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.
In his professional life, Noble became a skilled architectural engraver, and made a good income. 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.
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 In 1819 Noble gave up his profession to become the successor of Thomas F. Churchill, Doctor of Medicine, 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. 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.
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.
