A NEW LIFE.
"See, Wolfgang, how lustily our garden things are growing," said
Luther one sunny afternoon in June of 1526 to his amanuensis, the
lame Wolfgang Sieberger, who came limping after him. "Here are the
onions and radishes grown from seed my friend Langen sent me, and
yonder the melons and cucumbers from Wenzel Link in Nuremberg. The
roses from Altenburg please me much; the buds are ready to burst.
How delighted Mistress Kate will be, when I bring her the first of
our roses. But, Wolfgang, how comes it that your jacket is so
soiled? Have you been at work in the stable? Save your reputation,
my learned famulus!"
Wolfgang brushed the straw from his sleeve, and answered with an
important look: "Had I not helped we would be poorer by one sucking
pig, which in its youthful frivolity wandered away and fell into a
ditch."
Luther laughed heartily: "Dr. Martin has indeed become a farmer,
Mistress Kate a farmer's wife, and Master Wolfgang a farm-servant. I
never dreamed that such honor and dignity would befall me. When I
return from my pulpit or lecture-hall, and enter the court, where in
former times a solemn silence reigned, I am greeted on all sides by
such a cackling and grunting and bleating, that my heart fails me,
when I think of all the pious monks and abbots, who are sleeping
their last sleep here below. What would they say to such deafening
noises in this sacred spot? If I would walk in the garden, and enjoy
the fragrance of the flowers, suddenly a swarm of bees flies buzzing
about my head, and I have learned, to my sorrow, how sharp a sword
they carry. The convent is alive with human beings--almost too many,
methinks. In the end it will be needful that I buy a horse of
Abraham the Jew, and myself follow the plough."
Wolfgang listened with a smile and shook his head: "Reverend Doctor,
you jest about the busy life in your house, and yet you owe thanks to
those who have brought it about; for without it, you would fare ill,
and so forth."
"What do you mean, Wolf?" asked Luther.
"What do I mean?" said Wolfgang, limping a few steps nearer. "My
meaning can be made clear to you without figures, and so forth. What
is the amount of the salary paid you by the Elector since your
marriage? Two hundred florins. How much have we spent during the
past year? Nearly five hundred florins, including the three silver
drinking cups."
"Wolf," exclaimed Luther, "that is a strange reckoning."
"It is correct," continued Wolfgang, with growing excitement, "for
according to your directions I have kept the books, and so forth. If
you will remember, how many guests have sat at your table during the
year, how many poor students have been fed daily, how many monks, and
nuns, and others, have eaten of your substance, not to mention the
gifts which your boundless generosity has scattered with open
hands--if you will take this into consideration, and so forth, you
will perceive that two hundred florins cannot last the year. Your
purse is ever open, and everybody's hand is in it. Truly, you had
been a beggar, and in a debtor's prison, and so forth, had not
Mistress Luther managed so wisely, and had she not been careful to
turn everything to profit, and so forth. I regard the Mistress with
deep reverence, for with all her gentleness she has a clear and
courageous spirit, and although so many burdens rest upon her, she
never grows weary, but has at all times a cheerful heart, and guides
her household with a firm and skillful hand, and so forth. But all
this farm-yard business would not be needed, if the reverend Doctor
would but consent to receive pay for his services to the University.
Still larger sums would you gather, if you accepted what the printers
offer for your books, and especially for the translation of the Holy
Scriptures. You would soon be a veritable Croesus, and relieved of
all care concerning temporal things."
Luther made an impatient gesture. His brows were raised, so that his
eyes seemed larger than usual, and flashed with an angry light. "Are
you again harping on the old tune, Wolfgang? It is an offence to me.
Have I not told you, again and again, that I will not sell the Word
of God for money? I will not bear the shame before my friends and
the world, that it should be said of me: He has preached the Gospel
for filthy lucre's sake, that he might heap up riches and fare
sumptuously every day. 'Freely ye have received, freely give,' saith
the Lord. Did not the Man who died for me let it cost Him dearly
enough? Then I too will dedicate my life to my work, neither will I
accept the world's reward."
Wolfgang, who stood upon a very friendly footing with the Doctor,
here ventured to interrupt him: "Well said, Herr Doctor; but even
though for your own person you desire nothing, and despise the
treasures of this earth,--yet are you not bound to provide for those
who are dependent upon you, and to secure their future, by laying
aside what will keep them from want?"
