PEARSALL
858
PEARSON
late Oneida Conference, ami filled acceptably some of the most ini|iortaiit appointments, among which were Bing- hamton, Corilaudville, and Utica. He was possessed of an amiable disposition, was a faithful friend and a Christian gentleman. As a minister he was clear, chaste, practical, and fearless, and a jjassionate admirer of the beautiful. His poetical productions found ad- mirers, and as an amateur painter in his later years he manifested a measure of genius. When inquired of concerning the state of his mind in his last hours he exclaimed, ''Happy! Happy!" while his beaming countenance and uplifted eye told better than words could do the rapture of his closing hour. He died in Kingston, N. Y., April 30, 1868. He had the happiness and honor of giving to the ministry of the Church two sons well and extensively known, Kev. William Hall Pearne, of Memphis, and Kev. Thomas Hall Pearne, D.D., of Knoxville, Tenn. See Minutes of Annual Con- ferences, 18(58. (J. H. W.)
Pearsall, Richard, an English Dissenting divine, was born at Kidderminster in 1698, and was educated at Jones's Academy in Tewkesbury. After having been ordained for the ministry, he became pastor at Bromyard, Herefordshire, where he remained ten j'ears; was then made pastor at Warminster, and sixteen years later became pastor at Taunton, where he served his congregation for fifteen years. He died in 1772. He published, Poicer and Pleasui-e of the Divine Life (Lond. 1744, 8vo) : — Sermons (1758, 8vo) : — Beliquice Sacra; or 3feditalions on select Passar/es of Scripture, etc. (1765, P2mo), of which last named Hervey says that "refined fancy and a delicate philosophy compose a chaplet for evangelical divinity." See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A iner. A uthors, vol. ii, s. v.
Pearse, Edward, an English Nonconformist di- vine, flourished in the second half of the 17th centur}'. He was minister of St. IMargaret's, Westminster, but was ejected at the Restoration for nonconformity, though a pious man and a useful preacher. He died in 1673, about forty years old. He published. The Best Match, or the Soul's Espousal to Christianity (Glasgow, 1672, 12mo ; Lond. 1673, sm. 8vo; new ed. 1843, 8vo) : — .4 Beam of Divine Glory, ami the Soul's Rest in God (1674, 8vo; 1704, l2mo):— The Grand Concern (17th ed. 1692, 12mo; new ed. 1840. 18mo). See Darling, Cyclop. Bib- liorj. ii, 2317, 2318.
Pearse, James, an English Dissenting divine, flourished near the middle of last century as minister in Tadley, Hants. He jniblished Twenty-one Sermons (Lond. 1763, 8vo), which are "excellent, but of rare oc- currence." See Darling, Cyclop. Bihlioy. ii, 2318.
Pearson, Ed\vard, D.D., a learned English divine, and the great champion of Arminianism in the Church of England near the close of last century and the open- ing of this, was born about 1760 at Ipswich, Sussex, and educated at Sidney College, Cambridge. He was for a while fellow and tutor of Sidnej^ College, and after- wards master (1808), and was elected the Christian ad- vocate in 1809. He was also appointed rector of Kemp- stone, in Nottinghamshire. He died August 17, 1811. Dr. Pearson was considered an excellent preacher, and one of the most learned men of his times. Besides numerous single sermons preached by him on public occasions, he was the author of a volume of Thirteen Sermons addressed to Academic Youth (delivered in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge). He published also A Collection of Prayers for the Use of Families:— Twelve Lectures on the Subject of the Prophecies relating to the Christian Church ; being a portion of the Lectures found- ed at Liiict)ln's-lnn Chapel by the late Bishop Wai-burton (Lond. 1811, 8vo), and various tracts in divinity not professedly controversial. But his fame chieflv rests on his controversial writings against antagonists of necessitarian proclivities. There are two treatises of his against those who adopt Dr. Paley's views on the general theory of moral obligation, and those who follow
him in some of the practical conclusions to which that celebrated divine and moralist conducts his readers. These treatises, entitled Annotations on the Practical Part of Dr. Paley's Moral and I'olitical Philosophy (Ipswich, 1801, 8vo) : — Remarks on the Theory of Mor- als; in which is contained an Examination of the Theoret- ical Part of Dr. Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy (ibid. 1800, 8vo), excited, when first published, great at- tention, and well deserve to be read by all in connection with the treatise on Moral and Political Philosophy to which they relate. On the other side. Dr. Pearson was among the first to sound an alarm respecting the danger to which the Church was exposed by the spread in it of Calvinistic views of Christian doctrine. On this subject he published various tracts at the beginning of the present century, several of which were expressly directed against Mr. Simeon, who was the great main- tainer of Calvinism in the university to which Dr. Pear- son belonged. In fact. Dr. Pearson was the champion of the Arminian clergy in the Church, and the cham- pion of the Church itself against whatever seemed to threaten its integritj- and its perpetuity. The most im- portant on this subject are, Remuj'ks on the Doctrine of .Justification by Faith ; in a Letter to the Rev. John Over- ton (Lond. 1802, 8vo) : — Remarks on the Coidroversy sub- sisting, or supposed to subsist, between the A rminian and Calvinistic Ministers of the Church of England; in a second iMter to the Rev. John Overton (ibid. 1802, 8vo). We have not room, nor does it seem necessary, to give the titles of all his writings; but it maybe useful to say that a complete list, arranged chronologically, may be seen in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1811. where it is also said of him that he was a good man, of gentle and benevolent manners, kind and charitable, easy and pleas- ant in conversation, modest, unassuming, much respect- ed, and beloved. See also Hunt, Memoirs of the Life of E. Pearson (1845) ; English Review, iii, 441; Collier, Eccles. Hist. ; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. vol. ii, s. v. (J. H. W.)