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Bull. subject which has yet been produced. Towards the 

 * v end of the yar 1675, he published two defences of 

 his Harmonia; one of them, his Examen Censures f 

 in reply to Mr Gataker ; and the other, Apologia 

 pro Harmonia, in reply to Dr Tully. Ail th^se 

 works, whatever may be thought of their principles, 

 are certainly distinguished both by learning and abi- 

 lity. In 1678, Mr Bull was installed as a prebend- 

 ary in the chu'ch of Gloucester, to which he had 

 been promoted by Lord Chancellor the Earl of Not- 

 tingham. Two years dfter this, he completed and 

 published his Defensio Fidei Nicenos : a work di- 

 rected against the Anans and Socinians on the one 

 hand, and the Sabelhans and Tntheists on the other. 

 It procured for the author great celebrity as a con- 

 troversialist, both at home and abroad ; and has been 

 of considerable service in the disputes respecting the 

 Trinity, which have so long agitated the Christian 

 church. At the same time, while it has been ap- 

 plauded by some as a masterpiece of reasoning and 

 erudition, it has been condemned by others as con- 

 taining no small portion of malevolence, fraud, igno- 

 rance, and sophistry. The author was presented, 

 in 1685, to the rectory of Avening, and very soon 

 after to the archdeaconry of Landaff; and, in consi- 

 deration of his eminent services to the church, the 

 University of Oxford unanimously made him a doc- 

 tor in divinity, although he had not previously ta- 

 ken any academical degree. As he had been zea- 

 lous IH the defence and restoration of the establish- 

 ment, in opposition to its levelling enemies, so he la- 

 boured to guard it against the other extreme of po- 

 pish superstition, with which it was threatened du- 

 ring the short and inglorious reign of James II. 

 preaching against that system in the warmest man- 

 ner ; and attacking, with equal courage and ability, 

 those false and pernicious dogmas, by which it di- 

 rectly tends to degrade the human understanding, 

 and to corrupt the human character. Some time af- 

 ter the Revolution, he was put into the commission 

 of the peace. In this secular office he remained al- 

 most constantly till he became a bishop. During all 

 the time that he held it, he was indefatigable in his 

 endeavours to put down profaneness and immorali- 

 ty, by executing the laws of the land with prudence 

 and vigour. While rector of Avening, he published 

 his Judicium Ecclesice Catholicce, &c. It was in- 

 tended to be a supplement to the Defensio Fidei Ni- 

 (gnce, and to vindicate the Anathema, as the other 

 work vindicated the Faith, which had been decreed 

 by the council of Nice. For this publication he re- 

 ceived the thanks and congratulations of the whole 

 clergy of France, communicated in a letter from the 

 Bishop of Meaux. The last treatise which Dr Bull 

 wrote, was his Primitiva et Apostolica Traditio, &c. 

 the great object of which was to shew, in opposi- 

 tion to Daniel Zwicker and his apostles, that Christ's 

 existence before the creation of the world was an 

 apostolical tradition, introduced into the first Chris- 

 tian churches, and not a doctrine that was afterwards 

 broached by heretics, or borrowed from the heathen 

 theology. In the seventy-first year of his age he 

 was nominated to the bishopric of St David's, which, 

 however, he accepted of with considerable reluctance 



and hesitation, on account of his advanced period of Bulb 

 life, and indifferent state of health. He was present """ ""V"" 

 in the House of Lords when the bill passed for the 

 union of the two kingdoms ; and, on that occasion, 

 delivered a short speech, in seconding a motion which 

 had been made, to give a character of the Church of 

 England, as the Scottish parliament had given of 

 their church. As a bishop, he conducted himself 

 with becoming zeal, and discharged the episcopal 

 functions with all the care and attention he could be- 

 stow. He was particularly strict in examining the 

 qualifications of candidates for the ministry. . He 

 shewed great anxiety to promote education among 

 the poor, by the erection of charity schools. He 

 laboured to establish and to encourage family-devo- 

 tion, and family-libraries, consisting of books on 

 practical divinity. And, while he endeavoured to 

 revive the spirit and the practice of ancient disci- 

 pline, he also addressed himself to the civil power, 

 for the exercise of its legal and coercive authority 

 against impiety and vice. His intense application 

 to study had impaired his health and constitution ; 

 and he had not enjoyed his bishopric above four 

 years, when he was carried off (1710) by a severe 

 distemper, leaving behind him an acknowledged re- 

 putation for sound talents, great learning, fervent 

 piety, unblemished integrity, and warm active bene- 

 volence. Several years before his death, his Latin 

 works were collected and printed in one volume folio, 

 under the inspection of Dr Grabe ; the author him- 

 self being prevented by infirmity from managing the 

 publication. After his death, several productions from 

 the bishop's pen were given to the public. Of these 

 posthumous works, his Sermons are of the greatest 

 value. They contain much curious matter, and much 

 ingenious discussion, and deserve a careful though 

 cautious perusal from every student of theology. 

 The whole works of Bishop Bull have been publish- 

 ed together in folio, by his biographer Mr Nelson. 

 See Nelson's Life of Dr G. Bull; and JBiographia 

 Britannica. (T) 



BULL, from bullet^ a seal, is a decree issued by 

 the pope, which is used both in affairs of justice and 

 of grace, and answers to the edicts of secular princes. 

 It is written on parchment, in an old Gothic letter, 

 and has a leaden seal attached to it, which presents, 

 on one side, the figures of Peter and Paul, with a 

 cross in the centre, and on the reverse the name of 

 the pope, with the year of his pontificate. If the 

 bull be a letter of grace, the seal is suspended by 

 silken threads ; but if it be a letter of justice, the 

 seal is hung by a hempen cord. According to the 

 laws of the Romish church, no benefices under twen- 

 ty-fur ducats per annum can be granted, and no ju- 

 bilee celebrated, without a papal bull. The bull in 

 ccena Domini, which is read every year in the pope's 

 presence on Maundy Thursday, contains violent exe- 

 crations against heretics, and all who shall disturb the 

 peace of the church ; and the thunder of its anathe- 

 mas is represented by the pontiff throwing a burning 

 torch upon the ground. Upon the death of a pope, 

 his name is immediately erased from the seal, when 

 it is wrapped up in linen cloth, sealed with the 

 seal of the vice-chancellor, and delivered to th.6 



