'Devout and decent reading of the Prayers of the Church': Robert Nelson's 'Life of Dr. George Bull'
In our readings from Robert Nelson's 1713 The Life of Dr. George Bull , we left Bull in the early months of 1662, newly instituted to the cure of Suddington, beginning to slowly reconcile his parishioners to the liturgy which had prohibited under the Cromwellian regime. Nelson had made the point that the manner in which Bull read the Prayer Book offices "reconciled the Minds of his Parishioners to the Common-Prayer, before the Use of it was Publickly Restored". This leads Nelson to reflect more widely on the significance of the minister reading divine service. In doing so, he was also reflecting a concern later raised by the then Bishop Bull , would emphasise the significance of "reverence and devotion" in the clergy "Reading Divine Service, or the Prayers of the Church". Nelson, echoing the later Bull, challenges those who fail to recognise the significance of "devout and decent reading of the Prayers of the Church": It is possible, this d...
