dwelt with him that hateth peace, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." In the afternoon a paper was written to the students by the professors, excusing their non-attendance to the usual duties of the day, on account of Melancthon's dangerous situation, with which they deeply sympathised, and entreating their united prayers, during the usual hours of study, on his behalf; for they considered it impossible he should be able long to struggle with his disease, unless nature were divinely assisted and supported. It may easily be believed that this intimation made a powerful impression throughout the university, and that all the passages leading to the house of this beloved tutor, became crowded with anxious inquirers. Upon being asked by his son-in-law if he would have any thing else, he replied, in these emphatic words, "Nothing else but Heaven!" and requested that he might not be any further interrupted. Soon afterwards he made a similar request, begging those around him who were endeavouring with officious kindness to adjust his clothes, "not to disturb his delightful repose." After some time, his friends united with the minister present in solemn prayer, and several passages of Scripture in which he was known always to have expressed peculiar pleasure, were read, such as "Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions." My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:" particularly the 5th of the Romans, and the triumphant close of the eighth chapter, commencing, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Many other parts of Scripture were recited, and the last words he uttered was the German particle of affirmation" ia," in reply to Winshemius, who had inquired if he understood him while reading. The last motion which his friends who surrounded him, to the number of at least twenty, could discern, was a slight motion of the countenance, which was peculiar to him when deeply affected with religious joy! Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. At length, in the midst of solemn vows and supplications, at a quarter of an hour before seven, in the evening, he gently breathed his last, and was buried by the side of his friend, Martin Luther *. WOLFGANG MUSCULUS. Born 1497. Died 1563, aged 66. Truth is deposited with man's last hour. An illustrious German divine and reformer, was born at Dieuz-upon-Lorraine, and appointed divinity professor at Berne, in Switzerland. Perceiving the approach of death, he devoted all his thoughts to that important subject, and but a • Life by Coxe. short time previous to his departure, wrote these Latin verses, which are so full of Christian hope and consolation, that I cannot but insert them. Nil superest vitæ, frigus præcordia captat : Sed Tu, Christe, mihi vita perennis ades. Quid trepidas, anima, ad sedes abitura quietas? En tibi ductor adest angelus ille tuus. Linque domum hanc miseram, nunc in sua fata ruentem, Quam tibi fida Dei dextera restituet. Peccasti? scio: sed Christus credentibus in se Peccata expurgat sanguine cuncta suo. Præsto est de Satana, peccato et morte triumphans His disorder rapidly increasing; he was advised by the illustrious Haller to arrange his temporal affairs. He said, "I have no solicitude about them, and with regard to my doctrine, as I have written, so have I felt, do now feel, and must hereafter feel. As to my wife and children, I commend them to your care and that of my friends, and I pray that ye may be as so many fathers and protectors to them." Haller said he would endeavour to perform this last request with all that care which the love and esteem he entertained for his friend would naturally require. The good professor returned his thanks, and felt no further solicitude on their behalf. As patience had been his characteristic during life, so did it accompany him in the hour of death. Whatever he said 66 was dignified by the gravity of age, prudence and piety. Haller was sitting on the bed of his departing friend, bemoaning the frailty of human life; when he said, Ah, what is human life?" to this his dying friend replied, "it is a transient rapour." Recovering a little, he was raised on his couch, and took some refreshment provided by his daughter. Soon afterwards, reposing on his bed, he slept a short time, but his breathings were interrupted, and he evidently appeared as one dying, thus renewing the fear and solicitude of his friends for his recovery. By degrees his strength failed him, the beating of his pulse began to falter, his extremities to grow colder and colder, his respiration to become more difficult and slower, his sight to fail, and every thing in short to portend his dissolution. He extended his hands, and said to those around him," Peace be with you." Haller repeated over him, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." They who were then standing around the bed, falling on their knees, implored the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would mitigate the pains of their departing friend, and make his journey into the world of spirits as little distressing as possible. While they were praying, his spirit quitted the body, without much commotion. He crossed his hands over his bosom, and thus expired. Haller closed the eyes of his departed friend *. 66 • Ex narratione de vitâ et obitu, &c. Adami Vitæ, fol. 185, &c. CONRAD GESNER. Born 1516. Died 1565, aged 49. The uncertainty of human life is a great proof of the divine wisdom, for it imposes a weighty obligation on every man to be always on his guard, and diligent in his duties.-BELLARMIN. An illustrious scholar, physician, and philosopher, born at Zurich, in Switzerland, For the variety of his attainments and his erudition, he has been deservedly called the German Pliny. He was the forerunner of Linnæus, and was the first to class flowers and plants according to their properties. When the Plague was raging at Zurich, among others, the illustrious Theodore Bibliander fell a victim to its fury. Gesner was beginning to entertain a presentiment of his own death,-when he dreamed that he was bitten by a serpent. Awaking, he concluded that this serpent was an emblem of the plague, and wrote in a book the account of this dream. He now conjectured that his decease was nigh at hand, and daily prepared himself for a happy departure from this to a better life. "I am about to be called hence," said he, " and I return my thanks to God, who hath blessed me with a mind most willing to obey the summons. that he will strengthen Calling his friends around me with his Holy Spirit." I pray him, he made his will, and conversed with the physician on his own history of plants, and others of his works, which he commended to the care of his |