George Bull, D.D., divine, was born at Wells, 25th March 1634, and studied at Exeter College, Oxford, whence he retired in 1649, having refused to take the commonwealth oath. Ordained in 1655, he took the small parish of St. George’s, Bristol, and subsequently obtained the rectory of Siddington, Cirencester (1658), that of Avening, Stroud (1685), the archdeaconry of Llandaff (1686), and the bishopric of St. David’s (1705). He died at Brecknock, 17th February 1710. His “Harmonia Apostolica” (1670), designed to reconcile Paul and James as to justification, occasioned controversy, and, in answer, Bull published his “Examen Censuræ” and “Apologia pro Harmonia.” His greatest work, the “Defensio Fidei Nicenæ” (1685), was directed against Arians and Socinians; for his “Judicium Ecclesiæ Catholicæ” (1694) the thanks of the French clergy were sent to him through Bossuet. These are included in Dr. Burton’s edition of his works (8 vols. Oxford, 1827), with a Life by R. Nelson; and they are translated in the “Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology” (Oxford, 1842–55).
General
One of the soundest and shrewdest of our older Divines.
Notwithstanding the popularity of this defence of the Nicene faith, and the learning it displays, the author was far from ending the controversy, or from satisfying all his readers. It was alleged, that he does not meet the question with which he deals; that the word ὁμοούσιος being almost new at the time of the council, and being obscure and metaphysical in itself, required a precise definition to make the reader see his way before him, or, at least, one better than Bull has given, which the adversary might probably adopt without much scruple.
One of the most learned divines whom our Church has produced, a man equal to Stillingfleet in the depth of his researches, and superior to him as a practical working clergyman.
When it [“Defensio”] was printed in 1685, it was most favourably received; its fame extended to foreign lands; it was mentioned with praise by the great Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, who, in his controversy with Jurieu, referred his adversary to “that learned English protestant, Dr. Bull.” The “Defensio” was a very seasonable as well as a very valuable work; for not only the antitrinitarians, but also some of the believers in the Trinity—notably Petavius the jesuit, and Episcopius—denied that the ante-Nicene fathers held the same doctrines as those which were established at the council of Nicæa. Bull took upon himself to prove that they did. The “Defensio” was written in excellent Latin. It still remains the “locus classicus” of that particular branch of the great trinitarian controversy with which it exclusively deals, and the objections which have been raised against it seem, partly at least, to have risen from what really is one of its chief merits. Bull showed great self-restraint in never being tempted to diverge from his proper subject (the opinions of the ante-Nicene fathers) into any of the other numerous questions connected with the doctrine of the Trinity; and consequently those who have looked for a satisfactory reply to any question except that to which Bull confined himself, have not found what they wanted.
He received the rare honour of a formal letter of thanks from the great Bossuet and the French bishops for his defence of the Catholic creeds. His most famous works are his “Defensio Fidei Nicenæ,” his “Harmonia Apostolica,” and his sermons, particularly that treating of the Fall. As an historical and theological vindication of the work of the Nicene Council as the necessary and inevitable consequence of the teaching of the Bible and the Church, Bull’s defence has never been superseded. It was recognised at once as a great book, and the judgment of England was confirmed by that of foreign nations and posterity. The “Harmonia Apostolica,” an explanation of the doctrine of justification, and of the agreement between St. Paul and St. James in their treatment of faith and works, has been considered to have as great practical value. Scarcely less attention has been bestowed on his discussion of the Fall. It was the fashion to think lightly of his sermons, because they wanted the florid eloquence in which the age delighted.
