JOHN HENRY, one of the most learned and eminent of the Protestant divines of Switzerland, was born at Zurich in the year 1620. At an early age he discovered an invincible propensity to learning, and acquired with astonishing facility the knowledge of languages. Hottinger. The trustees of the schools had their attention attracted towards Hottinger by his amazing progress in the knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and they determined to send him to foreign universities at the public expense. In 1638 he studied for a short time at Geneva under the celebrated Frederick Spanheim, and went afterwards to France. He next visited Holland and Flanders, and became a student in the university of Groningen, where he attended the theological lectures of Francis Gomar and Professor Alting, and studied the Arabic language under Professor Pasor. Being anxious, however, to enjoy still greater advantages than this situation afforded, he went to Leyden, where he became tutor to the children of Professor Golius, whose knowledge of oriental languages was at that time unrivalled. By his instructions and those of a Turk then at Leyden, Hottinger acquired an extensive knowledge of the Arabic, and Golius permitted him to copy many of the Arabic manuscripts which he had in his possession. In 1641 he was chosen chaplain to the embassy of the states-general to Constantinople; but the magistrates of Zurich would not suffer him to accept of it, resolving that his talents should be exerted for the glory and the benefit of their own public schools. They permitted him to visit England prior to his return home, where he contracted habits of intimacy with some of the most distinguished literary characters. As soon as he returned to Zurich, he was appointed professor of church history, when not more than twenty-two years of age; and when twenty-three, he was chosen professor of catechetical divinity and oriental languages. About this period he married, and began his career as an author, in which he persevered for twenty years with the most astonishing industry. In 1653 he was appointed professor of rhetoric, and professor extraordinary of the divinity of the Old Testament, and of controversial theology.

About this time Hottinger became so justly celebrated as a man of uncommon erudition, that his aid was earnestly requested by the elector palatine to restore the fame of the university of Heidelberg. The magistrates of Zurich consented to lend him for three years. At Heidelberg he was named professor of divinity, principal, ecclesiastical counsellor, and rector; and he wrote in favour of the reunion of Lutherans and Calvinists; but he had no better success than his predecessors who had made the same attempt. He continued at Heidelberg, by permission of the magistrates of Zurich, till the year 1661. On his return home he was chosen president of the commissioners who were appointed to revise the German translation of the Bible. Though requested to accept of professorships from the magistrates of Deventer, the landgrave of Hesse, and the magistrates of Amsterdam and Bremen, the love of his country induced him to reject all these offers. He was offered the divinity chair at Leyden in 1667; but the magistrates would not part with him. This made the Dutch request him as a loan, to which the magistrates agreed, from their respect for the states of Holland; but whilst making preparations for his departure, he was unfortunately drowned in the river which runs through Zurich, when on his way to an estate of his own, about six miles from that city.

Dr Hottinger was a man of extraordinary abilities, both natural and acquired, having few equals in his knowledge of oriental languages and the antiquities of the church. He had a most retentive memory, and his literary industry was almost unexampled. His life was comparatively short, being only forty-seven when he found a watery grave; yet he was the author of no fewer than forty volumes on different subjects. He is frequently inaccurate, owing to the astonishing rapidity with which he wrote. His principal works are, 1. Exercitationes Anti-Morinianae de Pentateucho Samaritano, Zurich, 1644, in 4to; 2. Erotematum Linguae Sanctae libri duo, cum Apendice Apho-Hebraeorum, ibid. 1647; 3. Thesaurus Philologicus, seu Clavis Scripturae qua quidquid fere Orientalium, Hebræorum maxime et Arabum habent monumenta de Religione ejusque variis speciebus, Judaismo, Samaritanismo, Mahomedismo, Gentilismo, &c. ibid. 1649; 4. Historia Ecclesiastica Novi Testamenti, in nine parts, 1651–1667; 5. Historia Orientalis ex variis Monumentis Collecta, ibid. 1651, in 4to; 6. Grammaticæ Chaldee-Syriacæ libri duo, ibid. 1652; 7. Analecta Historico-Theologica, octo Dissertationibus proposita; 8. Dissertationum miscellanearum Pentas, ibid. 1654, in 8vo; 9. Dissertatio de Subsidii Analyseos Sacrae, ubi prolixe de Sensu Verborum Institutionis Coenæ Dominiæ, ibid. 1654, in 8vo; 10. Juris Hebræorum leges 261, juxta Legis Mosaicæ ordinem ac seriem depromptæ; 11. Synopsis Orientale sordibus barbarismi contemptui presertim Linguarum Orientalium appositum, Heidelberg, 1657, in 4to; 12. Grammatica Ling. Hebr. Chald. Syr. et Arabicae Harmonica, ibid. 1657; 13. Cippi Hebraici, ibid. 1659, in 8vo; 14. Primitiae Heidelbergenses, ibid. 1659; 15. Dissert. Theolog. Philolog. fasciculus, ibid. 1660; 16. Etymologicum Orientale, sive Lexicon Harmonicum Heptaglotton, 1661, in 4to; 17. Epitome utriusque Juris Judaici, Aphorismis Maimonides exhibita, ibid. 1661; 18. Compendium Theologiae Christianæ Ecclesiarum Orientalium, Syrorum cum priquis, Ethiopum, Arabum, et Ægyptiorum; 19. Compendium Theatri Ismaelitici sive Saracenicæ, ibid. 1662, in 8vo; 20. Bibliothecarius tripartitus, Zurich, 1664, in 4to.