ARTICLE XXXV. Of Homilies. 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 Sirth; and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the People. The Names of the Homilies. 1. Of the right Use of the Church. 4. Of good Works. First, of 5. Against Gluttony and Drunk enness. 6. Against Excess of Apparel. 7. Of Prayer. 8. Of the Place and Time of 9. That Common Prayers and of God's Word. 12. Of the Nativity of Christ. 17. For the Rogation-Days. 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 wellaffected 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 XXXV. ART. 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 wholesome doctrine. This rather relates to the main importance and design of them, than to every passage in them. Though this may be said concerning them, that considering the age they were written in, the imperfection of our language, and some lesser defects, they are two very extraordinary books. Some of them are 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 who subscribes the Articles, ought to read them, otherwise he subscribes a blank; he approves a book implicitly, 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 topics, 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 wholesome 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 think 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 ART. 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 Jews 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. XXXV. ARTICLE XXXVI. Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers. The Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bi. shops, and ordering of Priests and Deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sirth, and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament, doth contain all Things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering; neither hath it any Thing that of itself is superstitious and ungodly. And therefore whosoever are Consecrated and Drdered according to the Rites of that Book since the Second Year of the aforenamed King Edward unto this time, or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Drdered according to the same Rites, we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully Consecrated and Ordered. AS S to the most essential parts of this Article, they were already examined, when the pretended Sacrament of Orders was explained; where it was proved, that prayer and imposition of hands was all that was necessary to the giving of orders; and that the forms added in the Roman Pontifical are new, and cannot be held to be necessary, since the Church had subsisted for many ages before those were thought on. So that either our ordinations without those additions are good, or the Church of God was for many ages without true orders. There seems to be here insinuated a ratification of orders that were given before this Article was made; which being done (as the Lawyers phrase it) ex post facto, it seems these orders were unlawful, when given, and that error was intended to be corrected by this Article. The opening a part of the history of that time will clear this matter. There was a new form of ordinations agreed on by the Bishops in the third year of King Edward; and when the Book of Common-Prayer, with the last corrections of it, was authorized by act of parliament in the fifth year of that reign, the new Book of Ordinations was also enacted, and was appointed to be a part of the Common-PrayerBook. In Queen Mary's time these acts were repealed, and those books were condemned by name. When Queen Elizabeth came to the crown, King Edward's CommonPrayer-Book was of new enacted, and Queen Mary's act was repealed. But the Book of Ordination was not ex- ᎪᎡᎢ, pressly named, it being considered as a part of the Common- XXXVI. Prayer-Book, as it had been made in King Edward's time; so it was thought no more necessary to mention that office by name, than to mention all the other offices that are in the book. Bishop Bonner set on foot a nicety, that since the Book of Ordinations was by name condemned in Queen Mary's time, and was not by name received in Queen Elizabeth's time, that therefore it was still condemned by law, and that by consequence ordinations performed according to this book were not legal. But it is visible, that whatsoever might be made out of this, according to the niceties of our law, it has no relation to the validity of ordinations, as they are sacred performances, but only as they are legal actions, with relation to our constitution. Therefore a declaration was made in a subsequent parliament, that the Book of Ordination was considered as a part of the Book of Common-Prayer: and, to clear all scruples or disputes that might arise upon that matter, they by a retrospect declared them to be good; and from that retrospect in the act of parliament, the like clause was put in the Article. The chief exception that can be made to the form of giving orders amongst us, is to those words, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; which as it is no ancient form, it not being above five hundred years old, so it is taken from words of our Saviour's, that the Church in her best times thought were not to be applied to this. It was proper to him to use them, who had the fulness of the Spirit to give it at pleasure he made use of it in constituting his Apostles the governors of his Church in his own stead; and therefore it seems to have a sound in it that is too bold and assuming, as if we could convey the Holy Ghost. To this it is to be answered, that the Churches both in the East and West have so often changed the forms of ordination, that our Church may well claim the same power of appointing new forms, that others have done. And since the several functions and administrations that are in the Church are by the Apostle said to flow from one and the same Spirit, all of them from the Apostles down to the Pastors and Teachers, we may then reckon that the Holy Ghost, though in a much lower degree, is given to those who are inwardly moved of God to undertake that holy office. So that though that extraordinary effusion that was poured out upon the Apostles, was in them in a much higher degree, and was accompanied with most amazing characters; yet still such as do sincerely offer themselves |