The Preface to the Reader.
WHO can enough deplore the Blindness, Pride and Partiality of Men who being led by Interest, and hoodwink’d by Ignorance, did at first employ all the disingenuous Arts that spite and prejudice could furnish them with, to ruine this most Excellent, Apostolical, and Primitive Church; or force her to return back to the State of Corruption, out of which with so much labour, difficulty, and danger she was then rising.
But there is some allowance to be made for the misinformation of Strangers, who being separated from us by the Ocean, were forced to take such Accounts as were given them by others; and 1. being too apt to believe the reports of their own Priests, whose Interest it was to blacken her what they could; And 2. those of our own Fugitives, who made the case much worse than they themselves thought it, that they might obtain the more pity, and consequently the better Relief and Provision abroad, which is wont to be afforded to all those that fly for Religion, amongst those of the same Faith; 3. And also suspecting the Fidelity of the Relations made by our Ministers in foreign Courts, 4. And of all our Travellers who stuck to, and embraced the Religion established by Law.
Eccles. Restaurat. p. 283. Tortura Torti. p. 130. 1569.13 Eli. e. a.
But this is not our only Calamity, about the same time another sort of Men separated too upon direct contrary Pretences; Why ’tis our Antiquity, our Decency, our too great resemblance to the Church of Rome that offends them. We are not sufficiently purged for these Pure Men to join with; we have too little of the Primitive Church cryes the one, too much says the other; too few Ceremonies, too much simplicity say the Papists; too many of the first, too little of the latter cry the Dissenters. Thus was truth ever persecuted on both sides, Christ crucified betwixt two Thieves, the Primitive Church persecuted by the Pagans on one side, and the Jews on the other. I venerate thy Truth and Moderation, O dear and Holy Mother, who dost so exactly resemble thy God and Saviour, and the Primitive Church both in thy Truth and Piety, and in thy Sufferings too, which are thy Glory!
But what shall I say for our Dissenters, who have run into such horrible Crimes as Schism and Rebellion, only on pretence to avoid that Popery, that Superstition that was only in their own Fancies and Prejudices? How can one and the same Church be persecuted justly for being too much and too little Reformed? Why have you separated from her Liturgy and Rites, who pretend to embrace her Doctrines? Or if you must needs separate, why yet should you imbrue your hands in the Blood of your Sovereign and fellow Subjects on that account? Supposing you were in the right, this would not justify you, Christ never propagated his Church by Blood and Treason, but by Sufferings and Obedience.
So that leaving these implacable self-condemned Enemies, give me leave, O ye Loyal and Religious Sons of this Holy and ever persecuted Church, to make my last Address and Application to you. You see by whom the Church has been ever persecuted; you see the reason of it; you cannot but know also what she has suffered on both sides; you have read the one, and your Eyes have seen the other; rouse up then, and take effectual care of this innocent, this persecuted Spouse of Christ. Stretch out your hands to Heaven by humble and fervent Prayers, and implore the Assistance of the most Holy God, for her safety and Protection against all her Enemies.
Let the Virtue, Piety, and Holiness of your Lives, assure the World that you profess this Holy Religion in good earnest, and that you do not dissemble either with God or Man in it, but are sincere and resolved to live and die in this profession.
Put those Laws we now have in execution duly and regularly, and with Discretion and Mercy, not out of Bitterness and Passion, but out of Conscience and a true fear of God, and care of his Church; that all the World may see it is nothing but a sense of your Duties, and a Zeal for God, that makes you active and prudently severe.
And as far as you shall have opportunity, take further care by new Laws, to secure this great and inestimable Blessing to your Posterity and the Generations to come, that they may rise up and bless God for you; and remember your names with Eulogies and Honour for ever.
The Life of the Right Reverend Father in God Dr. John Jewel Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
THO Truth and Reason may justly claim the Priviledge of a kind reception, whoever brings them; yet such is the Nature of Mankind, that the Face of a Stranger is ever surveyed with a little more than ordinary Attention, as if Men thought generally that in it were the most lively Characters of what they seek to know, the Soul and Temper of a Man; now because this is not to be expected at the first sight, in Books where yet it is most eagerly desired; Men have attempted to supply that defect with Pictures; and (which affords much more satisfaction) by premising the Lives and Characters of the Authors, which gives the Reader a truer and more lasting Idea of Men, than it is possible for Pencils and Colours to attain to.
The Author of the ensuing Tracts ought to be so well known to all English men, that his Name alone should have given a sufficient Commendation to any thing that can claim a descent from him: But it being now above an hundred years since his death, and his Works which were for a long time chained up in all Churches, being now superannuated or neglected, it may not be an unseasonable piece of Service to the Church, to revive the Memory of this great Man, the stout and invincible Champion of the Church of England; who losing the opportunity of sacrificing his Life for her in the Reign of Queen Mary, did it with more advantage to us, and pains to himself, under her glorious Successor, when he so freely spent himself in her Service, that having wasted his thin Body by excessive Labour and Study, he died young, but full of good Works and Glory.
He was born the 24th of May, in the year of our Lord 1522. at Buden in the Parish of Berinber in the County of Devon; and tho a younger Brother, yet inherited his Father’s Name. His Mother was a Belamie, and he had so great an esteem for it and her, that he engraved it on his Signet, and had it always imprinted in his heart; a lasting Testimony both of her Virtue and kindness to him.
His Father was a Gentleman descended rather of an Ancient and Good, than very Rich Family. It is observed that his Ancestors had enjoyed that Estate for almost two hundred years before the Birth of this great Man. And yet such was the number of his Children, that it is no wonder if this, when young, wanted the assistance of Good men for the promoting of his Studies; for it is said his Father left ten Children between Sons and Daughters behind him.
This John Jewel proving a Lad of pregnant Parts, and of a sweet and industrious Nature and Temper, was from his Youth dedicated to Learning; and with great care cultivated by his Parents and Masters, which he took so well, that at the entrance of the Thirteenth year of his Age, about the Feast of St. James, he was admitted in Merton Colledge in Oxon, under one Mr. Peter Burrey, a Man neither of any great Learning, nor much addicted to the Reformation, which then (in the Reign of Henry the Eighth) went on but slowly, and with much irregularity in its Motions. But we are yet beholding to his first Tutor for this, that he committed this Jewel to Mr. John Parkhurst a Fellow of the same Colledge, and afterwards first Minister of Cleave, and then Bishop of Norwich, who was a Man both of more Learning and of a better Faith; and prudently instilled together with his other Learning, those excellent Principles into this Young Gentleman, which afterwards made him the Darling and Wonder of his Age.
During his continuance in this Colledge, a Plague happening in Oxon, he removed to a place called Croxham, where being lodged in a low Room, and studying hard in the night, he got a lameness by a Cold which attended him to his Grave; having spent almost four years in this Colledge, the 19th of August Anno Domini 1539. the One and thirtieth of Henry the Eighth, in the Seventeenth year of his Age, he was, by the Procurement of one Mr. Slater, and Mr. Burrey and Mr. Parkhurst his two Tutors, removed into Corpus Christi Colledge in the same University, where, I suppose, he met with something of an encouragement; but it is much more certain he met with Envy from his Equals, who often suppressed his ingenious Exercises, and read others that were more like their own.
In the English Life before his Works, is called Witney.
Being now attained to a great Reputation for Learning, he began to instruct others, and among the rest Anthony Parkhurst was committed to his care by Mr. John Parkhurst his Tutor, which was a great Argument of his great Worth and Industry.
