Part 29 (1/2)

[Footnote: A facsimile of the longest of these letters, bearing date February 7, appears at the end of the volume. It runs as follows: 'Mercy and peace in the Lord. Pray read, dear Katie, the Gospel of St. John and the' [_marginally_ 'little'] 'Catechism, of which you once declared that you yourself had said all that it contained. For you wish to disquiet yourself about your G.o.d, just as if He were not Almighty, and able to create ten Martin Luthers for one old one drowned perhaps in the Saale, or fallen dead by the fireplace, or on Wolf's fowling-floor. Leave me in peace with your cares; I have a better protector than you and all the angels. He--my Protector--lies in the manger, and hangs upon a Virgin's breast. But He sits also at the right hand of G.o.d, the Father Almighty. Best, therefore--in peace. Amen.

'I think that h.e.l.l and all the world must now be free of all the devils who have come together here to Eisleben, for my sake it seems. So hard and knotty is this business. There are fifty Jews here too' [_marginally_ 'in one house'], 'as I wrote to you before. It is now said that at Rissdorff, hard by Eisleben, where I fell ill before my arrival, more than four hundred Jews were walking and riding about. Count Albert, who owns all the country round Eisleben, has seized them upon his property, and will have nothing to do with them. No one has done them any harm as yet. The widowed Countess of Mansfeld (the Countess Dorothea, widow of Count Ernest, born Countess of Solms), is thought to be the protectress of the Jews. I don't know whether it is true, but I have given my opinion in quarters where I hope it will be attended to. It is a case of Beg, Beg, Beg, and helping them. For I had it in my mind to-day to grease my carriage wheels _in ira mea_. But I felt the misery of it too much; my native home held me back. I have been made a lawyer, but they will not gain by it. They had better have let me remain a theologian. If I live and come among them, I might become a hobgoblin, who would comb down their pride by the grace of G.o.d. They behave as if they were G.o.d Himself, but must take care to shake off these notions in good time before their G.o.dhead becomes a devilhead, as happened to Lucifer, who could not remain in heaven for pride.

Well, G.o.d's will be done. Let Master Philip see this letter, for I had no time to write to him; and you may comfort yourself with the thought how much I love you, as you know. And Philip will understand it all.

'We live here very well, and the town-council gives me for each meal half a pint of ”Reinfall”' [_marginally_, 'which is very good']. 'Sometimes I drink it with my friends. The wine of the country here is also good, and Naumburg beer is very good, though I fancy its pitch fills my chest with phlegm. The devil has spoilt all the beer in the world with his pitch, and the wine with his brimstone. But here the wine is pure, such as the country gives.

'And know that all letters you have written have arrived, and to-day those have come which you wrote last Friday, together with Master Philip's letters, so you need not be angry.

Sunday after St. Dorothea's Day (7 February) 1546.

'Your loving

'MARTIN LUTHER, D.']

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 66.--ADDRESS OF LUTHER'S LETTER OF FEBRUARY 7.

(' To my beloved housewife, Catharine Lady Luther, Lady Doctor, Lady of the Pigmarket at Wittenberg; my gracious wife, bound hand and foot in loving service.')]

Luther kept up also at Eisleben his correspondence with Melancthon.

He wrote to him three letters, the last testimony of his friends.h.i.+p.

A letter to his 'kind, dear housewife,' and one to Melancthon, his 'most worthy brother in Christ,' both of February 14, are without doubt the last he ever wrote. His sick body was well nursed and tended at Eisleben. He went to bed early every night, after he had stood before his window, according to his old habit, in fervent prayer. The stone no longer troubled him, but he was very weary and worn. His last sermon, on Sunday, February 14, he broke off with the words: 'This and much more is to be said about the Gospel; but I am too weak, we will leave off here.' Most unfortunately for him, he had omitted to bring with him to Eisleben the applications used for keeping his issue open, and now it was nearly closed. He knew that the physicians considered this extremely dangerous.

At length his efforts to mediate between his masters the Counts were crowned with success beyond all expectation. On February 14 a reconciliation was effected upon the chief points, and the various members of the Counts' families rejoiced, while the young lords and ladies made merry all together. 'Therefore,' wrote Luther to Kathe, 'it must be seen that G.o.d is _Exauditor prec.u.m_.' He sent her some trout as a thankoffering from Countess Albert. He wrote to her: 'We hope to return home this week, if G.o.d will.'

On the 16th and 17th of that month the reconciliation upon all the points of dispute was formally concluded. The revenues of churches and schools were fixed upon, and the latter to this day owe a rich endowment to the arrangements there made. On the 16th Luther says in his 'Table Talk': 'I will now no longer tarry, but set myself to go to Wittenberg and there lay myself in a coffin and give the worms a fat doctor to feed upon.'