The Last Days Of Martin Luther
Gospel Standard 1897:
Towards the close of his life, Luther had conceived a distaste for Wittemberg as a place of residence. In July, 1545, he wrote to his wife from Leipzig, where he was staying at the time: “Grace and peace to thee, dear Catherine. Our John will tell thee how we got here. Ernst von Schonfeldt received us very well at Lobnitz, and our friend Scherle received us even still better here. I have a great desire so to arrange matters as not to return to Wittemberg. My heart is cooled towards that town, and I no longer like to reside there. I would, therefore, have you sell the smaller house, with the court and garden (the large house I shall return to our gracious master, who made me a present of it), and we will then establish ourselves at Zeildorf. With my salary, we may put our farm into good order, for I suppose my lord will not refuse to continue it in my hands, at least, for this next year, which I firmly believe will be the last of my life. Wittemberg has become a perfect Sodom, and I will never return thither. The day after to-morrow I am going to Merseburg, on the earnest invitation of count George. I would much rather spend my remnant of life traveling about in this way, or even begging my bread, than have my poor last days afflicted with beholding the wickedness of Wittemberg, and the reflection constantly recurring that all my pains, all my labour, have been utterly thrown away upon that reprobate place. You may make Philip (Melancthon) and Pomer acquainted with my intention, and ask them to give the town one more blessing in my name. I myself will never again see it.”
Luther was so fixed in this resolution, that it required the most urgent entreaties on the part of his friends, of the whole body of the academy, of the elector himself, to induce him to renounce it. He did, however, yield, and returned to Witteinberg on the 18th of August.
It was destined that Luther’s should be a life of labour and excitement to its very close; well nigh his last days were occupied in the difficult and delicate task of bringing about a reconciliation between the counts of Mansfeldt, of whom, by birth, he was the vassal. “A week, more or less” he writes to count Albert, who had asked him to come to Eisleben, as arbiter “will not stop me from coming, though truly I am very much occupied with other affairs. But I feel that I shall lie down on my death- bed with joy, when I have seen my dear lords reconciled and once more friends.” (6th December.)
On his arrival he wrote thus to his wife: “Dear Catherine, We are terribly annoyed here in one way and another, and would willingly return home, but I think we shall have to remain a full week longer. You may tell Philip from me, that he would do well to revise his Notes on the Gospel, for he does not seem, in writing them, to have rightly understood why our Lord, in the parable, calls riches thorns. This is the school in which we really learn these things. The Scripture, throughout, menaces thorns with the eternal fire; this at once alarms me, and gives me patience with life, for I must exercise my utmost powers in settling this matter, by God’s aid.” (6th February, 1546.)
“To the gracious dame Catherine Luther, my dear spouse, who is tormenting herself quite unnecessarily. Grace and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear Catherine, Thou shouldst read St. John, and what the Catechism says respecting the confidence we ought to have in God. Thou afflictest thyself just as though God were not all-powerful, and able to raise up new doctor Martins by dozens, if the old doctor Martin were to be drowned in the Saale, or perish in any other way. There is One who takes care of me in his own manner, better than thou and all the angels could ever do. He sits by the side of the almighty Father. Tranquilize thyself, then. Amen…I had intended this very day to depart in my anger, but the affliction in which I see my native place involved still detains me. “Would you believe it? I am become a lawyer! I doubt, however, whether I shall do much good in that line; they had much better let me exercise my own profession. It were a great blessing for these people if I could succeed in humbling their arrogant pride. They speak and act as though they were gods, but I fear they will rather become devils if they continue in their present course. They should bear in mind that it was by pride the angels fell. Hand this letter to Philip; I have no time to write separately to him.” (7th February.)
“To my sweet wife, Catherine Luther Von Bora. Grace and peace in the Lord. Dear Catherine, We hope to be with you again this week, if it please God. The Almighty has manifested the power of his grace in this affair. The lords have come to an agreement upon all the points in dispute, except two or three; and, among other great ends achieved, counts Gebhard and Albert are reconciled. God has fulfilled our prayers. I commend thee to his protection. Martin Luther. (14th February.)