Being thus employed, he was chosen Reader of Humanity and Rhetorick of his own Colledge, and he managed this place seven years with great Applause and Honor. His Example taught more than any Precepts could; for he was a great admirer of Horace and Cicero, and read all Erasmus his Works, and imitated them too, for it was his custom to write something every day; and it was his common saying, that all men acquired Learning more by a frequent exercising their Pens, than by reading many Books. He affected ever rather to express himself fluently, neatly, and with great weight of Argument and strength of Reason, than in hunting after the Flowers of Rhetorick, and the Cadences of Words, tho he understood them, no man better, and wrote a Dialogue in which he comprehended the sum of the Art of Rhetorick.
The ninth of February 1544. he commenced Master of Arts, the Charge of it being born by his good Tutor Mr. Parkhurst, who had then the Rich Rectory of Cleve in the Diocese of Glocester, which is of better value than some of our smaller Bishopricks. Nor was this the only instance wherein he did partake of this good man’s Bounty, for he was wont twice or thrice in a year to invite him to his House, and not dismiss him without Presents, Money, and other things that were necessary for the carrying on his Studies. And one time above the rest, coming into his Chamber in the Morning, when he was to go back to the University, he seised upon his and his Companions Purses, saying, What Money, I wonder, have these miserable, beggarly Oxfordians? And finding them pittifully lean and empty, stuffed them With Money, till they became both fat and weighty.
Edward the Sixth succeeding his Father the 29th of January 1546. the Reformation went on more regularly and swiftly, and Peter Martyr being by that Prince called out of Germany, and made Professor of Divinity at Oxon, Mr. Jewel was one of his most constant hearers; and by the help of Characters which he had invented for his own use, took all his Lectures almost as perfectly as he spoke them.
November 1548.
About this time one Dr. Richard Smith, Predecessor to Peter Martyr in that Chair at Oxon, who was more a Sophister than a Divine, made an insult upon Peter Martyr, and interrupted him publickly and unexpectedly in his Lecture: the German was not to be baffled by a surprize, but extempore recollected his Lecture, and defended it with a great presence of mind, the two Parties in the Schools being just upon the point of a Tumult, the Protestants for the present Professor, and the Papists for the old one.
This Dispute began the 28th of May, Anno Christi 1549. and lasted five days.Peter Martyr nettled with this affront, challenged Smith to dispute with him publickly, and appointed him a day: But Smith fearing to be called in question for this uproar, fled before the time to St. Andrews in Scotland. But then Tresham and Chadsy, two Popish Doctors, and one Morgan entered the Lists against Peter Martyr, and there was a very sharp but regular Dispute betwixt them concerning the Lords-Supper. And Mr. Jewel having then a large share in Peter Martyr‘s affections, was by him appointed to take the whole Disputation in Writing, which was printed in the year 1549. for the regulating this Disputation, the Council sent to Oxon, Henry Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. R. Cox Chancellor of that University, Dr. Simon Haines, Richard Morison Esq; and Dr. Christopher Nevison Commissioners and Moderators.
In the year 1551. Mr. Jewel took his Degree of Bachelor of Divinity, when he preached an excellent Latin Sermon, which is extant almost perfect; taking for his Text the words of St. Peter, Ep. 1. cap. 4. v. 11. If any man speak, Let him speak as the Oracles of God, &c. Upon which words he raised such excellent Doctrines, and made such wise and holy Reflections in so pure and elegant a style, as satisfied all the World of his great Ability and Deserts.
1551.
In the same time Mr. Jewel took a small Living near Oxon called Sunningwell, more out of a desire to do good, than for the Sallary which was but small, whither he went once a Fortnight on Foot, tho he was lame, and it was troublesome to him to walk; and at the same time preached frequently both privately in his own Colledge, and publickly in the University.
Edward the Sixth dying the sixth of July, Anno Domini 1553. and Queen Mary succeeding him, and being proclaimed the Seventeenth of the same month, Jewel was one of the first that felt the fury of this Tempest, and before any Law was made, or so much as any order given by the Queen, was expelled out of the Colledge by the Fellows, upon their private Authority, who had nothing to object against him, but 1. His following Peter Martyr; 2. His Preaching some Doctrines contrary to Popery; 3. And his taking Orders according to the Laws then in force; for as for his Life, it was acknowledged to be Angelical and extremely honest, by John Moren a Fellow of the same Colledge; who yet at the same time could not forbear calling him Lutheran, Zuinglian, and Heretick. He took his leave of the Colledge in these words, as near as I can render them in English.
1553. Fuller in his Church History, saith he was expelled for refusing to be present at Mass.
In my last Lectures I have (said he) imitated the Custom of famished Men, who when they see their meat likely to be suddenly and unexpectedly snatch’d from them, devour it with the greater haste and greediness. For whereas I intended thus to put an end to my Lectures, and perceived that I was like forthwith to be silenced, I made no scruple to entertain you (contrary to my former usage) with much unpleasant and ill dressed Discourse, for I see I have incurred the displeasure and hatred of some, but whether deservedly or no, I shall leave to their consideration; for I am persuaded that those who have driven me from hence, would not suffer me to live any where if it were in their Power. But as for me, I willingly yield to the times, and if they can derive down to themselves any satisfaction from my Calamity, I would not hinder them from it. But as Aristides, when he went into exile and forsook his Country, pray’d that they might never more think of him; so I beseech God to grant the same to my Fellow Collegians, and what can they wish for more? Pardon me my Hearers, if grief has seized me, being to be torn from that place against my will, where I have passed the first part of my Life, where I have lived pleasantly, and been in some Honour and Employment. But why do I thus delay to put an end to my Misery by one word? Woe is me, that (as with my extreme sorrow and resentment I at last speak it) I must say farewel my Studies, farewel to these beloved Houses, farewel thou pleasant Seat of Learning, farewel to the most delightful Conversation with you, farewel Young men, farewel Lads, farewel Fellows, farewel Brethren, farewel ye beloved as my eyes, farewel All, farewel.
Thus did he take his leave (saith the Author of the English Life before his Works) of his Lecture, Fellow-ship and Colledge; and was reduced at one blow to great Poverty and Dissertion: but he found for some time a place of Harbour in Broadgates-Hall another Colledge in the same University. Here he met some short Gleams of Comfort; for the University of Oxon more kind than his Colledge, and to alleviate the Miseries of his Shipwreck’d Estate, chose him to be her Orator, in which capacity he curiously penned a Gratulatory Letter of Address (as the term now is) to the Queen, on the behalf and in the name of the University, Expressing in it the Countenance of the Roman Senators in the beginning of Tiberius his Reign, exquisitely tempered and composed, to keep out joy and sadness, which both strove at the same time to display their colours in it; the one for dead Augustus; the other for Reigning Tiberius. And upon the Assurance of several of her Nobles, that the Queen would not change the established Religion, expressing some hopes she would so do, which was confirmed then to them by the Promise the Queen had made to the Suffolk and Norfolk Gentry, who had rescued her out of the very Jaws of Ruine. Fuller saith, that the Writing this Letter was put upon him with a design to ruine him, but there is not the least colour for this surmize; he being so very lately, seasonably and kindly chosen Orator when he was so injuruously expelled out of his own Colledge; but it is much more probable the sweetness, smoothness and briskness of his style, was both the reason why he was chosen Orator first, and then employed to pen this Letter. The Sum of Heads of which are in Mr. Laurence Humfrey‘s Life of Jewel: But there is no entire Copy extant.
