View source for Thomas Sherlock

{{Short description|Bishop of Bangor; Bishop of Salisbury; Bishop of London}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|RRevd|&RHPC}}
| name = Thomas Sherlock
| title = [[Bishop of London]]
| image = Thomas Sherlock portrait.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Jean-Baptiste van Loo]]
| church = [[Church of England]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of London|London]]
| elected = 1748
| ended = 1761 (death)
| predecessor = [[Edmund Gibson]]
| successor = [[Thomas Hayter]]
| other_post = [[Bishop of Salisbury]]<br />1734–1748<br />[[Bishop of Bangor]]<br />1728–1734
<!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination = 
| consecration = c.&nbsp;1728
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_date = 1678
| birth_place = [[London]]
| death_date = {{death date|1761|7|18|df=y}}
| buried = [[All Saints Church, Fulham]], [[Middlesex]]
| nationality = [[British people|British]]
| religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| parents = [[William Sherlock]]
| profession = [[Academic staff|Academic]]
| alma_mater = [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]] (MA, DD)
}}
'''Thomas Sherlock''' (1678{{snd}}18 July 1761) {{post-nominals|country=GBR|PC}} was a [[British people|British]] [[Anglicanism#Anglican divines|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]],{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}} he was the son of the Very Reverend [[William Sherlock]], [[Dean of St Paul's]]. He was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}<ref>{{acad|id=SHRK693T|name=Sherlock, Thomas}}</ref> In 1704 he succeeded his father as [[Master of the Temple]], where he was very popular.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}

Sherlock died in July 1761,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}} and is buried in the churchyard of [[All Saints Church, Fulham]], Middlesex. Much of his ancestral and earned wealth passed to the [[Gooch baronets]] who took Sherlock for many generations thereafter in tribute; his picture hanging in [[Benacre Hall]], their purchased home in the period of his death.

==Career==
In 1714 he became [[Master (college)|master]] of his [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge|old college]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and later the [[Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge|university's vice-chancellor]], whose privileges he defended against [[Richard Bentley]]. In 1715, he was appointed [[Dean of Chichester]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}

He took a prominent part in the [[Bangorian controversy]] against [[Benjamin Hoadly]]. Sherlock became [[Bishop of Bangor]] in 1728. He was translated to [[diocese of Salisbury|Salisbury]] in 1734 (where he was admitted as ex officio [[Chancellor of the Order of the Garter]] on 20 February 1738); and in 1748 he was raised to [[bishop of London|London]], where he was sworn of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]]. He held the see of London until his death.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}{{sfn|Harris|1842|page=LXXXIV}}

Sherlock was a capable administrator and cultivated friendly relations with [[English Dissenters|Dissenters]]. In [[House of Lords|Parliament]] he gave good service to his old schoolfellow, [[Robert Walpole]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister of Great Britain]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=8814 |date=10 January 1748 |page=3 }}</ref>
==Apologetics==
The [[Deism|Deist]] Controversy was a debate from the late [[Deism in England and France in the 18th century|17th century to the mid 18th century]]. The deists believed that there was a god worthy of worship who had created the world, denied special divine action beyond creation, consequently they believed that Christianity was a false religion. Sherlock as well as may other scholars
argued against deist theology. The apologetics movement that Sherlock was part of provided an intellectual defense of the Christian religion. 

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.

==Writings==
[[Image:ThomasSherlockMonument01.jpg|thumb|right|Sherlock's tomb monument at [[All Saints Church, Fulham]]]]
He published against [[Anthony Collins (philosopher)|Anthony Collins]]'s [[deism|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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}} [[Jane Austen]], wrote to her niece Anna in 1814, "I am very fond of Sherlock's Sermons, prefer them to almost any."<ref>Ross, Josephine. ''Jane Austen: A Companion,'' ch. 4'','' Thistle Publishing. Kindle Edition.</ref>

A collected edition of his works, with a memoir, in five volumes, by [[Thomas Smart Hughes]], appeared in 1830.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=850}}

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]] 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.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite wikisource|editor-last=Chisholm|editor-first=Hugh|title =Thomas Sherlock|wslink =1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sherlock, Thomas|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=1911|volume24}}
* {{Cite book|last=Harris|first=Nicholas Harris|title=History of the orders of knighthood of the British Empire : of the Order of the Guelphs of Hanover, and of the medals, clasps, and crosses, conferred for naval and military services|publisher=William Pickering|location=London|volume=2|oclc=977493554|year=1842}}
*Ross Clifford, ''John Warwick Montgomery's Legal Apologetic: An Apologetic for All Seasons'' (Bonn: Verlag fur kultur und Wissenschaft, 2004). {{ISBN|3-938116-00-5}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Brown|first= Colin|title=Miracles and the Critical Mind|location=Exeter: Paternoster/Grand Rapids|publisher= [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]]|year= 1984|isbn=0-8028-3590-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Edward Frederick|title=Thomas Sherlock 1678–1761|publisher=SPCK|location=London|year=1936|oclc=931336792}}
* {{cite book|last=Lane Craig|first=William|title=The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus During the Deist Controversy|location=Lewiston & Queenston|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|year=1985|isbn=0-88946-811-7}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=1808}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas Sherlock}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}

{{S-bef|before=[[Thomas Green (bishop)|Thomas Green]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge]]|years=1714–1715}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Daniel Waterland]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet|William Dawes]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge|Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]|years=1714–1719}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Crosse (priest)|Thomas Crosse]]}}
{{s-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[William Hayley (priest)|William Hayley]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Dean of Chichester]]|years=1715 &ndash; 1727}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John Newey]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William Baker (Bishop of Norwich)|William Baker]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Bangor]]|years=1728–1734}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Charles Cecil (bishop)|Charles Cecil]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Benjamin Hoadly]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Salisbury]]|years=1734–1748}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Gilbert (archbishop of York)|John Gilbert]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Edmund Gibson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of London]]|years=1748–1761}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Hayter]]}}

{{s-end}}

{{College of William & Mary chancellors}}
{{Deans of Chichester}}
{{Bishops of Bangor}}
{{Bishops of Salisbury}}
{{Bishops of London}}
{{Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge}}
{{Chancellors of the Order of the Garter}}
{{Authority control}}

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