LUTHER"S LATER LIFE: DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL DETAILS.
Frequently as Luther complained of his old age and ever-increasing weakness, la.s.situde, and uselessness, his writings and letters give evidence not only of an indomitable power and unquenchable ardour, but also, and often enough, of those cheerful, merry moods, which rose superior to all his sufferings, disappointments, and anger. He himself declared that his many enemies, especially the sectaries, who were always attacking him, always made him young again. The true source of his strength he found in his Lord and Saviour, Whose strength is made perfect in weakness, and to Whom he clung with a firm and tranquil faith. To this, indeed, we must add one particularly favourable influence, in regard to his life and calling, which had been awakened since his marriage. In speaking of his family, his wife, and his children, he is always full of thanks to G.o.d; his heart swells with emotion, and he breathes amid his heated labours and struggles a fresh and bracing air. Just as, during the Diet of Augsburg, he had pointed out encouragingly to the Elector the happy Paradise which G.o.d had allowed to bloom for him in his little boys and girls, so he himself was permitted to experience and enjoy this Paradise at home. In his domestic no less than in his public life he saw a vocation marked out for him by G.o.d; not, indeed, as if he, the Reformer, had here any peculiar path of life, or exceptional duties to perform, but so that in that holy estate ordained for all men, however despised by arrogant monks and priests, and dishonoured by the sensual, he felt himself called on to serve G.o.d, as was the duty of all men and all Christians alike, and to enjoy the blessings which G.o.d had given him.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 47.--LUTHER. (From a portrait by Cranach, in his Alb.u.m, at Berlin.)]
Five children were now growing up. The eldest, John, or Hanschen (Jack), was followed, during the troublous days of 1527, by his first little daughter, Elizabeth. Eight months after, as he told a friend, she already said good-bye to him, to go to Christ, through death to life; and he was forced to marvel how sick at heart, nay, almost womanish, he felt at her departure. In May 1529 he was comforted to some extent by the birth of a little Magdalene or Lenchen (Lena). Then followed the boys: Martin in 1531, and Paul in 1533. The former was born only a few days--if not the very day--before the feast of St. Martin, and the birthday of his father; hence he received the same name. His son Paul he named in memory of the great Apostle, to whom he owed so much. At his baptism he expressed the hope that "perhaps the Lord G.o.d might train up in him a new enemy of the Pope or the Turks." The youngest child was a little daughter, Margaret, who was born in 1534.
His family included also an aunt of his wife, Magdalene von Bora.
She had been formerly a nun in the same cloister as her niece, where she had filled the post of head-nurse. She lived among Luther"s children like a beloved grandmother. It was she whom Luther meant by the "Aunt Lena," of whom he wrote to his little Hans in 1530 saying, "Give her a kiss from me;" and when in 1537 he was able to travel homewards from Schmalkald, where he had been in such imminent peril of death, he wrote to his wife: "Let the dear little children, together with Aunt Lena, thank their true Father in Heaven." She died, probably, shortly afterwards. Luther comforted her with the words: "You will not die, but sleep away as in a cradle, and when the morning dawns, you will rise and live for ever."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 48.--WITTENBERG. (From an old engraving.)]
At this time Luther had two orphan nieces living with him, Lene and Else Kaufmann of Mansfeld, sisters of Cyriac, whom we found with him at Coburg, and also a young relative, of whom we know nothing further than that her name was Anna. Lene was betrothed in 1538 to the worthy treasurer of the University of Wittenberg, Ambrosius Berndt, and Luther gave the wedding. He used also from time to time to have some young student nephews at his house.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 49.--THE "_LUTHER-HOUSE_" (previously the Convent), before its recent restoration.]
When his boys grew up and the time came for them to learn, he had a resident tutor for them. For his own a.s.sistance he engaged a young man as amanuensis; thus we find Veit Dietrich with him at Coburg in this capacity. We hear afterwards of a young pupil--indeed, of two or more--who lived with Dietrich at Luther"s house. This seems, however, to have somewhat overtaxed his wife; in the autumn of 1534 Dietrich left his house on that account.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 50.--LUTHER"S ROOM.]
Luther, like other professors, used to take several students for payment to his table. Among these there were men of riper years who were eager, nevertheless, to share in the studies at Wittenberg, and, above all things, to make his acquaintance. Besides this, his house was open to a number of guests, theologians and others, of high or low degree, who called on him in pa.s.sing through the town.
