13. Of the Passion of Christ. 16. Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. 20. Against Idleness.. 21. Against Rebellion. Of the Passion of Christ. Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Against Rebellion. NOTES ON THE TEXT OF ARTICLE XXXV. This Article was substituted in Elizabeth's time for the previous one of Edward, which was very similar in its terms, but, as a matter of course, recognised the First Book of Homilies only. The name is of Greek origin, oμiλía, so called as being rather a familiar and instructive discourse than an oration. So also the Latin word sermo, which nearly corresponds. OBSERVATIONS ON ARTICLE XXXV. The only question can be as to the degree of assent hereby given to the Homilies. A quibbler might satisfy himself by finding in them the least modicum of doctrine with which he could agree, and say that they contained therefore 'a godly and wholesome doctrine.' But it would have been childish to insert such an Article, if it were not intended to affirm a general assent to the Homilies. They are popular discourses, and were not meant to be subjected to that verbal criticism and nicety of arrangement and expression required in a formulary of faith. But if the Article has any use or force at all, it must imply a general approval of the doctrines, as distinguished from any particular arguments used by the writers, or special illustrations or ideas adapted to those times. It will be remembered that the eleventh Article gives a yet higher authority to the Homily on Justification. The great necessity for such volumes as the two collections of Homilies will at once be manifest when it is remembered that on the restoration of the Reformation under Elizabeth only eighty parish priests declined to conform. The great mass of the clergy, therefore, both in Edward's reign and in the early part of Elizabeth's, were those who had conformed to every change of Henry VIII., of Edward, of Mary, and of Elizabeth, and were incompetent and unfit in every point of view to preach. The authorship of the Homilies is obscure. Cranmer is credited with the greater part of the First Book, and Jewel with the Second. Some, however, were certainly by other hands. Two were written by Taverner. The two Books of Homilies are now usually published in one volume. It may be well to give here the list of the Homilies in the First Book. 1. A Fruitful Exhortation to the reading of Holy Scripture. 2. Of the misery of all mankind. 3. Of the salvation of all mankind. 6. Of Christian Love and Charity. 8. Of the declining from God. 9. An Exhortation against the Fear of Death. 10. An Exhortation to Obedience. 11. Against Whoredom and Adultery. 12. Against Strife and Contention. ARTICLE XXXVI. See Article XXIII., in conjunction with which this Article has been treated. See page 194. 284 ARTICLE XXXVII. Of the Civil Magistrates. The Queen's Majesty hath the chief power in this Realm of England, and other her dominions, unto whom the chief government of all estates of this Realm, whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil, in all causes doth appertain, and is not, nor ought to be, subject to any foreign jurisdic tion. Where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief government, by which titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended; we give not to our princes the ministering either of God's Word, or of Sacraments, the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen doth most plainly testify: But that only prerogative, which we see to have been given always to all godly princes in holy Scriptures by God himself; that is, that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God, whether De civilibus Magistratibus. Regia Majestas in hoc Angliæ regno, ac cæteris ejus dominiis, summam habet potestatem, ad quam omnium statuum hujus regni, sive illi ecclesiastici sint, sive civiles, in omnibus causis, suprema gubernatio pertinet, et nulli externæ jurisdictioni est subjecta, nec esse debet. Cum Regiæ Majestati summam gubernationem tribuimus, quibus titulis intelligimus animos quorundam calumniatorum offendi, non damus Regibus nostris, aut verbi Dei, aut Sacramentorum administrationem, quod etiam Injunctiones ab Elizabetha Regina nostra, nuper editæ, apertissime testantur: sed eam tantum prærogativam, quam in sacris Scripturis a Deo ipso, omnibus piis Principibus, videmus semper fuisse attributam : hoc est, ut omnes status atque ordines fidei suæ a Deo commissos, sive illi ecclesiastici sint, sive civiles, in officio contineant, et con The Latin text calls for no special comment. The corresponding Article (the 36th) of Edward differs from the present chiefly in the portion dealing with the royal supremacy, which was simply asserted as follows: The King of England is Supreme Head in earth, next under Christ, of the Church of England and Ireland.' THE ROYAL SUPREMACY. For a full comment on this part of the Article we must refer to those portions of civil and ecclesiastical history which treat of the prolonged resistance of the English Crown to the papal claims; the repudiation of those claims by Henry VIII.; the intermediate struggles; and the final establishment of the supremacy under Elizabeth; to which we must add the extent to which this prerogative was strained by the Tudor and Stuart princes, and the stedfast opposition carried out through so many years by the Puritans. In the original statute of 1534, which first declared the royal supremacy, the words used were these: The king'shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only and supreme head in earth of the Church of England.' The title Head was open to obvious objections as being applied in the New Testament to Christ. Papist and Puritan alike did not lose the opportunity thus opened for acrimonious attacks. When the royal supremacy was restored by Parliament after Mary's death, the objectionable word was avoided, and Governor substituted for it. Furthermore this title was explained in the Injunctions to which reference is made in this Article. They were set forth by royal authority in 1559, the first year of Elizabeth, and deal at some length with ecclesiastical arrangements and discipline. The explanation of the oath of supremacy to which the Article refers is as follows: 'Her Majesty forbiddeth all manner her subjects to give ear or credit to such perverse and malicious persons which labour to notify to her loving subjects, how by words of the said oath it may be collected, that the kings or queens of this realm, possessors of the crown, may challenge authority and power of ministry of divine service in the Church, wherein her said subjects be much abused by such evil disposed persons. For certainly her Majesty neither doth, nor ever will, challenge any authority, than that was challenged and lately used by the said noble kings of famous memory, King Henry VIII. and King Edward VI.; which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperial Crown of this realm; that is, under God, to have the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her realms, dominions, and countries, of what estate, either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be, so as no other shall or ought to have any superiority over them.' The supremacy thus given to the Tudor sovereigns was used by them in an arbitrary manner, under the authority of Acts of Parliament, which gave them very large powers over the Church. The truth seems to be that the boundaries of the ecclesiastical, as well as the civil power of the Crown, were very ill defined. They only became ascertained and limited after the severe struggles which culminated in the civil wars and were terminated by the Revolution. In the present day the royal supremacy signifies little more than the supremacy of the civil law and courts over ecclesiastical legislation and jurisdiction. Still this general principle |