When stopping in Strasbourg on his return, Jewel wrote Martyr that
the religious situation in England was proving no less turbulent than the
weather. Elizabeth had already forbidden anyone to preach, ‘either
papist or gospeller’. Some thought, according to Jewel, that this was
because there was merely one Protestant minister in all of London,
Thomas Bentham, a former exile who had taken part in the troubles at
Frankfurt and who had since then been smuggled back into England to
minister to the clandestine Protestant church in London.^5 Yet others,
again, according to Jewel, thought the decree was issued because the
only time Bentham had given a public sermon, a religious riot had
broken out, with people arguing whether the English Protestant church
should look like Frankfurt or Geneva?^6 As the situation unfolded,
Frankfurt may well have been a happy alternative for even the more
precise. But it was not merely a matter of muzzling the godly M.
Bentham; bishop White of Winchester, in his sermon upon Mary’s
funeral urged the faithful of England to resist all change, and that it
would be a pious act if one were to kill the returning exiles.^7 The
Marquis of Winchester duly charged White with sedition and arrested
him.^8 The news of White’s discomfiture probably encouraged Jewel, but
as he would find, to his exasperation if not consternation, the sovereign
was more quick to silence extremes than eager to effect religious change.
That England would be a Protestant country seemed a surety to the
exiles, even though moderation in the speed of change, and discretion in
how it was done, was on all sides the caution repeated to Elizabeth.^9
Even in the first days of his return Jewel had this same impression:
The queen meanwhile, though she openly supports our cause, yet
partly by her own councillors who consider everything, and partly
by the Spaniard count Feria, Philip’s legate, she is wonderfully
enjoined not to allow anything to be restored. Nevertheless, she is
prudently, firmly, and piously pursuing her intentions, though less
swiftly than desired. And although the beginning seems so far a little
difficult, nevertheless there is hope that sometime a right conclusion
shall occur.^1052 JOHN JEWEL AND THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHURCH
(^5) See Garrett, Marian Exiles, pp. 86–87.
(^6) Jewel, Letter to Martyr, 26 January 1559, Works, II, p. 1198.
(^7) ‘Bonum factum, si quis exules reduces interfecerit.’ Ibid., p. 1197.
(^8) White must have soon been released, as he played a crucial role in the affairs of
Elizabeth’s first parliament, though he soon enough found himself again in the Tower.
(^9) See Dickens, English Reformation, pp. 294–96, and especially Jones, Faith by Statute,
who argues that the intentions of Elizabeth were sweeping, but conservatively
implemented.
(^10) ‘Regina interea, etsi aperte faveat nostrae causae, tamen partim a suis, quorum
consilio omnia geruntur, partim a legato Philippi comite Ferio, homine Hsipano, ne quid
patiatur innovari mirific deterretur. Illa tamen, quamvis lentiurs aliquanto quam nos
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