[156] Impedimentum ordinis.
[157] Impedimentum publicae honestatis.
[158] An untranslatable pun: non iustitia sed inscitia.
[159] Page 244.
[160] See p. 263, note 2.
[161] Page 242.
[162] The following points need to be borne in mind in order to a fair evaluation of this much criticized section: (1) What is here given is in the nature of advice to confessors, and the one guiding principle is the relief of souls in peril. (2) It must not be forgotten that Luther wrote the treatise in Latin, and not for the general public. There is without doubt a certain betrayal in turning into the vernacular a passage written in the language of the learned. Yet we have done this, being unwilling to all under the charge of giving a garbled version. (3) The hindrance Luther is here discussing was one recognized and provided or by the Church of Rome, and the remedy suggested by him was prescribed by the German Volksrecht in many localities. (4) Divorce was absolutely forbidden. (5) Luther's error grew out of an unhistorical interpretation of the Old Testament, and consisted in his undervaluing the importance of the public law. "To make the individual conscience the sole arbiter in matters belonging to public law, leads to dangerous consequences." (See Kawarau, Berlin Ed., II, 482 f., where references are given.)
[163] As he actually did in the case of Henry VIII and Philip of Hesse.
[164] See above, p. 269, note 1.
[165] Page 271.