It is observed by the last mentioned Author, that whilst Jewel was reading this Letter to Dr. Tresham Vice-chancellor, the great Bell of Christ-Church (which this Doctor having caused to be new run a few days before, had christened by the name of Mary, toll’d) and that hearing her pleasant voice now call him to his beloved Mass, he burst out into an Exclamation. O delicate and sweet Harmony! O beautiful Mary, how Musically she sounds, how strangely she pleaseth my Ears! So Mr. Jewel‘s sweet Pen was forced to give way to the more acceptable tinkling of this new Lady. And we may easily conjecture how the poor man took it.
Being thus ejected out of all he had, he became obnoxious to the Insolence and Pride of all his Enemies, which he endeavoured to allay by Humility and Compliance, which yet could not mitigate their Rage and Fury; but rather in all probability heightened their Malice, and drew more Affronts upon the meek man. But amongst all his Enemies, none sought his ruine more eagerly than Dr. Martial Dean of Christ-Church, who had changed his Religion now twice already; and did afterwards twice or thrice more in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth: He having neither Conscience nor Religion of his own, was wondrous desirous to make Jewel‘s Conscience or Life a papal Sacrifice.
In order to this, he sends to Jewel by the Inquisitors a bed-roll of Popish Doctrines to be subscribed by him upon pain of Fire and Faggot, and other grievous Tortures; the poor man having neither Friend nor time allowed him to consult with, took the Pen in his hand, and saying, Have you a mind to see how well I can write? Subscribed his Name hastily, and with great reluctance.
Anno 1553.
But this no way mitigated the Rage of his Enemies against him, they knew his great love to, and familiarity with Peter Martyr, and nothing less than his Life would satisfy those Blood-hounds, of which Turn-coat Martial was the fiercest: so being forsaken by his Friends for this his sinful Complyance, and still pursued like a wounded Deer by his enemies; but more exagitated by the inward Remorses and Reproaches of his own Conscience, he resolved at last to flee for his Life.
And it was but time; for if he had staid but one night longer, or gone the right way to London, he had perished by their Fury: One Augustin Berner a Switzer, first a Servant to Bishop Latimer, and afterwards a Minister found him lying upon the ground almost dead with vexation, weariness (for this lame Man was forced to make his escape on foot) and cold, and setting him upon an Horse, conveyed him to the Lady Ann Warcupps a Widow, who entertained him for some time, and then sent him up to London, where he was in more safety.
Having twice or thrice changed his Lodgings in London, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a great Minister of State in those times, furnished him with Money for his Journey, and procured him a Ship for his Transportation beyond the Seas. And well it had been if he had gone sooner; but his Friend Mr. Parkhurst hearing of the restoring of the Mass fled forthwith; and poor Mr. Jewel knowing nothing of it, went to Cleave to beg his advice and assistance, being almost killed by his long Journey on foot in bitter cold and snowy weather, and being forced at last to return to Oxon, more dejected and confounded in his thoughts than he went out; which Miseries were the occasions of his fall, as God’s Mercy was the procurer both of his escape and recovery.
For being once arrived at Franckford in the beginning of the second year of Queen Mary‘s Reign, he found there Mr. Richard Chambers his old Benefactor, Dr. Robert Horne afterwards Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Sands Bishop of London, Sir Francis Knowles a Privy Counsellor, and afterwards Lord Treasurer, and his eldest Son, &c. these received Jewel with the more kindness, because he came unexpectedly and unhoped for, and advised him to make a publick Recantation of his Subscription; which he willingly did in the Pulpit the next Lords-day in these words. It was my abject and cowardly mind, and faint heart that made my weak hand to commit this wickedness. Which when he had uttered as well as he could for tears and sighs, he applied himself in a fervent Prayer, first to God almighty for his Pardon, and afterwards to the Church; the whole Auditory accompanying him with Tears and Sighes, and ever after esteeming him more for his ingenuous Repentance, than they would (perhaps) have done if he had not fallen.
1554.
It is an easy thing for those that were never tried, to censure the frailty of those that have truckled for some time under the shock of a mighty Temptation; but let such remember St. Paul‘s advice, Let him that standeth that heed least he fall. This great Man’s fall shall ever be my Lesson, and if this glistering Jewel were thus clouded and foil’d, God be merciful to me a Sinner.
Peter Martyr also helped himself, for he would not go without the Queen’s Pasport and leave, and when he had it, concealed himself fourteen days on the English Coast, then privately took Ship and arrived at Antwerp in the night, and before day took Coach and so got safe to Strasbourgh, the 30th of October 1553.Mr. Jewel had not been long at Franckford, before Peter Martyr hearing of it, often sollicited him to come to Strasburgh, where he was now settled and provided for; and all things considered, a wonder it is that he did not perish in England; For there was no Person was more openly aimed at than he, because none of them had given wider Wounds than he to the Catholick Cause. One Tresham a Senior Canon of Christ-Church, who had held some Points against him at his first coming thither, now took the benefit of the times to be revenged on him, and incited those of Christ-Church and of other Houses to affront him publickly. So that not finding any safety at Oxford, be retired to Lambeth to Cranmer, where he was sure of as much as the place could afford him. A Consultation had been held by some of the more fiery Spirits, for his commitment unto Prison. But he came thither (as was well known) on the publick Faith, which was not to be violated for the satisfaction of some private Persons. It was thought fit therefore to discharge him of all further employment, and to license him to depart in peace: none being more forward to furnish him with all things for his going hence, than the new Lord Chancellor; Bishop Gardiner, whether in honour to his Learning, or out of a desire to send him packing, shall not now be questioned; but less humanity was shown to him in his Wife, whose Body having been buried in the Church of St. Frideswide, was afterwards by publick order taken out of the Grave and buried in a common Dunghill. But in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was removed and her bones mixed with St. Francis: And the truth is, the Queen (who was a bigotted Papist, and too much Priest-ridden) breaking not only her promise to the men of Suffolk, who had stood by her in her greatest necessity, and treating them with extreme severity for but challenging the performance of her promise; one Dobbe who had spoken more boldly than the rest, being ordered to stand three days in the Pillory; but also her more solemn engagement made the Twelfth of August 1553. in the Council; That altho her Conscience was staid in the Matters of Religion, yet she was resolved not to compel or strain others, otherwise than as God should put into their Hearts, a persuasion of that truth she was in; and this she hoped should be done by the opening his word to them, by Godly, vertuous, and learned Preachers: I say, considering how ill she kept her promise to her own Subjects, it is a wonder she should keep the Faith given to this Stranger in her Brother’s Reign, and not by her; and I conceive no reason can be given for this, but the over-ruling Providence of God, who governs the hearts of Princes as he thinks fit.
Peter Martyr. Ecclesia Restaurata, p. 196. Burnet To. 2. p. 245. Ib. p. 245.
But well it was for Mr. Jewel that there he was, and as much of Mr. Jewel‘s Sufferings in England had been occasion’d by his great respects he had shown to Peter Martyr whilest he lived at Oxon: So now Peter Martyr never left solliciting him (as I said) to come to him to Strasbourgh till he prevailed, where he took him to his own Table and kept him always with him. And here Mr. Jewel was very serviceable to him in his Edition of his Commentaries upon the Book of Judges, which were all transcribed for the Press by him; and he used also to read every day some part of a Father to him, and for the most part St. Augustine, with which Father they were both much delighted.