The dwelling-place of this large and growing household was a portion of the former Convent. The Elector John Frederick had a.s.signed it to Luther for his own. The house, which had not been completed when the Reformation began, was still unfinished when Luther went there, and it needed many improvements. The present richer architectural features of the building date from a very recent restoration. It stood against the town wall, and was protected by the Elbe. His own small study looked out in this direction, and formed a gable above the water of the moat; though, as he complained in 1530, it was threatened with alterations for military purposes, and perhaps during his lifetime fell a prey to them. Only one of the larger rooms of the house, situated in front, has been preserved in the recollection of posterity, and is now called Luther"s room. It was probably the chief sitting-room of the family.
The young couple possessed at first a very slender maintenance.
Neither of them had any private means. When, in 1527, Luther was lying apparently on his deathbed, he had nothing to leave his wife but the cups which had been given him as presents, and it happened that he was obliged to p.a.w.n even these to find money for their immediate wants.
By degrees, however, his income and property increased. His salary as professor at the University (he received no honorarium for his lectures) was raised on his marriage by the Elector John from 100 to 200 gulden, and John Frederick added 100 gulden more--the value of a gulden at that time being equal to about 16 marks of the present German money. He received, also, regular payments in kind. Now and then he had a special present from the Elector, such as a fine piece of cloth, a cask of wine, or some venison, with greetings from his Highness. In 1536 John Frederick sent him two casks of wine, saying that it was that year"s growth of his vineyards, and that Luther would find how good it was when he tasted it. Luther"s share of his father"s property was 250 gulden, which he was to be paid later in small instalments by his brother James, who was heir to the real estate. In 1539 Bugenhagen brought him from Denmark an offering of 100 gulden, and two years afterwards the Danish king gave him and his children an allowance of 50 gulden a year. Luther never troubled himself much about his expenses, and gave with generous liberality what he earned. His wife kept things together for the household, managed it with business-like energy and talent, and tried to add to their income.
They enlarged their garden by buying some more strips adjoining it, as well as a field. In 1540 Luther purchased for 610 gulden from a brother of his wife, who was in needy circ.u.mstances, the small farm of Zulsdorf or Zulsdorf, between Leipzig and Borna--it must not be confounded with another village of the same name. The market at Wittenberg being usually very poorly furnished, his wife sought to supply their domestic wants by her own economy. She planted the garden with all sorts of trees, among these even mulberry-trees and fig-trees, and she cultivated also hops; and there was a small fish-pond. This little property she loved to manage and superintend in person. At Wittenberg she brewed, as was then the custom, their own beer, the Convent being privileged in that respect. We hear of her keeping a number of pigs, and arranging for their sale. Luther incidentally makes mention of a coachman among his other servants.
Finally, in 1541, Luther purchased a small house near his residence at the Convent, fearing that he would have to give up the latter entirely for the work of fortification, and thus be prevented from leaving it to his wife. He was only obliged in ten years to pay off a portion of the purchase money.
In this happy married life and home the great Reformer found his peace and refreshment; in it he found his vocation as a man, a husband, and a father. Speaking from his own experience he said: "Next to G.o.d"s Word, the world has no more precious treasure than holy matrimony. G.o.d"s best gift is a pious, cheerful, G.o.d-fearing, home-keeping wife, with whom you may live peacefully, to whom you can entrust your goods, and body, and life." He speaks of the married state, moreover, as a life which, if rightly led, is full to overflowing of good works. He knows, on the other hand, of many "stubborn and strange couples, who neither care for their children, nor love each other from their hearts." Such people, he said, were not human beings; they made their homes a h.e.l.l.
In his language about this life and his own conduct in it, there is no trace of sentimentality, exaggerated emotion, or artificial idealism. It is a strong, st.u.r.dy, and, as many have thought, a somewhat rough genuineness of nature, but at the same time full of tenderness, purity, and fervour; and with it is combined that heartfelt and loyal devotion to his Heavenly Creator and Lord, and to His Will and His commands, which marked the character of Luther to the last.
With regard to his children, Luther had resolved from the moment of their birth to consecrate them to G.o.d, and wean them from a wicked, corrupt, and accursed world. In several of his letters he entreats his friends with great earnestness to stand G.o.dfather to one of his children, and to help the poor little heathen to become a Christian, and pa.s.s from the death of sin to a holy and blessed regeneration.
