1. that righteous love between spouses is strange.
2. whether a minister of the church may remain without marriage for the sake of the preaching ministry.
3. another question.
Few believe that the marriage state is God's creation, order and institution.
5. image of the marriage state in all creatures.
A husband must be a pious and God-fearing person.
The sweetest company and fellowship is among pious husbands and wives.
8. the dignity and benefit of the married state, which the world does not see.
(9) A lewd woman is a man's greatest heartache.
10. Luther's advice on how one should marry.
11. how new husbands are minded.
12) After the betrothal, the wedding and the wedding ceremony should not take place.
13. you have to have women.
14. praise and glory to the married state, that it is a fountainhead of all other divine states.
15. God preserves the marriage state.
The marriage state is God's blessing.
The marriage state is necessary, and one cannot do without it.
18. unpleasantness and burden in marriage.
Original sin makes the married state contemptible, but God preserves it.
20. Matrimonial matters do not belong before parish priests and preachers, but before the authorities, who shall rule on them.
21. From the saying: There shall be two in one flesh.
22. man and woman is one body.
23. daughters shall be endowed with money, but sons shall remain in fiefs and inheritance.
A wicked woman is one of the greatest plagues.
25. take a rich wife.
26. the weighting of the marital status.
27. that men cannot do without the marriage state.
28. a good or bad marriage.
29) What is due to wives from the deceased husband's property under Saxon law.
30. Becoming married should be done thoughtfully, not suddenly, out of fervour.
31. having many wives or husbands one after another.
32. of agreement or disagreement between spouses.
Marriage should be entered into in the fear of God and prayer.
34: The freedom of spouses in the Old Testament.
35. praise of the marriage state.
God Himself has ordered and preserves marriage.
Marriage is the most noble state after religion.
38. blessing of the marriage state.
Marriage is God's gift, which the devil is hostile to.
40. of the devil's tyranny against the spouses.
41 Each one takes its equal.
42 An old man and a young girl.
Nature is corrupted with carnal lust.
44. forbidding marriage is against nature.
45. what is the office of each spouse.
46. one question.
47. children are a blessing to marriage.
48. from the digamia.
49. of king Solomon's many wives.
50 The papacy is the enemy of marriage.
D. Luther's Thanksgiving for Marriage.
Matrimonial matters belong before the secular authorities.
53. what marriage is.
The first two pages of this book are devoted to the subject of marriage.
55. what to consider in marriage.
56. praise of a pious woman.
The woman is the wife of the house.
58. for what the marriage state is used.
59. praise of a good marriage state.
60. from a virgin girl.
61. Marriage is to be entered into with God.
62. marital status hostile and spiteful.
63. of the concubinate of the princes.
The world will soon tire of the marriage state.
65. unity between spouses.
66. children are the fruits of matrimony.
67. one question.
68 What discourages marriage.
69. children should not be prodded too hard.
The court shall decide whether matrimonial matters are to be judged and pronounced according to imperial and secular law.
Why Moses described the patriarchs' marriages so diligently.
72. from good marriage.
73. pious spouse.
Marriage should be started with prayer, like all things.
The wisdom of women.
Women can talk well.
77 Of the disobedience of women.
78. a strange, gruesome marriage case.
79 Whether one may take his brother's wife.
80. from a high person who left her spouse.
81. by King Henry in England.
82 A question: Whether a man, from whom his wife has run, may take another.
83 From another case.
84 A question: Whether a man does wrong when he kidnaps a virgin he loves.
85. of causes of divorce.
86. of the degrees in the marriage.
87. children should marry with prior knowledge and advice of parents.
and how far away.
88. D. Luther's serious disputation of secret dereliction.
89. cheeses are large and strange.
90. from the third degree of marriage.
91. of spiritual kinship.
92. D. Luther's exhortation to marry those who are weakened.
93. causes of divorce.
The first two words of this article are: "The first," "the second," "the third," and "the third," respectively.
95. wre secretly or apparently coitus make a marriage.
96 New heresy in the state of marriage.
The following is a list of the most important questions.
98. of clandestine betrothals and how they are to be punished.
99. from the words: de praesenti et futuro.
100 Whether one spouse may divorce the other for the sake of religion.
101 D. Luther's concern when one spouse runs from the other.
102. of three divine estates.
103. common life is the safest.
104. difference between marriage and fornication.
105. from stepchildren.
The Pabst's punishment of those who have broken the marriage.
The following is a list of the laws that apply to matrimonial matters.
108 D. Luther's concern about whether leprosy separates marriage.
109 D. Luther's concern, since one impregnated a maid.
110 D. Luther's concern whether one might take his cousin's wife in marriage.
The verdict of the Consistorii of Wittenberg in a marriage case in which a farmer had impregnated his deceased wife's sister and then taken her in marriage.
112. of secret betrothals, and of parental violence.
113. of the degrees in matrimonial matters.
The following is a summary of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure.
115 A question of fiancées against the parents Wisfen.
116. of the running away of a woman or a man.
117. D. Luther's Concerns about a Strange Case.
The Pabst's excuse why he forbids the marriage state.
119 D. Luther's concern about divorce for the sake of running away, whether the innocent part may be free again.
120 A question when a woman does not want to keep conjugal company.
12l. From another case.
122. 123. D. Luther's Citation in Matrimonial Matters.
124: Luther's Misgivings about Common Women's Houses.
The way a man has lived is the way he will live.
Question: Is bad fornication a sin?
127: About the women's regiment.
What a woman is.
129. of love between spouses.
130. of made love through drinks.
God holds above the marriage state.
132. that the holy fathers of the Church also had carnal desires, therefore one should avoid celibacy and flee a solitary life.
133 From cuttings.
134. you can't do without women.
The marriage state is necessary.
136. D. Luther's prayer for his marriage state.
137. children bind the marriage.
138. despisers of marriage.
139. from a wicked woman.
The parents love against the children.
The women's office, for which they are appointed.
142. an example of female chastity.
The first of these is a book on the subject.
144 Diligent study drives away covetousness.
Fornication follows false teaching.
146. what the marriage state is based on.
147: Why the pope is beating up on marriage.
The first love in the married state is the fiercest.
149. of conjugal relationship.
Believing that marriage is God's order and creature is a strange thing.
151 Cause why a pious woman should be loved.
152. of the secret engagements.
Women and virgins are to be honored, not defiled.
This is the first time that the author of the book has written a book on the subject of sexual immorality.
155. children should be raised with reason.
The blessing of D. Luther over a child.
157 A Latin, so D. Luther commanded his children to learn so that they might fear God.
158. paternal care of the children.
The marriage state is mocked by the people of the world.
160 Of two kinds of adultery.
161. cause of adultery.
162 History of how a woman's adultery was concealed by her husband.
163. the garden brothers' fornication.
164 History of how adultery was punished.
Luther's complaint that adultery is not punished as well as theft.
A history of how cruelly God punishes adultery.
Another similar story.
168) How fornication was punished.
Of priest marriage.
170. of a cardinal who took a nun as his wife.
The celibacy and celibate life of the clergy.
172 Causes of papal celibacy and celibate life.
The pope has killed many thousands of children.
What the vow of chastity is.
The fathers' misconception of the marriage state.
The hypocrisy of celibacy and celibate life.
177. horny is forbidden.
178 Fruits of celibacy and celibate life in the priesthood.
179) When celibacy began and for how long it lasted.
180. of priestly chastity, or celibacy.
181. D. Crotus is a blasphemer of the female sex.
182. fruits of the celibate life of the priests, nuns and
183: That a cardinal in Rome had been legitimate.
184. D. Luther's response to an allegedly vexatious case.
1. that righteous love between spouses is strange.
A beautiful virgin in a place, who otherwise had many handsome suitors, took a priest for the sake of money; then said D. M. Luther: The money has overcome the virgin Reginen (queen).
(The following at Cordatus No. 1091. 1092.)
Oh dear Lord, how great it is to love wife and children very much. For the devil sets himself against this order and corrupts even our good natural inclinations. What is it therefore [to be wondered at] that someone said against his wife: If the devil had had you in hell as long as I have had you, he would have grown weary of you?
The law incurs wrath even in civil matters. To everything we have to do, we are hurt even if you are forced by the law to marry a new woman every week; therefore, we love whores and hate women. Therefore, it is a sign of a good man if he can love his wife and children.
2. whether a minister of the church may remain without marriage for the sake of the preaching ministry.
(Contained in Cap. 22, § 151.)
3. another question.
(Cordatus No. 1163. 1164. 198.)
If, on the other hand, they [the papists] say that celibacy is easier to bear than imprisonment, which a preacher must also suffer for the sake of the word, I reply that this is not true. For burning is harder to bear than imprisonment. But one does not have to 1) fast, because lust only grows stronger in the one who does not have the gift of chastity. I did not suffer much from heat, but the more I tormented myself, the more I burned.
The celibate status of the pope is a sure artifice and deceit of the devil, by which he unnoticed from the church the freedom of Christ.
1) There will be a non to insert, as all other editions have required, also the following.
tears away. For if one could abstain, he should oppose it in order to preserve the freedom we have in Christ. But such a one would be forced to confess his marriage state by word and deed, and [it] need not mean silence. For Isaiah says [40:9.], "Get thee up into a high mountain, and cry, lift up thy voice with power." It is a strange thing all that is done out of immense hatred against marriage.
In order to confirm the status of marriage, I had decided with myself before I was married that if I had had to die unexpectedly and I had suffered from an illness, I would have wanted to have a girl married to me on the deathbed. This I would have done in defiance of the pope, who more than can be said has destroyed and disgraced this state; this godless sodomite with all his orders.
4. few believe that the marriage state is God's creation, order and institution.
(Contained in Cap. 4, § 22.)
5. image of the marriage state in all creatures.
In the first book of Moses it is written about marriage, Gen. 1, 27: "God created male and female and blessed them. Although this saying was spoken primarily of man, it should also be applied to all creatures in the world, such as the birds under the sky, the fish in the water, and all animals that are on earth. There you will find a man and a woman, a man and a woman, 2) who keep together and forgive each other, breed and multiply. That therefore God has set before us the marriage state in all creatures, and that we should have the same image and counterfactual in the trees, in the sky, in the birds of the earth, in the animals, and in the sea in the fish, yes, even in the stones. For everyone is aware that even among the trees male and female are found, as, apples and pears, since the apple tree is the male, and the pear tree the female, and the like kind more are found on the trees.
2) In the editions: "a hen and you".
And when they are planted together, they grow and get on much better with each other than otherwise. The man stretches out all his branches to the woman, as if he wanted to take her in his arms; in turn, the woman also raises her branches to the man. So heaven is also the man, and the earth the woman, for the earth is made fertile by heaven through the heat of the sun, rain and winds, so that all kinds of herbs and fruits grow from it. According to this, the marriage state is also depicted in the hard stones, especially in the precious stones, such as corals, emeralds and others.
A husband must be a pious and God-fearing person.
(Cordatus No. 449.)
Whoever unites with a woman is without doubt a good man, but H[ans] M[etsch] is not worthy of this divine gift. Husbands and wives must be good persons, and to have peace in marriage is a gift that comes closest to the Gospel. But those who are unloving and do not care for their children or spouses are not human, but at least very similar to wild animals.
The sweetest company and fellowship is among pious husbands and wives.
(Cordatus No. 638. 1)
A very great grace is to have a spouse whom you can trust with everything, who is a mother of children etc. Käthe, you have a pious husband who loves you. Let another empress be, but you thank God.
8. the dignity and benefit of the married state, which the world does not see.
(Cordatus No. 516.)
All works of God are hidden from the world. For who can worthily consider marriage, from which comes all offspring for the world, hence also the household, the world regiment etc.? But although all this is very useful, the world does not see its benefits, but only its inconveniences.
1) Cf. § 72 of this Cap. Cordatus No. 450.
But let the papists pass away, who despise marriage so much and love whores mortally to the point of nonsense; but I want to die as a lover of the married state.
A lewd woman is a man's greatest heartache.
(Cordatus No. 674. 675. 676.)
I regret the fate of the good man M[atthäus] A[urogallus], 2) who has a very lewd wife, and yet does not want to divorce her. If he complained, we would divorce him. Although she is not a public adulteress, yet, being lewd, disobedient, doing nothing according to his will, going about wherever she pleases, she thereby gives signs of adultery against herself. It is a very miserable thing to have an unfaithful spouse and to suffer a public rival, that hurts. For it is said that the peacock cannot suffer his equal and cannot see a rival. That is why he drowns himself when he sees his image in the water.
These are very glorious words of the Holy Spirit [Prov. 31:11]: "Her husband's heart may rely on her", with which he describes the friendliest intercourse and fellowship between the spouses, which is not found among others. It is therefore an evil sign when one spouse rejoices at the departure of the other spouse and is terrified by his arrival. Therefore, a noble lady instructed her daughter thus: "Dear daughter, behave toward your husband in such a way that he will be glad when he sees the lace on the house when he comes home again. It is a great deception of the devil that dissolves this so great union and order of God. By natural and divine right the spouses are united and the devil takes both away by hatred and quarrels. Egg, strike todt.
My advice to all who want to be free is that they do not joke when they want to take wives, and do not seek to be joined to them according to the lusts of the flesh and according to heat, but pray, pray. For
2) Professor of the Hebrew language in Wittenberg. Cf. § 73 of this chapter: Goldhahn.
When a wife is taken, one must not go back if it has gone badly, and the wives one gets are dowries one gets. Just pray, it is necessary. Even if a woman is a little bitter, she must be carried, for she belongs in the house.
10. D. M. Luther's advice on how one should marry, written to a good friend.
(This 8, at De Wette VI, 417 f., will be printed in Theil XXI. of our edition).
11. how new husbands are minded.
(Cordatus No. 1510.)
The first year of marriage makes one think strange thoughts. For when he sits at the table, he thinks: Before I was alone, now I am alone. When he wakes up in bed, he sees a pair of braids lying next to him, which he did not see before. For this reason, women cause their husbands many unnecessary disturbances, no matter how busy they are, as my Catharina first did when she sat with me while I was seriously studying, and she asked me: "Doctor, is the Margrave's Grand Master brother?
12) After the betrothal, the wedding and the wedding ceremony should not take place.
(Cordatus No. 1511.)
My advice is always to proceed to the wedding as soon as possible after the betrothal has taken place. For postponement is dangerous because of the slanderers that Satan instigates, and the friends of both parties usually start something that is not good. I know what happened to me with the marriage of Philip and Eisleben. Just hurry up and get together! If I had not married secretly, all my friends would have shouted: Not this one, but another.
13. you have to have women.
(Cordatus No. 1512. 1513.)
In a woman, many good things are seen, the blessing of the Lord, the offspring, the commonality of affairs, and other such great goods that make a man
could press. If we assume that this gender does not exist, then the house would perish and everything that belongs to the household and the world regiment. The world, however, could not do without women, even though men could beget children on their own.
When you look back, marriage is not as evil as when you look ahead. For our fathers and mothers were holy in this order of God, even those who were not yet in the faith, for they had God's commandment of the generation of offspring, and my children see in the same way that I live in holy matrimony as I saw my parents. And marriage, which we approve of in our parents and others, we often detest in ourselves, deceived by the devil, and if we consider it rightly, we see in marriage truly divine things, why then do we despise it in ourselves?
14. praise and glory of the marriage state, that it is a brunnqnelle of all other divine
stands.
Lucas Cranach, the older, had abconterfeiet M. Luther's housewife. When the panel was hanging on the wall and the doctor looked at the painting, he said: "I will have a man paint it and send these two pictures to Mantua to the Concilium, and have the holy fathers, all assembled there, ask whether they would rather have the married state, or the celibate state, the unmarried life of the clergy? Now D. M. Luther then began to praise and extol the married state, saying that it was God's order, and without the state the world would have long since become barren and desolate, and all other creatures would also have been created in vain and for nothing, for they were all created for the sake of man; there would have been no order and states in the world. Therefore, when Eve was brought to Adam, he was full of the Holy Spirit and gave her a glorious, beautiful name, calling her Heva, that is, a mother of all living creatures. He does not call her his wife, but a mother, and adds the appendix "of all the living", Gen. 3, 20. There you have the highest treasure, honor.
and adornment of women, namely that they are fons omnium viventium, the fountain source and origin, from which all living people come. These are short words, but it is a wonderful encomium. And neither Demosthenes nor Cicero could ever have spoken of it so gloriously, but the Holy Spirit is the orator here, who shall declare and speak thus through our first father, Adam: and because this doctor and orator thus gloriously defines and praises the married state, we may justly cover up everything that is frail in a woman. For the Lord Christ, the Son of God, also did not despise the married state, but was born of a woman. This is no small praise of the married state. Therefore St. Paul also saw and praised the married state, when he says 1 Tim. 2, 15: Salvatur Mulier per generationem filiorum, si manserit in Fide: "The woman becomes blessed through childbearing, if she remains in faith, and in love, and in sanctification, along with discipline."
15. God preserves the marriage state.
(Cordatus No. 1522 and No. 1533.)
God has made a cross over the marriage state, which is great, and also keeps over it, although the pope and the devil are enemies of Him, and in the marriage state one nourishes oneself better than outside.
It is quite certain that God has been an enemy of the papacy from the beginning, for He has deprived it of the fruit of the womb. We would not have received this blessing of the body if God had not placed in us the instinct for the woman that makes children.
The marriage state is God's blessing.
(Cordatus No. 964. 965.)
Although the women are icy, my wife violates this rule, since she is now quite hot in her illness. It is a poor thing about a woman, but by this she is highly exalted when she gives birth to children. For childbearing is God's gift, indeed, Jacob says [Gen. 33:5] that they are his children whom God has given him. And so marriage is also a blessing of the Lord, God has given his "Benedicite".
