To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE HE name of Bishop JEWELL must be familiar to your readers. Should the Sketches of the Reformation which have appeared in your work, continue to be favoured with insertion, they will probably become better acquainted with the religious opinions of that prelate. In the mean time it may not be unacceptable to them to receive some account of his life and character. That which I have inclosed is chiefly taken from a folio edition of the Bishop's works, printed in 1611, and dedicated to King James.

I am, yours, &c.

Q.

JOHN JEWELL, sometime Bishop of Salisbury, was the son of John Jewell, a gentleman of good family. His mother's name was Bellamie. These two lived happily together in the married state for fifty years, residing at Buden, in the parish of Berinber in the county of Devon, where the subject of the present account was born, on the 24th of May, 1522. I pass over the years of his childhood, during which, by the wise care of his parents, and the skill of his teachers, the groundwork was laid of that moral and intellectual eminence which distinguished his future life. His singular promptness and industry, together with his great modesty and ingenuousness, created a strong affection towards him in the mind of his tutor Mr. Bowin. Nor was Jewell unmindful of the obligations under which Mr. Bowin had laid him. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 53.

not forget him: but endeavoured to When he became a bishop, he did testify his gratitude, by kindness and liberality to the surviving relatives of his master.

At the age of thirteen, Jewell having quitted Mr. Bowin, was sent to Oxford, and committed to the care of Mr. Burrey, of Merton College, a man of inferior learning, and tainted with popery. It happened, however, providentially, that Burrey could not himself undertake the tuition of young Jewell: and it was therefore transferred to Mr. Parkhurst, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, who made it his care not only to instruct his pupil in useful learning, but to "season his tender years with pure religion.". To promote this last object, he frequently took occasion before him to discuss with Mr. Burrey the points which were then the subjects of controversy.

He also employed him to assist in carefully collating Tindal's and Coverdale's translations of the Bible, and was so much struck with the acuteness displayed by young Jewell in the course of this work, that he broke out into these words, "Surely Paul's cross will one day ring with this boy."

Jewell had already distinguished himself by his attainments in poetry, and eloquence, when he was removed from Merton to Corpus Christi College. Here also he gave such indications of superior talents, that he was unanimously chosen, in preference to many masters and bachelors, his seniors, to read the Humanity lecture; and the manner in which be executed this office Nn

served to draw many from other colleges to hear him."

The superiority of Jewell's acquirements may be traced in a great measure to his industry. He was indefatigable in study. Even his recreations were calculated to improve his mind, consisting either in insiructive conversation with his pupils or with others, or in meditating on the things which he had treasured up in his memory. Nor was he less remarkable for the purity of his life, at an age when few are able to withstand the temptations which surround them, than for the extent of his learning. Mr. Moren, Dean of the College, though hostile to his religious principles, was constrained to bear ample testimony to this particular. "I should love thee, Jewell, if thou wert not a Zuinglian. In thy faith I hold thee a heretic; but surely in thy life thou art an angel. Thou art very good and honest, but a Lutheran."

Human nature has been the same in every age. The very name of Christian would once have formed a more than adequate counterbalance for the most useful and virtuous life: Bonus vir C. Seius, sed malus tantum quod Christianus. Nor has the spirit which actuated the ancient persecutors of the Church, ceased to operate amid the more general diffusion of Christian light, and the imposing splendour of Christian establishments. VITAL CHRISTIANITY has ever been, and will ever continue to be, the object of the world's hatred and scorn; and those whose life and conversation manifest its genuine influence, may lay their account with sharing in its common reproach. Christian, it is true, is no longer a term of obloquy. Zuinglian and Lutheran have ceased to degrade the character of those to whom it may be applied. But the men of the world have been at no loss for commodious substitutes. Puritan, (though now growing out of date), Methodist, Calvinist, are now become the epithets, whose cabalistic sound is to destroy the

fairest fame, and to render of no avail the most exemplary sanctity, the purest benevolence, the most self-denying diligence, and the most distinguished usefulness. And thus must it ever be. The disciple cannot expect to be above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. As HE was (making due allowance for change of circumstances) so must they be in the world, if their conduct be such as becometh the Gospel; for then it will be such as must reprove the iniquity that prevails around them. But let them take comfort. They know the unerring faithfulness of him who hath said, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you FALSELY FOR MY SAKE: rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

