believes in Exorcism, Private Confession and Absolution, or the
_Ceremonies_ of the Mass." Here again _Ceremonies_ of the mass are
stated, but if the Platform taught that the Mass itself is inculcated
in the Confession, believers in the Mass would, _a fortiori_, have also
been mentioned as excluded.

What then is the meaning of the sentence on page 22 of the Platform,
"In refutation of the _tolerant views of the mass_ above expressed,
&c?" Why, of course we should suppose it meant those views of the mass
which the Platform charges against the Confession, as taught in these
passages, namely, retaining and approving the _ceremonial_ of the mass,
which constituted by far the greater part of the public mass, so
called, although its nature had been changed by denying the
_sacrificial_ character of the minister's act of self-communion, and
its being performed for the benefit of _others_, either living or dead.
We think also, some objectionable parts of the ceremonial itself were
changed, although the Confession asserts that the addition of some
German hymns, along with the Latin, was the only alteration made. Among
those objectionable parts retained, was _the elevation of the host_,
of which Luther thus speaks, in his _Short Confession about the
Sacrament_ against the Fanatics,in 1544. [Note 1] "It, happened about
twenty or twenty-two years ago, when I began to condemn the mass
(messe,) and wrote severely against the papists, to show that it (the
mass) was not a sacrifice, nor a work of ours, but a gift and blessing
or testament of God, which we could not offer to God, but ought and
must receive from him. At that time I was disposed to reject _the
elevation of the host_, on account of the papists, who regard it, as a
sacrifice, &c. But as our doctrine was at that time new and exceedingly
offensive over the whole world, I had to proceed cautiously, and on
account of the weak, to yield many things, which I, at a later period,