most precious men of their own persuasion! But were afterwards much more surprised and confounded, when the same person who had officiated assured the principal men among them, that not one period of what he had spoken was his own, and convinced them by ocular demonstration, how all was taken word for word out of the very office ordained for that purpose, in the poor contemptible Book of Common Prayer! " Mr. Bull lodged near a gunpowder manufactory, and made a narrow escape from destruction, by having accepted an invitation to reside with a friend in another part of his parish, a day or two before the explosion of the mill and the demolition of the house in which he had previously lodged. On the 20th of May, 1658, he married Miss Bridget Gregory, daughter of the Vicar of Cirencester; and, the same year, was presented by Lady Poole to the rectory of Suddington St. Mary, near that town. There appears, however, to have been some doubt as to her ladyship's right to present, and Mr. Bull would have been dispossessed, had not his friend, Mr. Stone, taken out the broad seal as a protection, and which gave him a legal title. In 1659 his house was selected as the rendezvous of some loyal gentlemen engaged in the design of effecting the return of Charles II. The Lord Chancellor Clarendon presented him to the vicarage of Suddington St. Peter, in 1662, both livings united not exceeding one hundred pounds per annum. Here he confirmed two ladies of quality in the communion of the Anglican Catholic Church, whose faith had been unsettled by the craft and subtility of some Jesuits. Mr. Nelson regrets the loss of the paper which he wrote for their information; but it has since been found and published at Oxford, by Mr. Parker, under the title of "A Vindication of the Church of England from the errors and superstitions of Rome." In 1669 he published his "Apostolical Harmony," with a view to settle the peace of the church on the subject of justification which then agitated, and still continues to agitate her, wherein he took the true scriptural view of that subject in opposition to the Calvinistic theory, which makes faith to be a bare assent of the mind, without reference to obedience. Mr. Bull, in vindication of St. James, represented good works as "neither the principle nor the meritorious cause of man's salvation, but only as the condition upon which, according to the terms of the gospel covenant, man is to become a partaker of it." It is in two Dissertations; in the first of which he explains and defends St. James's doctrine of justification by works; and, in the second, his agreement with St. Paul is clearly demonstrated. His design is to show that good works, which proceed from faith, and are conjoined with it, are necessary conditions which God requires of us to the end that by the new and evangelical covenant, obtained by and sealed in the blood of Christ its Mediator, we may be justified according to his free and unmerited grace. Throughout his whole book he absolutely excludes all pretensions to merit on the part of man. And "no writer," says a reverend father of the church, of "any description, ever placed the free grace of God and the atonement made by the Son of God, as the sole meritorious causes of man's salvation, in a clearer point of view; no writer ever exposed more completely the Romish doctrine of merit, and no writer ever explained more distinctly the doctrine of St. Paul, in re ference to justification. There is, indeed, a singular coincidence between the errors opposed by St. Paul, and the Romish errors on the merit of works, opposed by the reformers; and Bishop Bull at once exposes this coincidence, states the true Christian doctrine, and warns us against those Antinomian follies into which so many, in the eagerness of their controversial zeal have fallen." Towards the end of the year 1675 he published his Examen Censure and Apologia pro Harmonia ; in reply to Mr. Gataker and Dr. Tully. The scripture doctrine of justification met with powerful opposition from many of his contemporaries. Dr. Morley, bishop of Winchester, prohibited his clergy from reading his "Harmony," or of forming their sermons on the doctrines therein explained; and some heads of houses and tutors in the university admonished their pupils against it. Dr. Barlow, Margaret Professor at Oxford, gave Mr. Bull many opprobrious epithets from the divinity chair, which, being communicated to him by his friend Mr. Thomas, who was then chaplain to Christ Church, he came to Oxford, and they waited on the professor, and complained of the unfair manner in which he had treated his work, and offered to clear himself by public disputation, but which was prudently declined. Dr. Grabe calls the " Apology" "the triumph of the Church of England," in this cause; and Bishop Walker, primus Scotie episcopus, says, " He would be a bold man who, in our day would venture to dispute Bishop Bull's claim to this high character, which is yielded to him not by his native church only, but by the learned universally throughout Christendom. Yet was he subjected to the severest animadversions, and to the most illiberal declamations, by men who placed the essence of religion not in Scripture soberly interpreted by the best rules of criticism, and by the best aids of Christian antiquity, but, in a peculiar phraseology, neither sanctioned by Scripture nor by the earliest writers of the Christian Church. The name of