thought and creed, as delineated in his sermon, were commensurate with
this shift.
Prompted by circumstances already cited, the dispersal of funds by
Richard Chambers, the Exhortatio ad Oxoniensespresents a picture
similar to the one given in Jewel’s sermon at St Mary’s, of both the reality
and the expectations of Oxford Protestants. Jewel fills the first section
with platitudes for the two men who had brought the money from
Chambers to Oxford.^110 Jewel then turns to matters of religion (Jam vero
de religione) in which he paints a desperate picture, in which the Gospel
is set upon by individuals who ‘cultivate error for religion, custom for
truth, and opinion for piety’.^111 Besides these deceivers, those who forget
what the fathers really taught are ‘these other inimical enemies of the
Gospel, who for a long time profess the truth with the mouth, but deny
it with their deeds, and deter others from religion by their accursed
manners and flagrant life’.^112 Jewel’s tone in this demarcation of
Reformer from traditionalist gives a clear view of what Jewel believed
were now the prospects for Protestantism both at Oxford and in
England. These horizons, made clear by his near acquaintance with the
leading Reformers in Oxford, Martyr and Cox, demonstrate little
hesitancy on Jewel’s part in so speaking. And while they also show that
a thorough Reformation had yet to be accomplished, its agenda could
still be pursued openly.
But theological formation and the foundation for later doctrinal
disputes were not all that occupied Jewel at Oxford. As was mentioned,
Jewel was the Orator at Corpus Christi College, and aside from the
oration treated above, three others are extant. The first, an encomium on
Richard Foxe, the founder of Corpus Christi College, has little more
insight to offer than Jewel’s familiarity with what were the common
rhetorical topoi of Renaissance writers: the mention of the deeds, actions
and accomplishments of classical authors (Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Pliny,
inter alios), mythical and tragic figures (the Muses, Neptune), and
ancient personages (Priscius, Cato), all for inspiration and emulation.^113
Jewel, according to Humphrey, did use a text from the psalter as his
theme for his oration, Psalm 112:6, that the memory of the righteous
32 JOHN JEWEL AND THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHURCH
(^110) Humphrey mentions two men, Thomas Sampson and Thomas Horton, who had
been Chambers agents, but it is not clear that they were the two meant in this oration. Vita
Iuelli, pp. 34, 36.
(^111) ‘Ita errorem pro religione, consuetudinem pro veritate, opinionem pro pietate
colunt.’ Jewel, Works, IV, p. 1302.
(^112) ‘Sunt alii longe his infestiores hostes evangelii, qui veritatem ore quidem profitentur,
factis autem negant, et perditis moribus et flagitiosa vita alios a religione deterrent.’ Jewel,
Works, IV, pp. 1302–03.
(^113) Jewel,Works, IV, pp. 1304–05.
http://www.ebook3000.com