Bull Hebrew

In the same year that John Newton began his ministry at Olney, William Bull was ordained pastor of the Independent Chapel at Newport Pagnell some six miles to the south of Olney. These two men became great and lifelong friends. According to Brian Edwards' biography of Newton:

"Bull was largely self-taught. As a teenager he taught himself Hebrew with the sole aid of a Hebrew Bible and an old English Bible with Hebrew letters heading the sections of Psalm 119. Once he had discovered that Hebrew is read from the right to left -- and that therefore he must start from the back of the book -- he compared the Hebrew and English words and compiled his own grammar and lexicon! Similarly, at the age of twenty he was given a Latin grammar which he mastered in two weeks, and Greek soon followed."

Hebrew students today often complain about the difficulty of learning Hebrew . . . even with all the advantages that students have today with so many grammars, dictionaries, and so forth. Lord, give us more men like Bull!