no clergyman shall
cite, summon, or call up a layman, and no layman a clergyman, or one of
his own estate, before a spiritual tribunal, except alone in the matter
of marriage, and in what concerns error and dispute about the holy
sacraments, or the monasteries and churches, or the welfare of the
soul, or infidelity. But in so doing, it is our opinion, if it chance
in regard to marriage-affairs and other business, that we laymen might
be summoned and tried before a spiritual court; still, the whole
business shall not come first either before the bishops, or their
officials, or commissaries, or before a spiritual judge, but before
each civil authority, and then after each civil authority has
investigated the matter, it shall then proceed to give judgment and
explanations thereon, or else hand over the business, if they think it
necessary, to the spiritual judge. All judicial proceedings before the
spiritual judge, and especially at Constance, shall be transacted in
German and written out in German, as the custom is in several
bishoprics, so that we laity also may hear and understand what is done.
Item, since between the Sunday, when the Alleluia is omitted,[5] and
Shrove Tuesday, during which season every other person indulges in
worldly pleasures, wedding festivals are forbidden to the common man,
and because this prohibition is remitted for money, it is our order and
opinion, that it be granted without pay. Since we and ours have been
burdened with manifold Romish indulgences, it is our opinion, that from
this time forth no indulgences should be granted for the sake of money,
in any place or corner of our cantons. Furthermore, the Pope and
bishops hold and reserve for themselves alone certain sins and
transgressions, and hence it happens, they will not give the people
absolution without the payment of a large sum, and no dispensation is
granted to any one, even in a case of decent and honorable emergency,
unless it be outweighed with gold--therefore, it is our opinion, that
what may be brought to pass by popes and bishops for gain, shall be
granted to the people and the poor common man, by every pastor without
charge, notwithstanding the power of the Pope and the bishops, until it
be further determined. Every canton also shall and may consult with its
pastors and clergy, and devise a plan, as to how and in what form the
gross abuses of the confessional may be punished. In regard to the
_courtesans_, who invade our living