of the entire Roman Church, they perform ecclesiastical rites not
in the Roman but in the German language, and this they pretend
that they do upon the authority of St. Paul, who taught that in
the Church a language should be used which is understood by the
people, 1 Cor. 14:19. But if this were the meaning of the words of
St. Paul, it would compel them to perform the entire mass in
German, which even they do not do. But since the priest is a
person belonging to the entire Church, and not only to his
surroundings, it is not wonderful that the priest celebrates the
mass in the Latin language in a Latin Church. It is profitable to
the hearer, however, if he hear the mass in faith of the Church;
and experience teaches that among the Germans therehas been
greater devotion at mass in Christ's believers who do not
understand the Latin language than in those who today hear the
mass in German. And if the words of the apostle be pondered, it is
sufficient that the one replying occupy the place of the unlearned
to say Amen, the very thing that the canons prescribe. Neither is
it necessary that he hear or understand all the words of the mass,
and even attend to it intelligently; for it is better to
understand and to attend to its end, because the mass is
celebrated in order that the Eucharist may be offered in memory of
Christ's passion. And it is an argument in favor of this that,
according to the general opinion of the fathers, the apostles and
their successors until the times of the Emperor Hadrian celebrated
the mass in the Hebrew language alone, which was indeed unknown to
the Christians, especially the converted heathen. But even if the
mass had been celebrated in the primitive Church in a tongue
understood by the people, nevertheless this would not be
necessary now, for many were daily converted who were ignorant of
the ceremonies and unacquainted with the mysteries; and hence it