"That I shall never do," replied Luther, with decision. "Otherwise
they would put their trust not in God, but in their possessions, and
to them their hearts would cling."
Shaking his head, Wolfgang turned, and slowly walked across the
court, soliloquizing as he went: "A wonderful man, the Doctor, and so
forth! How great and lofty is his spirit, and how pitiable seems one
of us beside him. Such a man I never saw. He pleads for others,
that a stone would be moved to pity, but for himself he asks nothing,
although he needs it sorely. How many have, through his
intercession, obtained favor from the Elector; yet he opposes those
who would report his own needs. If he accepts a gift even from his
nearest friend, it is only after much persuasion, and for the sake of
sharing it with others. Thus he disposed of the two hundred florins
sent him recently by his grace, the Elector, and of the hundred
florins sent him by an unknown person, through Bugenhagen. I
remember with sorrow the fine roebuck from the Elector's forest, it
would have furnished us meat for three or four days, but the Doctor
must needs invite so many friends, that they quickly made an end of
it. I grieve for the costly flagon of glass and tin, a wedding gift
from our gracious lord, which is about to follow the rest, being
destined for the Pastor Agricola in Eisleben; because, forsooth, he
expressed his admiration of it. I heard the Doctor whisper to his
guest: 'I will send it before another gets it, for my Kate would fain
keep it for herself, to feast her eyes upon it.' I was secretly
glad, when he could not find the flagon, in time for Agricola's
birthday, for in the meantime Mistress Kate had hidden it away. But
what shall it avail her? As I saw with my own eyes, the Doctor wrote
to Eisleben, that for the present he was unable to keep his promise,
which he greatly regretted, but he hoped soon to get the flagon into
his possession.--My dear Doctor is not to be measured by the standard
of ordinary mortals, and so forth. Therefore it may be regarded as a
wise providence of God, that such a helpmeet was given him, who, by
her housewifely virtues, her thrift, her industry, foresight and
experience, can sustain her household with small means. It is the
Doctor's good fortune, that his wife is of a different nature from
himself, thus producing a pleasant harmony between the two, and so
forth."
The worthy Wolfgang, at the end of his soliloquy, found himself at
the door of the stable, where stood his lathe, and where the Doctor,
when his mind was wearied with study, often helped him at his work.
He heard footsteps behind him, and turning, saw Luther coming toward
him.
"Let us turn the lathe, dear Wolf," said Luther, "and test the new
tools which my friend Link sent me from Nuremberg. I am ill-disposed
for other work. My breast is sorely oppressed, and my breathing is
difficult."
Wolfgang brought out the tools and they set to work. Before many
minutes had passed, a maid-servant rushed from the house. Her face
was flushed, and tears were in her eyes. "Herr Doctor!" she
exclaimed, "Herr Doctor."
Luther looked up from his work. "What is it, Dorothy?" and a sudden
flush rose to his face. Luther understood the gestures of the
excited girl, and hurrying across the court, he soon stood by the
bedside of his faithful wife, who had brought him a precious gift.
He lay there, gazing upon his father with great clear eyes,--a
strong, handsome boy. But an hour ago, Katharine was walking in the
garden, and now God had given her her firstborn son.
In the joy of his overflowing heart, Luther took the child into his
arms, looked into its eyes, and caressed it. "O thou dear, heavenly
Father," he exclaimed, "how has poor brother Martin deserved so great
a blessing! Behold this is pure, unmerited grace, and humbles me to
the dust, so that I could weep,--My dear child, thou art most
heartily welcome. My heart already beats with love toward thee, who
hast yet done nothing to call it forth. Now I can understand how
God's love toward us poor creatures forestalls our love. He does not
wait until we come to Him and bring Him our love, but He comes to
us.--My child, thy name shall be John, that, as often as I call thee,
I may remember God's mercy, which this day has visited our house.
For thy grandfather's sake also, thou shall bear his name. I can see
in the spirit how his dim eyes will brighten at the tidings of thy
birth, and his withered lips will glorify the name of the Lord."
Turning to his wife, he said: "My dear Kate, you have made me very
rich, and are daily kindling a warmer love within my heart. I would
gladly give my life for you, if there were need.--But now I will
hasten and call a clergyman, that this poor little heathen be made a
Christian."
He reached after his cloak and hat, and left the house. An hour
later, at four o'clock, the child was baptized by the Chaplain,
George Roerer,--Kranach, Bugenhagen, and Jonas acting as sponsors.
