JEWEL, John, a learned English divine, was born in the year 1522, and educated at Oxford. In 1540, having been created bachelor of arts, he became a noted tutor, and was soon afterwards chosen rhetorical lecturer in his college. In February 1544, he took his degree as master of arts. Having early imbibed protestant principles, he inculcated the same on his pupils; but this was carried on privately till the accession of Edward VI. in 1546, when he made a public declaration of his faith, and entered into a close friendship with Peter Martyr, then professor of divinity at Oxford. In 1550, he took the degree of bachelor of divinity, and frequently preached with great applause before the university. At the same time he preached and catechised every alternate Sunday, at Sunningwell in Berkshire, of which place he was rector. Upon the accession of Queen Mary in 1553, he was one of the first who felt the effects of the storm then raised against the Reformation; for, before any law was made, or order given by the queen, he was expelled from Corpus Christi College by the fellows, of their own private authority; but he continued in Oxford till he was called upon, under the severest penalties, to subscribe to some of the Catholic doctrines, a call which he submitted to. However, this did not secure his safety, for he was obliged to fly; and, after encountering many difficulties, he arrived, in the second year of Mary's reign, at Frankfort, where he made a public recantation of his subscription to the Catholic doctrines. He then went to Strasburg, and afterwards to Zurich, where he attended Peter Martyr, in whose house he resided. He returned to England in 1558, after Queen Mary's death; and, in 1559, was consecrated Bishop of Salisbury. This promotion was conferred upon him as a reward for his great merit and learning; and another attestation was given him by the university of Oxford, which, in 1565, conferred upon him in his absence the degree of doctor in divinity. In this character he attended the queen to Oxford the following year, and presided at the theological disputations held before her majesty on that occasion. He had before distinguished himself by a sermon preached at St Paul's cross, in which he gave a public challenge to all the Roman Catholics in the world to produce but one clear and evident testimony, out
of any father or famous writer who flourished within six centuries after Christ, for any one of the articles which the Romnists maintain against the church of England; and, two years afterwards, he published his famous Apology for this church. In the mean time, he paid particular attention to his diocese, where, in his visitations, he began, and at length perfected, such a reformation, not only in his cathedral and parochial churches, but in all the churches within his jurisdiction, as procured him and the whole order of bishops due reverence and esteem. He was a careful and strict observer, not only of all the flocks, but also of the pastors, in his diocese; and he watched so narrowly the proceedings of his chancellor and archdeacons, and of his stewards and receivers, that they had no opportunities of committing oppression, injustice, or extortion, nor of being a burden to the people, or a scandal to himself. Amidst these employments, however, he neglected the care of his health, to which, indeed, his general course of life was unfavourable. He rose at four o'clock in the morning; and, after prayers with his family at five, and in the cathedral about six, he applied so intensely to his studies all the morning, that he could not without difficulty be drawn from them. After dinner his doors and ears were open to all suitors; and it was observed of him, as of Titus, that he never sent any away sorrowful. About nine at night he called all his servants to an account of how they had spent the day, and he went to prayers with them. From the chapel he withdrew again to his study till near midnight, and thence retired to bed, when the gentleman of his bed-chamber read to him till he fell asleep. This watchful and laborious life, without any recreation at all, except what his necessary refreshment at meals and a very few hours of rest afforded him, soon wasted his life. He died at Monkton-Farley, in 1571, in the fiftieth year of his age. He was the author of, 1. A View of a Seditious Bull sent into England by Pope Pius V. in 1569; 2. A Treatise on the Holy Scriptures; 3. An Exposition of St Paul's two Epistles to the Thessalonians; 4. A Treatise on the Sacrament; 5. An Apology for the National Church; 6. Several sermons, controversial treatises, and other works. Bishop Jewel was one of the great champions of the reformed religion, and was to the church of England what Bellarmine was to that of Rome. His Apology was translated by Anne, the second of the four learned daughters of Sir Anthony Coke, and mother of Sir Francis Bacon. It was published, as it came from her pen, in 1564, with the approbation of the queen and the prelates. The same Apology was printed in Greek at Constantinople, under the direction of St Cyril the patriarch. His defence of his Apology, against Harding and other Catholic divines, was held in such esteem, that Queen Elizabeth, King James I. King Charles I. and four successive archbishops, ordered it to be kept chained in all parish churches for public use.