In making this request of a young Bohemian n.o.bleman, then staying in his house, on behalf of his son Martin, he grew so earnest that, to the surprise of all present, his voice trembled; this, he said, was caused by the Holy Spirit of G.o.d, for the cause he was pleading was G.o.d"s, and it demanded reverence. And yet, in the simple, natural, innocent, and happy ways of children he recognised the precious handiwork of G.o.d and His protecting Hand. He loved to watch the games and pleasures of his little ones; all they did was so spontaneous and so natural. Children, he said, believe so simply and undoubtedly that G.o.d is in Heaven and is their G.o.d and their dear Father, and that there is everlasting life. On hearing one day one of his children prattling about this life and of the great joy in Heaven with eating, and dancing, and so forth, he said, "Their life is the most blessed and the best; they have none but pure thoughts and happy imaginations." At the sight of his little children seated round the table, he called to mind the exhortation of Jesus, that we must "become as little children;" and added, "Ah! dear G.o.d! Thou hast done clumsily in exalting children--such poor little simpletons--so high. Is it just and right that Thou shouldst reject the wise, and receive the foolish? But G.o.d our Lord has purer thoughts than we have; He must, therefore, refine us, as said the fanatics; He must hew great boughs and chips from us, before He makes such children and little simpletons of us."
In what a childlike spirit Luther understood to talk to his children is shown by his letter from Coburg to his little Hans, then fourteen years old. He himself taught them to pray, to sing, and to repeat the Catechism. Of his little daughter Margaret he could tell one of her G.o.dfathers how she had learnt to sing hymns when only four years old. His hymn "From the highest Heaven I come," the freshest, most joyful, most childlike song that has ever been heard from children"s lips at Christmas, he composed as a father who celebrated that joyous festival with his own children. It appeared first in the year 1535. He might well, after the manner of old Festival plays, have let an angel step in among them, who in the opening verses should bring them the good tidings in the Gospel, to which they should answer with "Therefore let us all be joyful." The words "Therefore I am always joyful, Free to dance and free to sing," call to mind an old custom of accompanying the Christmas Hymn with a dance.
Luther warned against all outbursts of pa.s.sion and undue severity towards children, and carefully guarded himself against such errors, remembering the bitter experiences of his own childhood in that respect. But he could be angry and strict enough when occasion required; he used to say he would rather have a dead son than a bad one.
There was no really good school at Wittenberg for his boys, and Luther himself could not devote as much time to them as they required. He took a resident tutor for them, a young theologian. His boy John nevertheless gave some trouble with his teaching and bringing up. His father, contrary to his own wishes, seems to have been too weak, and his mother"s fondness for her first-born seems to have somewhat spoilt him. Luther gave the boy over afterwards to his friend Mark Crodel, the Rector of the school at Torgau, whom he held in high respect as a grammarian, and as a pedagogue of grave and strict morals.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 51.--LUTHER"S DAUGHTER "LENE." (From Cranach"s portrait.)]
His favourite child was little Lena, a pious, gentle, affectionate little girl, and devoted to him with her whole heart. A charming picture of her remains, by Cranach, a friend of the family. But she died in the bloom of early youth, on September 20, 1542, after a long and severe illness. The grief he had felt at the loss of his daughter Elizabeth was now renewed and intensified. When she was lying on her sick-bed, he said, "I love her very much indeed; but, dear G.o.d, if it is Thy will to take her hence, I would gladly she were with Thee." To Magdalene herself he said, "Lena, dear, my little daughter, thou wouldst love to remain here with thy father; art thou willing to go to that other Father?" "Yes, dear father,"
she answered; "just as G.o.d wills." And when she was dying, he fell on his knees beside her bed, wept bitterly, and prayed for her redemption, and she fell asleep in his arms. As she lay in her coffin, he looked at her and exclaimed, "Ah! my darling Lena, thou wilt rise again and shine like a star--yea, as the sun;" and added, "I am happy in the spirit, but in the flesh I am very sorrowful. The flesh will not be subdued: parting troubles one above measure; it is a wonderful thing to think that she is a.s.suredly in peace, and that all is well with her, and yet to be so sad." To the mourners he said, "I have sent a saint to Heaven: could mine be such a death as hers, I would welcome such a death this moment." He expressed the same sorrow, and the same exultation in his letters to his friends.
