CHAP. Sensation produced by his death. conversation with his friends, with his sons and several illustrious persons of both sexes standing round him, and waiting upon him, and after a conflict of only a few hours, which he sustained in a becoming manner, and came off more than conqueror. His age, though not very advanced, was what comparatively few attain. His own observation upon this subject, made at the supper table the very night of his death, was remarkable: If a child of a year old dies, very likely, taking all the world over, a thousand or two thousand of the same age depart with him: but when I, an old man of sixty-three, die, scarcely sixty or a hundred, as far advanced in years, will accompany me.' The news of Luther's death excited the deepest grief in all quarters among the friends of the reformation, which was strikingly expressed in the correspondence of many eminent persons with the elector of Saxony. Amsdorf, bishop of Naumburg, declared himself not only distressed, but quite alarmed at his removal at such a period. "He feared," he said, “ that it was the forerunner of judgments, which it had pleased God to spare this his distinguished servant the pain of beholding:" and many others wrote in the same strain.2 The heads of the university of Wittemberg, in reply to a letter which the elector had addressed to them, announcing the sad event, and exhorting them not to be discouraged, but to persevere in their studies and pursuits, spoke of themselves as both "distressed and terrified." "We are now," say they," orphans, bereaved and solitary. The divine will, however, must be obeyed; and we must rest on the con 1 Seck. iii. 635, 636. Ibid. 646, 651. solatory promises of the Son of God, I will not leave you orphans-Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. We implore him to be the pilot of his own vessel, and to protect and guide your highness. We acknowledge ourselves bound to keep that which is committed unto us. A precious deposit indeed our departed father has left us, in the knowledge of the pure doctrine of Christ: we desire to transmit it untarnished to posterity; and implore the grace of God to enable us to do so." 1 Luther left three sons and one daughter. The elector of Saxony and the counts of Mansfeld provided for his widow and family. His children appear all to have done credit to their father's memory, and his son Paul, in particular, became eminently distinguished in the medical profession. He was also a faithful supporter of his father's principles. His biography is to be found in Melchior Adam's Lives of German Physicians. From him the family was propagated, and continued respectable, both for character and situation, through several generations.2 A. D. 1546.. To this account of Luther we may subjoin a Fred. My brief notice of his highly valued friend and conius. fellow labourer, Frederick Myconius, pastor and superintendant of Gotha, who survived him only about six weeks. It is taken from a letter which he wrote to Rorarius, on the twenty-fifth of January, "the day," as he expresses it," on which the scales fell from the eyes of S. Paul.” 1 Seck. iii. 647. 2 Ibid. 647, 651, 652. The last lineal descendant whom I have seen mentioned, Martin Gottlob Luther, died at Dresden, 1759.-Life of Luther by Kortz. CHAP. 'My dear Rorarius, I am again so ill as to keep my bed. Not only my voice, but all my bodily powers are greatly reduced. Having been on a former occasion brought back from the borders of the grave, by the messages, the letters, and the prayers of our revered father, Luther,' I have now lived six years in weakness, and almost in a dying state. I discharged the duties of a living man, and performed, as well as I could, the services of the Lord's house, till the fourth Sunday in advent, when, finding the symptoms of my disease returning upon me, I exhorted the church, with the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and with all the ardour of which I was capable, to remove all hindrances and prepare the way of the Lord in their hearts. I afterwards fell sick, and now lie here silent and satiated with life, so as to wish rather to die, than to live when I can be of no use. I have written to our reverend father, Luther, who has been the person that has hitherto detained me, (and willingly I have been detained to serve the Lord and assist him, instructing the church, as a mother, herself languid and fainting, admonishes her children,) that if I could, and the Lord should give me strength, I should be willing to continue my services; but, as this seems unlikely, to beg that he would dismiss me with his parting blessing. I desire, however, that the will of the Lord, and not mine may be done. All things depend on his will-sickness, weakness, recovery and conformity with his will is our highest gain. Yet, if it might please him, oh how gladly should I be dissolved, and be with Christ, rather than live here a dumb and useless 1 Above, pp. 335, 336. burden. Through the complaint in my throat, I can scarcely take either meat or drink: yet I delight myself with the heavenly manna: and, as I lay on my bed, I have just been reading the psalm, Wherefore do the heathen rage, &c. and adoring the child given unto us! Blessed be God, who so refreshes me in the midst of my pains that I quite forget that I am ill! O Lord Jesus, what can we render unto thee? what return can we make to thy wise and faithful servant, (Luther,) whom thou hast set over thy family, that by him thou mightest thus feed us with thy word?-Farewel, my dear Rorarius : and, if you hear that I am committed to the grave, be assured that nothing is buried but my skin and bones, my sins, and the old man, that he may be perfectly delivered from the poison of the devil, from sin and death. But the inner man, who is renewed from day to day, who lives in Christ that loved me and gave himself for me, and with whom my life is hid in God-that as he lives so we should live also: the new man, I say, shall never die, but shall enjoy the life of everlasting rest and peace, far from all the perturbations of this world. If ministers be removed, Christ will raise up pastors, doctors, apostles, for the increase of his body the church, and will be ever with you. Ah Lord Jesus, preserve, govern, strengthen, deliver, and defend all thy faithful servants! Amen and amen!-Remember me to Cruciger and Eber.1 Pontanus, who visits me daily, salutes you. Fail not to write to me, and do not plead your many engagements. My complaints would have hindered me, if I would have suffered them but I have risen in 1 Paulus Eberus, a professor at Wittemberg. A. D. 1546. CHAP. VIII. spite of them to write this; and now return to my bed. May pain and disease do whatever God hath bidden them! Let them not spare, for in the midst of wrath he remembers mercy, and with every temptation makes a way to escape. Again, farewel!"-Myconius died on the seventh of April, following. 1 Seck. iii. 629, 630. |