hazard of his father's displeasure; for the old man had a watchful eye over Mr. Bull, and never found any of these books in his study, without giving visible marks of his anger and resentment: for being well acquainted with his son's principles, and with the intimate correspondence there was between them, he easily guessed from what quarter he was provided with so much heterodoxy, and would often say, My son will corrupt Mr. Bull." Thus it pleased the good providence of God to correct the disadvantages of his education, and by a favourable circumstance to strike such light into his mind, as preserved him from the bad principles of those times, and directed his understanding in distinguishing truths of very great importance. 66 1653. VI. Soon after that he left Mr. Thomas, he enter-He enters into holy tained thoughts of going into holy orders; he had orders. read enough to convince him, that mere presbyters had no power to give him a commission to exercise the sacred function, especially when the plausible plea of necessity could not be urged, which yet very seldom hath any great strength in it; because when positive institutions cannot be had whole and entire as God hath ordained them, with submission I speak it, I think they cease to be necessary. In this case Mr. Bull sought out for an unexceptionable hand, that his mission might be valid, according to the practice of the Christian church for fifteen hundred. years, which affordeth not one instance of presbyterian ordination, but what was condemned by the universal voice of the catholic church. And being thus satisfied from whence he was to receive his spiritual powers, he applied himself to Dr. Skinner, 1653. the ejected bishop of Oxford', by whom he was ordained deacon and priest in one day. This suffering prelate had the courage, even in those times of usurpation, to send many labourers into the Lord's vineyard, according to the liturgy of the church of England, when the exercising this his power was made penal. He lived indeed to be restored to his see, from whence he was translated to the bishopric of Worcester in 1663, and died full of years in 1670. He had been tutor to the famous Mr. William Chillingworth, the author of The Religion of Protestants a safe Way of Salvation, &c. and was one of those twelve bishops that subscribed in 1641 a protestation against the force that was used to their persons in attending the house, and against the immoderate proceedings of the parliament in their absence; for which they were impeached of high treason, and committed prisoners to the Tower, where they remained till the bill for putting them out of the house was passed, which was not till many months m after. His lordship, though he was willing to ordain Mr. Bull, yet refused to give him or any others letters of orders under his own hand and seal, for this prudential reason; because he was apprehensive some ill use might be made of them, if they 1 [Robert Skinner was made bishop of Bristol in 1636, and translated to Oxford in 1641. When deprived of his see he retired to his rectory of Launton near Bicester: and Wood says, that he was supposed to be the only bishop who conferred orders during the usurpation: and, after his majesty's return, 103 persons did at once take holy orders from him in the abbey church at Westininster; and very many frequently in his respective dioceses where he successively sat.] [Eighteen weeks. Wood.] fell into the hands of those unjust powers which 1653. then prevailed; who had made it criminal for a bishop to confer holy orders; but withal he assured him, that when the ancient apostolical government of the church should be restored, which he did not question but a little time would bring about, his letters of orders should be sent him, in what part soever of the nation he then lived, however it should please God to dispose of his lordship; which was accordingly punctually complied with, upon the happy restoration of king Charles the Second. one and when or By this account it appeareth, that Mr. Bull was He was but but one and twenty when he was made priest", twenty which is much short of that age which is required dained. by the canons of the church from the candidates of 1655. the priesthood; but upon his examination, he acquitted himself so perfectly well, that though the bishop was rightly informed as to that circumstance, yet he was pleased to say, that the church wanted persons qualified as he was, and that he could not make too much haste, when his pains and labour might be of such importance; that as to the canons, they could not be observed strictly in such times of difficulty and distress, and that he did dispense with his want of canonical age as much as in him lay. [This irregularity is noticed in a collection of queries, printed without date, entitled, Some Queries recommended to the Consideration of the more rigid and clamorous Rubricians, the 23d and last of which is, "Whether bishop Taylor, bishop Bull, and "archbishop Sharp, who were all ordained priests before the age "of twenty-four, and were allowed to have cure of souls in Eng"land, were yet not clergymen of the church of England?" Jeremy Taylor was ordained before the age of twenty-one, and so was archbishop Usher. See Comber on Ordination, p. 63.] 1655. And it is not to be wondered at, considering the melancholy circumstances the church was then in, that his lordship received with open arms a candidate, who was so well disposed and qualified to maintain and defend her doctrines and discipline, and had nothing but his youth to be objected against him. This for wardness in an argu zeal. I think it may be fairly inferred from this early such times dedication of himself to the service of the altar, in a ment of his time when rebellion and sacrilege rid triumphant, that in his youth and flower of his days he had a true relish for piety, and a zeal for the salvation of souls. The church of England, which is, and that justly, the glory of the Reformation, was then laid in the dust; she was ruined under a pretence of being made more pure and more perfect. Episcopacy, a divine institution, and therefore in no case to be deviated from, was abolished as antichristian; our admirable liturgy was laid aside as defiled with the corruptions and innovations of popery; and the revenues, which the piety of our ancestors had established for the maintenance of our spiritual fathers, were ravenously seized on by sacrilegious laymen, and alienated to support the usurpation. These discouraging circumstances did not damp the zeal of this servant of God, but he engaged in the service of the church when the arguments from flesh and blood were least inviting. When men propose the glory of God and the good of souls as the chief motive in the choice of their sacred profession, as they want not the prospect of riches and grandeur to invite them to undertake it, neither are they terrified with those difficulties that lie in the way of such an important service. The pilot is then most necessary, when the ship is exposed to be driven on rocks and 1655. sands and not to shrink from the exercise of his skill upon such occasions, distinguisheth his courage and resolution, as well as his zeal, to save those who are in the same bottom with himself. at St. near Bris VII. When he was furnished with those sacer- He settles dotal powers, which are the characteristic of a pres-George's byter, he embraced the first opportunity the provi-tol. dence of God offered for the exercising of them according to his commission. A small living near Bristol, called St. George's°, presenting itself, he the rather accepted it, because the income was very inconsiderable; it being very likely, that upon that account he would be suffered to reside without disturbance from the men of those times, who would not think it worth their pains to persecute and dispossess him for 30l. a year. Before he settled at this place, he met by accident with one of his godfathers, Mr. Hall, a clergyman, who acquainted him with the declaration his father had made when he was baptized, which gave him no small pleasure and satisfaction, in that he had fulfilled the intention of his father from the bent of his own inclination and free choice, without having ever till that time received the least intimation concerning it. When he came to fix at St. George's, he found the parish to abound with quakers and other wild sectaries, who held very extravagant opinions, which the people there and in the adjacent parts were very ready to run into; but by his constant preaching twice every [It is properly called Easton in Gordano, five miles from Bristol; it is a prebend belonging to the cathedral of Wells, and the |