Then the Litany, with the prayer appointed to be said in the time of dearth and famine: and the next Prayer following for the time of War. And if there be a convenient number of hearers upon any of the workdays in the Church, then one of these Homilies may be read, if there be no Sermon1.

An Homily of repentance, and of true reconciliation unto God.

THERE is nothing that the Holy Ghost doth so much labour in, &c. An Homily of fasting.

THE life which we live in this world, &c.

An Homily of Alms-deeds and mercifulness toward the poor and needy.

AMONGST the manifold duties that Almighty God requireth, &c.

The second part of the Sermon of Alms-deeds. YE have heard before (dearly beloved), &c.

The third part of the Homily of Alms-deeds. YE have already heard two parts, &c.

[Whitgift's coat of arms, impaling the arms of the see of Canterbury, occurs here in some copies. But this circumstance does not militate against our assigning to the Form the date 1586 (see p. 468); since armorial bearings, as the documents at Herald's College shew, were really granted to him by Sir Gilbert Dethick, the 19th of May, 1577, whilst bishop of Worcester, not, as stated by Strype (Life, p. 3), the 4th of July, 1588, by Sir William Dethick.]

[These Homilies are all printed entire.]

An ORDER OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING, for the preserva- XXV. tion of her Majesty and the Realm, from the traitorous and bloody practises of the Pope, and his adherents : to be used at times appointed in the Preface.

Ecclesiastes 10.

¶ Wish the king no evil in thy thought, and speak no hurt of the rich in thy privy chamber: for the birds of the air shall carry thy voice, and with their feathers shall they bewray thy words.

Eodem.

He that diggeth a pit shall fall therein himself, and whoso breaketh down the hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

Proverbs 21.

There is no wisdom, there is no understanding, there is no counsel
against the Lord.

The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but the Lord giveth victory.
Published by authority.

¶ Imprinted at London, by Christopher Barker, Printer to
the Queens most excellent Majesty.

1586.

¶ The Preface.

CONSIDERING the great peace and quietness, where with God hath continually blessed this noble Realm of England, since the time that it pleased him by the hand of her Majesty to have the sincere truth of the Gospel of our Saviour planted among us, and his great blessings of all sorts, wherewith he hath enriched us, and given us our hearts' desires to our comfort, and the admiration of our neighbours round about us: It were too great impiety, not to shew ourselves daily thankful for these great mercies, and not to crave the continuance of God's holy hand over us. But weighing further, with what peril of violent death, by means of wicked popish practices, our gracious sovereign hath maintained the truth, which we profess, upon whose life (next under God) the profession of the same in this land, and the continuance of the lives and welfare of us her faithful Subjects, do depend; and knowing that the Almighty most miraculously hath preserved her highness from all treason hitherto intended against her most Royal person, and kept our blood from flowing in every street like water, our Cities and Houses from sacking, and the whole Land from extreme ruin: with what zeal ought every one of us to be inflamed to praise the Lord for the detecting and confusion of our secret foes, whom his right hand hath bruised! and how ought we to. detest that doctrine, which bringeth forth so traitorous and bloody fruits!

Moses and Miriam, and the whole host of Israel, had never greater cause to sing unto the Lord for the overthrow of Pharaoh and his army: nor Debora and Barac for the victory of Sisera: nor Judith, and the citizens of Bethulia for the end of Holofernes1 and the flight of his host, than we

[This allusion is not unlikely to have been suggested by a little book, which the Roman Catholics printed at Douay in 1578, and reprinted at London in 1580, entitled 'A Treatise of Schisme,' wherein the ladies about the court were thus exhorted: "Judith foloweth, whose godlye and constant wisdome if our Catholike gentlewomen would folowe, they might destroye Holofernes [Elizabeth] the master heretike, and amase all his retinew." The printer of this seditious and traitorous publication, William Carter, also then the chief Printer for the Romanists,' was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his offence at Tyburn, on the 11th of January, 1584. Camden, p. 497. Lingard, Vol. ví. p. 429. A similar. allusion is contained in the Latin prayer (see p. 466), which will now be given :

