Books of Homilies

The Books of Homilies are two official collections of model sermons appointed to be read in the parish churches of the Church of England, the first published in 1547 and the second in 1563, for the instruction of the clergy and people in the doctrine of the English Reformation. Because many parish clergy of the period were not licensed or equipped to preach, the homilies provided authorised sermons that could simply be read aloud, ensuring that congregations heard teaching judged sound by the Church's formularies.

Origin and purpose

The homilies arose from the conditions of the early Reformation in England. Preaching was held to be essential to the reform of the Church, yet the standard of education among the parish clergy varied widely, and relatively few priests were licensed preachers. The two books were the authorities' answer: a body of approved sermons covering the chief points of Christian doctrine and practice, which the minister was to read to his congregation in course. In this way the same doctrinal teaching could be delivered uniformly across the parishes of the realm.

The First Book (1547)

The first book, formally the Certain Sermons, or Homilies, Appointed to be Read in Churches, appeared in 1547, in the first year of the reign of Edward VI. It contained twelve homilies, principally the work of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Its contents set the pattern for the whole enterprise: it opened with "A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture", commending the Bible to every reader, and continued with homilies on the misery of man, "Of Salvation", "Of Faith", and "Of Good Works" — the sequence teaching that salvation is by faith in Christ, and that good works follow as its necessary fruit rather than purchasing God's favour. Other homilies treated Christian love and charity, the fear of death, and the avoidance of swearing, gluttony, and adultery. Read in every parish, these sermons carried the doctrines of justification by faith and of the sufficiency of Scripture far beyond the reach of the licensed preachers.

The Second Book (1563–1571)

A second, larger book followed under Elizabeth I. Published in 1563, it contained twenty-one homilies, chiefly the work of John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, and others. Its subjects ranged more widely over Christian practice and church order: common prayer and the sacraments, fasting, almsgiving, the repairing of churches, and homilies against rebellion and against the peril of idolatry. The book was completed in its 1571 edition, which added the long "Homily against Peril of Idolatry", an extensive argument, drawn from Scripture and the early Church, against the use of images in worship.

Use in the parish

The system of reading was straightforward and compulsory. Clergy who were not licensed to preach were required to read the homilies in order on Sundays, so that the whole course of doctrine was delivered to each congregation over time. The homilies thus functioned alongside the Book of Common Prayer as one of the standard instruments by which the reformed teaching of the Church of England reached ordinary parishioners, most of whom encountered formal doctrinal instruction in no other way.

Article XXXV and later standing

The place of the homilies in Anglican doctrine is fixed by Article XXXV of the Thirty-nine Articles, "Of the Homilies", which names both books and affirms that they contain "a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and necessary for these times". The Article gives the two books a confessional standing second only to the Articles themselves among the formularies of the period, and the homilies on salvation, faith, and good works in particular were cited by later Anglican divines as authoritative expositions of the Church's doctrine. For a detailed exposition of Article XXXV and its treatment of the homilies, see Browne's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, Article XXXV.

See also

• Elizabeth I
• Thomas Cranmer
• John Jewel
• Thirty-nine Articles
• Homily of Repentance in Anglican Formularies
• The Homily on the Right Use of the Church in Anglican Formularies

References

• The Two Books of Homilies Appointed to be Read in Churches, ed. John Griffiths (Oxford, 1859).
• The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, Article XXXV, "Of the Homilies".