[He spoke about it in Genesis 1:28. The world does not see this, it only sees the difficulties in marriage. That is why the bet does not say "Gratias" after that "Benedicite" of God.
The woman is called in the holy scripture [Ezek. 24, 16] "the delight of your eyes". The Hebrews say that no one will be found who can interpret the first chapter of the first book of Moses correctly, 1) because it is the light of the whole Old Testament.
The marriage state is necessary, and one cannot do without it.
(Cordatus No. 1035.)
It is very good that God does not want marriage to be broken, for otherwise it would perish and cease, the care of the children would be put in jeopardy, and the household would fall, and after that the world government and religion would also be neglected.
However, marriage is that of the household, world regiment, religion.
Foundation 9 of religion.
18. unpleasantness and burden in marriage.
(Cordatus No. 1103-1106.)
The whimsical ways of women, the crying of small children, the greater expenses, burdensome neighbors, and the like are the causes that many have no desire to marry and would rather be free than submit to the bondage of such evils.
Although the papists hate the married state because of its difficulties, they have never hated fornication, but rather loved it most of all, and this contempt, or at least this too little reverence for the married state, seems to be derived from the fathers, for absolutely none of them has written anything worth mentioning about marriage, and, like all monks, they see nothing in marriage but the lust of the flesh, since in fact nothing is more common in marriage than constant tribulation of the flesh. St. Augustine also did not speak very reverently of the marriage state.
1) Cf. Cap. 59, § 6.
The fathers and all those who have been in the celibate state have avoided lust as a drop and have suddenly plunged into a whole sea of lusts and evil desires. We find only one passage in Augustine in which he speaks beautifully of marriage, saying: If anyone cannot live chastely, let him take a wife and come confidently before the court. Then he also said that it also belongs to the forgiveness of sins, if someone takes a wife not for the sake of progeny (perhaps because he cannot hope for it from a barren woman), but for the sake of necessity, and that because of marital fidelity. The good fathers could not say: Because of the faith in the word.
God, after His great mercy before the last day, restored the marriage state, the authority and the service of the word, and caused us to see that they were His ordinances, which until then had only been thought to be His fool's play vi8]. Marriage was considered a kind of custom, authority was considered either a happiness or an oppressive burden, but not of goodness; on the other hand, the service of the word was contemptible compared to the ceremonies.
Original sin makes the married state contemptible, but God preserves it.
Doctor Martin Luther said: "It is a strange thing that the peccatum originis is so powerful that everyone is so hostile to the conjugio, and yet we are all born in the conjugio. Where would we be if the conjugio were not? Sapientia carnalis does not belong there. Look at all the books, they do nothing but vituperate the conjugium and pick out the incommoda: there they use all their rhetoricam and art: not, like Cicero, who teaches in rhetoricis: Incommoda dissimulanda et tegenda, et commoda amplificanda esse. That is why I love Ciceronem; et esse necessarium Praeceptum, how else would one obtain peace in the world? That is why the devil deals with it, and works very hard to bring us back to whoredom; or, if one is in marriage, that adultery may take place. This is what we see. Quia Conjugium est opus Dei, that is why he is sorry for him. That now the Con
jugium be preserved, that is simpliciter miraculum orbis, as our Lord God otherwise preserves Oeconomiam et Politiam. How soon otherwise would a citizen have slain the mayor, or a servant have strangled his landlord!
20. matrimonial matters do not belong before the parish priests and preachers, but before the authorities, who shall rule on them.
(Cordatus No. 1610.)
The pastor of Zwickau 1) writes to me about marriage cases, I want to give him a good sow, that he wants to involve me in these matters, which belong to the authorities. For these are external matters that have to do with dowry and inheritance; what is that to do with us? We advise such people [in matrimonial matters] only when it concerns conscience, and now the authorities want to impose these matters on us, and, what is more, if they dislike our advice and judgment, they do not carry them out, even if they are good. We are shepherds of consciences, not of bodies or goods. No one should take upon himself the complaints of others; they will do it without us.
21. and there will be two One flesh.
(Cordatus No. 287. [No. 1819.))
The two will be one flesh [Gen. 2:24, Vulg.] This is understood bodily and civilly, for the woman says of the man and everything that belongs to the man that it belongs to her, and the woman comes from the man and vice versa. 2) But in the children they are not one, except by inauthentic use [catachresin].
22. man and woman is one body.
(The first paragraph Cordatus No. 1270.)
Correctly answered my Antonius ]Lauterbach], since he sent. 2) was to pre-
1) M. Leonhard Beter. Cf. Luther's letter to him of Jan. 18, 1535; Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 704 s.).
2) The meaning is: At creation the woman is taken from the man, later in marriage the man from the woman.
3) After Leisnig, as Diaconus, 1533. Seidemann: Lauterbach p. 7.
He was reprimanded by the bishop of Meissen's bailiff [praefecto] that he was not allowed to preach because he was not an ordained priest [and the bishop did not want to accept him; 1) because he answered that he was ordained by his wife (who had been a nun), with whom he was one body. This was an answer worthy of such a bishop.
And thereupon he told a shameful story: That there had been a glutton, who had gone out every day to eat and drink, and had lived on a whim, but had left his wife at home to suffer hunger and grief: when he had come home, and the wife had complained that she had neither food nor drink, he had also mocked her with the proverb, saying, "Are you not full? have I eaten and drunk all day today, have you not tasted it? are I and you one body? Now she also came here, 2) and went away from the house for a day, and cooked no food for the man, nor left him any money to drink, but she ate and drank in another place. Now when she^ came home again, and the man wanted food and drink, she said: Is it not enough that I have eaten? are not husband and wife one body? and mocked him again.
23. daughters shall be provided with money, but sons shall be provided with fiefs, and in the
Remain heir.
(Cordatus No. 582.)
It has been the advice of wise and wealthy people that daughters capable of marriage should be provided with money, but sons with fields, meadows and houses, and if this were not done, the inheritance of the sons would be torn apart. Therefore, the property should be left to the sons.
24. an evil woman of the greatest plagues one.
(Contained in Cap. 37, §148.)
1) There is an omission in the Latin manuscript, which is well completed by Dr. Wrampelmeyer.
2) In the editions: "Well, she was here too" etc.
25. take a rich wife.
(Cordatus No. 1005.)
Matthäus] G[oldhahn] 3) has taken a wealthy wife and sold his freedom. I also like it when my Käthe drives over my mouth, because I don't let it win much more than a muzzle.
26. the weighting of the marital status.
He who takes a wife, said D. M. Luther, he must not be idle, for he is a burden to him: just as keeping oneself chaste and being pious, apart from marriage, is not the least challenge, as those know who have tried and experienced it. On the other hand, the unpleasantness and burden of marriage is intolerable to people. That is why the wise pagan Socrates gave a good answer to the man who asked him if he should take a wife: Whichever of the two you do, you will regret it.
Ah, in paradise, if man had remained in innocence, it would have been a lovely and merry thing about the marriage state: there would not have been such a heat and rage, but another kind of our flesh and blood; but we are so poisoned by original sin that there is no state on earth, which is established and ordered by God, who is not repentant, who is in it. This is the fault of our original sin, which has corrupted and devastated the whole of human nature. And indeed it seems to me that the sweetest life is a mediocre household: to live with a pious, willing, obedient wife in peace and unity, and to be content with little, to be satisfied, and to thank God etc. And when he, D. Martinus, said this, he looked up to heaven and said: Oh, dear Lord God, how will you make it right, so that it may please us?
27. that men cannot do without the marriage state.
Doctor Martin Luther once said: "As little as one can do without eating and drinking
3) This resolution of "M. G." in the original receives the greatest probability by comparison of § S and § 73 of this chapter.
It is also possible to abstain from women, because we cannot express ourselves from them through natural desire. The reason is that we are conceived in the wombs of women, nourished in them, born, nursed and educated in them, so that most of our flesh is women's flesh, and it is impossible for us to completely separate ourselves from them.
28. a good or dissolve marriage.
(The first paragraph of this § in Kummer x. 381. sLauterbach p. 162.))
Marriage is God's gift, and by the nature of this intimate love. - He mentioned his marriage. If I had wanted to marry fourteen years ago, I would have chosen the wife of Basil, Anna 1) von Schönfeld. I have never loved my [wife] and have always suspected her of pride (as she is), but God has willed that I show mercy to the abandoned, and by God's grace I have been granted the most happy marriage.
Ah, dear Lord God, marriage is not a natural thing, but God's gift, the most sweet and lovely, yes, chaste life, above all celibacy and living alone without marriage; if it turns out well: but if it turns out badly, it is hell. For although they (the women) are commonly capable of all the arts of captivating a man by weeping, lying, and pleading, they can twist it finely and give the best words; but if these three things remain in the marriage state, namely fidelity and faith, children and fruits of the womb, and sacrament, so that one considers it a holy thing and divine state, then it is a blessed state at all.
Oh, how I longed for my loved ones, as I lay deathly ill in Schmalkalden! I wept that I would no longer see my wife and children here. How painful such separation and divorce was for me! Now I believe that in dying people such natural inclination and love, as a husband has for his wife, and parents for children
1) In Luther's missive to Leonhard Koppe, dated April 10, 1523, she is called Äve von Schönseld.
is the greatest. But now that I have been restored to health by the grace of God, I love my wife and children all the more. There is no one so spiritual who does not feel such an innate natural inclination and love: for there is a great thing about the covenant and fellowship between husband and wife.
29) What is due to wives from the deceased husband's property under Saxon law.
Saxon law, 2) said D. M. Luther, is all too strict and harsh, as it decrees that after the death of her husband, a woman shall be given only a chair and a skirt. But this is to be understood thus: Chair, that is, house and farm; cam, that is, food, so that she can also maintain herself in her old age. One must pay servants, and annually give them their wages; yes, one gives more to a beggar.
30. Becoming married should be done thoughtfully, not suddenly, out of fervour.
Doctor Martinus was once angry at the disobedience of his virgin, whom he had in his house and nursed, and ordered that she should be chastised with a good shillelagh, so that she would forget her manhood; for it would not be advisable for young people to be freed so soon in the first heat and suddenly. For if they had atoned for the folly, they would soon regret it, and no lasting marriage could remain; but when they now come to their perfect years, then they may marry, but with God's counsel and their parents' knowledge and consent, properly, as befits; otherwise the little dog Reuel comes, which bites many people; just as Stöltzichen, the little dog, also damages many people.
31. having many wives or husbands in succession.
Saint Jerome writes, 3) that in Rome there was one who had one and twenty wives in succession, and she 4) twenty husbands: she had nineteen husbands before.
2) Cf. Cap. 66, § 43.
3) This narrative in other relation Cap. 30, § 34.
4) In the output: "one".
and he had twenty wives. Now the friendship on both sides wanted to see which one would survive and prevail over the other. The woman died first; then he followed the corpse, had a little wreath on his head, and had her buried with pipes and drum, with a great triumph, as if she, the old hag, had now survived and retained the victory. This is what D. M. Luther said about those who soon forget their wives when they have died.
Z2. Of agreement or disagreement between spouses.
Doctor Martinus went to a princess 1) Anno 1542 and wanted to try whether he could reconcile her again with her lord. When he returned home, he said: "Dear God, what effort and work is needed in matrimonial cases! How much work it takes to bring a husband and wife together, and how much more work it takes to keep them together. Adam's fall has thus very much damaged, corrupted and poisoned human nature, so that it is most unstable, running now and then like quicksilver. Oh how good it is when married couples go to table and to bed together: even if they sometimes purr and murmur, that need not do any harm; it does not always happen like clockwork in marriage, it is a fortuitous thing; one must surrender to that.
Adam and Eve will have been chewing on each other for nine hundred years, and Eve will have said to Adam, "You have eaten the apple: You have eaten the apple. Adam, in turn, will have answered: Why did you give it to me? Because they will have seen in such a long time of their life without doubt quite a lot of evil and a lot of misfortune with heartache and sighing in their marriage state. All of which came from their fall and disobedience, and therefore caused them to have to look at it with sighs and tears. It must have been a strange regiment, as the first book of Moses is also strange.
Then one of them said to the doctor, "If a woman did it to a man now, he would
1) Margaretha, daughter of Prince Joachim I of Brandenburg, wife of Prince Johann of Anhalt. Bindseil' II, 346. cf. § 80 of this Cap.
it would be difficult to forgive her. D. Martinus said: "If she did it, as a fool, what would he make of it? Martinus said: "If she did it, as a fool, what would he make of it? Therefore this is a blessed man who has a good marriage, although it is a strange gift. Then the doctor said: This is a martyred man, whose wife and maid know nothing in the kitchen. It is prima calamitas, ex qua inulta mala sequuntur.
Marriage should be approached in the fear of God and prayer.
(Lauterbach, Sept. 18, 1538, p. 133.)
On September 18, Luther recounted some annoying examples of the marriage of the daughters of Philipp M(elanchthon), Lucas C(ranach) and Hans L(uft), which their daughters had committed evil. Oh, dear Lord, they do not pray. They only do this difficult thing brazenly and go about it without fear of God. That is why they are rightly punished by an unhappy marriage. That is why the epicurist D. Pistor insolently ridiculed our church wedding, that we insist on prayer in marriage. As if one should not pray about such things. He is an old fool, but will hardly change his ways, according to the saying: "He who is not beautiful in his twentieth year, not strong in his thirtieth, not wise in his fortieth, not rich in his fiftieth, should not hope for it. Age is no defense against folly. Like the bishop of Brandenburg, who was of low birth and attained his bishopric by drinking. After that, he was puffed up by great court, wanted to be held and called princely, hold princely dances, did not think that he had been a scribe. There is a great difference between nature and art, and a born prince and a made one.
34: The freedom of spouses in the Old Testament.
On the day of Martini D. M. Luther celebrated his birthday, to which he had invited many learned gentlemen, D. Jonam, D. Caspar Creuziger, Phil. Melanchthon, and others. Before dinner that evening, M. Ambrosius Bernd publicly advertised for his, the Doctor's,
1) Magdalene, that he would give her to him as a spouse, as he had promised him before. There spoke D. Martinus said: "Dear Mr. Schösser and Gevatter, here I have the virgin, as God has given her to me and bestowed her upon me, whom I hand over to Him: God grant His blessing and benediction, that they may live well and Christianly with each other. So all were happy and in good spirits.
(The following in Lauterbach, Nov. 10, 1538, p. 162.
The last paragraph Nov. 10, 1538, p. 164.)
Afterwards he spoke of marriage betrothals and the privilege of a new bridegroom, to whom also the very strict Moses was favorable, so that he gave him the privilege to be free from all services for a whole year (Deut. 24, 5.). This was not done in vain, so that this status, which God has ordered by nature and divine right, and which is held in honor by all the fathers, would remain intact, and yet the pope has wanted to change it with his fictitious vows. I marvel at the majesty and power of the devil, who has opposed this most glorious divine order under the pretense of chastity and vows, as if all Christians had not vowed chastity in baptism, according to the sixth commandment, and as if chastity could not be other than in virginity, since the number of virgins in heaven is greatest. For many more virgins die than women. All who die before the twelfth year have been without evil desire. God has set this state (marriage 2) to ward off fornication. But the Papist celibate state does not swear chastity, but swears marriage. What followed from this, we have become well aware of. After that he added this advice that before the engagement the matter should not be told to many. If many people get in the way, it is dangerous. And after the engagement one should not postpone [the wedding] for long. And he told the case of the engagement of Philipp Melanchthon, that even very respected people
1) "Muhme" here in the meaning: sibling, sister's daughter. Cf. Cap. 3, ä19. Magdalene Kaufmann.
2) ssxum in the original is probably an error. Perhaps ssxtum i.e. which is ordered in the sixth commandment, the marriage.
whose bride would have been miserably slapped in a lying way. It is not good to talk much about it. You have to ask God for advice, pray and then go ahead soon.
Concerned about the wedding and the invitation of the guests, he said to the bridegroom and the bride: "Be of good cheer, it is none of your business. We consider the incidental things, but you are the main thing [substantia]. For everything is up to the two persons in this matter. It comes to us to consider it, and then to bed. Oh God, that it would remain with your order and creature and that one would not think of doing it better; we have well come to know how it was done better.
35. praise of the marriage state.
(Lauterbach, Nov. 22, 1538, p. 176; the last paragraph, Nov. 25, p. 179.)
On November 22nd, the bridegroom Ambrosius (Berndt) had a secret conversation with his bride 2) Luther smiled at him and said: "I am surprised what a bridegroom should have to talk so much with his bride. Whether they could also get tired of it. But one must not vex them. They have a letter of right above all law and custom. custom.
Then he began to praise the married state, saying that it was God's order and the best and holiest way to live. Therefore, it is right to begin with the best ceremonies, because of the cause, God, who wants man and woman to live together. He who wants to make it better, let him be well aware of it. Even if the woman is a weak vessel, she has the highest honor of motherhood, because all men are conceived, born and nourished through women. From them comes the exceedingly lovely offspring. This honor of motherhood should rightly cover and outweigh all the weaknesses of women, and a pious husband should say: Since we have received the good, why should we not bear the evil? So also the Roman law is very favorable to the marriage state, and gives many privileges to women, since it takes them into consideration because of
3) Magdalena Kaufmann, Luther's sister's daughter.
of the offspring, as also Paul 1 Tim.