To Jonas he wrote: "You will have heard that my dearest daughter Magdalene is born again in the everlasting kingdom of Christ.
Although I and my wife ought only to thank G.o.d with joy for her happy departure, whereby she has escaped the power of the world, the flesh, the Turks and the devil, yet so strong is natural love that we cannot bear it without sobs and sighs from the heart, without a bitter sense of death in ourselves. So deeply printed on our hearts are her ways, her words, her gestures, whether alive or dying, that even Christ"s death cannot drive away this agony." His little Hans, whom his sick sister longed to see once more, he had sent for from Torgau a fortnight before she died: he wrote for that purpose to Crodel, saying "I would not have my conscience reproach me afterwards for having neglected anything." But when several weeks later, about Christmas-time, under the influence of grief and the tender words which his mother had spoken to him, a desire came over the boy to leave Torgau and live at home, his father exhorted him to conquer his sorrow like a man, not to increase by his own the grief of his mother, and to obey G.o.d, who had appointed him, through his parents" direction, to live at Torgau.
The care of the children and of the whole household fell to the share of Frau Luther, and her husband could trust her with it in perfect confidence. She was a woman of strong, ruling, practical nature, who enjoyed hard work and plenty of it. She served her husband at all times, after her own manner, with faithful and affectionate devotion. He must often have felt grateful, amidst his physical and mental sufferings, and the violent storms and temptations that vexed his soul, that a helpmate of such a sound const.i.tution, such strong nerves, and such a clever, sensible mind should have fallen to his share.
Luther lived with her in thankful love and harmony; nor have even the calumnies of malicious enemies been able to cast a shadow of doubt upon the perfect concord of his married life. In his "Table Talk" he says of her: "I am, thank G.o.d, very well, for I have a pious, faithful wife, on whom a man may safely rest his heart." And again he said once to her, "Katie, you have a pious husband, who loves you; you are an empress." In words now grave, now humorous, he told her of his tender love for her; and how trustful and open-hearted were their relations to each other we gather from the way in which he mocks and occasionally teases her for her little weaknesses. In later life and in his last letters he calls her his "heartily beloved housewife" and his "darling,"
and he often signs himself "your love" and "your old love," and again "your dear lord." Still he said frankly and quietly that his original suspicion that Catharine was proud was well-founded. In some of his letters he speaks of her as his "lord Katie" and his "gracious wife,"
and of himself as her "willing servant." Once he declared that if he had to marry again, he would carve an obedient wife out of stone, as he despaired of finding obedience in wives. He spoke also of the talkativeness of his Katie. Referring to her loving but over-anxious care for him on his last journey, he called her a holy, careful woman. From her thrift and energy she gained from him the nicknames of Lady Zulsdorf, and Lady of the Pigmarket; thus one of his last letters is addressed to "my heartily beloved housewife, Catharine, Lady Luther, Lady Doctor, Lady Zulsdorf, Lady of the Pigmarket, and whatever else she may be."
The "careful" Catharine was not permitted to check the kind liberality of her husband. His friend Mathesius tells us, of their early married life, "A poor man made him a pitiful tale of distress, and having no cash with him, Luther came to his wife--she being then confined--for the G.o.d-parents" money, and brought it to the poor man, saying, "G.o.d is rich, He will supply what is wanted."
Afterwards, however, he grew more careful, seeing how often he was imposed upon. "Rogues," he said, "have sharpened my wits." An example of how particular, nay anxious, he was never even to let it seem that he sought for presents or other profit for himself, was given in his letter to Amsdorf, declining a gift of venison. He wrote once to the Elector John, who had sent him an offering: "I have unfortunately more, especially from your Highness, than I can conscientiously keep. As a preacher, it is not fitting for me to enjoy a superfluity, nor do I covet it; ... therefore I beseech your Highness to wait until I ask of you." In 1539, when Bugenhagen brought to him the hundred gulden from the King of Denmark, he wished to give him half of it, for the service Bugenhagen had rendered him during his absence. For his office of preacher in the town church he never received any payment; the town from time to time made him a present of wine from the council-cellar, and lime and stones for building his house. For his writings he received nothing from the publishers. Against over-anxious cares and troubles, and setting her heart too much on worldly possessions, he earnestly cautioned his wife, and insisted that amid the numerous household matters she should not neglect to read the Bible. Once in 1535 he promised her fifty gulden if she would read the Bible through, whereupon, as he told a friend, it became a "very serious matter to her."
