Pearson, Eliphalet, LL.D.. an eminent Congre- gational minister, was born .June,. 1752, in Bytield, Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1773, and was soon after licensed to preach. In April, 1778, he was made preceptor of Phillips Academy, then just started, m which place he remained until 1786, when he was elect- ed professor of Hebrew in Harvard College, and after president Willard's death, in 1804, he acted as president. In 1806 he resigned and removed to Andover, where he was very active in founding the theological seminary, in which he was chosen professor of sacred literature in 1808, but resigned this position after serving only one year. He remained a trustee of the seminary, and was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and other associations. He died Sept. 12, 1826. He pub- lished a Lecture on the Death of President Willard (1804), and four separate Sermons (1811, 1812, 1813, 1815). See Sprague, Annals of the Aine?: Pulpit, ii, 126-131 ; North Amer. Review, Ixiv, 181.
Pearson, John, an English prelate of high celeb- rity, and one of the greatest divines of his age, was born in 1612 at Snoring, in Norfolk, of which place his father was rector. He was educated first at Eton, and then at King's College, Cambridge, and took the degree of M.A. in 1639. In the same year he took orders, and was col- lated to a prebend in Salisbury Cathedral. In 1640 he was appointed chaplain to Finch, lord -keeper of the great seal, and on tlie outbreak of the civil war became cliaplaiu to lord (joring, and afterwards to Sir Robert Cook, in London. In 1650 he was appointed minister of St. Clement's, Eastcheap, London ; and this was the chief .scene of his labors as a parochial minister. In 1659 he published the great work by which he will be remembered as long as the English tongue sh'all last, and Christian theology continue to have any interest for men. An Exposition of the Apostle's Creed. It Avas ded- icated to his flock, to whom the substance of it had been
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preached some j-ears before in a series of discourses. The laborious learning and the judicial calmness dis- played by the author in this treatise have long been ac- knowledged, and command the respect even of those who take exception to his elaborate argumentation. It was republished, with the author's corrections, in folio, lirst in 1G76, and again in 1G8G; since that time it has gone through many editions, and still sustains its repu- tation. It is used as a text-book at the universities, and is regarded as one of the principal standards of ap- peal on doctrinal matters in the Church of England. It was translated ijito Latin for use on the Continent. It has also been republished in this country in Dobson's edition of 1840 (see Allibone) ; besides which there are editions by Burton (1847) and Chevalier (1849). It is generally acknowledged to be one of the most remarkable productions of what is usually called the greatest age of English theology — the 17th century. Dibdin says: " 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 happj' and so natu- ral that the depths 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' "{Liter- ary Companion, p. 5G). Dr. Samuel Johnson recom- mends Pearson as one of the three authors (Dr. Clarke and Grotius are the others) whom every man whose faith is unsettled should stud\'. During the same year which brought out the Creed, Dr. Pearson published The Golden Remains of the ever-memorable ^fr. John Hales, of Eton. At the Restoration a proper regard was had for Pear- son's eminent merits, and honors and emoluments were lavishly showered upon him. Before the close of IGGO he received the rectory of St. Christopher's, in London ; was created D.D. at Cambridge; installed prebendary of Ely and archdeacon of Surrey, and made master of Jesus College, Cambridge. In IGGl he obtained the ]Margaret professorship of divinity, and was one of the most prominent commissioners in the famous Savoy Conference; in 1GG2 he was made master of Trinity, Cambridge, and assisted in the course of that year in the revision of the Liturgy — a task for which his pre- vious publications had indicated him as peculiarly well fitted. In 1G73 he was promoted to the bishopric of Chester. The year preceding he had published his Viiidicice Epistolarum S. Ir/natii, in answer to Daille, who had denied the genuineness of the Epistles. It was imagined for years that Pearson had triumphed in this controversy, but recent investigations have weak- ened Pearson's arguments. See Ignatii'S. In 1G82 bishop Pearson published A nnales Cypriunici, together with bishop Eell's edition of Cyprian. See Fell. lie edited, with a preface of 19 pp., Vetum Testamentum. Grcen/m ex Vers. LXX (1G65, r2mo), and was one of the editors of the Critici Sacri. Bishop Pearson died Julj- IG, 1G8G. His Opera Posthnma Chronolofjica were pub- lished by Dodwell (Lond. 1G88, 4to, in Le Clerc's Bibl. Univ. ix, 127). They contain (1) the Annales Paidini, which bishop Randolph inserted in his Enchiridion Theologicum, of which an English translation, with notes, was published by Williams (Cambr. 1825, and often) — a critical dissertation on the series of events in the life of the apostle Paul; (2) the Lectiones in Acta A postolorvm, which extend from the first to the ninth chapter of the Acts, "and (as might be expected) con- tain many valuable critical and chronological observa- tions for the elucidation of the apostle Luke's narrative" (llorne, Bihl. Bib. p. 315). Both the lectures on Acts and Annals of St. Paul were brought out in an English version by Crowfoot, also with notes (1853, 8vo). Be- sides these writings were published, A dvei-saria Hesychi- ana (Lond. 1844,2 vols.8vo) -—Minor Theological Works, with memoir, notes, and index by Churton (Oxf. 1844, 2 vols. 8vo). His Orationes, Condones, et Determinationes Theologicce contain much valuable matter. Bishop Bur-