sit, cum impurus cælibatus plurima pariat scandala, adulteria et alia scelera, digna animadversione boni magistratus: tamen mirum est, nulla in re majorem exerceri sævitiam, quam adversus conjugium Sacerdotum. Deus præcepit honore afficere conjugium. Leges in omnibus rebus publicis bene constitutis, etiam apud Ethnicos, maximis honoribus ornaverunt. At nunc capitalibus pænis excruciantur, et quidem Sacerdotes, contra Canonum voluntatem, nullam aliam ob causam, nisi propter conjugium. Paulus vocat doctrinam dæmoniorum, quæ prohibet conjugium (1 Tim. iv. 1, 3). Id facile nunc intelligi potest, cum talibus suppliciis prohibitio conjugii defenditur. use of the Church is well known; seeing that impure single life bringeth forth very many offenses, adulteries, and other enormities worthy to be punished by the godly magistrate, it is a marvel that greater cruelty should be showed in no other thing than against the marriage of priests. God had commanded to honor marriage; the laws in all well-ordered commonwealths, even among the heathen, have adorned marriage with very great honors. But now men are cruelly put to death, yea, and priests also, contrary to the mind of the Canons, for no other cause but marriage. Paul calleth that 'a doctrine of devils' which forbiddeth marriage (1 Tim. iv. 1, 3); which may now very well be seen, since the forbidding of marriage is maintained by such punishments. Sicut autem nulla lex humana potest mandatum Dei tollere, ita nec votum potest tollere mandatum Dei. Proinde etiam Cyprianus suadet, ut mulieres nubant, quæ non servant promissam castitatem. Verba ejus sunt hæc, Lib. I., Epistola XI.: 'Si autem perseverare nolunt, aut non posunt, melius est, ut nubant, quam ut in ignem deliciis suis cadant; certe nullum fratribus aut sororibus But as no law of man can take away the law of God, no more can any vow whatsoever. Therefore Cyprian also giveth counsel, that those women should marry who do not keep their vowed chastity. His words are these, in the 1st Book, the 2d Epistle: 'If they will not or are not able to endure, it is far better they should marry than that they should fall into the fire by their importunate desires. In any wise let them give no offense to their
scandalum faciant? Et æquitate quadam utuntur ipsi Canones erga hos, qui ante justam ætatem voverunt, quomodo fere hactenus fieri consuevit. brethren or sisters.' Yea, even the Canons show some kind of justice towards such as before their ripe years did vow chastity, as hitherto the use hath for the most part been. Art. III.--De Missa. [22] Art. III.--Of the Mass. [23] Falso accusantur Ecclesiæ nostræ, quod Missam aboleant; retinetur enim Missa, apud nos, et summa reverentia celebratur. Servantur et usitatæ ceremoniæ fere omnes, præterquam quod Latinis cantionibus [neben lateinischem Gesang] admiscentur alicubi Germanicæ, quæ additæ sunt ad docendum populum. Nam ad hoc unum opus est ceremoniis, ut doceant imperitos. Our churches are wrongfully accused to have abolished the Mass. For the Mass is retained still among us, and celebrated with great reverence; yea, and almost all the ceremonies that are in use, saving that with the things sung in Latin we mingle certain things sung in German at various parts of the service, which are added for the people's instruction. For therefore alone we have need of ceremonies, that they may teach the unlearned. Et non modo Paulus præcipit (1 Cor. xiv. 9) uti lingua intellecta populo in ecclesia, sed etiam ita constitutum est humano jure. Assuevit populus, ut una utantur Sacramento, si qui sunt idonei, id quoque auget reverentiam ac religionem publicarum ceremoniarum. Nulli enim admittuntur, nisi antea explorati. Admonentur etiam homines de dignitate et usu Sacramenti, quantam consolationem This is not only commanded by St. Paul, to use a tongue that the people understand (1 Cor. xiv. 9), but man's law hath also appointed it. We accustom the people to receive the Sacrament together, if so be any be found fit thereunto; and that is a thing that doth increase the reverence and due estimation of the public ceremonies. For none are admitted, except they be first proved. Besides, we put men in
