[804] How the expression was at once taken up among Luther’s opponents is plain from a letter of Duke George of Saxony to his representative at the Diet, Dietrich von Werthern, in F. Gess, “Akten und Briefe Georgs,” etc., 1, p. 415. Cp. Weim ed., 10, 2, p. 290 n., and vol. iv., xxii. 5.
[805] Mathesius, “Tischreden,” ed. Kroker, p. 323 f.
[806] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 289; Erl. ed., 16², p. 525 f. Sermon on conjugal life.
[807] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 12, p. 123; Erl. ed., 51, p. 44 n., in the work “Das siebẽdt Capitel S. Pauli zu den Corinthern aussgelegt,” 1523.
[808] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 278; Erl. ed., 16², p. 515. She was to say: “Permit me to enter into a secret marriage with your brother, or your best friend,” etc. Luther is speaking of the case “where a healthy woman had an impotent husband,” etc. He here refers to the similar answer he had already given in his work: “On the Babylonish Captivity” (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 6, p. 558; “Opp. lat. var.,” 5, p. 98 seq.)
[809] To Joachim von Weissbach, August 23, 1527, “Werke,” Erl. ed., 53, p. 406 f. (“Briefwechsel,” 6, p. 80). In 1540 he says: “Ego concessi privatim aliquot coniugibus, qui leprosum vel leprosam haberent, ut alium ducerent.” Mathesius, “Tischreden,” p. 141. In a sermon of 1524 he says coarsely of an impotent wife: “I would not have such a one beside me” (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 15, p. 560). The marriage bond was also dissolved where husband or wife had become impotent “owing to an evil spell”; his convictions forced him to teach this (ibid., p. 562).
[810] Letter of February 16, 1542, “Briefe,” 5, p. 436; cp. ibid., p. 584. The question was thoroughly gone into by Rockwell, “Die Doppelehe Philipps von Hessen,” 1904, p. 202 ff., who says: “About 1536 a change took place in the attitude of the Wittenbergers towards marriage with relatives-in-law” (p. 216). “Thus it is evident that Luther’s views underwent a change” (p. 217). For the answer to the question how far this change was due to the hope of winning over Henry VIII. to the New Evangel, see vol. iv., xxi. 1.
[811] To Chancellor Brück, January 27, 1524, “Briefwechsel,” 4, p. 283.
[812] “Colloq.,” ed. Bindseil, 2, p. 380 seq.
[813] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 12, p. 131; Erl. ed., 51, p. 55. “Das siebẽdt Capitel.”