him. His further promotion was not long deferred; on 15 June 1691 he was installed in the deanery of St. Paul's, succeeding Tillotson.
The Socinian argument, of which nothing had been heard since the death (1662) of John Biddle [q. v.] , was revived in 1687 by the publication of a ‘Brief History’ of the unitarians, as they now designated themselves [see Nye, Stephen]. There followed (1689) a sheet of ‘Brief Notes’ on the Athanasian creed [see Firmin, Thomas]. These two publications occasioned Sherlock's ‘Vindication’ (1690) of the doctrine of the Trinity. Shortly afterwards (11 Aug. 1690) the subject was taken up by Dr. John Wallis [q. v.] If the Socinians gained any advantage in the controversy, it was from Sherlock they got it. Wallis, a survivor of the divines of the Westminster assembly, knew what he was about. Sherlock was bent on displaying the powers of a masterful writer. The Socinians were not alone in accusing his ‘Vindication’ of tritheism. This book had the singular effect of making a Socinian of William Manning [q. v.], and an Arian of Thomas Emlyn [q. v.] His position was attacked, with a matchless mixture of irony and invective, by Robert South [q. v.] A jeu d'esprit, ‘The Battle Royal’ (1694?), ascribed to William Pittis [see under Pittis, Thomas], was translated into Latin at Cambridge. Sherlock's doctrine, as preached at Oxford by Joseph Bingham [q. v.], was condemned by the hebdomadal council (25 Nov. 1695), as ‘falsa, impia et hæretica.’ Sherlock defended himself in an ‘Examination’ (1696) of the decree. On 3 Feb. 1696 William III addressed to the hierarchy ‘Directions,’ drawn up by Tenison, prohibiting the use of ‘all new terms’ relating to the Trinity. In his ‘Present State of the Socinian Controversy’ (1698, but most of it printed 1696) Sherlock virtually recedes from the positions impugned. South said of him, ‘There is hardly any one subject that he has wrote upon (that of popery only excepted) but he has wrote for and against it too.’
In 1698 he succeeded William Holder [q. v.] as rector of Therfield, Hertfordshire. Besides writing on practical topics, he continued to employ his vigorous pen against dissenters, and on the incarnation (1706) against Edward Fowler, D.D. [q. v.] He died at Hampstead on 19 June 1707, aged 66, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Two portraits, engraved by P. Sluyter and R. White, are mentioned by Bromley. He left two sons and two daughters; his eldest son, Thomas, is separately noticed.
He published, besides numerous single sermons and pamphlets in defence of some of them: 1. ‘A Discourse concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ,’ 1674, 8vo. 2. ‘A Defence and Continuation of the Discourse,’ 1675, 8vo. 3. ‘A Discourse about Church Unity: being a Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet … in Answer to … Owen and … Baxter,’ 1681, 8vo (anon.). 4. ‘A Continuation,’ 1682, 8vo (anon.). 5. ‘The Protestant Resolution of Faith,’ 1683, 4to. 6. ‘A Resolution of … Cases of Conscience which respect Church Communion,’ 1683, 4to; 1694, 4to. 7. ‘A Letter … in Answer to … Three Letters … about Church Communion,’ 1683, 4to. 8. ‘The Case of Resistance to the Supreme Powers,’ 1684, 8vo. 9. ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Ecclesiastical Authority,’ 1685, 8vo (against Daniel Whitby, D.D.). 10. ‘A Papist not misrepresented by Protestants,’ 1686, 4to. 11. ‘An Answer … being a Vindication,’ 1686, 4to (anon.). 12. ‘An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation,’ 1686, 4to. 13. ‘A Discourse concerning a Judge in Controversies,’ 1686, 4to (anon.). 14. ‘A Protestant of the Church of England no Donatist,’ 1686, 4to. 15. ‘An Answer to a … Dialogue between a … Catholick Convert and a Protestant,’ 1687, 4to. 16. ‘An Answer to the Request of Protestants,’ 1687, 4to. 17. ‘A Short Summary of … Controversies between … England and … Rome,’ 1687, 4to. 18. ‘The Pillar and Ground of the Truth,’ 1687, 4to (anon.). 19. ‘A Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church,’ 1688, 4to. 20. ‘The Protestant Resolved,’ 1688, 4to. 21. ‘A Vindication of some Protestant Principles,’ 1688, 4to. 22. ‘A Preservative against Popery,’ 1688, 4to, two parts. 23. ‘A Vindication of the Preservative,’ 1688, 4to. 24. ‘Observations upon Mr. Johnson's Remarks,’ 1689, 4to. 25. ‘A Letter to a Member of the Convention,’ 1688, 4to (reprinted in Somers's ‘Tracts,’ 1809, x.). 26. ‘Proposals for Terms of Union between the Church … and Dissenters,’ 1689, 4to. 27. ‘A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity,’ 1690, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1694, 4to. 28. ‘The Case of Allegiance due to Sovereign Powers,’ 1691, 4to; six editions same year. 29. ‘The Case of Allegiance … further considered,’ 1691, 4to. 30. ‘Their Present Majesties Government … settled,’ 1691, 4to. 31. ‘Answer to a Letter upon … Josephus,’ 1692, 4to. 32. ‘A Letter to a Friend, concerning a French Invasion,’ 1692, 4to. 33. ‘A Second Letter,’ 1692, 4to (both translated into Dutch). 34. ‘An Apology for writing against the Socinians,’ 1693, 4to (in reply to Edward Wetenhall [q. v.]).
