13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.



Ver. 13. Unlearned and ignorant men] Indoctos elegit Christus et idiotas, sed oculavit in prudentes: simulque dona dedit et ministeria. The primitive persecutors slighted the Christians for a company of hard illiterate fellows; and therefore they used to paint the God of the Christians with an ass’s head, and a book in his hand, saith Tertullian, to signify, That though they pretended learning, yet they were silly and ignorant people. Bishop Jewel, in his sermon upon Luk_11:15, cites this out of Tertullian, and applies it to his times. Do not our adversaries the like, saith he, against all that profess the gospel? Oh, say they, Who are those that favour this way? None but shoemakers, tailors, weavers, and such as never were at the University. These are the bishop’s own words. Bishop White said in open court, some few years since, That the Puritans were all a company of blockheads. The Jesuits say the same of all the Protestants; and that the empire of learning is within their dominion only. {a} But have they not picked up the best of their crumbs under our tables? and have not our English fugitives exceeded all their fellow Jesuits in show of wit and learning?



{a} Penes se esse literarum imperium. Eudaem. in Casaub.