LUTHER AT HOME. 
 
DR. STORK'S WRITINGS. 
 
 HOME- SCENES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 GELZER'S LIFE OF LUTHER. 
 
 Edited, with an Introduction. 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 LUTHER'S CHRISTMAS-TREE. 
 JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 
 THE UNSEEN WORLD. 
 LUTHER AT HOME. 
 
Ml, 
 
 LUTHERS MARRIAGE. 
 
/J7V- 
 
 Luther at Home. 
 
 
 
 BY 
 
 fORK, D. D. 
 
 
 
 
 ISLfJt 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 1872. 
 
 v: 
 
. Si 3 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN & SON, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 CAXTON PRESS OF SHERMAN & CO. 
 
///t 
 
 r I ^HESE pen and picture sketches are de- 
 signed to familiarize the young with the 
 most beautiful and instructive aspects and inci- 
 dents of Luther's home-life. It is hoped, morever, 
 that this portraiture of the great Reformer, as he 
 appears in the privacy of home, will serve, in 
 some measure, to counteract the tendency to in- 
 dividualism in our day, and to expose the van- 
 dalism that would substitute the freedom of 
 affinities for the sacred bonds of matrimony, and 
 break the wedding-ring as a superstitious symbol. 
 No doubt there are inhumanities sheltered 
 under the very sacredness of the domestic re- 
 lations ; but everything has its shadow, and evils 
 mingle with all human relations, and there are 
 sometimes grievous wrongs and oppressions 
 perpetrated under the very sanctity of the home- 
 life. But surely we are not, on this account, to 
 
 I * V 
 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 break the sacred bonds of the marriage relation, 
 and set the family group adrift in some vague 
 conceit of social freedom or some nonsense of 
 spiritual affinities : this would be like knocking 
 a ship to pieces because some of the passengers 
 are sea-sick. " This organism of the family is 
 a ship that has carried human civilization over 
 the waves of ages — an ark that has preserved 
 the germs of the social state in many a deluge. 
 Sunder the ties that hold it together, and who 
 can estimate the ruin, or from the shattered 
 fragments reconstruct society ? " 
 
 The example of Luther may also suggest and 
 practically illustrate what a beauty and blessed- 
 ness belong to a truly Christian domestic life. 
 How much there is to love and to enjoy in a 
 true home ; and what divergent lines of destiny 
 reach out from the cradle to immortal issues. 
 
 And then it may suggest, to all who are mar- 
 ried, the importance of having a home. There 
 may be, to some, a necessity of boarding. But 
 where such a sort of living is matter of choice 
 from a love of ease or . luxury, of fashion or a 
 morbid fondness for society, then it cannot be 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 too strongly deprecated. Better, it seems to us, 
 that the family should live in a shanty, which 
 they can call their own home, than in the state- 
 liest mansion open to everybody ; which is like 
 lodging on the house-top and eating in the street. 
 Especially does tender childhood need the dews 
 of domestic influences, and cannot unfold sweetly 
 and naturally in the gairish sunlight and the 
 rude contacts of the roadside. 
 
 There is yet another thing suggested in this 
 home- life of Luther, and that is, that every 
 family needs the love and care of a father's 
 heart. With all that a mother may do, the 
 home that does not feel a father's loving sympa- 
 thy is not a home. No man can have such 
 grand enterprises, and such cares and toils, as 
 absorbed the thoughts and busied the hands of 
 Luther. And yet he found time and a heart 
 for the pleasures and enjoyments of domestic 
 life. No man has a right to let his entire heart 
 melt away in business, and carry none of it home 
 with him. There never was a business interest 
 yet that ought to put out the light on the 
 hearth-stone, or disarm a father, in the midst of 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 his children, of kindness, cheerfulness, hope, and 
 faith. 
 
 We trust this humble effort to portray the 
 home-life of the great Reformer may, at least, 
 awaken the inquiry in every reader : " What is 
 home to me f " And as you follow Luther as he 
 appears in these pen pictures and home scenes, 
 will you allow and ponder the questions : " Is 
 home a place of serious thought as well as of 
 love and gladness ? Have you an altar of prayer 
 there? Is it overarched by the presence of 
 God, and brightened by His benediction ? Do 
 you comprehend the meaning of the commu- 
 nions that are brightened by its fire-light, of 
 the shadowy memories that fresco its walls ? Is 
 it a little thing to you that the cry of birth has 
 been heard beneath its roof, that the mystery of 
 death has descended into its chambers? Is 
 there no solemnity as well as gladness in the 
 relations of husband and wife, of father and 
 mother — a solemnity that links time to eter- 
 nity, and earth with heaven ? Is not home full 
 of incentives, full of voices calling to duty and 
 love, to faith and prayer?" 
 
PAGE 
 
 The Home-Life of Martin Luther. . .13 
 Marriage. . . . . . . 27 
 
 Singing with his Family. . . . -47 
 
 Summer Joys with His Family. . . . 85 
 
 Winter Pleasures. 1 1 1 
 
 Home in Sorrow. 133 
 
THE HOME-LIFE 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER 
 
 XI 
 
THE 
 
 HOME-LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 O man since the time of Paul has 
 occupied so much of human thought, 
 or so lived in the grateful memory of 
 the Christian world, as Martin Luther. 
 His eventful life of noble words and heroic 
 deeds is the grandest fact of modern his- 
 tory. His confession of the true faith is 
 still shaping the religious sentiment of the 
 evangelical Church; and his ideal of per- 
 sonal liberty is still felt in every pulse of 
 2 . *3 
 
14 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
 
 human freedom and every step of Christian 
 civilization. 
 
 No eulogy of marble or of song can ade- 
 quately celebrate the greatness of his work 
 for the Church and the world. 
 
 " Nothing can cover his high fame but Heaven ; 
 No monument set off his memories 
 But the eternal substance of his greatness." 
 
 Ours is an humbler and all the more 
 grateful, and perhaps needful, task of por- 
 traying Luther's domestic life. 
 
 The stern and unique grandeur of his 
 public life only makes one the more curious 
 to see how that life looks in the privacy of 
 home; for the household is the home of 
 the man as well as of the child. And what 
 the man is there, is not only a truer revela- 
 tion of himself, but it is nearer and dearer 
 to us than any public events of his life 
 which make his fame and attract the admi- 
 
MARTIN LUTHER. 1 5 
 
 ration of the world. The events of domes- 
 tic life are in the line and sympathy of our 
 own living. What are called public events 
 may or may not be ours in any sense of a 
 common thought or feeling. Hence the 
 home-life of great men has always a peculiar 
 and universal interest. And for the same 
 reason The Cotter's Saturday Night has 
 about it such a charm, simply because it is 
 so human, and touches in us so many home 
 feelings and memories. 
 
 We can have no true idea of Luther, as 
 a man, apart from his home-life. In the 
 flush and excitement of his public career, 
 he is the creature of passion and impulse, 
 and moves in a sort of artificial light, so 
 that he is seen in that elusive and mystic 
 haze of glory that excludes any true vision 
 and estimate of the man. It is only when 
 he is out of this fictitious glare of public 
 life, and in the quiet, unaffected habitudes 
 
l6 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
 
 of home, with his wife and children, that 
 we see him as he really is. 
 
 It is said that a man of letters is often a 
 man of two natures, — the one a book 
 nature, the other a human nature, — and 
 the two are sometimes in painful antago- 
 nism. Hence we hear so much of the in- 
 felicities of great men in their domestic 
 life. And when one reads of the unhappy 
 homes of Moliere and Rousseau, and the 
 ungenial firesides of such men as Dante, 
 Milton, Addison, and Steele, and even of 
 the sainted Hooker, it might well make us 
 timid in lifting the veil from the home of 
 the immortal Reformer, lest some infeli- 
 cities of his private life should dim the 
 glory of his public career. But, on the other 
 hand, some of the sweetest pictures of hu- 
 man life are found among those which rep- 
 resent the homes of great men who mar- 
 ried happily. And among all the honored 
 
MA R TIN L UTHER. I? 
 
 homes of history, there is none more genial 
 and happy than that of the great Reformer. 
 Looking at Luther as he appeared in pub- 
 lic, and prior to any knowledge of his pri- 
 vate life, we might come to a very different 
 conclusion. Seeing him as he appears in 
 exciting controversy, when his very words 
 were battles, and in his fulminations against 
 a rotten priesthood and a despotic hierarchy, 
 or with his stern look and defiant attitude be- 
 fore the Diet of Worms, we might take him 
 for a man with a heart of stone and nerves 
 of steel. And yet such an inference would 
 be as unsound in theory as we happily know 
 it is false in fact. "True greatness," says 
 Lavater, "is always simple and tender." 
 Homer, the matchless painter of men, rep- 
 resents Ajax, the bravest, and Ulysses, the 
 wisest, as often weeping. And Luther, 
 whose heroic deeds shook the very founda- 
 tions of the mightiest kingdom, was as 
 
 2* B 
 
18 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
 
 gentle and loving in his social life as a 
 little child. 
 
 Carlyle, with his keen, philosophic eye, 
 seems to see this blending of the hero and 
 the child, the fearless daring and winsome 
 gentleness, in the very face and physique 
 of the great Reformer. He says : " Luther's 
 face is to me expressive of him : in Cra- 
 nach's best portraits I find the true Luther. 
 A rude, plebeian face, with its huge crag- 
 like brows and bones, the emblem of rugged 
 energy; at first almost a repulsive face. 
 Yet in the eyes especially there is a wild, 
 silent sorrow — an unnamable melancholy, 
 the element of all gentle and fine affections — 
 giving to the rest the true stamp of noble- 
 ness." And then in his peculiar style and 
 imagery he goes on to give his own por- 
 traiture of Luther in a few bold outlines 
 and exquisite touches. "I will call this 
 Luther a true Great Man ; great in intel- 
 
MA R TIN L U THE R. 1 9 
 
 lect, in courage, affection, and integrity ; 
 one of our most lovable and precious men. 
 Great, not as a hewn obelisk, but as an 
 Alpine mountain — so simple, honest, spon- 
 taneous, not setting up to be great at all ; 
 there for quite another purpose than being 
 great ! Ah, yes, unsubduable granite, pierc- 
 ing far and wide into the heavens ; yet in 
 the cleft of it, fountains, green, beautiful 
 valleys, with flowers ! " Again, he says : 
 "A most gentle heart withal, full of pity 
 and love, as indeed the truly valiant heart 
 ever is. I know few things more touching 
 than those soft breathings of affection, soft 
 as a child's or mother's, in this great wild 
 heart of Luther." 
 
 This is substantially the view of Luther 
 given by Heine, the pensive but brilliant 
 poet of Germany: "Then he had qualities 
 which are seldom found united, which we 
 are accustomed to regard as irreconcilable 
 
20 THE HO ME- LIFE OF 
 
 antagonisms. He was at the same time a 
 dreamy mystic and a practical man of ac- 
 tion. . . . When he had plagued himself 
 all day long with his doctrinal distinctions, 
 in the evening he took his flute, and gazed 
 at the stars, dissolved in melody and devo- 
 tion. He could be soft as a tender maiden. 
 Sometimes he was wild as the storm that 
 uproots the oak, and then again he was 
 gentle as the zephyr that dallies with the 
 violet." 
 
 Perhaps the truest as well as the most 
 comprehensive of all portraitures of Luther 
 is that of Melancthon, in which he says that 
 Luther's character is delineated in those 
 words of St. Paul : " Whatsover things are 
 true, whatsoever things are honest, whatso- 
 ever things are just, whatsoever things are 
 pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso- 
 ever things are of good report." 
 
 And yet comparatively few seem to un- 
 
MARTIN LUTHER. 21 
 
 derstand "whatsoever things are lovely " in 
 Luther's character. A short time since a 
 distinguished minister affirmed in his pul- 
 pit that Luther was too sombre and one- 
 sided. That he was a great man, and had 
 done great things for the Church, but that 
 he was altogether too sober and narrow, 
 and lacked the genial mirth and sunny side 
 of a full and rounded manhood. This was 
 a total misconception of the Reformer. For 
 of all distinguished men absorbed in great 
 idetis of reform, and intent upon their ac- 
 complishment, Luther was the most genial 
 and sunny in his private life. He was many- 
 sided, and touched all life with a quick and 
 responsive sympathy peculiar to himself. 
 
 If it be true that " the child is father of 
 the man," then there must be in the true 
 man something, of the child-nature. The 
 childhood, in its loves and fancies and sym- 
 pathies, must live on in the true manhood 
 
22 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
 
 of the man. And so it appears pre-emi- 
 nently in Luther. He had all the sim- 
 plicity of a child in his love of nature and 
 flowers and music. This phase of his life 
 will come out more fully as we proceed to 
 look at Luther in his family. For it is when 
 great men are free from the affectations 
 and conventionalisms that belong to public 
 life, that they appear in their true and sim- 
 ple manhood ; for there 
 
 /'The man is never in his name absorbed, — 
 Chained like a captive to his own renown." 
 
 Such a man was fitted alike for the great 
 deeds of the Reformation and the quiet 
 pleasures of social and domestic life. He 
 could pass gracefully from the gaze and ad- 
 miration of the multitude to sport with his 
 children as he had sported with crowns, 
 and to cultivate his little garden at Witten- 
 berg with the same earnestness he had em- 
 
MARTIN LUTHER. 2$ 
 
 ployed to convert Eck or Zwingle. In the 
 language of Audin, the brilliant French 
 Romanist: " It must be a curious chapter in 
 the history of the human heart to behold 
 the quiet occupations of this monk, whom 
 Charles V. was not able to subdue, who 
 dared to insult Henry VIII., and whose ob- 
 stinacy Leo X., Adrian, and Clement had 
 not been able to overcome ; — but who, in 
 the midst of his family, seemed to have lost 
 all recollection of his past glory, and was 
 willing to be concealed from the world that 
 he might enjoy the delights of love and 
 friendship, and give to the world the exam- 
 ple of the domestic virtues which Plutarch 
 so much loved to describe." 
 
M^H 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 25 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 " A husband in the great Reformer see, 
 Like Martin Luther, and like nothing more ! 
 