Dr. Thomas Tully, one of this ephemeral brood of polemics, would now, I believe, be utterly unknown, were it not preserved from oblivion in the bishop's reply to certain (at that time) unpublished animadversions, and afterwards in his Apologia pro Harmonia Apostolica, against this doctor's declamation then published." "2 In 1678 Mr. Bull was made prebend of Gloucester; and, in 1680, he published his " Defence of the Nicene Faith," which was received with universal applause, both at home and abroad. He offered this excellent work to several booksellers without success; but having been advised to submit it to the examination of Bishop Fell, it was published at his lordship's sole expense. In 1685 he was presented to the rectory of Avening in Gloucestershire; and, in 1686, Archbishop Sancroft promoted him to the archdeaconry of Landaff. In consideration of his eminent services to the church, the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.D. without the payment of the usual fees, notwithstanding that he had never taken any previous academical degree. Dr. Bull preached very warmly against the errors 1 Sermons by the bishop of Edinburgh. Note to Serm. iii., p. 405. Rivington's. 2 Note to Sermon preached before the bishop and clergy of Edinburgh, June 22, 1825. of Popery, during the reign of King James; and he was put into the commission of the peace after the Revolution. In 1694 he published his Judicium Ecclesia Catholica, in defence of the anathema which was decreed by the first council of Nice; and which received the thanks of the Gallican Church, assembled in convocation at St. Germains. His last treatise was "Primitive Apostolical Tradition," against Daniel Zwicker, a Prussian. In 1703, Dr. Grabe collected all his separate works, and published them in one folio volume, with many learned annotations and an excellent preface, Dr. Bull himself being unable, by age and infirmity, from superintending the publication. In his seventy-first year, Queen Anne proposed to elevate him to the episcopal bench, an honour which he at first declined, but afterwards yielded to the entreaties of the other bishops, and he was consecrated for the see of St. Davids, in Lambeth Chapel, on the 29th of April, 1705. Two years afterwards, his eldest son, George, died of small-pox, in his thirty-seventh year. Bishop Bull took his seat in parliament, in that memorable session when the Union was debated, and seconded a motion to give a character of our most excellent church. A lay peer moved, that as the Scottish parliament had given a character of the Kirk, by extolling its worship and government, their lordships should not be behindhand in giving a character of the best constituted church in the world. Bishop Bull rose and said, "My lords, I second what this noble lord has moved, and do think it highly reasonable, that in this bill a character should be given of our most excellent church: for, my lords, whoever is skilled in primitive antiquity, must allow it for a certain and evident truth, that the Church of England is in her doctrine, discipline, and worship most agreeable to primitive and apostolical institution." In July, after his consecration, he went into his diocese, and was received with the greatest respect both by his clergy and the gentry; and where he constantly resided, and discharged all the episcopal functions. He had greatly impaired his health by his close and unremitting attention to study. On the 27th of September, 1709, he was seized with a fit of coughing, which brought on a spitting of blood. On the 17th of February, 1710, his death was occasioned by an inward abscess, and he was buried at Brecknock, and his grave was covered with a plain stone, on which the following inscription, written by his widow, was engraved : HERE LIETH THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, LATE BISHOP OF THIS DIOCESE; WHO WAS EXCELLENTLY LEARNED, PIOUS, AND CHARITABLE, Out of eleven children two only survived him. His stature was tall and his constitution robust, until broken by intense study. His sermons were published, in three volumes, by Mr. Nelson, with a life, which occupied the fourth. Bishop Bull ranked amongst the ablest divines of his age and country; and his works, " both Latin and English, ought to be in the hands, and, if possible, in the head and heart of every divine." In the third volume of his English works, he treats of the " First Cove nant, and the State of Man before the Fall;" and proves, that the two following propositions have been constantly believed and taught by the primitive Catholic Church. I. "That Paradise was to Adam a type of heaven, and that the neverending life of happiness promised to our first parents, if they had continued obedient, and grown up to perfection under that economy wherein they were placed, should not have been continued in the earthly paradise, but only have commenced there, and been perpetuated in a higher state; that is to say, after such a trial of their obedience as should seem sufficient to the divine wisdom, they should have been translated from earth to heaven. II. "That our first parents, besides the seeds of natural virtue and religion sown in their minds, in their very creation; and besides their natural innocence and rectitude wherein also they were created, were endued moreover with certain gifts and powers supernatural, infused by the Spirit of God; and that in these gifts their perfection