CHAP. found in Melchior Adam's Lives of German VIII. Fred. Physicians. From him the family was propagated, and continued respectable, both for character and situation, through several generations.1 To this account of Luther we may subjoin a brief notice of his highly valued friend and fellow labourer, Frederic 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." "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 reverend father, Luther,2 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 aftewards 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 1 Seck. iii. 647, 651, 652. The last lineal descendant whom I have seen mentioned, Martin Gottlob Luther, died at Dresden, 1759.-Life of Luther by Tischer. 2 Above, pp. 335, 336. 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 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?-Farewell, 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, which is renewed from day to day, which lives in Christ who loved me and gave himself for me, and with whom my life is hid A. D. 1546. CHAP. in God-that as he lives so we should live also: 1 Paulus Eberus, a professor at Wittemberg. CHAPTER IX. CHARACTER OF LUTHER-HIS LATER WRITINGS. THE character of Luther has been delineated by so many hands, its features are so marked and prominent, and he is himself now so fully before the readers of the "History of the Church of Christ," in all his modes of thinking, feeling, and acting, from first to last, that I should esteem it superfluous to attempt anew any elaborate description of his various endowments, whether of the understanding or of the heart. It may be of more real service to bring under review the parting estimate formed of him by one of our most popular, and at the same time most judicious writers. The historian of Charles V. will likewise be less suspected of partiality for the great reformer, than either Dr. Milner or myself: yet he will be found to confirm, in many important particulars, the sentiments expressed concerning him throughout the work which I have now, according to my humble ability, brought down to the close of his What may appear to me erroneous in Dr. Robertson's summary, I shall endeavour to correct, and to supply any thing material which I think to be wanting. course. "As Luther was raised up by providence," Dr. Robertson says, "to be the author of one of the greatest and most interesting revolutions Dr. Robert son's character of Luther. CHAP. IX. recorded in history, there is not any person perhaps whose character has been drawn with such opposite colours. In his own age, one party, struck with horror and inflamed with rage, when they saw with what a daring hand he overturned every thing which they held to be sacred, or valued as beneficial, imputed to him not only all the defects and vices of a man, but the qualities of a demon. The other, warmed with the admiration and gratitude, which they thought he merited as the restorer of light and liberty to the Christian church, ascribed to him perfections above the condition of humanity, and viewed all his actions with a veneration bordering on that, which should be paid only to those who are guided by the immediate inspiration of heaven. It is his own conduct, not the undistinguishing censure, or the exaggerated praise of his contemporaries, that ought to regulate the opinions of the present age concerning him. Zeal for what he regarded as truth, undaunted intrepidity to maintain his own system, abilities, both natural and acquired, to defend his principles, and unwearied industry in propagating them, are virtues which shine so conspicuously in every part of his behaviour, that even his enemies must allow him to have possessed them in an eminent degree. To these may be added, with equal justice, such purity and even austerity of manners, as became one who assumed the character of a reformer; such sanctity of life as suited the doctrine which he delivered; and such perfect disinterestedness as affords no slight presumption of his sincerity. Superior to all selfish considerations, a stranger to the elegancies of life, and despising its pleasures, he left the honours and emoluments of the church to his disciples, remaining satisfied |