 Looks he less lofty to those hearts which love 
 The sterling and the true, when playful seen 
 In the mild sunshine of a married state?" 
 
 |HE Reformer's true home life began 
 with his marriage. To this import- 
 ant step he was prompted, not so much 
 from natural inclination, as from the urgent 
 wishes of his aged father and his own per- 
 sonal convictions of duty. He believed that 
 he was called to the marriage state not only 
 as a man, but as a reformer. The enforce- 
 ment of celibacy on the clergy was, in his 
 
 27 
 
28 MARRIAGE. 
 
 now enlightened views, not only wrong in 
 itself, but productive of enormous immo- 
 rality. His study of the Bible, as well as 
 his knowledge of the impurity of the reli- 
 gious orders for centuries, led him to re- 
 gard marriage as the natural and healthy 
 state in which clergy as well as laity were 
 intended to live. It was the condition in 
 which humanity was at once purest and 
 happiest. 
 
 It was with such views he determined to 
 marry. He said : " We may be able to live 
 unmarried ; but in these days we must pro- 
 test in deed as well as in word against the 
 doctrine of celibacy. It is an invention of 
 Satan." His friend Schurff, the lawyer, 
 said: "If this monk should marry, he will 
 make all the world and the devil himself 
 burst with laughter, and will destroy the 
 work so grandly begun." This sarcasm 
 only strengthened Luther in his purpose, 
 
MARRIAGE. 20 
 
 and boldly raising his head, he exclaimed : 
 "Well, then, I will do it; I will play the 
 devil and the world this trick ; I will con- 
 tent my father and marry Catharine." 
 
 Catharine von Bora, whom he chose for 
 his wife, was a nun of good family, left 
 homeless by the breaking up of her con- 
 vent. How it happened that Luther and 
 Catharine came together is happily told by 
 " E. B. S.," in the Lutheran Home Journal 
 of 1853: 
 
 " A tenant of the convent of Nimptisch, 
 in Saxony, she was snatched as it were from 
 a living death by the writings of the great 
 Reformer, whose works were read by the 
 nuns of this cloister by permission of the 
 Lady Abbess, with the pious design of 
 arousing in their minds an abhorrence of 
 the wicked heretic Luther. But the beau- 
 tiful Ketha, with eight of her companions, 
 arose from their perusal and study to bless 
 
30 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Luther, who brought to them the joyful 
 news of a free and full salvation. They all 
 fled from the convent, and Ketha found 
 protection and a refuge with the Burgomas- 
 ter of Wittenberg, and also with Philip and 
 Margaret Melancthon. While sojourning 
 with her truly Christian friends, the lovely 
 Catharine had several distinguished suitors 
 for the honor of her hand, but she re- 
 quested of her friend Margaret that she 
 might not be persecuted with their unde- 
 sired attentions, as her heart could never 
 be interested in any of them ; and with a 
 true woman's tact, Margaret perfectly un- 
 derstood her friend, whom she not a little 
 annoyed by her playful pleasantries con- 
 cerning the ' terrible Luther's ' monkish 
 notions. For, although not approving of 
 the celibacy of the monks and clergy, he 
 had, it seems, considered the question set- 
 tled that he was not to marry. At this time 
 
MARRIAGE. 31 
 
 he must have been about forty years old, 
 and Margaret intuitively perceived that the 
 young Ketha's enthusiastic veneration for 
 her unseen liberator possessed the germs 
 of an incipient, yet faithful and blessed at- 
 tachment. It was rather a curious circum- 
 stance, that of Luther's being employed by 
 Catharine's most persevering admirer to 
 plead for him, and secure an interest in the 
 heart of the reluctant fair one. He under- 
 took the matter, supposing that some reli- 
 gious scruples were in the way, and he was 
 not a little surprised and puzzled at Catha- 
 rine's continued inflexibility. But 
 
 ' The bard has sung, God never formed a soul 
 
 Without its own peculiar mate, to meet 
 Its wandering half, when ripe to crown the whole 
 Bright plan of bliss, most heavenly, most complete !' 
 
 And thus was the surprised and grateful 
 Luther led to his Ketha, the crowning star 
 of his eventful life of toil and labor." 
 
32 MARRIAGE. 
 
 In the beautiful month of June, 1525, in 
 a private chapel of the house of the Regis- 
 trar of Wittenberg, Luther was married to 
 Catharine von Bora. As represented in 
 Kcenig's picture, " the jurist, Apel, and the 
 great painter, Cranach, stand on either side ; 
 Bugenhagen blesses the plighted troth of 
 Luther and Catharine, who kneel before 
 him, she with her long hair flowing over 
 her shoulders, and the marriage-wreath on 
 her brow, her face meekly and thoughtfully 
 bent downward ; he holding her right hand 
 in his, his left pressing on his heart, and his 
 eyes turned to heaven." * 
 
 No one can look at this picture, 
 
 "Where his devoted heart 
 The wedded Luther to his Ketha gave," 
 
 without being impressed with the moral 
 beauty and heavenly sanctity of marriage, 
 We experience an indefinable pleasure in 
 
 *Dr. Krauth's Conservative Reformation. 
 
MARRIAGE. 33 
 
 viewing Luther in this quiet, touching heart- 
 scene, in contrast with his previous lonely 
 and stormy life. It is like passing from the 
 bleak, cold desolation of winter into the 
 genial and flowery spring. And then we 
 feel, too, the meaning and moral influences 
 of that quiet bridal scene in the household 
 chapel in Wittenberg. It was there Luther 
 laid the foundation of a family in the true 
 German and evangelical spirit. " From the 
 Augustine cloister at Wittenberg, which 
 had now become the residence of Luther 
 and his family, sprang the noblest germ of 
 social morality, and of the purest spirit of 
 German domestic life. This cloister-home 
 became the ideal type of numberless fami- 
 lies of Protestant Germany, and especially 
 of those numerous families of evangelical 
 ministers to whom German society is so 
 largely indebted for morality and piety." * 
 
 * Gelzer's Life of Luther. 
 C 
 
34 MARRIAGE. 
 
 It was as decided a step against Roman- 
 ism as the burning of the Papal Bull ; for 
 it was a solemn proclamation to the world 
 of the divine ordination of marriage for 
 priest and people, and a practical protest 
 by the leader of the Reformation against 
 the enormous evils of celibacy. No won- 
 der the Romanists raised such a hue and 
 cry against Luther, and well-nigh over- 
 whelmed him with all sorts of calumnies. 
 Some said that " Antichrist would be the 
 offspring of such a union; for it was pre- 
 dicted that he would be born of a monk and 
 a nun." To this Erasmus replied, with a 
 sarcastic smile : " If the prophecy be true, 
 what thousands of antichrists must already 
 exist in the world." 
 
 But while the Romanists denounced Lu- 
 ther for his marriage, there were many 
 friends who commended his course, and of- 
 fered him their heartfelt congratulations. 
 
MARRIAGE. 35 
 
 Melancthon, who was at first startled by 
 this bold step, afterwards said, with that 
 sweet, impressive voice to which even his 
 enemies listened with respect, " It is false 
 and slanderous to maintain that there is 
 anything unbecoming in Luther's marriage. 
 I think that in marrying he must have done 
 violence to his own wishes, impelled thereto 
 by conscience. A married life is one of 
 humility, but it is also a holy state, if there 
 be any such in the world ; and the Scrip- 
 tures everywhere represent it as honorable 
 and desirable in the eyes of the Lord." 
 
 Luther was happy in this union. He 
 used to say that the happiest life on earth 
 is with a pious, good wife ; in peace and 
 quiet, contented with a little, and giving 
 God thanks. Of his gentle and loving 
 Ketha, he said : " I value her more than the 
 kingdom of France or the wealth of the 
 
$6 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Venetians." He could say, after years of 
 experience, and from his very heart : 
 
 "A wife becomes the truest, tenderest friend, 
 The balm of comfort and the source of joy, 
 Thro' every various turn of life the same." 
 
 The first three years of his wedded life 
 were spent in the quiet enjoyment of his 
 home, with his beloved Ketha by his side. 
 Those years of retirement were not lost, as 
 some supposed, for Luther was schooled in 
 heart culture and social refinement, and the 
 asperities of his nature were softened by 
 the gentle and affectional companionship 
 and ministries of Ketha. She won his 
 esteem by her mental culture, and charmed 
 his heart by her womanly graces. She 
 consoled him in his depressions by repeat- 
 ing passages from the Bible, relieved him 
 from all household cares, worked his por- 
 trait in embroidery, and, in his leisure mo- 
 ments, amused him by the naivete of her 
 
MARRIAGE. 2>7 
 
 questions. Luther's account of this is quite 
 amusing. He says: "The first year of 
 married life is an odd business. At meals,, 
 where you used to be alone, you are your- 
 self and somebody else. My Ketha used. 
 to sit with me when I was at work. She 
 thought she ought not to be silent. She did 
 not know what to say, so she would ask me : 
 
 " 'Herr doctor, is not the master of the 
 ceremonies in Prussia the brother of the 
 margrave ? ' " 
 
 She was an odd woman. 
 
 " Doctor," she said to him one day, "how 
 is it that under popery we prayed so often 
 and so earnestly, and now our prayers are 
 cold and seldom?" 
 
 Ketha might have spoken for herself. 
 Luther, to the last, spent hours every day 
 in prayer. He advised her to read the 
 Bible a little more. She said she had read 
 enough of it, and knew half of it by heart. 
 
 4 
 
38 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Catharine, as is common with an affec- 
 tionate wife, was too anxious about her 
 husband, for which Luther would some- 
 times gently and playfully reprove her. On 
 one occasion he shut himself up for three 
 days in his study. Catharine, feeling very 
 much troubled, looked for him all over the 
 house, knocking at every door, but without 
 success. At last she sent for a locksmith, 
 who forced open the study-door, and there 
 she found Luther, absorbed in his com- 
 mentary on the twenty-second Psalm. She 
 kindly reproved him for causing her so 
 much anxiety ; but he, pointing to the Bible, 
 said : " Do you think I was doing anything 
 bad ? Do you not know that I must work 
 as long as it is day, for the night cometh in 
 which no man can work ? " 
 
 On another occasion, in answer to an 
 anxious letter from his wife, he wrote : 
 
 " To my gracious lady, Catharine Luther, 
 
MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 my dear wife, who torments herself unne- 
 cessarily, grace and peace in our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ. Dear Ketha, thou oughtest to 
 read what St. John says in the catechism 
 upon the confidence we ought to have in 
 God. Thou art tormenting thyself, as if 
 He were not all-powerful, and could not 
 produce new Doctor Martins by the dozen, 
 if the old one should be drowned in the 
 Saale, or perish in any other manner. 
 There is One who takes better care of me 
 than thou, or even the angels of heaven 
 can do. He sits at the right hand of his 
 Father, and is all-powerful. Then quiet 
 thyself. Amen." 
 
 During- the earlier years of his married 
 life Luther was very poor. According to 
 Michelet, his income never exceeded one 
 hundred and eight dollars. This may seem 
 strange, considering the immense sale of 
 his writings, and his eminent position in the 
 
40 MARRIAGE. 
 
 eyes of all Europe. But owing to a "con- 
 scientious whim," he would not take any- 
 thing for his manuscripts, and he received 
 no fixed salary from the university. About 
 two years after his marriage, writing to a 
 friend who had requested a loan of him, he 
 said : " You ask me for eight florins. Where 
 on earth am I to get eight florins ? As you 
 know, I am compelled to live with the strict- 
 est economy, and yet my want of means, 
 perhaps my want of care, has compelled 
 me to contract, during the past year, debts 
 amounting to more than a hundred florins, 
 which I must somehow and sometime repay 
 to various persons/' 
 
 Indeed, the straitened circumstances of 
 Luther obliged him to turn his hand to 
 manual labor in order to obtain his bread. 
 Speaking of this, he remarked: "Since 
 among us barbarians there is no man of 
 art to instruct us in better things, I and my 
 
MARRIAGE. 41 
 
 servant Wolfgang have set ourselves to the 
 business of turning, in our leisure mo- 
 ments." 
 
 And yet, in all the privations and anxie- 
 ties of almost abject poverty, Luther was 
 happy — happy in his faith, and happy in 
 his family. Writing to his friend Sliepel, 
 he said : " Catharine, my dear rib, salutes 
 thee. She is quite well, thank God ; gen- 
 tle, obedient, and kind in all things, far be- 
 yond all my hopes. I would not exchange 
 my poverty with her for all the riches of 
 Crcesus without her." 
 
 What we think and feel of such a wedded 
 life is best expressed in Luther's own words: 
 " There are no ties of society more beauti- 
 ful, more elevating, and happier than a well- 
 assorted marriage. It is a pleasure to be- 
 hold two people living together in wedlock 
 in harmony and love." And such was Lu- 
 ther's married life. 
 
42 MARRIAGE. 
 
 As they came from the chapel at Witten- 
 berg, with the benediction yet fresh upon 
 their wedded union, Luther might have ex- 
 pressed his feelings in those touching words 
 
 of the poet: 
 
 "My bride, 
 My wife, my life. Oh, we will walk this world 
 Yok'd in all exercise of noble aim, 
 And so through those dark gates across the wild 
 That no man knows." 
 
 And they did so walk. Their first affection 
 acquired greater depth and intensity by the 
 vanishing away of all that was merely ideal 
 or fanciful. And the very trials of life deep- 
 ened their mutual sympathies, and strength- 
 ened the clasping bonds of a sanctified love. 
 It is manifest that in a union so intimate 
 and life-long, revealing every phase of 
 character and mood of temper, there will 
 often be felt the need of the love that " is 
 not easily provoked, which suffereth long, 
 and is kind " — which has power to invest 
 
MARRIAGE. 43 
 
 the being loved with its own beauty, trans- 
 forming seeming blemishes into fancied vir- 
 tues. No doubt there was something of 
 this in Catharine's experience with a man 
 like Luther, so full of cares and troubles 
 from without, and withal so quick and sharp 
 and impulsive ; but she could say : 
 
 " My love doth so approve him, 
 That even his stubbornness, his checks and frowns, 
 Have grace and favor in them." 
 
 Such a love, hallowed by. religion, is the 
 very life of marriage, — the very bond of 
 perfectness. It is the fragrant blossom that 
 will not only gladden the heart, but beau- 
 tify the humblest home with the ministries 
 of peace and charity. And so Luther and 
 his beloved Ketha, by being one in Christ, 
 maintained this affectional and life -long 
 unity. Jesus, who came to open heavenly 
 mansions into our earthly habitations, was 
 their ever welcome and abiding guest, and 
 
44 MA RRIA GE. 
 
 the atmosphere of their home was redolent 
 of His heavenly spirit. Thus they grew in 
 personal excellence, mutual affinity, and 
 spiritual oneness, to the end of life. This 
 assimilative growth in true Christian mar- 
 riage is beautifully expressed in those ex- 
 quisite lines of Tennyson : 
 
 ' ' Yet in the long years liker must they grow ; 
 The man be more of woman, she of man : 
 He gain in sweetness and in moral height, 
 Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world ; 
 She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care: 
 Move as the double-natured poet each : 
 Till at the last she set herself to man 
 Like perfect music unto noble words." 
 