(v. 14.) Says: "I will therefore that the young widows be free and beget children. That is why all laws have had their purpose in offspring. So it is a rule in law: If someone bequeathed a thousand guilders to a virgin in his will, so that she would remain a virgin, she had the right to claim the bequest, even if she married. In short, it is a high estate if it is good; if it is not, then a man should rather choose death than have a visible devil at his side. If someone has the gift [of chastity], he gives thanks to God. Christ, Mary, John the Baptist were without marriage. The pope wanted to impose this rare gift without grace in general and wanted to make it better. When he was asked if Paul had been a husband, he answered that it was likely that he had been a husband, because the Jews used to marry early and yet lived chastely. For chastity concerns virgins as well as widows and married people, as the letter to the Hebrews teaches (13:4): "The marriage bed is to be kept undefiled." But the celibate state is actually only for virgins and unmarried people.
The bride is always called first. That is the German way of talking, like cheese and bread. Cheese must also come first. Well, I will help with God to arrange this wedding, perhaps the last one. And he ordered that the schoolmaster with his musicians be ordered to the other day, for in the great crowd the music would have no place. For the belly has no ears.
God Himself has ordered and preserves marriage.
Marriage is the most beautiful order, because it is instituted by God, by whom it is also maintained. But the godless state of the pope is only a violent suppression of nature; since human life, which is otherwise very poor, laborious and short, is inclined to beget children. When a woman has had children for twenty years, she is finished.
Marriage is the most noble state after religion.
Marriage is the noblest estate on earth according to religion, for many reasons: but people, like cattle in the field and the world's crops, flee from it for the sake of personal misfortune; who, because they want to escape the rain, fall into the water. Therefore only go up confidently in the name of the Lord, and give yourself under the cross. Here one must look more to God's order and command, for the sake of generation, to beget children. And though this cause be not, yet it should be remembered that it is a remedy against sin, and to ward off unchastity.
And he was angry with the jurists, who acted most strictly according to their canons and decrees, against their conscience: did not want to give way to God's word, defended secret engagements, against natural, divine and imperial law. Nor shall their canons be right. On the other hand, no one should be forced to marry, but everyone should be free to do so and answer to his conscience, for no one can be forced or compelled to love a bride.
38. blessing of the marriage state.
The best blessing of the married state is the children, which may never have happened to Duke G[eorg's] children, who impregnated the most beautiful princesses with dirt. The Elector, Duke John of Saxony, said: "The greatest blessing would be if children were pious and feared God. However, everything that is good in marriage is nothing other than the vain blessing of God, which no one recognizes except those who fear God and must purchase everything on the market.
Marriage is God's gift if the devil is an enemy.
Marriage is a beautiful, glorious gift and order, confirmed with two kinds of love: one that is natural and good; the other disorderly and evil. But the devil, who is an enemy and destroyer of marriage, does not destroy it alone
The love between husband and wife is not only disorderly, but also natural. That is why the ancients taught their children: "Dear daughter, behave toward your husband in such a way that he will be happy when he sees lace on the way back from the house. 1) And if a man lives and lives with his wife in such a way that she does not like to see him go away, and he is happy when he comes home, then it is well.
God," he continued, "does not change marriage as he has ordained it, but preserves it; only in the conception and birth of his Son he has changed it. Although the Turks believe that virgins also conceive and give birth, they are not surprised that Mary became a mother and yet remained a virgin, for this often happens. But such faith does not come into my house.
40. from the devil's tyranny against the spouses.
One reads in the histories, 2) said D. M. Luther, that two young married couples had loved each other dearly and got along with each other quite well. Now the devil would have liked to make them disagree, that the same married couple had not loved each other so much, and comes to an old whore, to a wicked washy woman, and offers her a red pair of shoes, where she would make the married couple disagree. The old hag accepts it, and first comes to the man, and says: "Listen, your wife wants your life. The man says, "That cannot be true; I know that my wife loves me dearly. Nay, saith the old woman, she loveth another, and wanteth to slay thee: and so make the man afraid of the woman, and do all evil. Soon the old hag also went to the man's wife and said, "Your husband does not love you. And the woman answered and said, I have a good husband, and I know that he loveth me. Then said the old maid, Nay, he will take another: therefore come before him.
1) Cf. the second paragraph of § 9 of this Cap.
2) The same story Walch, old edition, vol. VIII, 391, § 132.
take a shearing knife, stick it under the pillow and strangle him. The woman believes it, gains a suspicion, the mad poor fool, to the man, believes the old evil sack. The man is hard on the woman, and when he learns from the old whore that his wife has hidden a shearing knife under the pillow, he waits until the woman falls asleep, finds the shearing knife and strangles the woman. Then the old woman comes to the devil and demands the red pair of shoes. The devil handed her the shoes on a long pole, was afraid of her and said: "Take it, you are worse than me. This made the old woman's evil tongue, and that husband and wife easily believed evil speech, which they should not have done; therefore it is said that husbands and wives should pray diligently in their married state.
What do the evil tongues of the lawyers do, who also set people on each other? how will they fare? They will also get a red pair of shoes.
41 Each one takes its equal.
Marriage is best among equals. An old man and a young maiden do not go well together. But the money does something. Just as an old man boasted of all his treasure and showed it to the young maid. The servant let him like it and said to him: Dear maiden, he has this much more. At last, when he was also troubled by the cough, the servant said: "He, my lord, has this much more at night.
42: An old man and a young girl. (Cordatus No. 73.)
When an old man marries a young woman, this is called killing the old man in a civil and natural way.
43. nature corrupted with carnal lust.
O dear Lord God, how great disorder and weakness is in our flesh and blood! Before marriage we are in heat, and want to become senseless after a wife; but after the wedding we will be in love with her.
tired and weary. And above and beyond such temptations are many more fierce and severe ones. St. Jerome writes a lot about the temptation of the flesh. Ah, it is a small thing! the female in the house can help this disease. Eustachia could have helped and advised Jerome. God protect us from the high temptations in the first table, which concern the eternal, since one does not know whether God is the devil or the devil is God. These temptations are not temporal.
44. forbidding marriage is against nature.
What is the point of condemning marriage, which is naturally right? As if one wanted to forbid eating, drinking, sleeping etc. Let this be far from us, for what God has created and ordained is not at our discretion to accept or forbid. We will not master God, or put Him to shame, as has been experienced so far.
45. which is the office of each spouse.
Every person in marriage should do his duty as he should do it: the husband should earn, but the wife should save. Therefore the woman can make the man rich, and not the man the woman: for the penny saved is better than the penny earned. Thus to be righteous is the best income. I remain cheap in the register of the poor, said D. M. Luther, because I keep too many servants.
46. question.
D. M. Luther asked: Whether a bishop would also like to take a virgin as his spouse, and thus live with her in the virgin state? as Joseph did with Mary, who after all was of a holy life; and thus primarily diligently looked to Christ, and waited for his bride, the church. And perhaps, he said, this habit came from the fact in the Netherlands that every new and young priest had to choose a maiden for himself, whom he considered his bride, in honor of the holy state of marriage.
But I would like to ask the papists: Why they are so bold, and may the marriage
What do you mean by that? Do you mean that I should reject the natural right and God's order, and accuse and blame it as an impurity? Now I would like to learn from them what kind of impurity it is. Has God also created impurity? For although marriage is defiled by original sin, yet one should not blaspheme such God's ordinance. As Gregory says of marriage: To avoid greater sin, one must allow lesser. He puts these words clearly in the decree. And Jerome writes that St. Paul forbids marriage and dispenses with it for the sake of the frail nature; but he does not command it, for it is an evil thing.
Dear, see how the holy fathers are so cold about God's order, calling it sin and evil. The Lord Christ, the Son of God, the most chaste, thinks much more highly of the marriage state, and is more favorable to it, since he says: "For God's sake a man shall leave his father and mother. And again: "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder," Matth. 19, 5. 6.
How can a mortal man and a poor maggot thus despise and revile God's creature and work? The poor wretched people do not know that one should honor, love and value the marriage state: even though it is marred by sin, and all kinds of evil lusts are involved, it is still God's order and foundation. And Squire Pabst says: that conjugal works may not be done without sin. Therefore, refrain from abandoning such a union and tearing it apart.
But the holy fathers were also people. How St. Gregory is dry and cold enough in his Easter sermons! says nothing about history and its custom, use and fruit.
47. children are blessings of marriage.
D. M. Luther looked at his children and said: "Oh, how great, rich and glorious a blessing God is in the state of marriage! What joy is shown to a man in the offspring that are numbered by him, even after his death, when he now lies and lies down! This is the most beautiful and greatest joy, which Muhme Lena takes away from me before.
48. from the digamia.
I am surprised, said D. Martinus, that the jurists are so much annoyed at the priestly digamy, when one takes another wife after the first, second, third, etc. They think that such a one has no more power to preach and to administer the sacraments, since Solomon had more than a hundred, even a thousand wives at one time, and wrote such a book, which all lawyers are not able to do. So we want to bind God's word to the persons. Since we can suffer in the papacy that a sacristan or chaplain has had sixty cooks and attendants, and twenty puserons.
The lawyers interpret the little word whimsically, if one takes a widow etc. Oh, how there is such a great lack of understanding and ignorance in the human heart that it cannot distinguish God's commandment from man's statutes! One, the other, third, fourth etc. Taking one wife after another is marriage, and not against God; but fornicating and committing adultery, which is against God, shall not hinder. The poor people do not know what digamia is. Lamech was the first to have two living wives at once; Jacob four: and yet they were holy servants of God. But from such examples of digamia no rule can be made in our time, nor do such examples apply to us Christians, because we live under our authority and use our worldly laws, according to the teachings of St. Paul.
Anno 1539, the 16th of April, was spoken of the church servants, who after the first death had married another etc. The church was in the process of being restored to its original state. Then said D. Martinus said: "Then I ask you, whether a digamus, who has married another woman, is also in the state of blessedness and a Christian? Since he is not rejected from the church and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, why should he not be considered a church servant, even if the stinking Chresem does not come to it? Satan is always looking for angle woods, arguments and wooden ways against God's order: because he cannot prevent marriage now, he invents questions about the digamia and other useless things.
49. of king Solomon's many wives.
One of them told D. M. Luther over the table how a book was to be printed in Leipzig in which the Bigamia 1) would be approved; D. M. Luther answered nothing to this, but sat as if he were in deep thought. Finally he said: "I often wonder how the Rex Arabiae could have seven hundred wives. Then one of [the] table companions asked, saying, "Doctor, what do you think of Solomon's wives and concubines, since he has had three hundred wives or queens, and seven hundred concubines or concubines? And the text says: "The number of virgins that were in his court was not counted"? To this D. M. Luther: One must pay attention to the fact that the holy scripture wants to indicate how many females Solomon had to maintain and feed daily; because that he had three hundred queens, these were his poor girlfriends from the family of David, who all found themselves to him, and he had to feed them in his court, exceptis Concubinis et reliquis Famulis, as he also had to feed four and twenty thousand men every day, in which the women were not counted. It is as if one would also say of the Elector of Saxony that the Elector has many wives: for he has first of all his wife, then several princesses in the women's room, then many noble maidens, item, a court mistress, then other maids and seamstresses. If one now wanted to say: The Duke of Saxony thus has many wives at court; it does not follow that they are all his wives. And how could it be possible that all these women would have been King Solomon's wives while he was asleep? Reason teaches that it cannot be. Solomon first had a wife, whom he had married when he was eighteen years old, for he had married very young; for they were very strong people. I believe, he had already had strength in the eighteenth year of a man in the thirtieth year. Then he married the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who is the other. Since he
1) Cf. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1577.
When he is old, he takes three ammonite wives. Otherwise, if he had had three hundred wives and a new wife every night, the year would have been over and Solomon would not have rested a day. This cannot be, because he had to rule. The regiment does not suffer, much deal with women. In sum, when one says that Solomon had many wives, one means that Solomon had a large number of wives.
Then one of them asked the doctor, "Did Solomon feed the four and twenty thousand court servants in one place? He answered, "No, he had fed and paid them from time to time throughout the kingdom. Just as if one said: The Elector of Saxony feeds twelve thousand men every day: there one does not understand it: at his court, but now and then in the offices, as at Wittenberg, Schweinitz, Locha, Torgau etc.
After that, one of them asked 1): "Do you read anything about Solomon's resipiscentia in the holy scriptures? He answered, "No, but the saying is in there about him, quod obdormierit cum Patribus suis; therefore he considered it that he had been blessed. For this word brings it with it. For it is not written about Absalom and Joab. The Scotus has the Salomonem simpliciter damniret.
Concubinage was left to the Jews in the Law of Moses, so that the poor widows and virgins might have victum et amictum in concubinage and be fed. This was not done for the pleasure of the Jews, but was annoying and burdensome to them: they had to do it out of great necessity, not ex libidine, nor out of avarice; but when one came to great honors in a family, or otherwise became rich, all his friends adhered to him: he had to feed them. Coacti igitur sunt, plures habere uxores, necessitate consanguinitatis et promissionis. And the Jews will have become tired enough of them, and will have wanted that they had only one or none at all. God had promised the Jews that he would multiply their seed as the stars in the sky and as the sand in the sea. To fulfill this promise, they took many wives.
1) Cordatus. Cf. Cap. 13, § 51, at the end.
Item: That the patriarchs, also the judges and kings of the people of Israel, as Gideon, David and Solomon, and others, had many wives, they had to do this out of great necessity, because of the promise. For Abraham and Isaac had the promise from God that they would become a great nation. After that, where a rich friend or cousin was, there the poor friends and little ones ran, and he had to free them, so that they would be clothed, fed and cared for.
50 The papacy is hostile to marriage.
(Except for the last paragraph Cordatus No. 1674. 1675.)
Begetting children is not in human ability, but I believe in God the Father, the Creator of all things.
The monks and papists shun marriage, not to avoid evil desire, but for the sake of discomfort, and although they imagine that they are very chaste through their celibate state, yet their hearts and words are far divorced from one another. Hence Paul very appropriately says [1 Tim. 4:2.], "So in glibness are liars," speaking otherwise than they have in their hearts. Daniel has beautifully pictured them [Dan. 11, 37. 38.]: he has the god Maosin etc., which has been the fair that wears gold. And he shall stand in evil desire [after wives], which is the celibate life. These are the two pillars on which Samson makes himself. If we would allow these, harmony would come easily. But we cannot, because on these two pillars stands the Antichrist.
Item: Satan has abominated the marriage state, which is God's order, by means of the papacy. For Cyprian writes in the booklet de Singularitate clericorum, I., that spiritual, consecrated persons should be something special; if he hears a woman speak, he should flee as from a serpent that hisses or whistles. Thus, if one fears fornication, he must fall into silent sin. As St. Hierönymo would almost have done.
51. thanksgiving of D. M. Luther for the marriage state.
(Cordatus No. 1367.)
When I am with myself, I thank God from the bottom of my heart for the right knowledge of marriage.
I am convinced that this is the best way to protect the Catholic Church, especially when I compare it with the lewd celibacy of the papists and the vile vices of the Italians.
Matrimonial matters belong before secular authorities.
(Contained in Cap. 27, § 29.)
53. what marriage is.
Marriage is a perpetual and ordained union and covenant of a man and woman; or, is an ordained cohabitation and attendance of a man and woman, according to God's order and command; or, of two covenants among themselves according to God's order. Two, I say, not many. For God thus says Genesis 2:24: "And there shall be two in one flesh." For many persons in one marriage is against the natural law. So St. Paul says Rom. 7, 2: "The woman is bound to the man because she lives."
The first two pages of this book are devoted to the subject of marriage.
The cause and founder of marriage are primarily God's commandment, appointment and order, and is a state established by God Himself and personally visited by Christ, and honored with a glorious gift. For God said Gen. 2, 18: "It is not good that man should be alone." So the wife should be the husband's helpmate, so that the human race may be multiplied and the children brought up in honor of God and for the benefit of the land and the people. Item 1 Cor. 7:2: "To avoid fornication," that we may keep our bodies in sanctification. And the marriage state is pleasing to God, for St. Paul compares the church to a bride and bridegroom, Eph. 5:25 ff; therefore beware and take care not to look at 1) money and goods; 2) great lineage and nobility; 3) nor fornication. Ah, what can one say? Marriages preserve the human race, so that it remains for ever.
55. what to consider in marriage.
In marriage, consider these things: 1. God's commandment; 2. the Lord's confirmation; 3. Christ's worship; 4. the first blessing; 5. the promise made;
6. society and community; 7. the examples of the holy patriarchs and archfathers; 8. secular laws and order; 9. abundant benediction and blessings; 10. the examples of malediction; 11. St. Paul's preaching; 12. natural law; 13. the nature and manner of creation; 14. practice of faith and hope.
56. praise of a pious woman.
(This section contains the Proverbs of Solomon, Cap. 31. 10-31, somewhat modified and paraphrased).
The woman is the wife of the house.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 18, 1538, p. 33.)
That evening Luther was at the wedding of Hans Luft's daughter. After supper he accompanied the bride to bed and told the bridegroom that he should keep to the common course and be the master of the house when the wife was not at home, and as a sign he took off his shoe and put it on the four-poster bed that he should keep the mastery.
58. for what the marriage state is used.
Before the fall of Adam, the marriage state was instituted for God's service, praise and glory, that the world might be fed by man: but after the fall, since our first parents transgressed God's commandments and sinned, and sin was grounded upon us, it was ordained as a remedy to control and ward off lust and fornication to some extent.
59. praise of a good marriage state.
(Cordatus No. 22.)
Of his Anirathac 1) he said he held her higher than the whole kingdom of France and the reign of Venice, first, because she was given to him by God as a good creature of God, and he, in turn, was also given to her; second, because he heard here and there of other women much greater faults than were found in her; third, was superfluous cause in her that one should love her, because she did not break marital fidelity; furthermore, that she was Mother
1) Reversed: Catharina.
and one that would soon conceive and easily give birth etc. If a husband often considered this, he would easily overcome the disunity that Satan usually caused among husbands. 1)
60. virgin girl.
