with what are called in the Thirty-first Article "the Sacrifices of
Masses," and with the sale of "Pardons" or Indulgences, named in the
Twenty-second Article. The character of the Romish doctrine, as of every
other doctrine, must be tested by what has grown with its growth. It was
held that by these "Sacrifices of Masses" and "Indulgences" souls, one by
one, were released from Purgatorial fires sooner than, without their aid,
they could be delivered, and thus were at once admitted to Paradise or
Heaven.

What, however, does the Thirty-first Article precisely mean by
"Sacrifices of Masses"? The expression is peculiar, and appears to have
been designedly so shaped in order to be clearly distinguished from what
is meant by the Sacrifice in the Mass, or Holy Communion. For that the
Holy Communion has been held and taught by our chief English Divines to
be a Sacrifice cannot well be disputed. {86} But the term "Sacrifices of
Masses" was intended to signify what were called, at the time when the
Article was drawn up, "Private Masses," which were offered chiefly for
souls in Purgatory, and in return for money payment. The Article refers
to modes of speaking prevalent on the lips of men at the time. It
condemns that which was "_commonly said_." And what was it that was
"commonly said"? It was commonly said that, while Christ's death on the
Cross was indeed a propitiation for original or birth sin, on the other
hand for daily sins, committed after Baptism, another propitiatory
sacrifice was needed, _viz._, the "Sacrifice of the Mass." Thus the
Sacrifice of the Mass, which is not the same thing as the Sacrifice _in_
the Mass, was regarded as an addition to and distinct from the Sacrifice
on the Cross, as indeed a repetition of it, having a propitiatory value
of its own, which the Sacrifice on the Cross had not; just as though it
were what Bishop Gardiner, in repudiating it, described as "a new
Redemption." {87} Hence it came about that the belief arose that Masses
offered for specific purposes had more virtue for those purposes than
what was called "a Common Mass." The practice, therefore, of offering
"private Masses" for souls in Purgatory, as it was very lucrative, so it
became very prevalent. Thus spiritual things were used for the purpose
of bringing large money gains to the Chantry Priests, and what should be,
and we may surely affirm was meant to be, for the common benefit of all
became the narrow privilege of