Luther frequently a.s.sisted his wife in her household. He was very fond of gardening and agriculture, and we have seen how he sent commissions to friends for stocking his garden at Wittenberg. On one occasion, when going to fish with his wife in their little pond, he noticed with joy how she took more pleasure in her few fish than many a n.o.bleman did in his great lakes with many hundred draughts of fishes. In 1539 he had to order a chest at Torgau for his "lord Katie," for their store of house-linen. Of the handsome and elaborate way in which Catharine thought of ornamenting the exterior of their house--the home of her ill.u.s.trious husband--a fine specimen remains in the door of the Luther-haus at Wittenberg. Luther wrote, by her wish, to a friend at Pirna in 1539, pastor Lauterbach, about a "carved house-door," for the width of which she sent the measurement. The door, carved in sandstone, and bearing the date 1540, has on one side Luther"s bust and on the other his crest, and below are two small seats, built there according to the custom of the times.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 52.--Door of Luther"s House at Wittenberg.]
In view of his approaching death, Luther wished, in 1542, to provide for his devoted wife by a will. He left her for her lifetime and absolute property the little farm of Zulsdorf, the small house at Wittenberg (already mentioned), and his goblets and other treasures, such as rings, chains, &c, which he valued at about 1,000 gulden. In doing so, he thanked her for having been to him a "pious, true wife at all times, full of loving, tender care towards him, and for having borne to him and trained, by G.o.d"s blessing, five children surviving." And he wished to provide therewith that she "must not receive from the children, but the children from her; that they must honour and obey her, as G.o.d hath commanded." He further bade her pay off the debt which was still owing (probably for the house), amounting to about 450 gulden, because, with the exception of his few treasures, he had no money to leave her. In making this provision he no doubt considered that, according to the law, the inheritance of a married woman who had formerly been a nun might be disputed, together with the legitimacy of her marriage. Luther did not wish to bind himself in his will to legal forms. He besought the Elector graciously to protect his bequest, and concluded his will with these proud words:
"Finally, seeing I do not use legal forms, for which I have my own reasons, I desire all men to take these words as mine--a man known openly in heaven, on earth, and in h.e.l.l also, who has enough reputation or authority to be trusted and believed better than any notary. To me, a poor, unworthy, miserable sinner, G.o.d, the Father of all mercy, has entrusted the Gospel of His dear Son, and has made me true and faithful therein, and has so preserved and found me hitherto, that through me many in this world have received the Gospel, and hold me as a teacher of the truth, despite of the Pope"s ban, of emperor, king, princes, priests, and all the wrath of the devil. Let them believe me also in this small matter, especially as this is my hand, not altogether unknown. In hope that it will be enough for men to say and prove that this is the earnest, deliberate meaning of Dr. Martin Luther, G.o.d"s notary and witness in his Gospel, confirmed by his own hand and seal."
The will is dated the day of the Epiphany, January 6, 1542, and was witnessed by Melancthon, Cruciger, and Bugenhagen, whose attestations and signatures appear below. After Luther"s death, John Frederick immediately ratified it.
As regards his servants, Luther was particularly careful that they should have nothing to complain of against him, for the devil, he said, had a sharp eye upon him, to be able to cast a slur upon his teaching. To those who served him faithfully, he was ever gentle, grateful, and even indulgent. There was a certain Wolfgang, or Wolf Sieberger, whom he had taken as early as 1517 into his service at the convent--an honest but weak man, who knew of no other means of livelihood. Him Luther retained in his service throughout his life, and tried to make some provision for his future. He once sought, as we have seen, to practise turning with him, but of this nothing further is related. He loved, too, to joke with him in his own hearty manner. When, in 1534, Wolf built a fowling-floor or place for catching birds, he reprimanded him for it in a written indictment, making the "good, honourable" birds themselves lodge a complaint against him. They pray Luther to prevent his servant, or at least to insist upon Wolf (who was a sleepy fellow), strewing grain for them in the evening, and then not rising before eight o"clock in the morning; else, they would pray to G.o.d to make him catch in the day-time frogs and snails in their stead, and let fleas and other insects crawl over him at night; for why should not Wolf rather employ his wrath and vindictiveness against the sparrows, daws, mice, and such like? When a servant named Rischmann parted from him, in 1532, after several years of hard work, Luther sent word to his wife from Torgau, where he was then staying with the Elector, to dismiss him "honourably," and with a suitable present.