LUTHER 
 SINGING WITH HIS FAMLY. 
 
 /zrmss 
 
 45 
 
LUTHER SINGING WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 God setteth the solitary in families." 
 
 HE Psalmist indicates a divine pur- 
 pose in placing the individual man 
 in domestic relations, and suggests the 
 meaning and importance of the family. 
 Luther was a scholar, a thinker, a Re- 
 former, before he had a home. But how 
 all his powers and sympathies were quick- 
 ened and intensified by the new affections 
 and solicitudes of a husband and a father ! 
 What a new life he felt in the lives of his 
 children ; nay, what depths were opened, 
 what chords were touched, what enlarged 
 
 47 
 
48 FA MIL Y. 
 
 vision was given by their departure from 
 earth ! 
 
 Luther used to say that " many children 
 are a sign of God's blessing; and hence 
 you may see why Duke George has never 
 had any." Luther himself was certainly 
 not wanting in this token of heaven's favor. 
 He had six children : John, Elizabeth, Mad- 
 eleine, Martin, Paul, and Margaret. And 
 notwithstanding his studies, and his many 
 labors and anxieties for the Church, he not 
 only found time to sport with his children, 
 but was ever inventing new plays for their 
 diversion and amusement. And yet, child 
 as he was with his children in their sports 
 and pleasures, he never lost sight of the 
 divine order and religiousness of the house- 
 hold. He was careful to rear his children 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
 and daily repeated with them the Ten Com- 
 mandments, the Creed, and the Lord's 
 
FA MIL Y. 49 
 
 Prayer. He was, moreover, very strict in 
 the Christian discipline of his children ; and 
 the first law of his house was their trustful 
 subjection to his will, and obedience in all 
 things. When his son John was twelve 
 years old, he was in some important in- 
 stance disobedient, and committed some 
 great wrong, on account of which Luther 
 for three days refused to have anything to 
 do with him, though he had meekly asked 
 his forgiveness in writing. Some of his 
 friends thought the discipline too severe. 
 And when Catharine, Dr. Jonas, and Dr. 
 Teutleben interceded for John, Luther said: 
 " I would rather have my son dead than 
 disobedient. St. Paul did not without rea- 
 son say that a bishop must rule his own 
 house well, and have obedient children, that 
 other people may be edified through them, 
 follow their example, and not be offended. 
 We ministers are honored so much that 
 5 d 
 
50 FA MIL Y. 
 
 we might set a good example. But our 
 untrained children cause others td take of- 
 fence, and bad boys commit sin in virtue of 
 our privileges." * 
 
 Luther's home-life was a model of quiet 
 simplicity. He was sociable, cheerful, and 
 fond of innocent amusements. And not- 
 withstanding his large and expensive family 
 and his scanty income, he was the most 
 generous and hospitable of men. He was 
 surrounded at his table, not only by his 
 children, but by a number of intimate 
 friends. Melancthon, Jonas, Amsdorf, and 
 others of his co-laborers, were his frequent 
 and ever welcome guests, sharing alike in 
 his toils and his pleasures. And as Luther 
 was from habit and principle uncommonly 
 abstemious, he would talk and joke and 
 laugh while the company were enjoying the 
 provisions of the table, as well as his crisp 
 
 * Fick's Life of Luther, translated by Prof. Loy. 
 
FA MIL Y. 51 
 
 humor and versatile conversation. At such 
 times, as Audin says, he would talk of phi- 
 losophy and demonology, biblical explana- 
 tions and poetry, morality and antichrist. 
 These conversations — Tischreden, Table- 
 Talk, collected by his friends — make one 
 of the most brilliant books in the world.* 
 
 The first years of Luther's married life, 
 though cheerful and happy, were not with- 
 out passing shadows of sorrow. But even 
 these afflictions, though grievous at the 
 time, afterwards yielded the peaceable fruits 
 of righteousness, and only deepened and 
 refined the affectional bonds and ministries 
 of the home -life. In 1527, his little son 
 John was attacked by the plague, which 
 had made its appearance in Saxony, and was 
 then raging in its most virulent form. In 
 a letter to Spalatin, he writes : " My little 
 favorite, John, does not salute thee, for he 
 
 *Froude's Times of Erasmus and Luther. 
 
52 FAMILY. 
 
 is still too ill to speak ; but through me he 
 solicits your prayers. For the last twelve 
 days he has not eaten a morsel. 'T is won- 
 derful to see how the poor child keeps up 
 his spirits ; he would manifestly be as gay 
 and joyous as ever, were it not for the ex- 
 cess of his physical weakness. However, 
 the crisis of his disease is now past." 
 
 Shortly after, Luther was himself attacked 
 with severe illness, evidently brought on by 
 the constant strain both of body and mind 
 which he had been called to endure for 
 many years. Recovering from a swoon 
 into which he had fallen, he turned to his 
 wife, and faintly said : " Dear Ketha, where 
 is my little darling, my little John ? " The 
 child, when brought to him, smiled upon its 
 father, who went on, speaking feebly, and 
 with tears : " My poor, dear little boy, I 
 commend thee heartily to our Lord ; thee 
 and thy good mother, my beloved Ketha. 
 
FAMILY. 53 
 
 I leave you nothing; but God, who feeds 
 the ravens, will care for you, — He who is 
 the father of the fatherless, and the widow's 
 God. Preserve them, O God! teach them' 
 as Thou hast taught me ! " 
 
 About six months after this sickness, 
 Ketha gave Luther a daughter; but her 
 stay on earth was short — like an angel's 
 visit, or a vision of the night. 
 
 "E'er sin could blight or sorrow fade, 
 Death came with friendly care ; 
 The op'ning bud to heaven conveyed, 
 And bade it blossom there." 
 
 Luther wrote to a friend : " My little 
 rosebud daughter Elizabeth is dead : 't is 
 wonderful how sick at heart her loss has 
 made me. I feel a mere woman, so great 
 is my sadness. I could never have 
 dreamed that a man's soul could be 
 touched with such tenderness, even to- 
 wards his child." 
 5* 
 
54 FAMILY. 
 
 These early shadows of affliction and 
 death in Luther's family passed away, and 
 left the home with a serener light and a 
 warmer love ; for the overshadowing cloud 
 of death, as it passed away, was radiant 
 with the bow that 
 
 " Spans the earth, and forms a pathway to the skies." 
 
 We pass now to a peculiar feature of 
 the great Reformer's domestic life, as 
 illustrated by Kcenig's picture of 
 
 LUTHER SINGING AT HOME. 
 
 It is surely not without interest to know, 
 of a great thinker or worker, a great 
 Teacher or Reformer, that there was in 
 him, over and above all his special gifts 
 and endowments of mind, a sensitiveness 
 to the power of music. This is notable in 
 the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who was 
 not only a singer himself, but urged so 
 
FAMILY. 55 
 
 lovingly upon his converts the singing of 
 " psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs ; " 
 intimating that without music their ritual 
 would be cold and dead. Yes, in Paul, no 
 less than in the greatest of his followers, 
 in Augustine, in Luther, in the Wesleys, 
 we may see a great example of the power 
 of music, and learn to acknowledge in that 
 power a great gift of God. 
 
 The artist conducts us into Luther's 
 " Chantry in the House." Surrounded by 
 his children and a few friends, he is prac- 
 tising the first evangelical church melodies. 
 The man before the music-stand, with a 
 guitar in his hand, is Walter, the Electoral 
 Chapel-Master ; on the left is the Chanter, 
 holding an open sheet of music ; on the 
 right is Mathesius, a very intimate friend. 
 
 The picture not only gives us a glimpse 
 of Luther's enjoyment of music in his 
 family, but suggests how much that intro- 
 
56 FAMILY. 
 
 duction of German church music had to 
 do with the furtherance of evangelical re- 
 ligion. Luther was not only fond of 
 music, but was really an enthusiast in this, 
 as in everything that he loved. It made 
 him a poet and hymnist, and his songs 
 were the expression of the inmost heart 
 of the German people. We find scattered 
 through his writings many fragmentary 
 and beautiful sentiments about music. 
 
 " Music is one of the noblest gifts of 
 God. It is a good antidote against 
 temptation and evil thoughts." 
 
 " Music is the best cordial to a person 
 in sadness : it soothes, quickens, and re- 
 freshes the heart." 
 
 " I have always loved music. He that is 
 skilled in this art is possessed of good 
 qualities, and can be employed in any 
 thing." 
 
FAMILY. 57 
 
 Perhaps the most significant of all his 
 passages on music is the following : 
 
 " I am fully of the opinion, and am not 
 ashamed to maintain, that, next to theol- 
 ogy, music takes the highest rank in the 
 sciences ; because it alone, after theology, 
 does that which otherwise theology alone 
 does — it soothes the mind, and renders it 
 joyful and courageous ; which is an evi- 
 dence that the evil one, the author of sad 
 cares and unquiet emotions, flees at the 
 voice of music almost as much as at the 
 voice of theology. For this reason the 
 prophets cultivated no art so much as that 
 of music, and clothed their theology, not 
 in geometry or arithmetic or astronomy, 
 but in music." 
 
 Luther made music a part of his 
 domestic enjoyments and household wor- 
 ship. John Walter says : " I have sung 
 many a delightful hour with him ; and have 
 
58 FAMILY. 
 
 often observed how our beloved friend be- 
 came more and more cheerful as we sang, 
 and was so happy that it seemed he could 
 never get enough of it. He has himself 
 composed the chants to the Epistles and 
 Gospels ; has sung them to me, and asked 
 my opinion. He kept me three weeks in 
 Wittenberg, until the first German mass 
 had been chanted in the parish church." 
 
 Mathesius relates that the Doctor sang 
 at table as well as afterwards ; and often, 
 when weary and heart-sore, he would turn 
 to his guitar or lute, and rise up refreshed 
 and strengthened for his work. Once 
 during Advent, in 1538, when he had the 
 singers at table with him, and they sang 
 some beautiful pieces, he said with deep 
 emotion: "As our Lord pours out such 
 noble gifts upon us in this life, how glorious 
 will be eternal life ! This is only materia 
 prima — the beginning." 
 
FA MIL Y. 59 
 
 Luther was never happier than when, 
 seated at his parlor - organ, the whole 
 family united with him in singing the 
 praises of God. It was like heaven on 
 earth. And sometimes after such music 
 in the family, he would say: "I love music : 
 it elevates me and makes me better, and 
 brings me nearer to the throne of God, 
 where the angels cry, Holy, holy, holy, day 
 and night." 
 
 There is a picture which represents Lu- 
 ther with his family singing their evening 
 hymn. The eldest son, John, is playing 
 the violin, as an accompaniment to the or- 
 gan, where his father is seated, whose be- 
 nignant countenance is beaming with love 
 upon his youngest boys, who are holding 
 fast by his instrument, and whose gladsome 
 hearts make their eyes sparkle with joy ; 
 whilst the serene mother, with the hymn- 
 book in her hand, bends fondly over Lu- 
 
60 FA MIL Y. 
 
 ther's chair; and her little daughters are 
 standing meekly by her side, with hands 
 clasped in silent worship. Truly, as we 
 gaze upon that home-scene, we cannot but 
 feel that " Religion never was designed to 
 make our pleasures less." 
 
 " At once they sing, at once they pray, 
 They hear of heaven and learn the way." 
 
 LUTHER AS A HYMNIST. 
 
 But wider than his home, was the in- 
 fluence of his poetry and music. Luther 
 was a poet as well as a Reformer. He 
 performed noble deeds, which are but 
 noble thoughts realized. In this view, 
 Coleridge says: " He was a poet indeed, as 
 great a poet as ever lived in any age or 
 country; but his poetic images were so vivid 
 that they mastered the poet's own mind. 
 He was possessed with them, as with sub- 
 stances distinct from himself. Luther did 
 
FAMILY. . 6 1 
 
 not write, he acted poems." Carlyle, on 
 "Luther's Psalms," says: "With words he 
 had not learned to make pure music; it 
 was by deeds of love and heroic valor that 
 he spoke freely Nevertheless, in imper- 
 fect articulation, the same voice, if we listen 
 well, is to be heard in his poems." 
 
 Luther was no doubt born a poet; but it 
 was in times of peril and tribulation that 
 the poetry in him blossomed into hymns. 
 Some men 
 
 "Are cradled into poetry by wrong, 
 And learn in suffering, what they teach in song." 
 
 So it was with Luther. We find the 
 translator and expounder and preacher of 
 the word of God giving the tone as the 
 spiritual poet of the Reformation. By the 
 adaptation of old German poems to the 
 service of the temple, and the translation 
 of Latin lyrics, as well as by his own ori- 
 
62 FAMILY. 
 
 ginal hymns, he became the Father of 
 psalmody — that beautiful blossom of Ger- 
 man Protestantism. 
 
 A small collection of his hymns was 
 first published at Wittenberg, in 1 524 ; and 
 another the year following. It was the 
 one great doctrine of salvation by faith in 
 Jesus, which he preached from the towers 
 of Erfurt, and before the Diet of Worms, 
 preached always and everywhere, woven 
 into hymns and spiritual songs, that helped 
 so wondrously the onward march of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 Others caught the spirit of Luther, and 
 became poets and singers. Not only in 
 palaces, cathedrals, and cloisters, but 
 among the common people everywhere 
 were found the friends of the Reformation. 
 Among this worthy class there was a 
 notable shoemaker — one Hans Sachs, of 
 Nuremberg. This man managed to make 
 
FA MIL Y. 63 
 
 shoes and verses at the same time. Nu- 
 remberg, his native place, was one of the 
 first cities of Germany to welcome the new 
 doctrine ; and soon Hans Sachs tuned his 
 lyre to the service of the Reformed doc- 
 trine ; and since the minstrel's song had 
 ceased in the feudal castle, no music so 
 stirred and aroused the German people as 
 his rude Christian lyrics. According to 
 Wetzel, about five thousand of his brave 
 and earnest songs went out from his hum- 
 ble workshop, while Luther was at work 
 upon the outposts of papal superstition. 
 And it would be difficult to decide whether 
 this poet of the people or the Elector of 
 Saxony, achieved the most in the great Ref- 
 ormation of the sixteenth century ; or to 
 say how much Hans Sachs, by his earnest 
 and spiritual hymns, helped Luther in his 
 sermons and Melancthon in his epistles. 
 But we have now to speak mainly of Lu- 
 
64 FA MIL Y. 
 
 ther's hymns, and what they did for him- 
 self and the Reformation. Luther's first 
 hymn, it is said, was occasioned by the 
 martyrdom of two young Christian monks, 
 who were burnt alive, at Brussels, by the 
 Sophists : 
 
 " Flung to the heedless winds, or on the waters cast, 
 Their ashes shall be watched, and gathered at the 
 
 last. 
 And from that scattered dust, around us and abroad, 
 Shall spring a plenteous seed of witnesses for God. 
 Jesus hath now received their latest living breath, 
 Yet vain is Satan's boast of victory in their death. 
 Still, still, though dead, they speak, and trumpet- 
 
 tongued proclaim, 
 To many a wakening land, the one availing Name." 
 
