Jesus, Prophet of Islam - The Islamic Bulletin

Later Unitarians in Christianity 195

Biddle appealed, and was released on the 28th of May 1655.
However, once again, it was not long before Biddle again dashed
withtheauthorities:A public debatewastaking place. Thespeaker
commenced the dispute by asking if there was anyone present who
denied that Christ was God most High. Biddle promptly and firmly
declared, '1deny it.' When he supported this statement with argu­
ments which his adversaries could not refute, it was decided to
halt the proceedings and to continue on another day. Biddle was
then reported to the authorities, and before the day fixed for the
debate had arrived he was again arrested and put in prison.
To begin with, Biddle was denied the services of a lawyer, per­
haps because it was doubtful whether there was a law in force at
the time under which he could be convicted. His friends who were
well aware of this decided to approach Cromwell directly. They
drew up a petition and sent it to him. Before it could reach him,
however, the petition had been so altered and disfigured that its
original authors had to openly disown it as a forgery. :fi
Cromwell, who was at his wits end, found a way out of this
difficult situation by banishing Biddle to the Scilly Islands on the
5th of October 1655. He was to remain in custody in the Castle of
St. Mary's for the rest of his life and would be paid an allowance of
one hundred crowns per annum. During his captivity there, Biddle
wrote an indignant poem, a few lines of which follow:

The conclave met, the judge was set,

Man mounted on God's throne;

And they did judge a matter there,

That rests with Him alone;

A brother's faith they made a crime,

And crushed thought's native right sublime. 36

The more Biddle suffered, the more convinced he became of the
errors that were inherent in the prevailing religion which was be­
ing supported by the established Trinitarian Church, Thomas
Firmin, who had helped Biddle in the past, continued to help him
by providing him with enough money to make his life in prison as
comfortable as it could be.
Meanwhile sympathy for Biddle increased far and wide. The
more he suffered the more popular his beliefs became, until the
govemment had to asked Dr. John Owen to counteract the effects
which Biddle's teaching was having.