On the Powers of Domestic Society

original header: De Viribus Domesticæ Societatis

19. verse 10 and following. Nevertheless, I do not deny that those who are married and endowed by God with a numerous offspring ought to be granted advantages over others, as has already been said above, on account of the expenses they are forced to incur. But can the Magistrate compel those who have been convicted of a marital promise to consummate the marriage? Why not? Mr. Dr. Felix Bidenbach Felix Bidenbach (1564–1612) was a prominent Lutheran theologian and jurist discusses this in his Treatise on Matrimonial Cases, chapter 2, question 7, and the practice of the illustrious Ecclesiastical Consistory Consistory: a church court that handled moral and matrimonial legal matters of this Duchy and other places agrees. From this, it is also considered that a settlement made against entering into a marriage is invalid—as noted by Heigius, part 2, question 16—unless there are just causes for refusal. See my First Decade of Counsels, counsel 2. Furthermore, concubinage should be prohibited, and those who wish to live together outside of legitimate marriage should be compelled to contract a formal marriage. Novels of Leo, 89 and 91. See also Arnisæus, On Marriage, chapter 4, section 5; Schifordegher, book 3, treatise 25, where many things are said regarding concubinage; and Rittershusius, On the Differences between Civil and Canon Law, book 2, chapter 15. What God has joined, man should not separate: and from this it is clear that those who live together in concubinage or "separably" are not joined by God. But should Mosaic Legislation The laws of the Old Testament attributed to Moses be brought back, which requires that a violator of a virgin be compelled to marry her, if she wishes? See Treasury of Decisions, 3; Kernmann, in the Sibyl; Trigandrus, chapter 43; and I have also said something on this in my Treatise on Laws, where I dealt with Mosaic law. Furthermore, in the past, the Roman-Germanic Emperors used to compel the daughters of citizens in Imperial Cities to marry, especially their own courtiers. For this reason, Frederick II rendered the people of Frankfurt, Wetzlar, Friedberg, and Gelnhausen exempt from this burden; namely, so that they could not be forced to join their daughter or granddaughter in marriage to someone from the Emperor’s Court or outside the Court, etc. The Frankfurt Privileges. Traces of this law are also found among the Ancient Roman Emperors; see Alemanni’s notes to Procopius’s Secret History, page 84.

VI. Just as it is proper for marriage not to be coerced, so too those who have seceded from the Roman Church commonly maintain that it cannot be rightfully prohibited to any entire order meaning the "order" of the clergy. Therefore, they say that Robert Bellarmine A cardinal and one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation "prepares for war and arms without strength" in his work On the Clergy, chapter 19, where he attempts to prove that Celibacy is most rightly annexed to Holy Orders. See Johann Forster, Disputations on the Decalogue, problem 8, decade 2; Bronchorst, 1st Miscellany, 96; Rittershusius, on the Novels, part 4, final chapter, and On the Differences between Civil and Canon Law, book 2, chapter 20 and following. They argue that since the condition of all men is not the same, it is not unfair to impose different burdens on those who are differently inclined. Matthew 19, verse 11. But regarding the Celibacy of Priests, consult the singular treatise by Marquardus de Susannis.

VII. Meanwhile