produced by Richard Montagu – double predestination, limited
atonement, slighting the necessity of good works – and his delineation of
moderation seems largely analogous to the theological and ecclesiastical
positions of John Cosin. White then reads these definitions back into the
sixteenth century, and promptly finds what he wants.^39 White, turning
his gaze on Jewel, calls on a distinction Jewel makes between trust and
certainty to show that he is in no sense a Calvinist,^40 and then further
asserts that Jewel is not even an Augustinian. White also notes some
statements Jewel made about the interpretation of Scripture, which
would imply a departure from the strictly Protestant understanding of
the authority of Scripture.^41 Yet as has already been shown, Jewel
emphatically embraced the Scriptures as the only norm for doctrine, even
if the prince has become a lord of the conscience, and could be given
magisterial prerogatives.
Further, to claim that Jewel was not an Augustinian, let alone a
Calvinist, begs the question then of what exactly he was: an Erasmian?
a follower of Pighius? In fact he was just as much ‘Calvinist’ as was
Martyr (who probably should be labeled a better Calvinist than Calvin).
In his sermons on II Thessalonians Jewel makes abundantly clear not
only the primacy to be given divine grace, but that the only cause of faith
came from grace. Further, Jewel makes not merely a strong association,
but a virtual identification of the Word of God as Scripture with the
word of God that effects God’s will – the fiat luxof creation – in the life
of the Christian, that is, regeneration. How does it come about that the
human condition necessitated this action? ‘We are the children of Adam:
we are flesh and blood, and nothing but vile clay and ashes. Our eyes are
dim, our senses dull, and our hearts heavy. Christ telleth us truly:
“Without me ye can do nothing”; neither hear the word, nor believe it.’^42
Yet does this say enough? Once Christ has acted, can the soul reject him
and turn him away, or, animated by a free will chose him to salvation?
THE IDENTITY OF THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHURCH 239
(^39) Lake, ‘Predestinarian Propositions’, pp. 110–23.
(^40) Calvin spends several sections of the Institutes(III.2.15–28) explicating this very
thing, that certainty is a necessary consequence of faith: ‘In the divine benevolence, which
faith is said to look to, we understand the possession of salvation and eternal life is
obtained (III.2.28).’ Calvin, Institutes, Vol. I, p. 573.
(^41) Though he does not reference him directly, White probably got this notion from
Southgate and it shall be treated in the conclusion.
(^42) Jewel,Commentary upon the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, in Works, II,
p. 936. Jewel also imbibes that most classic definition of total depravity, that thing which
of course brings the necessity for God to act as regards the sinner not only in Calvin but
in Luther: ‘I which speak am but a worm, unworthy to creep upon the earth, yet the
word which we have heard is the word of God, the word of comfort, and the word of
life.’