Pearson, John

Pearson, John, 1613–86, English prelate and scholar. He was a royalist chaplain (1645) in the civil war, but during Cromwell's regime he lived quietly in London. His Exposition of the Creed (1659), based on sermons he delivered at St. Clement's, Eastcheap, reveals Pearson's remarkable knowledge, especially of the Church Fathers; with many notes, it has long been a standard work. After the Restoration, Pearson became master of Jesus College, Cambridge (1660), Margaret professor of divinity (1661), master of Trinity College (1662), and bishop of Chester (1673). His Vindiciae epistolarum S. Ignatii (1672), defending the genuineness of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, was later confirmed.