Byfield, Nicholas

BYFIELD, NICHOLAS: Puritan and Presbyterian, b. in Warwickshire in 1579; d. at Isleworth (2 m. s. of Brentford), Middlesex, Sept. 8, 1622. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford; was for seven years pastor of St. Peter's Church at Chester, when (1615) he became vicar of Isleworth in Middlesex, where he remained until his death. William Gouge describes him as "a man of a profound judgment, strong memory, sharp wit, quick invention, and unwearied industry." His works were numerous, and greatly esteemed. His Marrow of the Oracles of God (London, 1620), containing six treatises previously published apart, reached an eleventh edition in 1640. The Principles, or, the Pattern of Wholesome Words, dedicated in 1618, reached a seventh edition in 1665, and is a valuable compend of divinity. His expository sermons on the Epistle to the Colossians were published 1615, and several series on the First Epistle of Peter at various times, finally collected and enlarged in a Commentary upon the Whole First Epistle of St. Peter (1637). The Rule of Faith, or an Exposition of the Apostles' Creed was issued by his son Adoniram, after his death (1626), and is an able and instructive work. He must be numbered among the Presbyterian fathers in England.

C. A. Briggs.