When a virgin who had thrown an iron was spoken of, and she was entrusted to another who took her for a virgin, Luther said, "This is called eating the cherries and hanging the basket from one's neck.
61. Marriage is to be entered into with God.
In the marriage state these things are: 1. that one naturally desires the other, has lust and love for him; 2. begetting children; 3. attendance and faithfulness, that one keeps faith with the other; and yet the devil shall tear it so that nowhere is there greater hatred and enmity. This makes us raise all things out of presumption, without God's counsel.
But a God-fearing young man who wants to marry should talk to God first and say: O God, give grace to this. But this does not happen, all the masters are imprudent, they looked at great important things out of presumption and out of their own counsel. What shall our Lord God do in this? Let the man be false, who is almighty and a creator, who gives it all. Therefore, dear fellow, do as I did: when I wanted to take my wife, I asked our Lord God with earnestness. You do the same, you have never asked him seriously.
62. marital status hostile and spiteful.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 14, 1538, p. 150 f.)
On October 14, one said of the fornication of the courtiers, who impudently asked for whores here and investigated in the houses. He answered: Oh, how the devil hates the connection between man and woman. What is permitted is unpleasant. We seek
1) This § is from the as yet unprinted ooll6ota 6x eolloH. of Veit Dietrich, x>. 69. In the margin Veit D. has added "Ooräatus sxserlpsit". (Cordatus has written this out.) (Wrampelmeyer.)
the forbidden. (Ovid. Amor. II, 19, 3. Ill, 4, 17.) This is the aim of all comedies, that marriage is abhorrent to men, but they seek fornication, and he who goes to the bath goes in a dream and is not wise. The superstition of celibacy has probably helped in this. St. Jerome wrote a book against Jovinian in a very tasteless way about widows who break the first faith, as if they were not allowed to marry, since the following text clearly insists on it (1 Tim. 5, 14.): "I want the young widows to be free." Likewise, what Paul says (1 Cor. 7, 1.): "It is good not to touch a woman." From this Jerome soon concludes: "So it is evil to marry. Since Paul says "evil" i.e. burdensome or troublesome; but he explains it: worthy of condemnation.
63 The Concubinate of Princes.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 24, 1538, p. 120.)
Afterwards one spoke of the princes secret marriage, which would be a right marriage, but not confirmed with princely splendor, that the same children also would not have helmet and shield. And there seems to be a certain similarity with the side marriage of the patriarchs, who also begot children with other women, but they did not become heirs.
The world will soon tire of the marriage state.
When someone once wanted to excuse the wild and desolate life of the young journeymen with fornication at Luther's table, Luther answered and said: "They thus learn to despise the female sex, even to abuse the female images, if they were not created for this purpose. He then began to speak of the state of marriage, saying, "It is a great thing if a man can always love a maiden, for the devil seldom allows it: if they are apart, he cannot bear it; if they are together, he again cannot bear it. As it is said: Nec tecum vivere possum, nec sine te. That is why it is necessary to pray diligently. I have seen many pairs of married couples who were in such a passion that they wanted to devour each other for love, but after more than half a year they ran away from each other again. How
that also said to Lucas painter. It is true, it happens thus, the devil rushes together in illo ardore, that they cannot pray; primo ardent in Sexum, deinde frigent et oderunt. In a town near Wittenberg there was a couple of married people, as beautiful as one could hardly find in four "principalities": they also came together in such heat, but over a year she became a whore and hung on to the worst unfaithful, and he became a knave and hung on to the muddiest sacks, so that it was a disgrace. Why? One did not pray. The devil won the game. That's why my landlady in Eisenach said, when I went to school there, "There is no better thing on earth than a woman's love, to whom it may be given.
65. unity between spouses.
It is a special great grace when the spouses are at ease, and such unity is the enemy of the devil.
66. children of matrimony fruits.
(Contained in Cap. 5, § 19.)
67. question. 1)
One of them asked D. M. Luthern: If a young man marries an old woman who has passed away without children, is it a proper marriage? He answered: "Why not? but I would like the words of blessing in marriage to be left outside: Grow and multiply. But I do not like to make ceremonies and orders. For once begun, there is no end, and one always follows another, as has happened in the papacy.
68 What discourages the marriage state.
The following deter people from marriage: 1. poverty; 2. age; 3. profession or status; 4. contempt and ridicule; 5. eternal alliance; 6. the evil ways of the spouse.
69. children should not be prodded too hard.
One should not prod the children too hard; for my father prodded me, once so much that I fled him, and was grudged to him, until he accustomed me to him again.
1) Cf. Mathesius, St. Louis edition, p. 219.
The court shall decide whether matrimonial matters are to be judged and pronounced according to imperial and secular law.
Christ, said Martin Luther, approves and confirms the authorities, Matth. 22, 21. Rom. 13, 1. ff. 1 Petr. 2, 13. 14.; therefore it follows that marriage, if the authorities allow or otherwise approve in certain degrees, which is not against God's word, is a true marriage.
Why Moses so diligently describes the marriages of the patriarchs.
The Holy Spirit knew well that the wickedness of human nature would abuse the female sex, namely for fornication, according to their lusts, not for marriage; therefore Moses also wrote so much and diligently in the first book about the marriage of the archfathers and the begetting of children, so that some holy monks also rebuked this, as if he had had nothing to write but about such female matters.
72. good marriage. 2)
(Cordatus No. 450.)
A very great grace is to have a wife to whom one can entrust one's affairs, who is a mother of children etc. Käthe, you have a pious husband who loves you; let another empress be, but you thank God.
73. pious spouse.
A pious wife is a companion of life, a man's comfort; for it is written Proverbs 31:11: "A man's heart relies on her." And the good man (gold rooster) 3) shall thus be afflicted? I would run away!
In marriage there should be love and lust, because the sex of the person brings love: nevertheless the devil can tear it apart, so that all attractions and enticements are lost.
Marriage should be started with prayer, like all things.
To whom God gives a wife, He also gives to create, gives seed and children, even the
2) Another redaction of § 7 of this Cap. Cordatus No. 638.
3) Cf. p 9 of this Cap.
Thriving in addition. But we looked at everything without prayer, like the Dölze 1) his bill, and H. Metsch his wall building. As they lift it, so it goes out.
Whoever can love his wife, who is given to him by God, and again, a wife can love her husband, that is a great grace and gift of God.
75. women wisdom.
(Cordatus No. 35 and No. 38.)
He laughed at the wisdom which his Catharina thought to have, [and said:] God created man with a broad chest and narrow hips, so that the seat of wisdom would be spacious with him, but the privy, where filth is expelled, he made small for him. This is just the opposite with the women, therefore the women have much uncleanness, but little wisdom.
Again he laughed at his Catharina because of her much talking and said: if she wanted to preach, would she send so many words ahead in prayer? But the women would either never preach, because they did not pray before the sermon, or God, tired by their long prayer, would prevent them from preaching.
76) Women can talk well. 2)
(Cordatus No. 39.)
Women have by nature the art of speech which men must acquire with great difficulty, but this is true only in the home; in the worldly realm their art of speech is of no use. This is what men are made for, not women.
77 Of the disobedience of women.
(Cordatus No. 96.)
If I had one more thing to do, I would hew an obedient woman out of a stone, otherwise I despaired of all women's disobedience.
78 A strange, ghastly marriage hall.
(The same history is told again Cap. 18, § 2, and quite extensively in the interpretation of the 1st book of Moses. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. II, 1003 to 1006, §§ 48-50.)
1) Hans von Dolzig, Marshal of Saxony.
2) The same content is § 141 in this Cap.
79 Whether one may take his brother's wife.
(Lauterbach, Jan. 10, 1538, p. 7.)
On that day and at that hour came Günther von Bonau, a sequestrator, who asked the doctor for advice about a marriage case, where a nobleman of his beheaded brother, Christoph von Drebschitz, 3) had impregnated his wife, left behind with three children, and desired her for marriage, but he had forfeited the prince's grace, and would be punished with death, if he was seized. He answered: "We cannot allow such a thing without violating God's word. It would be admitted to us by the pope, but with a curse on the conscience and on the body. I would rather that both parts repented, separated and surrendered to the punishment of the Elector, so I would ask for them and write to my gracious Lord.
80. of a high person who left her spouse.
A princess left her lord and husband out of her own boldness and departed from him. If I (said D. M. Luther) had been in his place, I would not have seen through my fingers for so long, but would have forced her with dry strokes, according to the advice of her brother and all blood relatives.
It is a great disobedience that is full of annoyance. I told her enough in German until she became hostile to me about it. She gave me twenty articles, which I read through, and said to her: She should burn them and not let anyone see them, or she would lose honor and glory; and if there was anything in it, she should suffer it with patience as a Christian.
Finally I said: "Madam, you will not shut up all the people so that they do not speak evil of you; but they will also accuse you of being an adulteress. Even if you are pious in honor, the example is not unlike adultery.
3) Kummer p. 7 has Dobisch, with the marginal note: "has been judged at Schweynitz near Jessen 1533." Whether Draschwitz? (Seidemann.)
81. by King Henry in England.
(Contained in Cap. 45, § 46.)
82. question: Whether a man, from whom his wife has run, may take another?
(Lauterbach, Aug. 19, 1538, p. 116. The last paragraph p. 151.)
Sixth question. Whether a man whose wife had committed adultery, or had run away from him, could marry another during her lifetime, since the second marriage would not seem to be a marriage, but fornication and adultery. He answered: Paul, 1 Cor. 7, expressly answers that this second marriage is permitted, since he says (v. 15.): "But if the unbeliever divorces, let him divorce. The brother or sister is not bound in such cases" etc. There he apparently allows another marriage. See the comments on this passage. Afterwards he told a case in Eisenach, where the woman did not want to live with her husband and often left without any reason; finally the man was allowed another marriage, but the guilty party was forbidden.
On October 15, a marriage case was brought forward: A groom had committed a fatal blow before the wedding and had fled to an unknown place. Was the bride free of him? He replied: it is a secular matter and he is civilly dead. If the defendant can be civilly reconciled, then marry her in the name of the Lord. 1)
83. another case.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 15, 1538, p. 151.)
Second case. A notorious adulteress finally took the household utensils and fled with her adulterer. He replied that she was to be summoned, the matter interrogated and then divorced. Such matters actually belong before the authorities, because marriage is a secular matter; with all its circumstances, it is none of the church's business, except as far as it is a case of conscience.
1) This section is immediately followed by the following §.
84. question.
(Lauterbach, Nov. 10, 1538, p. 164.)
[To the question, if someone kidnapped a virgin whom he loved with her will, whether he sinned, since no wrong is done to the one who consents? he answered: The violent act of kidnapping is not to be referred to the person who consented, but to the will of the parents to whom the wrong is done.
85. cause of divorce.
In the presence of the ecclesiastics and chaplains at Wittenberg, a divorce of marriage was discussed before the visiting judges, namely in the following case: Ten years ago, a soldier, a warrior, had been put in prison because he had wounded someone severely: But he broke out of the tower, ran away, left his wife with a heavy body; after two years he had become the executioner's servant, and demanded his wife, crying, so he wanted to get the clothes and what she had from her, and kill the child. But since she would not go to him, they were both cited before the authorities. There she appeared; but he remained disobedient outside, and has not been seen in eight years, nor is it known where he is. Finally, the woman became a boy and gave birth to two children.
The husband was publicly cited, but did not appear. The woman brought a public confession from the people with whom she had served after the husband had left her. They gave her good testimony in their conscience that she had kept well, quietly and conscientiously with them, and knew nothing but everything good about her, except these cases. Finally M. Philip examined her, asked her about her conscience, and said: That the bond of marriage was indissoluble, which no man could nor should break; that she should report whether she had perhaps given the man cause to run away from her: she would be considered more guilty than the man, because of the adultery she had committed etc. And let nothing be right with her, notwithstanding how innocent she was, saying, It is not so to jest with marriage: as it is written, Matt. 19:6, What God hath done is not so to be done.
Man shall not put asunder that which he hath joined together. See that you have and keep a good conscience. And when she was departed with her succor, the bargain was consulted. And Philip said, Because the man is such a fierce, wild man, and hath left her so long without cause, and hath become disobedient, but she is presumed innocent: lest she fall into greater sin and dishonor, I hold it that we acknowledge her free and undone; and asked the assessors, the other lords, and the diaconos for their objection. They all let them have it.
When the woman came in again with her witnesses, he, Philip, said to her, "See that your conscience is clear; but because you are considered innocent according to the testimony of the witnesses, we recognize and absolve you, not by our power and authority, but according to God's judgment and the saying of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 7:15: "If the unbeliever divorces himself, let him divorce himself; the other, innocent part is not caught in such cases." Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve and keep you, amen. And they gave the woman a written testimony and farewell.
86. from degrees.
M. Luther was asked: Whether Duke Moritz of Saxony's order of marriage, to be free in the third degree of unequal lineage, would be right and Christian? The doctor said: "As far as conscience is concerned, it is neither sin nor wrong before God, since Moses also allows the other degree. But nevertheless the inequality in goods and inheritance will cause confusion. For H[Duke] M[oritz] permits the nepotes, nephews, siblings, but the Elector permits the pronepotes, the other siblings, to marry each other: but in the Electorate, inheritance is not permitted in the third degree. H[erzog] Moritz and his husband are in the other degree as sibling-child.
Children shall be married with the prior knowledge and advice of their parents, and how far away.
In 1539, February 1, Luther had a lot to do with societies and letters, and said: "Today is a letter day, and we are going to have a letter day.
Unwillingness: these affairs (the matrimonial matters) secretly steal our time to study, to read, to preach, to write, and to pray; but I trust that the consistoria are arranged, primarily for the sake of the matrimonial matters. At that time, he also talked a lot with D. Basilio, that many, countless cases of marriage occur, which must be moderated and judged not from described rights and laws, but from the circumstances, according to equity and the concerns of pious, God-fearing, understanding people: because one finds many parents, especially stepfathers, who are not too green to their children, want to forbid them marriage, without any cause. The authorities and parish priests should look into this and help to promote marriage, even against the parents' will, according to the circumstances.
Summa, if they are young people, and love each other, which is the substance and the essence or reason of marriage, it should not be refused without great important causes; But we are to follow the example of Samsonis, and the children are to report it to the parents, especially now, in the time of the Gospel, when the marriage state is in great esteem and honor, not in such contempt and abhorrence as in the papacy, when one did not act according to equity, but according to laws, straight as they were prescribed; They were allowed to freely give the bride to one and take her away from the other, so that she had to be legitimate with the first one she did not have, and an adulteress with the other one she had. Therefore, in such cases one must look more to the conscience and consider the circumstances, according to equity and the knowledge of pious, godly and honorable, loving people, not according to sharp rules and laws.
87. Children shall marry with the consent and advice of their parents, and how far.
Anno 1539, February 12, D. Basilius M[onner] asked D. M. Luthern for his concern: How one should deal with the secret betrothals, which were considered strong out of disobedience, without prior knowledge, advice and consent of the parents: whether one should tear them apart, or otherwise punish them in the body with imprisonment, or in the bag arbitrarily?
D. M. Luther answered and said: "The jurists and canonists in general are of the opinion that the substance and the essence of marriage is the bridegroom's and the bride's consent, but the parents' power and authority is only an accident, an incidental thing, without which the marriage can well be; therefore, the substance, the essence, should not be destroyed or resisted for the sake of the accident, incidental thing.
The same I know well, that consent is a substance and the foundation of marriage: for where there is neither love nor consent, there must be an unhappy marriage. I will easily allow you, and am content that the same substance remain, according to our opinion, be it sin as it may. But I beg you not to involve me in this business. If you want to punish such disobedient children with imprisonment for a week or four in the tower, and thus deter them, you will not achieve anything with it, for youth is so unbridled, impetuous and wild that it cannot be subdued nor governed with temporal punishment. A bachelor in heat may well consider himself in prison for a quarter of a year, if only he can use his will and have it. A good meal is worth hanging, they say.
I put the case that if the parents' authority is nullified and annulled in matrimonial matters, then anyone who burns with love will be free to do so without counsel, thoughtlessly, in such a fervor, and will not ask about the punishment of imprisonment that he must suffer. And if he would succeed finely: if one would desire his wife and blood friend, since they have betrothed themselves to each other by their mutual consent, it would have to be allowed and permitted.
But someone might say, "Such a betrothal with blood friends is not allowed, because it is also forbidden by law. Answer: If you want to dissolve the betrothal with blood friends according to human law, why should one not rather dissolve and annul secret betrothal according to divine law? according to the fourth commandment: Honor your father and your mother etc. Which commandment is much more glorious, and far, far more
is preferable to all human rights, laws and orders.
Let us not make a joke of our parents' authority, power and obedience, which even the pagans have made a joke of: as St. Ambrose finely describes and highly praises the saying in the Greek poet Euripide, where the virgin says: "To betroth me, and to marry me myself, is not in my power, it has no authority, reason or right; but it is with my parents, with whom it may be sought, if and to whom they will give me, then I am satisfied etc. Likewise also the holy Scripture says, Jer. 29, 6: "Take wives for your sons, and give husbands for your daughters" etc.
Therefore, a young man who wins a pious, honest, God-fearing maiden in breeding and honor should report this to his parents if it is necessary for him, and say: Dear parents, I would like to have this maiden as my husband, if it is your advice and will; if not, it should be nothing, and I do not want to do it.
But that the lawyers pretend and put on the Canonem, and say: That the parents' authority, advice and will may well be there for the sake of honor, but not out of necessity, that it must be so: for the consent of those who want to become married to each other is the substance that is necessary; but the parents' will is an accidens, an accidental thing that happens only for the sake of honor and honor, but does not make, nor prevent the marriage.
