The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 55

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

not. If anything, the children of non-members
should pay. less than those of our members do.
Our schools ought to be missionary schools. By
them we should try to save as many souls of
children as possible. Thus, also, the Word of
God is carried by the children into their par-
ents’ houses, and many an adult may by this
means be gained for our Church and for heaven.
Oh, that the hearts of our members were burn-
ing with the holy fire of Christian love, so as
to throw open the doors of our schools to all
those children that would come if nothing were
to be paid by them. We Christians, enjoying
all the divine favors in Christ, ought to be
strong enough to bear all the burdens—if burd-
ens they are to be called—arising from estab-
lishing and maintaining parochial schools.

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The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

XII.
Luter at Home.

By the pure Gospel which Luther preached
peace and happiness had been brought into
many a home. He proved from the Bible
that marriage is an institution of God and that
the laws of the pope, by which monks, nuns,
priests and others are forbidden to marry, are
contrary to the Word of God. He also ad-
vised others to marry, but he himself did not
wish to enter the state of matrimony, because
he daily expected to be put to death by his
enemies. At last, however, he gave way to
the wish of his old father and some of his
friends, who desired him to confirm his doctrine
by his own practice. On the 13th of June, 1525,
Luther was married to Catherine von Bora,
who had left the cloister two years before. The
pope’s people, who were not offended by the
scandalous living and shameful sins of many
monks, nuns, priests and popes, were highly
offended at Luther's marriage; but Luther, in
the confidence of faith, said, ‘I would cheer-
fully give them more offense if I only knew
something more that would please God and
mortify them.” :

Luther’s wife was a most excellent woman,
in whom “her husband’s heart could safely
trust.” There could not have been a happier
Christian home than that home of Luther in
the old Augustinian cloister at Wittenberg.
God gave him six children, John, Elizabeth,
Magdalene, Martin, Paul, Margaret—three sons
and «three daughters. Luther loved them
tenderly and brought them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. At the side of
his dear wife and in the midst of his beloved
children, he often forgot his cares and his trou-
bles. In the spring and summer time he would
often sit with them in the garden and speak
about the beauties of God’s works, and sport
with the children, he himself becoming a child
among them. On many an evening, especially
on Christmas Eve, he welcomed his friends to
his cheerful room, and they sang those sweet
Lutheran Gospel-hymns, accompanied by the

lute and harp; for Luther was a great friend
of music. Yes, it was a happy Christian home,
that home of Luther in Wittenberg. But it

was not without the cross. There came days
of grief and sorrow to that noble heart. Once
his dear wife was at the point of death, but
God heard his prayers in her behalf. His
daughter Elizabeth died in her first year.
Luther then wrote to a friend: ‘My little
daughter is dead. Iam surprised how sick at
heart she has left me; 2 woman’s heart, so
shaken am I. I could not have believed that
a father’s soul would have been so tender
toward his child.’’—But there came a day of
greater sorrow. It was the day when his dear
daughter Magdalene died, in September, 1542.
She was fourteen years of age—a most lovely,
dutiful child, ‘‘so sweet, so amiable, so full of
tenderness.’’ As she lay very ill, Luther raised
his eyes to heaven, saying, ‘‘I love her much,
but, O my God! if it be Thy will to take her
hence, I would give her up to Thee without one
selfish murmur.’’ One day she suffered great
pain: he went to her bed, and taking hold of
her small thin hands, pressed them again and
again to his lips and said, ‘‘My dearest child,
my own sweet and good Magdalene, I know
you would gladly stay with your father here;
but in heaven there is a better Father waiting
for you. You will be equally ready to go to
your Father in heaven, will you not?” “O
yes, dear father”; said the child, “‘let the will
of God be done.”

When the last hour came on and Death
had already laid his icy hands upon the child,
her father threw himself on his knees by her
bedside, and with clasped hands, weeping bit-
terly, prayed to God. In her father’s arms the
dear daughter fell asleep in Jesus. Her mother
was also in the room, but further off, on account
of her grief. Luther softly laid the dear child
upon her bed and said, “Thou hast found a
Father in heaven. O God! Thy will be done!’’

On the following day she was buried and the
people in great crowds attended the funeral,
showing the deepest sympathy with Luther's
grief. When she was laid into the coffin,
Luther said, ‘Thou darling Lenichen, how well

‘it is with thee!’”? And again, looking long and

fixedly at her, he said, “Ah, thou sweet Leni-
chen, thou shalt rise again, and shine like a
star; yes, like the sun.” Some of the people
said they were sorry for this affliction, but
Luther replied, ‘“You should rejoice. I have
sent a saint to heaven, yes, a living saint. May
we have such a death! Such a death I would
gladly die this very hour.’’ When the coffin
was put into the grave, Luther said, “There is
a resurrection of the body!’’ And returning
from the funeral, he said, “‘My daughter is now
provided for in body and soul. We Christians
have nothing to complain of; we know -it must
be so. We are quite certain of eternal life; for
God who has promised it to us for His dear
Son’s sake, can never lie.’’ Some time after,
Dr. Luther said, “If my daughter’ Magdalen
could come to life again, and bring with her to

certainly has eternal life.

me the Turkish kingdom, I would not have it.
Oh, she is well cared for; ‘Blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord.’ Who dies thus,
I would that I, and
my children, and ye all could thus all depart;
for evil days are coming.”’

A small tomb-stone was placed on the grave
of Magdalene, on which was the name of the
child, her age, the day of her death, and a text
of Scripture. Some time after, Luther had
the following lines carved upon the stone in
Latin:

I, Luther’s daughter Magdalene,, 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!
L live.”

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Luther’s Letter to his little Son.

In the year 1530 Luther was absent from
home at the city of Coburg. From this place
he wrote a letter to his little son John, who at
that time was four years of age. It is a most
charming letter in which Luther writes to his
little boy about the beauties and glories of
heaven. It shows the childlike mind of the
great Reformer. Here is the letter:

“GRACE AND PEACE IN CHRIST, MY DEAR
LITTLE SON!

‘“‘T 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 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 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 children 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 Johnny 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
upon the fife and drum and lute and all kinds
of instruments, and skip about and shoot with
little cross-bows. He then showed mé a beau-
tiful mossy place in the middle of the garden,
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