[797] Ibid., p. 297; “Colloq.,” 2, p. 366 seq.
[798] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 8, p. 553 seq.; Erl ed., 28, p. 128.
[799] Ibid., 24, p. 517=34, p. 139 f., in the Sermons on Genesis, 1527.
[800] Ibid., 518=140. We may add some further statements characteristic of Luther’s unseemly language on the necessity of marriage and the alleged abuses on the Catholic side. Of these passages the first two are for obvious reasons given in Latin.
“Major pars puellarum in monasteriis positarum non potest voluntarie statum suum observare.... Puella non potest esse sine viro, sicut non sine esu, potu et somno. Ideo Deus dedit homini membra, venas, fluxus et omnia, quae ad generandum inserviunt. Qui his rebus obsistit, quid aliud facit, quam velle ut ignis non urat?... Ubi castitas involuntaria est, natura non desistit ab opere suo; caro semen concipit sicut creata est a Deo; venae secundum genus suum operantur. Tunc incipiunt fluxus et peccata clandestina, quae s. Paulus mollitiem vocat (1 Cor. vi. 10). Et, ut crude dicam, propter miseram necessitatem, quod non fluit in carnem, fluit in vestimenta. Id deinde accusare et confiteri verentur.... Vide, hoc ipsum voluit diabolus, docens te coercere et domare naturam, quae non vult esse coacta” (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 156 f.; Erl. ed., 28, p. 199).
He had spoken in much the same way in the Tract against celibacy which preceded in 1521 his book on Monastic Vows, and which appeared again in the Church Sermons and also several times separately (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 1, 1, p. 694 ff.; Erl. ed., 10², p. 448 ff.; Sermon on the Feast of the Three Kings, 1522): “Ubi magna et coelestis gratia non assistit, oportet naturam secundum ordinem suum fluxus pati. Si non conveniunt vir et femina, natura tamen propriam viam sequitur et indignatur; ita ut melius sit masculum et feminam esse simul, sicut Deus (eos) creavit et natura vult.... Interrogo igitur, quid consilii dabis ei, qui se continere non potest? Si dicis, inhibitione utendum, respondeo, unum ex tribus secuturum esse: aut masculus et femina sese conjungent, ut placuerit sicuti nunc fit sub sacerdotibus papistarum, aut natura sponte sese solvet, aut, deficiente primo et secundo, sine cessatione homo uretur et clam patietur. Hoc modo creasti martyrium diabolicum, et fiet, ut vir mulieri deformissimae sese sociaret et mulier viro taediosissimo prae malo impetu carnis. Ignoscant mihi aures pudicae, debeo tractare animi morbos, sicut medicus tractat stercus et latrinam.... Tu facis, ut ille pauper homo continuo corde peccet contra votum suum, et melius fortasse sit, quod masculus nonnunquam secum habeat femellam et femina juvenem.... At papa sinit eos fluxus pati, uri et torqueri sicut possunt, ita ut eos habeam pro infantibus immolatis a populo Israel idolo igneo Moloch ad concremandum.... Non vis impedire tandem aliquando, quominus fornicentur, fluxibus maculentur et urantur?” Ibid., p. 108= “Si in singulis civitatibus forent vel quinque juvenes et quinque puellae viginti annorum, integri, sine fluxibus naturae, tunc dicerem, primitiva tempora apostolorum et martyrum rediisse. Nunc autem qualem Sodomam et Gomorrham fecit diabolus ubicunque plane per istam singularem castitatem votorum!”
In the sermon on conjugal life, in 1522, he says: “It is true that the man who does not marry is obliged to sin. How can it be otherwise, seeing that God created man and woman to be fruitful and multiply? But why do we not forestall sin by marriage?” (“ Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 300; Erl. ed., 16², p. 537). In his latter years he penned the following attack upon the older Church of which the obscenity vies with its untruth: “The chaste Pope does not take a wife, yet all women are his. The lily-white, chaste, shamefaced, modest, Holy Father wears the semblance of chastity and refuses to take a wife honourably and in the sight of God; but how many other women he keeps, not only prostitutes, but married women and virgins, look at his Court of Cardinals, his Bishoprics, Foundations, Courtesans, Convents, Clergy, Chaplains, Schoolmasters and his whole curia, not to speak of countless unnamable sins. Well, may God give us His grace and punish both the Pope and Mohammed with all their devils!” (“Werke,” Erl. ed., 65, p. 204, in the Preface to the writing: “Verlegung des Alcoran Bruder Richardi,” 1542). It is simply an example of Luther’s habitual misrepresentation when we read in one of his sermons dating from 1524 (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 667): “Up to this time marriage has been a despised state, being termed a state of easy virtue; but Scripture says: ‘Male and female He created them’ (Gen. i. 27): that is enough for us. In practice we all extol this state. Oh, that all men lived in it! Whoever has not been exempted by God, let him see that he finds his like [801] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 290; Erl. ed., 16², p. 526, in the Sermon on conjugal life, 1522. [802] Ibid., 10, 3, p. 222=23, p. 116 f., in the work “On marriage matters,” to the pastors and preachers, 1530. Cp. “Werke,” Weim. ed., 12, p. 119. [803] As regards the authorities, Luther’s wish was that they should interfere in the matter from the outset, and that strongly, although he can scarcely have hoped to see this carried out in practice. “The authorities must either coerce the woman or put her to death. Should they not do this, the husband must imagine that his wife has been carried off by brigands and look about him for another” (ibid.).