It is a godless canon, and the canonists' delusion against God is like an arbiter who walks along in the first heat and nonsense, not asking much about respectability. Thus the parents' authority, prestige, power and obedience fall to the ground, and young people are given room to do everything in their power, and the door and windows are opened to innumerable annoyances, which cannot be controlled or warded off by any laws.
Summa: If the parents' authority and power falls, neither the conscience nor the body can be advised or helped. So far I have held the trial that I may advise the conscience more than the body, by God's word and according to the order of divine right, and I conclude straightforwardly
And so, since you lawyers, by the power and authority of human rights, dissolve and annul the marriage in closer degrees, how much more can it be done by the authority of God's command? Well, you will have to deal with it. If you despise this method and short way, you will have innumerable cases: all of which can easily be met and done, if the parents' authority, power and obedience are preserved, so that a father has power to interfere. But I do not want to serve or approve of those rude, disobedient parents who, for the sake of their own enjoyment, want to prevent the honest marriage of their children, as stepfathers, guardians and others do.
Before sexual intercourse, one should look diligently beforehand and consider carefully whether it is to be done and permitted; what happens afterwards, after sexual intercourse, must be allowed to happen. For even if you recognize marriage as strong and permit it before carnal intercourse, you will still have to deal with what has now been accomplished. God help you, I will let you do it, but do not involve me in it, or I will overthrow your human rights with God's right. God has created a male and a female, who should and must be with each other as He has ordained; that is, according to His will (which He has given to the parents) they should come together and marry. These are terrible times, which cannot be governed by laws.
89. marriage trap large and strange.
Among all the cases in the world, the marriage cases are the most and the greatest, as they are innumerable, various and strange. For new and new errors occur every day, both before and after intercourse, which cannot all be included in and with certain rules, but must be well considered and considered according to equity and circumstances, and judged and discussed according to the knowledge of pious, honorable and God-fearing people, otherwise, and without that, it is impossible to advise and help all such cases. As some presumptuous, proud smart alecks and wiseacres might otherwise presume to do, who do everything
want to make bad: to blame and condemn the other's judgment and opinion; they think they want to do better. As he says in Terentio: Me regem esse oportuit: I should be regent etc. But if they were to rule once, they would probably become aware of it. For such things are not learned from books, but only from experience and practice. If one takes it in hand and tries it in the regiment, then we see how God puts us in the regiment, who are nevertheless unfit for it. And every pious, righteous Christian learns from experience that he is unequal, unskilled and a fool for the profession in which God has placed him, that only God is wise, that His rights and designs are incomprehensible. As if God wanted to say: You are guilty, and you should be obedient to me, let me be God, and govern everything. Thus, one should look only to His word and revealed will.
After that he said about the marriage case that happened with David; and asked D. Martinus D. Basilium Monnerum, then his table companion: Whether the same case could be defended by the lawyers now? For thus it is written 1 Sam. 18, 17. ff: Since Saul had entrusted his eldest daughter Merob to David, she was given to him by her will, according to her father's authority and power, and a betrothal was made, which is a true marriage, but before the marriage she was given to another, namely to Adriel, by Saul. Is this not adultery?
After that Saul gave David another daughter than Michal, who loved him, who confirmed the marriage with David by sleeping together, attending and loving her; and yet Saul went to give Michal to another, namely Phalti, the son of Lai of Gallim, 1 Sam. 25, 44. Is this not adultery enough, since David takes two sisters, and after Saul's death he takes Michal to himself again, perhaps in the hope to get the kingdom of Israel through her? 2 Sam. 3, 14.
All this is vain adultery in our ears and eyes, and no jurist could judge the case 1) and the words. So on
1) So Stangwald instead of: "could she in that case".
The cases occur in many innumerable ways, even in a single marriage; therefore, one may well have respect for them in the consistory. The pious king and prophet David undoubtedly had much great misfortune with these two wives, Saul's daughters. In his old age, he was entrusted with the maiden, the Sunamite woman, who warmed him and was never recognized by him, 1 Kings 1:2, 3.
Item: D. M. Luther asked D. Basilium: Whether a man who has a wife who is sick and infirm in all respects, so that no one can help her, and she is only a living carrion, as if she were dead, since he could not do without a wife because of rutting, should be allowed to take another wife. He answered and said: "The laws do not allow it easily, although some cases may occur in which they allow a man to have a concubine, a concubine and a concubine. But it happens rarely, and not without great important causes.
Then said D. M. Luther said, "This is dangerous, for if one were to admit and allow a marriage to be dissolved for the sake of extreme illness, and allow another to take its place, then many causes could be devised daily to break up the marriage.
90. from the third degree.
A woman had two husbands in succession. From the first she had a son, from the other a daughter. This son desired to take a fine stepsister, who is related to him in the third degree: Is the question whether it is permissible? Thereupon spoke D. Luther said: "We have made this deal secret to the Elector. In the fourth degree we allow it, but in the third degree we do not want to admit it; not for the sake of conscience, but for the sake of the evil example among the stingy peasants, who would also take their next blood friend for the sake of good. If they were allowed the third degree, they would be accustomed to marry in the second degree. If there are enough virgins, why should they be left behind?
Moses commanded that the rich should take those who were nearest to them, so that the poor may not
remained seated. Therefore, David and Solomon had many wives for the sake of their poor next of kin blood friends, so that they would also be cared for and fed.
But now our miserly peasants, and those of the nobility, want to take their closest blood friends for the sake of good, since the poor, miserable butchers are not considered, nor provided for; therefore we forbid these degrees as political and secular, for the sake of necessity. But the pope has forbidden them out of pure hypocrisy, and for the sake of money he dispenses and allows it.
But if someone today wanted to take a poor maiden in the third degree out of mercy, we would allow it. As far as conscience is concerned, we would easily allow and permit the third degree, but not without a bad example and great annoyance. Otherwise there are enough virgins.
91 Cognatio Spiritualis.
After that, he said of spiritual kinship and friendship, which is called "spousal relationship," to bring a child out of the baptism, which in the papacy prevents marriage: that is fool's work, because in that way one Christian should not take the other, because they are brothers and sisters among each other. It is the Pabst's money net. And he said that marriages, which are made for good, commonly bring and have malediction and cursing; for the rich wives are more whimsical, proud, obstinate and negligent, who consume more than they bring.
92. admonition D. M. Luther's admonition to marry those who are weakened.
Anno 1539, April 11, Luther interrogated a marriage case in his house and tried whether he could reconcile bride and bridegroom so that the deal would not come before the Consistory: showed the bridegroom that he had held a public engagement with her, and had previously been imprisoned on suspicion of having committed fornication with her, and promised the council that he wanted to take her in marriage.
At last he said to him: "You crept to her secretly at night, not for the sake of prayer, and although you may not have weakened her, she is nevertheless suspicious and disreputable in the clamor that her wreath has withered. If you do not take her, you will have an evil conscience and no happiness. Beware, dear fellow, of an evil conscience; you do not yet know what kind of evil worm it is; it will gnaw and bite you all your life long, even if you become a richer and more honest free woman.
93. cause of divorce.
Doctor Martin Luther said: There are only two reasons to divorce a marriage: The first, adultery, should be tried and diligently done, so that they may be reconciled again, and the guilty party well scolded, and a good sharp text read.
The other cause: If one runs away from the other, and comes again, and runs away from him again. Such boys commonly have quandaries, who take wives in another place, after two years they come again, and when they have impregnated them, they run away again, without their will, one should lay their heads before their asses.
The laws forbid that a woman should not be free again in five or seven years, but this imperial right applies only to men of war. For at that time warfare was hereditary and not arbitrary, as it is now; that is, a father who was a man of war inherited it on his children, who often had to go to war against their will. Now the coarse asses, the canonists, want to put on the rights that are directed and given to other times and causes, and say: so it is written in the book; and do not look at this time, since both, the trade and the law have fallen, and are much changed.
They do not do otherwise, as if now a Justinianus and Roman emperor wanted to rule Constantinople according to our rights; or, if someone wanted to force with commandments, if the Elbe ran out at a place, and he wanted to stake and dam according to his opinion and prescribed laws elsewhere, wanted to be guided not by necessity and opportunity, but by the Scriptures and books.
94. question.
Whether a child born in the eleventh month is a legitimate legitimate child, whether it can also happen naturally? Answered D. M. Luther: I have had this case twice, that the woman gave birth to a child after the husband's departure in the eleventh month. It makes heavy thoughts, I could not believe it. Therefore, in such a case, amicable action must be taken, so that one can be persuaded with good words that, for the sake of our Lord God and peace, he, as a Christian, will refrain from something, and let him prevail, so that the wife will not be disgraced and dishonored, or at the least be held suspect for it. Rights have no place here. Just as if a man did not find his bride pure, a brat for a virgin; here one must only act kindly with good words, out of love, the law has nothing to do with it.
How secretly or openly cohabitation makes a marriage.
It was said how his servant should have escaped, who was in the city shouting with a maid, as if he had slept with her: would have been lured by her into the house and irritated, since she also had a bad rumor; said D. Martinus. Martinus said, "Let him stay here, especially because it is still secret, and since he would have recognized her immediately if it had not happened in marriage, he is not bound; someone can still become a fool about it. If it is secret, they may get along secretly, but otherwise she must become a whore in public.
Therefore they shall confess it secretly. But if it is done in marriage, and she is impregnated, he must take her. Therefore, they should be advised: If it is done, let it be done; keep your consciences safe; but beware of evil examples and anger, so that we may live chastely and carefully. Not like the pope, who wanted to free and rid his priests of suspicion. If a priest was found alone with a woman in a suspicious place and was seized, one should remember and say: They would have prayed with each other. This teaching of the Pope requires great faith.
96 New heresy in the state of marriage.
It was thought of the marriage case that a new heresy arose, namely, that neither should demand the marital duty from the other, because it would be sin. Then said D. M. Luther said: "Satan brings innumerable errors into the world when we leave God's word and do not stand firm over it. Is it not shameful that one wants to sin here in God's order, since one otherwise sins with fornication, adultery etc. unashamedly, without all shyness? And if St. Paul would not have warned this with clear, expressed words, then guilty friendship would also become sin, for he writes clearly in 1 Cor. 7:2: "For the sake of fornication let every man have his spouse," not only for the sake of the children. And v. 4, 5: "The woman is not powerful of her womb, but the man: the man is not powerful of his womb, but the woman. Do not deprive one of the other" etc.
The first step is to determine whether a parish priest should take care of the marriage.
When M. Luther was asked: What should the pastors do and how should they behave in marriage cases, whether they also want to express such unwillingness and effort? I advise all things, he said, that we do not take such a yoke and burden upon ourselves. First, because we have enough to do in our office. Secondly, marriage is none of the church's business; it is a temporal, secular thing apart from the church, and therefore belongs before the authorities. Thirdly, that such cases are innumerable, very high, wide and deep, and bring great vexation, which would bring shame and dishonor to the gospel. For I know how often we have been disgraced in this matter with our counsel, because we have allowed secret betrothals to prevent greater evil, that they kept it only secretly, lest an example be made of it, which the others followed.
But they deal with us unkindly, dragging us into such evil things: since it turns out badly, the blame must be ours. Therefore, let us leave this matter to the secular authorities and the lawyers, who will take it as their own.
If they do well, they are all the better for it; only the pastors should advise their consciences from God's Word, if it is necessary; but as far as disputes are concerned, we will let the lawyers and the Consistory fight it out and carry it out.
D. Christianus Beyer, Saxon chancellor, wanted to tell us theologians that we should hear and examine matrimonial matters, consider them, and await the judgment of the lawyers, who should then speak. I did not want to do that, but they should hear and wait for our verdict. Although M. Phil advised me and M. Cellario that we wanted to serve the poor torn church in such cases for a while.
98. of clandestine betrothals and how they are to be punished.
The secret engagements were thought of, which the jurists wanted to punish with expulsion, and in the Leipzig Synod it was decided that they should be expelled and disinherited. Then said D. M. Luther said: "I do not praise this, it is too coarse, the lawyers may defend it; but one should not look through the fingers of those who thus secretly betroth themselves.
99. from the words: de praesenti et de futuro.
Magister Johann Holstein raised a question: If two were engaged to each other verbis de futuro, as if I said: I will take you; whether it was to be understood by the future? Then spoke D. M. Luther: These are words that are to be understood from the present; for the word volo, I will, means and indicates a present will; indeed, all conditional vows and promises are to be understood from the present, when the condition is taken away and ceases, as when a companion says to the matzo: Over two years, when I now come again, I will take you. These words are to be understood by the present; for when he comes again, he is obliged to take them, and it is not in his power that he may change his mind and will in the two years. If the future and' secret engagements were forbidden, and not allowed, so that they should not be valid at all, but
If the law were to be dead and ineffective, many evils would be prevented and would occur, and you lawyers would have enough to do with matrimonial matters, since the cases are innumerable.
D. M. Luther complained very much about his sister's son's disobedience and hurt him that he had engaged himself without the advice of his friendship; therefore he said: I will write a strong letter to the virgins' parents.
100. Whether one spouse should divorce the other for the sake of religion?
In response, Martin Luther said, "No, because secular and political ties are not severed for the sake of religion.
One of them ran away from his wife because he had committed theft. The woman was put in prison, and since she said she knew nothing about it, she was released from prison by the request of pious people, and soon went to another country and married another man there. Now the question is: Whether it is also a proper marriage, and if the man who took her gets an evil conscience about it, how he should be advised and comforted? Luther answered and said: "If the woman could have followed the man, whether he is a thief or not, she should have done so; but because the man ran away from her, she is excused for having married another, and he who took her may well have a good conscience.
101 D. M. Luther's concern when one spouse runs from the other.
If a woman runs away from her husband and stays outside for a year, he should not take her again, because a woman must stay with her husband, should not run to and fro after fornication, and leave her husband's children sitting on his neck; the same is also true of a man. That would be my concern.
If a fornicator is advised 1) to take a wife in marriage, and the father is against it, he will not confess it; then I, D. Martinus, say: The father should use his paternal authority according to Christian love.
1) See Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, Col. 812 f. I,it. ä.
Why has he not raised and governed his son differently, so that he would not have become a whore hunter?
102. of three divine estates.
Three kinds of estates are ordered by God, in which one may be with God and a good conscience. The first is the household; the second is the political and temporal government; the third is the church or priesthood, according to the three persons of the Trinity. First, you must be in the household, either a father or mother, child, servant or maid. Secondly, in a city or country, a citizen and subject, or an authority. For God created mankind to be friendly and peaceful, to live together in discipline and honor. Third, that you be in the church, either a priest, chaplain, churchman, or other servant of the same, if only you have or hear God's word.
Therefore I pray you, that after my death you will be most diligent and strict about the marriage state, that it may be left free, both laymen and priests, and everyone who is skilled, has desire and love, so that there may not be monasticism again; for God created male and female to be with each other etc. And says: "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder", Matth. 19, 6. And yet the papists say: the marriage of priests is not right.
103. common life is the safest.
(Contained in Cap. 4, § 47.)
104. difference between marriage and fornication.
Marriage and fornication are so similar to each other as far as the work is concerned that they can hardly be distinguished; for intercourse is one and the same, begetting children is one and the same: only they are distinguished in that in marriage is God's word and ordinance or order. For God has ordained and blessed marriage, but fornication has neither God's word nor ordinance.
God has forbidden it, maledicted it and condemned it. Also, people feel God's blessing in marriage; as the common saying goes, "If only a pious man takes a pious maid, they will be well fed.
105. stepchildren.
(Lauterbach, Nov. 14, 1538, p. 166.)
It was said that marriages are dangerous and unhappy where there are stepchildren. Luther said: Stepchildren etc. Yes, if the mother or father is pious, it must suffer.
10b. The Pabst's punishment of those who have broken the marriage.
The punishment so that the pope has condemned the part of married couples who have transgressed is evil and unjust, namely, that the man who has broken the marriage should not demand the owed marriage duty, but perform it, because thereby cause is given to fornication. I would not have them bear the punishment with a stain of shame, that they should be given only water and bread; or the like.
The following is a list of the laws that apply to matrimonial matters.
Doctor Martin Luther was asked: To whom do matrimonial matters belong, and by what laws should they be judged and decided? Then he said: I think that they belong before the lawyers; for if they judge and pass sentence on father, mother, children, servants, etc., why should they not also judge the life of the married couple?
But that they pretend that one should not judge and speak according to imperial laws in marriage matters, because it is written Matth. 19, 6: "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder" etc. Know that when the emperor and the authorities in their laws and ordinances divorce marriage, it is not a man who divorces it, but God. For "man" here means a common private citizen who is not in government office. So also God says: You shall not kill; there he bequeaths it, not to the authorities, but to common people, to whom the sword is not commanded.
In such cases, when my conscience was troubled, I have often counseled according to the Gospel, and admonished such persons that they should not reveal such my judgment or misgivings, nor make them reproachable. And I said: Seal it; if you cannot keep it secret, then bear your danger: publicly I will not judge and sentence you in this way, because I have no execution.
But the saying: "What God has put together" etc., has the meaning and the opinion that the word God does not mean God in heaven, but His word, namely, to be obedient to the parents and the authorities. What else should God be? God does not put together what is done without the will and consent of the parents. And what I command my daughter and call her, she commands and calls God. If there are no parents, then the closest blood friends are in their place. Therefore, in this saying, God is called God's Word.
