John Jewel. The Two Treatises: On the Holy Scriptures and On the Sacraments (Oxford: John Henry Parker, J.G.F. and J. Rivington, J. Hatchard, T. Stevenson, 1840). This is a copy from the Bodleian Library.
The Two Treatises have not received treatment widely. One usually thinks of the immortal and salutary Apology for the Church of England, the grand defense of the ancient, yet restored, Ecclesia Anglicana; yet, these two treatises on scriptures and sacraments exerted a lasting influence during his and subsequent generations.
Simplicity, vigour, biblicality and patristic learning characterize the ever-lucid Bishop of Salisbury. He makes no attempt to write over-the-heads of his readers, something that Calvin and Luther also achieved; these giants knew how to edify.
Jewel’s overall approach was a review of the novelties and corruptions of Romish doctrines and practices--late innovations--by an appeal to the Church Catholic and Apostolic. His objective was to familiarize his people with simple and intelligible interpretations of Scripture, fully asserting the supremacy of the written Word of God and the primitive fathers as learned men, able interpreters of God’s Word, “vessels full of grace” and “witnesses to the truth.”
In the Treastise on the Sacraments, there is frequent reference to the “ancient learned Fathers.” He appeals to Augustine and Ambrose that there are but two sacraments and “that we do no new thing, but restore the ordination of Christ, and keep the example of the holy Fathers.” (10)
As to the Presence of Christ in the Holy Communion, he says, “That which I will utter herein shall not be of myself, but of the Fathers of the Church; not of those who have been of later years, but of the most ancient; not of heretics, but of the most catholic, who have ever been the enemies and confounders of heretics…” (11) It is our view, preliminarily although strongly, that Bishop Jewel's view is Cranmerian and Calvinistic on the Lord's Table.
Regrettably, the Preface by the authors attempt to mitigate the strong language of Jewel towards Romanism at points, as if Jewel appeared to be over-reacting. We’ll monitor both Jewel and all future editors and secondary sourcs, given the penchant...no, strong inclination...in many quarters of Anglicanism to impugn and oppugn the Reformation, like the continuing Anglican jurisdictions and many within Canterburian Anglicanism. Over the 450-year history of Anglicanism, that revisionism is relatively modern, e.g. the last 100 years or more.
Jewel’s spirit from the Apology for the Church of England is evinced here in these two treatises. “The ancient Fathers are our leaders, not our lords. They are not the truth of God itself, but only witnesses of the truth.”
In Treatise One: On the Holy Scriptures, Bishop Jewel addresses the authority of the Scriptures, the profit and dividends for Christians from the Scriptures, the place and authority of the ancient Fathers, the necessity of the Scriptures, the necessity of instruction from the Scriptures, and the joy and pleasure of reading the Scriptures. We'll amplify on this in subsequent blogs.
In Treatise Two: On the Sacraments, Bishop Jewel addresses what a sacrament is, who ordained the sacraments, why the sacraments were ordained, of the number of sacraments, of the sacrament of baptism, of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, of confirmation, of matrimony, of holy orders, of penance, and of extreme unction. (17)
We begin blogging Treatise One of the Holy Scriptures.
God has made heaven and earth, with its beauties, birds, cattle, worms, grass and trees with resplendencies. Yet, a blind or dead man cannot see it. Adam in the garden walked with God without travail, but with pleasures, joys, and the fulfillments of his heart's un-fallen desires. God talked with him in the Garden. Yet, at some point, error and ingratitude entered his heart. He knew not his place anymore nor the previous blessedness. The wrath of God befell him and the snares of the devil came his way.
The nation of Israel? Delivered mightily before Pharoah and Pharoah’s soldiers passing to the bottom of the sea, by the power and authority of the Divine Word. When they were hungry, they were fed. When thirsty, the rocks opened to them. In battle, they were often strong, being led by day in a pillar of a cloud and by night a pillar of fire. When trusting in Him, they were confident. When forgetful and un-grateful, the LORD stretched out His hand against them. God's Word is never defied, ever, in one clear sense of it.
One later prophet, Jeremiah, would sum things up. “I have sent unto them all My servants the Prophets, yet would they not hear Me, nor incline their ear.” Again, from Jeremiah (6.10,19), How do ye say, `We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? They have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?....Unto whom shall I speak, and admonish that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them as a reproach; they have no delight in it. I will cause a plague to come upon this people, even the fruit of their own imaginations; because they have not taken heed unto My words, not to my law, but cast it off.” How completely modern are the applications.
In the Anglican confusions in the US, does this not apply? Does Jeremiah not sound very modern? In speaking with a friend, a Scots Presbyterian, today—he lives here at Camp Lejeune—he made the same point about Scotland, his homeland, on the macroscopic level.
Does this not apply to the mainline Protestant dysfunctional dis-nominations [sic]? Does it not apply to the gnostic charismatics as evinced by their TV-heroes?
Does Jeremiah's Word not apply to us—who know God’s Word—yet, have often heard it with distant or self-righteous minds and hearts? Pharisaic hearts? Or, more so, with theological training, have somehow exalted ourselves above our brethren?
Who is free of gross negligences towards God’s Word, including Church leaders? If any leaders reading this think otherwise, please post your commnts.
The Saduccees will be bored by the questions and the Pharisees will be a tad annoyed, yet, Matt.16.1-12 warns of averting both parties and their doctrines. As Anglicans, we daily confess that "we have erred and strayed" from the divine ways like sheep, but we also, with joy and confidence, repair to Christ alone---as our godly liturgy leads us, biblically and evangelically.
Jewel asks these questions. He calls the Word of God the bright sun of God, which enlightens our paths, comforts us in the way, and brings salvation to our souls. Jewel then charts his course for the section on the Word of God: the “authority and majesty” of the Word of God, its profit, its necessity for instruction, and the joy, pleasure and “delectation” a Christian conscience finds in them. (22)
He promises to discuss whether they--the Scriptures--be “dark and doubtful, or plain and easy for your understanding…” (22) The Romanists emphatically taught the former--still do really--while the True Catholic, or Protestant Churchman, affirms the lucidity and clarity of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are lucid and luminescent; Jewel, himself, attempts to follow that same pattern in style.
The theologian complexifies this with the term “perspicuity of Scriptures.” This attribute, the “perspicuity” of God’s Word, is one recovery, one insight among many, brought by the Reformation (not to mention elevated literacy levels in Protestant nations like Germany, Scotland, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the West more generally, as “people of the book.”)
There is no hiding of the Scriptures from the Church or the believer, as Rome practiced for centuries with its Latin services. We will find no gnosticism, but will finding anchorage and rootage within and in the Scriptures. That's Jewel.
In bringing Part One to a close, with more to say later, we observe a profound simplicity of language. John Jewel most obviously wants to be understood by the people. He is not interested in higher, scholarly language here--although, like Luther, capable of it. He is clear and poignant, qualities that endeared him to subsequent generations in the Church of England.
God willing, we propose to continue our studies with Bishop Jewel on the Scriptures and Sacraments. As an aside to Jewel, we continue in parallel to recommend Martin Chemnitz, a Lutheran theologian, in his Examination of the Council of Trent, a top-notch Churchman who covers the same ground, although in more depth.
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