At Strasbourgh Mr. Jewel found J. Poynet late Bishop of Winchester, Edmund Grindal Arch-bishop of York, Sir Edwin Sands, J. Cheeke and Sir Anthony Coke Kt. and several other great Men of the English Nation, who were fled thither for their Religion. And with these he was in great esteem, which open’d a way for his preferment upon his return into England after the Storm was over.
Peter Martyr having been a long time sollicited by the Senate of Zurick to go thither and take upon him the place of Professor of Hebrew, and Interpreter of the Scriptures in the place of Conrad Pellican, who was almost the first Professor of Hebrew in Christendom, and died about this time near an hundred years of Age; at last accepted the Office, and carried Mr. Jewel with him to Zurick, where he lived still with Peter Martyr in his own Family. Here he found James Pilkinton Bishop of Durham, and several others who were maintained by the Procurement of Richard Chambers, but out of the Purses of Mr. Richard Springham, Mr. John Abel, Mr. Thomas Eton Merchants of London, and several others; till at last Stephen Gardiner finding who were their Benefactors, threatned he would in a short time make them eat their Fingers ends for hunger: and it was sore against his will that he proved a false Prophet, for he clapt up so many of their Benefactors in England, that after this there came but a small if any Supply out of England to them. But then Christopher Prince of Wittenberg, and the Senators of Zurick, and the foreign Divines were so kind to them, that they had still a tolerable Subsistence, and Mr. Jewel stood in need of the less, because he lived with Peter Martyr till his return into England.
July 13. 1556.
So saith Mr. Humfrey in his Life; but it is apparent by the first lines of his Epistle to Seignior Scipio, that he studied some time at Padua, and there being no mention of his travelling at any time before his exile, nor indeed any possibility of it, I suppose that whilst he was thus with Peter Martyr at Zurick, he made a step over the Alpes to Padua, which was not very distant, and there studied some time, and contracted his acquaintance with the said Venetian Gentleman; for this Journey is no where mentioned by any other Author that I have seen, and I can find no time so likely for it as now.
Humfrey p. 90.
Dr. Peter Heylyn saith the contrary, and that Wittingham, Williams, and Goodman were Zuinglians before they left England, who were the chief Promoters of the disorder at Frankford. Ecclesia Restaurata. p. 228.When the English left their Native Country, they were all of a piece; but some of them going to Geneva and other places which had embraced the model of Reformation settled by Calvin, they became fond of these foreign Novelties, and some of them at Franckford, in the year 1554. began an alteration of the Liturgy, and did what they could to draw others to them; and to these men Knox the great Incendiary of Scotland afterwards, joined himself, and not long after one Whitehead a zealous Calvinist, but of a much better temper than Knox. Not contended with this alteration, the fifteenth of November 1554. they writ Letters in open defiance of the English Liturgy to them of Zurick, who defended it in a Letter of the 28th of the same month.
English life.
Grindal and Chambers were sent from Strasburgh to Frankford to quiet these Innovators, but to no purpose; so returning back again, the English at Strasburgh wrote to them the thirteenth of December, all which procured no other regard from them, but only to obtain Calvin‘s judgment of it, which being suitable to their own, as there was no wonder it should; things continued thus till the thirteenth of March following, when Dr. Richard Cox entered Frankford, drove Knox out, and resettled the Liturgy there. Whereupon in the end of August following, Fox with some few others went to Basil, but the main body followed Knox and Goodman to Geneva their Mother City (as Dr. Heylyn styles it) where they made choice of Knox and Goodman for their constant Preachers; under which Ministery they rejected the whole Frame and Fabrick of the Reformation made in England in King Edward‘s time, and conformed themselves wholly to the fashions of the Church of Geneva, &c. Thus far Dr. Heylyn.
Conclusion, Section 2. p. 141.
But to return to Mr. Jewel and our Exiles; the seventeenth of
Fuller. C. H.
The time of Mr. Jewel‘s arrival in England, is no where expressed that I can find, but he being then at Zurick in all probability, was for that cause none of the first that returned; so that when he came back, he had the comfort to find all things well disposed, for the reception of the Reformation: for the Queen had by a Proclamation of the thirtieth of December 1558. ordered that no man, of what quality soever he were, should presume to alter any thing in the State of Religion, or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging, &c. until some further order should be taken therein. Only it was permitted, and withall required, that the Litany, the Lords-Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments, should be said in the English Tongue, and that the Epistle and Gospel should be read in English at the time of the High Mass, which was done (saith Dr. Heylyn) in all the Churches of London, on the next Sunday after being New-Years-day; and by degrees in all the other Churches of the Kingdom: Further than this, she thought it not convenient to proceed at the present, only she prohibited the Elevation of the Sacrament at the Altar of the Chappel Royal: Which was likewise forborn in all other Churches: and she set at liberty all that had been imprisoned for Religion in her Sister’s time, and ordered the Liturgy to be revised with great care, and that a Parliament should be summoned to sit at Westminster the 25th of January 1559.
The news of the Queen’s death came to Zurick the last of November. Mart. Letters.
All this I suppose at least was done before Mr. Jewel returned into England; for whether he was here at the Coronation is uncertain. He was entertained first by Mr. Nicholas Culverwell for almost six months, and then falling into a Sickness, was invited, by Dr. William Thames, to lodge at his House; but this was after the Parliament.
The Liturgy being then reviewed, and whatever might give the Popish Party any unnecessary Exasperation or Discontent purged out, in order to the facilitating the passing an Act of Parliament for the settling it, and the establishment of other things that were necessary, a publick Disputation was appointed on the Thirtieth of March following, to be holden in the Church of Westminster in the English Tongue, in the presence of as many of the Lords of the Council, and of the Members of both Houses, as were desirous to inform themselves in the State of the Questions. The Disputation was also to be managed (for the better avoiding of Confusion) by a mutual interchange of Writings upon every Point; each Writing to be answered the next day, and so from day to day till the whole were ended. To all which the Bishops at first consented, tho they would not afterwards stand to it. The Questions were Three, concerning Prayers in the Vulgar Tongue, the Power of the Church, for the changing Rites and Ceremonies, and the Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass for the Living and the Dead.
The first use that was made of Mr. Jewel after his return, was the nominating him one of the Disputants for the reformed Party; and tho he was the last in number and place, yet he was not the least either in desert or esteem, having made great Additions to his former Learning in his four years Exile and Travel: which is great improvement to ingenious Spirits. But this Disputation was broken off by the Popish Party, who would not stand to the order appointed; so that Mr. Jewel in all probability had no occasion to show either his Zeal or Learning.
The Parliament ended the eighth of May 1559. and by virtue of an Act passed in this Parliament, soon after Midsummer the Queen made a Visitation of all the Dioceses in England, by Commissioners for rectifying all such things as they found amiss, and could not be redressed by any ordinary Episcopal Power, without spending of more time than the Exigencies of the Church could then admit of. And this was done by a Book of Articles printed for that purpose, and the Inquiry was made upon Oath by the Commissioners. Here Mr. Jewel was taken in again, and made one of these Commissioners for the West. When he visited his own Native Country, which till then perhaps he had not seen since his return from Exile, when also he preached to and disputed with his Country-men, and endeavoured more to win them to embrace the Reformation by good Usage, Civility and Reason, than to terrify or awe them by that great Authority the Queen had armed him and his fellow Commissioners with.
1559.
