Joy and grief, life and death, are closely joined in this changing world. On the 5th of June,
Luther received the sad news of the pious death of his father, which occurred at Mansfeld, May
- When he first heard of his sickness, he wrote to him from Wittenberg, Feb. 15, 1530: "It would
be a great joy to me if only you and my mother could come to us. My Kate, and all, pray for it with
tears. We would do our best to make you comfortable." At the report of his end he said to Dietrich,
"So my father, too, is dead," took his Psalter, and retired to his room. On the same day he wrote to
Melanchthon that all he was, or possessed, he had received from God through his beloved father.
He suffered much from "buzzing and dizziness" in his head, and a tendency to fainting, so
as to be prevented for several weeks from reading and writing. He did not know whether to attribute
the illness to the Coburg hospitality, or to his old enemy. He had the same experience at the
Wartburg. Dietrich traced it to Satan, since Luther was very careful of his diet.
Nevertheless, he accomplished a great deal of work. As soon as his box of books arrived,
he resumed his translation of the Bible, begun on the Wartburg, hoping to finish the Prophets, and
dictated to Dietrich a commentary on the first twenty-five Psalms. He also explained his favorite
118th Psalm, and wrote 118:17 on the wall of his room, with the tune for chanting, —
"Non moriar, sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini."
By way of mental recreation he translated thirteen of Aesop’s fables, to adapt them for
youth and common people, since "they set forth in pleasing colors of fiction excellent lessons of
wise and peaceful living among bad people in this wicked world." He rendered them in the simplest
language, and expressed the morals in apt German proverbs.^983
The Diet at Augsburg occupied his constant attention. He was the power behind the throne.
He wrote in May a public "Admonition to the Clergy assembled at the Diet," reminding them of
the chief scandals, warning them against severe measures, lest they provoke a new rebellion, and
promising the quiet possession of all their worldly possessions and dignities, if they would only
leave the gospel free. He published a series of tracts, as so many rounds of musketry, against Romish
errors and abuses.
He kept up a lively correspondence with Melanchthon, Jonas, Spalatin, Link, Hausmann,
Brenz, Agricola, Weller, Chancellor Brück, Cardinal Albrecht, the Elector John, the Landgrave
Philip, and others, not forgetting his "liebe Kethe, Herr Frau Katherin Lutherin zu Wittenberg." He
dated his letters "from the region of the birds" (ex volucrum regno), "from the Diet of the jackdaws"
(ex comitiis Monedu, larum seu Monedulanensibus), or "from the desert" (ex eremo, aus der Einöde).
Melanchthon and the Elector kept him informed of the proceedings at Augsburg, asked his advice
about every important step, and submitted to him the draught of the Confession. He approved of
it, though he would have liked it much stronger. He opposed every compromise in doctrine, and
exhorted the confessors to stand by the gospel, without fear of consequences.
His heroic faith, the moving power and crowning glory of his life, shines with wonderful
luster in these letters. The greater the danger, the stronger his courage. He devoted his best hours
to prayer. His "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," was written before this time,^984 but fitly expresses
his fearless trust in God at this important crisis, when Melanchthon trembled. "Let the matter be
(^983) The MS. of his translation and adaptation of these fables has recently been re-discovered in the Vatican Library by Dr. Reitzenstein,
and published, with an interesting facsimile, by E. Thiele: "Luthers Fabeln nach seiner wiedergefundenen Handschrift, " etc. Halle (M.
Niemeyer), 1888 (19 pages).
(^984) See above, 468, 502 sq., 741 sq.