Life

Faldo is said to have been educated at Cambridge University, and to have been a chaplain in the army, so that he held no benefice when the Act of Uniformity 1662

Act of Uniformity 1662

The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 13&14 Ch.2 c. 4 ,The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter...

 became law. In 1673 he is described as a nonconforming minister at Barnet

Barnet

High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...

, and in 1684 was chosen pastor of the congregation at Plasterers' Hall, Addle Street, Aldermanbury, London. Here he remained till his death. Faldo was a congregationalist in the latter part of his life.

He died on 7 February 1690, of the stone

The Stone

The Stone is a not-for-profit experimental music performance space located in the Alphabet City neighborhood in New York City. It was founded in April 2005 by musician John Zorn, who serves as the artistic director.-Location:...

, and was buried at Bunhill Fields

Bunhill Fields

Bunhill Fields is a cemetery in the London Borough of Islington, north of the City of London, and managed by the City of London Corporation. It is about 4 hectares in extent, although historically was much larger....

, where there was a Latin inscription upon his tomb. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. John Quick

John Quick (divine)

John Quick was an English nonconformist divine.-Life:He was born in Plymouth. After graduating at Oxford in 1657 he was ordained at Ermington in Devon in 1659. A more famous contemporary John Flavel ministered at nearby Dartmouth...

, and afterwards published. It asserts that he did much to heal the breach between Presbyterians and Independents

Independent (religion)

In English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political...

, but gives no biographical facts except the observation that ‘such a pastor as Mr. Faldo is forty years a making.’

Works

In 1673 he published ‘Quakerism no Christianity. Clearly and abundantly proved, out of the writings of their Chief Leaders. With a Key, for the understanding their sense of their many Usurped, and Unintelligible Words and Phrases, to most Readers.’ The book was in three parts, the third being entitled ‘An Examination of the First Part of W. Pen's Pamphlet called The Spirit of Truth: with a Rebuke of his Exorbitances.’ This was at once answered by William Penn

William Penn

William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...

 in a tract. Faldo, still in 1673, answered Penn; to which, in 1673 again, Penn replied. Penn states in this tract that Faldo took up the subject ‘disgusted at the coming over of some of his hearers to the way we profess.’ On the appearance of ‘The Invalidity,’ Faldo sent Penn a printed challenge to engage in a public dispute, which Penn refused by letter, observing, ‘for thy letter, it is civil, I wish all thy procedure had grated no more: I love, and shall at any time convenient, embrace a sober discussion of principles of religion; for truly I aim at nothing more than truth's triumph, though in my own abasement;’ but Faldo was displeased with the answer, and published in 1674 ‘A Curb to W. Penn's Confidence,’ to which Penn retorted. After this Faldo assembled a company of twenty-one learned divines, who subscribed to a commendatory epistle which was issued with a second edition of Faldo's original work, ‘Quakerism no Christianity.’ This appeared in 1674, and was at once answered by Penn. The final tract of the controversy was Faldo's answer to this, which appeared in 1675. Throughout the controversy Faldo was abusive.

A volume published by Faldo in 1687, called ‘A Discourse of the Gospel of Peace, and of the Government of our own Spirits. Being the substance of Divers Sermons, from Ephes. vi. 15 and Prov. xvi. 32’ was dedicated to Lady Clinton, to whose family Faldo seems to have acted as chaplain.

In 1696 there was published the seventeenth edition of Jeremiah Dyke

Jeremiah Dyke

-Life:His father William Dyke was a minister at Hempstead, Essex, dispossessed for nonconformity, and then a preacher at Coggeshall; and Daniel Dyke was his brother. He was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1598, graduating B.A. in 1602 and M.A. in 1605...

's ‘The Worthy Communicant: or a Treatise showing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,’ abridged and supplemented by Faldo so as to bring the book ‘within the reach of the poor.’