Luther had arrived at Eisleben on 28th January, and, although very ill, he took part in the conferences which ensued, up to 17th February. He also preached four times, and revised the ecclesiastical regulations for the territory of Mansfeldt. On the 17th he was so ill that the counts entreated him not to quit the house. At supper he spoke a great deal about his approaching death; and some one having asked him whether we should recognize one another in the next world, he replied, “I think we shall.” On retiring to his chamber, accompanied by Caalius and his two sons, he went to the window, and remained there for a considerable time, engaged in silent prayer. Aurifaber then entered the chamber, to whom he said, “I feel very weak, and my pains are worse than ever.” They gave him a soothing draught, and endeavoured to increase the circulation by friction. He then addressed a few words to count Albert, who had joined him, and laid down on the bed, saying, “If I could manage to sleep for a half hour, I think it would dome good.” He did fall asleep, and remained in gentle slumber for an hour and a half. On awaking, at about eleven o’clock, he said to those present, “What!are you still there?will you not go, dear friends, and rest yourselves?” On their replying that they would remain with him, he began to pray, saying with fervour, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” He then said to those present, “Pray, all of you, dear friends, for the gospel of our Lord; pray that its reign may extend, for the Council of Trent and the pope menace it round about.” He then fell asleep again for about an hour. When he awoke, Dr. Jonas asked him how he felt. “O my God!” he replied, “I feel very ill. My dear Jonas, I think I shall remain here at Eisleben here, where I was born.” He took a turn or two in the room, and then lay down again, and had a number of clothes and cushions placed upon him to produce perspiration. Two physicians, with the count and his wife, entered the chamber. Luther said to them, feebly, “Friends, I am dying; I shall remain with you here at Eisleben.” Dr. Jonas expressing a hope that perspiration would, perhaps, supervene, and relieve him: “No, dear Jonas,” he replied, “I feel no wholesome perspiration, but a cold, dry sweat; I get worse and worse every instant.” He then began praying again: “O my Father, thou, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou, the source of all consolation, I thank thee for having revealed unto me thy well-beloved Son, in whom I believe, whom I have preached, and acknowledged, and made known; whom I have loved and celebrated, and whom the pope and the impious persecute. I commend my soul to thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ! I am about to quit this terrestrial body, I am about to be removed from this life, but I know that I shall abide eternally with thee.” He then thrice repeated, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” All at once his eyes closed, and he fell back in a swoon. Count Albert, and his wife, and the physicians, made every effort to restore him to life, but. for some time, altogether in vain. When he was somewhat revived, Dr. Jonas said to him: “Reverend father, do you die firm in the faith you have taught?” He opened his eyes, which were half closed, looked fixedly at Jonas, and replied, firmly and distinctly, “YES.” He then tell asleep; soon after, those nearest him saw him grow paler and paler; he became cold, his breathing was more and more faint; at length he sent forth one deep sigh, and the great Reformer was dead.
Martin Luther’s Confession of Faith.— “I, Martin Luther, an unworthy preacher of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus profess and thus believe: that this article THAT FAITH ALONE, WITHOUT WORKS, CAN JUSTIFY BEFORE GOD shall never be over- thrown, neither by the emperor, nor by the Turk, nor by Satan, nor by the Persian, nor by the pope, with all his cardinals, bishops, sacrificers, monks, nuns, kings, princes, powers of the world, nor yet by all the devils in hell. This article shall stand fast, whether they will or no. This is the true gospel: Jesus Christ redeemed us from our sins, and he only. This most firm and certain truth is the voice of Scripture, though the world and all the devils rage and roar. If Christ alone takes away our sins, we cannot do this with our works; and as it is impossible to embrace Christ but by faith, it is, therefore, equally impossible to apprehend him by works. If, then, faith alone must apprehend Christ, before works can follow, the conclusion is irrefragable, that faith alone apprehends him, before and without the consideration of works; and this is our justification and deliverance from sin. Then, and not till then, good works follow faith, as its necessary and inseparable fruit. This is the doctrine I teach, and this the Holy Spirit and church of the faithful have delivered. In this will I abide. Amen.”
His body was conveyed, in a leaden coffin, to Wittemberg, where it was interred on Feb. 22nd, 1546. He sleeps in the castle church, at the foot of the pulpit.
Some years after this, Wittemberg was besieged and taken. Charles V. on this occasion desired to see the tomb of the Reformer. With folded arms he was reading the inscription, when one of his officers proposed to open the grave, and give the ashes of the heretic to the winds. The monarch’s cheek grew red: “I war not with the dead; let this place be respected.”
Erasmus said of Luther: “The private life and conduct of this man are universally commended. It is a great testimony in his favour, that even his enemies cannot find subject matter for calumniating him.”
Melancthon was wont to observe of him: “Whoever was familiarly acquainted with Luther, and knew his habits, must admit that he was an excellent man, agreeable and soft in his social moments, and in no respects dogmatic, or a lover of disputes. To these characteristics, add the gravity becoming one in his position. If he displayed any obduracy or harshness in his struggles with his opponents, it did not arise from the malignity of his nature, but entirely sprung from his ardour and passion for the truth. I have on several occasions surprised him by himself in the act of prayer, hot tears streaming down his cheeks, whilst earnestly entreating God for the welfare of the church. He dedicated several hours in each day to the recitation of psalms, and to invocations to the Almighty, uttered in all the fervour of his soul.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German theologian, author, hymn writer and reformer. In 1517, he published his 95 Theses which denounced many of the teachings and practices advanced by the Roman Catholic Church. He also translated the Bible into German between the years 1521-1534. His complete works were published in fifty-five volumes. The essence of his teaching on the subject of salvation revolved around his belief that a sinner is justified freely by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that this blessing is given by God on the basis of grace, rather than a reward earned by one’s good deeds.
