against him, on the score of religion, that, on the con. trary, he had exhorted them rather to undergo the greatest hardships, and even suffer themselves to be banished. Indeed, it appears from all his conduct and writings, that no man more abhorred that impious principle of subverting kingdoms and states, under a pretence of advancing the cause of God or his Gospel. The Almighty is surely able to effect his own will in this case: and it is the duty of Christians to suffer and obey it. In this year, 1533, Luther wrote a consolatory letter to the citizens of Oschutz, who had been banished for the Gospel; in which letter he uses these words; "The devil is the host of the world; and the world is his inn. Go where you will in the world, you will be sure to find this ugly host walking up and down in it." In 1534, he printed, and in the next year published, his translation of the Bible into German; in which latter year, he began publicly to preach upon the book of Genesis, which task he ended with his life, as he is said to have foretold. In 1538, arose the sect of the Antinomians, who taught that it mattered not how wicked a man was, if he had but faith. The principal person amongst them was Joannes Istebius Agricola. Luther had the honour not only of confuting, but of converting this man, and of bringing him back to his senses and duty. In 1540, Luther printed and prefaced the confession of Robert Barnes, his intimate friend, and a learned divine, who was burnt that year at London for the Gospel. They became acquainted through Barnes's going to Wittenberg about Henry VIII's divorce. Luther was continually baited at by a world of furies; and he was particularly set up by Providence to effect a Reformation. He published seventy-five propositions against the divines of Louvain; and also a short confession of faith; after which he was sent for to his native country, to compose a difference between the counts of Mansfeld. He preached his last sermon at Wittenberg on January 17, 1546; and, on the 23rd, set out for Isleben, where he was honourably entertained by the count, who escorted him to his apartments with one hundred horse. - Luther attended the business upon which he came from › January 29, till February 15, when he sickened a little before before supper of his usual illness. This was an oppression of humours in the opening of the stomach, with which Melancthon, who was with him, had seen him frequently afflicted. His pain increased, and he went to bed, where he slept till midnight, when he awaked in such anguish that he found his life was near at an end. He then prayed in these words: "I pray God to preserve the doctrine of his Gospel among us; for the Pope and the, council of Trent have grievous things in hand." After which, he said; "O heavenly Father, my gracious God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou God of all consolation, I give thee hearty thanks, that thou hast revealed to me thy Son Jesus Christ, whom I believe, whom I profess, whom I love, whom I glorify, and whom the Pope and the multitude of the wicked do persecute and dishonour.-I beseech thee, Lord Jesus Christ, receive my soul. O my heavenly Father, though I be taken out of this life, and must lay down this frail body; yet I certainly know, that I shall live with thee eternally, and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands. "God so loved the world," &c. Lord, I render up my spirit into thy hands, and come to thee. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou, O God of truth, hast redeemed me!" Albert count of Mansfeld, Melancthon, Justus Jonas, and several other friends, attended him in his last moments, joining him in prayer, that God would preserve the doctrine of his Gospel among them. Melancthon says of Luther, that having frequently repeated his prayers, he was called to God, "unto whom he so faithfully commended his spirit, to enjoy, no doubt, the blessed society of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, in the kingdom of God the Fa ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Luther died on February 18, 1546, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He was honourably interred at Wittenberg. Luther, says Mr. Warton, in his appendix to Dr. Cave's Historia Literaria, was" a man of prodigious sagacity and acuteness, very warm, and formed for great undertakings; being a man, if ever there was one, whom nothing could daunt or intimidate. When the cause of religion was concerned, he never regarded whose love he was likely to gain, or whose displeasure to incur. He treated the Pope's bulls, and the emperor's edicts, just alike; that is, he heartily despised both. In the mean time, it must be 1 be owned, that Luther often gave a greater loose to his passions than he ought, and did not in his writings pay that deference to crowned heads which it is always neces sary to pay but every man has his foible, and this was Luther's. However, he was very diligent in his applica tion to letters, and very learned, considering the times he lived in. His chief pursuit was in the study of the Scrip tures, upon a great part of which he wrote commentaries. He reformed the Christian religion from many errors and superstitions, with which it had been long corrupted; and reduced it, as well as he could, to its primitive purity. If in some places he appears not quite so orthodox, we must impute it to the times, and not to him; for it is no wonder, that one who attempts to cleanse such a stable of Augeus as the church of Rome, should not escape free from spots and blemishes. He kept primitive antiquity constantly before his eyes, as his guide and rule; and, as Erasmus