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Speaker 1: Chapter one of Catherine de Borah or Social and Domestic

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Scenes in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

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All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

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information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot Organ recording

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by Bill Moseley, Lano County, Texas, U s A. Catherine

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de Borah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life

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of Luther by John G. Morris. Chapter One, Clerical Celibacy, Luther,

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Bernardi's marriage, treatment of Catherine de Borah, the Convent, wealthy Nuns,

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convent life, the escape, treatment of the nuns, Florentine de Oberweimer,

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Leonard Cope, Luther's defense. The celibacy of the clergy was

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one of the strongest pillars on which the proud edifice

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of Romish power rested. It was a stupendous partition wall

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which separated the clergy from all other interests and thus

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consolidated the widespread authority of the Pope. It cut off

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the secular clergy, as well as the monks, from all

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domestic ties. They forgot father, mother and friends. Political obligations

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to their country and sovereign were disregarded, but the cord

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which bound them to the interest of Rome was only

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the more tightly drawn superior Purity was the presumed ground

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of the system, but a total surrender of all rights

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and complete submission to the will of the Pope were

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its legitimate results. He was regarded as the only parent

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of the clergy, the only sovereign to whom they owed allegiance,

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the only protector in whom they were to confide, and

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as dutiful sons, obedient subjects, and grateful beneficiaries. They were

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obliged to exert themselves to the utmost to maintain his

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authority and extend his dominion. Clerical celibacy was regarded not

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only as a duty, but as the highest attainment in

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moral perfection. The system was introduced with caution and maintained

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with sleepless vigilance and zeal. There were some who saw

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its errors and disadvantages and desired its abolition, but their

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remonstrances were unheeded and their clamors silenced. That, however, which

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was considered impossible by the whole Christian world, was accomplished

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by a single man who himself had been a monk,

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and whose first duty as such was a vow of celibacy.

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That man was Martin Luther, Augustinian monk, doctor of theology

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at the University of Wittenberg, who, by his heroic conduct

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and relation to this subject, has only added to the

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other inappreciable services he has rendered to the church. It

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was he who was bold enough to abandon the monastic order, and,

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in spite of the principles of the church as they

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prevailed in that age, to enter the married state. This

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adventurous step led to the deliverance of a large portion

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of the clergy from the chain of papal power. From

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having been the slavish satellites of a foreign master in Italy,

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they became patriotic subjects and useful men at home. Several

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years before, two friends of Luther who were his noble

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assistants in the work of the Reformation, Melanchthon and Karlstodt,

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had written treatises against clerical celibacy. Their books on this

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subject were equally as unexpected and created as much excitement

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among the clergy as Luther's theses against indulgences had done

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six years before. Luther was not the first priest in

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those days who practically rejected celibacy, as early as fifteen

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twenty one, one of his friends and fellow laborers, BERNHARDI,

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superintendent of the churches at Kemburg, had the boldness to marry.

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He was the first ecclesiastic in Saxony who took this step,

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and his wedding day was long regarded as the pastor's

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emancipation day. But Caspar Aquilla, a priest residing near Augsburg,

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was married as early as fifteen sixteen, Jacob Canabe in

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fifteen eighteen, and Nicholas Brunner in fifteen nineteen. Luther was

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free from all participation in Bernhardi's marriage, for at that

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time he was a prisoner in Wartburg Castle, and the

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first intelligence came so unexpectedly that, whilst he admired the

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courage of his friend, he was very apprehensive it would

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occasion him and his cause many severe trials. Not long

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after Bernhardi's metropolitan, the Cardinal Archbishop Albert of Mainz and Magdeburg,

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demanded of the Elector of Sexony, Frederick the Wise, to

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send Bernardi to Halle to answer for his presumptuous act.

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Frederick did not yield to the demand of the Archbishop,

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and the latter professed to be satisfied with an anonymous

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offense of BERNHARDI, Luther himself sent a petition to Albert

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in behalf of the clergy who had already married and

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of those who intended to marry subsequently. However, BERNHARDI suffered

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severely when in fifteen forty seven, more than twenty years

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after his nuptials, the Emperor Charles the Fife captured Wittenberg.

