Speaking of the
very part of the Refutation from which the above passage is cited,
Melancthon says: "In the first place, we must state, by way of
introduction, that we _do not abolish the mass_. For on every Sunday
and Festival, _masses_, (Messen) (not Lord's Suppers) are held in our
churches, at which the _sacrament_ is administered to those who desire
it." Here evidently mass and the sacrament are two things.
"Our opponents make a great talk (geschwaetz) about the _Latin_ mass,
that is about the Mass which, as is well known, was and is _read_ in
Latin; but certainly they did not talk about the Latin Lord's Supper.
"But where do we find the Pharisaic, doctrine written, that the
_hearing_ of the mass without understanding it, is, ex opere operato,
meritorious and saving?" The term _hearing_ evidently refers to the
mass, which was read; but what sense would there be in the phrase
_hearing_ the Lord's Supper?
"That we do not celebrate private masses, but only a _public mass_
(eine oeffentliche Messe,) when the people also commune, is not at all
contrary to the common (or general) Christian church." Here the
_private_ masses are distinguished from the _public_ mass, and the fact
affirmed, as clearly as language can convey the idea, that the
_Reformers did retain and practice_ PUBLIC _mass on sacramental
occasions_." [Note 36] We might easily adduce a number of other
passages from this book, but really it seems to be a work of
supererogation.
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