LUTHER
568
LUTHER
(Lutheran) princes declined to participate in the coun- cil.
Jlelancthon in 1545 prepared the "Wittenberg Reform, the sketch of a plan of iininn. To this Luther gave his subscription, but shortly afterivards published his book Af/(ii>ist the Papacy at Rome, founded by the Devil, one of the very tiercest of his controversial works.
YIL Luther and the Bohemians. — On the other hand, Luther sought to perjjetuate the fellowship formed with the Bohemians, who in 1536 had again sent their rep- resentatives to him. He wrote prefaces to their Apol- ogy of the Faith in 1533 and 1538. The dissatisfaction he had felt in 1541 with some things in their doctrine of the Lord's Supper, which appeared to him suspicious, was dispelled in 1542.
YIII. Luther's last Days. — The Protestant princes had drawn the sword in the feud. Luther did all in his power to preserve the peace between the princes and the emperor; but the future looked threatening, and his soul was as full of solicitude as a soul coidd be whose trust in God was so implicit. The council and the con- gregation in Wittenberg gave Luther A-ery serious trouble. The great renown and prosperity of Witten- berg, given to it by Luther and his coworkers, had brought the evils which naturally attend the inflowing of wealth and the attainment of position. Frivolity and fashion corrupted the people. Luther fought with all his energies against the evil. In 1530, after a pow- erful sermon of rebuke, he withdrew, disheartened, for a long time from the pulpit. He at length left Witten- berg, and advised his wife to sell her property there. The elector himself was obliged to interpose, to restore the old relations. From the time of his return Luther continued to preach, but discontinued his lectures.
Luther's last work was one of love and conciliation. Under the pressure of many cares, he started, in Febru- ary, 1546, on a journey to Eisleben, to attempt a concil- iation between the counts of Mansfeldt, a work in which they had solicited his good ofhces. For fourteen years Luther had been a sufferer from severe and complicated diseases. He was not well when he reached the inn at Eisleben, and from the beginning of his sickness had a presentiment that he would die in the place where he was born. He was able, however, to preach once. The (lay before his death he expressed a strong assurance that we shall know our loved ones in heaven. Febru- ary 17 he was too ill to leave his bed. When Aurifaber called, he found him so much worse that he summoned medical aid at once. Rubbing and bathing afforded him temporary relief, and about nine o'clock Luther lay down upon a couch, and after gathering a little strength by an hour's rest, proposed to his attendants that he should be helped to his bed. Jonas, and Jlartin, and Paul, Luther's sons, and two servants, watched by his side. His pains, however, became so great that he could not remain in his bed. Count Albert and the countess SK-nt in haste for their own physicians. Luther used everj-thing prescribed, but spoke of nothing but his death, >vhich he felt sure was at hand. He poured forth his soul in fervent prayer, and, after commending his soul into the hands of God, lay silent and waiting. Among the stimulants used was shavings of the horn ()f the narwhal, oT sea-unicorn, a remedy then greatlj- priz?d. None of the stimulants had any effect. A lit- tle before his last breath Jonas and Ca-lius asked him whether he died in firm assurance of the truth of the doctrine he had taught. With a distinct voice, he re- plied •• Yes.'' He expired about four o'clock in the morning, Feb.l8, 1546 (C.E.Stowe, Last Days and Death of J.iithir. in the Iribl, Repository, 1845, p. 1!)5, '212).
His body was taken to Wittenberg, followed along the whole route by thousands of mourners, the, tolling of the bells, and the dirges which gave expression to a universal sorrow. It was interred in front Of the pulpit in the Castle Church. The funeral discourses were pro- nounced by Bugenhagen and Melancthon. Six weeks after Luther's death his wife wrote: "My dear husband
was not the minister of a city, or of a land, but of the ■whole world. Tt) have lost a princedom, to have lost an empire, would not be such a loss as I deplore" {Bri(fe [De Wette, Leideraann], vi, G50).
Luther's situation in reference to earthly possessions would have been that of very moderate competence (his greatest income was about three hundred gulden), had not his mibounded charity kept him perpetually poor. The large or older cloister of the Austin monks in Wit- tenberg was given to him by John the Constant. It was purchased from Luther's heirs for the academy at the price of 3700 gulden. Luther purchased the Lit- tle Cloister for 430 gulden : it was sold by his heirs for 300 thalers. He also owned an orchard and garden val- ued at 500 guklen, the manor of Wachsdorf, a male- fief valued at 1500 gulden, and the Zeilsdorf property, which sold for 956 gulden. For his books, which en- riched his publishers, he would take nothing.
IX. Domestic cmd Social Life. — In the midst of the warfare which conscience compelled him to carry on with Erasmus, Carlstadt, and others, who professed to take in whole or in part the general ground against Rome, Luther entered on that domestic life, the charm of which still wins the heart of men, whose sympathies have been lost to him as a reformer, or as a conservator in reformation. June 13, 1525, he married Catharine von Bora, who had fled from the Cistercian nunnery of Kimptsch. '• This was the event of his life which gave most triumph to his enemies and perplexity to his friends. It was in perfect conformity with his mascu- line and daring mind, that, having satisfied himself of the nullity of his monastic vows, he should take the boldest method of displaying to the world how utterly he rejected them." Luther's intercourse with his wife and children, his letters to them, the touching story of the death of Margaret and of Madeleine, present him as the model of the head of a Christian family (Krauth, Conservative Rform. p. 33-43 ; Stork, Luther at Home [1872]).