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His savage Spaniards seized Bernardi and bound him fast to

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a table. His wife rescued him from their murderous hands,

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but soon after others laid hold of him, and, after

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cruelly beating him, tied him to a horse and dragged

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him to the camp at Torgau. A German officer, after

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much trouble, had him liberated, and he finally, after unexampled suffering,

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reached his family at Kemburg. A considerable number of priests

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followed the example of BERNHARDI. They were not deterred by

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the ban of the bishops, nor by the fear of

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deposition and imprisonment. But all this would not have created

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such immense excitement if Luther himself, to whom all eyes

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were directed, had not resolved by his own example to

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strike a deadly blow at priestly celibacy. Catherine de Borah,

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a nun of the celebrated Bernhardin or Cistercian convent at

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Nimpschen in Saxony, was the person whom Luther chose as

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his wife. She was born on the twenty ninth of

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January fourteen ninety nine. There is no authentic record of

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the place of her birth, and the history of her

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childhood is wrapped in obscurity. It is only as the

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nun Catherine that we first become acquainted with her. Her

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Romish calumniators, and no innocent woman was ever more bitterly

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and cruelly defamed, declare that her parents compelled her to

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become a nun against her will, because they were poor

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and could not support her, and particularly because her conduct

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was so objectionable that her seclusion was necessary. As regards

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the first, it is true she was not wealthy when

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she became the wife of Luther, but if she had

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been compelled to enter the nunnery, it was likely that

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Luther would have mentioned it as an additional justification of

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her flight. Her objectionable morality is based by her enemies

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on the fact of her escape, and hence the accusation

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has no ground whatever. There is not a particle of

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truth to establish the calumnious charge. This convent was designated

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by the name of the Throne of God. It was

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founded in twelve fifty by Henry the Illustrious. No trace

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of it remains at the present day. In eighteen ten

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to twelve its ruins were removed to make room for

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the erection of an edifice connected with a school for

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boys established at that place. Most of the inmates of

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this convent were of noble birth, For at that day,

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as well as at present, it was the policy and

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interest of the Romish clergy to induce as many ladies

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of high rank as possible to take the veil, thereby

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rendering the profession respectable and securing large sums as entrance

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fees if they were wealthy, and all their patrimony after

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their decease. It may seem strange that Catharine de Borah,

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who according to her own confession, was devout, industrious in

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the discharge of conventual duties and diligent in prayer, should

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have determined with eight other sisters to escape from their prison.

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But when it is considered that the convent was situated

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within the territory of the Elector Frederic the Wise, who

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was Luther's friend and patron, That Luther himself visited a

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neighboring monastery at Grimau as inspector, that in fifteen nineteen,

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after the dispute with ek at Leipzig, he spent a

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few days in the town of Nimpschen, that the principles

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of the Reformation had already made some progress in that vicinity,

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and that several monasteries not far distant had been abandoned.

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The circumstance is easily explained. It is scarcely credible that,

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amid the excitement of the times, no word of Luther's

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doctrine should have entered the convent halls, and that the

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stirring events occurring around them should have been entirely concealed

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from the unobtrusive occupants. Could not Some of those courageous

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friends of Luther, who, afterwards, at his suggestion, affected the

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escape of the nuns, have previously introduced some of Luther's

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tracts into the convent. He had at that time already

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written several small books against the monastic life, and it

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is likely that some of these have been clandestinely introduced,

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the perusal of which convinced these sisters that their profession

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was not sanctioned by the scriptures, and that it was

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dangerous to their morals. They became so thoroughly assured of

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the enormous error they had committed in thus secluding themselves

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from the world, and were so heartily weary of the

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unnatural restraint imposed upon them, that they earnestly besought their

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relatives to liberate them for their soul's sake. But these

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appeals were unheard, and now probably the unhappy petitioners turned

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immediately to Luther. He not only favored their resolution to escape,

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but selected his courageous friend, Bernard Cape, a citizen of Torgau,

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to execute the project. Two other citizens of the same

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place accompanied him on the adventure. George Spalatin, Court chaplain

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and secretary of the Elector, reports that they fled from

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the convent on the night before Easter, April fourth, fifteen

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twenty three. There were nine of them. In all. The

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accounts of the manner in which their rescue was effected differ.

