George Bull
Encyclopedia
George Bull was an English theologian and Bishop of St David's
.
, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell's School
in Tiverton under Samuel Butler. Before he was fourteen years old he went into residence at Exeter College, Oxford
, where he became a friend of Thomas Clifford
. In 1649, his tutor Baldwin Ackland refused to take the engagement
, and together they left the university and settled at North Cadbury
in Somerset
.
He then studied under William Thomas, rector of Ubley
and a puritan divine; Bull, however, was more influenced by his son Samuel Thomas, who directed Bull to read Richard Hooker
, Henry Hammond
, and Jeremy Taylor
. On leaving Thomas, Bull applied to Robert Skinner
, the ejected bishop of Oxford
, for episcopal ordination, and was ordained by him deacon and priest the same day, aged 21. After his ordination he took the small living of St. George's, near Bristol
. Bull, like Robert Sanderson
and others, used the church prayers, which he knew by heart, without the book. He used to spend two months every year at Oxford and on his way there and back he visited Sir William Master of Abbey House, Cirencester
. He met in this way the rector Alexander Gregory, whose daughter Bridget he married on Ascension day, 1658. In the same year he was presented to the rectory of Suddington St. Mary's, near Cirencester, through the influence of Lady Pool, the lady of the manor. In 1659 the rectory at Suddington became one of the many places of meeting at which the friends of the exiled dynasty assembled to concert measures for the restoration of Charles II of England
.
In 1662 he was presented to the vicarage of Suddington St. Peter's by Lord Clarendon, at the request of William Nicholson
, bishop of Gloucester
. This was a contiguous parish, and he held it with Suddington St. Mary's; the two villages together did not contain more than thirty families. Bull was rector of Suddington for twenty-seven years, and encountered opposition from dissenting parishioners. After the publication of the Defensio (1685), dedicated to Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham
who had presented him in 1678 to a prebend at Gloucester, Bull was given the rectory of Avening
. In 1686 he was appointed by Archbishop William Sancroft
to the archdeaconry of Llandaff; and John Fell
managed him the degree of D.D. at Oxford, though he had never taken any previous degree.
After the Glorious Revolution
he was placed on the commission of peace, and continued to act as a magistrate until he was made a bishop, in connection with the society for the reformation of manners
. In March 1705 Bull was appointed bishop of St. David's, but he was aged and infirm. He started to tour his diocese, but illness detained him at Brecknock, where he resided: his son-in-law, Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Powell went as his commissioners, and during the whole period he was failing. He died 17 February 1710, and was buried at Brecknock. His life was written by Robert Nelson
.
in 1703, with a preface and annotations by the editor, in one volume folio. These works have been translated into English at various times. A translation of the Harmonia Apostolica was made by Thomas Wilkinson of Great Houghton in 1801. The Harmonia, Examen Censurae, Defensio, and Judicium formed part of the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology published at Oxford 1842-55. The Opinion of the Catholic Church, a translation of the Judicium, was published with a memoir of Bull's life by Thomas Rankin in 1825, and a full edition of all the works of Bull (including the sermons and Nelson's Life) revised by Edward Burton
was published, in seven volumes, at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1827.
He has a high place among Anglican theologians, and as a defender of the doctrine of the Trinity was held in high esteem even by Continental Romanist controversialists.
on the relationship of faith and good works in Christian justification. He advocated the principle that St. Paul ought to be interpreted by St. James, not St. James by St. Paul, on the ground that St. James wrote later, and was presumed acquainted with St. Paul's teaching. Bishop George Morley
wrote a pastoral letter to his clergy against Bull; Thomas Barlow
lectured against him at Oxford; Thomas Tully
wrote an answer, in which he is said to have been assisted by Morley and Barlow; Charles Gataker, son of Thomas Gataker
, Thomas Truman and John Toombes, nonconformists, also wrote against him. The Harmonia Apostolica was published in 1669-70, and his Examen Censures (his reply to Gataker), and his Apologia pro Harmonia (his reply to Barlow) in 1675.
