Answer to the Devilish Detection of the Bishop of Winchester, Treatise · Part 19
❧ Of thys name Maſſe, and of the diriuation of the ſame.
NOw labour you to hauehave this name Miſſa, or Maſſe, diriued of an Hebrue worde, wherein I wyll not greatly contende thoughe it make not much for your purpoſe: becauſe I know the ſubtiltie of the generation that fyrſte named it, whoſe caſte it is alwayes to buſie mens myndes wyth ſtraunge names, darcke The papiſtes buſy mennes myndes wyth ſtraunge names.termes and ſubtile diſputations aboute the ſame to holde men occupied in trifles, and to keepe them frō the playnes of the trueth. Other wiſe they could hauehave ben cōtent to hauehave named it the breaking of the bread with Luke or the ſupper of the Lorde wyth Paule.
But for the nature of the Hebrue worde: Lerne what Sanctes Pagninus wryteth in Theſauro lingue ſancte foreign Miſſa ſufficientiā ſignificat. foreign id eſt. Sufficientiam voluntatis (aut ſpontis) manns tue.
Targhū, Deut. xv. &. xviii. pro, foreign quod eſt ſufficiētia, habet foreign Rabbi Selomoh, in cōmētaries, exponit, foreign ſufficiētiā. Rabbi Abrahā hoc pacto ſcribit. foreign Dagheſſatur ſamech, nam deducitur a foreign quod eſt ſign…m. Ihero…i…nus. Oblationē ſpontaneā man… tue. Vnde dicūt nō nulli, quod foreign eſt oblatio que fit deo propter aliquod munus perſonale, quibus non aſſentior, cum nullus ex Hebreis doctoribus ho…dicat, quos legerim. Hactenus Pagninus.
Theſe wordes declare the nature of this worde foreign by diriuatiō euen frō the original. Whiche howe wel it agreeth with our engliſhe word maſſe: let the learned iudge. It cā not be tried hereby, that it is a ſacrifice for the quicke & for the dead: but rather cleane cō trarie, by that whiche Pagninus affirmeth.
Ther is yet an other Hebrue worde foreign ſignifiynge a tribute, whiche ſome men ſaye is the originall: becauſe of the contribution and payment that was gathered for the reliefe of the pore in the beginning.
There is alſo a verbe foreign, which betokeneth to melte or to be diſſolued awaye, where of you may diriue Miſſa, if you wyll bicauſe the houre is at hande, whē the Maſſe and all mans inuentions, ſhal melt like waxe before the brenning fyre of the word of god. But what mattier maketh it whereof thys worde cometh: ſeinge al the worlde ſeeth that your Maſſe is a Maſſe and heape of ceremonies and fonde geſtures & nothinge after the forme that Chriſt our maiſter did inſtitute it?
Seinge therfore, you hauehave both geuen it a newe name, & chaunged the thinge it ſelfe alſo: men that do miſlyke your doinges, maye wythout blame gyue it the name that they fynde in ſcriptures, to call Chriſtes deede into remembraunce, whiche you hauehave almoſte extinguiſhed.
We therefore do cōmunely call it the ſupper of the Lorde as Paule doeth, becauſe at i. Corh. xi.his laſt ſupper Chriſt dyd ordeine this ſacramēt for a memorie & remembraunce. But for the worde Cena, it is inough for chyldren to daly as you do in the ſcholes. And the text of Paule is playne inough. It is the mattier that we cōtende for & not the termes. Thys terme the ſupper of the Lorde doeth ſignifie vntounto vsus, the worke that Chriſte dyd, and the thing that ſhoulde be had in memorie. Your maſſe you ſay ſignifieth (but no mā cā tell by what propertie of lāguage) al theſe thynges.
The gloriouſe preſence of the bodie and bloud of Chriſt, the whole circumſtaūces vſed and ceremonies done, & the deuoute prayers that be ſpoken by the prieſt.
Wel, it is a ſmal mattier for you that can chaunge thynges and creatures, to chaunge wordes and names at your pleaſure.
Polidore ſemeth to ſpeake in differētly for vsus both in this mattier, where he ſayeth that in the Maſſe there was an offeringe and gathering Polidore de inuentoribus …erum.for the poore, whiche fauoureth ſome thynge of the Hebrue worde. foreign Tributum collectum. But the pore are diſpiſed, and therfore there remayneth only the ſonge that is called the Offertorie (ſayth he) which was ſonge whi…ſe the money was in gathering.
Finally, whether you prelates (whiche cal your ſelues the church) may ſay with Paule. Ego accepi a domino quod et tradidi vobis: Let al me iudge that hauehave knowledge to perceyue what is in your Maſſe, and what the Lorde dyd at his ſupper when he cōmaunded vsus to do this in the remēbraunce of hym, and that we ſhoulde al drinke thereof. Yea that ſo ofte as we eate of this bread & drinke of thys cup, we ſhoulde ſhewe furth the death of the Lorde vntounto that he come, whiche is the onelyonly thynge that we deſyre, to hauehave the death of Chriſte preached in thys ſacrament (for that is the only fode & life of the ſoule) where you wyll hauehave nothynge but blynde diguiſinges wherwith neither the body nor ſoul cā be fed