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Some historians report that prudence required them to preserve the

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strictest secrecy as long as they were traversing the territory

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of Duke George, who was violently opposed to the Reformation,

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and hence they were conveyed away in a covered wagon,

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and a few affirm on the authority of reliable documents

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that they were concealed in tasks. The historians, however, agreed

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that Kape performed his part in the enterprise with consummate

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courage and skill. It is very likely that the nuns

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were aware of Cope's design and held themselves in readiness

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at the appropriate time. Tradition tells us that they escaped

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through the window of Catherine's cell. To this day they

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show at Nimpshen a slipper, which they say Catherine lost

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in the hurry of the flight. They arrived at Wittenberg

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on the seventh of April, under circumstance is calculated to

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excite the sympathy of every feeling heart. As they deserted

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the convent against the will of their relatives, and most

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of them probably being orphans, they did not know where

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to find shelter or support. But Luther, who had advised

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their flight and aided in affecting it, kindly received them

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and spared no pains to render their condition comfortable. In

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a few but expressive words to Spalatin, he announced their

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arrival and depicted their destitution. He thus writes, on the

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tenth of April, quote, these eloped nuns have come to me.

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They are in destitute circumstances. But as very respectable citizens

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of Torgau have brought them, there can be no suspicion

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entertained as to their moral character. I sincerely pity their

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forlorn state, and particularly that of the great numbers still

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confined in convents, who are going to ruin in that

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condition of constrained and unnatural celibacy. How tyrannical and cruel continues, Luther,

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many parents and relatives of these oppressed women in Germany.

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Are but ye popes and bishops who can censure you

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with sufficient severity, who can sufficiently abominate your wickedness and

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blindness for upholding these accursed institutions. But this is not

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the place to speak at large on this subject. You

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ask your Spellaton, what I intend to do with these nuns.

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I shall report these facts to their relatives, so that

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they may provide for them. If they should refuse, I

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shall look to some other persons for several have promised aid.

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Their names are Margaretta Staupits, Elizabeth Decarnate's, Eva Grossen, Eva

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Schoenfeld and her sister, Margaret Lunette de Golis, Margaret de

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Zeschal and her sister Catherine and Catherine de Borah. They

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are indeed objects worthy of compassion, and Christ will be

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served by conferring favors on them. End quote. As he

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could not afford to support them himself, he begged his

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friend to solicit donations at court that these fugitives might

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be supported for several weeks. By that time, he hoped

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to send them to their friends or patrons. As Spalatin

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did not reply immediately, Luther wrote again and begged not

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to be forgotten. He added quote, yea, I even exhort

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the Prince to send a contribution, I will keep it

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a profound secret and tell no one that he gave

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anything to these apostate nuns who have been rescued from

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their prison end quote. There is no doubt that the elector,

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who esteemed Luther highly sent him the desired relief. The

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Pacific Prince only wished the fact of his contribution to

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be kept secret, that he might not give the Romish clergy,

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and particularly Duke George of Saxony, occasion for new complaint.

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Luther's intercessions on behalf of the nuns with their relatives

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seemed to have been fruitless, but the people of Wittenberg

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were liberal beyond his expectations in their donations. For their support.

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They were kindly received into various families and hospitably entertained.

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In this way, Philip Reichenbach, a magistrate of the city,

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became the protector or foster father of Catherine de Borah, who,

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by her virtuous and dignified behavior rendered herself worthy of

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his paternal benevolence. This is of itself a sufficient refutation

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of the Slanders of Romish writers, who charge her with

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leading a dissolute life until her marriage with Luther. For

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no city official such as Rockenbach would have hazarded his

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own character by harboring a licentious woman. Neither would doctor

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Glacias and other imminent divines have sought her hand in marriage,

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as they perseveringly did. Nor would she have enjoyed the

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friendship and confidants of Almsdorf and other professors of the

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university if she had not sustained a character above suspicion.