afferat pavidis conscientiis, ut discant Deo credere, et omnia bona a Deo expectare et petere. mind of the worthiness and use of the Sacrament, how great comfort it bringeth to timid consciences; that they may learn to believe God, and to look for and crave all good things at his hands. Hic cultus delectat Deum, tails usus Sacramenti alit pietatem erga Deum. Itaque non videntur apud adversarios Missæ majore religione fieri, quam apud nos. This worship doth please God; such a use of the Sacrament doth nourish piety towards God. Therefore it seemeth not that Masses be more religiously celebrated among our adversaries than with us. Constat autem hanc quoque publicam et longe maximum querelam omnium bonorum virorum diu fuisse, quod Missæ turpiter prophanarentur, cottatæ ad quæstum. Neque enim obscurum est, quam late pateat hic abusus in omnibus templis, a quælibus celebrentur Missæ, tantum propter mercedem aut stipendium, quam multi contra interdictum Canonum celebrent. Paulus autem graviter minatur his, qui indigne tractant Eucharistiam, cum ait (1 Cor. xi. 27): 'Qui ederit panem hunc, aut biberit calicem Domini indigne, reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini.' Itaque cum apud nos admonerentur Sacerdotes de hoc peccato, desierunt apud nos privatæ Missæ, cum fere nullæ privatæ Missæ nisi quæstus causa fierent. Neque ignoraverunt hos But it is evident that of long time this hath been the public and most grievous complaint of all good men, that Masses are basely profaned, being used for gain. And it is not unknown how far this abuse hath spread itself in all churches; of what manner of men Masses are used, only for a reward, or for wages; and how many do use them against the prohibition of the Canons. But Paul doth grievously threaten those who treat the Lord's Supper unworthily, saying, 'He that eateth this bread or drinketh this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord' (1 Cor. xi. 27). Therefore, when the priests among us were admonished of this sin, private Masses were laid aside among us, seeing that for the most part there were no private Masses but only for lucre's sake. Neither were
abusus episcopi, qui si correxissent eos in tempore, minus nunc esset dissensionum. Antea sua dissimulatione multa vitia passi sunt in Ecclesiam serpere. Nunc sero incipiunt queri de calamitatibus Ecclesiæ, cum hic tumultus non aliunde sumpserit occasionem, quam ex illis abusibus, qui tam manifesti erant, ut tolerari amplius non possent. Magnæ dissensiones de Missa, de Sacramento extiterunt. Fortasse dat poenas orbis tam diuturnæ prophanationis Missarum, quam in Ecclesiis tot seculis toleraverunt isti, qui emendare et poterant et debebant. Nam in Decalogo scriptum est (Exod. xx. 7): 'Qui Dei nomine abutitur, non erit impunitus.' At ab initio mundi nulla res divina ita videtur unquam ad quæstum collata fuisse, ut Missa. the bishops ignorant of these abuses, and if they had amended them in time, there had now been less of dissensions. Heretofore, by their dissembling, they suffered much corruption to creep into the Church; now they begin, though it be late, to complain of the calamities of the Church; seeing that this tumult was raised up by no other mean than by those abuses, which were so evident that they could no longer be tolerated. There were many dissensions, concerning the Mass, concerning the Sacrament. And perhaps the world is punished for so long a profaning of Masses, which they, who both could and ought to have amended it, have so many years tolerated in the churches. For in the Ten Commandments it is written, 'He that taketh in vain the name of the Lord shall not be held guiltless' (Exod. xx. 7). And from the beginning of the world there neither was nor is any divine thing which seems so to have been employed for gain as the Mass. Accessit opinion, quæ auxit privatas Missas in infinitum, videlicet quod Christus sua passione satisfecerit pro peccato originis, et instituerit Missam, in qua fieret oblatio pro quotidianis delictis, mortalibus et venialibus. Hinc manavit publica opinio, There was added an opinion, which increased private Masses infinitely: to wit, that Christ by his passion did satisfy for original sin, and appointed the Mass, wherein an oblation should be made for daily sins, both mortal and venial. Hereupon a common opinion was
