Bull, GEORGE, D.D., divine, was born at Wells, Somersetshire, in 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 Davids (1705). He died at Brecknock, 17th February 1710. His Harmonia Apostolica (1670), whose object was to reconcile the apostles Paul and James on the subject of justification, occasioned considerable controversy among divines, and, in answer, Bull published his Examen Censuræ and Apologia pro Harmonia. His greatest work, the Defensio Fidei Nicænæ (1685), was directed against
Arians and Socinians, Tritheists and Sabellians; for his Judicium Ecclesiæ Catholicae (1694) the thanks of the whole French clergy were sent to him through the celebrated Bossuet. These are included in Dr Burton's edition of his works (8 vols. Oxford, 1827), to which is prefixed a Life by R. Nelson; and they are translated in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology (Oxford, 1842–55).