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The epitaph of her tombstone at Torgau commemorates her virtues

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in most exalted terms of eulogy, from the time of

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her escape to her death. The flight of the nuns

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was itself an unusual event, but it became immensely important,

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for extraordinary consequences resulted from it. Pains were taken to

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conceal the bold step they had assumed, especially from all

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other convents, but these exertions were useless. Nuns at other

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places heard what their more adventurous sisters at Nimpshen had

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dared to do, and they also undertook to fly from

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their narrow, unwholesome cells to breathe the pure air of heaven.

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The abbess and four other nuns of the Benedictine convent

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at Zeits, six at Soormts, eight at Pentwitz, and sixteen

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at Widenstadt escaped in a short time. Luther's enemies now

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assailed him with ferocious malignity. They regarded him as the

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author of all this enormous mischief and tried to show

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that his work was productive of nothing but unmitigated evil,

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because it occasioned such abominable results as the flight of

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poor nuns from their convent prisons. Luther replied to them

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very briefly. He represented the dark side of the picture

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of conventual life and narrated some striking facts in illustration.

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He published the life of a nun, Florentine de Oberweimer,

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who had escaped from a convent at Eisleben Quote. I

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was but six years old, she says, when I was

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sent to the convent by my parents when I was eleven,

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without knowing or being asked whether I could or would

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observe the rules. I was compelled to take the vow

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when I was fourteen, and I began to find out

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that this mode of life was against my nature, and

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hints complained to the abbess. She told me that I

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must be contented and should continue to be a nun,

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no matter what I thought or felt. I then wrote

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to the learned doctor Luther begged his advice, but my

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letter was intercepted by my superiors, who immediately put me

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in prison, where I remained four weeks and suffered much.

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The abbess then put me under the bands. Florentine then

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minutely describes the severe treatment she received before the band

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was dissolved. After that, I wrote to my relative Aspar

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de Wattsdorff, who loved the Gospel truth, and complained of

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my treatment. This also became known to the abbess, and

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I cannot tell to strangers how shamefully I was abused

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by her and others. I was so violently beaten by

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her and four other persons that they became completely exhausted.

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She put me in prison again and fastened my feet

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with iron chains. In quote and et cetera, et cetera.

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In the dedication of this little book to the Duke

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of Mansfield, in whose dominions the convent was located, Luther wrote,

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on the second of March fifteen twenty four, quote, what

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are you about, ye, princes and lords, that ye drive

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the people to God? Whether they will or not, It

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is not your office, nor in your power to outward obedience.

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You may compel them, but God will regard. Now now

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that is not cheerfully and voluntarily kept. Hence, my dear

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gracious sirs, I have published this little narrative that all

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the world may know what conventual life is, and the

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devil's folly thus be made known. There are princes and

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lords who are very indignant about this affair, and it

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is no wonder if they knew what I know, they

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would perhaps honor me for it and contribute much more

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towards spreading it abroad than I am doing. But Luther

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was not the only one who was charged with being

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accessory to the flight of these nuns. Leonard kape As,

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the chief instrument in affecting their escape, was perhaps exposed

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to greater dangers and persecutions than Luther, who was powerfully

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protected by his prince. For although Kapey had formal been

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a counselor and a government auditor, yet he had reason

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to fear the worst treatment from the clergy if his

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participation in the act should become generally known. Hence he

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sought to conceal it. But Luther, who was a stranger

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to the fear of man, and who in all things

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went to work openly and boldly, was of a different opinion.

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Fully convinced that copy had performed a meritorious act of

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which he should not be ashamed but rather boast. He

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mentioned his name in a letter to Spalatin a few

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days after the escape of the nuns. But he also

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deemed it prudent to write to Copy and inspire him

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with courage. Quote be assured. He writes that God has

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so ordained it, and that it is not your work

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or counsel. Never mind the clamor of those who denounce

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it as a most wicked undertaking, and who do not

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believe it was so ordered of God. Shame, shame, they

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will say, the fool Leonard Copy has suffered himself to

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be led by that cursed, heretical monk, and has aided

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nine nuns to fly from the convent at once and

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to violate their vows. To this, you will reply, this

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is indeed a strange way of keeping the thing secret.

