Tomline on Article XXXI: Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross

X HE Papists, believing that the bread and wine are by consecration changed into the real body and blood of Christ, consider Christ as offered up to God at every celebration of the eucharist ; and maintain that this sacrifice of Christ will be the means of shortening the pains of pur- gatory, and of reconciling God to those who shall procure such masses to be said, whether ^y be living or dead. Hence the rich are

induced

5o8 ExposUim of the [part iii.

induced to give or bequeath mon^ for this pur pose, and masses are constantly said in .Popish churches, in the name, and at the request, of par- ticular persons whose salvation they are supposed to promote. These are called soUtary masses, as the priests only partake of them ; and it fre- quently happens that several of these masses are going on at the same time, at different altars in the same church. These masses were unknown among the eariy Christians; and even at the Council of Mentz, at the end of Charlemagne^ reign, it was decreed, that no priest should say mass alone. Solitary masses did not come into general use till the twelfth century, soon after the doctrine of transubstantiation was established ; but the belief that particular persons might be benefited by offerings made in their name at the Lord’s table was more antient ; and the custom of praying for the dead at the admini- stration of the Lord’s Supper, was as old as die time of Chrysostom. From these practices to that of offering private masses for the dead or living, the transition was easy, with the asssist- ance of the newly established doctrine of transub- stantiation ; and more especially as these masses were made the source of great wealth to the. clergy.

TTie article now to be explained is directed

’^ against

ART. xxssi.] Thirty-nme Articles. 509

ag^nst this doctrine and :practice of the diurch of Rome, and it begins by asserting that th£

OFFEHING OF CHRIST ONCE MAD£, IS THAT PEllFECT REDEMPTION, PROPITIATION, AND SATISFACTION FOR ALL* THE SINS OF THE

The truth of this proposition, which may be considered as preparatory to the main subject of the article, appears so clearly from the most

^inted declarations of Scripture, that they seem, as we observed of the former article, to be a sort of prophetic warning against the cor- ruption which was afterwards to prevail in the Christian Church : ^^ We are sanctified through the. offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once

for all (a).” — ” He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also far the sins

-of the whole world (by — ” Who needeth not dailifj as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people ; for this he did once when he offered up him- self (c)’ — ” Christ entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, by his own blood (d).’ — ” Christ was offered once to ,bear the sins of many […] Every priest

standedi

(a) Heb. c. lo. v, 10. (b) 1 John, c. 2. v. «•

(c) Heb. c. 7. V. 27. (d) Heb. c. 9. v. 12.

(e) Heb. c. g. v. 28.

510 EgpamHm of the [F^mT iil

standeth daflyaiiiiisteriii and ofieringcrfttentiiie the same itcrifioes, wbkh can never take aim j sin ; bat tiiis man, after he had ofiered p mt sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down at die lij hand of God (X).**— -” And now moc at die cod of the world) he hath appeared to put awiqpsiB by the sacrifice of hunself (gy — Qilrist abo hath imct suffered for sins, the just for the nnjost, that he might bring ns to God (h)r The above texts most cleaiiy prove the inhvas and sufficiency of the redemption purdiased for [as by the death of Christ; and we are expieaafytoU that there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin (i) or in die words of the article, thebs is none other satisfaction foe sin, but that alone.

Wherefore the sacrifices of masses^iit

THE WHICH it WAS COMMONLT SAID, THAT

DANGEROUS DECEITS. There is no authority, either from Scripture, or from the practice of the primitive church, for calUng the eucharist a sacri- fice in the strict sense of the wcml, that is, la the same sense in which Christ himself is said to

have

(f) Heb. c. 10. V. 11 fii 12. (g) Heb. g. 9. v. s6. (h) 1 Pet. c. 3. V. 18. (i) BW). c. JO. V. a6.