The Sunday before Easter of this year, Bishop Jewel preached at Paul‘s Cross, his famous Sermon upon the 1 Cor. 11. v. 25. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread, &c. This Sermon gave a fatal blow to the Popish Religion here in England, which was become very odious to all men, by reason of the barbarous Cruelty used by those of that Persuasion in the Reign of Queen Mary; but the Challenge which he then made, and afterwards several times and in several places repeated, was the most stinging part of this Sermon, and therefore tho I am concerned to be as short as I can, I will yet insert this Famous Piece at large.
March 30.
If any Learned Man of our Adversaries, (said he) or all the Learned Men that be alive, be able to bring any one sufficient Sentence out of any old Catholick Doctor, or Father, or General Council, or Holy Scripture, or any one Example in the Primitive Church, whereby it may clearly and plainly be proved during the first six hundred years. 1. That there was at any time any private Masses in the World. 2. Or that there was then any Communion ministered unto the People under one kind. 3. Or that the People had their Common-Prayer in a strange Tongue that the People understood not. 4. Or that the Bishop of Rome was then called an universal Bishop, or the Head of the universal Church. 5. Or that the People were then taught to believe that Christ’s Body is really, substantially, corporally, carnally, or naturally in the Sacrament. 6. Or that his Body is or may be in a thousand places or more at one time. 7. Or that the Priest did then hold up the Sacrament over his Head. 8. Or that the People did then fall down and worship it with Godly Honour. 9. Or that the Sacrament was then, or now ought to be, hanged up under a Canopy. 10. Or that in the Sacrament after the words of Consecration, there remained only the accidents and shows without the substance of Bread and Wine. 11. Or, that then the Priest divided the Sacrament into three parts, and afterwards received himself alone. 12. Or that whosoever had said the Sacrament is a Figure, a Pledge, a Token, or a remembrance of Christ’s Body, had therefore been adjudged for an Heretick. 13. Or that it was lawful then to have thirty, twenty, fifteen, ten or five Masses said in the same Church in one day. 14. Or that Images were then sit up in the Churches, to the intent the People might worship them. 15. Or that the Lay-People were then forbidden to read the word of God in their own Tongue. 16. Or that it was then Lawful for the Priest to pronounce the words of Consecration closely, or in private to himself. 17. Or that the Priest had then Authority to offer up Christ unto his Father. 18. Or to communicate and receive the Sacrament for another, as they do. 19. Or to apply the vertue of Christ’s Death and Passion to any Man by the means of the Mass. 20. Or that it was then thought a sound Doctrine to teach the People that Mass, Ex opere operato (that is, even for that it is said and done) is able to remove any part of our sin. 21. Or that any Christian man called the Sacrament of the Lord, his God. 22. Or that the People were then taught to believe, that the Body of Christ remaineth in the Sacrament, as long as the accidents of Bread and Wine remain there without Corruption. 23. Or that a Mouse or any other Worm or Beast, may eat the Body of Christ, (for so some of our Adversaries have said and taught.) 24. Or that when Christ said, Hoc est Corpus meum, the word Hoc pointed not to the Bread, but to an individuum vagum, as some of them say. 25. Or that the Accidents, or Forms, or shows of Bread and Wine be the Sacraments of Christ’s Body and Blood, and not rather the very Bread and Wine it self. 26. Or that the Sacrament is a sign or token of the Body of Christ, that lieth hidden underneath it. 27. Or that ignorance is the Mother and cause of true Devotion. The Conclusion is, that I shall then be content to yield and subscribe.
Heylyn’s Eccl. Restaurata. p. 301.
This challenge (saith the Learned Dr. Heylyn) being thus published in so great an Auditory, startled the English Papists both at home and abroad, but none more than such of our Fugitives as had retired to Louvain, Doway, or St. Omers, in the Low-Country Provinces belonging to the King of Spain. The business was first agitated by the exchange of friendly Letters betwixt the said Reverend Prelate and Dr. Henry Cole the late Dean of St. Paul’s; more violently followed in a Book of Rastal‘s, who first appeared in the Lists against the Challenger, followed herein by Dorman and Marshall, who severally took up the Cudgels to as little purpose; the first being well beaten by Nowel, and the last by Calfhill, in their Discourses writ against them; but they were only Velitations, or preparatory Skirmishes in reference to the main encounter, which was reserved for the Reverend Challenger himself, and Dr. John Harding, one of the Divines of Louvain; and the most Learned of the Colledge. The Combatants were born in the same County, bred in the same Grammar School, and studied in the same University also:—Both zealous Protestants in the time of King Edward, and both relapsed to Popery in the time of Queen Mary; Jewel for fear, and Harding upon hope of Favour and Preferment by it. But Jewel‘s fall may be compared to that of St. Peter, which was short and sudden, rising again by his Repentance, and fortified more strongly in his Faith than before he was: but Harding‘s like to that of the other Simon, premeditated and resolved on, never to be restored again (so much was there within him of the gall of bitterness) to his former standing. But some former Differences had been between them in the Church of Salisbury, whereof the one was Prebendary, and the other Bishop, occasioned by the Bishop’s visitation of that Cathedral; in which as Harding had the worst, so was it a Presage of a second foil which he was to have in this encounter. Who had the better of the day, will easily appear to any that consults the Writings, by which it will appear how much the Bishop was too hard for him at all manner of Weapons. Whose learned Answers as well in maintenance of his Challenge, as in defence of his Apology (whereof more hereafter) contain in them such a Magazine of all sorts of Learning, that all our Controversors since that time, have furnished themselves with Arguments and Authority from it.
Rastal was a common Lawyer, and published his Book in 1563. Harding was then Prebendary when Mr. Jewel was elected and gave his vote for him. Humf. p. 140.
Thus far that Learned man has discoursed the event of this famous Challenge with so much brevity and perspicuity, that I thought it better to transcribe his words, than to do it much worse my self.
Dr. Burnett‘s History of the Reformation. Tom. 2. Dr. Heylyn Eccl. Rest. p. 349.
In the year following Bishop Jewel put out The Apology of the Church of England in Latin; which tho written by him, was published by the Queen’s Authority, and with the advice of some of the Bishops, as the Publick Confession of the Catholick and Christian Faith of the Church of England, &c. and to give an account of reasons of our departure from the See of Rome, and as an answer to those Calumnies that were then raised against the English Church and Nation, for not submitting to the pretended General Council of Trent then sitting.
1562.Humfrey‘s in the life of Jewel. p. 177. Peter Martyr‘s Letter to Bishop Jewel concerning this Book is dated Aug. 24. 1562.
So that it is not to be esteemed as the private work of a single Bishop, but as a publick Declaration of that Church whose name it bears. Mr. Humfrey seems in this place to confound this and the Epistle together, as if they had been written at the same time which it is apparent they were not.
This Apology being published during the very time of the last meeting of the Council of Trent, was read there, and seriously considered, and great threats made that it should be answered; and accordingly two Learned Bishops, one a Spaniard and the other an Italian, undertook that task, but neither of them did any thing in it.
But in the mean time the Book spread into all the Countries in Europe, and was much applauded in France, Flanders, Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden and Scotland; and found at least a passage into Italy, Naples and Rome it self; and was soon after translated into German, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, and last into the Greek Tongue; in so great esteem this Book was abroad: and at home it was translated into English by the Lady Bacon Wife to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England.
English Life. Before his Works. Humfrey. p. 234.
