Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bull, Daniel
BULL, DANIEL (fl. 1657–1681), silenced minister, was elected pastor of Stoke Newington on 27 Sept. 1657 (William Heath, the rector, was under sequestration) in the room of Thomas Manton, afterwards D.D. Cromwell confirmed the appointment on 25 Nov. At the Restoration Heath was reinstated in the living, but Bull did not leave Newington, and continued to preach there till the Uniformity Act, 1662. It puzzles Palmer that in the London collection of farewell sermons he is described as of Newington Green. This probably means that he left the rectory to reside on the green, but was still allowed to lecture at the parish church after Heath had resumed possession. Perhaps he acted as Heath's curate ; in any case he is more properly described as silenced than as ejected. Bull was probably the founder of the presbyterian congregation at Newington Green. We find him as colleague with John Howe as pastor of the presbyterian congregation at Silver Street. Here he fell into some immorality, of which we have no particulars, but it was sufficiently grave to extinguish his career. Howe's sermon, 'A Discourse of Charity in reference to other Men's Sins' (1 Cor. xiii. 6), appended to his 'Thoughtfulness for the Morrow,' 1681, 8vo, was called forth by this painful case, which Calamy speaks of as a 'single instance' among the nonconformists of 1662. Bull was probably living at the date (1702) of Calamy's first edition. In the second edition is a note by Samuel Stancliff, formerly minister at Rotherhithe, who strongly affirms Bull's penitence. His two sermons are in 'Farewell Sermons by London Ministers, &c.,' 1663, 8vo (John xiv. 16, and Acts xx. 32).
[Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, 1714, pt. ii. p. 171; Calamy's Abridgment, 1702, p. 281; Account, 1713, p. 471 ; Palmer's Nonconf. Memorial, 1802, ii. 458 sq., 467.]