A FRUITFUL EXHORTATION
A Guide to the Homilies
By Gerald Bray
Latimer Trust. 134 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 1 906 327 248
The ‘historic formularies’ of the Church of England, to which every deacon, presbyter and bishop has to declare assent and belief, are enumerated in the ordination services as the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.
But in truth there is a fourth component: the two books of Homilies. Article 11 of the 39 (on justification by faith) refers to one of the Homilies (Book I, Homily 3) for the full elucidation of this seminal Reformation statement, while Article 35 teaches that the two Books of Homilies ‘contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine,’ absolutely necessary for the Church’s laypeople to understand. Simply put, the two Books of Homilies are the official sermons of the Anglican Church.
