At the time of the Reformation, preaching was obviously important if the reformed doctrines were to be taught.  But, unfortunately, many of the clergy were not highly educated, and some were incapable of writing sermons.  It was decided, therefore, that Homilies or discourses^[1] should be issued for reading in the churches.  The First Book of Homilies was presented to Convocation in 1543,^[2] but apparently King Henry refused to authorise their publication,^[3] and they did not appear until 1547.  In the 1549 Prayer Book, the rubric following the Nicene Creed in the Holy Communion Service directed: ‘After the Crede ended, shall folowe the Sermon or Homely, or some porcion of one of the Homelies.’  The Second Book of Homilies was prepared between 1561‑62 and was issued by Convocation in January 1563 (with the exception of the Homily ‘Against Rebellion’ which was added in 1571, following a rising in the North of England in 1569).  It consisted of twenty‑one sermons, mainly the work of the learned apologist of the English Reformation, John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury.  The need for the Homilies arose not only because of the inability of many of the clergy to write sermons, but also because disaffection and licence were rampant among them, and just when the people required careful direction and instruction, only uncertain effusions came from many pulpits.  The confusion became so great that preaching had to be controlled, and was frequently prohibited except by special permission; we hear at one time of eight thousand parishes without preaching ministers.

The remedy for this state of affairs was to provide the clergy with sermons composed by scholarly divines, arid relevant to the religious, social and political questions of the day, which were to be ‘read in churches . . . diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people’.  This reading of non‑canonical writings in the congregation goes far back into history; St. Jerome in the 4th century witnesses to a similar use of the Epistles of Hermas, Clement of Rome and Polycarp.  And later still, in A.D. 813, the Council of Rheims acknowledged the incompetence of many bishops to compose sermons, and authorized the translation for preaching of discourses of the Fathers.

The Homilies are never read in Public Worship nowadays, though the 1662 and 1928 Prayer Books retain the reference to Homilies in the rubric following the Nicene Creed.  The Irish Prayer Book omits this reference, but in The Ordering of Deacons the Bishop says: ‘It appertaineth to the Office of a Deacon . . . to read Holy Scripture and Homilies in the Church, . . . and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop’.  Whereas a Priest has authority to preach by virtue of his Office; a Deacon may only preach if the Bishop gives him a licence to do so.  It has been pointed out that ‘Occasionally Bishops have ordered the reading of printed sermons by Deacons; many do so in the case of lay readers’.^[4]  Hence, although the Homilies in the Article are not now read, the principle of reading homilies has not been entirely abandoned.