Not Brawlers, but Builders
Diligent Labourers, Not Loiterers
$35
Premium 100 percent combed ring-spun cotton, preshrunk
James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, died in 1576 leaving his commentary on Nehemiah unfinished. John Foxe edited what there was and printed it at Cambridge in 1585 behind a preface of his own, in which he asked God for a particular kind of workman: diligent labourers, not loiterers, nor brawlers, but builders, working with both hands occupied. The line is Foxe's, written about Pilkington's book, not Pilkington's own. The back carries NOT BRAWLERS, BUT BUILDERS over an engraving of Pilkington laying a dressed stone on the half-built wall of Jerusalem, a trowel in his hand and a sword belted at his hip, then John Foxe and the source of the words. The front carries the Patriarch Outfitters mark, upper left chest. The sleeve carries Nehemiah 4:14, cut into a thick cross so the shirt color shows through. Printed to order on a premium tee of preshrunk 100 percent combed ring-spun cotton in a fitted cut, with a Patriarch Outfitters label inside the neck that lists the size, country of origin, and material. The label is printed directly for tagless comfort.
Larger sizes cost a little more to make.
Made to order and ready in 2 to 5 business days, then 3 to 7 in transit. Flat-rate US shipping of $6 per order is added at checkout.
Details
- Fabric
- Premium 100 percent combed ring-spun cotton, preshrunk
- Fit
- Fitted cut
- Construction
- Side-seamed
- Shrinkage
- Preshrunk fabric that can still shrink slightly
- Printed to order in one ink
- Sleeve
- Right sleeve print
- Label
- Patriarch label inside the neck with the size, country of origin, and material
- Care
- Wash cold inside out, tumble dry low or hang dry, do not iron the print. Hot water can shrink the fabric.
- Placement
- Back, Front, Neckline detail and Sleeve
Front and back
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Front -
Back
The story
"Nor brawlers, but builders."
John Foxe wrote that line, not James Pilkington. Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, died in 1576 with his commentary on Nehemiah unfinished. Foxe edited what there was and printed it at Cambridge in 1585 behind a preface of his own, addressed to the Christian reader. Asking God for the right kind of workman, he wrote: “Such workmen the Lord send into his vineyard to be diligent labourers, not loyterers: nor braulers, but builders, labouring, and working, not with one hand, but with both hands occupied.”
The sentence before it explains the picture. Foxe points back to Nehemiah 4, where the men rebuilding Jerusalem's wall worked with one hand and held a weapon in the other against the enemies who came to stop them. Foxe's point is the order of the two. A Christian is sent to build, and he carries a weapon because the work is opposed, not because fighting is the work. A man who only ever swings at his neighbours has mistaken the one for the other.
About John Foxe
John Foxe lived from 1516 to 1587. He was an English Protestant clergyman and historian who fled to the continent under Mary I and returned after her death. He is best known for the book usually called Foxe's Book of Martyrs, an account of Christians killed for their faith, which he revised through four editions in his lifetime. Editing Pilkington's unfinished Nehemiah was among his last pieces of work, and the volume appeared two years before his own death.
The scene on the back is a modern engraving of Pilkington at the wall. It is not a copy of any surviving portrait of him and not a record of anything he did. The shirt shows no image of God.