 This, among the hymns of Luther, is re- 
 markable for its harmonious measure and 
 poetical rhythm, and, like all his Christian 
 lyrics, is full of his fire and enthusiasm and 
 joyful trust in God. 
 
 His " Song of Praise for Redemption " 
 
FA MIL Y. 65 
 
 is remarkable as a condensed versification 
 of his " Commentary on the Galatians," or 
 as containing the essence of his own life- 
 experience. We give the first verse : 
 
 "Dear Christian people all rejoice, 
 Each soul with joy upspringing ; 
 Pour forth our song with heart and voice, 
 With love and gladness singing. 
 Give thanks to God, our Lord above, 
 Thanks for His miracle of love ! 
 Dearly He hath redeemed us ! ' ' 
 
 Luther's carol for Christmas, written for 
 his own child Hans, is still sung from the 
 dome of the Kreuz-Kirche, in Dresden, be- 
 fore daybreak on the morning of Christ- 
 mas-day. " It refers to the custom, then 
 and long afterwards prevalent in Germany, 
 of making, at Christmas-time, represen- 
 tations of the manger with the infant 
 Jesus."* 
 
 Fut the most famous of all his hymns is 
 
 * Evenings with the Sacred Poets, p. 98. 
 6* E 
 
66 FA MIL Y. 
 
 his noble version of Psalm XL VI,, "Ein 
 Feste burg ist wiser Gott" which may be 
 called the national hymn of Protestant 
 Germany. One cannot speak of German 
 Psalmody, or rightly appreciate Luther, 
 without this grand poem, in which his heroic 
 spirit unconsciously shines forth in ideal 
 and inimitable grandeur. " Ein Feste 
 burg" it is said, was composed by Luther 
 on his way to Worms, and is a regular 
 battle-song. Heine says : " The old cathe- 
 dral trembled when it heard these novel 
 sounds; the very rooks flew from their 
 nests on its towers. That hymn, the Mar- 
 seillaise of the Reformation, has preserved 
 to the present day its potent spell over 
 German hearts, and we may yet hear it 
 thundered forth." * 
 
 Of the many translations of this memo- 
 rable hymn, we select the following from 
 
 * Heine, in the Revue de Deux Mondes, 1834. 
 
FA MILY. 67 
 
 the Church Book, as sufficiently literal, 
 whilst it retains much of the grand rhythm 
 of the original, and is, moreover, adapted 
 to the music composed by Luther. The 
 music is as soul-stirring as the hymn ; and 
 the two are so united by a common birth, 
 sympathy and historical association, that 
 they ought never to be separated. 
 
 LUTHER'S GREAT HYMN. 
 
 " A mighty Fortress is our God, 
 A trusty shield and weapon ; 
 He helps us free from every need 
 That hath us now o'ertaken. 
 The old bitter foe 
 Means us deadly woe ; 
 Deep guile and great might 
 Are his dread arms in fight, 
 On earth is not his equal. 
 
 "With might of ours can naught be done, 
 Soon were our loss effected ; 
 But for us fights the Valiant One 
 Whom God himself elected. 
 
68 FA MIL Y. 
 
 Ask ye, who is this ? 
 
 Jesus Christ it is, 
 Of Sabaoth Lord, 
 And there 's none other God, 
 He holds the field forever. 
 
 " Though devils all the world should fill, 
 All watching to devour us, 
 We tremble not, we fear no ill, 
 They cannot overpower us. 
 
 This world's prince may still 
 Scowl fierce as he will, 
 He can harm us none. 
 He 's judged, the deed is done, 
 One little word o'erthrows him. 
 
 " The Word they still shall let remain, 
 And not a thank have for it ; 
 He 's by our side upon the plain, 
 With his good gifts and spirit. 
 Take they then our life, 
 Goods, fame, child and wife ; 
 When their worst is done, 
 They yet have nothing won : 
 The Kingdom ours remaineth." 
 
 Of this hymn, Carlyle says in his own 
 peculiar way : " It jars upon our ears ; yet 
 is there something in it like the sound of 
 
FAMILY. 69 
 
 Alpine avalanches, or the first murmur of 
 earthquakes ; in the very vastness of which 
 dissonance a higher unison is revealed to 
 us. Luther wrote this song in a time of 
 blackest threatenings, — which, however, 
 could in nowise become a time of despair. 
 ... It is evident enough that to this man all 
 Popes' conclaves and imperial Diets, and 
 hosts and nations were but weak ; weak as 
 the forest, with all its strong trees, may be 
 to the smallest spark of electric fire!' 
 
 It has been justly called the battle-hymn 
 of the Church, and the paean of the Ref- 
 ormation, for it was a song of inspiration 
 and power to Luther and others in the 
 darkest days of the Church. On the 1 6th 
 of April, as Luther approached Worms, 
 and the old bell-towers rose to view, he 
 stood up in his chariot, and began to sing 
 this soul-stirring hymn. One day, when 
 Melancthon was at Weimar, he heard a 
 
70 FAMILY. 
 
 little child sing this hymn in the street, and 
 confessed how it had comforted him. It 
 was sung by Gustavus Adolphus for the 
 last time on the battle-field of Lutzen, 
 where the pious king of Sweden fell, nobly 
 fighting for God and his country. It was 
 sung by the camp-fires and before many a 
 battle in the recent Prussian war, and with 
 all the fire and enthusiasm of the times of 
 Luther. Some one asked the Elector 
 Frederick why he did not build fortifica- 
 tions in his country. He answered : " Ein 
 Feste Burg ist unser Gott." It was this 
 hymn that was sung in sorrow and tears 
 over Luther's grave, and its first line was 
 inscribed upon his tomb. 
 
 Coleridge says " that Luther did as much 
 for the Reformation by his hymns as by 
 his translation of the Bible." This per- 
 haps is a little too strong ; but it must be 
 evident that the influence of his hymns 
 
FAMILY. 71 
 
 was mighty and extensive in moulding 
 popular sentiment, and uniting men in the 
 common faith of Protestantism, who knew 
 little of Creeds and Articles. They were 
 to Luther himself a means of inspiration: 
 and strength in the stormy conflict through: 
 which he was called to pass, and a cheer- 
 ing, heavenly enjoyment in his family. 
 We have alluded to the singing of Ein 
 Feste Burg as he entered Worms. We 
 give one other instance of his singing in 
 time of trouble. During the Diet of Augs- 
 burg, in 1530, Luther's mental anxiety so 
 overcame his bodily strength, that he 
 fainted ; on recovering, he said, " Come, 
 let us defy the devil, and praise God, by 
 singing the hymn, Out of the depths, I cry to 
 Thee." This hymn has been sung by thous- 
 ands of believers in times of sickness and 
 sorrow. It was sung in the cathedral of 
 Wittenberg at Luther's funeral. In the very 
 
72 FAMILY. 
 
 church, upon whose doors he had nailed 
 his Theses, his sorrowing friends sang 
 this hymn that had so stirred all Germany. 
 It is said to have been the last Protestant 
 hymn sung in the Strasbourg Cathedral. 
 
 It is not possible to estimate how much 
 the hymns of Luther advanced the cause 
 of the Reformation. The common people 
 of Germany caught up these songs, so full 
 of strong scriptural words, and sang them 
 with all their hearts : so that it has been 
 truly said that the hymns of Germany be- 
 came her national liturgy. And then, un- 
 like the idle listening to a dry and heartless 
 litany, the people were able to understand 
 the deep spiritual meaning of these hymns, 
 so respondent to their soul experiences 
 and holiest aspirations. No wonder it is 
 said in the history of those times, that the 
 children learned Luther's hymns in the cot- 
 tage, and martyrs sang them on the scaf- 
 
FAMILY. 73 
 
 fold. And no wonder that the Romanists 
 hated these hymns almost as much as an 
 open Bible, for they helped on the spread 
 of the evangelical Church. Hence, a Ro- 
 man Catholic writer says : " The hymns of 
 Luther have ruined more souls than all his 
 writings and sermons." 
 
 It is curious and suggestive to note how 
 the Reformation went on its way, not only 
 singing, but by singing. It is said that the 
 Reformation was introduced into the city 
 of Hanover, not by preachers or by books, 
 but by the hymns of Luther which were 
 sung among the people. It is reported that 
 hundreds, who otherwise would never have 
 heard the name of Luther, were brought to 
 the true faith by means of that single hymn, 
 " Nunfreut etcck, Hebe Christengemein!' 
 
 Selnecker relates that several of these 
 hymns having been introduced into the 
 chapel-service of the Duke Henry of Wolf- 
 
 7 
 
74 FA MIL Y. 
 
 enbiittle, a priest made complaint. The 
 duke asked what hymns he objected to. 
 " May it please your highness, they are 
 such as, 'Oh, that the Lord would gracious 
 be ! ' " " Hold ! " replied the duke ; " must 
 the devil, then, be gracious ? Whose grace 
 are we to seek, if not that of God only ? " 
 It is hardly necessary to add that the hymns 
 continued to be sung in the chapel. 
 
 In 1529, a Romish priest preached at 
 Lubeck, and just as he ended his homily, 
 two boys struck up the hymn of Luther, 
 " O God, from heaven now behold ! " when 
 the whole assembly joined as with one 
 voice ; and this was repeated whenever any 
 one spake against the evangelical Church.* 
 
 Something like this occurred at Heidel- 
 berg. " On one occasion, a priest was 
 about to begin the service, standing at the 
 high altar, when a single voice led off the 
 
 * Evenings with the Poets, page 101. 
 
 
FAMILY. 75 
 
 beginning of the famous hymn of Paul 
 Speratus, ' Es ist das Heil uns kommen her! 
 The vast congregation immediately joined ; 
 and the elector, taking this as a sufficient 
 suffrage of his people, proceeded to intro- 
 duce the communion in both kinds ; for, 
 hitherto, Frederick, from fear of the empe- 
 ror, had delayed suppressing the mass. It 
 was Luther's hymns and tunes combined 
 that did the work." * 
 
 A very curious incident is related of that 
 remarkable hymn, which seemed to embody 
 in verse the religious experience of Luther, 
 " Song of praise for redeeming love," and 
 which begins, 
 
 "Dear Christian people, all rejoice, 
 Each soul with joy upspringing ; 
 Pour forth your song with heart and voice, 
 With love and gladness singing. ' ' 
 
 It is said that in 1557, a convention of 
 
 * Evenings with the Poets, page 102. 
 
7 6 FA MIL Y. 
 
 princes of the reformed religion, at Frank- 
 fort, wished to introduce a Protestant ser- 
 vice in the Church of St. Bartholomew. A 
 large assembly was present ; but the pulpit 
 was occupied by a priest, who proceeded 
 to set forth the peculiar doctrines of the 
 Romish Church. For a time the people 
 listened in sullen silence ; but at last the 
 whole congregation rose and began to sing 
 this hymn, till they fairly sang the priest 
 out of the church. 
 
 In these fragmentary allusions to the 
 hymns of Luther, as sung by people of 
 every class, not only in schools and churches, 
 but in the markets and fields, the streets 
 and homes of Germany, we cannot fail to 
 see how mighty must have been their influ- 
 ence upon the masses in advancing the 
 cause of the Reformation. And then it 
 was not only what Luther himself did in 
 psalmody, but what he inspired others to 
 
FA MIL Y. 77 
 
 do, who caught his spirit, embraced his 
 doctrines, and tuned their lyres in the ser- 
 vice of Protestantism. Wetzel, in 1 718, 
 estimated the printed German hymns at 
 fifty-five thousand, of which sacred lyrics, 
 Hans Sachs alone wrote about five thous- 
 and. It may not, therefore, be too much 
 for Coleridge to say that Luther did as 
 much for the Reformation by his hymns as 
 by his translation of the Bible. For after 
 all, these hymns contained the substance of 
 God's truth, in Luther's strong, scriptural, 
 Saxon words, and dropped in music into 
 the hearts of the people, as dew melts into 
 the heart of a flower. 
 
 We cannot better close this chapter of 
 Luther's home-life than by commending to 
 all Christians his practice of singing hymns. 
 " Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
 richly, in all wisdom ; teaching and admon- 
 ishing one another in psalms and hymns 
 
yS FA MIL Y. 
 
 and spiritual songs, singing with grace in 
 your hearts to the Lord." 
 
 Let every Christian sing. It will keep 
 warm in his heart the love of Jesus, and 
 diffuse a heavenly peace through the soul. 
 And especially should Christians sing in 
 times of depression and sorrow. So did 
 Jesus. In that memorable night in which 
 Christ and his disciples went out to the 
 garden, they sang a hymn. Before Jesus 
 were the agony and the cross and Calvary; 
 before the apostles was the sad thought of 
 separation : and yet they sang, not some 
 mournful song, but a hymn of praise and 
 exultation, such as, "The Lord is my 
 strength and my song, and is become my 
 salvation." 
 
 So Luther, whenever the sky was dark 
 and threatening, would say, Come, let us 
 sing the forty-sixth Psalm. As he ap- 
 proached Worms, as already mentioned, 
 
 
FA MIL Y. 79 
 
 he rose in his chariot, and sang Ein Feste 
 Burg ist unser Gott. During the Diet of 
 Augsburg, when fainting with mental anxi- 
 ety, he said, " Let us praise God by sing- 
 ing the hymn, ' Out of the depths I cry to 
 Thee.' " And so should any Christian, when 
 sad and despondent, sing hymns of praise. 
 It will calm the troubled soul and soothe 
 the aching heart. He will go forth with a 
 firmer step and a more hopeful spirit to his 
 Gethsemane and Calvary, if he goes sing- 
 ing, " Why art thou cast down, oh my soul ? 
 and why art thou disquieted within me? hope 
 thou in God ; for I shall yet praise Him, who 
 is the health of my countenance and my 
 God." 
 
