which I can leave. Thou hast given me a family. To thee I restore them: nourish, instruct, and preserve them, as thou hast myself; Oh, Father of Orphans; Oh, Judge of Widows!" Having finished these prayers, he afterwards copiously perspired, from the continual use of fomentations; the pain by degrees then subsided, so that he arose on the evening of the same day, and took supper with his friends. On the next day, he said to Jonas his friend, "The Lord bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up again *.”

Concerning the death of Martin Luther, many fabulous histories are narrated. Some say that he died a sudden death, others that he killed himself, and the Roman Catholics, that he was suffocated by Satan. Bayle thinks that my second account, originally given by Jonas, Luther's friend and attendant, and recorded in the work Adami Vitæ, is true. The following particulars may be added on good authority.

Martin Luther, although seriously unwell, nevertheless dined and supped with his friends. In the interval, he conversed upon various subjects; and among other questions, asked whether, in an eternal world, we shall mutually recognize each other? His friends, who surrounded him, were desirous to know his opinion upon so important a subject. He said, "we shall I think be renewed in the other life, through Christ,

Adami Vitæ, fol. 64.

and shall much more perfectly recognize our parents, wives, and children." When he left the supper-table to offer up prayers, according to his custom, the pain in his stomach began to increase; some time after he slept sweetly for an hour. Awaking, he went into a chamber, and again composed himself to rest to his kind friends who were present, he said, “ pray to God that he will preserve among us the doctrine of the Gospel, for the pope and the council of Trent devise sadly against it." Having thus spoken, a silence ensued; he slept a little; but oppressed by the power of the disorder, he awoke in the middle of the night, complaining of a spasm in the chest. Perceiving that the end of his life drew near, he implored his God in these words*:

THE PRAYER OF MARTIN LUTHER IN THE PROSPECT OF

DEATH.

Oh, God of heaven; Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, source of all consolation; I give thee thanks that thou hast revealed to me thy Son Jesus Christ, whom I have believed, professed, loved and celebrated, whom the pope of Rome, and the whole multitude of impious persons, persecute and despise. I ask thee, O Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to receive: my soul. Oh, my heavenly Father, although I am torn from life, although my body is to be laid in the grave, I know of a surety that I shall live for ever, and that I shall

* Sleidan, fol. 272. Thuanus, fol. 47.

never be taken from thy hand; God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on him might have everlasting life. Our God is a God of salvation, and our Lord is the Lord who leadeth up out of death." Receiving some medicine, he said, "I go hence that I may restore my spirit to God and enter upon immortal life. Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, Oh God of Truth!" Here he departed from life, as though in the act of slumber, and without the least pain of body as far as could be perceived. Jonas and Cælius were present at the time *.

Luther went out exceedingly unwell from the assembly at Smalcald, departing from it he could not refrain from turning round and saying to the princes and legates. "Oh may the Almighty fill you all with a detestation of the Pontiff +."

Having gone, though in a declining state of health, and during a rigorous season, to his native city of Eysleben, in order to compose, by his authority, a dissension, he was seized with a violent inflammation in his stomach, which, in a few days, put an end to his life in the sixty-third year of his age. Towards the close of his life, though without

* Adami Vitæ, fol. 74, &c.

+ Journal des Sçavants de 1704, fol. 226, ex Loeberi Hist. Eccles.

any perceptible diminution of his zeal or abilities, the infirmities of his temper increased upon him, so that he grew daily more peevish, more irascible, and more impatient of contradiction. Having lived to be witness of his own amazing success; to see a great part of Europe embrace his doctrines; and to shake the foundations of the Papal throne, before which the mightiest monarchs had trembled, he discovered on some occasions, symptoms of vanity and self applause. Some time before his death, he felt his strength declining, his constitution being worn out by a prodigious multiplicity of business, added to the labour of discharging his ministerial function with unremitting diligence, to the fatigue of constant study, besides the composition of works as voluminous as if he had enjoyed the most uninterrupted leisure and retirement. His natural intrepidity did not forsake him at the approach of death; his last conversation with his friends was concerning the happiness reserved for good men in a future life, of which he spoke with the fervour and delight natural to one who expected and wished to enter soon upon the enjoyment of it. He died at Eysleben, his native place, and was interred in the cathedral of Wittemberg, with a more extraordinary degree of pomp and magnificence than was ever perhaps displayed at the obsequies of any other private individual*.

* Dr. Robertson.

CASPAR CRUCIGER.

Born 1504, died 1548, aged 44.

The joys of Heaven are like its stars, which by reason of our remoteness from them appear extremely little, though really, in themselves, they are so vast, that the largest is much greater than the greatest object upon earth, nay, than the whole earth itself.-BOYLE.

ONE of the most learned men in Germany. He was the intimate friend of Luther, assisted him in translating the Bible, and in promoting the great work of the Reformation. He hastened his death by habits of unremitting study and thoughtfulness. Confined to his bed for more than three months, without any hope of recovering his health, he afforded a noble example of faith, patience, and piety. Manifesting no signs either of a discontented mind, or a repining disposition, but determining to obey the will of God, he awaited his dissolution with the greatest tranquillity. Nor did he altogether forsake his studies; the distribution of his time he arranged as well as the nature of his disorder would permit. In the morning he would call his two little daughters to him, and join with them in offering up their prayers. He himself fervently implored the Almighty with sighs and tears for the Church, for himself, and for his beloved children, frequently repeating these words, "I do beseech thee, Oh God, the eternal and only Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, and thy Holy Spirit, that thou wouldest have mercy on me, and forgive