187 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bibliciets
Biddle
to England in
1882,
and he became rector of Fram
lingham, Suffolk. In
1886
he was consecrated bish
op of Japan. He was an extreme High-churchman
and strove to reproduce this type of church life
among the Japanese. The result was the so-called
" Catholic Church of Japan"
(Nippon Sei Kokwat~.
In
1887
a visit to Korea bore fruit in the establish
ment of a mission in that country. In
1892
his
visit to the Anglican mission stations in Japan
convinced him that there should be more bishops;
accordingly his diocese was made that of South
Tokyo. Again his health gave way and he returned
home to die. His lectures for Japanese divinity
students were published under the title
Our Heritage
in the Church
(London,
1898).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: $.
Bickersteth, Life and Letters of Edward
Bickersteth, Bishop of South Tokyo, London, 1905 (by his
brother).
BICKERSTETH, EDWARD HENRY: Bishop of
Exeter, son of Edward Bickersteth, 1; b. at Isling
ton, London, Jan.
25, 1825
; d. in London Dray
16, 1906.
He was educated at Trinity College, Cam
bridge (B.A.,
1847),
and was ordered dean in
1848,
and ordained priest in the following year.
He was curate of Banningham, Norfolk
(1848-51);
rector of Hinton Marten, Dorset
(1852-55);
vicar of
Christ Church, Hampstead
(1855-85);
rural dean of
Highgate
(1878-85),
and dean of Gloucester
(1885).
He was consecrated bishop of Exeter in
1885,
but
resigned five years later on account of age. He
wrote
Water from the Well Spring
(London,
1852);
The Rock of Ages (1857); Commentary on the New
Testament (1864); Yesterday, To-day, and Forever
(poem in twelve books,
1866;
prized as a devout
revelation of heaven);
The Spirit of Life (1869);
Hymnal Companion Lo the Book of Common Prayer
(1870); The Two Brothers and Other Poems,(1871);
The Reef and Other Parables (1873); The Shadowed
Home and the Light Beyond (1874); Words of
Counsel to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of
Exeter (1888); Charge at Third Visitation (1895);
From Year to Year (1895); The Feast of Divine
Love (1896);
and
Charge at Fourth Visitation
(1898).
He was the author of a number of well
known hymns.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
F. K. Aglionby, Life of E. H. B4ckeratdh,
London, 1907.
BICKERSTETH, SAMUEL: Church of Eng
land, second son of Edward Henry Bickersteth
(q.v.); b. at Hampstead Sept.
9, 1857.
He was
educated at St. John's College, Oxford (B.A.,
1881),
and was ordered dean in
1881
and ordained
priest in the following year. He was successively
curate of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate
(1881-84);.
chaplain to the bishop of Ripon
(1884-87);
vicar of
Belvedere, Kent
(1887-91);
and vicar of Lewisham
(1891-1905).
Since
1905
he has been vicar of
Leeds and rural dean. He has written
Life and
Letters of Edward Bickersteth, D.D., Bishop of
South Tokyo
(his brother, London,
1899),
and is
the editor of the
Preachers of the Age
aeries.
BIDDING PRAYER: Originally
bidding of pray
ers,
signifying " the praying (offering) of prayers,"
one of the meanings of the verb " to bid" down
to the Reformation being "to ask pressingly, to
beg, to pray:' As this meaning became obsolete
the phrase was interpreted to mean " the ordering
or directing of prayers"; i.e., an authoritative
direction to the people concerning what or whom
they should pray for, such directions being not un
common in England in the sixteenth century.
Still later " bidding" was taken as an adjective
and the phrase " bidding prayer" came to mean
the prayer before the sermon, which the preacher
introduced by directing the congregation to pray
for the Church catholic, the sovereign and the
royal family, different estates of men, etc.
(Con
stitution and Canons o f the Church o f England,
§ 55).
A collect is now usually substituted for it,
as the sermon, except on rare occasions, is preceded
by the common prayers, which include the petitions
prescribed by the canon. When, however, these
prayers are not said before the sermon (as at univer
sity sermons), and on occasions of more than usual
solemnity, the " bidding prayer" is used.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Forine of the Bidding Prayer are to be
found in Manuals et Prouseionak . . . eccleaia E6oracenaia, ed. W. G. Henderson in 6urteea Society Publications, no. 83, Durham, 1875, and in F. Procter, Hiat. of
Book of Common Prayer . . '. revised by W. H. Frera
p. 394, London, 1905. Consult C. Wheatley, Bidding of
Prayers before Sermons, London, 1845; D. Rock, Church
of our Fathers, 3 vole., ib. 1849-53.
BIDDLE, JOHN: A founder of modern English
Unitarianism; b. at Wotton-under-Edge
(15
m. s.
of Gloucester), where he was baptized Jan.
14,
1615;
d. in a London jail Sept.
22, 1662.
He was
educated at Oxford, and appointed head master
of the free school in the parish of St. Mary le Crypt,
Gloucester, 1641. Study of the Scriptures led him
to disbelieve the doctrine of the Trinity, and, his
unsoundness being reported to the city magistrates,
he was summoned before them. Fearing imprisonment, he made a confession of faith (May 2, 1644)
which was not satisfactory, and so he made a second
in which he used more conventional language
and was allowed to go free. He then committed
to paper
Twelve Arguments Drawn out of Scripture:
wherein the commonly received opinion touching
the Deity of the Holy Spirit is clearly and fully
refitted,
and to these views he was faithful the rest
of his life. A friend informed the magistrates of
the existence of this paper and so he was cited before
the committee of Parliament then at Gloucester,
and put in the common jail Dec. 2, 1645. Happily
a prominent citizen bailed him out. In 1646 he
was summoned to appear before Parliament at
Westminster to explain his position, and boldly
avowed his belief. He was committed to the custody of one of the officers of the House of Commons
and so continued for five years. Meanwhile a
committee of the Assembly of Divines sitting at
Westminster considered his case and to them he
gave a copy of his
Twelve Arguments.
They made
answer to it, but did not move him. So in 1647 he
published his paper,,which makes a tract of thirtyeight small pages. It stirred up great indignation
and was suppressed and burned by the common
hangman. Nest he published
A Confession of
Faith Touching the Holy Trinity, according to the
Scripture
(1648), a tract of seventy-five small
pages; in which in six articles, accompanied by