Meleburn Seffride Matthew de Chichester Nicholas de Aquila Seffride Simon de Perigord Walter Thomas de Lichfield Geoffrey Walter de Glocestria Thomas de Berghstede
Late Medieval	William de Grenefeld John de St Leophardo Henry de Garland Walter de Segrave William Lenn Roger de Freton Richard le Scrope William de Lullyngton John de Maydenhith John Haselee Henry Lovel Richard Talbot William Milton John Patten/Waynflete John Crutchere John Waynfleet John Cloos
Early modern	John Prychard Geoffrey Symson John Young William Fleshmonger Richard Caurden Giles Eyre Bartholomew Traheron Thomas Sampson William Pye Hugh Turnbull Richard Curteys Anthony Rushe Martin Culpepper William Thorne Francis Dee Richard Steward George Aglionby Bruno Ryves Joseph Henshaw Joseph Gulston Nathaniel Crew Thomas Lambrook George Stradling Francis Hawkins William Hayley Thomas Sherlock John Newey Thomas Hayley James Hargraves William Ashburnham Thomas Ball Charles Harward
Late modern	Combe Miller Christopher Bethell Samuel Slade George Chandler Walter Hook John Burgon Francis Pigou Richard Randall John Hannah Arthur Duncan Jones Walter Hussey Robert Holtby John Treadgold Nicholas Frayling Stephen Waine

v t e Bishops of Salisbury
see at Sherborne	see erected from Winchester St Aldhelm Forthhere Herewald Æthelmod Denefrith Wigberht Eahlstan St Heahmund Æthelheah Wulfsige Asser Æthelweard Wærstan Æthelbald Sigehelm Alfred Wulfsige II Ælfwold I Æthelsige I Wulfsige III Æthelric Æthelsige II Brithwine I Ælfmær Brithwine II St Ælfwold II Herman see united with Ramsbury and removed to Old Sarum
see at Old Sarum	united from Sherborne & Ramsbury Herman Saint Osmund Roger Henry of Sully Philip de Harcourt Josceline de Bohon Hubert Walter Herbert Poore Richard Poore see removed to New Sarum
Medieval	Richard Poore Robert de Bingham William de York Giles of Bridport Walter de la Wyle Robert Wickhampton Walter Scammel Henry Brandeston Lawrence de Awkeburne William de la Corner Nicholas Longespee Simon of Ghent Roger Martival Robert Wyvil Ralph Ergham John Waltham Richard Mitford Nicholas Bubwith Robert Hallam John Chandler Robert Neville William Ayscough Richard Beauchamp Lionel Woodville Thomas Langton John Blyth Henry Deane
Early modern	Edmund Audley Lorenzo Campeggio Nicholas Shaxton John Capon Gasparo Contarini William Petow Francis Mallet John Jewel Edmund Gheast John Piers John Coldwell Henry Cotton Robert Abbot Martin Fotherby Robert Tounson John Davenant Brian Duppa Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Brian Duppa Humphrey Henchman John Earle Alexander Hyde Seth Ward Gilbert Burnet William Talbot Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly Thomas Sherlock John Gilbert John Thomas (I) Robert Hay Drummond John Thomas (II) John Hume Shute Barrington John Douglas
Late modern	John Fisher Thomas Burgess Edward Denison Walter Kerr Hamilton George Moberly John Wordsworth Frederick Ridgeway St Clair Donaldson Neville Lovett Geoffrey Lunt William Anderson Joe Fison George Reindorp John Baker David Stancliffe Nick Holtam Stephen Lake (designate)

v t e Bishops of London
Post-Augustine	Mellitus Cedd Wine Earconwald Waldhere Ingwald Ecgwulf Wigheah Eadberht Eadgar Coenwalh Eadbald Heathoberht Osmund Æthelnoth Ceolberht Deorwulf Swithwulf Heahstan Wulfsige Æthelweard Leofstan Theodred Brihthelm Dunstan Ælfstan Wulfstan Ælfhun Ælfwig Ælfweard Robert of Jumièges Spearhafoc
Post-Conquest	William the Norman Hugh d'Orevalle Maurice Richard de Belmeis I Gilbert Universalis Anselm (quashed) Robert de Sigello Richard de Belmeis II Gilbert Foliot Richard FitzNeal William of Sainte-Mère-Église Eustace of Fauconberg Roger Niger Fulk Basset Henry Wingham Richard Talbot Henry of Sandwich John Chishull Fulke Lovell Richard Gravesend Ralph Baldock Gilbert Segrave Richard Newport Stephen Gravesend Richard de Wentworth Ralph Stratford Michael Northburgh Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Robert Braybrooke Roger Walden Nicholas Bubwith Richard Clifford John Kemp William Grey Robert FitzHugh Robert Gilbert Thomas Kempe Richard Hill Thomas Savage William Warham William Barons Richard FitzJames Cuthbert Tunstall
During the Reformation	John Stokesley Edmund Bonner (1st) Nicholas Ridley Edmund Bonner (2nd)
Post-Reformation	Edmund Grindal Edwin Sandys John Aylmer Richard Fletcher Richard Bancroft Richard Vaughan Thomas Ravis George Abbot John King George Montaigne William Laud William Juxon Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon Humphrey Henchman Henry Compton John Robinson Edmund Gibson Thomas Sherlock Thomas Hayter Richard Osbaldeston Richard Terrick Robert Lowth Beilby Porteus John Randolph William Howley Charles James Blomfield Archibald Campbell Tait John Jackson Frederick Temple Mandell Creighton Arthur Winnington-Ingram Geoffrey Fisher William Wand Henry Montgomery Campbell Robert Stopford Gerald Ellison Graham Leonard David Hope Richard Chartres Pete Broadbent (Acting) Sarah Mullally

Thomas Sherlock

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Life

Career

Writings

Apologetics

References

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The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Thomas Sherlock
Bishop of London

Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of London
Elected	1748
Term ended	1761 (death)
Predecessor	Edmund Gibson
Successor	Thomas Hayter
Other posts	Bishop of Salisbury 1734–1748 Bishop of Bangor 1728–1734
Orders
Consecration	c. 1728
Personal details
Born	1678 London
Died	18 July 1761(1761-07-18)
Buried	All Saints Church, Fulham, Middlesex
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	William Sherlock
Profession	Academic
Alma mater	St Catharine's College, Cambridge (MA, DD)