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TILLOTSON, JOHN (1630-1694)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 976 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TILLOTSON, See also:JOHN (1630-1694) , See also:English See also:archbishop, was the son of a Puritan See also:clothier in See also:Sowerby, See also:Yorkshire, where he was See also:born in See also:October 1630. He entered as a pensioner of See also:Clare See also:Hall, See also:Cambridge, in 1647, graduated in 165o and was made See also:fellow of his See also:college in 1651. In 1656 he Lecame See also:tutor to the son of Edmond Prideaux, See also:attorney-See also:general to See also:Cromwell. About 1661 he was ordained without subscription by T. Sydserf, a Scottish See also:bishop. Tillotson was See also:present at the See also:Savoy See also:Conference in 1661, and remained identified with the Presbyterians till: the passing of the See also:Act of Uniformity in 1662. Shortly afterwards he became See also:curate of See also:Cheshunt, Herts, and in See also:June 1663, See also:rector of Kedington, See also:Suffolk. He now devoted himself to an exact study of biblical and patristic writers, especially See also:Basil and See also:Chrysostom. The result of this See also:reading, and of the See also:influence of John See also:Wilkins, See also:master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was seen in the general See also:tone of his See also:preaching, which was See also:practical rather than theological. He was a See also:man of the See also:world as well as a divine, and in his sermons he exhibited a tact which enabled him at once to win the See also:ear of his See also:audience. In 1664 he became preacher at See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn. The same See also:year he married See also:Elizabeth See also:French, a niece of See also:Oliver Cromwell; and he also became Tuesday lecturer at St See also:Lawrence, Jewry.

Tillotson employed his controversial weapons with some skill against See also:

atheism and popery. In 1663 he published a characteristic See also:sermon on " The See also:Wisdom of being Religious," and in 1666 replied to John Sergeant's Sure Footing in See also:Christianity by a pamphlet on the " See also:Rule of Faith." The same year he received the degree of D.D. In 167o he became See also:prebendary and in 1672 See also:dean of See also:Canterbury. In 1675 he edited John Wilkins's Principles of Natural See also:Religion, completing what was See also:left unfinished of it, and in 1682 his Sermons. Along with See also:Burnet, Tillotson attended See also:Lord See also:Russell on the See also:scaffold in 1683. He afterwards enjoyed the friendship of See also:Lady Russell, and it was partly through her that he obtained so much influence with Princess See also:Anne, who followed his See also:advice in regard to the See also:settlement of the See also:crown on See also:William of See also:Orange. He possessed the See also:special confidence of William and See also:Mary, and was made clerk of the closet to the See also:king in See also:March 1689. It was chiefly through his advice that the king appointed an ecclesiastical See also:commission for the reconciliation of the Dissenters. In See also:August of this year he was appointed by the See also:chapter of his See also:cathedral to exercise the archiepiscopal See also:jurisdiction of the See also:province of Canterbury during the suspension of See also:Sancroft. He was also about the same See also:time named dean of St See also:Paul's. Soon afterwards he was elected to succeed Sancroft; but accepted the promotion with extreme reluctance, and it was deferred from time to time, at his See also:request, till See also:April 1691. In 1693 he published four lectures on the Socinian controversy.

His attempts to reform certain abuses of the See also:

Church, especially that of clerical non-See also:residence, awakened much See also:ill-will, and of this the See also:Jacobites took See also:advantage, pursuing him to the end of his See also:life with insult and reproach. He died on the 22nd of See also:November 1694. For his See also:manuscript sermons Tillotson's widow received 2500 guineas. See also:Ralph See also:Barker edited some 250 of them together with the " Rule of Faith " (1695-1704). In 1752 an edition appeared in 3 vols., with Life by See also:Thomas See also:Birch, compiled from Tillotson's See also:original papers and letters. Various selections from his sermons and See also:works have been published separately, e.g. by G. W. See also:Weldon in 1886.

End of Article: TILLOTSON, JOHN (1630-1694)

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