 Let Christians, like Luther, sing in the 
 family. It will quicken the social virtues, 
 deepen the home affections, and beautify 
 the household with peace and harmony. 
 One of the sweetest memories of a Chris- 
 
80 FA MIL Y. 
 
 tian home is the recollection of the hymns 
 and music of family worship. 
 
 In Kcenig's picture, we see Luther exer- 
 cising himself and family in the first evan- 
 gelical church melodies. He was specially 
 concerned for the training of children in 
 singing church music. In the preface to his 
 first collection of hymns, he says : " These 
 hymns are set to music in four parts, for no 
 other reason than that the young people, 
 who ought at all events to be instructed in 
 music and other proper arts, might be rid 
 of their silly songs, and, instead, have 
 something good and useful as becometh 
 the young. I should be glad to see all arts, 
 and especially music, employed in the ser- 
 vice of God." Not only did Luther teach 
 his own children music, but insisted upon its 
 being taught in the schools of the Church. 
 "A school-master must be able to sing, 
 otherwise I will have nothing to do with 
 him." 
 
FAMILY 8 1 
 
 It would be well for Christians of our 
 day to follow the example of Luther in this 
 peculiarity of his home-life. Let there be 
 music in the family. The singing of 
 hymns is one of the most eminent ways in 
 which the household can have a conscious 
 presence of Jesus, and realize the sweet 
 unity of peace and love. Let the children 
 learn to sing. The spring-time of life, 
 like that of nature, may fitly begin with 
 song. The hymns of the Church sung by 
 the child are woven into the creed of the 
 man. The great doctrines of Christianity 
 liquefied by song, may flow into the young 
 heart by hymns, and abide there as " a well 
 of water, springing up 'into everlasting 
 life. ,, Many a child has found Jesus in the 
 words and music of a Christian hymn. 
 The sweet invitation of the Saviour, Suffei" 
 little children to come unto me, has been 
 sung into the young heart, and touched it 
 
82 FA MIL Y. 
 
 with a responsive love and consecration. 
 How beautiful the story of the little girl 
 thus brought to Jesus, who, as she lay 
 in her last sickness, looked up to her mo- 
 ther with a hopeful smile, and grasping her 
 hand, said : " Mother, sing to me of 
 heaven ! " These words of the dying 
 child have been thus versified for the 
 young by an American poet: 
 
 " Oh, sing to me of heaven, when I am called to die ! 
 Sing songs of holy ecstasy to waft my soul on high. 
 Then to my raptured ears let one sweet song be 
 
 given ; 
 Let music charm me last on earth, and greet me 
 
 first in heaven ! ' ' 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS 
 FAMILY. 
 
 83 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 N Kcenig's pictured life of Luther, 
 there is a domestic garden-scene, 
 in which the great Reformer appears with 
 his family, encompassed with the fruits and 
 flowers of summer. The artist's work 
 would have been incomplete without this 
 beautiful memorial of Luther ; for his 
 heart ever opened in the free air, in the 
 sights and shows of the passing seasons ; 
 and to his poetical fancy nature was full 
 of symbols and spiritual suggestions. 
 
 "The picture shows him in the enjoy- 
 ment of all that imparts delight to summer, 
 8 85 
 
86 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 with his household and his most familiar 
 friends about him. It is a charming scene 
 of innocent festivity which the artist here 
 brings before the eye. Under a trellis, 
 mantled with vines loaded with rich clus- 
 ters of grapes, the party is assembled at 
 sunset. Luther holds out his hands to his 
 youngest child, who, by the aid of his mo- 
 ther, is tottering towards his father, with a 
 bunch of grapes weighing down his little 
 hands. The oldest boy, mounted on a light 
 ladder, hands down the grapes, which 
 Madeleine receives in her apron. The 
 third boy is bringing to his father a cluster 
 remarkable for its size ; the second son is 
 playing with the dog — perhaps that very 
 dog which Luther said had ' looked upon 
 many books.' The ground is covered 
 with melons. One of Luther's friends 
 plays upon the flute, another sketches a 
 basket of beautiful fruit ; two of them sit 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 87 
 
 beneath the arbor, and two others wander 
 about the garden in friendly converse. 
 Through an arch in the wall, the river is 
 seen winding gently along, under the last 
 rays of the declining sun. What a change 
 from the time of scourging before the 
 crucifix ! "* 
 
 This is a fine description of the beautiful 
 picture ; but the young reader may want to 
 know something more about the dog, which 
 seems to look so intently, and with such a 
 sober face, at that large bunch of grapes 
 which the third boy is showing to his fa- 
 ther. There is a sad and oldish look 
 about his face ; and we are disposed to be- 
 lieve that he is the same dog which Luther 
 brought with him from Wartburg, as a gift 
 from the keeper of the castle, and that 
 died of old age, after fifteen years spent at 
 his master's feet, where he was wont to re- 
 
 * Dr. Krauth's Conservative Reformation, page 34. 
 
88 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 pose while Luther was writing. Hence, 
 Luther said, in allusion to the theologians 
 who boasted of having seen so many books: 
 " Aye, and my dog also has seen many 
 books, — more, probably, than Faber him- 
 self, who has nothing in his mouth but Fa- 
 thers and councils. I know that Faber has 
 seen many books : I do not envy him his 
 glory." 
 
 It was a happy idea of the artist to pic- 
 ture this domestic garden-scene of Luther's 
 summer joys with his family, for it gives us 
 at once a glimpse of the great Reformer in 
 his love of home, of children, of nature and 
 flowers. He was both a poet and a phi- 
 losopher. Some one says of Hume, that 
 he could fetch you the leg of a metaphysi- 
 cal notion from the Central Africa of Duns 
 Scotus or Thomas Aquinas in the twinkling 
 of an eye ; but he seems never to have 
 gone out of his closet long enough to see 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 89 
 
 what there was in nature, or whether there 
 was any such thing as nature at all." * 
 Not so with Luther. He was as great a 
 lover of nature as he was of music and 
 poetry. He looked upon all natural ob- 
 jects with a poetic eye r and to his imagi- 
 nation the outer world was full of beautiful 
 symbols and spiritual suggestions. 
 
 "And so the very flowers seemed silent hymns,. 
 And by their aspect of persuasive bloom 
 Remind him oft of Eden, long no more ; 
 Or bid him muse on what the world may be 
 When second paradise again shall dawn." f" 
 
 Doubtless botany has its value ; but the 
 flowers knew how to preach divinity before 
 men knew how to dissect and botanize them ; 
 for long before botany as a science was 
 dreamed of, Luther had divined the prin- 
 ciple of vegetable life. He said: "The 
 principle of marriage runs through all cre- 
 
 * Hudson's Lectures on Shakspeare. 
 f Luther : A Poem. By Robert Montgomery. 
 8* 
 
90 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 ation, and flowers as well as animals are 
 male and female." But he loved nature 
 more as a poet than as a scientist, as is 
 manifest from his many poetical sentiments 
 about nature, and his rare enjoyment of the 
 garden and all natural objects ; for poetry 
 is but the true and the good seen under the 
 aspect of the beautiful. And so to Luther 
 often the commonest thing becomes an 
 Aaron's rod, and buds and blossoms out 
 into poetry ; and in this respect he was like 
 Burns, to whom the sight of a mountain 
 daisy unsealed the fountains of his nature, 
 and who embalmed the " bonny gem" in the 
 beauty of his spirit. 
 
 The summer-garden sometimes drew 
 from him a strain of sentiment and feeling 
 as beautiful as a finished piece of poetry. 
 One day, in early spring, as he was watch- 
 ing the swelling buds, he exclaimed : 
 
 " Praise be to God the Creator, who out 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 9 1 
 
 of a dead world makes all alive again. See 
 those shoots, how they sprout and swell ! 
 Image of the resurrection of the dead ! 
 Winter is death ; summer is the resurrec- 
 tion. Between them lie spring and autumn, 
 as the period of uncertainty and change. 
 The proverb says : 
 
 ' Trust not a day 
 Ere birth of May.' 
 
 Let us pray our Father in heaven to give 
 us this day our daily bread." 
 
 At another time he said : " We are in the 
 dawn ol a new era ; we are beginning to 
 think something of the natural world which 
 was ruined in Adam's fall. We are learn- 
 ing to see all around us the greatness and 
 glory of the Creator. We can see the 
 Almighty hand, the infinite goodness, in the 
 humblest flower. We praise Him, we glo- 
 rify Him ; we recognize in creation the 
 
92 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 power of his word. He spoke, and it was 
 there. The stone of the peach is hard; but 
 the soft kernel swells, and bursts it when 
 the time comes. An egg — what a thing is 
 that ! If an egg had never been seen in 
 Europe, and a traveller had brought one 
 from Calcutta, how would the world have 
 wondered ! " 
 
 And again : " If a man could make a sin- 
 gle rose, we should give him an empire ; 
 yet roses, and flowers no less beautiful, are 
 scattered in profusion over the world, and 
 no one regards them." * 
 
 In writing to his friend Link, at Nurem- 
 berg, he asks him to send him seeds for 
 the garden, and says: "If Satan and his 
 imps rave and roar, I shall laugh at him, 
 and admire and enjoy, to the Creator's 
 praise, God's blessings in the garden." On 
 another occasion, he wrote to Spalatin : " I 
 
 * Froude's Times of Erasmus and Luther. 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH BIS FAMILY. 93 
 
 have planted my garden, and made a foun- 
 tain in the centre of it. Come and see us, 
 and you shall be crowned with lilies and 
 roses." When the seeds sent him by his 
 old friend Link began to sprout, he wrote 
 to him, with the simple joy of a child : " My 
 melons are growing; my gourds are filling 
 up. What a blessing ! " 
 
 Luther had a pure, sanctified poetical 
 feeling, sensitive to every phase of natural 
 beauty; and to this inner, spiritual vision 
 the world was full of symbols and suggest- 
 ions of divine things. Once, he looks out 
 from his solitary Patmos, the castle of Co- 
 burg, in the middle of the night ; the great 
 vault of immensity, long flights of clouds 
 sailing through it, — dumb, gaunt, huge; 
 who supports all that? None ever saw 
 the pillars of it ; yet it is supported. God 
 supports it. We must know that God is 
 great, that God is good, and trust where 
 
94 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 we cannot see. Returning home from 
 Leipsic once, he is struck by the beauty of 
 the harvest-fields. How it stands, that 
 golden, yellow corn, on its fair taper stem, 
 its golden head bent, all rich and waving 
 there ! the meek earth, at God's bidding, 
 has produced it once again — the bread of 
 man.* 
 
 It is said of Linnaeus, that he sometimes 
 studied the flowers on his knees. So did 
 Luther. We are told that he often knelt 
 down to admire them more closely. "Poor 
 violet," he would say ; " what a perfume you 
 exhale ! It would, however, be still more 
 agreeable if Adam had not sinned. Oh, 
 rose, how I admire your colors, which would 
 be still more brilliant had it not been for 
 the sin of the first man ! How thy beauty, 
 O lily, effaces that of the princes of the 
 world ! What, then, would it be, if Adam 
 
 * Spiritual Portrait of Luther, by Thomas Carlyle, page 216. 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 95 
 
 had not disobeyed his Creator ? " He be- 
 lieved that after Adam's fall God deprived 
 the earth of a portion of the gifts he had 
 first imparted to it. " Nature, however," 
 said he, " has not been niggardly towards 
 man. The murmuring of rivulets, the odor 
 of flowers, the breath of winds, and the 
 rustling of leaves, are made so many hymns 
 chanted to the Creators praise ; whereas 
 man forgets Him altogether since his sin ! 
 Oh ! man, how great would have been your 
 happiness had not Adam sinned ! You 
 would have seen and admired God in all 
 His works ; and the smallest flower or plant 
 would have been for you the exhaustless 
 source of meditation on. the goodness and 
 magnificence of Him who created the world. 
 If God has made the rocks bud forth such 
 flowers, with such sweet perfume, and such 
 brilliant colors that no painter can success- 
 fully imitate them, what endless variety of 
 
g6 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 flowers, of all colors, — blue, yellow, red, — 
 could not He produce from the earth ? " * 
 
 Luther had little sympathy or patience 
 with men who were insensible to the beau- 
 ties of nature. He once said : " Poor Eras- 
 mus, what do you care how the fruit is 
 formed, matured, or developed. You know 
 nothing of the beauty or grandeur of cre- 
 ation. . . . Tell Erasmus to admire these 
 wonders ; but they are above his capacity. 
 He looks on creatures as a calf looks at a 
 new door." f 
 
 DOMESTIC GARDEN-SCENE. 
 
