Samuel Noble

Samuel Noble (1779–1853) was an English engraver, and minister of the New Church (Swedenborgian).

Life

He was born in London on 4 March 1779, son of Edward Noble (died 1784), a bookseller and author of a work on perspective, and brother of George Noble the engraver, and William Bonneau Noble the painter. His mother provided him with an education including Latin, and he was apprenticed to an engraver.[1]

In his professional life, Noble became a skilled architectural engraver, and made a good income.[1]

Religious views and journalism

Noble's religious convictions were the result of a reaction in his (1796) against Tom Paine's The Age of Reason. About 1798 he encountered Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg, in the translation (1778) by William Cookworthy. He attached himself to the preaching of Joseph Proud, at Cross Street, Hatton Garden.[1]

Proud had urged Noble to take on the ministry of the New Church by 1801, and he occasionally preached. He declined, in 1805, an invitation to take charge of the Cross Street congregation. He was one of the founders (1810) of the Society for printing and publishing the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg; and assisted in establishing (1812) a quarterly journal The Intellectual Repository and New Jerusalem Magazine, of which till 1830 he was the chief editor and principal writer.[1]

Ordination in the New Church

In 1819 Noble gave up his profession to become the successor of Thomas F. Churchill, M.D., a minister of the Cross Street congregation, which was then worshipping in Lisle Street, Leicester Square. He was ordained on Whitsunday, 1820. His ministry was effective, though he had a speech defect. The congregation, which had been declining, was increased by Noble to a more solid prosperity, and purchased (about 1829) the chapel in Cross Street vacated by Edward Irving.[1]

In addition to his regular duties Noble workes as a lecturer in London and the provinces. His leadership of his denomination was not undisputed. His first controversy was with Charles Augustus Tulk, who was excluded from the society. Noble developed a doctrine which, by many of his co-religionists, was viewed as a heresy: he held that Jesus Christ was not resuscitated, but his body dissipated in the grave, and replaced at the resurrection by a new and divine frame. Hence arose the controversy between "resuscitationists" and "dissipationists"; John Clowes and Robert Hindmarsh rejected Noble's view, and his major antagonist was William Mason (1790–1863). In support of his position, a "Noble Society" was formed.[1]

Last years

In 1848 Noble suffered from cataract, and, in spite of several operations, became permanently blind. He died on 27 August 1853, and was buried in Highgate cemetery.[1]

Works

Noble's major publications were:[1]

He revised, with help of amanuenses, the translation of Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell, giving it the title The Future Life (1851).

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Noble, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ↑  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Child, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement​. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Noble, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

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