consisted." In a letter to Mr. Nelson, of the date August 5th, 1712, the eminently pious and learned Dr. Hicks says of the second proposition, "I am not ashamed to confess that, like many of my betters in divinity, I was not settled in the belief of this doctrine before I read this discourse; but now I rejoice in my conviction of the truth of it; because, as the learned author observes, it utterly overthrows the Pelagian heresy, and shows the absolute necessity of divine grace to fallen man, without which it is impossible for him to attain that righteousness which, upon Gospel terms, is necessary to salvation." ON RE-BAPTIZING, TRADITION, AND THE MYSTERY OF INFANTS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE EPISCOPAL MAGAZINE. SIR,-Mabillon gives an epistle of John the deacon of Rome, (who wrote the "Life of Gregory the Great," and "Commentaries on the Scriptures"), which states the reason why that church did not always re-baptize heretics. "If any person shall confess the Father only, denying the Son and Holy Spirit; or if he shall confess the Son, denying the Father and Holy Spirit; or if, denying the Holy Spirit, he admits the Father and the Son, undoubtedly he shall be re-baptized, according to the rule of the Lord, Go and baptize all nations, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' But if he shall have received the name of the Trinity, though making, however, a difference of inequality, as those who followed Arius did, he shall not be re-baptized, because they have followed the Lord's rule, though they may have erred. These persons are to be instructed rather than baptized, and incorporated into the body of the church by episcopal benediction: that through the charity by which God and our neighbour is truly loved, they may perceive what is deficient, or what is complete in themselves." It is well known that on this subject the Church of Rome differed from those of Africa and some of the Greek churches; for the author of the Constitutions says, "It is necessary to be content with one baptism, which is given in the death of the Lord; not that baptism which is afforded by impious heretics, but by approved priests, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Neither is the baptism of those impious persons approved to you; nor may the baptism of these holy persons be made void through a second baptism, for as there is one God, one Christ, one Comforter, one death of the Lord in the body, so there is one baptism which is given in it. But those who receive their impureness from those impious persons, will be partakers of their minds; for they are not priests, as the Lord says to them, 'Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.' Wherefore those who are baptized by them, are not initiated by baptism, but are defiled; who do not receive pardon of sins but the bond of unity. Those who are initiated in the mystery of baptism, and again approach to be baptized, again crucify the Lord-again kill him. They ridicule divine things; do contumely to the Holy Spirit; esteem that holy blood as common; and are impious towards Him who sends, towards Him who suffered, and towards Him who afforded his testimony. But if any one shun baptisin from contempt, let him be condemned as an infidel, as ungrateful and unmindful of the words of the Lord, Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' But he who says, I will be baptized on my deathbed, lest I should sin and defile my baptism, is ignorant of God, and of his nature, who says, 'Do not put off being converted to the Lord, for you know not what another day may bring forth. But baptize your infant children, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."" The doctrine of the Council of Carthage, in the 124th canon, shows the wisdom of not deferring baptism till death, and agrees with St. Augustine," Whoever shall say, that the grace of God, by which we are justified through Jesus Christ, our Lord, only avails for the remission of sin committed, and does not afford assistance that we should not henceforth sin, let him be anathema." In the 125th canon,- "The grace of God not only confers the knowledge of those things which we ought to do, but inspires us with love, that we may fulfil what we know." It appears that the Catholic Church was agreed, that the correct form of baptism was necessary, but not so agreed as to the necessity of the presence of the priesthood. The Roman Church says now, that, in cases of necessity, an heretic, Jew, layman, or woman may baptize, which I admit, with the exception of the woman; but here is the general case, in which the church differs not in cases of necessity. When the African churches put the question,-" Can heretics give the Holy Ghost?" it would appear that they could not, for Rome orders the imposition of hands. Tertullian admits, that all Christians are priests, but recommends them not to interfere with the priestly office, but in cases of necessity; for although all things are lawful, all things are not convenient; and God has ordained persons to perform the duties of his church; and although He has not absolutely restricted his grace to them, still He has promised to be with them to the end of the world, declaring himself a God of order and not of confusion. Ananias, who baptized St. Paul, is called a disciple; but we cannot say that he was not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon of Damascus; nor can it be proved |
