Chapter 19: THE MASS

THE MASS

Furthermore, since Christ has instituted his Supper in this manner, which afterwards began to be called the mass - to wit, that therein the faithful, being fed with his body and blood unto life eternal, should show forth his death, whereby they are redeemed - our ecclesiastics, by this means giving thanks and commending this salvation to others also, could not do otherwise than condemn, on the one hand, the general neglect of these things, and, on the other, the presumption of the celebrants of masses in offering Christ for the living and the dead, and in making the mass a work whereby almost alone the favor of God and salvation are obtained, without regard to what men either believe or live. Whence that shameful and twice and thrice impious buying and selling of this sacrament crept in, and the result was that today nothing is more a means of gain than the mass. Therefore they rejected private masses, because the Lord commanded this sacrament to his disciples to be used in common. Hence Paul also commands the Corinthians to wait for one another when going to the Holy Supper, and denies that they celebrate the Lord's Supper when each one takes his own supper while they are eating. Moreover, their boast that they offer up Christ as a victim our men condemn, because the Epistle to the Hebrews plainly testifies that as men once die, so Christ was once offered to take away the sins of many, and can no more be offered again than die again; and on this account, as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, he sits forever at the right hand of God, expecting what remains, until his enemies as a footstool may be placed beneath his feet. "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." But their making of the mass a good work, whereby something is obtained of God, our preachers have taught conflicts with the uniform declaration of Scripture that we are justified and receive God's favor by the Spirit of Christ and through faith, concerning which Scriptural testimonies have been cited above. So, too, our preachers have showed that the not commending in the mass the death of the Lord to the people is contrary to the command of Christ, to receive these sacraments in commemoration of himself, and to that of Paul, that thereby Christ's death is set forth until he come. And since many, without any desire of godliness, commonly celebrate the mass only for the purpose of nourishing the body, our preachers have shown that this is so execrable to God that even though the mass were in itself no hindrance to godliness, yet it should justly and by God's command be abolished. This is clear from Isaiah alone. For our God is spirit and truth, and therefore does not allow himself to be worshipped save in spirit and truth. Moreover, how grievous to the Lord is this indecorous huckstering introduced with reference to these sacraments they have also taught should be conjectured from the fact that Christ so severely and altogether against his accustomed manner, taking to himself external vengeance, cast out of the temple those buying and selling, although they seemed to be doing business only to further sacrifices that were made according to law. Therefore, since the rite of the mass, as commonly celebrated, conflicts in so many ways with the Scripture of God, just as also it is diverse in many ways from that which the holy fathers observed, it has been very severely condemned among us from the pulpit, and by the Word of God been made so detestable that many have abandoned it of their own accord, and others when it was abrogated by authority of the magistrate. This we have allowed for no other reason than because throughout the whole of Scripture the Spirit of God detests nothing so, and commands nothing so earnestly to be taken away, as a feigned and false worship of himself. Now, no one who is influenced in any way by religion is ignorant what an inevitable necessity is laid upon one who fears God when he is persuaded that God requires anything of him. For anyone could easily foresee how many would endure that anything in so holy a rite as the mass should be changed by us; neither were there any who would not have preferred not only not to offend Thy Worshipful Majesty, but even any prince of the lowest rank. But since they did not doubt that by the common rite of the mass God was greatly provoked, and his glory, for which even life ought to he laid down, was obscured, they could not do otherwise than remove it, lest by their connivance they should render themselves liable for diminishing God's glory. Truly, if God is to be loved and worshipped above all, godly men must tolerate nothing less than what he abominates. That this one cause has constrained us to change certain matters concerning these things we call Him to witness from whom no secret is hid.