Now, if my daughter is free without my will, and is secretly betrothed without my knowledge, such a betrothal divorces God: and if she knows my will, she knows God's will. For God has said it. What you humans do to them, God does to them. As is seen in many sayings in the Scriptures; as when Christ in Matthew said to the Pharisees Matt. 19:4, 5: "Have ye not read, that he which made man in the beginning made man to be male and female, saying, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh" etc.? since Adam said: "For the authority of the parents is a divinity, because they sit here in the place of God, as his governors; as also the authority. But the world calls God happiness, when they say that God has put together; that is, the fury and the mad fury of love.
108: Whether the appearance separates the marriage, D. Martin Luther's concerns to Joachim von Weissbach
to Reinersdorf.
(This § is Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 220, no. 208; and vol. X, 964. In the St. Louis edition, vol. X, 812.)
109 D. Martin Luther's concern, since one impregnated a maid.
(This § is Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, col. 812 f.)
110. whether one may take his deceased cousin's wife in marriage, D. Martin
Luther's Concerns to U. Spalatinum.
(This 8, a letter of Luther to Spalatin, Latin in De Wette, III, 554, German, VI, 114, will soon be printed in our St. Louis edition in the XXI part).
111: The Consistorii of Wittenberg's ruling in a marriage case in which a farmer impregnated his deceased wife's sister and then took her in marriage.
1) Our kind services before. Honorable special good friend! We have received your angry case, namely that a farmer's husband impregnated his deceased wife's right biological sister, and subsequently took her in marriage on the instructions of the priest, who is also now to lie with the child in weeks. Since our most gracious lord, the Elector of Saxony and Burgrave of Magdeburg, has ordered you to be informed of this, especially with regard to the penalty in the law, we, as the ecclesiastical judges, report, after the advice of the theologians, after consideration of the case, that the marriage in this first degree is neither permissible nor to be tolerated. Therefore, such matrimony is declared unlawful, and such persons are to be confiscated from each other, also for the sake of their practiced fornication and for the disgust of others, and arbitrarily imprisoned for several weeks, and the child produced is to be fed and nourished by both parents. Because the priest there, without advice and instruction from his proper authorities and ecclesiastical superintendents, has contracted and indulged in the marriage to such a forbidden degree, the punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed on him for eight days. Rightfully, by right.
1) Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 704 f.
112. of secret betrothals, and of parental violence.
Secret engagements, said D. Martinus, should not be valid at all; although our lawyers would have liked to preserve them. Parents, however, should not force children to take those they do not want; and again, they should allow and permit them to be free, and help them to do so, if they are manly and mature, and should not prevent them from taking children of honest people, if the persons have a desire for each other. We once gave two together here against the parents' will, but she was poor and would have gladly taken him; but the father would not, for he said he must have them in the house; so I said to him, "There are many maids here, so you may rent one. And I gave them together in the name of God.
113. of degrees in matrimonial matters.
When M. Luther was asked: In which degree would one take the other? he answered and said: In the fourth degree one may take the other, since they have not otherwise recognized themselves in the flesh; for since this has happened, the third degree must be allowed, in which it is also allowed to great lords. But for the sake of the peasants it should remain in the fourth degree: for they would soon imitate it and make an example of it. Therefore, the third degree should not be permitted to them.
Sibling children are in the other degree than Isaac and Rebekah. From the person who is furthest away, one counts the degree; namely, if I am in the fourth degree, I may well take one who is related to me in the third or other degree and is a friend.
I believe that the apostles had not so much to trouble as we preachers have now: for the Jews had their certain term and measure, how far they should free; but the wicked merchants trouble us much. I also do not believe that there is anything in law that is more unpleasant than marriage matters. That is why the bishops have not studied anything, because they have been so overwhelmed and burdened with affairs; therefore it is good that we have established a consistory.
The following is a summary of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure.
It was asked whether the guardians had the same power in matrimonial matters as the parents? Then said D. M. Luther: No, because the guardians are not the flesh and blood of their wards, and they do not increase the property, but should only preserve it. The closest blood friends, as brothers, cousins etc., should be preferred to the guardians and they should be consulted. However, this should be done, the guardians should be welcomed; if they do not want to marry honestly, their authority and power are no longer valid. If the marriage is lawful, they shall allow it to take place and shall not hinder or oppose it, if they have not been welcomed before.
115. question.
One should not burden oneself with other people's sins or make oneself a part of them: everyone has enough to do with his own sins. So I did not want, said D. M. Luther, Abwesens D. Pommers, the parish priest, D. Hieronymo Schürf the sacrament, 1) because he did not want to take it from the other chaplains, because they had had two wives after each other, which is not so great as when a monk takes a nun in marriage. But it is vain wickedness with the people.
Then he said, when he was asked, "Whether a priest could in good conscience give in marriage those who had engaged themselves to each other without and against the knowledge and will of their parents, which the jurists recognized and confirmed as right? To which D. Martinus said, "He should not do it in any way, since he does not consider it to be a marriage, and so he has taught it publicly. He let the jurists give together, who have recognized the betrothal for right.
116. from running away.
We, said D. M. Luther, we hold it thus: If a man or woman run away from each other, we do not wait more than a year, if he or she has a good testimony. But one shall
1) Cf. cap. 19, z 12.
In this, also look at the circumstances well and consider", that is to be done well with us. No divorced or divorced person comes back into the country, because my most gracious lord keeps a hard and firm hold on it, and that must be so. If we do not have the person, especially if we know for certain the place where he is, and he does not want to compare and appear, then we proceed and continue. And that one does not allow secret engagements, we have helped many consciences with that.
117: A strange case and D. M. Luther's concerns about it. M. Luther's concerns about it.
There was a schoolmaster at Frankfurt on the Oder, a learned, godly man, who had turned his heart to theology and preached several times to the great amazement of the audience. But his wife, who had a hopeful spirit and courage, would by no means agree that he should accept it, saying that she did not want a priest. Then the question was asked badly what the good man should do, whether he should leave his wife or the preaching ministry.
Hereupon first said D. M. Luther in jest and laughter: If he has taken a wife, as you say, then he must do as she wishes. Soon after that he said, "If there were a right authority, it could force the widow, because the woman is obliged to follow the man, and not the man the woman. It must be a wicked woman, yes, a devil, that she is ashamed of the preaching ministry, in which the Lord Christ and the dear angels have been. This is what the devil seeks, that he would gladly defile and blaspheme the office of preaching.
I would speak to her if she were My wife: If you want to follow me, say soon, no or yes. If she said, "No," I would soon take another and let her go. It is because the authorities are not there with the execution, and do not stop over the preaching ministry.
The Pabst's excuse why he forbids the marriage state.
The pope, said D. M. Luther, "He has renounced the married state, and at the same time wants to apologize for it.
He pretends that he does not forbid it, because he says, "I do not force anyone to become spiritual," and therefore he thinks that he does not forbid them to marry. Yes, it follows publicly and irrefutably: since he forbids marriage to the state, which we cannot do without, he also forbids it to the persons who enter into it.
(The following at Cordatus No. 1160.)
If a person has a concubinam and cannot validly marry her in public, then they are still rightful spouses before God if they have given each other the marriage vow [votum]; however, there is an annoyance in this.
119 D. M. Luther's Concerns about Divorcing for the Sake of Running Away: Whether the Innocent
may again free, to a church servant at N.
(Letter to the preacher Simon Wolferinus at Eisleben. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 1614, no. 8.
De Wette V, 686. This letter will be printed in its entirety in the XXI volume, because the beginning is missing in the X volume. Volume is missing).
120. question.
(This concern is in Walch, old edition, Vol. XXI, 1222, No. 791, § 2.)
121. another case.
(This concern is in Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1229, no. 797.)
122 D. M. Luther's Citation in Matrimonial Matters.
(This citation already communicated in our St. Louis edition, Walch X, Col. 746 f.). Dit. L)
Another citation of D. M. Luther.
(This citation to Hans Schwalb, June 22, 1538, at De Wette VI, 200, will be printed in the XXI volume of our edition).
124 D. M. Luther's Concerns about Common Women's Houses, to D. Hieronhmum Weller.
This § is Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1306, no. 858).
As one has lived, so shall he fare.
(Cordatus No. 1650.)
Even if a fornicator takes a respectable wife, he will still have enough to deal with, for God avenges fornication. He does not give [for this reason] that you say: A wife is necessary to me, a wife I will take; a paternoster must first be taken for help, and not only because of need, but also for companionship in life one should take a wife. And because of chastity [i.e. ability to remain celibate] this is my judgment, that he who has this gift from God must be completely free from all rivers etc.
126. question.
(Contained in Cap. 9, § 63.)
127th Women's Regiment.
(Cordatus No. 1079. 1080.)
My wife can persuade me as often as she pleases, for she alone has all the rule in her hand. I gladly concede to her the entire rule in the household, but I also want to have my right inviolate and complete, and women's regimentation has never done any good.
God made Adam the lord of all creatures, but when Eve persuaded him that he should also be lord over God, she corrupted everything. This is what we have to thank you women for, when you lure men with cunning and deceit.
128. women.
(Contained in Cap. 43, 859.)
129.. Love between spouses.
It is the highest grace of God when married couples love each other warmly, always for and for. The first love is fruitful and fierce, so that we may be blinded and go up like drunkards: then, when we have slept off the drunkenness, righteous love remains in the godly, but the wicked have remorse.
130: Of made love through little drinks.
(Lauterbach, July 21, 1538, p. 101.)
D. Jonas and D. Balthasar (Loi) told a marriage case, how someone had loved a girl in Leipzig fiercely and promised her marriage, but finally it was found out that she had given him a love potion, that she had made love to him, and after that, when he had been set right by another woman, his love for her had ceased. Then Luther said angrily: "Why do you tempt me in this quite obvious matter? The verdict is this, that he should marry her, or clearly show his authorities the circumstances that he has been deceived by the love potion. If we allowed the excuse, everyone would justify himself if he was sorry. Ah, one should not thus joke with these things. If someone feels like a man, let him marry and not tempt God. That is why the maiden has her way, so that she may give him the medicine and not cause defilement and adultery. After that, he lamented the horrible defilements in the monasteries, with which the brothers were attacked almost every night, so that they did not dare to celebrate mass the next day. But since such a large number of masses, which had been imposed and assigned to us, were missed because of our excuses, the prior came out with it publicly and allowed that everyone could and should say mass, even if he had had pollutions. For the sake of the shameful pollutions, all monasteries and convents should be destroyed, where idle people are fattened in good living and are daily stimulated only to these impurities by intoxication and indolence. Dear God, protect us from this abomination and let us remain in the holy state of marriage, where you are lenient with our weakness.
God holds above the marriage state.
When M. Luther was asked by some preachers about a case in marriage, he said: "That marriage is governed and preserved by God, we see publicly. For although the rights, both divine and human, of the authorities and ecclesiastics are earnestly
We see, however, that the courts and consistory are nowhere diligently appointed in marriage cases: for secular authorities do not punish adultery, indeed, they strengthen it, do not now help pious, faithful, Christian pastors, as they ought to do. Therefore, if God did not govern and preserve the marriage state, there would be endless devastation and disruption. And here one should ask God to protect and preserve His gifts, the marriage state, discipline, respectability, church, secular and domestic government. He will undoubtedly do this for the sake of His dear Son, our Lord Christ.
But in the case of which you have written to me, you have our clear, simple and Christian answer; namely: That it is the duty of the priests to counsel the consciences of poor Christians. Therefore, if Jacob is a pious, God-fearing man, judge freely, if you are well informed of the matter. And we wish and would like the council to help you, and to keep your judgment and knowledge, discipline and honesty seriously.
132. that the holy fathers in the church also had carnal desires, which is why they called the
Cölibatum should avoid and flee lonely life.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 24, 1538, p. 41. The second paragraph is another redaction of Cap. 24, § 7, and therefore omitted here; likewise the last 6 lines of this same).
After that he said a lot about the tyranny of the celibate life, how great a burden it would have been. Augustine, when he was already very old, complained about nocturnal defilement. Jerome in anguish beat his heart with stones, but he could not beat the virgin out of his heart. Franciscus made snowballs. Benedictus lay down in the thorns. Bernard tore himself to pieces and tortured his body in such a way that it stank horribly. I believe indeed that also virgins have temptations and rutting, but if there are also rivers and pollutions, it is no longer the gift of virginity. There is from God the remedy of marriage given and to be taken. There have been such high people in it than we are. Peter had a
Mother-in-law, therefore also a woman. Likewise John, the brother of the Lord, and all the apostles were married, except John. Paul counts himself among the unmarried and widowed, but it seems that he was married in his youth, according to the custom of the Jews. Spiridion, bishop of Cyprus, was married. Bishop Hilarius had a wife, because from his exile he wrote letters to his little daughter that she should be obedient and learn to pray; he was with a rich man, who told him that if his little daughter would be pious, he would bring her a golden skirt. So childlike he writes to his little daughter. I am surprised that the holy fathers had to struggle so hard with these youthful temptations and did not feel the high [spiritual] temptations in such great offices.
133rd Treasurer.
(The first paragraph Cordatus No. 1101.)
Eunuchs have more rut than all, because the desire does not pass by the cutting, but the ability. I would rather put on two pairs than cut out one. He said this on the occasion when a Waldensian had cut himself as a young man, but about which he grieved as an old man.
Phil. Mel. said: That in Greece fornication had become so great and prevalent that celibacy, living without marriage, and virginity had been so highly exalted and vowed. Then said D. M. Luther: Terentius is very chaste in these things, he still wants to have the married state. Philip said, "Yes, Doctor, he also insists on marriage, and does not want anyone to be a virgin and free from weakness, just like Moses.
134. you can't do without women.
Without sin, said D. M. Luther, one cannot do without wives, one must have them. Marriage, however, is God's order and creature; therefore it is not the devil's permission if a man loves a pious maiden with honor and desires to marry her. Satan is the enemy of the state, therefore dare it in the name of the Lord, on his blessing and creation, if it is necessary for you.
The marriage state is necessary, 1)
(Contained in Cap. 43, §17.)
136. D. M. Luther's prayer for his marriage state.
Dear heavenly Father, since you have placed me in the honor of your name and office, and have also called me Father and honored me, grant me grace and bless me to govern and nurture my dear wife, child and servants in a godly and Christian manner. Give me wisdom and strength to govern and educate them well; give them also a good heart and will to follow your teaching and to be obedient, amen.
137. children bind the marriage.
(Contained in Cap. 5, §19.)
138. despisers of marriage.
The wellspring of all fornication and immorality in the papacy is, said D. M. Luther, that they condemn marriage, the most holy state. M. Luther, that they condemn marriage, the most holy estate. For all who despise the marriage state must fall into shameful, abominable fornication, even so that they "change the natural custom into the unnatural custom," as St. Paul says Rom. 1:26, because they despise God's order and creature, that is, the woman. For God created woman to be with man, to bear children and to manage the household. Therefore they take their deserved wages cheaply, despising marriage. And, as St. Paul says, they received the reward, as it should be and is due because of their error, in their own bodies.
Therefore, I wish that such despisers of divine order would become serpents and basilisks out of men and die with them. Therefore, good to him who likes the marriage state. It is indeed sinful to commit fornication with a woman or to weaken virgins, as far as his own work is concerned; and it is natural and human, since man is corrupted by original sin. But to believe that marriage is instituted by God is an article of faith.
1) Similar content Cap. 43, § 13.
I have taken a wife, also for the reason that I could defy the devil, to the shame of fornication in the papacy: and if I had none, then I wanted to take one now at my age, even if I knew that I could not beget children with her; only in honor of marriage, and in contempt and shame of the shameful fornication and whoredom in the papacy, which is very great and horrible. Pope Leo remained dead, because he had to do with a boy, and died over it. O the abominable disgrace of the Most Holy Father.
139. wicked woman.
(Contained in Cap. 37, § 148.)
The parents love against the children.
(Contained in Cap. 3, § 60.)
141. women's office, for which they are ordained.
Women, said D. Martin Luther, they speak of housekeeping well, 1) as masters, with sweetness and gentleness of voice, and so that they surpass Ciceronem, the most eloquent orator: and what they cannot accomplish with eloquence, they attain with weeping. And to such eloquence they are born, for they are much more eloquent and skilful by nature in dealings than we men who attain it by long experience, practice and study. But when they speak outside the home, they are useless. For though they have words enough, yet they lack and are deficient in things than which they do not understand; therefore they also speak of them in a slovenly, disorderly, and desolate manner beyond measure. Therefore it appears that the woman is created for housekeeping, but the man for police, secular government, for wars and judicial affairs, which have to be administered and led.
142. an example of female chastity.
A virgin, when she was forcibly led by her mother to the king's son for a loose woman and a whore, she posed as if she wanted to prepare herself for trade, went
1) The same content is § 76 in this Cap.
to the window and jumped out to the castle, so that she remained dead. Now there is a dispute and the question is asked, "May she also be pardoned? Luther answered and said: She hated, it should have won a better outcome, and not have turned out that way: she would not have done it to strangle herself and put to death, but meant, she wanted to get away with it, and to have saved her chastity and virginity thereby. It is thought that it was the king of Fr.
The first of these is a book on the subject.
Since there was talk and discussion about miraculous, strange, tremendous births that sometimes come from women, Martin Luther said about a woman who had given birth to a child like a rat mouse, who had run around and wanted to crawl into a mouse hole under the bench. Luther said: "This is an argument and an indication that strong thoughts and the powers of the mind and spirit are so great and powerful that they can also change and transform bodies.
But one said he could not believe it; yes, said D. M. Luther, you do not yet know what the powers of the mind are. And when one asked whether such monsters should also be baptized, he said, "No, for I consider them to be unreasonable animals that have nothing but life and can move and move like other beasts. When another asked, "Do they also have a soul?" he said, "I do not know, I have not asked God about it.