quod Missa sit opus delens peccata vivorum et mortuorum ex opere operato. Hic coeptum est disputari, utrum una Missa, dicta pro pluribus, tantundem valeat, quantum singulæ pro singulis. Hæc disputatio peperit istam infinitam multitudinem Missarum. De his opinionibus nostri admonuerunt, quod dissentiant a Scripturis Sanctis, et ledant gloriam passionis Christi. Nam passio Christi fuit oblatio et satisfactio, non solum pro culpa originis, sed etiam pro omnibus reliquis peccatis, ut ad Hebræos (x. 10) scriptum est: 'Sanctificati sumus per oblationem Jesu Christi semel.' Item (Heb. x. 14): 'Una oblatione consumavit in perpetuum sanctificatos.' Item, Scriptura docet, nos coram Deo justificari per fidem in Christum, cum credimus, nobis remitti peccata propter Christum. Jam si Missa delet peccata vivorum et mortuorum ex opere operato, contingit justificatio ex opere Missarum, non ex fide, quod Scriptura non patitur. Sed Christus jubet (Luke xxii. 19) 'facere in sui memoriam,' quare Missa instituta est, ut fides in iis, qui utuntur Sacramento, recordetur, quæ beneficia accipiat per received, that the Mass is a work that taketh away the sins of the quick and the dead, and that for the doing of the work. Here men began to dispute whether one Mass said for many were of as great force as particular Masses said for particular men. This disputation hath brought forth that infinite multitude of Masses. Our preachers have admonished concerning these opinions that they do depart from the holy Scriptures, and diminish the glory of the passion of Christ. For the passion of Christ was an oblation and satisfaction, not only for original sin, but also for all other sins; as it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews (x. 10): 'We are sanctified by the oblation of Jesus Christ once made;' also, 'By one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified' (Heb. x. 14). The Scripture also teacheth that we are justified before God through faith in Christ, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake. Now, if the Mass do take away the sins of the quick and the dead, even for the work's sake that is done, then justification cometh by the work of Masses, and not by faith; which the Scripture can not endure. But Christ commandeth us 'to do it in remembrance of himself' (Luke xxii. 19), therefore
Christum, et erigat et consoletur pavidam conscientiam. Nam id est meminisse Christi, beneficia meminisse, ac sentire, quod vere exhibeantur nobis. Nec satis est historiam recordari, quia hanc etiam Judæi et impii recordari possunt. Est igitur ad hoc facienda Missa, ut ibi porrigatur Sacramentum his, quibus opus est consolatione, sicut Ambrosius ait: 'Quia semper pecco, semper debeo accipere medicinam.' the Mass has been instituted that faith in them which use the Sacrament may remember what benefits it receiveth by Christ, and that it may raise and comfort the fearful conscience. For this is to remember Christ, to wit, to remember his benefits, and to feel and perceive that they be indeed imparted unto us. Nor is it sufficient to call to mind the history; because that the Jews also and the wicked can do. Therefore the Mass must be used to this end, that there the Sacrament may be reached unto them that have need of comfort as Ambrose saith, 'Because I do always sin, therefore I ought always to receive the medicine.' Cum autem Missa sit talis communicatio Sacramenti, servatur apud nos uns communis Missa singulis feriis atque aliis etiam diebus, si qui Sacramento velint uti, ubi porrigitur Sacramentum his, qui petunt. Neque hic mos in Ecclesia novus est, nam veteres ante Gregorium non faciunt mentionem privatæ Missæ; de comuni Missa plurimum loquuntur. Chrysostomus ait: 'Sacerdotem quotidie stare ad altare, et alios ad communionem accersere, alios arcere.' Et ex Canonibus veteribus apparet, unum aliquem celebrasse Missam, a quo reliqui presbyteri et diaconi And seeing that the Mass is such a communion of the Sacrament, we do observe one common Mass every holy day, and on other days, if any will use the Sacrament, at which times it is offered to them that desire it. Neither is this custom newly brought into the Church. For the ancients, before Gregory's time, make no mention of any private Mass; of the common Mass they speak much. Chrysostom saith that 'the priest doth daily stand at the altar, and call some unto the Communion, and put back others.' And by the ancient Canons I is evident that some one did celebrate the Mass, of whom the other elders