Marriage

According to the Tridentine Council, marriage is a sacrament among Catholics, but not among Protestants. Luther calls it a "worldly thing". It has only a bodily blessing, but not a spiritual one.
Among Protestants, the marriage ceremony is preceded by the betrothal. An old Lutheran agendum refers to the betrothal as "the begun conjugal life", on which the consummation of the same takes place after the wedding. A chief condition in marriage in the Lutheran Church, according to God's Word, is the free and uncoerced consent of the parents. "Secret betrothals are not to be valid everywhere, but are to be torn apart quickly," says Luther.
Among Catholics, those who wish to marry must promise to marry each other before the priest, and must at the same time have the priest examine them to see whether they are sufficiently grounded in Catholic doctrine. The same laudable institution was formerly in use among the Lutherans, but has unfortunately fallen away. Before the wedding, as in the Catholic, so also in the Protestant Church, the engaged couple is summoned from the pulpit on three successive Sundays, partly to ask whether anyone has an objection to the betrothal, partly to pray for the engaged couple. This order became customary in the twelfth century.