John Tillotson

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This article is about the former Archbishop. For the 1950s and 1960s singer, see Johnny Tillotson.

John Tillotson
Archbishop of Canterbury

Installed	April 1691
Term ended	22 November 1694
Predecessor	William Sancroft
Successor	Thomas Tenison
Personal details
Born	October 1630 Sowerby, Yorkshire
Died	22 November 1694

John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was an Archbishop of Canterbury (1691–1694).

Curate and rector

Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. He entered as a pensioner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1647, where his tutor was David Clarkson. He graduated in 1650 and was made fellow of his college in 1651.^[1]^[2]

In 1656 Tillotson became tutor to the son of Edmund Prideaux, attorney-general to Oliver Cromwell. About 1661 he was ordained without subscription by Thomas Sydserf, a Scottish bishop. Tillotson was present at the Savoy Conference in 1661, and remained identified with the Presbyterians until the passing of the Act of Uniformity 1662. Shortly afterwards he became curate of Cheshunt, Herts, and in June 1663, rector of Kedington, Suffolk.

He now devoted himself to an exact study of biblical and patristic writers, especially Basil and Chrysostom. The result of this reading, and of the influence of John Wilkins, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was seen in the general tone of his preaching, which was practical rather than theological, concerned with issues of personal morality instead of theoretical doctrine. This plain style of preaching is reflective of the late 17th century, when the integration of reason into Protestant theology came to be seen as one of its finest attributes against Roman Catholicism. Tillotson himself was personally tolerant enough towards Roman Catholics, remarking in a famous sermon that " Papists, I doubt not, are made like other men. "

He was a man of the world as well as a divine, and in his sermons he exhibited a tact which enabled him at once to win the ear of his audience. In 1664 he became preacher at Lincoln's Inn. The same year he married Elizabeth French, a niece of Oliver Cromwell; and he also became Tuesday lecturer at St Lawrence, Jewry (where he was later buried). Tillotson employed his controversial weapons with some skill against atheism and Catholicism. In 1663 he published a characteristic sermon on "The Wisdom of being Religious," and in 1666 replied to John Sergeant's Sure Footing in Christianity by a pamphlet on the "Rule of Faith." The same year he received the degree of D.D.

Dean of Canterbury and Archbishop

In 1670 he became prebendary and in 1672 dean of Canterbury. That latter year he was alao elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[3] In 1675 he edited John Wilkins's Principles of Natural Religion, completing what was left unfinished of it, and in 1682 his Sermons. Along with Burnet, Tillotson attended William Russell, Lord Russell on the scaffold in 1683. In 1684, he wrote a Discourse against Transubstantiation. He afterwards enjoyed the friendship of Lady Russell, and it was partly through her that he obtained so much influence with Princess Anne, who followed his advice in regard to the settlement of the crown on William of Orange. He possessed the special confidence of William and Mary, and was made clerk of the closet to the king in March 1689.

It was chiefly through his advice that the king appointed an ecclesiastical commission for the reconciliation of the Dissenters. In August of this year he was appointed by the chapter of his cathedral to exercise the archiepiscopal jurisdiction of the province of Canterbury during the suspension of Sancroft. He was also about the same time named dean of St 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 request, until April 1691. In 1693 he published four lectures on the Socinian controversy,^[4] partly to clear his own name from charges of sympathy with Socinianism in his previous associations with Thomas Firmin, Stephen Nye and others.

His attempts to reform certain abuses of the Church, especially that of clerical non-residence, awakened much ill-will, and of this the Jacobites took advantage, pursuing him to the end of his life with insult and reproach. He died on 22 November 1694.

For his manuscript sermons Tillotson's widow received 2500 guineas. Ralph 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 Thomas Birch, compiled from Tillotson's original papers and letters. Various selections from his sermons and works have been published separately.^[5] AMS Press, New York, published a modern edition of his works in the 1980s. In his home town of Sowerby, a statue of Tillotson still exists in St. Peter's church and an avenue is named after him in the lower end of the town.

References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Tillotson

↑ "Tillotson, John (TLT647J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Tillotson, John". Dictionary of National Biography 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
↑ Thomas Birch, 'Life of the author', in: John Tillotson, Works, 1752, p. lvii.
↑ John Tillotson, A Sermon Concerning the Unity of the Divine Nature and the Blessed Trinity (London, 1693)
↑ GW Weldon in 1886

External links

Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Tillotson.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Thomas Turner	Dean of Canterbury 1672–1698	Succeeded by John Sharp
Preceded by William Sancroft	Archbishop of Canterbury 1691–1694	Succeeded by Thomas Tenison

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press

St Paul's Cathedral

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High Medieval	Wulman Ranulf Flambard (disputed) William de Mareni Ralph de Langford Hugh de Mareni Ralph de Diceto Alard de Burnham Gervase de Howbridge Robert de Watford Martin de Pattishall Geoffrey de Lucy William of Sainte-Mère-Église Henry de Cornhill Walter de Saleron Robert de Barton Peter de Newport Richard Talbot John de Ebulo Geoffrey de Fering John Chishull Hervey de Boreham Thomas Ingoldsthorpe Roger de La Legh William de Montfort Ralph Baldock

Late Medieval	Arnald Frangerius de Cantilupo John Sandale Richard Newport Roger Northburgh Vitalis de Testa John de Everdon Gilbert de Bruera Richard de Kilvington Walter de Alderbury Thomas Trilleck John de Appleby Thomas de Eure Thomas Stowe Thomas More Reginald Kentwood Thomas Lisieux Lawrence Booth William Say Roger Radclyffe Thomas Wynterbourne William Worsley

Early modern	Robert Sherborne John Colet Richard Pace Richard Sampson John Incent William May John Feckenham Henry Cole William May (again) Alexander Nowell John Overall Valentine Cary John Donne Thomas Winniffe Richard Steward Matthew Nicholas John Barwick William Sancroft Edward Stillingfleet John Tillotson William Sherlock Henry Godolphin Francis Hare Joseph Butler Thomas Secker John Hume Frederick Cornwallis Thomas Newton Thomas Thurlow

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Canons
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Michael Colclough (Canon Pastor)
Mark Oakley (Canon Treasurer)
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Sarah Eynstone (Minor Canon & Chaplain)
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v t e Deans of Canterbury

Early modern	Nicholas Wotton Thomas Godwin Richard Rogers Thomas Nevile Charles Fotherby John Boys Isaac Bargrave George Aglionby Thomas Turner John Tillotson John Sharp George Hooper George Stanhope Elias Sydall John Lynch William Freind John Potter Brownlow North John Moore The Hon James Cornwallis George Horne William Buller Folliott Cornewall

Late modern	Thomas Powys Gerrard Andrewes Hugh Percy Richard Bagot William Lyall Henry Alford Robert Payne Smith Frederic Farrar Henry Wace George Bell Dick Sheppard Hewlett Johnson Ian White-Thomson Victor de Waal John Simpson Robert Willis

v t e Archbishops of Canterbury

Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric the Serious Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand

Conquest–Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund Rich Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole

Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Tait Edward Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby

Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

Authority control	VIAF: 29588767 ISNI: 0000 0001 2023 075X BNF: cb122407983

Persondata
Name	Tillotson, John
Alternative names
Short description	Archbishop of Canterbury
Date of birth	1630
Place of birth	Sowerby, Yorkshire
Date of death	22 November 1694
Place of death

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