of the baptiser and the dipping in
water.[10] In the mass they are the words and the bread and wine.
The words are the divine covenant, promise and testament. The
signs are sacraments, that is sacred signs. Now since the
testament is far more important than the sacrament, so the words
are much more important than the signs. For the signs might be
lacking, if only one have the words, and thus one might be saved
without sacrament, yet not without testament. For I can daily
enjoy the sacrament in the mass, if I only keep before my eyes
the testament, that is, the words and covenant of Christ, and
feed and strengthen my faith thereby.

We see, then, that the best and greatest part of all sacraments
and of the mass is the words and covenant of God, without which
the sacraments are dead and are nothing at all; like a body
without a soul, a cask without wine, a purse without gold, a type
without fulfilment, a letter without spirit, a sheath without a
knife, and the like; whence it is true that when we use, hear, or
see the mass without the words or testament, and look only to the
sacrament and sign, we do not even half keep the mass. For
sacrament without testament is keeping the case without the
jewel, quite an unequal separation and division.

[Sidenote: The Testament ignored]

18. I fear, therefore, that there is at present more idolatry in
Christendom through the masses than ever occurred among the Jews.
For we hear nowhere that the mass is directed toward the feeding
and strengthening of faith, for which alone it was ordained by
Christ, but is only used as a sacrament without the testament.

Many have written of the fruits of the mass, and indeed have
greatly exalted them; nor do I question the value of these
fruits. But take heed that you regard them all, compared to this
one thing, as the body compared to the soul. God has here
prepared for our faith a pasture, table and feast; [Ps. 23] but
faith is fed with nothing except the Word of God alone. Therefore
you must take heed above all things to the words, exalt them,
highly esteem them, and hold them fast; then you will have not
simply the little drops of blessing[11] that drip from the mass,
but the very head-waters of faith, from which springs and flows
all that is good, as the Lord says in John vii, "Whosoever
believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow streams of living
water" [John 4:14, 15]; again: "Whosoever shall drink of the
water which I give, he shall