O Summa MAJESTAS, VIRTUS, et POTENTIA, noster solus qui vivas et videas Anglorum Deus, quanta ferocitate nunc temporum immanis humani generis adversarius ille Satan in asseclis suis (tuis autem conjuratis hostibus apertis), omni fraudum, contumeliarum, atque insidiarum molimine et insultu, CHRISTI Evangelium verosque ejusdem professores (quoad possint) opprimentibus, sanguinem nostrum quam omnia malentibus, passim frendeat ac furiat. Tu autem omnipotens et benignissime PATER adjuva populum tuum sperantem in te: Per te fortescat tua Judith in protectione suæ plebis et Bethulia, fratrumque suorum deflende afflictorum ex atroci tyrannide ferocientis illius misereque fascinati Holofernis, atque contra execrandum ejus (quod colit) Idolum, perfidum veritatis desertorem, blasphemum illum Zennacherib: ut tua Famula populusque suus non expavescat unquam ad corum arma, licet in tuorum perniciem ad amussim exacuta ac intentissime stricta: Quoniam revera, quamvis mundo gigantes videantur robustissimi et tela fortia, in conspectu tamen tuo vecordes et ignavi fiunt nani et spicula junci. Constringe tu DEUS noster gentem infidam, contumacem et religioni tuæ sedulo rebellantem: Per te corruat sacrilegus ille malignantium cœtus, et Ecclesia in impietate fundata, flagitiis constructa, fraudibus suffulta: Aut si fieri possit, ô clementissime PATER, effice, ut hi repudiato suo atheismo tandem aliquando resipiscant, agnoscentes Majestatem et Evangelium CHRISTI tui, in cujus veritate apud ceteros Christiani orbis fratres, cum caritate mutua in gratiam et religionis unitatem redeant, atque coalescant in eadem. Exeras interim, ô FORTITUDO nostra, caput tuum in tuorum tutelam, hostium autem confusionem: Tu propitius DEUS noster, qui adeo in angustiis non deseras tuos, ut castra etiam figat Angelus tuus circum eos qui te timeant, et eripiat eos. Suscipe causam tuam, ô DEUS, quæ nunc agitur, quo videant gentes quod non sit, ut Consilium neque adeo Concilium (ne Tridentinum quidem illud spurium et scelestum) adversus DOMINUM aut adversus CHRISTUM ejus, ita nec Deus ullus præ

have for the wonderful preservation of the life of our most gracious Queen, and thereby for our own safety. Wherefore, let every one that feareth the Lord among us, not only with the Jews in the book of Esther yearly hold a memorial with great joy of so notable deliverance, but daily in common assemblies have this great goodness in remembrance, and pray that God will not suffer the light of Israel to be quenched, but that it will still please him to preserve his anointed from the peril of the sword, and to give her long and happy days, to the glory of his Name, to the comfort of his chosen, and to the stablishing of his truth in this Land, till the coming of his Son in the clouds of Heaven. That this may the better be accomplished, this little book is by authority published, daily to be used in Common prayer, where any is, or otherwise at such times as are by law appointed for Divine Service: viz. the Prayer, and one or two of the Psalms following, according to the discretion of the Minister, and likewise to be adjoined unto those prayers, that are already of late set forth, for turning from us the scarcity of victual, and war, at such times as they are appointed to be read in the Church.

The prayer.

O ETERNAL God and merciful Father, we thy unworthy creatures most humbly do confess, that we are not able with our tongues to utter, nor in our hearts to conceive, the exceeding measure of thine infinite goodness in this latter age shewed to this Noble Realm, in that thou (O Lord) hast in most dangerous times, by thy providence, beyond expectation of man, preserved the Noble person of our now Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, by thy grace: First, according to her right to come to this kingdom and Royal seat of her Noble father, and next, by her (being therein established) to deliver us thy people, that were as captives to Babylon, out of thraldom of the enemies of thy true Church, and to restore us again to the free fruition of the Gospel of thy Son our Saviour Christ. For the enjoying whereof now many years, we do confess and acknowledge, that when we by our daily unthankfulness, and by our sinful lives, have most justly provoked thee to

terquam TU: In cujus manu sunt omnes fines terræ, et altitudines montium tu quidem conspicis ; atque solus qui vivas, regnes, ac sis: Cui uni voluntas, imperium, honor, gloria, laus et gratiarum actio in perpetuum.

withdraw these thy favours from us, thou (O Lord) with thy mighty power didst strengthen thy servant, our most gracious Queen, constantly against the threatenings of the greatest of the world to persist in maintenance of us in all manner of prosperity, peace and wealth: But most singularly in a peaceable freedom, to enjoy the blessed benefits of thy holy word against the mighty enemies of thy Church daily conspiring against this Realm, and especially against the Royal person of our gracious Queen, thy humble servant and true handmaiden, whose estate being in the opinion of a number of wicked persons many times in great and secret dangers, yet thou (O Lord) of thy heavenly goodness hast always preserved and defended her by many miraculous means, and (as we have good cause to think) by many other means, and at many other times, than to us are yet known. But yet, besides thy preservation of her person from the attempt of two1 wicked persons, that suffered for the same of late years, even now in this present time, when we had no thought, that any would have minded such a wicked fact, we have fully felt the power of thy miraculous goodness, by the discovery of sundry wicked Conspirators, very secretly bent and combined to make desperate attempts against her life, and against the peaceable estate of thy Church and this Realm. The stay whereof only hath proceeded (good Lord) by thy most continual, tender and fatherly care over her, in the strange discovering, and the manner of apprehending of the malefactors, being many, and not by the wit or strength of any worldly creature. For otherwise than by thy special goodness, we do now perceive, and that with trembling of our hearts, that she could not at sundry times have escaped the danger of violent death, wickedly and resolutely against her intended; so that we may truly say with David in his Psalm, That all men that see it, shall say, This hath God done for they shall perceive, that it is his work. Wherefore we now, thy humble creatures, acknowledging our unworthiness of these great graces, beseech thee (O Lord) that

[1 Somerville and Parry are the persons intended, as may be seen by referring to p. 588, where this prayer is printed in its original state. The former, however, died in prison by his own hand after condemnation.]

[Minded: turned their minds to, thought about.]