Green on Article XXXV: Of the Homilies

The First Book of Homilies was presented to the Convocation of 1543,1 but not passed. In the year of Edward’s accession (1547) it was printed, apparently on the sole authority of Cranmer, and ordered by Royal authority to be read every Sunday in churches.2 This Book obtained the sanction of Con¬ vocation in the thirty-fourth of the XLII. Articles of 1553 : —

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Ilomiliae nuper Ecclesiae Angli” canae per injunctiones Regias tra- ditae atque commendatae, piae sunt atque salutares, doctrinamque ah omnibus amplectendam continent : quare populo diligentur, expedite, clareque recitandae sunt.

It was intended in Edward’s reign to issue further Homilies,3 but the design was frustrated by the death of the king. The precise date of the publication of the Second Book of Homilies

1 It was the outcome of an agreement of the Bishops —

“To make certain Homilies for stay of such errors as were then by ignorant preachers sparkled among the people.”

2 The titles of the Homilies contained in the First Book are as follows : —

1. A fruitful Exhortation to the reading of Holy Scripture.

2. Of the Misery of all Mankind.

3. Of the Salvation of all Mankind.

4. Of the True and Lively Faith.

5. Of Good Works.

‘ 6. Of Christian Love and Charity.

7. Against Swearing and Perjury.

8. Of the Declining from. God.

9. An Exhortation against the Fear of Death.

10. An Exhortation to Obedience.

1 1 . Against Whoredom and Adultery.

12. Against Strife and Contention.

3 This is indicated in the Rubric after the Nicene Creed in the Prayer Book of 1552 : —

“ After the Crede, if there be no sermon, shal follow one of the hoinelies already set forth, or hereafter to be set forth by commune aucthoritie.”

is uncertain, but the present Article (1563) commends it together with the former book. The last Homily, “ Against Rebellion,” was added in 1571, after the rising in the North (1 569).

§ 2 .—OBJECT.

To commend the doctrine contained in the Books of Homilies, and to provide for the reading of the Homilies in churches.

Cf Rubric in the Communion Service after the Nicene Creed

(1549):—

“ After the Crede ended, shall folowe the Sermon or Homely, or some portio of one of the Homelyes, as thei shalbe herafter deluded.” 1

See also Queen Elizabeth’s Injunctions (1559): —

XXVII. “ Because through lack of preachers in many places of the queen’s realms and dominions the people continue in ignorance and blindness, all parsons, vicars, and curates shall read in their churches every Sunday one of the homilies, which are and shall be set forth for the same purpose by the queen’s authority, in such sort, as they shall be appointed to do in the preface of the same.”

This was one of the Articles excepted against by the Puritans, who laid great stress upon the necessity of a preaching ministry,2 and also objected to the reading of aught else save Holy Scripture in the public services of the Church.

§ 3.— EXPOSITION.

The meaning of the word “Homily.”

“ Homily ” is derived from the Greek o/uuXla, denoting primarily “ social intercourse ,” then “familiar conversation ; ” 3 hence its Ecclesiastical meaning, “ a plain , familiar discourse ”

1 In 1559 this Rubric was made to read as follows : —

“ After the Crede, yf there be no sermon, shall folowe one of the Homelies alredy set furth, or hereafter to be set furth by commune aucthoritie.”

In this form, with the exception that the word “common” has been omitted, it still remains in our Prayer Book.

2 E.g., at the Savoy Conference (1661) the Puritans made the following ex¬ ception to the Rubric after the Nicene Creed : —

“We desire that the preaching of the word may be strictly enjoined, and not left so indifferent, at the administration of the Sacraments.”

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(1.) Both Books of Homilies contain a godly and whole¬ some DOCTRINE, AND NECESSARY FOR THE TIMES WHEN THEY

The second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this Article, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth.

The approval here given to the two Books of Homilies must not be understood as involving a literal acceptance of every statement or argument contained in them. Passages of Scripture were sometimes then applied in a manner we should not now consider consistent with sound principles of exegesis. Arguments, too, may occur here and there which appear to us unsound or obscure, and which may therefore need correction or explanation. What is required from those who assent to the Articles is a general accept¬ ance of the teaching of the Homilies as testifying to great truths of Christianity, some of which having been more or less obscured by superstition, the emphatic reassertion of them, as in the Homilies, was very necessary at the time of the Reformation.

(2.) The Homilies are to be read in churches.

Therefore we judge them to be read in churches by the Ministers diligently, and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people.

During the sixteenth century there was much unsettle¬ ment and keen controversy upon points both of doctrine and discipline, so that instruction for the people in these matters was very necessary ; although it was, at the same time, extremely difficult to provide for it, since very many of the clergy were either illiterate, and on that account not capable of preaching, or else strong partisans of Rome, or (especially in Elizabeth’s reign) of Geneva. The incompe¬ tence of the clergy for the work of preaching, whether from lack of learning, or from intemperate zeal, is indicated by the fact that preaching was prohibited under each of the four sovereigns, Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. The Homilies were drawn up and appointed to be read — (a) Partly to supply the defect of sermons, owing to the great lack of competent ministers.

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(b) Partly in order to secure something like unity of doctrine in those very unsettled times, and thus guard against the many heterodoxies, both old and new, with which the Church was then threatened.

Authorship of the Homilies.

We have no complete record of the authorship of the several Homilies. Those contained in the First Book were published under the superintendence and upon the authority of Cranmer, to whom the composition of Homilies 1, 3, 4, 5 is also generally assigned. No. 2 is attributed to Archdeacon Harpsfield, 6 to Bishop Bonner, and 1 1 to Thomas Becon.

Of the Second Book the authorship is even more uncertain, though it is sometimes affirmed that Bishop Jewel was chiefly responsible for its compilation.1 A considerable proportion of the matter is traceable to foreign sources, but the Sermons on the Passion (No. 13) and on the Resurrection (No. 15) are taken from Taverner’s “ Postils.” 2

1 This view is given by Forbes and Harold Browne.

2 A book of sermons on the Epistles and Gospels for Sundays and Holy Days, issued in 1540 under the auspices of Cromwell, the King’s Vice-gerent, and with Cranmer’s sanction.