Wilkins, John, Dd

Wilkins, John, D.D.

an ingenious and learned, English bishop, was born at Fawsley, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, in 1614. He was educated at. All Saints, at New Inn Hall, and at Magdalen Hall, Oxford; took holy orders; became chaplain, first to William, lord Say, and then to Charles, count Palatine of the Rhine; took sides with the Parliament under Cromwell, and took the Solemn League and Covenant; was made warden of Wadham College in 1648; became master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1659; ejected at the Restoration the following year; became preacher to the honorable society of Gray's Inn and rector of St. Lawrence Jewry, London; was chosen a member of the Royal Society; was made dean of Rip-on; became bishop of Chester' in 1668i and died at the house of Dr. Tillotson, in Chancery Lane, London, Nov. 19, 1672. He published several mathematical and philosophical works, and the following, viz., Ecclesiastes, or a Discourse concerning the Gift of Preaching as it Falls under the Rules of Art (1646; best ed. 1778): — Discourse concerning the Beauty of Providence in all the Rugged Passages of It (1649): — Sermons, etc. (1675): Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion (eod.).