most excellent Bishop Pearson, the very dust of whose writings is gold’ (Dissertation on Phalaris, pp. 424–5, ed. 1699). ‘Probably no other Englishman,’ says Archdeacon Cheetham, ‘few of any nation, had the same accurate knowledge of antiquity which Pearson possessed, and the same power of using it with skill and judgment. If he had not been a theologian, he might have been known simply as the best English scholar before Bentley; he was a theologian, but he was none the less a great scholar. … No English theologian has less claim to originality or imagination; he proceeds always upon authorities, and his distinctive skill is in the discrimination and use of authorities.’
The ‘Exposition of the Creed,’ on which Pearson's reputation still mainly rests, has long been a standard book in English divinity. It has won the highest praise, not only from Anglican theologians, but from such men as Dr. Johnson, Dean Milman, and Hallam. The last-mentioned writer says: ‘It expands beyond the literal purport of the Creed itself to most articles of orthodox belief, and is a valuable summary of arguments and authorities on that side. The closeness of Pearson and his judicious selection of proofs distinguish him from many, especially the earlier, theologians’ (Lit. Hist. Eur. pt. iv. ch. ii.) ‘Pearson's preference for the scholastic method of theology appears in the book; it is the work of one accustomed to vigorous definition and exact deduction, and might easily be thrown into a form similar to that in which the schoolmen have treated the same subjects. The style is singularly unambitious, and seems to aim at nothing beyond the careful and accurate statement of propositions and arguments.’ The notes to the ‘Exposition’—a rich mine of patristic and general learning—are at least as remarkable as the text, and form a complete catena of the best authorities upon doctrinal points.
The first edition of the book (which is dedicated to the parishioners of St. Clement's, Eastcheap) appeared in quarto in 1659; all the subsequent editions down to 1723 were folios. The latest in which the author made any alterations was the third, 1669. The famous ninth edition, ‘by W. Bowyer’ the elder, appeared in 1710. The earliest octavo edition was published at Oxford in 1797. Numerous editions of the work have appeared in the present century under the editorship of W. S. Dobson, E. Burton, Temple Chevallier, J. Nichols, and E. Walford; the latest and best is Chevallier's, revised by R. Sinker, Cambridge, 1882. Numerous abridgments have been made, the best known being those of Basil Kennett, Charles Burney, and C. Bradley. There are also several analyses, that by William H. Mill (London, 1843) being a masterly performance. The ‘Exposition’ has been translated into many languages; a Latin version, by S. J. Arnold, appeared as early as 1691.
The other great work of Pearson, the ‘Vindiciæ Epistolarum S. Ignatii,’ was an elaborate answer to Daillé's attack on the authenticity of the letters ascribed to Ignatius of Antioch. It was probably Pearson's veneration for episcopacy which induced him to undertake this work. The letters everywhere recognised it as an institution essential to the completeness of a church, and, if their early date could be proved, the opponents of episcopacy recognised the untenableness of their position. Daillé therefore sought to show that all the so-called Ignatian writings were not much earlier than Constantine. On this point Pearson gained an easy victory over him, and went a great way in proving the authorship of the letters. ‘It was incomparably the most valuable contribution to the subject which had hitherto appeared, with the exception of Ussher's work. Pearson's learning, critical ability, clearness of statement, and moderation of tone, nowhere appear to greater advantage than in this work. If here and there an argument is overstrained, this was the almost inevitable consequence of the writer's position as the champion of a cause which had been recklessly and violently assailed on all sides. … Compared with Daillé's attack, Pearson's reply was as light to darkness’ (Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. i. p. 333). Till the discovery of Cureton's ‘Syrian Recension of the Epistles,’ in 1845, Pearson was considered to have practically settled the question of their genuineness. Cureton's discovery reopened the dispute, and for a while three only of the seven letters defended by Pearson were allowed to be of Ignatian origin. The recent labours of Zahn and Lightfoot have, however, vindicated the authenticity of the suspected letters, and Pearson's position is therefore once more generally accepted by scholars.
The first edition of the ‘Vindiciæ’ appeared in 1672, later editions in 1698 and 1724. The work was included in the Anglo-Catholic Library, edited by Archdeacon Churton.
The following is a list of Pearson's minor works: 1. ‘A Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge at St. Mary's on St. Luke xi. 2, A.D. 1643.’ This sermon is said to have been first printed in 1644, 4to, but