The custom of the time demanded that a child be baptized immediately
after its birth.
With the child, a new life entered into Luther's house. A child is a
tie which binds even closer those who were joined together before the
altar, and is a visible reminder, that these two are pledged to
inseparable companionship. Although Luther had always loved and
esteemed his wife, a new tenderness now seemed to warm his heart.
Katharine did not fail to perceive this increase of love, and holding
her child in her arms, she often whispered, with moist eyes: "Thou
sweet child! thy mother owes thee hearty thanks, for thou hast
brought a great blessing into the house."
A lively competition soon arose between Katharine and her cousin,
"Aunt Lena," whom Luther had received into his family after her
escape from the convent, both claiming the first right to the care of
the child,--Kate, because she was its mother, and the older woman
because of her gratitude to those who had taken pity on her helpless
condition. Whosoever saw Dr. Martin playing with his little Hans,
asked himself, if this were indeed the man who had shaken the world
to its very foundations; whose name was on the lips of every
Christian--the hero of Worms, the prophet of the Most High? The man
before whom kings and princes bowed, and whom the pope, together with
his bishops, feared, more than the Grand Turk himself? How could
this great man become a child again, and speak in words that a child
might understand? Verily, an able and learned master was he,
understanding not only the tongue of the ancient Israelites, and of
the Greeks and Romans, but speaking withal the language of childhood
in such a fluent manner, that it was a delight to hear him. Whence
did he take the time, burdened as he was with cares of weightiest
import, to play with his child and to watch his growth? In letters
to his friends he had much to tell of his little Hans, of his first
tooth, his first steps, and his baby prattle.--Many an one who calls
himself a scholar, sits buried among his books, which are to him as
children, devoting to them his whole strength, his time and his
heart, while in the nursery yonder the patient mother toils for and
with her living children. It seems too small a matter, to descend
from the heights of spiritual life to the beginnings of human
development. Martin Luther was a scholar, before whose learning many
an one, who thinks he has mastered much wisdom, must hide his head.
But he was far more,--being a man of a universal grasp of mind; a
genius,--great in whatever position he filled; great, even, when he
descended to small things.
There has been preserved to us a letter, written by Luther in the
year 1530, from the Castle of Coburg, to his four year old son, which
is a jewel of educational wisdom, and a fitting example of the great
man's skill in the language of childhood.
"Grace and Peace in Christ, my dear little son! I am well pleased to
hear that thou learnest well thy lessons and prayest diligently.
Continue to do so, my son, and when I come home, I will bring thee a
fine "fairing." I know of a lovely, gay garden, wherein are many
children, wearing golden coats, who gather from under the trees sweet
apples, pears, cherries and plums. They sing, dance and are merry,
and have pretty little horses, with saddles of silver and bridles of
gold. I asked the master of the garden, whose were these children?
He said: These are the children who love to pray and learn their
lessons, and who are good. Then said I: Dear man, I too have a
little son, whose name is Hans Luther. Might not he also come into
this garden, and eat of these beautiful apples and pears, ride upon
these fine horses, and play with these children? Said the man: If he
willingly prays and learns, and is good, he may come into the garden,
and Lippus[1] and Jost[2] with him. And when they are all together,
they shall have pipes, drums, lutes, and all sorts of stringed
instruments; and they shall dance, and shoot with little cross bows.
And he showed me a smooth lawn in the garden, prepared for dancing;
there hung pipes of pure gold, drums and silver cross-bows. But it
was still very early, and the children had not yet dined, therefore I
could not wait for the dance. I said to the man: Dear sir, I will
forthwith go, and write these things to my dear son Hans, and tell
him to pray diligently, learn well and be good, that he too may come
into this garden. But he has an Aunt Lena, whom he must bring with
him. The man said: So it shall be. Go and write him, as you have
said. Therefore, my dear little son, pray and learn cheerfully, and
tell Lips and Jost to do the same, that you may together come into
the garden. And herewith I commit you to the dear Lord's keeping.
Greet Aunt Lena, and give her a kiss from me.
"Your loving father, MARTIN LUTHER."
Thus he wrote, when in the Castle of Coburg, strengthened he with his
prayers and his counsel the hearts of his friends, who appeared at
the Diet of Augsburg, before the Emperor and the assembled
dignitaries of the Empire, to confess the Protestant faith, and to
obtain for the Reformation the recognition of its rights.
[l] Melanchthon's son Philip.
[2] Jonas' son Justus.