Thomas Barlow (1607, 1608 or 1609 – 8 October 1691) was an English academic and clergyman, who became Provost ofThe Queen's College, Oxford, andBishop of Lincoln.[1][2] He was seen in his own time and byEdmund Venables in theDictionary of National Biography to have been a trimmer (conforming politically for advancement's sake), and have a reputation mixed with his academic and other writings oncasuistry. His views wereCalvinist and strongly anti-Catholic – he was among the last English bishops to dub the PopeAntichrist.[3] He worked in the 1660s for "comprehension" ofnonconformists, but supported a crackdown in the mid-1680s. Despite his anti-Catholic prejudices, Barlow declared loyalty toJames II of England upon his accession.[4]
Barlow was the son of Richard Barlow of Long-gill in the parish ofOrton, Eden inWestmorland (nowCumbria). He was educated atAppleby grammar school. Aged 16, he entered Queen's College, Oxford, as a servitor, rising to be a tabarder (scholar). He took his BA degree in 1630 and his MA in 1633, when he was elected a fellow of his college. In 1635 he was appointed metaphysicalreader to the university, being seen as a master of casuistry, logic, and philosophy. Among his pupils wasJohn Owen.[4]
He associated at Oxford withRobert Sanderson and particularly withRobert Boyle, who made Oxford his chief residence from 1654 to 1668. Barlow was a learned Calvinist, who opposedJeremy Taylor andGeorge Bull, and withThomas Tully was one of the guardians inInterregnum Oxford of acceptable orthodoxy. On the death ofJohn Rouse, Barlow was elected to the librarianship of theBodleian on 6 April 1652, a post he held until he succeeded to the Lady Margaret professorship in 1660. He favoured the scholarsAnthony à Wood,Anthony Horneck, whom he had appointed as chaplain in Queen's, andThomas Fuller, and was hospitable toChristopher Davenport. He spoke ofinfant baptism in a letter toJohn Tombes, which later affected his prospect of preferment.[4]
Barlow retained his fellowship in 1648 with support fromJohn Selden and his former pupil John Owen, having contributed anonymously a tract on theparliamentary visitation of Oxford in that year.[5] He became Provost of his college in 1657. In 1658 he brought tactful support to Sanderson on behalf of Boyle.[4]
On theRestoration, Barlow was one of the commissioners for restoring the members of the university who had been ejected in 1648 and expelling the intruders. On behalf of John Owen, molested for preaching in his own house, he mediated withEdward Hyde, the Lord Chancellor.Henry Wilkinson was removed asLady Margaret Professor of Divinity on 25 September 1660, in favour of Barlow. A few days before, on 1 September, he had taken his degree of D.D., one of a batch of loyalists created doctors by royal mandate. On the death ofBarton Holiday in 1661, Barlow was appointedArchdeacon of Oxford,[6] but there was a delay caused by a dispute between him andThomas Lamplugh, ultimately decided in Barlow's favour, who was eventually installed on 13 June 1664. Barlow meanwhile was accused by Wood of underhand meddling in the election ofThomas Clayton to the wardenship ofMerton College in 1661.[4]
Barlow wrote at the request of Robert Boyle an elaborate treatise on "Toleration in Matters of Religion" at this time, but it was not published until after his death (inCases of Conscience, 1692). Barlow's reasoning is based more on expediency than on principle. He shows that the religious toleration he advocates does not extend to atheists, papists orQuakers. Earlier, when Jews were applying to Cromwell for readmission into England, Barlow had composed "at the request of a person of quality" a tract on "Toleration of the Jews in a Christian State", published in the same collection.[7] On the other hand, Barlow was one of a group of Oxford grandees hostile to theRoyal Society, along withJohn Fell,Obadiah Walker, andThomas Pierce.[8] He was an enemy of the "new philosophy" (as propounded by leading Royal Society members), giving as his confessional reasons that it was "impious if not plainly atheistic, set on foot and carried on by the arts of Rome," so designing to ruin the Protestant faith by disabling men from defending the truth. He noted the Catholic background ofDescartes,Gassendi,Mersenne andDu Hamel.[9] HisDirections to a young Divine for his Study of Divinity of this period contain a catalogue of theological works classified by subjects, with remarks on their value and character.[4]
As pro-vice-chancellor of the university in 1673, he called in question William Richards, Chaplain ofAll Souls College, forArminian doctrine in a sermon at St Mary's.[10] He censured on doctrinal lines the publication of George Bull'sHarmonia Apostolica. He wrote much in this period, but published little.Mr. Cottington's Divorce Case, on which Barlow's reputation as an ecclesiastical lawyer and casuistic divine mainly rests, was written in 1671.[4]
Barlow was prominent in two abortive schemes of comprehension (inclusion into the state church) set on foot in October 1667 and February 1668. The "Comprehensive Bill", based on theDeclaration of Breda, was drawn up bySir Robert Atkyns andSir Matthew Hale, and revised and endorsed by Barlow and his friendJohn Wilkins. Its introduction was frustrated by a Commons declaration and the plan was finally dropped. Barlow had some part in the release ofJohn Bunyan from Bedford gaol in 1677.[3][4]
In 1675, Barlow became Bishop of Lincoln through the good offices of two secretaries of state,Sir Joseph Williamson andHenry Coventry, both graduates of Queen's College, the latter having been his pupil;Gilbert Sheldon was opposed. Barlow's consecration (on 27 June) did not occur in the customaryLambeth Chapel, but in the chapel attached to theHolborn palace of the Bishop of Ely (thenPeter Gunning).George Morley of Winchester was the consecrating prelate. Barlow resided mostly atBuckden Palace, nearHuntingdon, and was accused of never having entered his own cathedral. TheBishop's Palace at Lincoln had still not been repaired after the damage done in theEnglish Civil War, althoughGeorge Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax remonstrated with Barlow on the subject in 1684.
