4. In England, homilies were early in use in the An- glo-Saxon Church. iElfric, archbishop of Canterbury', who, after Alfred, ranks first among the Anglo-Saxon vernacular writers, finding that but few persons of his day (latter part of the 10th century) could read the Gospel doctrines, as they were written in the Latin, the language of the Church, was led to compile a collection of eighty homilies, some of which were perhaps written by liimself, but most of which he translated from the Latin. In these Anglo-Saxon homilies "almost everj- vital doctrine which distinguished the Romish from the Protestant Church meets with a direct contradiction," and they proved of no little value in the religious con- troversy at the period of the English Reformation. They condemn especially, among other things, without reserve, the doctrine of transubstantiation (q. v.) as a groivinfj error, and go to prove that the novelties Avhich are generally charged to the Protestants are really of
older date than the boasted argument of apostolical tra- dition. Some of the MSS. of these homiUes, however, which had been stored away in monastic libraries, are found to be mutilated by the removal of all such obnox- ious passages (comp. Soames, Inquiry into the Doctrines of the Anfjlo-Saxon Church, Bampton Lecture, Oxford, 1830, 8vo). A second collection of yEKric's, undertaken at the request of Ethelward, commemorates the differ- ent saints revered by the Anglo-Saxon Church, and, like the former collection, was divided into two bocks. Of these homiUes were published, An Enrjlish-Saocon Homily on the Birthday of St. Gregory, used anciently in the English-Saxon Church, giving an Account of the Conversion of the English from Paganism to Christian- ity, transl. into mod. Engl, with notes, etc., bj^ Elizabeth Elstob (Lond. 1709, 8vo ; new ed. Lond. 1839, 8vo) ; El- frici IJomilice, ed. Eliz. Elstob (of which only 36 pages were ever published ; Oxf. 1710, fol.). Another attempt was The English-Saxon Homilies of jElfric, transl. by Eliz. Elstob (Oxf. 1715, folio, of which only two leaves were printed, now preserved in the British Museum). Besides these, there are some Anglo-Saxon homilies ex- tant, to which the name of Lupus Episcopiis is gener- ally affixed. They are by Wanley {Catalog, of A.-S. MSS. p. 140 sq.), and apparently with good reason at- tributed to Wulfstan (q. v.), one of the Anglo-Saxon prelates of the 11th century, " The most remarkable of these is the one entitled in the MS. Sermo lujn ad Anglos quando Dani maxime persecuti sunt eos, in which the author sets before the eyes of his countrymen the crimes which had disgraced the age preceding that in which he wrote, and the increasing wickedness of their own time." See "Wright, Biog. British Lit. p, 487 sq., 500 sq. See tElfric.
5. In the Church of England, the temi homily has acquired a special meaning from the fact that in the time of the Kefomiation, a number of easy and simple discourses were composed to be read in the churches. " The Thirty-fifth Article of religion says, ' The second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this article, doth contain a godly and whole- some doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward YI; and, therefore, we judge them to be read in churches by the ministers, diligenth' and distinct- ly, that they may be understanded of the people,' The following are the titles of the homilies: 1. Of the right use of the church, 2, Against peril of idolatry, 3, Of repairing and keeping clean of churches, 4, Of good works ; first of fasting. 5. Against gluttony and drimk- enness. 6. Against excess of apparel. 7. Of prayer. 8. Of the time and place of prayer. 9. That common prayers and sacraments ought to be ministered in a known tongue. 10. Of the reverend estimation of God's 'Word. 1 1 . Of alms-doing. 12. Of the nativity of Christ. 13. Of the passion of Christ. 14. Of the resiurection of Christ. 15. Of the worthy receiving of the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. 16. Of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. 17. For the Rogation days. 18. Of the state of matrimony. 19. Of repentance, 20, Against idleness, 21. Against rebellion,"
" The first volume of these homilies is supposed to have been composed by archbishop Cranmer and bishops Ridley and Latimer at the beginning of the Reforma- tion, when a competent number of ministers of sufficient abilities to preach ui a pulilic congregation was not to be found," It was published, as already stated, in the article above cited, in the beginning of the reign of Ed- ward VI, The second volume was perhaps prepared under Edward VI, but it was not published mitil 15G3, during the reign of Elizabeth (comp, Hardv.'ick, Church History during the Reformation, p, 206, 211, 240), " In neither of these books can the several homilies be as- signed to their several authors with any certainty. In the second book no single homily of them all has been appropriated. In the first, that on • Salvation' was prob- ably vTritten by Cranmer, as also those on ' Faith' and
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' Good Works.' Internal evidence, arising out of certain homely expressions and peculiar forms of ejaculation, tlic like of which appear in Latimer's sermons, pretty clearly betray the liand of tlie bishop of Worcester as having been engaged in the homily against ' Brawling and Contention;' the one against 'Adultery' may be safely given to Thomas Becon, one of Cranmer's chap- lains, in whose works, published in 15G4, it is still to be found; of the rest nothing is known but by the merest conjectiurc. All members of the Church of England agree that the homilies 'contain a godly and wholesome doctrine,' but they are not agreed as to the precise dc- (/ire (if authority "to be attached to them. In them, the "authority of the fathers of the first six general councils, and of till' Judgments of the Church generally, the holi- ness of the primitive Church, the secondary inspiration of the Apocrypha, the sacramental character of marriage and otlier ordinances, and regeneration in holy baptism, and the real presence in the Eucharist, arc asserted" (Bp. Burnet). One of the best editions of the Homilks is that by Corrie at the University press (Cambridge, 1850, 8vt)), and the latest, and perhaps most complete edition, is that published at Oxford (1859, 8vo). See also Darling, Cyclop. Bibliorjr. i, 1524 ; AV'heatly, Common Prayer, p. 272 ; Baxter, C/i. IIis!orij, p. 379 sq., 486 sq. ; Browne, Exposit. 39 A rticles, p. 782 s(\. ; Wesley, Works (see Index, vol. vii) ; Forbes, On the 39 A rticles, ii, 685 sq.; Buchanan, Justific. p. 193, 198; Hook, Ch. Diet. p. 303.