, and John Fell who subsidised the cost of publication. It was stylish and well received, with praise from Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
. The context was that Petavius and Simon Episcopius
, to take two examples, denied that the ante-Nicene Church Fathers
held the same doctrines as those which were established at the Council of Nicaea
. Bull took upon himself to prove that they did, and concentrated on the opinions of the ante-Nicene fathers, excluding other controversies.
A substantial excerpt from the Defensio Fidei Nicaenae was reprinted by Abbé Migne in his seventh volume devoted to Origen in the Patrologia Graeca (vol. XVII)
, that Christ's divinity, preexistence, and incarnation were inventions of early heretics.
Bishop of St David's
The Bishop of St David's is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St David's.The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St David's in Pembrokeshire, founding St David's Cathedral. The current Bishop of St...
.
Life
He was born, 25 March 1634, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, WellsWells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell's School
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school located in the town of Tiverton in the county of Devon, England. The school was founded in 1604 by the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and relocated to its present location on the...
in Tiverton under Samuel Butler. Before he was fourteen years old he went into residence at Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, where he became a friend of Thomas Clifford
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh , English statesman and politician, was created the first Baron Clifford of Chudleigh on 22 April 1672 for his suggestion that the King supply himself with money by stopping, for one year, all payments out of the Exchequer.He was born in Ugbrooke,...
. In 1649, his tutor Baldwin Ackland refused to take the engagement
Engagement controversy
The Engagement Controversy was a debate in England from 1649-1652 regarding loyalty to the new regime after the execution of Charles I. During this period hundreds of pamphlets were published in England supporting 'engagement' to the new regime or denying the right of English citizens to shift...
, and together they left the university and settled at North Cadbury
North Cadbury
North Cadbury is a village west of Wincanton in the River Cam in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It shares its parish with nearby Yarlington and includes the village of Galhampton, which got its name from the settlement of the rent-paying peasants, and the hamlet of...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
.
He then studied under William Thomas, rector of Ubley
Ubley
Ubley is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Bath and North East Somerset about south of Bristol and from Bath. It is just south-east of Blagdon Lake on the A368 between Compton Martin and Blagdon.-History:...
and a puritan divine; Bull, however, was more influenced by his son Samuel Thomas, who directed Bull to read Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and the value of tradition came to exert a lasting influence on the development of the Church of England...
, Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond was an English churchman.-Early life:He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond, physician. He was educated at Eton College, and from age 13 at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy or scholar in 1619. On 11 December 1622 he graduated B.A....
, and Jeremy Taylor
Jeremy Taylor
Jeremy Taylor was a clergyman in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression and was often presented as a model of prose writing...
. On leaving Thomas, Bull applied to Robert Skinner
Robert Skinner
-Life:He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford in 1613, and graduated M.A. in 1614.His father Edmund Skinner was rector of Pitsford, and Robert succeeded him in 1628. He was vicar of Launton from 1632....
, the ejected bishop of Oxford
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...
, for episcopal ordination, and was ordained by him deacon and priest the same day, aged 21. After his ordination he took the small living of St. George's, near Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Bull, like Robert Sanderson
Robert Sanderson
Robert Sanderson was an English theologian and casuist.He was born in Sheffield in Yorkshire and grew up at Gilthwaite Hall, near Rotherham. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford. Entering the Church, he rose to be Bishop of Lincoln.His work on logic, Logicae Artis Compendium , was long a...
and others, used the church prayers, which he knew by heart, without the book. He used to spend two months every year at Oxford and on his way there and back he visited Sir William Master of Abbey House, Cirencester
Abbey House, Cirencester
Abbey House, Cirencester was a country house in the English county of Gloucestershire that developed on the site of the former Cirencester Abbey following the dissolution and demolition of the abbey at the Reformation in the 1530s. The site of the dissolved abbey of Cirencester was granted in 1564...
