Tobias Pullen

Tobias Pullen (1648 – 22 January 1713), or Tobias Pullein, was an Irish bishop.

Biography

Pullen was Anglican

D.D., and was appointed rector of Tullyaughnish, Raphoe. He resigned this living in 1682 on being made dean of Ferns, rector of Louth and Bewley, and vicar of St. Peter's, Drogheda

.

Pullen was attainted of treason by

presbyterian minister, who advocated toleration, with immunity from tests, for dissenters in Ireland. Pullen protested that toleration would multiply sects, and deprive episcopalians of the power to "show tenderness to their dissenting brethren." The sacramental test for civil offices he described as a "trivial and inconsiderable mark of compliance." When a bill "for ease to Dissenters" was introduced by the Earl of Drogheda in the Irish House of Lords

on 24 September 1695, Pullen was one of the twenty-one bishops (out of forty-three peers) by whose votes the measure was defeated. In 1697, Pullen (again anonymously) published "A Defence of" his position, and suggested that presbyterians before coming to Ireland should undergo a quarantine (in the shape of tests), like persons from a country infected with the plague.

Pullen built an episcopal residence at Magherellin. Two-thirds of the sum expended was refunded by his successor, pursuant to the statute. He died on 22 January 1713, and was buried at St. Peter's, Drogheda. He married, on 16 May 1678, Elizabeth Leigh (d. 4 October 1691), by whom he had five children. The youngest, Joshua, born in 1687, entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 11 June 1701, graduated M.A., and was chancellor of the diocese of Dromore from 1727 until his death in 1767.

Besides two sermons and the pamphlets already noticed, Pullen is said to be the author of a scarce tract, "A Vindication of Sir Robert King's Designs and Actions in relation to the late and present Lord Kingston," 1699, no printer's name or place.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, Charlotte Fell (1896). "Pullen, Tobias". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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