Note 380 — Chapter XIII · (continued 2)

“Werke,” Weim. ed., 2, p. 162 ff.; Erl. ed., 16², p. 49 ff., 77 ff. In the Preface we read: “There is a great difference between bringing something to light by means of the living voice or by the dead letter” (“Werke,” Weim. ed., 2, p. 166). Of the marriages which were concluded secretly (see below) and which were then [previous to the Council of Trent] regarded as valid by the Church, he says here: “After one has secretly pledged his word to a woman and thereafter takes another, either publicly or secretly, I do not yet know whether all that is said and written on the subject is to be accepted or not.”