. He met in this way the rector Alexander Gregory, whose daughter Bridget he married on Ascension day, 1658. In the same year he was presented to the rectory of Suddington St. Mary's, near Cirencester, through the influence of Lady Pool, the lady of the manor. In 1659 the rectory at Suddington became one of the many places of meeting at which the friends of the exiled dynasty assembled to concert measures for the restoration of Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
.
In 1662 he was presented to the vicarage of Suddington St. Peter's by Lord Clarendon, at the request of William Nicholson
William Nicholson (bishop)
William Nicholson was an English clergyman, a member of the Westminster Assembly and Bishop of Gloucester.-Life:The son of Christopher Nicholson, a rich clothier, he was born at Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk, on 1 November 1591. He became a chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1598, and...
, bishop of Gloucester
Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...
. This was a contiguous parish, and he held it with Suddington St. Mary's; the two villages together did not contain more than thirty families. Bull was rector of Suddington for twenty-seven years, and encountered opposition from dissenting parishioners. After the publication of the Defensio (1685), dedicated to Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, PC , Lord Chancellor of England, was descended from the old family of Finch, many of whose members had attained high legal eminence, and was the eldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, recorder of London, by his first wife Frances Bell, daughter of Sir Edmond Bell of...
who had presented him in 1678 to a prebend at Gloucester, Bull was given the rectory of Avening
Avening
Avening is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about three miles north of Tetbury. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,094. The village has two pubs. Nearby is Gatcombe Park, the home of the Princess Royal.-History:During the Second...
. In 1686 he was appointed by Archbishop William Sancroft
William Sancroft
William Sancroft was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury.- Life :Sancroft was born at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher...
to the archdeaconry of Llandaff; and John Fell
John Fell (clergyman)
John Fell was an English churchman and influential academic. He served as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and later concomitantly as Bishop of Oxford.-Education:...
managed him the degree of D.D. at Oxford, though he had never taken any previous degree.
After the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
he was placed on the commission of peace, and continued to act as a magistrate until he was made a bishop, in connection with the society for the reformation of manners
Society for the Reformation of Manners
The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691. Its espoused aims were the suppression of profanity, immorality, and other lewd activities in general, and of brothels and prostitution in particular....
. In March 1705 Bull was appointed bishop of St. David's, but he was aged and infirm. He started to tour his diocese, but illness detained him at Brecknock, where he resided: his son-in-law, Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Powell went as his commissioners, and during the whole period he was failing. He died 17 February 1710, and was buried at Brecknock. His life was written by Robert Nelson
Robert Nelson (nonjuror)
Robert Nelson was an English lay religious writer and nonjuror.-Life:He was born in London on 22 June 1656, the only surviving son of John Nelson, a merchant in the Turkey trade, by Delicia, daughter of Lewis and sister of Sir Gabriel Roberts, who, like John Nelson, was a member of the Levant...
.
Works
He wrote four major theological treatises in Latin, one on justification and three on the Trinity. The Latin works were collected and edited by John Ernest GrabeJohn Ernest Grabe
John Ernest Grabe , Anglican divine, was born at Königsberg, where his father, Martin Sylvester Grabe, was professor of theology and history....
in 1703, with a preface and annotations by the editor, in one volume folio. These works have been translated into English at various times. A translation of the Harmonia Apostolica was made by Thomas Wilkinson of Great Houghton in 1801. The Harmonia, Examen Censurae, Defensio, and Judicium formed part of the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology published at Oxford 1842-55. The Opinion of the Catholic Church, a translation of the Judicium, was published with a memoir of Bull's life by Thomas Rankin in 1825, and a full edition of all the works of Bull (including the sermons and Nelson's Life) revised by Edward Burton
Edward Burton (theologian)
Edward Burton was an English theologian, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford.-Life:The son of Major Edward Burton, he was born at Shrewsbury on 13 February 1794...
was published, in seven volumes, at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1827.
He has a high place among Anglican theologians, and as a defender of the doctrine of the Trinity was held in high esteem even by Continental Romanist controversialists.
