After considering Bull's
Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (1685) in the context of the heated Trinitarian debates experienced by the Church of England in the closing years of the 17th and opening decade of the 18th centuries, Nelson's 1713
Life of Dr. George Bull turned to what might be thought a more prosaic subject, that of Bull being appointed to another parish.
Nelson's account of this process sets before us something of a Tory idyll. "It was in the Year 1685, when Mr. Bull was presented to the Rectory of Avening in Gloucestershire": both the year and the geography point to the Tory idyll. 1685 was the year of the accession of James II. With the support of both the Church of England and the Tories - an alliance of parson and squire, shaped by the bitter memories of the 1640s - James had come to the throne, overcoming the attempts of Whigs to prevent the accession of a Roman Catholic. Bull's Toryism has, of course, previously been recognised by Nelson. 1685 was a highpoint of 'Pulpit Toryism', with an accession sermon by a fellow Church Tory, Benjamin Camfield, likely to have been similar to that heard by Bull's parishioners. Camfield contrasted the security of the accession with the confusions that would have prevailed had the Whigs been successful in seeking to exclude James from the throne:
O, what a wretched and disconsolate Estate had we now been in, if we had been left, upon this sad Providence, as our sins deserved, like Sheep without a Shepherd, having none to go in and out before us! In what a divided and bleeding condition had we been, if the blind and furious Zeal of some men had prevailed, to have cast out the undoubted Heir of the Crown from his Birthright and Inheritance!
The sermon also expressed the confidence of parsons and squires in the commitment of James, in the words he used when first meeting the Privy Council after his accession, to the Church of England - "I shall always take care to Defend and Support it":
A KING, who, notwithstanding all the Indignities and Affronts which the rudeness, ignorance, and malice of some men have put upon him, and Libellous Defamations wherewith they have sought to blacken him, yet begins his Reign with the most obliging and endearing assurances of his hearty affection unto, and care and concern for all his People; and in particular, as of their just Rights, Properties and Liberties, so of that most excellent, pure, and Reformed Religion which is by Law Established, more dear to pious and devout Souls, than their Estates or Lives!
And so Camfield's sermon, in a form almost surely repeated by Bull, rejoiced in James' accession:
Since, I say, it hath pleased Him, whom all must obey, to remand this eminent Servant and Deputy of His, and advance him to a more Glorious Kingdom, as we have reason to judge from his exemplary and Christian Death, as well as Good and Religious Government over us; the Imperial Crown and Scepter forthwith are devolved, beyond all dispute or question, upon the High and Mighty Prince JAMES II. as our only Lawful, Lineal, and Rightful Leige Lord and King, as you have heard by public Proclamation, received with the universal joy, contentment and applause of all good people.
If the year spoke of Toryism, so too did the geography. The Cotswolds had been a Royalist stronghold during the civil wars and would remain strongly Tory in the 18th century. The dominant land-owning families in the Gloucestershire were aligned to the Tory interest. If the term Whig evokes urban scenes of merchants and apprentices shouting 'No popery, no wooden shoes!', the term Tory surely evokes the rural communities of the Cotswolds, presided over by parson and squire.
This brings us to Nelson's description of the patron of the parish of Avening:
The Patron of it is Philip Sheppard of Minching Hampton, Esq; a very worthy Gentleman, eminent for his Probity, Sobriety and Charity, and for his great Usefulness in his Country; for he not only administers Justice with great Impartiality, but endeavoureth to reconcile all Quarrels and Dissentions among his Neighbours, before they break into a Flame, and before his Neighbours lose their Mony and their Temper in legal Prosecutions, in which commonly they both suffer.
This was part of the ideal of the Tory squire, faithfully serving as a Justice of the Peace, reconciling neighbours and maintaining the harmony of the local community. Equally important to the ideal Tory squire, of course, was his commitment to the interests of the Church of England. Nelson narrates how Sheppard mentioned to his social circle that he was seeking a parson of the parish of Avening:
Upon which he acquainted the Company, that he had a very good Living to dispose of, and reckoned up all those Qualifications he expected in the Person, upon whom he should bestow it; which so exactly agreed to Mr. Bull's Character, that every one present plainly perceived, that Mr. Sheppard designed to determine that Preferment in Mr. Bull's favour.