During the reign of Henry VIII. Jewell continued to advance in piety and learning, and about the end of it, he proceeded Master of Arts. On the accession of Edward the Sixth, Peter Martyr was appointed Professor of Divinity at Oxford, to the great joy of Jewell, who being eagerly bent on improvement, attended and copied out his sermons and lectures. He also assisted the Professor, with whom he became very intimate, in that tumultuous dispu tation which was held in the divinity school with Chedsey, Tresham, Morgan, &c. respecting the real presence. presence. During these days of peace, Jewell continued to read lectures both publicly and privately; and was also in the habit of going on foot, at least once every fortnight, to preach at Sunningwell. He acquired great fame about this time by an English oration pronounced in praise of the founder of Corpus Christi College, and two sermons in Latin ad clerum. His eloquence was bold and mauly, distinguished by the acuteness and strength of his argumentation, and, considering the age in which he

lived, by the purity of his style. His writings manifest great depth of learning; but he seems to have wisely avoided those rhetorical arts which were the great blemish of the learning of that day.

When Mary succeeded to the throne, Jewell was employed by the university to write a congratulatory letter to the queen. From the complimentary style of this letter it may be presumed that he entertained a hope that Mary would not materially change the established religion. Indeed she had made a promise to that effect, which induced Jewell to prolong his stay at Oxford, till at length the storm of persecution overtook him. He was apprehended, and required, on pain of torture, to subscribe a writing in which some articles of popery were affirmed. Jewell, having no counsellor to advise with, and being overcome with terror, was induced to comply with the demand. "Do you desire," he said, "to see my hand, and how well I can write?" On which he hastily took the pen and subscribed his name. This act, it must be allowed, is a deep stain in the character of Jewell. Let the example which it exhibits of human frailty preserve us from self-confidence. "Be not high minded but fear."" Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Such instances, like Peter's denial of his Lord, are mercifully preserved in the records of the Christian Church, as a warning to believers, lest thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, they should let go their hold of him whose grace is alone sufficient for their preservation, and whose strength is ever employed to support conscious weakness.

But Jewell's sorrow and contrition for this timid and criminal compliance were deep and abiding; and the confession of his guilt, and his repentance on account of it, were no less public than his unhappy denial of the faith. In a sermon which he preached at Frankfort, soon after his

fall, he ingenuously declared his guilt before the congregation: "It was my abject and cowardly mind, and faint heart, he observes, "that made my weak hand to commit this wickedness." And so great was the anguish of soul which he seemed to feel in the recollection of his crime, and so earnest and affecting were his humble supplications for pardon, first to Almighty God whom he had offended, and afterwards to His Church which he had scandalized, that there was not one in all that congregation who was not moved with compassion towards him, and who did not receive hin ever after, not only as a most dear brother, but as a messenger of God. "So far was he," observes his biographer, " from accounting sophistry any part of the science of salvation, or justifying any equivocating shifts, which are daily hatched in the school of antichrist."

Happily for Jewell, the dissimulation which his fears had led him to practise tended in no degree to se cure him against the persecuting rage of the papists. The intimacy which had subsisted between him and Peter Martyr rendered him particularly obnoxious to the popish party; and he was on the point of being apprehended and delivered up to Bishop Bonner, had he not, that very night, effected his escape from Oxford. It was his intention to have gone to London; but missing his way, he providentially avoided the pursuit of those who had been sent in quest of him, and who but for this circumstance must have overtaken him. He took his departure on foot in a snowy winter's night. The extreme cold, and the fatigue he underwent, however, at length so overcame him, that he could proceed no farther, and he lay on the ground in a wretched and perishing condition. In this state he was happily discovered and relieved by Bernet, Latimer's servant. He afterwards quitted England, and repaired to the Continent, which he reached without the means

:

even of procuring a lodging, and without knowing any one to whom he might apply for assistance. At Frankfort, however, he was so fortunate as to find friends who had quitted England for the same reasons with himself, and by whom he was kindly received. Among these were Horne, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, Sands, Bishop of London, Sir Francis Knowlys, afterwards Treasurer and with them he continued, till he was invited by Peter Martyr to Strasburgh. Here he met with Poynet, Bishop of Winchester, Grindall, Archbishop of York, and others who had forsaken country, estate, honours, friends, and kindred, for the testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He lived in the house of Peter Martyr, and assisted him in preparing his Commentaries on the Book of Judges. Afterwards when the latter removed to Zurich, where he had been appointed professor of Hebrew and Divinity, he took Jewell with him.

