A Fellow of St John’s college, Cambridge, Stillingfleet became Archdeacon of London in 1677, Dean of St Pauls in 1678 and Bishop of Worcester in 1689. He feared that his own attempts to see reason in Church of England doctrine were undermined by Locke’s new ‘way of ideas’. In 1697 he wrote The Bishop of Worcester’s Answer to Mr. Locke’s Letter, in which he criticized John Locke for undermining the Trinity. Locke rebutted his criticisms, but changes made in the later editions of the Essay may reflect Stillingfleet’s impact.