Here, in other words, was a patron whose vision of a parson was fulfilled in Bull, the faithful pastor and learned divine who, in the dark days of the 1640s and 50s, had remained loyal to the Church and King, and who had attracted the patronage of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, an exemplar of Tory virtues.
We continue in the Tory idyll as Sheppard and Bull take a garden walk:
Some time after, Mr. Bull withdrew with some of the Company to walk in the Garden, which Opportunity Mr. Sheppard took to declare, that he had on purpose given those Hints, that Mr. Bull might be encouraged to apply to him for it; but finding his Modesty was too great to make that Step, he was resolved to offer it to him, who had more Merit to deserve it, than assurance to ask for it: which accordingly he did, as soon as Mr. Bull returned into the Room; which he received with all those Acknowledgments, which were due for so good a Living, to so generous a Patron.
It is as it should be. The diligent squire, committed to the Church of England, seeking out a good churchman for his parish; the parson neither grasping nor ambitious, faithfully going about his ministry and studies in his parish, a sign of the good Tory virtue set forth in the Catechism, "to do my duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please God to call me".
Nelson tells us that Bull was the embodiment of this Tory virtue, of a modesty that underpinned duty, the basis of a well-ordered Church and society:
Mr. Bull had in his natural Temper, a great Modesty, and backwardness in stirring for his secular Interest; he endeavoured to deserve Preferments, rather than to solicit for them; and his Mind was so entirely taken up in his Studies, and in the Discharge of his Pastoral Duties that he never found leisure
to form Schemes for his own Advancement, and much less time to prosecute those Methods, which are too frequently submitted to, in order to obtain it. He often thanked God for this happy Disposition that was placed in him, which he said had guarded him from many attempts, very unbecoming his holy Function, and had secured to him great Peace of Mind, in the possession of what he enjoyed in the Church, which he said, divine Providence alone, and not his Application, had procured for him. This he looked upon as the true Christian Primitive way of being preferred, VIRTUTE AMBIRE NON FAVITORIBUS; and whenever he met with this modest and conscientious Temper, he encouraged the Person steadily to pursue his Duty, and to depend upon God.
It is difficult not to think that Nelson is quite deliberately presenting a Tory idyll in this account of Bull's appointment to Avening in 1685. There is also the distinct possibility that Nelson is engaging in a nostalgic portrayal of the pre-1688 world, with Toryism and the Church of England triumphant at the accession of James II, contrasting this with the world of 1713 - Revolution Settlement, Toleration Act, and with the Hanoverian Succession looming. Of course, despite the Revolution of 1688 and the changes it brought, there were profound continuities: the world of 1685 was not entirely lost. The Toryism of country parsons and squires continued throughout the 18th century. Nelson's description of Sheppard found a reflection in many country squires across the next century (and beyond). Likewise, Bull's churchmanship defined the centre of gravity in the Church of England over that century - and the Toryism of country parsons remained a characteristic noted by Trollope in the middle of the 19th century.
In a
previous post reflecting on Bull and and a Tory patron, I noted that, contrary to those contemporary Anglicans who immediately dismiss the cultural Toryism which shaped the relationship between parson, squire, and parish, such cultural Toryism secured the cultural presence of the national Church, ensuring that a Christian moral vision was inherent to national and communal life. Patrons gave particular expression to this, embedded in the parish and local community, a key means by which laity had an active, significant role in ecclesiastical life.
The contrast with contemporary Anglicanism in North Atlantic societies is stark - having little regard for national or cultural presence, often far removed from the concerns of local communities, and a 'lanyard class' within the Church routinely dismissing the concerns and views of the parish and local community. This is another reminder that the conventional, patronising dismissal of the Anglicanism of the 'long 18th century' bears witness to an official mindset which actively dislikes the virtues and strengths of what was a remarkably successful ecclesiastical culture.
(The second picture is of the Church of the Holy Cross at Avening.)
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