POSITION PAPERS
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new covenant, even if civil laws and some erudite today think it right to
allow more, namely Adultery, as Christ says ... Matthew 5:32; 19:9 and
Malitiosa Desertio ... (the brother or sister is not bound in such a case, viz.
that he should remain unmarried) I Corinthians 7:15. But such desertion is
taken to be not only a determined and permanent withdrawal from the
marital home and companionship, but an obstinate denial of the
obligations of marriage, by intolerable cruelty putting life at hazard for the
present, or from either treacherous or naked force, by the acceptance of a
mistress, and whatever, by analogy, is equivalent to or greater than this
desertion. If, however, a spouse ... should only go over to the enemies (i.e.
religious?) or desert the true religion, he is not by this to be considered
guilty of this malicious desertion which severs the bond of marriage, if
only the other spouse is able to cohabit with him with a clear conscience.‘
VII. Conclusion
It is by no means an easy task to determine the extent to which these continental
opinions would have been regarded as similar to or distinct from that of English
Puritanism in general. Beza was widely read and appreciated in the period before the
Westminster Assembly. Plainly, Beza and Maresius go beyond Gouge and perhaps
somewhat beyond Perkins (cf. footnote 24). The extent to which, if any, their viewpoint
differed from that of Ames is more difficult to determine.
40
There is certainly reason to
believe that the divines at Westminster would not have been unappreciative of the
reputation which the Genevan Consistory had gained in defense of betrothed and married
women.
41
40
Geesink judges Ames‘ discussion to be in practical agreement with the Reformed consensus,
Gereformeerde Ethiek, vol. 2, p. 285.
41
G. Lewis, 'Calvinism in Geneva in the time of Calvin and of Beza (1541 - 1605),' ed. M. Prestwich
International Calvinism 1541 - 1715, Oxford, 1986, p. 49. 'The Consistory dealt with . . . notorious
drunkards, adulterers, and bullies, with guardians who had misappropriated the inheritance of their wards,
with forced betrothals between grown men and girls under age, and with ill-treated and deserted wives.
Not for nothing was it known (with approval or derision?) as ―le paradis des femmes.‖; The interesting
case of Galeazzo Caraccioli provides some indication of the flexible way in which cases would be handled
in Calvin's Geneva. Caraccioli, marquis of Vico, nephew of the head of the Roman inquisition and later
Pope Paul IV, married to Victoria Caraffa, the daughter of a duke, and himself appointed chamberlain by
Charles V, became interested in Protestantism through the preaching of Peter Martyr Vermigli and his
witnessing of the persecution of Italians under the inquisition. Eventually, after aninward struggle, he
converted. In peril of the inquisition he abandoned his estates and family and came to Geneva in June,
1551. There he won the respect of Calvin, who later dedicated his commentary on I Corinthians to him,
and became a citizen. His wife remained behind in Italy and at a later meeting at Vico in 1558 he failed to
persuade her to follow him, with their nine children, though there was deep affection on both sides. Calvin
then attempted to arrange for their reunion in a place where both he and his wife could exercise their
religion, but she declined. After this the Council pronounced the marriage dissolved and in 1560 Caraccioli
remarried. J. T. McNeil, The History and Character of Calvinism, Oxford, 1954, p. 184. On the other
hand, excommunications for domestic sins far outnumber divorces. See the appendix, pp. 2394 ff. An
excellent example of the caution employed by the Genevan consistory in judging marital conditions to be
intolerable and of their willingness to require victimized spouses tosuffer greatly for the sake of the general
inviolability of marriage is found in the correspondence between the consistory and a protestant woman
married to an abusive catholic husband. P. E. Hughes (ed.), The Register of the Company of Pastors of
Geneva in The Time of Calvin, ET: Grand Rapids, 1966, pp. 193-198.