"Think," he wrote, "how often we have given to bad men, when all has been lost; so be liberal, and do not let such a good, fellow want..... Do not fail; for a goblet is there. Think from whom you got it. G.o.d will give us another, I know."
His guests valued highly his company and conversation, especially those men who came from far and near to visit him. Several of them have recorded sayings from his lips on these occasions. Luther"s "Table Talk," which we possess now in print, is founded for the most part on records given by Viet Dietrich and Lauterbach just mentioned, who before his call to Pirna in 1539, when deacon at Wittenberg, was one of Luther"s closest friends and his daily guest.
These memorials, however, have been elaborated and recast many times, by a strange hand, in an arbitrary and unfortunate manner. A publication of the original text, from which recently a diary of Lauterbach, of the year 1538, has already appeared, may now be looked for. Last, but not least, we have to mention John Mathesius, who, after having been a student at Wittenberg in 1529, and then rector of the school at Joachimsthal, returned to study at Wittenberg from 1540 to 1542, and obtained the honour which he sought for, of being a guest at Luther"s table. Deeply impressed as he was by his intercourse with the Reformer, he described his impressions to his congregation at Joachimsthal, when afterwards their pastor, in addresses from the pulpit, which were printed, and gave them a sketch of Luther"s life, with numerous anecdotes about him. He thus became Luther"s first biographer, and, from his personal intimacy with his friend, and his own true-heartedness, fervour, and genuineness of nature, he must ever remain endeared to the followers and admirers of the great Reformer.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig.53.--Mathesius. (From an old woodcut.)]
Mathesius tells us, indeed, how Luther used often to sit at table wrapt in deep and anxious thought, and would sometimes keep a cloister-like silence throughout the meal. At times even he would work between the courses, or at meals or immediately after, dictate sermons to friends who had to preach, but who wanted practice in the art. But when once conversation was opened, it flowed with ease and freedom, and, as Mathesius says, even merrily. The friends used to call Luther"s speeches their "table-spice." His topics varied according to circ.u.mstances and the occasion--things spiritual and temporal; questions of faith and conduct; the works of G.o.d and the deeds of man; events past and present; hints and short practical suggestions for ecclesiastical life and office; and apophthegms of worldly wisdom; all enriched with proverbs of every kind and German rhymes, which Luther had a great apt.i.tude in composing. Jocular moods were mingled with deep gravity and even indignation. But in all he said, as in all he did, he was guided constantly by the loftiest principles, by the highest considerations of morality and religious truth, and that in the simple and straightforward manner which was his nature, utterly free from affectation or artificial effort.
In these his discourses, it is true, as in his writings and letters, nay, sometimes in his addresses from the pulpit, expressions and remarks fell occasionally from his lips which sound to modern ears extremely coa.r.s.e. His was a frank, rugged nature, with nothing slippery, nothing secretly impure about it. His friends and guests spoke of the "chaste lips" of Luther: "He was," says Mathesius, "a foe to unchast.i.ty and loose talk. As long as I have been with him I have never heard a shameful word fall from his lips." It was a great contrast to the coa.r.s.e indecencies which he denounced with such fierce indignation in the monks, his former brethren, as also to the more subtle indelicacies which were practised in those days by so many elegant Humanists of modern culture, both ecclesiastics and laymen.
Luther"s conversation was also remarkable for its freedom from any spiteful or frivolous gossip, of which even at Wittenberg there was then no lack. Of such scandal-mongers, who sought to pry out evil in their neighbours, Luther used frequently to say, "They are regular pigs, who care nothing about the roses and violets in the garden, but only stick their snouts into the dirt."
After dinner there was usually music with the guests and children; sacred and secular songs were sung, together with German and sometimes old Latin hymns.
Luther also had a bowling-alley made for his young friends, where they would disport themselves with running and jumping. He liked to throw the first ball himself, and was heartily laughed at when he missed the mark. He would turn then to the young folk, and remind them in his pleasant way that many a one who thought he would do better, and knock down all the pins at once, would very likely miss them all, as they would often have to find in future their life and calling.
