Difference between revisions of "John Biddle"

== [[Cyclopedia]] of Biblical, [[Theological]] and [[Ecclesiastical]] Literature == <p> one of the first preachers of [[Socinianism]] in England, and cruelly persecuted on that account. He was born at Wotton, Gloucestershire, in 1615. In 1641 he took the degree of M.A. at Oxford, and was appointed master of the grammar-school of Gloucester. He soon began to exhibit his [[Socinian]] bias, and was, in consequence, imprisoned and examined by commissioners appointed for the purpose. He published, in 1647, Twelve Arguments, etc., against the [[Deity]] of the [[Holy]] [[Spirit]] (Lond. 4to), which was burned by the hangman; and in 1648 he put forth a [[Confession]] of [[Faith]] concerning the Trinity, for which he was a second time imprisoned. In 1654 he issued a [[Brief]] [[Scripture]] [[Catechism]] (Lond. 8vo), which was answered by John [[Owen]] in his Vindicice Evangelice, Cromwell banished him, in 1665, to the Scilly Islands, but after three years he was recalled, and became minister of some congregation of Independents. In the reign of [[Charles]] II he was in trouble again, and was a third time put into prison, where he died in 1662. See Toulmin, Life and Character of Biddle (Lond. 1789, 12mo). </p> == The Nuttall [[Encyclopedia]] == <p> A Socinian writer in the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth; much persecuted for his belief, and was imprisoned, but released by Cromwell; regarded as the founder of [[English]] Unitarianism; author of a "Confession of Faith concerning the Holy Trinity" (1615-1662). </p>