It very well deserves the Character Mr. Humfrey has given of it, whose words are these. It is so drawn, that the first part of it is an Illustration, and as it were a Paraphrase of the Twelve Articles of the Christian Faith (or Creed); the second is a short and solid Confutation of whatever is objected against the Church; if the Order be considered, nothing can be better distributed; if the Perspicuity, nothing can be fuller of Light; if the Style, nothing more terse; if the words, nothing more splendid; if the Arguments, nothing stronger.
Page 187.
Heylyn. p. 328. 1562.In the LXIII. of his Age.
In the year 1564. Mr. Harding put out a pretended Answer to Bishop Jewel‘s famous Challenge at Paul‘s Cross, mentioned above, to which in the year following the Bishop made a very learned Reply, the Epistle before which bears date at London the 27th of October of that year: the Bishop is said to have spent two years in that Piece. The same year the University of Oxon gave him (tho absent) the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and certainly he well deserved to have that extraordinary respect and Honour shown him, who was so eminently employed then in the Service and defence of the Church.
1564.
He had no sooner brought this to a Conclusion, but Harding was again upon him, and put out an Antapology, or answer to his Apology for the Church of England. A Defence of which the Bishop forthwith began, which he finished, as appears by his Epistle to Mr. Harding at the end of it, the 27th of October 1567.
1567.
The next year after Mr. Harding put out another piece, which he entitled, A detection of sundry foul Errors &c. which was a cavilling reply to some passages in his defence of the Apology, which not seeming to deserve an answer by it self; he answered rather by a Preface to a new Impression of his former Defence, which he finished the eleventh of December 1569. and dedicated his Works to the Queen; Harding having told the World that she was offended with Bishop Jewel thus troubling the World.
1569.
The same year Pope Pius the Fourth having published a Bull of Excommunication and Deprivation against the Queen, Bishop Jewel undertook the defence of his Sovereign, and wrote a learned Examination and Confutation of that Bull; which was published by John Garbrand an intimate acquaintance of his, together with a short Treatise of the Holy Scriptures, both which, as he informs us, were delivered by the Bishop in his Cathedral Church in the year 1570.
1570. 1570.
Besides these he writ several other large pieces; as 1. a Paraphrastical Interpretation of the Epistles and Gospels throughout the whole year. 2ly. Diverse Treatises of the Sacraments and Exhortations to the Readers. 3ly. Expositions of the Lords Prayer, the Creed and Ten Commandments. And also 4ly. An Exposition upon the Epistle to the Galatians; the first of St. Peter, and both the Epistles to the Thessalonians; which I suppose were his Sermons: for he was of opinion that it was a better way of teaching, to go through with a Book, than to take here and there a Text; and that it gave the People a more clear and lasting knowledge.
Humfrey‘s p. 111.
April 5. 1571.
It was in some part of his year also, that he had his Conference, and preached his last Sermon at Paul‘s Cross about the Ceremonies and State of the Church, which he mentioned on his Death-bed. But I cannot fix the precise time of either of them, or give any further account with whom that Conference was. But however this Holy man sought nothing but the Peace and Welfare of the Church, by these gentle and mild ways of Correction: the Dissenters of those times treated him for it with as little respect as Mr. Harding and his Confraternity had before, as Bishop Whitgift assures us; his words are these. They (the Dissenters) will not stick (saith he) in commending themselves, to deface all others, yea even that notable Jewel, whose both Labour and Learning they do envy; and amongst themselves deprave, as I have heard with mine own ears, and a number more besides. For further proof whereof, I do refer you to the report, that by this faction was spread of him after his last Sermon at Paul‘s Cross, because he did confirm the Doctrine before preached by a famous and learned man touching obedience to the Prince and Laws. It was strange (saith he) to me, to hear so notable a Bishop, so learned a Man, so stout a Champion of true Religion, so painful a Prelate, so ungratefully and spitefully used by a sort of wavering, wicked and wretched Tongues: but it is their manner, be you never so well learned, never so painful, so zealous, so vertuous, all is nothing with them, but they will deprave you, rail on you, back-bite you, invent lies of you, and spread false rumours, as though you were the vilest Persons in the whole earth.
Being naturally of a spare and thin Body, and thus restlessly trashing it out with reading, writing, preaching and travelling, he hastened his death, which happened before he was full fifty years of Age; of which he had a strange Perception a considerable time before it happened, and wrote of it to several of his Friends, but would by no means be persuaded to abate any thing of his former excessive Labours, saying, A Bishop should die preaching.
Tho he ever governed his Diocese with great diligence, yet perceiving his death approaching, he began a new and more severe Visitation of it; correcting the Vices of the Clergy and Laity more sharply; enjoining them in some places tasks of Holy Tracts to be learned by heart, conferring Orders more carefully, and preaching oftener.
Having promised to preach at Lacock in Wiltshire, a Gentleman who met him going thither, observing him to be very ill by his looks, advised him to return home, assuring him it was better the People should want one Sermon, than to be altogether deprived of such a Preacher. But he would not be persuaded, but went thither and preached his last Sermon out of the fifth to the Galat. Walk in the Spirit, &c. which he did not finish without great labour and difficulty.
Having thus brought him to his Grave, my Reader may be pleased to permit me to collect some particular things which could not so well be inserted into the History of his Life, without breaking the thread of it.
He had naturally a very strong Memory, which he had strangely improved by Art. Mr. Humfrey gives several Examples of this, but I will instance in two only, John Hooper Bishop of Glocester, who was burnt in the Reign of Queen Mary, once to try him, writ about forty Welsh and Irish words; Mr. Jewel going a little while aside, and recollecting them in his Memory, and reading them twice or thrice over, said them by heart backward and forward exactly in the same order they were set down. And another time he did the same by ten Lines of Erasmus his Paraphrase in English, the words of which being read sometimes confusedly without order, and at other times in order by the Lord Keeper Bacon, Mr. Jewel thinking a while on them, presently repeated them again backward and forward, in their right order and in the wrong, just as they were read to him; and he taught his Tutor Mr. Parkhurst the same Art.
Memory.
Tho his Memory were so great and so improved, yet he would not entirely rely upon it, but entered down into Common place Books, whatever he thought he might afterwards have occasion to use; which, as the Author of his Life informs us, were many in number, and great in quantity, being a vast Treasure of Learning, and a rich Repository of Knowledge, into which he had collected Sacred, Profane, Poetick, Philosophick and Divine Notes of all sorts; and all these he had again reduced into a small piece or two, which were a kind of General Indexes, which he made use of at all times when he was to speak or write any thing; which were drawn up in Characters for brevity, and thereby so obscured, that they were not of any use, after his Death, to any other person. And besides these, he ever kept Diaries, in which he entered whatever he heard or saw that was remarkable; which once a year he perused, and out of them extracted what ever was more remarkable.
Industry. Common place Books. Diaries.
And from hence it came to pass, that whereas Mr. Harding in that great Controversy they had, abounded only in Words, Bishop Jewel overwhelm’d him with a cloud of Witnesses and Citations out of the ancient Fathers, Councils, and Church Historians; confirming every thing with so great a number of incontestable Authorities, that Mr. Harding durst never after pretend to a second perfect and full Answer, but contended himself with snarling at some small pieces: the truth is, as Dr. Heylyn observes, all the following Controversies were in this point beholding to the indefatigable Industry of this great Leader.
