# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 03 07_S54
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

which took place on the 7th day of February." (Cölius's Report, L. W. XXI, 2897.)

Two days before his death he wrote down the following words as well, which he was also accustomed to write in Bibles, in Latin on a slip of paper, which read in German as follows:

Only he who has been a shepherd for five years can understand Virgil's Bucolics.

Only he who has practiced husbandry for five years can understand Virgil's Georgics.

Only he, as I firmly believe, who has had dealings for twenty years in some famous republic can fully understand Cicero's letters.

Let no one think he has rightly tasted Holy Scripture unless he has governed the Christian congregations for a hundred years together with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles.

Well then, try yourself on this divine Christiad, but wherever you find yourself standing within it, worship in deepest humility.

We are beggars, that is true. February 16, in the year 1546.

On the last day of his life, after the evening meal, he is said, as Dr. Ratzenberger reports, to have written on the wall with chalk the well-known Latin verse: "Pestis eram vivens, moriens ero mors tua, Papa." In German it reads thus: "In life I was your plague, O Pope; in death I shall be your death." (L. W. XXI, 342.)

These words of Luther's have indeed come true; for was it not a very great calamity for the Pope that, at the time of the Reformation, so many great kingdoms, lands, and cities were torn away from his dominion? But a still far greater calamity befell the Pope through the Peace of Augsburg in the year 1555 — thus not a full ten years after Luther's death — for through it the Lutheran estates of the Empire obtained ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and Lutheran subjects obtained complete freedom of religion and of conscience, which was further strengthened by the Peace of Westphalia in the year 1648; and since that time it has become ever harder for the Pope to secure emphasis for his commanding voice even among his own followers, so that it may rightly be maintained that the Pope is, in everything pertaining to the practice of the Lutheran religion, dead. But he is dead only to those who hold fast to Luther's teaching, which is God's Word; otherwise, some pope or other still lives on in their hearts — whether human reason and their own delusion, or the spirit of the age, or trust in themselves and their own works, or unbelief toward God's holy Word in general, together with its whole hellish train.

But just as Luther, in everything he recommended to others for the strengthening of their faith, was himself a model, we see this especially in the fact that during his stay in Eisleben — which lasted no more than three weeks — he confessed and received absolution twice, the first time publicly, the second time privately; and thereafter partook twice in church of the true body and true blood of the Lord Christ in the Lord's Supper, the last time on Septuagesima Sunday (February 14), thereby strengthening himself for the journey to his heavenly fatherland, which followed four days later.

How highly he valued absolution is evident from the fact that he says: "For the sake of this one thing (namely, for the sake of the absolution spoken by the priest in God's stead), I need confession the most, and I will not and cannot do without it, for it gives me great comfort often, indeed daily, when I am troubled and distressed." (L. W. XVII, [illegible].)

Concerning the Holy Supper he writes thus to a good friend: "God grant all Christians such a heart that, when they hear the word sacrament or the Lord's Supper, they leap for sheer joy — indeed, weep sweetly in the manner of true spiritual joy; for I love it with all my heart, the dear, blessed Supper of my Lord Jesus Christ, in which he gives me his body and blood, bodily too, to eat and to drink with my bodily mouth, with such exceedingly sweet and gracious words: Given for you, shed for you." (L. W. XIX, 1576.)

Mention also deserves to be made here of the comforting sayings which Luther, for more than a year before his death, gathered from Holy Scripture and from church teachers, such as Ambrose, and wrote into his little Psalter and prayer book, which he always carried with him, as if to say: With God's help I intend, at some point, in my final hour of death, to seize upon one of these sayings and thereby be armed against Satan and all the gates of hell. The first saying which Luther wrote down for his protection and comfort is 1 Peter 5:7: "Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you." Following this saying, says Dr. Jonas in Luther's funeral sermon, in which he mentions this and other comforting sayings, the devout and precious Dr. Martin cast all his care upon the Lord Christ in his hour of death, and neither asked nor worried where he would end up, but let God care for his soul, which he had commended to him, as to how he would provide for it and preserve it. He adds: I truly could not have put Peter's saying to such comforting use for my own final hour of death. Here one sees what kind of man Dr. Martin was, and how diligently he weighed the apostle's words. (L. W. XXI, 368 f.)

Among Luther's unceasing preparations for a blessed end may rightly be counted also his daily practice of the Catechism, especially the first three chief parts; this had been his daily habit for more than thirty years, which he doubtless continued, without any doubt, up to the very last day of his life. One of the most remarkable passages in which he himself testifies to this is the following: "I confess this freely as an example, for whoever it may please, that I, who am now almost an old doctor and preacher, and indeed know, or certainly should know, as much in Scripture as all such clever fellows can know — I must still become a child, and daily, early in the morning, recite to myself aloud the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and whatever beloved Psalms and sayings I wish to have, just as one now teaches and accustoms children to do; although otherwise I must deal daily with Scripture over and above this, and stand in combat with the devil; yet I dare not say in my heart, the Lord's Prayer is old hat, you know the Ten Commandments, you know the Creed well, etc. — but rather I learn from it daily, and remain a pupil of the Catechism, and I even feel that it helps me noticeably, and I find by experience that God's Word can never be fully learned, but that it is truly as Psalm 147:5 says of it, that of his understanding there is no number. And as the wise man says: Whoever drinks of me will thirst for me still more, etc. Sirach 24:29." (L. W. V, 1652 f.)

Finally, we must also recall his particular way and manner of praying. Dr. Ratzeberger and Mathesius, who were often around him, report of this: that he faithfully attended to his prayers, morning and evening, and in particular, before going to sleep, he would stand before the open window, in summer and in winter, for almost half an hour, his eyes turned toward heaven, casting all his care and concerns upon the Lord. And as for the last days of his life especially, the report of Luther's passing says of this: "Every evening throughout those twenty-one days, he went from the great room, from the table, into his little chamber at eight o'clock, or often before, and each evening stood a good while at the window, and prayed to God so earnestly and fervently that we — Dr. Jonas, M. Cölius, Ambrosius (his servant), and John Aurifaber — after we had grown quiet, often heard a few words and marveled at them; afterward he would turn away from the window, cheerful, as if he had just laid down a burden, and would generally still speak with us for a good quarter of an hour, and then go to bed." (L. W. XXI, 282 f.)

Also remarkable are Luther's last speeches, which his friends heard from his own mouth, especially at table, and wrote down; for just as he was accustomed to making the enjoyment of God's bodily gifts still more pleasant through delightful and useful conversation, so he did this also in the last days of his life. In particular, on February 10 and 11, with reference to the pending settlement negotiations, he spoke much that was comforting, especially concerning Christian unity, and on February 16 he still wrote on the wall of his bedchamber with chalk these words: We cannot do what everyone wishes; but we certainly can do what we