In his own personal relations towards G.o.d, Luther followed persistently the road which he saw revealed by Christ, and which he pointed out to others. He never lost the consciousness of his own unworthiness, and therefore unholiness. In this consciousness he sought refuge, with simple and childlike faith, in G.o.d"s love and mercy, which thus a.s.sured him of forgiveness and salvation, of victory over the world and the devil, and of the freedom wherewith a child of G.o.d may use the things of this world. He clung fondly to simple, childlike forms of faith, and to common rites and ordinances. Every morning he used to repeat with his children the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord"s Prayer, and a psalm. "I do this," he says in one of his sermons, "in order to keep up the habit, and not let the mildew grow upon me." He took part faithfully in the church services; he who was wont to pray so unceasingly and fervently in his own chamber declared that praying in company with others soothed him far more than private prayer at home.
Lofty, nay proud as was the self-a.s.surance he expressed in his mission, and though possessed, as Mathesius says, of all the heart and courage of a true man, yet he was personally of a very plain and una.s.serting manner: Mathesius calls him the most humble of men, always willing to follow good advice from others. Like a brother he dealt with the lowliest of his brethren, while mixing at the same time with the highest in the land with the most perfect and unconscious simplicity. Troubled souls, who complained to him how hard they found it to possess the faith he preached, he comforted with the a.s.surance that it was no easier matter for himself, and that he had to pray G.o.d daily to increase his faith. His saying, "A great doctor must always remain a pupil," was meant especially for himself. The modesty which made him willing, even in the early days of his reforming labours, to yield the first place to his younger friend Melancthon, he displayed to the end, as we have seen in reference to Melancthon"s princ.i.p.al work, the "Loci Communes."
Whenever he was asked for a really good book for theological studies and the pure exposition of the gospel, he named the Bible first and then Melancthon"s book. During the Diet at Augsburg we heard how highly he esteemed the words even of a Brenz, in comparison with his own. Touching Melancthon, we must add an earlier public utterance of Luther"s, dating from 1529: "I must root out," he said, "the trunks and stems.... I am the rough woodman who has to make a path, but Philip goes quietly and peacefully along it, builds and plants, sows and waters at his pleasure." He said nothing of how much others depended on his own power and independence of mind, not only as regarded the task of making the path, but in the whole business of planting and working, and how Melancthon only stamped the gold which Luther had dug up and melted in the furnace. The later years of his life were embittered by the conviction, gradually forced upon him, that his former strength and energy had deserted him. His remarks on this subject seem often exaggerated, but they were certainly meant in all seriousness: he felt as he did, because the urgent need of completing his task remained so vividly impressed upon his mind. He wished and hoped that G.o.d would suffer him--the now useless instrument of His Word--to stand at least behind the doors of His kingdom. He wrote to Myconius, when the latter was dangerously ill, saying that his friend must really survive him: "I beg this; I will it, and let my will be done, for it seeks not my own pleasure, but the glory of G.o.d."
With childlike joy he recognised G.o.d"s gifts in nature, in garden and field, plants and cattle. This joy finds constant expression in his "Table Talk," and even in his sermons. It was chiefly awakened by the beauties of spring. With sorrow he declares it to be the well-earned penalty of his past sins that in his old age he should not be able, as he might do and had need of doing, on account of the burdens of business, to enjoy the gardens, the bud and bloom of tree and flower, and the song of the birds. "We should be so happy in such a Paradise, if only there were no sin and death." But he looks beyond this to another and a heavenly world, where all would be still more beautiful, and where an everlasting spring would reign and abide.
Among all the gifts which G.o.d has bestowed upon us for our use and enjoyment, music was to him the most precious; he even a.s.signed to it the highest honour next to theology. He himself had considerable talent for the art, and not only played the lute, and sang melodiously with his seemingly weak but penetrating voice, but was able even to compose. He valued music particularly as the means of driving away the devil and his temptations, as well as for its softening and refining influence. "The heart," he said, "grows satisfied, refreshed, and strengthened by music." He noticed, as a wonder wrought by G.o.d, how the air was able to give forth, by a slight movement of the tongue and throat, guided by the mind, such sweet and powerful sounds; and what an infinite variety there was of voice and language among the many thousand birds, and still more so among men. Luther"s best and most valued means of natural refreshment, and the recreation of his mind and body, remained always his intercourse and friendship with others--with wife and children, with his friends and neighbours. Such was his own experience, and so he would advise the sorrowful who sought his counsel in like manner to come out of their solitude. He saw in this intercourse also an ordinance of Divine wisdom and love. A friendly talk and a good merry song he often declared to be the best weapon against evil and sorrowful thoughts.