Barlow told his friendSir Peter Pett that the real ground of hostility was not his avoidance of Lincoln, but his continuing hostility to Catholicism. In 1678, whenTitus Oates forwarded his theory of aPopish Plot, Barlow had publicly declared enmity to the papists and their supposed leader,James, Duke of York. When the bill enforcing a test against popery was introduced, which excluded such peers from the House of Lords, Gunning of Ely defended the church of Rome from the charge of idolatry, but Barlow answered him vehemently. In 1680, while the Popish Plot panic was still at its height, he republished under the title ofBrutum Fulmen, thepapal bulls ofPius V andPaul III, pronouncing the excommunication and deposition of Queen Elizabeth and of Henry VIII, with inflammatory comments, and learned proofs that "the pope is the great Antichrist, the man of sin, and the son of perdition." In 1682 appeared Barlow's answer to "whether the Turk or pope be the greater Antichrist." He confirmed this in a letter of 1684 to theEarl of Anglesey, arguing again that "the pope is Antichrist."[4]
When in 1684Henry Viscount St John was convicted of killing Sir William Estcourt in a brawl,[11] and Charles II used theroyal prerogative for his pardon, Bishop Barlow published an elaborate tract (1684–1685) in support of regal power to dispense with penal laws. This was succeeded by "a case of conscience", proving that kings and supreme powers had authority to dispense with the positive precept condemning murderers to death. In the same year (1684), as the persecutions of nonconformists increased in violence and the quarter sessions of Bedford published "a sharp order" enforcing strict conformity, Barlow issued a letter to the clergy of his diocese requiring them to publish the order in their churches. A "free answer" was written to this letter byJohn Howe.[4]
When the CatholicJames II became king, Barlow swiftly declared loyal affection to the new sovereign. When James issued his first declaration for liberty of conscience, Barlow was one of four bishops who sent an address of thanks to the sovereign and caused it to be signed by 600 of his clergy. He also issued a letter defending his conduct.James Gardiner, then sub-dean, was a strongwhig and refused to sign the address, but on the appearance of the second declaration of 1688, Barlow addressed an equivocal letter to his clergy (on 29 May 1688).[4]
William and Mary, on coming to the throne, demanded a new oath of hostility toward Rome. Barlow voted with the bishops that James had abdicated and took the oaths to his successors. He was reportedly ready to replacenon-jurors in his diocese. Barlow died at Buckden on 8 October 1691 aged 84 and was buried in the chancel of the parish church, by his own desire in the same grave as his predecessorWilliam Barlow. A monument on the north wall commemorates both in an epitaph of his composition.[4]
Thomas Barlow's writings include:
At his death in 1691, Barlow bequeathed 54 manuscript volumes and a variety of printed books to theBodleian Library.[12] About 600 books from Barlow's collection, especially duplicates (books already owned by the Bodleian) went to the library ofQueen's College, Oxford.[13] The printed books from Barlow's library, which was finally assimilated into the Bodleian in 1694, are currently held under the shelfmark "Linc." forLinconiensis, a reference to Barlow's title as the Bishop of Lincoln.
According to William Poole, "Barlow’s books are of especial value because he was a compulsive annotator."[14] A staunch Calvinist, Barlow often made annotations to argue with the theology of the authors he read.[15] Poole adds that Barlow "marked" books as though he were reading "tutorial essays" from students.[16] Barlow's annotations have also been useful to scholars because he often made biographical notes about authors, other works they had written, and other editions of the same work.[17]
Many of the printed books in Barlow's library that are currently held at the Bodleian reflect his interest in theology, the reign ofCharles I, and events during theEnglish Civil War andInterregnum. These include many shorter polemical pamphlets and tracts related to volatility in the 1640s and 50s such as
Barlow's manuscripts at the Bodleian cover a range of subjects, genres, and time periods. These include
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Barlow, Thomas".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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| Preceded by | Bishop of Lincoln 1675–1691 | Succeeded by |