The Harmonia Apostolica
He wrote his first book, the Harmonia Apostolica, in an attempt to reconcile the apparent discrepancies between St. Paul and the Epistle of JamesEpistle of James
The Epistle of James, usually referred to simply as James, is a book in the New Testament. The author identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ", with "the earliest extant manuscripts of James usually dated to mid-to-late third century."There are four views...
on the relationship of faith and good works in Christian justification. He advocated the principle that St. Paul ought to be interpreted by St. James, not St. James by St. Paul, on the ground that St. James wrote later, and was presumed acquainted with St. Paul's teaching. Bishop George Morley
George Morley
George Morley D.D. was an English bishop.-Life:He was born in London, England, and educated at Westminster school and the University of Oxford. In 1640, he was presented to the sinecure living of Hartfield, Sussex, and in the following year he was made canon of Christ Church, Oxford and exchanged...
wrote a pastoral letter to his clergy against Bull; Thomas Barlow
Thomas Barlow (bishop)
Thomas Barlow was an English academic and clergyman, who became Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford and Bishop of Lincoln. He was considered, in his own times and by Edmund Venables writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, to have been a trimmer, a reputation mixed in with his academic...
lectured against him at Oxford; Thomas Tully
Thomas Tully
Thomas Tully was an English clergyman of Calvinist views.-Life:The son of George Tully of Carlisle, he was born in St. Mary's parish there on 22 July 1620. He was educated in the parish free school under John Winter, and afterwards at Barton Kirk in Westmorland. He matriculated at The Queen's...
wrote an answer, in which he is said to have been assisted by Morley and Barlow; Charles Gataker, son of Thomas Gataker
Thomas Gataker
Thomas Gataker was an English clergyman and theologian.-Life:He was born in London and educated at St John's College, Cambridge. From 1601 to 1611 he held the appointment of preacher to the society of Lincoln's Inn, which he resigned on accepting the rectory of Rotherhithe...
, Thomas Truman and John Toombes, nonconformists, also wrote against him. The Harmonia Apostolica was published in 1669-70, and his Examen Censures (his reply to Gataker), and his Apologia pro Harmonia (his reply to Barlow) in 1675.
The Defensio
His advocacy of the necessity of good works caused his adversaries to insinuate that he was a Socinian. His move onto the polemical ground of trinitarianism was therefore prompted by the need to clarify his position, in Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (1685). It was finished in 1680, but was turned down by three publishers. It appeared with the backing of William JaneWilliam Jane
William Jane was an English academic and clergyman, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1680.-Life:The son of Joseph Jane, he was born at Liskeard, Cornwall, where he was baptised on 22 October 1645. He was educated at Westminster School, elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1660,...
, and John Fell who subsidised the cost of publication. It was stylish and well received, with praise from Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist....
. The context was that Petavius and Simon Episcopius
Simon Episcopius
Simon Episcopius was a Dutch theologian and Remonstrant who played a significant role at the Synod of Dort in 1618...
, to take two examples, denied that the ante-Nicene Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
held the same doctrines as those which were established at the Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
. Bull took upon himself to prove that they did, and concentrated on the opinions of the ante-Nicene fathers, excluding other controversies.
A substantial excerpt from the Defensio Fidei Nicaenae was reprinted by Abbé Migne in his seventh volume devoted to Origen in the Patrologia Graeca (vol. XVII)
Further trinitarian works
Bull's next work, the Judicium Ecclesiae Catholicae (1694), supplements the Defensio. Episcopius held that the Nicene fathers did not consider a belief in our Lord's true and proper divinity as an indispensable term of catholic communion; Bull wrote the Judicium to prove that they did. His last work on the trinitarian question, entitled Primitiva et Apostolica Traditio, was directed against the opinion of Daniel ZwickerDaniel Zwicker
Daniel Zwicker was a German physician from Danzig, and a Socinian theologian and controversialist of the Polish Brethren.-Life:He was the son of Friedrich Zwicker, Lutheran minister of the Church of St. Bartholomew at Danzig...
, that Christ's divinity, preexistence, and incarnation were inventions of early heretics.