LUTHER'S LAST WILL.
"Man proposes--God disposes." He who had labored more than all the
others, was not to enjoy the coveted rest. Much still remained for
him to do. Amid ceaseless toil and endeavor, the great life was to
reach its end. Many a hard road must be traveled, before he should
hear the Master's well-beloved voice: "Well done, thou good and
faithful servant,--enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Yet he was weary, and his thoughts were constantly fixed upon death.
To the many loving questions of friends he had but one answer: "Old
age has come upon me, which is unsightly, cold and dreary. The
pitcher is carried to the fountain until it breaks. I have lived
long enough, and now my desire is, that God grant me a peaceful end,
and that my useless body be put beneath the earth among His dead, and
furnish food for the worms. Methinks the days that are past, were
better than those that are to come; for it seems as though evil times
were drawing near. God help His own. Amen."
When the Elector, in his loving anxiety, sent his court-physician to
the ailing man, Luther thanked his gracious sovereign for the
kindness shown to his old and worn-out body, and added: "I would have
been pleased, had the dear Lord Jesus taken me from hence, for I am
of little further use upon the earth."
It was not the despondency of approaching age, which caused him to
take this gloomy view of events,--but rather the inspired, prophetic
eye, which foresaw a troubled future. The present was already
fraught with evil. The waves of political strife ran high. The
relations between the Protestant and Catholic parties were strained
to the utmost. In Wittenberg itself,--in the very city which had
once been the torch-bearer of the Reformation, Luther was forced to
censure the profligacy of the students; and had personally entered
the lists against the jurists, and their perversion of equity. But
the world's answer to his cry of anguish, wrung from a Christian
conscience, and to the honest testimony of the champion of truth, was
hatred and enmity. In their blindness, men forgot the debt which
Christianity owed to Dr. Martin, and repaid him with insult and
calumny. All this weighed upon the giant spirit, and made the
thought of death most welcome to him.
In this mood he sat in his study one day, in the beginning of the
year 1542, and wrote his last Will and Testament. He was prepared
for its departure,--now he would arrange his temporal affairs, and
put his house in order.
The document unconsciously shaped itself into a testimonial of honor
and gratitude toward his wife. It seemed as though her husband
desired to fix finally, in imperishable words, the love and respect
he had never wearied of expressing.
The Will, which is still preserved, runs as follows: "I, Dr. Martin
Luther, do herewith set forth, in my own handwriting, that on this
present day, and in virtue of this document, I bequeath to my beloved
and faithful wife Katharine, during her life-time, and to use
according to her own pleasure:
"Firstly. The estate of Zulsdorf, which I have bought and put in
order;
"Secondly. For her dwelling, the Bruno house, which was bought in
Wolfgang's name;
"Thirdly. The cups and the trinkets,--such as rings, chains, silver
and gold coins, which may be worth altogether about 1,000 florins.
"This I do, Firstly, because as my pious, true and faithful wife, she
has at all times given me love and honor; and has borne to me and
reared by God's blessing five living children;
"Secondly. Because I desire that she assume and discharge all my
debts, (unless I pay them during my lifetime), which, as far as I
know, amount to about 450 florins,--perhaps more.
"Thirdly and chiefly, Because I desire that she shall not receive
from the children, but they from her; and that they honor her, and be
subject to her, as God has commanded. I have seen how the Devil, by
means of evil tongues, incites children to disobey this
commandment,--especially where the mother is a widow, and the sons
take wives, and the daughters husbands. I hold that a mother is the
best guardian of her children, and will not use her property to their
hurt or injury, but rather to their profit and advantage, they being
her own flesh and blood.
"If, after my death, she should find herself under the necessity, or
otherwise prompted to take another husband,--for I cannot set a limit
to God's Will,--I have the sure confidence that she will continue to
be a faithful mother to our children, and justly share with them her
inheritance.
"And I herewith humbly pray my lord, the Elector John Frederick, that
his grace will kindly confirm and administer this my bequest.
"I moreover request my friends, that they bear witness to the
innocence of my dear Kate, if evil tongues should seek to work
mischief, as though she had withheld anything from the children. I
herewith testify that there is nothing beyond the cups and trinkets
above enumerated. Everybody knows what has been my income from my
gracious master; there has not been a farthing beyond, save such
gifts as are reckoned with the trinkets. Yet my small income has
sufficed for the support of a large household, which I count as a
great and peculiar blessing. The marvel is, not that there is a lack
of ready money, but that the debts are so few. I make this request,
because the Devil, having failed to destroy me, may seek by all means
to molest my Kate, because she has been, and, thank God, still is,
Dr. Martin's wedded wife. This is my earnest and well-considered
wish.
"MARTIN LUTHER.
"_Given on the Day of the Epiphany, 1542._"
On the same day, Luther sent for his friends, Melanchthon, Cruciger,
and Bugenhagen, to affix their signatures as witnesses to the
document. It was not shown to his wife, the Doctor fearing to arouse
the sadness which overwhelmed her at the thought of separation.
A heavy weight was lifted from his mind, after he had thus fulfilled
his duty toward his wife and children; and he was able, with greater
fervor than ever, to say in his daily prayer: "I desire to depart and
to be with Christ."