The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-06
"sAcRIFIcKs oE MAssEg..
A Rigid InterpretnttSa Of the ThlrtS-nrst
Artlcls.

To THE EDITOR OF THE suN-jSir. The
Rev. DR.. Halls reply In FOUR issue OF to-day
to Mr.. q. Donlevy's Inquiry in regard to the
legality o. -rhAsses" Ia the Protestant Episeo-
pal Church seems to call for some comment.
even though the reverend doctor lntimates
the closing OF the correspondence 30 far a.
ne Ia concerned. The explanation given Of
Article XXI. has a drearlly NfamfiiAr sound
10 all who, like the present writer. have passed
through the High Anglican phsse OF re-
hglon.. IL In the stock explanation TO be found
Ii all writer's Of that school who try to make
IL more easy for themselves and others to
swallow thA obnoxious Article, the most
troublesome. probably. from a Ritualistic
point OF view. Of the whole forty stripes
save one"
The whole point lies In the use Of the plural
masses" The Anglican Church. We are
told. does not condemn the sacrifice Of the
mass. but the sacrifices OF masses" To
the plain man this 10 not very Illuminating
till he learns that the latter phrase. the plural
form. is supposed to onnOte the deeply
erroneous view that each celebration Of mass
was an Independent sacrifice. distinct from
that OF the Cross. This. we are told by Or.
Hall ana others OF his school, Is what the
Church OF England intends TO condemn, and
the Article. by the later school Of High Angli-
Of making the Articles patient" OF a Catholic
Interpretation. CPatlent," we may say. il
a significant word In this connection. Ihe
poor Thlrty-nine have had to be very patiently
The Article itself gives no hint Of any such
explanation. Rather. 1t goes on to describe,
and In describing TO repudiate, a belief as to
the sacrifice, OF the mass which was not only,
as the Article says. commonly said" at that
time, but is commonly said now and believed
by all Catholics-naueiy. that In it Christ is
offered FOR the quick and the dead. to have
remission rem, ITsr Of gain r. SuiI';v This Is part Of
the mass, snd this Is what the Anglican
Church declares to be a ~-blAsphemous fable"
and a dangerous deceit.
However, the best clue as TO the intentions
mass IL to be found, not in the ingenious ex-
plantations Of later divinee. but in the actions
OF these same reformers. The AVERAGE pn-
lieve that the men who carefully went through
the Ordinal and cut out every reference to
a sacrificing priesthood; who hacked and
who throughout the ength and breadth Of
England desecrate,i ssnotuaries, pulled down
affairs. and burned or put to p~rofane uses the
sadrifcial vessels and vestments: | say the
average person will find it hard to swallow
that such men were firm believers in the
Catholic doctrine Of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
and intent only on removing It's abuses. What
they did Intend was Its total abolition, root
and branch.
Thank God, at last the mass is driven
out OF England. wrote ane OF Eliza beth's
Bishops to a Cslvinistic friend on the Con-
tinent; and this. without doubt. was. the
feeling and belief of all the adherents OF the
new State religion.
1T il the mass that matters" says Mr..
Birreli, the present English Minister OF Edu-
events Of Elizabeth's reign will agree with
him that the intention of the fathers OF the
Anglican Reformation mot, to mention its
@". .eSd" E ia not s. saMT %snP =. M sSf mas; put
MORRIS HEIGHTS, October /.