Biscoe, Richard

, an English divine, probably the son or grandson of the rev. John Biscoe of New Inn hall, Oxford, a nonconformist, was himself educated at a dissenting academy kept by Dr. Benion at Shrewsbury, and was ordained a dissenting minister, Dec. 19, 1716. In 1726, he conformed and received deacon’s and priest’s orders in the church of England, and in 1727 was presented to the living of St. Martin Outwich, in the city of London, which he retained until his death, July 1748. He held also a prebend of St. Paul’s, and was one of his majesty’s chaplains in ordinary. He is now chiefly known for a learned and elaborate work, entitled “The History of the Acts of the Holy Apostles confirmed from other authors and considered as full evidence of the truth of Christianity, with a prefatory discourse upon the nature of that evidence” being the substance of his sermons preached at Boyle’s lecture, in 1736, 1737, 1738, and published in 2 vols. 1742, 8vo. Dr. Doddridge frequently refers to it, as a work of great utility, and as shewing “in the most convincing manner, how incontestably the Acts of the Apostles demonstrates the truth of Christianity.” ¹