Note 881 — Chapter XVII · (continued 3)

“Saluta tuam conjugem suavissime, verum ut id tum facias cum in thoro suavissimis amplexibus et osculis Catharinam tenueris, ac sic cogitaveris: en hunc hominem, optimam creaturulam Dei mei, donavit mihi Christus meus, sit illi laus et gloria. Ego quoque cum divinavero diem qua has acceperis, ea nocte simili opere meam amabo in tui memoriam et tibi par pari referam. Salutat et te et costam tuam mea costa in Christo. Gratia vobiscum. Amen.” Letter of December 6, 1525. An esteemed Protestant historian of Luther declared recently in the “Theol. Studien und Kritiken” that he was charmed with Luther’s “wholesome and natural spirit, combined with such hearty piety.” The explanation is that this historian disagrees with the “shy reticence” now observed in these matters as at variance with the “higher moral sense,” and looks on what “Thomas says of the actus matrimonialis” as an “entire perversion of the sound ethics of matrimony.” Another historian “thanks Luther warmly for this letter,” whilst a third scholar extols “the depth of feeling with which Luther, as a married man, comprehends the mystery of neighbourly love within marriage.”