.
19, 3-6), Luther says: "Many divorces occur still among the Turks. If a
wife does not yield to the husband, nor act according to his whim and
fancy, he forthwith drives her out of the house, and takes one, two,
three, or four additional wives, and defends his action by appealing to
Moses. They have taken out of Moses such things as please them and
pander to their lust. In Turkey they are very cruel to women; any woman
that will not submit is cast aside. They toy with their women like a dog
with a rag. When they are weary of one woman, they quickly put her
beneath the turf and take another. Moses has said nothing to justify
this practise. My opinion is that there is no real married life among
the Turks; theirs is a whorish life. It is a terrible tyranny, all the
more to be regretted because God does not withhold the common blessing
from their intercourse: children are procreated thereby, and yet the
mother is sent away by the husband. For this reason there is no true
matrimony among the Turks. In my opinion, all the Turks at the present
time are bastards." (7, 965.)

All this is plain enough and should suffice to secure Luther against the
charge of favoring polygamy. The seeming admission that polygamy might
be permissible relates to cases for which the laws of all civilized
nations make provisions. How a Christian must conduct himself in such a
case must be decided on the evidence in each case. Likewise, the
reference to the Christian's liberty from the law does not mean that the
Christian has the potential right to polygamy, but it means that he must
maintain his monogamous relation from a free and willing choice to obey
God's commandments in the power of God's grace. Polygamy, this is the
firm conviction of Luther, could only be sanctioned if there were a
plain command of God to that effect. Luther's remarks about matrimony
among the Turks should be remembered when Catholics cite Luther's
remarks about King Ahasuerus dismissing Vashti and summoning Esther, and
the right of the husband to take to himself his maid-servant when his
wife refuses him. By all divine and human laws the matter to which
Luther refers is a just ground for divorce, and that is all that Luther
declares.

But did not Luther sanction the bigamy of Philip of Hesse? So he did.
Luther's decision in this case must be studied in the light of all the
evidence which we possess. Catholic theologians, before all others,
should be able to appreciate Luth