Jewell, John

Jewell, John, a learned English writer and bishop, one of the fathers of the English Protestant Church, was born May 24, 1522, at Bitden, in the county of Devon, and educated at Oxford, where he took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1541, became a noted tutor, and was soon after chosen lecturer on rhetoric in his college. He had early imbibed the principles of the Reformation, and inculcated them upon his pupils, though it had to be done privately till the accession of king Edward the Sixth, which took place in 1546, when he made a public declaration of his faith, and entered into a close friendship with Peter Martyr, who was visiting Oxford about this time. On the accession of queen Mary in 1553, he was one of the first to feel the rage of the storm then raised against the Reformation; he was obliged to flee, and, after encountering many difficulties, joined the English exiles at Frankfort, in the second year of queen Mary's reign, and here made a public recantation of his forced subscription to the popish doctrines. He then went to Strasburg, and afterwards to Zurich, where he resided with Peter Martyr. He returned to England in 1559, after the death of queen Mary, and in the following year was consecrated bishop of Salisbury. He now preached and wrote anew in favor of the Reformation, and sought in every way to extinguish any attachment still remaining for the Roman Catholics. It was at this time, after more than twenty years spent in researches, that he published his famous Apologia pro Ecclesia Anglicana (translated into six different languages, and into English by lady Bacon [wife of the councilor], under the title, An Apology or Answer in defence of the Church of England, 1562, 4to). But his watchful and laborious manner of life impaired his health, and brought him quickly to the grave. He died at Monkton Farley Sept. 22, 1571. "He was a prelate of great learning, piety, and moderation; irreproachable in his private life.; extremely generous and charitable to the poor, to whom, it is said, his doors always stood open. He was of a pleasant and affable temper, modest, meek, and temperate, and a great master of his passions. His memory was naturally strong and retentive, but he is said to have greatly improved it by art, insomuch that marvelous things are related of it by his biographers." The writings of bishop Jewell, which are chiefly controversial, are greatly valued even in our day, and are freely used in two departments of Church controversy — on the question between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, and on the question respecting the devotional sentiments of the English Protestant fathers. Besides his Apology, he wrote, in reply to Thomas Harding (q.v.), A Defence of the Apology (1565 and 1567, folio), the reading of which was obligatory in all parishes until the time of Charles I: — A View of a seditious Bull sent into England by Pope Pius V in 1569: — A Treatise on the Holy Scriptures (Lond. 1582, 8vo): — An Exposition of the two Epistles to the Thessalonians: — A Treatise on the Sacraments (Lond. 1583, 8vo); besides several sermons and controversial treatises. His works were collected and published in one folio volume (Lon. 1609, 1611, 1631, 1711; recent editions, Camb. 1845-50, 4 vols. sm. fol.; Oxf. 1847, 1848, 8 vols. 8vo). See Fuller, Church Hist.; Burnet, Hist. of Reformation; L. Humfrey, Life of John Jewell (1573); Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gem. 26, 710; Allibone, Dict. of Auth. 1, 967; Wood, Athenoe Oxon. vol. 1 (see Index); Chas. Webb le Bas, Life of Bishop Jewell (1835); Middleton, Reformers, 3, 352 sq. (J.H.W.)