144 Diligent study drives away looting.
Henningi's syllogism and final speech was this: It is not possible, who studies diligently, who must be pious. With this, said D. M. Luther, he wanted to indicate that righteous students do not run after women nor stain themselves with fornication.
Fornication follows false teaching.
All false doctrine is tainted with fornication and whoredom, said D. M. Luther. For what were the pilgrimages in the papacy an-
What else does the pope do, but that whores and boys could come together there? What else does the pope do, but that he defiles himself with fornication without ceasing? The pilgrimages have been the most fornicated. There one looked for fine situated oerter, beautiful funny mountains, green trees, Brunrien, water, woods etc.; there one found together.
The pagans have held marriage much more honestly than the pope and Turk. The pope is hostile to marriage, the Turk despises it. But it is the devil's habit to be hostile to God's works. What God holds dear, as the church, marriage, the police, he is hostile to. He would like to have fornication and discord; for if he has these, he knows well that people will no longer ask much about God.
146. what the marriage state is based on.
What the marriage state is, one must see and learn from the epistles of St. Paul, not from the Gospel, for the latter says little about it. Marriage is best confirmed and established in the seventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, which some, especially the monks, think is against marriage.
147: Why the pope is beating up on marriage.
Licentiate Amsdorf came to me once in the beginning of this matter, spoke D. M. Luther, and said a fine speech, which I have kept because of him, for he is a faithful man, and dear to me; namely, he said: Why does the pope give chastity, and forbid marriage? for fornication and adultery is forbidden before.
148. the first love in the marriage state the fiercest.
(Contained in Cap. 4, § 2.)
149 Marital relationship.
There is no lovelier, friendlier, nor more blissful kinship, communion, and companionship than a good marriage, when husband and wife live with each other in peace and unity. Again, there is nothing more bitter, more painful, than when the bond is broken, separated and divorced: after which, when the children die, it is death; which I have tried and experienced.
Believing that marriage is God's order and creature is a strange thing.
(Contained in Cap. 4, § 22.)
151 Cause why a pious woman should be favorably loved.
(Contained in Cap. 43, § 59.)
152 De clandestinis Sponsalibus.
The canonists say, said D. M. Luther: Sufficit consensus. This is probably in the text, but is not desiniret: Quid aut qualis. The text speaks relative, also de publico consensu et pactione sponsaliorum, et quando hoc fit cum aliqua solennitate. How do they want to prove that he speaks de privato consensu?
It would be quite necessary in causis matrimonialibus, that now and would be heroicissimi and sapientis-simi determinatores. Otherwise, the world would be full of sophistry, fraudes and doli.
Women and virgins are to be honored, not defiled.
Doctor M. Luther said of those who wrote invectives and defamatory notes and wrote against women and virgins that they would not go unpunished. For according to imperial law, such would be worthy to be beheaded, for they disgraced other people: if one of the nobility did so, he would certainly not be a nobleman by nature and kind, but a bastard, who was struck from the kind of honest nobility, who asked neither for mother nor sisters, and disgraced them. For he who reviles priests and virgins is sure to be disgraced.
Women and virgins, though they have defects and faults, are not to be reviled publicly, neither in words nor in writings, but are to be punished in secret. There is much infirmity in women; therefore St. Peter says from God's mouth that there is a weak instrument in the female sex. 1 Petr. 3, 7.
Then he turned and said, "Let us talk about other things.
154: Luther's public exhortation and serious admonition against fornication, addressed to the students at Wittenberg.
(This scripture is included in our St. Louis edition Walch, Vol. X, Col. 686 f.).
The children should be brought up with reason.
Doctor M. Luther said: If children are bad, do harm and mischievousness, so they should be punished, especially if they learn to exchange and steal; however, one must also keep a measure and ßðéåß÷åéáí in the punishment: because what puerilia are, as cherries, apples, pears, nuts, one must not punish so, as if they wanted to attack money, skirt and box; then it is time to punish seriously. My parents kept me very hard, 1) that I also became very shy about it. My mother once pushed me for a small nut, so that the blood flowed afterwards; and their seriousness and strict life, which they led with me, caused me to run away to a monastery and become a monk; but they meant it very well. Sed non poterant discernere ingenia, secundum quae essent temperandae correctiones. Quia,, one must thus punish, that the apple is with the rod.
It is an evil thing, if for the sake of the hard punishment children become grudging to their parents, or pupils are hostile to their preceptoribus 2). For many unskilled schoolmasters spoil fine ingenia with their rumbling, storming, striking and beating, if they do not deal with children in any other way than as an executioner or cane-master with a thief. The lupizettel; item, the examina, legor, legeris, legere, legitur, cujus partis orationis, these have been the children's carnificinae. Once before noon at school, I was struck off fifteen times in a row. Quodlibet Regimen debet observare discrimen ingeniorum, one must push and punish children, but at the same time one should also love them; as St. Paul also teaches to Colossians in the third chapter, v. 21, where he says: "Fathers, do not quarrel with your children, so that they do not become fainthearted"; and to Ephesians in the 6th chapter, v. 4, V. 4: "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord."
1) Cf. cap. 43, § 69.
2) Cf. Cap. 67, § 1.
The blessing of D. Luther over a child.
(Cordatus No. 1081.)
Go to sleep, dear child, and only be pious. I will not leave you money, but I will leave you a rich God. Only be pious.
157 A Latin, so D. M. Luther ordered his children to learn. M. Luther commanded his children to learn, so that they might fear God.
Memento Dei Creatoris tui in diebus juventutis tuae. And is this the opinion:
Dear child, gladly hear God's word And your parents' warning and command, Because you are fresh and young.
That is eternally healthy for you here and there.
Jtem,D. M. Luther once said over the table that a father had admonished his children to study diligently, and had recited these two verses to them, which they should well remember, namely:
Dear child, learn well and you will be full of good chickens.
But if thou learnest evil, thou must eat with the sows out of the vat.
158. paternal care of the children.
(Composed of Cap. 3, § 60, and Cap. 49, § 3, first paragraph.)
The marriage state is mocked by betting people.
Doctor M. Luther said about tables in 1540 that the world was now becoming so godless that many people did not consider fornication and adultery to be sins. Therefore the bishop of Lünden said to M. Philipp Melanchthon: "I am very surprised that you are so insistent on the marriage state, when all other nations mock you about it. And said D. M. Luther: "So it is, we must be Lot, whose soul was tormented day and night in Sodom. We must allow ourselves and our matrimony to be mocked, when we have gloriously emphasized and praised it with our sermons, writings and examples. But there is an epicurism in the German country, which comes from Italy, and we Germans are even being led astray by it.
one. And such epicurism rules in Turkey, too, that no one asks anything about the marriage state, but everyone takes as many wives as he wants, pushes them away and then drives them away again, or sells them and swaps horses with the wives, because they do not know what the marriage state is. But we have helped the marriage state back on its feet with our books.
I am very much afraid that in twenty years all good books will be banned, that none of them will be remembered in the pulpit, and that only pious hearts will keep the pure teaching of the divine word. Our dear Lord Jesus Christ help us, he alone is honest and takes care of us; the others mock us, as they mocked Noah before the flood when he built the ark, and as the Sodomites mocked Lot, and they mocked the prophet Isaiah with outstretched tongues. In the same way, Annas and Caiphas considered Christ's teaching to be a mockery, just as our Moguntinus] still ridicules our teaching, knowing full well that it is the word of God. Well, we must pray, God will find the mockers, veniens venie with the punishment, et non tardabit.
160 On Adultery. Two kinds of adultery.
Doctor M. Luther once said that there are two kinds of adultery: The first is spiritual, before God, where one desires another's wife or husband, Matth. 5, 28. No one escapes from this. The other is physical, as John 8:4, a woman in public adultery. Such is a shameful vice, but yet it is regarded in the world as an honor. And a good man once said to me, "I would not have thought that adultery was such a great sin, for it is a sin against God, against the government of the land, the city and the house, and an adulteress brings a strange heir into the house, and deceives the husband.
161. cause of adultery.
When one at Wittenberg had broken the marriage, there asked D. M. Luther's housewife
1) D. i. the Mainzer, Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz.
the doctor and said, "My dear sir, how can people be so wicked and stain themselves with such sins? Then he answered and said, "Yes, dear Käthe, people do not pray, so the devil is not idle; therefore we should always pray against the devil of whores: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And said further to his table companions: I consider that if God had commanded that a woman should admit whoever came; and again, a man who came; then one would have grown tired of the lewd life very soon, and would have sighed very hard for the married state. For: Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata. Item: Quod licet, ingratum est, quod non licet, acrius urit.
I am not surprised about a young journeyman, because where fire and straw lie next to each other, it is very soon ignited; item: Children are children, if you bring it so close to them. But I praise M. Philippi M. blood friends one, whom he admonished to beware of fornication; then he said, I will take me a wife, then whores and other people's wives shall remain well before me. So a bachelor should also remember to take his own wife and avoid fornication.
162 History of how a woman's adultery was concealed by her husband.
In the county of Saxony, a nobleman's wife, said D. M. Luther, has married her nobleman's servant. Now the other servant notices this adultery and secretly reveals it to his lord, who was very frightened about it and at first did not want to believe it; however, he consults with the same servant how he would like to seize the adulterer. Then the servant says: "We want to find out how: Let my servant pretend that he is going on a long journey, since he will not be back in a few days, so the servant and the woman will soon find each other. Now the lord follows the servant, and stands as if he wants to travel far over the field; but order with the maid that he be let in again secretly, and
came home again the first night. He hurried with the servant to the wife's chamber, where the adulterer lay with the women inside. Now the nobleman considered what he would do if he were to commit adultery with his wife in public, that he would come to a great cry in the whole country, and his wife would become quite infamous, also her children would have to have it an eternal imprint. And he thinks of the cunning and handle that he sends his servant down to the house to light a light. In the meantime he knocks at the chamber, and says: Hans, get up quickly, and save your life, roll yourself into your chamber, and lie down in your bed: for, if you will do it, then I will promise you by my noble faith and loyalty that no harm shall befall you. The servant unlocks the chamber, secretly returns to his bed and lies down in it. When the other servant returns with the light, he knocks on the chamber with earnestness, having only a sword in his hands. Then the woman opens the chamber, then the man hurries to the bed, there was no one inside. He looked for the adulterer everywhere under the bed, but he did not find him.
Then the nobleman was very angry and mischievous, and he said to the servant who had revealed his wife's fornication and adultery to him, "Behold, how do you stand with your accusation? Behold, how you have put me, my pious wife and my poor little children to shame, scorn and ridicule! Go, see if the other servant is in bed in his chamber. When he found him snoring, as if he were in a deep sleep, and told the master again, the master said to the same servant, "Behold, here is your reward, and roll yourself out of my house, and do not come back to me. In the morning he also gave the adulterer his farewell.
M. Luther then said that this nobleman, with his prudence and great gentleness, had won over his wife, that she had renounced fornication, and had then lived modestly with her husband, and had also kept his wife and children in honor. Such prudence and wisdom, said Luther, I would not have found in myself, nor could all lawyers have done so.
163. the garden brothers' fornication.
D. M. Luther said that the garden brother Hetzer had slept with twenty-four married women. For if a beautiful woman had come to him, he would have said, "Dear wife, you are on the right path, but you are still lacking one thing: You have a hopefulness with you, which you must do away with if you want to become perfect, and that is it, you have never broken your marriage, therefore you are hopeful before another woman. But this is the devil. Therefore, if you want to be perfect, you must not have this hope. With this he deceived many wives. Now when he was to be judged and die, he also went into bus correptam. 1) For this was
his last word was: HErr GOtt, wo soll ich hin etc.
In a town close to the Swiss border, where this agitator had been, it finally happened that if someone was found to have committed adultery and gave the authorities only four guilders as a punishment, he went free and became a devilish creature of fornication there. And there the devil set up such a game that once a man came home from the garden brothers and saw something sour. His wife asked him what was wrong with him. He answers and says, "Go out to the garden brothers, and you will find out. When she comes out, the garden brothers are here and fornicate with her. But she comes home again, weeps, does evil, and says to the man, "Oh, what have you done to me? Then he answered, "This is what I wanted, for I have also done it to other women. So he willfully made his wife a whore.
164 History of how adultery has been punished.
Because the lewd devil was not respected in that city, and the people mocked our Lord God as an epicure, and set four guilders as a penalty for adultery, they also had to be paid.
1) Stuttg. Leipz. The first edition: ins Teufels Rachen.
And the devil did not celebrate, but caused this misery there: That a rich citizen there, one of the families, suspected his wife of booing with the servant, and yet could not get to the bottom of it. Now the servant had once taken the master's pants with him into the chamber, and the master came about into the servant's chest, and found his pants therein, and began to deceive him. And because he had a sign, he confronted the woman. But the woman sought the door, and ran to her friends, and bewailed it unto them. And because she had good friends, they bargained with the man and finally invited the woman back. But the resentment would not leave the man's heart. Now it happened one Sunday that the husband sent all the children and servants out of the house and told them to go to church, leaving only the wife and one child at home, whom he considered a whore child. Then the man put a knife to the woman's breast, and she confessed that she had committed adultery with the servant. Then he stabbed her and strangled the child, and he went down to the ground and threw himself out of the window into the street, and snapped his neck in two. When the dead corpse was found on the gaff, it was reported to the council, who had it picked up. There they found a note with a rope tied to his knee, written to the council, in which the man had told the whole story of his wife's adultery, and that he had punished her himself for it, and also that he had given birth to the child so that it would not have to hear the accusation that it was a whore child etc. Thus the people of the same city were punished for fornication.
This story was told by D. M. Luther in Torgau in 1536, when Duke Philip of Pomerania had a wedding camp there with the Miss of Saxony, and D. Pommer had to say it publicly in the wedding sermon (because D. Luther became ill, that he could not do the bridal sermon), and this story should serve that married couples should beware of the devil, and live in the fear of God, pray diligently, and beware of fornication and adultery.
165 Luther's complaint that adultery is not punished as well as theft.
In the month of February 1546, in Eisleben, D. Martinus Wolf asked Schrenken and Joachim von Barbi, among others, who were eating with him: What is the reason that theft is punished more severely than adultery? For whosoever sinneth against the first, second, third, fourth, fifth commandments, committeth peccatum mortale; but the sixth commandment is not mortale. For we execute a thief if he steals five or six pennies; why then do we not also put to death an adulterer? For adultery is, verily, also a great theft. If an adulterer were punished alive and his head cut off, we would not have so much to do with the quaestionibus of adultery now. Then we come and ask: If the guilty party, as the adulterer, wants to repent, and the other innocent party does not want to accept him for mercy, should the guilty party remain in his sins, or should he be allowed to take another wife? If one lets him, others will want to follow the evil example, and thus one gives cause for much evil. That is why I would like to see an adulterer's head cut off straight away.
Julius Caesar, although he himself was an adulterer, nor did he make a law that an adulterer's head should be cut off. And the doctor said: "It happened in W. that a pious, honest woman, who had four children with her husband, and who had not known anything evil of her before, was taken in adultery. Now the husband insisted so hard that she should be beaten to distemper. That is what happened. After the punishment, I, D. Pommer, Philipp Melanchthon talked with the woman, she should go back to her husband, and the man also wanted to take her back to him. But she did not want to, because the public disgrace hurt her so much, and she left her husband with the children and went astray. But there one should have acted de reconciliatione before the punishment. Here we see how the devil is such a mighty lord of the world. The priest goes straight through; whoever has broken, remains without marriage, and the innocent part is not allowed to be free again.
166 History, so the Lord D. M. Luther has told at that time, how cruelly God punishes adultery.
There was a canon in S. who kidnapped the wife of a nobleman in the country, who had several children with her husband, and kept her with him for almost a year. In the end, the nobleman made such an announcement that he found out that she was in S. with the canon, so he asked the city council to open the gates for him and let him take his wife back from the canon, which was done afterwards. Therefore, on Christmas Eve, when all the canons must be in church, he went to the canon's house and knocked on the door in haste. When he came up to the parlor, he found his wife lying in six weeks. Then he says to her, "If I find you here, you whore, is this your faithfulness and faith that you promised me? Get up, you must leave with me. The woman is frightened and says: "Dear nobleman, I am six weeks old, I cannot leave, spare me, it shall not happen again. The nobleman said, "No, you must leave with me." He pulled her out of bed and put her on his horse, which the servants were holding in front of the door, and brought her home: He had a room, a chamber and a secret chamber built for her, and walled her up; however, he gave her enough to eat and drink during the time she was alive; but she did not return to his side, and he went to her every day in front of the prison and comforted her that she wanted to be patient, because she deserved a harsher punishment. This was a wise man who, for the sake of his children, did not want to punish the adulteress publicly. But she did not serve two years in prison, and then she died of grief.
167. another history.
In Zeiz, a canon raised a virgin, whom he gave in marriage to a baker. Now the canon came daily to the baker, ate and drank with him, and acted friendly towards the woman. But when the man finally realized what the bell had struck.
then he forbade him the house, that he should abstain from his house and the woman. But the canon did not refrain, but when he noted that the man was not at home, he came away and was merry with the woman. Finally, the man said he was going away to buy grain and would not come back in four days, but he hid secretly in the house, in a place above the stairs, so that he could see what was happening in the whole house.
The canon came back to the wife, was happy with the wife according to his custom. When the man saw the right time, he hurried to their room, found them together, stopped the canon so that he could not get up from the wife, shouted to the neighbors, who soon came to his aid, found the whore and the boys together, and soon sent for the court, which led the canon to prison. But the chapter practiced so much that he got out again, and neither he nor the adulteress were punished. This angered the baker, who sold everything he had, left, and became the enemy of the chapter. For more than two years the adulterer, the canon, went to church in a village. The baker found out about it, fell into the village with twelve men, and stabbed the canon to death. Thus God ultimately punished adultery.