Jewell, in common with the other English exiles, had hitherto derived considerable assistance from the benevolence of many pious persons in London, who remitted considerable sums for the supply of their wants. But this circumstance coming to the ears of Stephen Gardiner, he caused their benefactors to be imprisoned, and stripped of their wealth, and thus stopped the current of their bounty. In the distress to which this unexpected privation reduced the exiles, divine providence mercifully afforded them relief by opening the heart of Christopher, Prince of Wittenberg, to pity and assist them. The senators of Zurich also, at the instance of Bullinger, granted them a liberal and seasonable supply. Nor was this all. Calvin, Zuinglius, Melancthon, and all the brightest ornaments of the reformed Churches abroad, shewed them great kindness, daily sending them consolatory letters, and omitting no duty of love or humanity towards them, during the

whole time of their banishment. As for Jewell, he spent the greatest part of that period under Peter Martyr's roof; and all the time he could spare from the studies in which he was engaged, he employed in endeavouring to allay, partly by letters, and partly by personal expostulations, those animosities which had unhappily arisen among his brethren, in consequence of a difference of opinion respecting ceremonies and matters of discipline. He earnestly exhorted them "that they should, as brethren, lay aside strife and emulation, especially for such small matters; as they would thereby offend the minds of all good men." And when he met with any who were disposed to complain of the hardships they endured in their banishment, it was his practice to inculcate patience. "We ought,"

he would say, "cheerfully to bear a part in Christ's cross, and to consider how much better it is with us than with our poor brethren that are enduring tortures in England. Let us then bear awhile: these things will not endure an age."

The time indeed was now near at hand which was to terminate their sufferings. The Church, after undergoing a short but fiery trial, was delivered from the power of its enemies, and restored to more than its former lustre. All who had been exiled on account of religion, on hearing of the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth, returned to their native land; and among them Jewell.

But I must defer

the remainder of this account till next month, having already occupied a suflicient space in your present number.

tracts from the writings of Bishop Latimer, the evident tendency of which was to shew, that that prelate entertained views, on the subject of predestination and election, inconsistent with the system of opinions usually denominated calvinistic. An anxious desire to exhibit, with fairness and impartiality, the private sentiments of our reformers on these much contested points, and the hope that the peace of the church may be promoted by such an exposure, induce me now to lay before the readers of the Christian Observer a statement of the sentiments which were held, respecting the same points, by Latimer's fellow-martyr JOHN BRADFORD. Of this eminent servant of God, soine account is given in the last number, to which I must refer the reader; only repeating, that Bradford had been the chaplain, and continued to the end of life the confidential friend and correspondent, of Bishop Ridley. Bradford was the author of several works, viz. 1. Seventy-two letters, written to various people, while the author was in prison, printed in Coverdale's collection, 2. Ten letters printed in Fox's Acts and Monuments. 3. Complaint of Verity, printed 1559, 8vo. 4. Three Examinations before the Commissioners, and his private Talk with the Priests, with the Original of his Life, 1561, 8vo. 5. Two notable Sermons, 1574 and 1631. 6. Treatise of Repentance, 1622. 7. Godly Meditations, 1614. 8. Holy Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, the Belief, and Ten Commandments, with many holy and comfortable Prayers, by John Bradford, Martyr, 1614, 24to. In this last-mentioned work are three distinct treatises on the subject of predestination. Of one of these, entitled, "A short and pithy Defence of the Doctrine of the holy Election and Predestination of God, gathered out of the first chapter of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians," I propose to give a copious abstract; using always the author's own words. A fairer view will thus

be obtained of the opinions of this reformer, than a few detached extracts could afford.

Bradford thus expresses himself, "There is neither virtue nor vice to be considered according to any outward action, nor according to the will and wisdom of man, but according to the will of God. Whatsover is conformable thereto, the same is virtue, and the action that springeth thereof is laudable and good, howsoever it appear otherwise in the eyes of men. Whatsoever is not conformable to the will of God, that same is vice, and the action springing thereof is to be disallowed, and taken for evil, and that so much the more and greater evil, by how much it is not consonant and agreeing to God's will, although it seem far otherwise to man's wisdom. Now the will of God is not so known as in his word. Therefore, according to it, must vice and virtue, good and evil, be judged, and not according to the judgment and reason of any man, or of all the whole world, if all the angels in heaven should take their part. But the word of God doth plainly set forth unto us that God hath of his own mercy and good will, and to the praise of his grace and glory in Christ, elected some and not all, whom he hath predestinated unto everlasting life in the same Christ, and in his time calleth them, justifieth them, and glorifieth them, so that they shall never perish and err to damnation finally. Therefore to affirm, teach, and preach this doctrine hath in it no hurt, no vice, no evil; much less hath it any enormities (as some do affirm) to the eyes and spirit of them which are led and will be guided by the word of God."-"That this doctrine is true, and according to God's plain and manifest word, by the help of his Holy Spirit, I trust so evidently to declare, that no man of God shall be able by the word of God ever to impugn it, much less to confute it."

Our author then quotes the Epistle