John Pearson, divine, was born 28th February 1613, at Great Snoring, Norfolk, son of the Archdeacon of Suffolk. He was educated at Eton and at Queen’s and King’s Colleges, Cambridge, and in 1640, appointed chaplain to the lordkeeper Finch, was presented to the rectory of Thorington in Suffolk. In 1659 he published his learned “Exposition of the Creed,” and edited the remains of John Hales of Eton. In 1660 he was presented to the rectory of St. Christopher’s in London, and made prebendary of Ely, Archdeacon of Surrey, and Master of Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1661 he was the principal antagonist of Baxter in the Savoy Conference, and became Margaret professor of Divinity; in 1662 he was made Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1673 Bishop of Chester. He defended the genuineness of the Ignatian epistles (1672), and in 1684 published his “Annales Cyprianici.” He died July 16, 1686. Admirable editions of the “Exposition of the Creed” are by Burton (1833) and Chevallier (1849; revised by Sinker, 1882); of the “Minor Theological Works,” with Life, by Churton (1844).
Personal
In all respects the greatest divine of the age: a man of great learning, strong reason, and of a clear judgment. He was a judicious and grave preacher, more instructive than affective; and a man of a spotless life, and of an excellent temper. His book on the creed is among the best that our church has produced. He was not active in his diocese, but too remiss and easy in his episcopal function; and was a much better divine than a bishop. He was a speaking instance of what a great man could fall to: for his memory went from him so entirely, that he became a child some years before he died.
Pearson was a man of spotless life and of an excellent temper. His equanimity perplexed his nonconformist opponents. This absence of passion, while it proved a most valuable quality in controversy, rendered him “more instructive than affective” as a preacher. Pearson strongly supported the Restoration settlement of the church, and would give no support to any schemes of comprehension which did not insist on uniformity. Among Englishmen of the seventeenth century, Pearson was probably the ablest scholar and systematic theologian.
Exposition of the Creed, 1659
This is a work of great learning and merit. It contains a system of theology, a good deal of controversy, and a large portion of biblical exposition. On the last account it is entitled to a place in this work, and will repay an attentive perusal.
The “Exposition of the Creed” … has nothing superior to it in any language. Metaphysics, logic, classical and theological erudition, are all brought to bear upon that momentous subject, in a manner so happy and so natural—that the depth of research and variety of knowledge are most concealed by the felicitous manner of their adaptation. Well might the great Bentley say of this yet greater man—that his “very dust was Gold.”
A standard book in English divinity. It expands, beyond the literal purport of the creed itself, to most articles of orthodox belief, and is a valuable summary of arguments and authorities on that side. The closeness of Pearson, and his judicious selections of proofs, distinguished him from many, especially the earlier theologians. Some might surmise that his undeviating adherence to what he calls the church is hardly consistent with independence of thinking; but, considered as an advocate, he is one of much judgment and skill.
The respect and popularity which this excellent treatise has so long and so widely obtained are owing in a great extent to the strong good sense and the skill in arrangement of his topics which its author has exhibited.
The work is laborious, calm, and acute, written in simple and clear language; it follows the easy arrangement of taking each word in order. He was profoundly versed in patristic literature; and in that department criticised with such acuteness that Bentley said “his very dross was gold.”
Has always been esteemed as a standard work in English divinity, remarkable equally for argument, methodical arrangement, and clearness and beauty of style.
General
The most excellent Bishop Pearson, the very dust of whose writings is gold.
He applied himself to every kind of learning that he thought essential to his profession; and was in every kind a master. His works are not numerous, but they are all excellent; and some of the least of them shew that he was one of the completest divines of his age. The chief are, his “Exposition of the Creed,” in English, and his “Vindication of St. Ignatius’s Epistles,” in Latin. The former, which has gone through twelve or thirteen editions, is one of the most finished pieces of theology in our language. It is itself a body of divinity, but not a body without a spirit. The style of it is just; the periods are, for the most part, well turned; the method is very exact; and it is in general free from those errors which are too often found in theological systems.
He was a man of vast learning, fitter, according to Burnet, to be a divine than a bishop. His vindication of the authenticity of the Epistles of Ignatius is a very masterly production. Lightfoot’s “Hora Hebraicæ” and “Harmony of the Four Gospels” are works of a different kind. In these, the writer’s profound acquaintance with rabbinical literature enables him to throw a flood of light on the various Jewish usages and rites current in Palestine at the time of the Christian era, and referred to in the New Testament, as well as upon obscure points in the topography.
It [“Vindiciæ Epistolarum S. Ignatti access. To. Vossii Epistolæ adv. D. Blondellum”] was incomparably the most valuable contribution to the subject which had hitherto appeared, with the exception of Ussher’s work. Pearson’s learning, critical ability, clearness of statement, and moderation of tone, nowhere appear to greater advantage than in this work. If here and there an argument is overstrained, this was the almost inevitable consequence of the writer’s position as the champion of a cause which had been recklessly and violently assailed on all sides…. Compared with Daillé’s attack, Pearson’s reply was as light to darkness.
Pearson’s style is clear and uniform, rising on rare occasions to positive felicity.
If in a company of well-informed persons the question were asked, “Who were the three greatest among the masters of theology in the Church of England?” the answers made might probably vary either as to the selected names, or as to the order in which they were placed; but it would be strange indeed if any of the replies did not include among the three the name of Bishop Pearson. And, beyond all doubt, John Pearson possessed in a high degree a rare combination of great natural gifts, trained and disciplined, with great attainments in learning. In him we find erudition, not only wide but minutely exact, and a critical faculty keen and penetrating. In him we find sound reasoning which never builds, as in the case of some who have great reputations, a huge superstructure of top-heavy inference upon an insufficient or rickety base. In him we find a judicial capacity that seems never swayed by prepossessions, that looks at the evidence, all the evidence, and only the evidence, before pronouncing judgment.
