On the imperative necessity of marriage; the irresistibility of the natural impulse; the world full of adulterers? The “miracle” of voluntary and chaste celibacy. Luther’s animus against Popish celibacy. His loosening of the marriage-bond. Cases in which marriage is annulled. Meaning of the words “If the wife refuse, then let the maid come.” A modern secularist’s appeal to Luther’s principles. Polygamy. Luther, after some hesitation, comes to tolerate polygamy, but makes it a matter of the _forum internum_. The opinions of Catholic theologians. “Secret marriages” and concubinage; what those have to do who are forbidden by law to contract marriage. Denial of the sacramental character of matrimony. Luther’s tone in speaking of things sexual; a letter to Spalatin; regret expressed for offensive manner of speech; odious comparisons contained in his “Vom Schem Hamphoras” (against the Jews) and “Wider Hans Worst” (against the Catholics); improper anecdotes; Luther, like Abraham, “the father of a great people,” viz. of the children of all the monks and nuns who discarded their vows _pages_ 241-273 6. CONTEMPORARY COMPLAINTS. LATER FALSE REPORTS. Simon Lemnius; fanatics and Anabaptists; Catholics: Hieronymus Dungersheim, Duke George, Ambrosius Catharinus, Hoyer of Mansfeld; Protestants: Melanchthon, Leo Judae, Zwingli, Bullinger, Joh. Agricola. How far the complaints were grounded. Apocryphal legends to Luther’s discredit: Had Luther three children of his own apart from those born to him by Bora? His jesting letters to his wife not to be taken seriously. Did he indulge in the “worst orgies” with the escaped nuns in the Black Monastery of Wittenberg? The passages “which will not bear repetition.” Whether Luther as a young monk declared he would bring things to such a pass as to be able to marry a girl; Wolfgang Agricola’s authority for this statement and the information he gives concerning Spalatin. Luther’s stay as a boy in Cotta’s house at Eisenach no ground for a charge of immorality. Did Luther describe the lot of the hog as the most enviable goal of happiness? Did he allow the validity of marriage between brother and sister? Whether he counselled people to pray for many wives and few children; variants of an ancient rhyme. Did he include wives in the “daily bread” for which we pray in the Our Father? Was he the inventor of the proverb: “Who loves not woman, wine and song, remains a fool his whole life long”? _pages_ 273-294 7. THE “GOOD DRINK.”