thon neglects no sermon; he [Z willing] is such a man that, save for the testimony of certain men, I should not believe that Luther himself could beat him. Directed, as I have heard, by letters from Luther, he has preached that no man ought to attend any mass, and says that he himself will never in future officiate at one for this reason alone, that the abuse of the mass is so atrocious a sin against the divine majesty that nothing could make God angrier. For, in the first place, they make of the mass a sacrifice. Secondly, we adore and make an idol of this sacrament, or sign, given for strengthen- ing our faith. For this sign is nowise more excellent than the signs in the Old Testament. But the Jews were not allowed to adore the ark of the covenant,* nor the rainbow,* nor cir- cumcision, by which signs they were assured that God would not desert them. Likewise, in this sign of the New Covenant, when we take the body and blood of Christ, nothing is given us save certainty of our salvation. For we take the flesh as a reminder that it has been offered as a sacrifice for the sins of all men, and the blood to make certain that this was shed for our sins. . . . Accordinjgly we Wittenbergers do not hear masses. We hear the Word of God diligently; also we do not communicate in one kind, but in both, and we do it often. Philip Melanchthon with all his pupils communicated in both kinds in the parish church on Michaelmas [September 29], and now this is done in all the churches.
508. MELANCHTHON TO WENZEL LINK AT NUREMBERG. ARC, vi, (1909), 181. Wittenberg, October 9 (1521).
. . . You know what has been the course of the Gospel here, and especially what Luther thinks of the mass, what 6i its institution, its form and its use. While these things were being discussed here, it seems good to your brothers* to restore the mass to its primitive customs, that is, that one should consecrate and bless the bread and distribute it to all who desire and are able to partake of it. At this communion the same man recites the Gospel. This can easily be done with-
1 Hebrews ix, 1-4.
' Genesis ix, X2f.
' /.«.« the Augustmians st Wittenberg.
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