 In Kcenig's picture, we see Luther and 
 his family and a few friends in the social 
 enjoyments of summer. He is himself a 
 child among the flowers and the children. 
 He forgets all his troubles in the innocent 
 
 * Life of Martin Luther, by Audin, 368. 
 
 f Siehet cr die Creaturen an, wie die Kiihe em Neuthor. 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. $? 
 
 pleasures of the garden, into which he en- 
 ters with such uncommon zest and merri- 
 ment. It is said of Dr. Chalmers, that in 
 the darkest hours of the Free Church of 
 Scotland, he would say to his children, 
 " Come, let us go out and play ball or fly 
 the kite ; " and often in the sport the children 
 could not keep up with the father. So, in 
 times of the greatest anxiety and suspense, 
 when the whole future of the Reformation 
 work seemed trembling in the balance, Lu- 
 ther would turn to his children. As an in- 
 stance of this, and as opening a window 
 into the great man's heart in this garden- 
 scene, we give here, as the most fitting 
 place, his letter to his little son John. It 
 reveals his love and sympathy for his chil- 
 dren, even in the most troublous times. It 
 is one of the most beautiful pages in the 
 life of Luther. He was confined in the 
 castle of Coburg while the Imperial Diet 
 9 g 
 
98 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 at Augsburg was in session, before which 
 the Reformed Confession was about to be 
 presented. Walking one day in Coburg, 
 he stopped before a toy-shop, and was over- 
 come with tender thoughts of home and his 
 little son. On returning to the castle, he 
 laid aside the second Psalm, which he was 
 translating into German, and took up his 
 pen and wrote this beautiful letter to his 
 son John, then four years old : 
 
 " Grace and peace in Christ, my dear 
 little son. I am very glad to know that 
 you learn your lessons well and love to 
 say your prayers. Keep on doing so, my 
 little boy, and when I come home, I will 
 bring you something pretty from the fair. 
 I know of a beautiful garden, where there 
 are a great many children in fine little 
 coats, and they go under the trees and 
 gather beautiful apples and pears, cherries 
 and plums ; they sing, and run about, and 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 99 
 
 are as happy as they can be. Sometimes 
 they ride about on nice little ponies, with 
 golden bridles and silver saddles. I asked 
 the man whose garden it is, What little chil- 
 dren are these? And he told me, They 
 are little children who love to pray and 
 learn, and are good. Then I said: My 
 dear sir, I have a little boy at home; his 
 name is little Hans Luther ; would you let 
 him come into the garden, too, to eat some 
 of these nice apples and pears, and ride on 
 these fine little ponies, and play with these 
 children? The man said: If he loves to 
 say his prayers, and learn his lesson, and 
 is a good boy, he may come. And Philip 
 and Jocelin may come too ; and when they 
 are all together, they can play on the fife 
 and drum and lute and all kinds of instru- 
 ments, and skip about, and shoot with little 
 cross-bows. He then showed me a beau- 
 tiful mossy place in the middle of the gar- 
 
I OO S UMME R JOYS WI TH HIS FA MIL Y 
 
 den, for them to skip about in, with a great 
 many golden fifes and drums, and silver 
 cross-bows. The children had not yet had 
 their dinner, and I could not wait to see 
 them play, but I said to the man : My dear 
 sir, I will go away and write all about it to 
 my little son, John, and tell him to be fond 
 of saying his prayers, and learn much, and 
 be good, so that he may come into this 
 garden ; but he has a Cousin Lehne, whom 
 he must bring along with him. The man 
 said, Very well ; go write to him. Now, my 
 dear little son, love your lessons and your 
 prayers, and tell Philip and Jocelin to do 
 so too, that you may all come to the gar- 
 den. May God bless you. Give Cousin 
 Lehne my love, and kiss her for me." 
 
 This simple and touching letter opens 
 another window in the heart of Luther, 
 and illumines this loving family gathering 
 in the garden. The picture shows us only 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. IOI 
 
 one of the many garden-scenes in his life. 
 The neat little parlor, with its windows 
 shaded by vines instead of silken drapery, 
 opened into a garden where Catharine and 
 Luther often walked in pleasant converse. 
 At one time you might see him working in 
 his garden, going to the fountain to get 
 water for his flower-plots, and as proud of 
 his blooming shrubbery almost as of his 
 translation of the New Testament. Pfizer 
 says : " He loved his garden so much be- 
 cause, when assailed by the devil, he could 
 take up the spade, and thus laughing in his 
 sleeve at Satan, escape from him among 
 flowers." * At another time, Catharine 
 would pluck a branch loaded with cher- 
 ries, and put it upon his table in primitive 
 simplicity ; or she would treat him with a 
 mess of fish from his own little pond in the 
 garden ; and such little attentions of deli- 
 
 * Gustav. Pfizer. 
 
102 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 cate kindness, not only gave her so much 
 innocent pleasure, but awakened in him 
 feelings of grateful love, and sent his 
 thoughts singing to the Father of mercies 
 and fountain of all good. 
 
 One beautiful spring day, Luther and 
 Catharine were walking in the garden for 
 some time, in silent admiration of the blos- 
 soming trees and new-born flowers, and in 
 quiet enjoyment of the sweetness and 
 beauty of the scene, when Luther sud- 
 denly exclaimed : " Glory to God, who calls 
 all nature to new life ! See those trees ! 
 they are already filled with fruit. What a 
 striking image of the resurrection. Look 
 at this flower ; it was broken at the stem 
 last August. When all other flowers are 
 withered, this is fresh and fair, and there- 
 fore it is called amaranthus, and in winter 
 people make garlands of it. So is God's 
 word ; it will never lose its freshness, never 
 wither nor decay." 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. IO3 
 
 One evening, about sunset, he saw a 
 little bird perched upon a tree, and settling 
 itself for the night. "That little bird," 
 said he, "has chosen its place of rest; 
 above it are the stars and deep heaven of 
 worlds, yet it has folded its little wings ; 
 gone trustfully to rest there as in its home, 
 and leaves God to think of its to-morrow." 
 
 A little bird once built itself a nest in his 
 garden. Sometimes the passers-by would 
 frighten it away. Seeing this, the Doctor 
 would say: "Ah, dear little bird, do not 
 flee ; from my heart I wish thee no harm, 
 if thou couldst but believe me. So we 
 often do not trust in God, who, so far from 
 doing us any evil, has given us everything, 
 even his own Son." 
 
 Luther had a peculiarly scriptural and 
 illustrative way of speaking to his family, 
 turning the every-day things of life to re- 
 ligious uses and ends. One evening, as 
 
104 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 the cows were returning from pasture, he 
 said : " Behold ! there go our preachers ; 
 there are our milk-bearers, butter-bearers, 
 cheese- and wool-bearers, which do daily 
 preach to us faith towards God, that we 
 should trust in Him as our loving Father, 
 who careth for us, and will maintain and 
 nourish us." Playing with one of his chil- 
 dren, who was full of the gayety and sports 
 of childhood, he said : " Thou art the inno- 
 cent little simpleton of our Lord, under 
 grace, and not under the law. Thou hast 
 no fear and no anxiety ; all that thou doest 
 is well done. We old simpletons torment 
 ourselves by endless disputes upon the 
 Word. We ought to follow the example 
 of little children, and simply trust the word 
 of the Lord." One day, looking at little 
 Martin playing with his dog, he said : " This 
 boy preacheth God's words by his deeds 
 and acts ; for God saith : ' Have dominion 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 105 
 
 over the fishes of the sea and over the. 
 beasts of the field.' See how the dog 
 putteth up with everything from him." 
 
 Luther with his children in the garden 
 turned its very beauty into a ministry of 
 spiritual culture and refinement, getting les- 
 sons of trust and simplicity for the children 
 from the birds and the flowers ; making the 
 garden, so fresh and musical about them, 
 suggestive of something yet more beauti- 
 ful to come. And so, even to the children, 
 with the blue sky bending over them as if 
 in silent benediction, the summer-garden 
 became the symbol of a sunnier and hap- 
 pier paradise. 
 
 One day his children were admiring the 
 color of a peach, then a rare fruit, of which 
 Luther had received a present. " Look 
 you, my children," said the Doctor ; " this is 
 but a feeble image of what you may one 
 day see on high. Before their fall, Adam 
 
106 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 and Eve had peaches as beautiful as this, 
 and even more so, compared with which 
 our peaches are but wild pears." In this 
 delicate and somewhat sentimental way he 
 turned the thoughts of the children, in sym- 
 pathy with his own, to the bright future of 
 this world. He gave them to understand 
 that what they so much admired in the 
 beauty of the flowers and the song of the 
 birds and the glory of the summer sky, was 
 but a faint aurora of the new heavens and 
 the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 In this way Luther set his home-life on 
 earth in spiritual and hopeful sympathy 
 with the home in heaven. The old Romans 
 held the face of the new-born child to the 
 stars, indicating by the touching supersti- 
 tion that it was destined to a higher life be- 
 yond the skies. Luther, in his family reli- 
 gion, gave the true expression to that dim 
 
SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 107 
 
 pagan yearning, in the baptismal welcome 
 and Christian consecration of the child ; 
 embosoming the young immortal in the 
 love of God, surrounding it with all that is 
 pure and beautiful in nature and art, and 
 stimulating its spiritual development by the 
 genial and sunny atmosphere of a cheerful 
 household piety, so that the child, under 
 such warm and heavenly ministries, might 
 grow in the nurture of the Lord, and open 
 its heart to heaven as naturally as the flower 
 opens its beauty to the sun. And such a 
 genial, happy Christian home becomes a 
 living and sanctifying memory, so that the 
 child in all the after-life will look back to it 
 with the sentiment — 
 
 "The thought of those first years in me doth breed 
 Perpetual benediction." 
 
 Luther, in his summer joys with his family 
 in the garden, gave to Germany and to all 
 
108 SUMMER JOYS WITH HIS FAMILY. 
 
 lands the true ideal type of a cheerful, 
 happy, Christian home. And if we take 
 with us through life the memory and influ- 
 ence of our early years, how important that 
 the home of childhood should be one of 
 beauty and culture and refinement, of inno- 
 cent pleasure and cheerful hope, sanctified 
 by the word of God and prayer ; so that 
 the youth and the man, even to old age, 
 may live in the past, the soul's first ideal, 
 and bless Heaven 
 
 ['.... for those first affections, 
 Those shadowy recollections 
 Which, be they what they may, 
 Are yet the fountain light of all our day. ' ' 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 109 
 

WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 m 
 
 E pass from that summer garden- 
 scene to the winter fireside. And 
 to a man like Luther, full of sympathy with 
 nature in her ever-varying moods and sea- 
 sons, winter would bring its own pleasures 
 as well as summer. Winter is specially 
 the season for home-joys, as it is for mental 
 development and progress. Our own Pres- 
 cott has said, in his peculiar way, " I think 
 better of snow-storms since I find that, 
 though they keep a man's body indoors, 
 they bring his mind out." And while it is 
 true that the soil is more fruitful as you 
 approach the tropics, what is taken out of 
 
 in 
 
112 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 the land is put into the man as you touch 
 the snow. And winter, outwardly so cold 
 and ungenial, has its own peculiar blessings, 
 especially for the family. It develops and 
 strengthens the social affections. The 
 frowning face of nature, like the dark 
 cloud of adversity, lends a charm to all 
 the inner life, and augments the sympa- 
 thies and pleasures of home. 
 
 From what we have seen of Luther in 
 the garden, we can easily fancy how he 
 would gather the family more closely and 
 lovingly about the fireside, and sit in the 
 warm light of a winter evening; and how, 
 as he listens to the cold bleak winds, he 
 would feel his heart warmed with grateful 
 praise for his mercies, and touched with 
 pity for the poor and needy. Perhaps, as 
 the snow falls and beats about the home, 
 and his heart grows tender in its thankful- 
 ness, and reaches out into the dreary storm, 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 113 
 
 he would think of the little bird which he 
 saw going to sleep on a tree in his summer- 
 garden, and wonder what has become of it ; 
 and, if not in the words, yet with the feel- 
 ings of Burns, he might say : 
 
 "Ilk happing bird, wee, helpless thing, 
 That in the merry month o' spring 
 Delighted us to hear thee sing, — 
 
 What comes o' thee ? 
 Whaur wilt thou cower thy chittering wing, 
 
 And close thy ee ? " 
 
 At all events, we think it likely Luther 
 would moralize about the things of winter 
 as he did in the summer-garden. The snow- 
 flakes would send his thoughts heavenward, 
 whence the wonder came ; and it would be 
 natural for one so poetical to see in them 
 a beautiful testimony to the Sermon on the 
 Mount, and, by a natural suggestion, to ex- 
 tend Christ's great lesson of summer into 
 winter. He might not consider the snow- 
 
 10* H 
 
114 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 flakes as so many regular crystals, shaped 
 with the most delicate art into hexagons, — 
 clustered foliage of interlacing network,— 
 but looking at the snow, as it robes the 
 fields, to keep warm the seeds and germs 
 of the coming spring, and how softly this 
 winter robe, woven like gossamer by the 
 divine fingers, falls like a dream over the 
 frosty earth, gently as the evening dew 
 upon summer flowers, he would see in this 
 the same Providence that gives to the lily 
 its summer beauty, and cares for the birds 
 of the air. And so the winter would touch 
 his heart with filial trust in his heavenly 
 Father, whose hand reaches down to the 
 snow-flakes as to the brilliant constellations 
 of heaven ; and for him, in dreary winter, 
 as in blooming summer, there is no anxious 
 thought for the morrow. For not a snow- 
 flake or a sparrow can fall without his 
 heavenly Father, and the very hairs of his 
 head are all numbered. 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 115 
 
 HOME IN WINTER. 
 
 The transition from the summer garden 
 to the winter fireside is natural and easy. 
 And we feel something of the exhilaration 
 of the season as we see Luther with his 
 family on Christmas eve. Gelzer, follow- 
 ing Koenig's pictorial life of Luther, says : 
 " Upon the pleasures of summer follow 
 those of winter, — the Christmas festival, — 
 and the garden which now delights Luther's 
 eyes are his children, whom he looked upon 
 as God's greatest blessing." One day, when 
 his friend Justus Jonas hung over the table 
 a branch loaded with beautiful cherries, in 
 remembrance of the creation, and praised 
 the Lord for such delicious fruits of the 
 earth, Luther said : " Why do you not 
 much rather consider this in your children 
 — fruits which are more excellent, beauti- 
 ful and noble creatures of God than any 
 
Il6 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 fruits of trees ? " He spoke of children as 
 the choicest gifts of heaven. When John, 
 his first child was born, with a heart over- 
 flowing with gratitude, he wrote at once to 
 his old friend Spalatin, informing him of the 
 joyous event : " God be praised, I am a fa- 
 ther. Catharine, my dear wife, has presented 
 me with a son. I am, thank God, a father. 
 I wish with all my heart that heaven may 
 give you the same and even greater happi- 
 ness, for you are much better than I." 
 
 Luther was never happier than when 
 surrounded by his wife and children. He 
 seemed to be in the most delightful sympa- 
 thy with all their curious fancies and sim- 
 ple merriment. He would often gather 
 them about him, and with a few congenial 
 friends spend the evening in singing and 
 music. He once said to Melancthon : "We 
 ought not always to serve God with labor, 
 but also with resting and recreation/' It 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. WJ 
 
 was in the sunshine of his children, in their 
 sports and laughter and singing, that the 
 great Reformer forgot the storm of the 
 outer world ; and the cloud of anxious 
 cares about the Church melted away in the 
 sunny memories of his own innocent and 
 happy childhood. Many a time during 
 those dark days of the Reformation, Lu- 
 ther might have found in those beautiful 
 words of Longfellow the truest expression 
 of his thoughts and feelings : 
 
 " Come to me, O ye children ! 
 For I hear you at your play ; 
 And the questions that perplexed me 
 Have vanished quite away. 
 
 "Ye open the eastern windows, 
 That look towards the sun, — 
 Where thoughts are singing swallows, 
 And the brooks of morning run. 
 
 " In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine, 
 In your thoughts the brooklet's flow, 
 But in mine is the wind of Autumn 
 And the first fall of the snow. 
 
Il8 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 " Come to me, O ye children ! 
 And whisper in my ear 
 What the birds and the winds are singing 
 In your sunny atmosphere. 
 