has observed, many things are condemned as heretical in the writings of Luther, which are thought very orthodox and pious in the books of Augustine and Bernard. Erasmus also says, that Luther wrote many things rather imprudently than impiously. His stile was rough and harsh, for in those days every body could not write like Erasmus, Politian, Bembus, &c. who were always reading Tully, Livy, and Terence. Yet how uncouth and inelegant soever his stile may be, it every where breathes a genuine zeal and piety, which is more solicitous about things than words." Luther left a widow, three sons, and two daughters. His family was not extinct, when Seckendorf published his history, towards the latter end of the century before the last. Whilst the troops of Charles V. were at Wittenberg, in 1547, the Spaniards solicited the emperor to pull down Luther's monument, and wanted to dig up his bones: but the emperor had more generosity and prudence, than to consent to a procedure so base and infá mous. Luther had a very sharp and satirical stile: but his "Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians," was his favourite work, which he used to call his wife, his Catharine de Bore. It was a very great imprudence to publish such a collection as the "Sermones Mensales," or "Colloquia Mensalia;" for Luther's table-talk is the subject subject of the book. It was published, in 1571, by Henry Peter Rebenstock, minister of Eischerheim: but Luther was not the author of that book, the publication of which was the effect of inconsiderate zeal. His favourite doctrine was justification by faith alone, and not by works, moral, legal, or evangelical: but we must do him the justice to observe, that he perpetually inculcated the absolute necessity of good works. Accord ing to him, a man is justified only by faith; but he cannot be justified without works; and where those works are not to be found, there is assuredly no true faith. He was once somewhat inclined to the opinion, that souls after death sleep till the resurrection: but he afterwards said, that the souls of the faithful are in a state of felicity; and this seems to have been his last and settled opinion. He thought that the Jewish nation would never be converted; and that St. Paul's expressions concerning this subject were misunderstood. Luther was a magnanimous person even by the concession of his enemies; and undertook such things as the world may reasonably admire, having opposed himself alone to the whole earth. His followers called themselves Lutherans much against his mind: but they recede from him in many things, as may be seen by their writings. Melancthon says, "Pomeranus is a grammarian; I am a logician; and Justas Jonas is an orator: but Luther is good at every thing; the wonder of mankind; for what-, ever he says, or writes, it penetrates the heart, and makes a lasting impression." It has also been said of Luther, that it was a great miracle a poor frier should be able to stand against the Pope: it was a greater that he should prevail; and the greatest of all, that he should die in peace, as well as Erasmus, when surrounded by so many enemies. The doctrine of this eminent divine, and great Reformer, was soon extended through all Germany, Denmark, Swe den, and England, and other countries, under different mo difications. Luther's works were collected after his death, and printed at Wittenberg in seven volumes folio. Catharine de Bore survived her husband a few years, and continned the first year of her widowhood at Wittenberg, though Luther had advised her to seek another place of residence. She She went from thence in 1547, when the town was sur rendered to the emperor Charles V. Before her departure, she had received a present of fifty crowns from Christian III. king of Denmark; and the elector of Saxony, and the counts of Mansfelt, gave her good tokens of their liberality. With these additions to what Luther had left her, she had scarcely wherewithal to maintain her and her family. She returned to Wittenberg, when the town was restored to the elector, where she lived in a very devout and pious manner, till the plague obliged her to leave it again in 1552. She sold what she had at Wittenberg, and retired to Torgau, with a resolution to end her life there. An aweful providence befel her in her journey thither, which proved fatal to her. The horses growing unruly, and attempting to run away, she leaped out of the vehicle she was conveyed in; and, by leaping, got a fall, of which she died about a quarter of a year af ter, at Torgau, Dec. 20, 1552. She was buried there in the great church, where her tomb and epitaph are still to be seen; and the university of Wittenberg, which was then at Torgau, because the plague raged at Wittenberg, made a public programma concerning the funeral pomp. Upon Luther's tomb the university of Wittenberg directed the following inscription to be placed : MARTINI LUTHERI, S. THEOLOGLE D. CORPUS H. L. S. E. QUI That is, "In this place lies buried the body of Martin Luther, The following anecdotes of this great man will not be deemed an intrusion on the reader's patience: "The There were many plots laid against his life, which the Papists sought after by all means. Poison, daggers, pistols, were intended; when fire and faggot could not be used, through the clector's protection. A Polish Jew was hired for two thousand crowns to poison him. plot (says Luther) was discovered to me by the letters of my friends. He is a doctor of physic, and dares to attempt any thing: he would go about this business with inc edible craft and agility. He is just now apprehended." However, God preserved him from the malice of his ene |