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of Oxon , and th ? it he had given to the world great specimens of his learning and piety , &c . He fcad in . him a sharp and quick judgment , and a prodigious memory ; and being very industrious withal , was iii a capacity of devouring all he read .
He , was wonderfully well versed in the Scriptures , and could not only repeat all St . Paul ' s Epistles in English , but also in the Greek tongue , which made him a ready disputant . * He was accounted by those of his persuasion , a
sober man in his discourse , and to have nothing of impiety , folly , or scurrility to proceed from him ; t also , 60 devout , that he seldom or never prayed , without being prostrate or flat on the ground , as his Life , $ which I h aye , attests . Soon after his death , his Twofold Catechism was turned into Latin , and
. * His learning * in matters of religion was gained by a diligent study of the holy Scriptures v especially of the New
Testament , wherein he was so conversant , that he retained it all in his memory , verbatim , hot only in English , hut in Greek , as far as the fourth chapter of the Revelation of St . ' John . - Short Account * p . 10 .
a That which in my judgment does more commend our John Biddle , than all his labours and sufferings for the propagation of great and important truths , is his great zeal for promoting holiness of life and manners , for this was always his end
and design in what he taught . He valued rsot his doctrines for speculation but practice y insomuch that he would not discourse of those points wherein he differed from others , with those that appealed' not religious according to their knowledge ; Neither could he bear those that dissembled , in
profession for worldly interests . He was a strict observer himself , and a severe exacter in others , of reverence in speaking . . of God , and Christ , and holy things ; so that he would by no means hear their names , or any sentence of holy Scripture used vainly or lightly , much lees any foolish talking " , or scurrility . ' * Ibid .
% Joannis Biddelli ( AngliJ Acad . Oxh oniensis quondam Art ium Mag istri celeberrimi Vita . London , 1682 } in three sheets and a half , 870 . The author of which was , as . I have been informed , ( for there is no name set to it . ) one John Farrington , . J . C / T .
6 f , the Inner Temple , fW-J , € C *** h » s closel-AeYOtions , he was wont often to prostrate himself upon the ground , after the manner of oar Saviour in his agony , and would commend that posture of worship also to bis moift intimate frifttyto * " Ibid . p . 11 .
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printed in 8 vo . . 1665 . The first , called A Scripture Catechism , was done by Anon . The other , called , A brief Scripture Catechism for Children , was done by a youth called Nathaiiiel Stuckey , and at the end of it was printed , 1 . Oratiuncula de passione et
morte Ckrzsti + meL&e by the said Stucke ^ 2 , Exemplum literarum Jeremite Felbingeri * ad Joh . Biddellum , dated at Dantzick , Ausfast 24 , StyL vet . \<> 54 This NathamelStuckey , who had been partly bred up in grammar and logic .
by Biddle , or at least by his care , died the 27 tft of September , 1665 , aged 16 years , and was buried close to the grave of Biddle , as it appears by an inscription engraveh for him on one side ( at the bottom ) of Biddle ' s
monument . A certain + author tells us , that the said Biddle translated into English the Alcoran , and the book called The Three Grand Impostors , damned for shame . But upon what ground he
reports these things , he tells us not * Sure 1 am , that there is no such thing mentioned in his Life ; and whether there be such a boob , in rerum natura % as , The Three Grand Impostors , meaning , Moses , Mahomet and Christ , is by many knowing men doubted *
After the coming to the crown of England of William , Prince of Orange , when then more liberty was allowed to the press than before , were several of John Biddle ' s things , before-mentioned , reprinted in the beginning of
the year I 691 , viz . 1 . his " Twelve Questions , with an Exposition of Five principal Passages , ** &c . 2 . " A Confession of Faith , " &c . 3- " The Testimonies of Irenaeus , " &c . % And before them was set a short account of his life , taken from that written io JLatir ^ by J . F ., as I have here in the margin told you .
* Felbing-erus was a native of Silesia , born in 1616 . I apprehend , he opposed Biddle ' s notion res pee ting- the Holy Spirit ; as the third of his JDemousiratzones
ChnistiancBy 1653 , is entitled , ' < -Quod spuutus Dei sit virttis DeitaJtis . V He also , in his " Bpistola ad Chxittianos , '" 1672 , appears to differ with Socinus and his disciples , to whom he imputes' " ei-roies graviodres , " &ee . S&ndiuSjnn . 1 ^ 7 , 159 .
" - ^ James Heath , in his *< Brief Chronicle of the lat « 3 nte » tine War / '&C in tfcc latter end of the y * ar 16541 ( WJ » - t s * o Unitarian Trvct « , 1 ^ 91 ^ VoJ , I *
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Life of John BiddZe , by Anthony Wood . 419
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1818, page 419, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2478/page/11/
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