SHERLOCK (Dr Thomas), bishop of London, was the son of the preceding Dr William Sherlock, and was born in 1678. He was educated in Catharine-hall, Cambridge, where he took his degrees, and of which he became master: he was made master of the Temple very young, on the resignation of his father; and it is remarkable, that this mastership was held by father and son successively for more than 70 years. He was at the head of the opposition against Dr Hoadley bishop of Bangor; during which contest he published a great number of pieces. He attacked the famous Collins's "Grounds and reasons of the Christian religion," in a course of six sermons preached at the Temple-church, which he intitled "The use and intent of Prophecy in the several ages of the world." In 1728, Dr Sherlock was promoted to the bishopric of Bangor; and was translated to Salisbury in 1734. In 1747, he refused the archbishopric of Canterbury, on account of his ill state of health; but recovering in a good degree, accepted the see of London the following year. On occasion of the earthquakes in 1750, he published an excellent Pastoral Letter to the clergy and inhabitants of London and Westminster: of which it is said there were printed in 410, 5000; in 8vo, 20,000; and in 12mo, about 30,000; besides pirated editions, of which not less than 50,000 were supposed to have been sold. Under the weak state of body in which he lay for several years, he revised and published 4 volumes of Sermons in 8vo, which are particularly admired for their ingenuity and elegance. He died in 1762, and by report worth 150,000 l. "His learning," says Dr Nicholls, "was very extensive: God had given him a great and an understanding mind, a quick comprehension, and a solid judgment. These
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Shetland. advantages of nature he improved by much industry and application. His skill in the civil and canon law was very considerable; to which he had added such a knowledge of the common law of England, as few clergymen attain to. This it was that gave him that influence in all causes where the church was concerned; as knowing precisely what it had to claim from its constitutions and canons, and what from the common law of the land." Dr Nicholls then mentions his constant and exemplary piety, his warm and fervent zeal in preaching the duties and maintaining the doctrines of Christianity, and his large and diffusive munificence and charity; particularly by his having given large sums of money to the corporation of clergymen's sons, to several of the hospitals, and to the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts: also his bequeathing to Catharine-hall in Cambridge, the place of his education, his valuable library of books, and his donations for the founding a librarian's place and a scholarship, to the amount of several thousand pounds.