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, would not do.  I therefore suffered the elevation of the host, to remain, especially as it admits of a favorable, explanation, as I showed in my little work ‘De Captivitate Babylonica, &c.’” The elevation of the host was still practised in Saxony generally in 1542, [Note 2] twelve years after the Confession was written, approving of the ceremonies of the mass, of which this was one.  This remnant of popery was, however, universally rejected soon after this period, certainly before 1545, and in Wittenberg, in 1542.

Again, what is the natural import of the phrase on page 21 of the Platform:  “Accordingly the Lutheran church, in Europe and America, has unanimously repudiated alike the mass and its ceremonies.”  The passage itself specifies no time, when either was rejected, and neither says nor implies that both were rejected at the same time.  The word “accordingly” refers to what preceded.  The whole reads thus:  “Topic I., Ceremonies of the mass.  The error taught on this subject by the Augsburg Confession and Apology to it (namely, the error on these ceremonies of the mass) was rejected by the reformers themselves a few years after the Confession was first published.  Accordingly, the Lutheran Church, both in Europe and America, has unanimously repudiated alike the mass