[…]

have been a sacrifice. It is tnie, that any act of leKiis worship may, by a sort of metaphor, be denominated a sacrifice, since something is offered to God-; and in that figorative sise the word is used both in the Old and New Testament: Let my pray be set forth before thee as incense and the Kfting up of my hands as the evening sacri- fice […] The sacrifice of God is a broken ajHrit f /;).”- — We are exhorted ” to offer the sa- crifice of praise to Gtnl continually (m)y” and to present ’ our bodies a living sacrifice f 7.” In this larger sense we admit that the eucharist is a sacri- fice of praise and dianksgtving, and it is so called in the office of communion in our liturgy ; but it is a commemorative and not a propitiatory sa- crifice ; it is not itsdf a sacrifice for sin, but it is a feast upon a sacrifice, at which we renew our covenant with God ; and by wordiily partaking of this feast, our faith is strengthened, and the grace of God is conveyed to us to liable us to work out our salvation.

But some, in rejecting the popish doctrine of the sacrifice* of masses, have run into the op« posite extoeme, and have considered the Sacra- ment of the Lord’s Simper as barely a comme- morative inrdinance : ^^ fiat,” says Dr. Hey, ” if

you

(k) Ps. 141. V. 2. , (I) Pfi. 51 . V. 1 7.

(m) Hob* e. 13. v. 15. (n) Rom. c. la. r. 1.

5n Eajxmtion of the [part hi.

you make the Lord’s Supper, as it was instituted by Christ, a mere commemoration, you make k a strange and unintelligible rite ; for what can be more strange than eating the flesh and ^trinking the blood of one who is to be regarded only as an instructor and benefactor ? if we had been or- dered in the sacrament to kill an animal, and shed its blood, or only to break bread, and pour out wine, the rite would have been intdligible ieis a simple memorial ; it would have . repres^ited Christ’s death merely as a death ; but it would have been a different rite from ours. Now conceive it is a feast on a sacrifice, and all is easy and simple. We indeed are not in the habit of sacrificing but what is that? Who could not understand, that when sacrifices were in use, part of the victim was served up at a religious feast, and all who pBT-^ took (o) of the material feast were understood to partake of the spiritual benefits of the sacrifice ? Christ was our victim ; on his body we do not feast literally, because it is in heaven ; but be appointed bread to represent it; on that we can

feast,

(o) *’ See Potter’s Ant. vol. i . p. 145, which, though about Heathens, is worth our notice. Heathens, ddi- berating about Christianity, must have had their minds full of ideas of heathen sacrifices ; and these ideas must have affected both their conversion and their religion after conversion, besides making it easier to them to coQceive and celebrate the Christian sacrifice.” — Hey.

ART* xxxt.] Thirty-mne Articles. 513

feast, and so partake of his body, that is, feast ^upon the victim. Such bread is ” the bread of life,” because by his own appointment it repre- sents his flesh (pX’

It. is manifest that the eucharist was not consi- dered as a sacrifice, in the strict sense of the word,

in . the primitive ages of Christianity, since the Christians were reproached by the Heathen for belonging to a religion which had no sacrifice ; and the early apologists never defended them- selves by saying, that they had the sacrifice of the eucharist lliis argument, although a nega- tive one, is very conclusive, as far as the opinion of the early Christians is concerned. Justin Martyr indeed expressly says, that ” the Chris- tians have no other sacrifice but prayers and praises (q) ;” and passages to the same effect are found in the works of Athenagoras, Minutius Felix, Origen, Tertullian, Clement and Cyril, both of Alexandria, and Amobius ; and in none of the antient rituals is the eucharist considered as an offering of Christ to God,

The principle upon which the popish masses are foimded, is not authorized by Scripture, namely, that the offering of the elements in the holy eucharist by priests may be effectual to the

salvation

(p) Hay’s Lectures, vol. 4. p. 348. (q) Apol. 2.

[…]

for

(r) Masses was the name for the Lord’s Supper in England till the middle of the reign of King Edward the sixth.

ART. XXXI.] Thirty-tum Artkks. 515

for the sins of mankind ; and they are danger- ous DECEITS, because they encourage wicked- ness, by holding out an easy method of pardon, and lead men to place their hope of salvation upon ft fisdse foundation.

Z.L2

51 6 lExpositionjof the [part iii,