the growing realization that matters would neither resolve themselves
with the thoroughness of reformed zeal, nor with the rapidity that he
would have liked, Jewel’s tone became somber, even cynical, speaking of
not a golden mean, but a leaden mediocrity. The stagnating pace of
reform becomes a recurrent lament in his letters, as Jewel increasingly
grasped how political considerations impinged upon the questions of
English religion. Writing to Martyr sometime in late April or early May
of 1559, just after Parliament had established the Elizabethan
Settlement, Jewel noted that even this action, a return of religion to the
days of Edward VI, came in a manner insufficient for those who hoped
for a bright future: ‘Concerning religion, it has been enacted (would that
it were accompanied by good portents), that it should be in the same
situation as it was when you were here last under Edward.’^23 Jewel’s
proviso was occasioned by the Ornaments rubric of the Act of
Uniformity that retained the surplice and cope.
Provided always, and be it enacted, that such ornaments of the
church, and of the ministers thereof, shall be retained and be in use,
as was in the Church of England, by authority of Parliament, in the
second year of the reign of King Edward VI, until other order shall
be therein taken by the authority of the queen’s majesty, with the
advice of her commissioners appointed and authorized, under
the great seal of England, for causes ecclesiastical, or of the
metropolitan of this realm.^24
Jewel’s disconsolate attitude regarding the breadth of the reform
accomplished by the Elizabethan Settlement waned over time. And
though still manifestly present, his discontent appeared only rarely after
he assumed his episcopal duties in June 1560,^25 and even that in a furtive
letter to Bullinger.^26 Despite his disaffection with those he believed should
be his allies in matters of such great importance, he kept his opinions
private, confined to his letters to Peter Martyr, Heinrich Bullinger and
the other Zurich ministers. Publicly, Jewel was always the dutiful English
bishop.^27 In the end, whoever those may be who by their lack of zeal
retarded reform, they did not pose the greatest threat to the English
Church. The real peril came from those who would overthrow Elizabeth,
who sought to circumvent her laws, and who fled the country to foment
56 JOHN JEWEL AND THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHURCH
(^23) ‘De religione transactum est (utinam bonis auspiciis!) ut esset eo loco, quo fuit ultimis
tuis temporibus sub Edouardo.’ Jewel, undated Letter to Martyr, in Works, IV,
p. 1211.
(^24) Hardy and Gee, Documents Illustrative, p. 466.
(^25) Jewel,Works, IV, pp. 1235–36.
(^26) Ibid., pp. 1270–71.
(^27) This dissonance between Jewel’s public and private writings shall be addressed
subsequently in Chapter Four.
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