Yet he was so careful in the use of his own Common place Books, that when he was to write his Defence of the Apology, and his Reply, he would not trust entirely to his own Excerpts or Transcriptions, but having first carefully read Mr. Harding‘s Books, and marked what he thought deserved an Answer, he in the next place drew up the Heads of his intended Answer, and resolved what Authorities he would make use of upon each Head, and then by the Directions of his Common place Book, read and marked all those Passages he had occasion to make use of, and delivered them to some Scholars to be transcribed under their proper Heads, that he might have them together under his Eye, when he came to write; which Care and Diligence of his speaks at once both his Industry, Fidelity, and Modesty, in that he would not trust his own Transcripts, and is a just reprehension of the Falshood of those who knowingly make false Citations, and of the supine negligence of those who take them up upon trust from other men, and use them without any Examination; by which means great Mistakes are made, and Controversies spring up to the Disturbance of the World. The truth is, a man ought to re-examine his own Thoughts, for what may seem very pertinent at a first reading to any purpose, may prove otherwise upon second thoughts, and a close Observation of what goes before, or follows after in the Author; and few men are so exact in their first Excerpts, but thro Haste, Inadvertence or Mistake, they may more or less err and be deceived; not to say that a man’s Intention of Mind is much exalted by the fixing it upon one particular Object, and the expectation of a Conviction from his Adversary, in case he make the least Mistake. This Account of our venerable Bishop was given by one Mr. John Garbrand, who was intimately acquainted with him, in an Epistle Dedicatory before some of his Sermons, printed in Octavo, in the year 1583.
He was an excellent Grecian, and not unacquainted with the Italian Tongue, and as to the Latin, he wrote and spoke it with that elegance, politeness, purity and fluency, that it might very well be taken for his Mother Tongue; and certainly he took the right course to be Master of it, having made himself in his youth, perfectly Master of Horace (upon whom he writ a large Commentary) Tully and Erasmus, all whose voluminous and excellent Works he read over, excerpted and Imitated every day he lived, especially during his continuance at Oxon, and he was then wont also to declaim extempore to himself in Latin in the Woods and Groves as he walked.
Languages.
And when the Lady Bacon wrote him a Letter in Greek, he replied in the same Language. He was excellently read in all the Greek Poets, Orators and Historians, especially in the Ecclesiastical Historians, and above all, loved Gregory Nazianzen, and quoted him all on occasions.
His Greek Learning.
His Learning was much improved by his Exile, in which, besides his Conversation with Peter Martyr and the other learned men at Strasburgh and Zurick, and his Society with Mr. Sands, afterwards Arch-bishop of York, who was his Bedfellow almost all the time they were in exile, his Curiosity led him over the Alps into Italy, and he studied some time in Padua, and by the Acquaintance he contracted with Seignior Scipio a great man, seems to have been very much esteemed there.
Travail.
He was of a pleasant debonair Humour, extremely civil and obliging to all; but withall of great Gravity, and of so severe a Probity and Virtue, that he extorted from his bitterest Enemies a Confession, that he lived the Life of an Angel; and tho he were lame, yet till his being a Bishop, he traveled for the most part a-foot, both at home and beyond the Seas; he was contented in every condition, and endeavoured to make all others so, by telling them when he was in exile, that neither would their Calamity last an Age, neither was it reason they should bear no share of the Cross of Christ, when their Brethren in England fared so much worse.
His Humour.
He was so extreme grateful to all that had done him good, that when he could not express his Gratitude to Mr. Bowin his Schoolmaster, he paid it to his Name, and did good to all that were so call’d for his sake, tho they were not related to that good man.
Gratitude.
Preaching.
Mr. Humfrey, who was himself a Calvinist, (as Mr. Camden informs us in his Annals,) has done what he could to represent Bishop Jewell as a favourer of our English Dissenters; but it is certain he opposed them in his Exile, when they began the Stirs at Franckford; and the last publick Act he did in all his Life, was to reprehend them severely, in a Sermon preached at Paul’s Cross, which I take to be the last Sermon, printed in the Collection of his Works in 1609; and to defend the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church against them; both which he mentioned on his Death-bed in these words. My last Sermon at Paul’s Cross in London, and the Conference I held with some Brethren concerning he Ceremonies and present State of our Church, was not undertaken to please any Mortal man, or to exasperate or trouble those that thought otherwise than I did; but least either Party should prejudice the other, and that the love of God through the operation of the Holy Ghost which is given to us, might be shed abroad in our hearts. To which he wisely subjoins his opinion, that these Contentions were kindled and fomented by the Popish Party; as is well known now. The truth is, the Schism was then in its Rise, and those great Impostors Coleman, Button, and Hallingham, which were nothing but Popish Priests in the Masquerade of Puritan Preachers, being severely corrected in the year 1568, there was no great motion made by that Party, till the Parliament held in the Thirteenth year of the Queen, April 2. 1570. had confirmed the Articles of the Church by Act of Parliament; and Subscription thereupon, being more severely urged than before, many Dissenters kept their private Meetings in Woods, Fields, their Friends Houses, &c. as Fuller from Tho. Cartwright‘s second Reply, p. 38. informs us. These disorders in all probability occasioned the Sermon at Paul‘s Cross, and the Conference at London, which happened not long before his death, and probably after this Session of Parliament, which the Bishop survived but six months. So that if the Bishop did rarely and unwillingly preach any thing concerning the Rites and indifferent parts or Circumstances of Religion, as our Author tells us, it was because he had no great occasions given him: but what he thought of these men, will best appear from the Sermon I mentioned above; his words are these. By whose name shall I call you? I would I might call you Brethren: But alas this heart of yours is not Brotherly; I would I might call you Christians: But alas you are no Christians, I know not by what name I shall call you: For if you were Brethren, you would love as Brethren: If you were Christians, you would agree as Christians. So that he could have no good opinion of those whom he every where in that Sermon styles proud, self-conceited, disobedient, and unquiet men, who did not deserve the title of Brethren or Christians. What would he have said if he had lived in our days?
Page 111.No friend to the Dissenters. The Preface to the first Tom. of Coll. by Dr. Nalson. Chap. 1. Fuller‘s C. H. lib. 9. Sect 3. n. 3. Humfrey‘s.
In a short Paper written by this good Bishop against certain frivolous objections made against the Government of the Church of England. Printed at London 1641. Bishop Whitgift in the defence of the Answer to the Admonition, tells us, Cartwright was the man; and that hereupon the Faction used the Bishop most ungratefully and despitefully, p. 423.* Prov. 22. 15.Besides confuting some of the Seditious Doctrines of Thomas Cartwright, who became famous by his Admonition to the Parliament; in the year following the Bishop said, * Stultitia nata est in corde pueri, & virga disciplinae fugabit illam. Which shows he was no encourager of Faction by Lenity and Toleration; tho he was a man of great moderation otherwise, and expressed a great sense of the Frailties of Mankind in other Instances; as appears by his Letter to Dr. Parkhurst when Bishop of Norwich. Let your Chancellor (saith he) be harder, but you easier; let him wound, but do you heal; let him Lance, do you Plaister; wise Clemency will do more good than rigid severity; one man may move more with an Engine, than six with the force of their hands. And accordingly he would often sit in his own Consistory with his Chancellor, hearing, considering, and sometimes determining Causes concerning Matrimony, Adultery, and Testaments, &c. not thinking it safe to commit all to the sole care and fidelity of his Chancellor and Officials. But tho as a Justice of Peace he often sate in the Courts of Quarter-Sessions, yet here he very rarely interposed, except his judgment were desired concerning some scruple of Religion, or some other such-like difficulty. So exact was his care, not to entangle himself with secular affairs; and yet not to be wanting to his duty in any case.