Item: In E. Bishop Hugo studied at Costnitz and married a burgess who had a pious, honest husband with whom she also had children. When Bishop Hugo left, he took her away with him. The burgher then made great inquiries as to where his wife had gone and would have liked to have her back for the sake of his children, but he could not find out. For several years, when the bishop grew tired of her, he chased her away from him. Then she wrote to her friendship and to the man, asking for mercy. When her friendship had long bargained with him to take her back to him, he answered and said, "I will feed her, but she shall not come to my side again. So she went astray all the days of her life.
Wolf Schrenk said to D. Luther: "That in the Voigtland half of adultery four deaths would have happened at once. For since they, the-
Bühler, having been in the parlor with the wife, the man came in with a pig's spear, stabbed one of them to death by the wife; the other two came out to the parlor on a wall, where they jumped down, thinking that they wanted to get away, but they had both fallen on their necks; after that he stabbed the wife as well.
Item: In V. it happened that one of the families booed a citizen with his wife. The man noticed it, pretended to move away, but early in the morning he secretly returned to the house and hid in the dovecote, fasted and thirsted all day. The squire came at noon, panketirte with the woman and were in good spirits, the evening of the same, until they went to bed. When they had all gone to rest in the house, the man came out of the dovecote, would have liked to eat something, came into the kitchen, but found nothing, only a jug of water: he picked it up and drank from it, wanting to quench his thirst. And when he set the jug down too hard in anger and wrath, it clapped so hard that it broke. The woman in the chamber heard this, got up (because the conscientia, she stirred), stepped into a window, called to the maids what was there. But since everything was silent, she went back to the adultero in the chamber. Then the man sneaked into the room, because he had the keys to the chambers. When he saw his harness and a riding crop hanging in the parlor, he took it off and put it on him, and when the harness rattled on him and the woman heard the rattling, she got up again from the adulterer, went into the parlor, and asked what was going on there. But since the man was silent, she went back into the room in the dark. There the man forced his way into her room. When she saw this, she hid under the bed. But he hurried to the bed and struck at the adulterer (who had a pig's spear by him), 1) who also jumped out of the bed and put up a fierce fight. But when he could do no harm to the man, who had a harness over him, and was tired, the man stabbed him, and then said to the woman, "Come out, you whore,
1) These brackets are set by us.
or 2) I want to stab you too. The woman crawled out and begged the man to let her live, she did not want to do it anymore. But when she saw that she could not soften the man, she said: "Dear man, give me time to confess first and to receive the holy sacrament. The man said, "Are you sorry for what you have done? The woman answered, "Yes, dear husband, I am very sorry. Then the man drew his sword and stabbed her as well. Put the adulterer and the adulteress both together and go away. In the morning the adulterer and the adulteress were found lying dead together. Then everyone said, "It has been done to him. Finally, the man returned to the city, but his friends advised him to sell what he had and go to another place for the sake of the young man's friendship.
These histories were all narrated by D. M. in Eisleben in 1546.
168) How fornication has been punished.
Doctor Martin Luther remembered the canons of Naumburg, and said: That they once had a whore of nobility with them, so that they had committed great fornication. When this whore had committed a great deal of fornication and always wanted to be preferred to other honest citizens' wives, the Naumburg council had them lie in wait and catch her in the alley and lead her into the common house. This annoyed the canons, but they soon got rid of her. Now she thought of an opportunity to avenge such scorn and insult on those of Naumburg; and when she was once asked to a wedding and stepped in front of the mirror, began to adorn herself beautifully, the devil possessed her, and was badly plagued by him, and died after three days.
Of priest marriage.
(Cordatus No. 559. 560. 561.)
Marriage is forbidden to priests in the ecclesiastical law [a canonibus], and in the civil law the penalty is added that they shall be deprived of their
2) It seems that this "or" should be deleted.
They should be deprived of their office and become laymen. Away, therefore, with the tyrants who separate such [from their wives] and kill them, deprive them, or at least drive them out of their lands!
In short, by civil law a priest is allowed to marry, but the penalty of deposition is placed upon it; but after that his children are his heirs, because he is out of office. But we [monks and nuns] have to stand by, because the law says: "Whoever will take a nun will be guilty of death." According to this, Pommer would be deposed from his office according to civil law, but because this law is not executed, his children are his heirs, according to law, but not in fact. The priesthood cannot stand if the priestly marriage endures.
The pope was very careful when he subjected the laws of the emperor to his canons, so that he would not establish anything against him; but he could not avoid that his canons argue against him more than everything on earth, because nobody can suffer the harshness of the canons less than the pope. But he did it very cleverly when he persuaded the world that he was above the Scriptures, so that God himself would not do anything against him, and he won. But since we judge that he is below the Scriptures, he lies down. Gerson writes in three books that he is subject to the Scriptures. He did it so roughly that he can also be judged by the judgment of reason.
170. of a cardinal who took a nun as his wife.
Pope Julius had a cardinal whom he loved very much because of his art and skill. The latter, as he was with a nun, asked nothing about it, let it go to him, and could suffer him with him, whether he knew it well.
But when the Cardinal took her in marriage out of great love, as one had for the other, the Pope wanted to fly off the handle, took the blessing from him, and said: the marriage would be an unclean, unlawful thing etc. But after that he [Pope Julius] perished shamefully because of his fornication.
The celibacy and celibate life of the clergy.
(Contained in Cap. 66, § 26.)
Causes of the papal celibacy and celibate life.
Doctor Martin Luther spoke of the celibate life in the priesthood, that [it] had a great appearance and prestige before the world, and in contrast, the married state had many tribulations, sorrows and displeasure etc. And he said: "The most noble cause of the priests' celibacy would be that their children and descendants would become poor, abandoned orphans, and the fathers would become stingy, so that their children would also have something to feed themselves on, although they would otherwise be stingy without it. So the pope and the bishops could not have grown and increased except for celibacy and celibate life. The other cause, he said, is that the infirmities of the priests' wives are annoying: for if they punished the vices, people would say to them again, "Why do they not also punish their wives?
Therefore, a bishop and pastor and preacher would most need a pious, God-fearing and chaste, conscientious, moral and sensible wife; but they would be very strange. For even for the sake of wicked women, the church servants were removed from office. Thus they have noticed and seen many troubles and mischiefs in the marriage state, by which they are caused to forbid the priests to marry. But to all this, God's order and the unanimous consensus and opinion of Scripture shall be preferred.
The pope has killed many thousands of children.
Anno 1536, on January 20, nine children were baptized at once, since D. Martinus, D. Pommer, M. Philippus, and other many excellent, honest people became godparents. There spoke D. Martinus said: "The pope, with his godless celibacy and celibate life, has suffocated and killed many thousands of children, against God's order, now more than four hundred years ago. Our Lord God will gladly repay this a little before the end of the world.
What the vow of chastity is.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 7, 1538, p. 25.)
It has been and still is a vain abuse [with the pope]. For what is the so highly praised vow of chastity with its pretense but a cursing and cursing of the very holy marriage state, where every unmarried person contradicts the marriage state with flowery words and conspires the marriage, not for a time, but forever?
The fathers' misconception about the state of marriage.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 27, 1538, p. 122.)
On that day, much was said about the errors of the holy fathers, who wrote nothing worthy of the marriage state, but rather were deceived by the unclean, celibate life, from which so great abominations arose, and unfortunately did not see that the marriage state is instituted in both the Old and New Testaments. For God has joined a man and a woman. Abraham, a very pious patriarch, had three wives. Christ went to the wedding and confirmed them. Paul wants a bishop to be the husband of one wife, and proclaims future dangerous times when marriage will be forbidden. We see so many sins, incest, fornication, rivers, as the letter of St. Ulrich laments. But all of this is put down by the beautiful appearance of the conjugal life. The first fathers were pious people, they meant it devoutly, but they did not see the evil that follows from it. Oh, if only Christians could still keep the marriage bed undefiled! And those servants of the belly want to bind the bodies and consciences with laws, which, since they are very dangerous, even the holy fathers could not keep with the best will in the world. O dear God, this is what happens when we lose God's word and the article of justification.
The hypocrisy of celibacy and celibate life.
(Contained in Cap. 30, § 34.)
177. horny forbidden.
At the Concilio of Nicaea, said D. M. Luther, it is strictly forbidden that no one should lust after himself; for many of them, out of great impatience, since they were so troubled by fornication and heat, have lust after themselves by force, so that they may remain skillful and capable for church offices, and may keep the benefices.
Truly, they have been great fools who, with many laws, have taken it upon themselves to forbid lechery, and yet have not wanted to allow marriage, which is God's order and command, to go freely or to be permitted. It is indeed a strange and unfortunate mandate and prohibition not to permit marriage, when the holy man and bishop Paphnutius calls the conjugal partnership chastity.
178 Fruits of celibacy and celibate life in the priesthood.
The shameful and harmful superstition of celibacy and celibate life of the clergy in the papacy has prevented many good things, namely: begetting children, the police and the household; has given great cause to abominable sins, and promoted these, as fornication, adultery, incest, rivers, lewd dreams, strange dreams and visions that occur to one in one's sleep. Pollutiones and defilement etc. Therefore St. Ambrose writes in his Hymno and Canto: Procul recedant somnia et noctium phantasmata etc., ne polluantur corpora.
These trials and temptations were felt by St. Ambrose, who was well tried and practiced with many and various sorrows; what should not lazy, tired, fattened mast-heads, the monks, feel? Oh, dear God, the thing that God created cannot be helped in this way. For what is that different from wanting to force and dampen the natural creation?
179) At what time celibacy began, and how long it lasted.
Celibacy and the celibate life of the clergy began at the time of Cyprian, who lived two hundred years after Christ's death.
and fifty years; so that this superstylion has stood thirteen hundred years. St. Ambrose and others did not believe that they were human beings like others, although they had toiled and struggled with their trials and tribulations. As his hymn and song indicate: Et noctium pelle phantasmata, ne polluantur corpora.
180. of the priests chastity, or de Coelibatu.
Bishop Albrecht of Mainz said in Nuremberg in 1532 that he would rather omit the Lord's Supper in both forms and do away with the Mass altogether, than that he should let the Cölibatum go. Well, said D. Luther, they do not want to do it with good, but they still have to do it. It is a terrible speech. Our Lord God will practice the Deposuit potentes de sede with them in the Magnificat, God will defend His honor, and they will sing the asses' song, starting high but ending low.
The Bishop of Salzburg had said at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, Anno 1530, to M. Phil. Melanchthon, 1) said D. Martin Luther: Dear Philippe, we know well that your teaching is right; but do you also know, on the other hand, that no one has ever been able to gain anything from the priests? You will, 1) also not be the first.
181. D. Crotus is a blasphemer of the female sex.
(Cordatus No. 1026. 1027.)
Those who blaspheme not only the faults of women but also their marriage with priests are godless boys who also blaspheme the good creature of God, as Crotus does, who meanwhile praises his Mainzer who loves money so much.
People do not have to be despised immediately because of any faults; for we do not despise a beautiful face because the head's shithouse is on it, and God has to suffer that all His worship is done under the shithouse, for it is above the mouth.
1) Cf. cap. 27, § 54 and §137.
2) So Stangwald instead of: they will.
182. fruit of the celibate life of priests, nuns and priests.
Doctor Martin Luther once said in a sermon that he had read that St. Ulrich, sth. bishop of Augsburg, wrote in an epistle or missive and complained: When Pope Gregory wanted to establish and confirm the Coelibatum, and also did not want to allow those to marry who had married before the decree of Pope Gregory had gone out, that the pope then wanted to fish a deep pond in Rome, which was located near a nunnery, and the water from it was drained, then one had found in the same pond at six thousand children's heads, which were thrown into the pond and drowned. These are the fruits of celibacy. And Sanct Ulricus wrote that Pope Gregory was very frightened by this spectacle and repealed the law of celibacy. But the other popes, who succeeded Gregory, re-established the celibacy.
Luther said that in our time it had also happened in Austria that there had been nuns in the monastery of Neuburg, who had been expelled from it because of their ungodly, licentious nature and taken to another place, and Franciscan monks had been placed in that same monastery. When the same monks wanted to build in the monastery, and the foundation was dug, twelve pots were found in the earth, on which lintels had been covered, and in each pot there had been a dead carcass of a young child. Because Pope Gregory did right and well, that he allowed the clergy to marry, and used the saying of St. Paul: Melius est nubere, quam uri; so I say to D. M. Luther: It is better to be free than to give cause for so many innocent children to be strangled and killed.
In Rome, so many foundlings have been born that they have built their own monasteries for the sake of these foundlings, where they are raised inside, and the pope is called their father. And when the great processions are in Rome, the same foundlings all go before the pope.
And said D. Luther: "When he was a young boy, marriage and the married state would have been considered sinful and dishonest, and he would have thought that if one thought of the married life, then one was sinning; but whoever wanted to lead a holy life pleasing to God should not take a wife, but should live chastely, or vow chastity; therefore it was found that when their wives died, they became monks or priests. But those have served the Christian church well who have made a point of preserving and honoring the married state through God's word. For now it is known that it is a holy and delicious good estate when a man and a woman live peacefully with each other in matrimony, even if God does not give them fruit of the womb or children, or otherwise the woman often has infirmities in her etc.
That a cardinal in Rome had been legitimate.
(Cordatus No. 1540 and No. 1538.)
If there is a hell, Rome stands on it.
A cardinal under Julius took a wife whom, because he was forced, he later had to take away from him for a year; but after the year had passed, he took her to himself again. When this cardinal died, the wife wept and lamented that she had lost a righteous and honorable husband who would have been satisfied with a wife. Some Roman citizens cried out: "To the gallows with him! Others said with reference to him: O holy soul!
184 Doctor Martini Luther's response to a vexatious case brought before him.
Doctor Martin Luther was once in Leipzig in 1545 in a convivium, where he was accused of a high person's fall and annoyance, and he was very vexed and troubled by it; he answered: You dear noblemen of Leipzig, I, Philippus and others, we have written many beautiful useful books, and have long enough shown you the red little mouth, you have not wanted it; now the N. in Ars lets you see: you have not wanted to accept the good, so you may now see the evil.
And he told the story of Marcolphus and King Solomon, and said, Once upon a time Marcolphus was disgraced by King Solomon, so that he had forbidden him his court, and should come no more before the king's eyes. Now Marcolphus went into a wood or forest, and when it had snowed and a deep snow lay, then he took a foot of a wild animal in one hand, and in the other hand a sieve, and crawled thus with both feet, also with the sieve and foot, like a wild animal, in the snow around, until he came to a cave; therein he hid himself. When King Solomon's hunter was searching for game in the snow, he came upon the trail and saw that such a strange animal had crawled into the same cave. Therefore he hurried to the court and reported it to the king. Then Solomon hurried up with his hounds to the cave to see what kind of game was inside. There was Marcolphus in the hole. When the king ordered him to crawl out, he uncovered his arse and crawled out backwards. Then the whole court became angry with Marcolphus, and the king said to him, "You rogue, why have you done this roguery to me? Then Marcolphus answered, "You no longer wanted to look me in the eye, so now you have to look me in the butt.
And the doctor said, "That's how it is here, too. What you find fault with us, you pick out, but what we do well, you do not want to have. We have finished the Bible, the Psalter, the postilions, and saved you from the papacy; you do not want to see that. Erasmus did the same: what he found in the doctrine of Christ that was reprehensible was heretical, and he emphasized and exaggerated it; but what was good, as beautiful examples of the martyrs and apostles, he kept silent. But what he found in the pagans for beautiful virtue, he emphasized. As he said in a place where he had read Ciceronem de senectute: Vix me contineo, quin exclamem: sancte Cicero, ora pro nobis. This humility the man poured out. But is this not a foolish speech? Should Cicero be holy because he can make a beautiful speech? But what vitia and portenta are for the pagans, there is silence.
he, sola Roma satis portentorum potuerit suppeditare. This is what all our adversaries do: what is evil in us they show off, and what is good in others they keep silent.
Therefore said D. M. Luther: "I do not want to love the devil and all papists so much that I want to worry about it. God will do it well, and I will command these things to Him, according to the saying of Peter 1 Ep. 5, 7: Jacta super Dominum curam tuam, et ipse te enutriet. The Lord Christ also had to endure much trouble in the world because Judas betrayed him: how the Pharisees will have rejoiced over this and said: "The new prophet has such companions, what should come of Christ? They would have said the same thing when Christ was hanging on the cross. But those who did not want to see Christ's miracle, had to suffer trouble after that.
Whether we must also see such distress, how shall we do to him? God wants the
People vex. If it will now roll on me, then I will give them the most nourishing 1) words, and lick them called Marcolphum in the ars, because they did not want to see him under the eyes. Our dear Sheflemini (that is Christ, who sits at the right hand of his heavenly Father), who stands by us, has probably helped us out of greater distresses. The papists are now like Demea in the Terentio, and I am Mitio; they say: Meretrix et mater- familias in una domo. Item, Puer natus est, indotata etc.. So Mitio speaks: Dii bene vertant. Sic vita est hominum, ac si ludas tesseris. At dicat aliquis: Placet tibi factum? Non; si queam mutare, facerem libenter, cum non queo, fero aequo animo. I still miss myself a much Aergers, because that. Ego sum Rusticus et durus Saxo, et callum obduxi ad hujusmodi. I command the dear God, ille conservet Ecclesiam suam in unitate fidei et confessione vera verbi sui.
1) Perhaps: närrischten. Stangwald: nerrichten.