 " For what are all our contrivings, 
 And the wisdom of our books, 
 When compared with your caresses, 
 And the gladness of your looks? " 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 Luther restored to Protestant Christen- 
 dom the true ideal and experience of the 
 old Christmas festival. All life to him was 
 now a festival of joy and praise for the 
 holy child Jesus. "He had found the 
 Christ; and when he was not kneeling with 
 the shepherds, he was singing with the 
 angels." And this new consciousness and 
 experience of a personal, present Saviour, 
 illumined and sanctified the memory of his 
 early Christmas days. In his old age, he 
 speaks of his school-years at Magdeburg 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 1 19 
 
 with delightful reminiscences of Christmas : 
 " At the season when the Church keeps the 
 festival of Christ's birth, we scholars went 
 through the hamlets, from house to house, 
 singing in quartette the familiar hymns 
 about Jesus, the little child born at Bethle- 
 hem." 
 
 And not only to Luther, but to all the 
 Protestant families of Germany, Christmas 
 eve came with a new welcome of joy. 
 "The eyes of men grew bright, and those 
 of women were suffused with tears of 
 gratitude, and children shouted for glad- 
 ness at the mention of the name of one 
 who had led back the race to the cradle, 
 and taught them how to bow there, as did 
 the shepherds, in childlike trust — trust not 
 in the mother, but in her holy child." * 
 
 In one of Kcenig's happiest illustrations, 
 we have Luther with his family on Christ- 
 
 * Conservative Reformation. 
 
120 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 mas eve. The Christmas-tree, in olden 
 times, represented the birth of the Christ- 
 Kindlein. At the foot of the tree was the 
 manger, with the mother and her holy 
 child. But these have disappeared, and 
 the only figure remaining is the announcing 
 angel, at the top of the tree, which is some- 
 times mistaken for the Christ-child, and 
 which is usually taken down, as soon as the 
 child-drama of Christmas begins, and given 
 to the angel of the household — the best 
 of the children. 
 
 The artist has given us a true picture of 
 Luther with his family on Christmas eve. 
 In the centre stands the Christmas-tree all 
 ablaze with lights, and hung with cakes and 
 fruits and toys, that so delight the tastes 
 and fancies of children. Near by Luther 
 stands Catharine, leaning on his shoulder, 
 with her hand clasped in his, and looking 
 into his face with all the devotion and ten- 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 121 
 
 derness of a wife and mother. On the left 
 is Melancthon, directing Martin, the oldest 
 boy, how to hit an apple on the tree with 
 his cross-bow. On the right is Aunt Lena 
 showing Paul the pictures in a book lying 
 open on the table. In front of the table 
 sits Madeleine, the eldest daughter, who, un- 
 mindful of the little wagon and doll by her 
 side, is holding aloft the angel of the 
 Christmas festival, in childlike ecstasy. 
 There is, however, a shade of sadness on 
 her happy face, upturned in the light of the 
 tree to the little angel, as if she had some 
 presentiment of soon becoming an angel 
 herself. The third boy, in the midst of his 
 sports, with his. toy yet in his hand, has 
 run to clasp his father's knee ; whilst the 
 youngest child has just come from its cra- 
 dle, with its slip and night-cap, and bare 
 feet, and nestling on the father's bosom, 
 
 lovingly clasps him around the neck. This 
 ii 
 
122 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 is the finishing touch to the picture, and re- 
 minds one of the description by one of our 
 American poets, which could not be more 
 real if it had been written for this Christ- 
 mas scene : 
 
 " An infant came from its cradle bed, 
 And clung to the mother's breast ; 
 But soon to the knee of the sire it sped : 
 Love was its gift, and the angels said 
 That the baby's gift was best." 
 
 If now, to what meets the eye, we add 
 music, — the Christmas hymn, and the chil- 
 dren's hosanna, — the picture is perfect as 
 a representation of a domestic Christmas 
 eve. And this musical feature is sug- 
 gested by the artist, in the instrument by 
 Luther's side, leaning against his knee, as 
 if he had just paused in some sweet 
 melody and put down the lute for the 
 caresses of the child and the fond endear- 
 ment of the mother. It is truly a picture 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 1 23 
 
 that touches the heart. It moreover brings 
 into living view the great Reformer in the 
 sweet, domestic enjoyment of Christmas, 
 the happiest season of the year, and most 
 exhilarating social festival of the Church. 
 
 Luther, in his teaching, restored to 
 Christendom the true conception of the 
 Christ-child, and the true meaning of the 
 angels' song over the wonders of Bethle- 
 hem ; and in his own experience and ex- 
 ample, he has given the true ideal of 
 Christmas in the family. This ideal of 
 Christmas eve has mingled in the thoughts 
 and songs and poetry oPour finest litera- 
 ture. 
 
 We hear it in the recitative of Handel's 
 divine strain : " There were shepherds 
 abiding in the fields," as exquisite for truth 
 and simplicity as the cheek of innocence. 
 We know how Milton has sung of these 
 angelic symphonies in the ode, " On the 
 
124 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 Morning of Christ's Nativity ; " and how 
 Shakspeare has touched upon Christmas 
 eve with a reverential tenderness sweet as 
 if he had spoken it hushingly in a whisper. 
 
 "Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes, 
 Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrate, 
 The bird of dawning singeth all night long, 
 And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad : 
 The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, 
 No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm ; 
 So hallow' d and so gracious is the time." 
 
 Upon which, Horatio observes, in a sen- 
 tence remarkable for the breadth and deli- 
 cacy of its sentiment, 
 
 "So have I heard, and do in part believe it ; " 
 
 that is to say, he believed all that was 
 worthy, and recognized the balmy and 
 Christian impression produced upon well- 
 disposed and sympathetic minds by reflec- 
 tion on the Christmas season.* 
 
 * Leigh Hunt : A Day by the Fire. 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. 125 
 
 And so, as of old in Luther's home, let 
 
 v 
 
 Christmas be hailed with a joyous welcome 
 in all the families of Christendom. Let it 
 be a Christian festival in the household as 
 well as in the Church. Let it be a season 
 for the warm outflow of all kindliness and 
 love, and the sweet ministries of the heart- 
 and home-life. Let every happy home be 
 made happier by the Christmas-tree, with 
 its fruit-laden branches dropping gifts into 
 all hands. Christmas day brings a gift to 
 all the world ; for though in many a poor 
 man's home there be no tree, yet where the 
 tree is absent the cross stands present. 
 Happy is he who, on Christmas day, abides 
 within its sacred shadow, and receives the 
 gift of gifts which God gave to the world 
 in Him who is " the chief among ten thou- 
 sand, and the one altogether lovely." Then 
 let all unite in the joy and the song of 
 
 earth and heaven : 
 11* 
 
126 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 "Ring out, ye crystal spheres ; 
 Once bless our human ears, 
 
 If ye have power to touch our senses so ; 
 And let your silver chime 
 Move in melodious time, 
 
 And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow, 
 And with your ninefold harmony 
 Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. ' ' 
 
 And then, in the genial warmth and 
 sympathies of the season, let some tender 
 heart-thoughts and kindly charities be given 
 to the poor and homeless. For the return 
 of every Christmas repeats the old German 
 story of the poor and friendless outcast. 
 
 " On a certain Christmas eve, in a Ger- 
 man city, while a Christmas-tree was 
 sparkling in every house, a poor, homeless 
 orphan was wandering, faint, weary, and 
 cold, through the streets. He gazed long- 
 ingly at the windows from which joyful 
 lights streamed. He knocked timidly at 
 door after door, but was unheeded. He 
 would fain have gained entrance to one of 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. I27 
 
 those happy households, merely to look on, 
 but no one heard him. At last he retired 
 sick and miserable to a dark corner, and 
 there, as he shivered with the cold of the 
 December night, he remembered that an 
 answer was promised to every sincere 
 prayer. So he prayed to the Lord Jesus 
 to give him a Christmas - tree. And as he 
 prayed, he beheld a star in the distance ; 
 and as he gazed, the star approached him, 
 and he descried the glorious form of a 
 beautiful child. It was the Christ-child 
 who came to answer his prayer, and who 
 drew down stars from heaven to light a 
 Christmas-tree for the poor orphan. 
 
 " And when the tree was all lighted, the 
 Christ-child took the boy into the tree, and 
 they were all wafted away into heaven. 
 The next day the newspapers contained 
 this item of city intelligence: 'Found in 
 Street, the dead body of a boy, of 
 
128 WINTER PLEASURES. 
 
 some eight or ten years of age, parents 
 unknown ; coroner's verdict, death by 
 starvation and cold.' The poor little out- 
 cast had left the world, outwardly in cir- 
 cumstances of extreme wretchedness, but 
 inwardly in a dream of heaven, and in the 
 arms of the Christ-child." 
 
 And so, with every return of Christmas 
 eve, let the home be bright with the Christ- 
 mas-tree, and glad with the music of chil- 
 dren and the song of Bethlehem ; and 
 withal let the heart be tender and pitiful 
 for the lonely outcast and neglected poor. 
 And as through the cold, still night - air 
 there comes echoing down the centuries 
 the old, sweet, jubilant song of the angels 
 over the cradle of the infant Saviour: 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good-will to man," let every 
 heart be opened anew to the holy child 
 Jesus ! And let the young and the old, 
 
WINTER PLEASURES. I29 
 
 the home and the Church, yea, all Christen- 
 dom unite to send back to heaven the song 
 as angels brought it down : Glory to God 
 in the highest! 
 
 11 Joy to the world, the Lord has come ! 
 Let earth receive her King : 
 Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room, 
 And heaven and nature sing." 
 
H3* 
 
 ^> 
 
 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 131 
 
HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 " 'T is sorrow builds the shining ladder up 
 Whose golden rounds are our calamities, 
 Whereon our firm feet planting, nearer God 
 The spirit climbs, and hath its eyes unsealed." 
 
 O portraiture of Luther's home-life 
 would be true to nature and fact 
 without those delicate shadings of sorrow 
 which give to the picture its life-like com- 
 pleteness and heavenly sanctity. And 
 hence, the artist, in his picture-life of the 
 great Reformer, conducts us from the gar- 
 den joys of summer, and the fireside plea- 
 sures of winter, to Luther kneeling by the 
 coffin of Madeleine. The home but yester- 
 day exhilarant with the music and festivities 
 
 12 133 
 
134 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 of Christmas is now overcast with shadows, 
 and is sad and tearful in the silence of a 
 great sorrow. 
 
 Luther found in his sad and early do- 
 mestic experience that in his garden there 
 was a sepulchre ; and that the little coffin 
 soon followed the Christmas-tree within 
 his door. " Thy babe, O Bethlehem, turned 
 in the sleep of that hallowed night his 
 pure, pale face toward Gethsemane. The 
 angel of the Christmas-tree could not 
 guard the home from life's sorrows." 
 More than in the summer-garden, or by 
 the winter fireside, do we learn to know 
 Luther, in all the tenderness of his nature 
 and reach of his faith, in his home of sor- 
 row and bereavement. It is then we see 
 him as he appeared to Carlyle : " I know 
 few things more touching than those soft 
 breathings of affection, soft as a child's or 
 a mother's, in this great wild heart of Lu- 
 
HOME IN SORROW. 135 
 
 ther. So honest, unadulterated with any- 
 cant ; homely in their utterance ; pure as 
 water welling from the rock." 
 
 We pass from the sunny garden-scene 
 to the shaded home, and from the hilarity 
 and song of Christmas eve to the quiet 
 vigils beside the couch of sickness, and to 
 the deeper and sadder silence of death. 
 It is but the picture of human life in its 
 sudden alternations of joy and sorrow. 
 For there is ever heard in the passing 
 generations that plaintive sigh of the old 
 bard on the banks of Ayr: 
 
 "I 've seen yon weary, winter sun, 
 Twice forty times return, 
 And ev'ry time has added proof 
 That man was made to mourn." 
 
 In September, 1542, he was called from 
 important Church interests, in Leipsic, to 
 the bedside of his sick and dying child. 
 One day, when she was in great suffering, 
 
136 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 he approached her bed, and taking hold of 
 her little hands, covered them with kisses. 
 " My dear child, my sweet, good Madeleine, 
 I know you would like to remain with your 
 father, but there is One still better in heaven 
 waiting for you." 
 
 "Oh, yes, dear father," answered the 
 dying child ; " let the will of God be done." 
 
 The father continued, as he walked the 
 room with deep emotion, " Dear child, oh, 
 how I love her! 'The spirit is willing, but 
 the flesh is weak.' " He opened the Bible, 
 and read the passage in Isaiah : " Thy dead 
 men shall live ; together with my dead body 
 shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that 
 dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of 
 herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead." 
 He then said, " My daughter, enter thou 
 into thy resting-place in peace." She turned' 
 her eyes to him, with that last look of all 
 mortal tenderness and immortal trust, and 
 
HOME IN SORROW. 1 37 
 
 replied, with touching simplicity, " Yes, 
 father." 
 
 The night before Madeleine's death, her 
 mother, weary with watching, reclined her 
 head on the sick-bed and slept, and dreamed. 
 The next morning, as soon as Melancthon 
 came, she told him her dream. 
 
 " I saw two young men, who seemed to 
 be clad in robes of light, enter the room. 
 I pointed to Madeleine, who lay in a quiet 
 sleep, and made a sign to them not to dis- 
 turb her ; but they said they came to con- 
 duct her to the bridal ceremony." 
 
 Melancthon was very much affected by 
 this dream, and afterwards said to his wife, 
 " These were holy angels that Catharine 
 saw, and were sent to carry the maiden to 
 the true nuptials of a heavenly kingdom." 
 
 As the time of her departure drew near, 
 she looked tenderly at her father and 
 mother, and begged them not to weep for 
 
I38 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 her. With a sweet smile upon her pale 
 and dying countenance, she said, " I go to 
 my Father in heaven." Luther, deeply 
 moved, threw himself on his knees by her 
 bedside, and, with clasped hands and bitter 
 tears, prayed the Lord to spare her. Soon 
 her consciousness ceased, and she breathed 
 her last in the arms of her father. Catha- 
 rine, in the agony of her sorrow, had turned 
 away, unable to look upon her dying child. 
 When all was over, Luther gently laid the 
 head of his dear child upon the pillow, say- 
 ing, " Dear Madeleine, thou hast found a 
 Father in heaven ! O my God, let thy will 
 be done ! " Melancthon, who, with his 
 wife, was present, observed that the love 
 of parents for their children is an image 
 of the divine love impressed on the hearts 
 of men. God does not love the beings he 
 has created less than parents love their 
 children. 
 