Tho he came to a Bishoprick miserably impoverished and wasted, yet he found Means to exercise a prodigious Liberality and Hospitality. For the first, his great Expence in the building a fair Library for his Cathedral Church, may be an instance which his Successor Dr. Gheast furnished with Books, whose name is perpetuated, together with the Memory of his Predecessor by this Inscription. Haec Bibliotheca extructa est sumptibus. R. P. ac D. D. Johannis Jewelli, quondam Sarum Episcopi; instructa vero libris a R. in Christo P. D. Edmundo Gheast, olim ejusdem Ecclesiae Episcopo, quorum memoria in Benedictione erit A. D. 1578.
Liberality.
Charity.
But perceiving the great want of learned men in his times, his greatest care was to have ever with him in his House half a dozen or more poor Lads which he brought up in Learning; and took much delight to hear them dispute Points of Grammar-learning in Latin at his Table when he was at his Meal, improving them, and pleasing himself at the same time.
And besides these, he maintained in the University several young Students, allowing them yearly Pensions; and when ever they came to visit him, rarely dismissed them without liberal Gratuities. Amongst these was the famous Mr. Richard Hooker his Country-man, whose Parents being Poor, must have been bound Apprentice to a Trade, but for the Bounty of this good Bishop, who allowed his Parents a yearly Pension towards his maintenance well near seven years before he was fit for the University, and in the year 1567. appointed him to remove to Oxford, and there to attend Dr. Cole then President of Corpus Christi Colledge, who according to his Promise to the Bishop, provided him a Tutor, and a Clerk’s place in that Colledge; which with a Contribution from his Uncle Mr. John Hooker, and the continued Pension of his Patron the Bishop, gave him a comfortable subsistence; and in the last year of the Bishop’s Life, Mr. Hooker making this his Patron a visit at his Palace, the good Bishop made him, and a Companion he had with him, dine at his own Table with him, which Mr. Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude, when he saw his Mother and Friends, whither he was then travelling a Foot. The Bishop when he parted with him, gave him good Counsel and his Blessing, but forgot to give him Money, which when the Bishop bethought himself of, he sent a Servant to call him back again and then told him, I sent for you Richard, to lend you a Horse which hath carried me many a mile, and I thank God with much ease. And presently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with which he professed he had travelled many parts of Germany; and then went on and said, Richard, I do not give but lend you my Horse; be sure you be honest and bring my Horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford; and I do now give you ten Groats to bear your charges to Exeter; and here is ten Groats more which I charge you to deliver to your Mother, and tell her, I send her a Bishop’s Blessing with it, and beg the continuance of her Prayers for me. And if you bring my Horse back to me, I will give you ten more to carry you on foot to the College; and so God bless you good Richard. It was not long after this, before this good Bishop died, but before his death he had so effectually recommended Mr. Hooker to Edwin Sandys then Bishop of London, and after Arch-bishop of York, that about a year after he put his Son under the Tutelage of Mr. Hooker, and was otherwise so liberal to him, that he became one of the learnedest men of the Age; and as Bishop Jewel foiled the Papists, so this Mr. Hooker in his Books of Ecclesiastical Polity, gave the Dissenters such a fatal Defeat, as they never yet could, nor ever shall be able to recover from. Nor was Mr. Hooker ungrateful, but having occasion to mention his good Benefactor in that Piece he calls him (Bishop Jewel) the worthiest Divine that Christendom hath bred for the space of some hundreds of years.
Mr. Hooker. Dr. Walton in Mr. Hooker‘s Life.
But to return to Bishop Jewel, he had collected an excellent Library of Books of all sorts, not excepting the most impertinent of the Popish Authors; and here it was that he spent the greatest and the best part of his time, rarely appearing abroad, especially in a Morning till eight of the Clock; so that till that time it was not easy to speak with him; when commonly he eat some slight thing for the support of his thin Body; and then, if no Business diverted him, retired to his Study again till Dinner.
Lib. 2. §. 5.He maintained a plentiful, but sober Table, and tho at it he eat very little himself, yet he took care his Guests might be well supplied, entertaining them in the mean time with much pleasant and useful Discourse, telling and hearing any kind of innocent and diverting Stories: for tho he was a man of a great and exact, both Piety and Virtue, yet he was not of a morose, sullen, unsociable Temper, and this his Hospitality was equally bestowed upon both Foreigners and English men.
After Dinner he heard Causes, if any came in; and dispatched any Business that belonged to him (tho he would sometimes do it at Dinner too;) and answered any Questions, and very often arbitrated and composed Differences betwixt his People, who knowing his great Wisdom and Integrity, did very often refer themselves to him as the sole Arbitrator, where they met with speedy, impartial, and unchargeable Justice.
At nine at night he call’d all his Servants about him, examin’d how they had spent their time that day, commended some, and reproved others, as occasion served, and then closed the day with Prayers, as he began it: the time of his publick Morning Prayers seems to have been eight.
After this, he commonly went to his Study again, and from thence to Bed, his Gentlemen reading some part of an Author to him, to compose his Mind, and then committing himself to his God and Saviour, he betook himself to his Rest.
He was extreme careful of the Revenues of the Church, not caring whom he offended to preserve it from impoverishing in an Age, when the greatest men finding the Queen not over liberal to her Courtiers and Servants, too often paid themselves out of the Church Patrimony, for the Service they had done the Crown, till they ruin’d some Bishopricks entirely, and left others so very poor, that they are scarce able to maintain a Prelate.
Nor was he careful of his own Church only, but of the whole English Church, as appears by his Sermon upon Psalm 69. v. 9. The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up. Which he preached before the Queen and Court, as appears by it in several Addresses to her in the body of that Sermon. In it he hath this observation. In other Countries the receiving of the Gospel hath always been the cause that Learning was more set by; and Learning hath ever been the furtherance of the Gospel. In England, I know not how it cometh otherwise to pass, for since the Gospel hath been received, the maintenance for Learning hath been decayed; and the lack of Learning will be the decay of the Gospel. And a little after he tells us, Those that should be fosters of Learning, and increase the Livings, had no Zeal. What said I, increase? Nay the Livings and Provisions which heretofore were given to this use, are (saith he) taken away. And a little after, Whereas all other Labourers and Artificers have their hire increased double, as much as it was wont to be; only the poor man that laboureth and sweateth in the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, hath his hire abridged and abated. And he applies himself towards the Conclusion thus to the great men. You enriched them which mocked and blinded and devoured you; spoil not them now that feed and instruct and comfort you.
There is fixed upon the Bishop’s Gravestone, a Plate of Brass with the Arms of his Family, and this following Inscription.
D.
Johanni Jewello Anglo Devoniensi ex Antiqua Juellorum familia Budenae Oriundo; Academiae Oxoniensis Laudatissimo Alumno: Mariana tempestate per Germaniam Exuli; Praesuli Regnante Elizabetha Regina Sarisburiensis Diocoeseos (cui per Annos XI. Menses IX. summa fide & integritate praefuit) Religiosissimo: Immaturo fato Monkton-farleae Praerepto XXIII. Sept. Anno salutis humanae Christi merito Restitutae 1571, & Aetatis suae 49. Positum est Observantiae ergo hoc Monumentum.
This Epitaph was drawn for him by Mr. Humfrey, and much more; which in probability could not be all put upon the Brass: But yet he took care to publish it at large in his Life of the Bishop, from whence I have transcribed it, which is in these words.
D.