Burnet on Article XXXV: Of the Homilies

AT the time of the Reformation, as there could not be found at first a sufficient Number of Preachers to instruct the whole Nation; so those that did comply with the changes which were then made, were not all well-affected to them: so that it was not safe to trust this matter to the Capacity of the one side, and to the Integrity of others. Therefore to supply the Defects of some, and to oblige the rest to teach according to the Form of sound Doctrine, there were two Books of Homilies prepared; the first was published in King Edward’s time; the second was not finished till about the time of his Death; so it was not published before Queen Elizabeth’s time. The Design of them was to mix Speculative Points with Practical matters: Some explain the Doctrine, and others enforce the Rules of Life and Manners. These are plain and short Discourses, chiefly calculated to possess the Nation with a Sense of the Purity of the Gospel, in opposition to the Corruptions of Popery; and to reform it from those crying Sins that had been so much connived at under Popery, while men knew the Price of them, how to compensate for them, and to redeem themselves from the Guilt of them, by Masses and Sacraments, by Indulgences and Absolutions.

In these Homilies the Scriptures are often applied as they were then understood; not so critically as they have been explained since that time. But by this Approbation of the two Books of Homilies, it is not meant that every Passage of Scripture, or Argument that is made use of in them, is always convincing, or that every Expression is so severely worded, that it may not need a little Correction or Explanation: All that we profess about them, is only that they contain a godly and wholesom Doctrine. This rathe[?] relates to the main Importance and Design of them, than to every Passag[?] in them. Though this may be said concerning them, That considering th[?] Age they were written in, the Imperfection of our Language, and some lesser Defects, they are Two very extraordinary Books. Some of them ar[?] better writ than others, and are equal to any thing that has been writ upon those Subjects since that time. Upon the whole matter, every one wh[?] subscribes the Articles, ought to read them, otherwise he subscribes a Blank. he approves a Book implicitely, and binds himself to read it, as he may be required, without knowing any thing concerning it. This Approbation is not to be stretched so far, as to carry in it a special Assent to every Particular in that whole Volume; but a man must be persuaded of the main of the Doctrine that is taught in them.

To instance this in one particular; since there are so many of the Homilies that charge the Church of Rome with Idolatry, and that from so many different Topicks, no man who thinks that Church is not guilty of Idolatry, can with a good Conscience subscribe this Article, That the Homilies contain a good and wholesom Doctrine, and necessary for these times; for according to his sense they contain a false and an uncharitable Charge of Idolatry against a Church that they think is not guilty of it; and he will be apt to th[?]nk that this was done to heighten the Aversion of the Nation to it: Therefore any who have such favourable thoughts of the Church of Rome are bound by the force of that Persuasion of theirs, not to sign this Article, but to declare against it, as the authorizing of an Accusation against a Church, which they think is ill grounded, and is by consequence both unjust and uncharitable.

By necessary for these times, is not to be meant, that this was a Book fit to serve a Turn; but only that this Book was necessary at that time, to instruct the Nation aright, and so was of great use then: But though the Doctrine in it, if once true, must be always true, yet it will not be always of the same necessity to the People. As for Instance; There are many Discourses in the Epistles of the Apostles, that relate to the Controversies then on foot with the Judaizers, to the Engagements the Christians then lived in with the Heathens, and to those Corrupters of Christianity that were in those days. Those Doctrines were necessary for that time; but though they are now as true as they were then, yet since we have no Commerce either with Iews or Gentiles, we cannot say that it is as necessary for the present time to dwell much on those matters, as it was for that time to explain them once well. If the Nation should come to be quite out of the danger of falling back into Popery, it would not be so necessary to insist upon many of the Subjects of the Homilies, as it was when they were first prepared.