HOME IN SORROW. I39 
 
 The next day, Luther followed all that 
 remained of his child to the grave ; and as 
 the coffin was lowered, he exclaimed : " Fare- 
 well, dear little Madeleine, farewell ! but 
 we shall meet again. Thou shalt rise again ; 
 shalt shine as the stars, yes, like the sun ! " 
 And then after a short pause, he continued: 
 " I am joyful in spirit, but oh, how sad in 
 the flesh ! It is strange to know she is so 
 happy in heaven, and yet to feel so sad ! " 
 
 Then turning to the mother, who was 
 weeping bitterly, he said : " Dear Catharine, 
 remember where she is gone ! she has made 
 a blessed exchange ! The heart bleeds ; it 
 is natural it should ; but the spirit, the im- 
 mortal spirit, rejoices. Happy are they 
 who die young. Children do not doubt; 
 they believe : with them all is trust, — they 
 fall asleep in Jesus." 
 
 " Some feelings are to mortals given 
 With less of earth in them than heaven ; 
 
I40 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 And if there be a human tear 
 
 From passion's dross refined and clear, — 
 
 A tear so limpid and so meek 
 
 It would not stain an angel's cheek, — 
 
 'Tis that which Christian fathers shed 
 
 Upon a pious daughter's head." 
 
 After the funeral, many friends came to 
 express their sympathy with the bereaved 
 parents. In answer to their words of con- 
 dolence, Luther said : " I thank you, kind 
 friends, for your sympathy ; but do not grieve 
 for me : I have given another angel to 
 heaven. Oh, that we may each experience 
 such a death ; such a death I would gladly 
 accept this moment." 
 
 To others, who addressed to him words 
 of comfort, he said : " No, no ; I am not 
 sad : my dear angel is in heaven ! " 
 
 Among the many compensatory and 
 comforting thoughts of Luther under this 
 great sorrow are those expressed in the 
 following paragraph : 
 
HOME IN SORROW. I4I 
 
 " The fate of our children, and above all, 
 of girls, is ever a cause of uneasiness. I 
 do not fear so much for boys ; they can find 
 a living anywhere, provided they know how 
 to work. But it is different with girls. 
 They, poor things, must search for employ- 
 ment staff in hand. A boy can enter the 
 schools and attain eminence ; but a girl can- 
 not do much to advance herself, and is 
 easily led away by bad example, and is 
 lost. Therefore, without regret, I give up 
 this dear one to our Lord. Children die 
 without anguish ; they know not the bitter- 
 ness of death ; it is as if they fell asleep." 
 
 Over the grave of Madeleine was placed 
 a tombstone with her name, age, the day 
 of her death, and a text of Scripture. 
 Some time after, Luther composed a Latin 
 inscription, which was carved on a monu- 
 mental slab ; and which breathes a spirit 
 of subdued melancholy and resignation to 
 God's will : 
 
142 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 " I, Luther's daughter Madeleine, with the saints here 
 sleep, 
 And, covered, calmly rest on this my couch of earth ; 
 Daughter of death I was, born of the seed of sin, 
 But by Thy precious blood redeemed, O Christ, I 
 live!"* 
 
 Soon after the burial, he wrote to his 
 friend Justus Jonas : " You have no doubt 
 heard of the birth of my Madeleine into the 
 kingdom of Christ above. My wife and I 
 ought to think only of praising God for 
 her happy transition and peaceful end ; for 
 by it she has escaped the power of the 
 flesh, the world, the Turks, and the devil. 
 Yet nature is strong, and I cannot bear 
 this event without tears and groans, or, to 
 speak more truly, without a broken heart. 
 On my very soul are engraved the looks, 
 the words, the gestures of my obedient, 
 my loving child during her life and on the 
 bed of death. Even the death of Christ 
 
 * The Latin inscription is thus rendered in the " Conservative 
 Reformation." 
 
HOME IN SORROW. 143 
 
 (and what are all deaths in comparison 
 with that ?) cannot tear her away from my 
 thoughts, as it should. She was, as you 
 know, so sweet and genial, so full of ten- 
 derness and love." 
 
 Luther never recovered fully from this 
 affliction. It struck him to the heart. He 
 looked upon it as an admonition of heaven ; 
 it was another thunderbolt. The first had 
 taken from him Alexis, the friend of his 
 youth ; the second snatched from him an 
 idolized child, the joy of his old age. From 
 this time all his letters are tinged with 
 melancholy : the raven wing of death was 
 ever fluttering in his ear.* 
 
 On receiving a letter from the Elector, 
 who wished him many years of a long life, 
 he shook his head, and answered his royal 
 friend : " The pitcher has gone too often to 
 the well ; it will break at last." One day, 
 
 *Audin's Life of Luther, page 486. 
 
144 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 while preaching, he drew tears from his 
 audience by announcing his approaching 
 death : " The world is tired of me and I 
 am tired of the world ; soon shall we be 
 divorced — the traveller will soon quit his 
 lodging." * 
 
 The after-life of Luther was touched 
 with a heavenly sadness. This affliction 
 fell upon his home as the evening shadow 
 falls, which at once hides the earth and un- 
 veils the sky. The serene and mellowing 
 light of heaven sanctified the earthly home, 
 as it now seemed nearer the heavenly. 
 There was still a subdued and solemn joy 
 in bereavement, as he thought of the two 
 little ones of his household not unclothed 
 but clothed upon. And he was happy in 
 the assurance that they were now nurslings 
 of heaven, and that soon he should meet 
 them there ; 
 
 *Audin. 
 
HOME IN SORROW. I45 
 
 "Forever and forever, 
 
 Both in a happy home ; 
 And there to stay a little while 
 Till all the rest shall come." 
 
 This last phase of Luther's home-life has 
 the pensive charm and beauty of sanctified 
 sorrow. We see how Luther, when the 
 hand of God touched him, kissed that chas- 
 tening hand of his heavenly Father in meek 
 submission and unmurmuring trust. That 
 noble form, which neither kings, nor popes, 
 nor devils could bend, is bowed in tears 
 and sorrow by the sick-bed of his little 
 child. The brave heart that never quailed 
 before the thunders of Rome or the fires 
 of martyrdom is broken and tender as an 
 infant's beside the coffin of his little Made- 
 leine. And yet, in all that tribulation and 
 bereavement, there is not a word or a mur- 
 mur against the ways of Providence. He 
 is heart-sick and unspeakably sad, yet 
 13 k 
 
I46 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 sweetly quiescent in the divine love ; he is 
 cast down and disquieted, but not in de- 
 spair. And soon there is heard the old songs 
 of faith and hope, " For God, our Maker, 
 giveth songs in the night." And the song, 
 like the nightingale's, is all the sweeter for 
 the night. When all the instruments of 
 human melody are broken, there is a hand 
 that can touch the heart and waken the notes 
 of melody and praise. And Luther felt 
 the touches of that hand, and could exclaim 
 with the Psalmist, " I will sing of mercy and 
 judgment ; unto thee, O Lord, will I sing." 
 And so that home of the great Reformer, 
 in bereavement, is a touching illustration 
 of the Christian family in its sanctified sor- 
 rows and immortal hopes. 
 
 Sometimes sickness and sorrow will over- 
 cast our households with the shadow of 
 death. Yes, afflictions will come to us all ; 
 the spoiler will desolate our happy homes ; 
 
HOME IN SORROW. I47 
 
 but Jesus, who was so near and precious to 
 Luther in his hour of trial, and poured the 
 light of the resurrection morn into his 
 weeping household,is our friend and Saviour ; 
 and will be with us with grace and sympa- 
 thy, and with words of peace and unutter- 
 able consolation. And when our loved 
 ones depart, we shall know that our Re- 
 deemer liveth, and that whosoever liveth 
 and believeth in him shall never die : 
 
 .... " And through the clouded glass 
 Of our own bitter tears, we learn to look 
 Undazzled on the kindness of God's face ; 
 Earth is too dark, and heaven alone shines through. ' ' 
 
 Let that home of Luther in Wittenberg, 
 so beautiful in its summer joys and winter 
 pleasures, and so sanctified in its sorrows 
 of sickness and bereavement, be to us the 
 true ideal type of the Christian family. 
 Let our homes be Christian in form and 
 spirit. Let the whole economy of the 
 
I48 HOME IN SORROW. 
 
 household be religious. Let the recreations 
 and pleasures of home be sanctified by 
 thoughts and hopes of the heavenly inheri- 
 tance. Let every morning unite the house- 
 hold as at the gate of heaven, and every 
 evening see it part with benediction as to 
 its final rest. Then shall the sweet com- 
 munions of the household be made immor- 
 tal by hopes of heaven ; and even the 
 broken links in the family circle will be re- 
 tained by Christian faith, and help to draw 
 us heavenward. 
 
 God grant to each of us such a Christian 
 home while we live ; and when our time 
 comes to depart, may our last look of earth 
 be upon the faces we best love ; may the 
 gates that open into the heavenly city be 
 from a Christian home. And knowing no 
 better name for that world to which we go, 
 we will look up with longing hope and 
 tearful rapture and call it Home. 
 
1S55. 1870. 
 
 LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
 
 No. 42 NORTH NINTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
 J. K. Shryock, Superintendent. 
 
 take pleasure in announcing to the 
 
 jjH3 Church and to the Trade in general, that 
 
 we have commenced the publication of 
 
 the 
 
 fatherland J$m*s, 
 
 as follows: 
 THE COTTAGE by THE LAKE." 
 
 Translated from the German of Martin Claudius, by 
 Miss R. H. Schively. "When the need is sorest God's 
 help is nearest." 
 
 16mo, Cloth, a Beautiful Frontispiece, 160 pages, $0.75. 
 
 " This volume will supply a want in our Sunday-school 
 Libraries, tD which the Religious Press has called attention 
 — books of a more devotional and evangelical character. 
 The Wilmer Family is charactei ized by all that makes the 
 
' Schoenberg Cotta Family ' so univeiially attractive. * * * 
 We can confidently recommend this book, translated with 
 all elegance of diction, and with all the w urmth and pathos 
 of the German heart. * * * All classes will be instructed 
 and elevated by this kind of literature. It has channs for 
 the youthful and the mature, and will profit every one '* — 
 Mrs E. B. S. 
 
 "IN THE MIDST OFTHE NORTH SEA." 
 From the German of Marie Roskowska, by 
 J. F. Smith, Esq. 
 16mo, Cloth, Two Engravings, $0,75. 
 A story of life upon one of the lonely little islands (or 
 Halligen) lying in the North Sea off the German coast. 
 The loneliness and the dangers accompanying a residence 
 upon these barren, marshy spots, are dramatically described, 
 and the characteristics of the two families are painted most 
 naturally. The incidents of " Lost in the Fog," " The 
 Shipwreck," and "The Inundation," are full of interest; 
 and the earnest piety that pervades the narrative will recom- 
 mend it to any Christian family or Sabbath School. The 
 tale is full of excitement, and yet is anything but sensational. 
 
 "ANTON, THE FISHERMAN." 
 
 By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by Mrs. M. A. 
 Manderson. 
 16mo, Cloth. Three Fine Original Engravings, $0.85. 
 " A very interesting story of humble life, illustrating do- 
 mestic happiness, and the prevalence of industry, manliness, 
 and integrity — together with the providential deliverances 
 that sometimes occur in the midst of the trials that beset 
 the believing poor." — The Lutheran and Missionary, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
"Anton, the Fisherman.' — "We call the specia? at 
 lention of the public to this beautiful book, just issued 
 by the Lutheran Board of Publication. It is from the 
 famous Hoffmann of Dresden, who has won a world-wide 
 fame as the writer of popular stories for the young. The 
 translation is so natural and graceful, that no one would 
 suspect its German origin. The book is in the best style 
 of book-making, and has elicited universal admiration. 
 Let the Church encourage our publications, with a prompt, 
 cheerful, and generous patronage." — Lutheran Observer. 
 
 "Rene, the Little Savoyard." 
 
 By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by J. F. Smith, Esq. 
 16mo, Cloth, Two Excellent Original Engravings, $0.85, 
 " I have just read with great pleasure, ' Rene,' in your 
 very attractive Fatherland Series. It is a brilliant little 
 story, and is well translated. The children (and their 
 parents) will be delighted with these pure and beautiful 
 books, which I hope may have the wide circulation they 
 deserve." Yours, C. P. Krauth, 
 
 "FRITZ; OR, FILIAL LOVE." 
 
 By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by M. A. Manderson 
 16mo, Cloth, One First Class Original Engraving, $0.65. 
 "A charming story, founded upon the life of one ol 
 Frederick the Great's generals. The healthy pious tone 
 that pervades the book, as well as the literary merit, should 
 recommend it to every family and Sunday-school Library. 
 We venture to say that no boy will read this pleasant nar- 
 rative without wishing to know m.re of Prussia's greai 
 king. 
 
8 
 
 York, Pa., Aprils 18*70. 
 "Please send me 'Cottage by the Lake.' The othe 
 volumes of the Fatherland Series I have. I am much 
 pleased with the books. If you publish a thousand volumes, 
 send them all to me, and draw on me for the amount they 
 cost J. H. Menges." 
 
 Lockport, April*), 1870. 
 " Since I have three of the Series you are publishing at 
 present, I would desire to have the first number — 'The 
 Cottage by the Lake.' This number you have not sent me. 
 Those you sent me I read with great interest, and am much 
 pleased with them, and trust they may be largely circulated. 
 " Yours, truly, M. IiRT." 
 
 Canton, 0., April 4, 1870. 
 " Enclosed find the amount of your bill for the ' Father- 
 land Series.' The books are very interesting, and my 
 children are delighted with them. 
 
 "Yours, L. M. Kuhns." 
 
 Harrisburg, April '7 , 1870. 
 * Your book entitled ' Fritz,' is all right. Go ahead ; 
 the more of that kind you publish the better. 
 
 " Youns, fraternally, G. F. Stelling." 
 
 Selinsgrove, April 6, 1870. 
 " I am glad to see you bringing out such nice, neat books. 
 You can send us one copy of all new publications until 
 otherwise ordered. Consider us standing subscribers. 
 " Yours, J. G. L. Shindel." 
 
 Frostburg, Md., April 6, 1870. 
 " * The Fatherland Series ' I am pleased with. They 
 compare favorably with any of the publications of the day 
 — are a credit to the Society. 
 
 "Yours, H. Bishop." 
 
 UUN..? 
 
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