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You are betraying me and the whole convent of nympshen

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will be up against me, or they will now hear

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that I have been the robber. But my reasons for

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not keeping it secret are good. One that it may

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be known that I did not advise it to be concealed.

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Or what we do we do in and for God,

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and do not shine the light of day. Would to

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heaven I could, in this or some other way, rescue

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all troubled consciences and empty all convents. I would not

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be afraid to confess my own agency in the business,

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nor that of all my assistants. Confidence in Jesus, whose

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gospel is destroying the kingdom of Antichrist, would sustain me,

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even if it should cost me my life. Two. I

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do it for the sake of the poor nuns and

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of their relatives, so that no one may be able

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to say they were involuntarily abducted by wicked fellows, and

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thus be robbed of their reputation. Three to warn the

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nobility and pious gentry who have children in convents, to

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take them away themselves, so that no worse thing befall them.

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You know that I advise and sanctioned the enterprise, that

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you executed it, and that the nuns consented and earnestly

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desired it. And I will here briefly give the reasons

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for it before God and the world. First, the nuns

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themselves had before most humbly solicited the help of their

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relatives and friends in affecting their release. They gave them

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satisfactory reasons why such a life could no longer be endured,

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for it interfered with their soul's salvation. And they promised

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to be faithful and dutiful children when they should be released.

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All this was positively denied to them, and they were

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forsaken by all their relations. Hence they had the right

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yea were compelled to relieve their burdened consciences and save

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their souls by seeking help from other quarters. And those

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who were in a position to afford counsel and aid

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were bound by Christian love to bestow them. Secondly, it

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is not right that young girls should be locked up

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in convents where there is no daily use made of

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the Word of God, and where the Gospel is seldom

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or never heard, and where of course these girls are

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exposed to the severest temptations. Thirdly, it is plain that

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a person may be compelled to do before the world

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what he is not cheerfully done, but before God and

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in his service, no one has a right to use

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comp Fourthly, women are created for other purposes than to

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spend a lazy and useless life in a convent. End

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of chapter one recording by Bill Moseley, Lano County, Texas, USA.

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Speaker 2: Chapter two of Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes

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in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

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All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more

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information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Catherine

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Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of

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Luther by John G. Morris, Chapter two, Luther's Reflections, example

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of the Apostles, Celibacy Gregory seven, Luther's change of mind,

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Luther's mayor marriage character of Catherine. All these preliminary steps

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were not unpremeditated by Luther. Encouraged by the example of

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other clergymen who had married, he now began seriously to

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reflect on the propriety of clerical matrimony. In these reflections,

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he found no difficulty as regards the secular clergy, that is,

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those who officiated as pastors of churches, because he considered

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their office as divinely instituted, and he knew from history

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that their celibacy was forced by the popes under the

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most cruel oppression. For although Paul advised the Christians of

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Corinth to remain unmarried during the season of persecution, yet

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the first teachers of Christianity, and even Peter and most

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of the other Apostles were married men. Besides, celibacy is

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nowhere regarded as a meritorious condition in the New test

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christ himself distinctly commence matrimonial affection and harmony, and Paul

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teaches that it is better to lead a married than

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an unchased life. First Corinthian seven two nine twenty eight footnote.

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The passage in First Corinthians nine five to six speaks

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of Christian married women who accompany the Apostles on their travels.

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From this and other passages, it is undeniable that most

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of the Apostles, and that too during their apostleship, were

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married men. John probably lived unmarried, and Paul seems to

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say the same of himself First Corinthians seven, seven and eight.

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Compare Chapter nine five to six. The idea that in

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Philippians four three he is speaking of his own wife

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conflicts with the connection of the verse and footnote. Notwithstanding

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all this, even during the first three centuries, a peculiar

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merit began to be attached to celibacy. Many bishops who were,

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it is true, poorly enough supported, abstained from matrimony, or,

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if they were married, separated from their wives. A second

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marriage was particularly disapproved, but as yet there was no

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law on the subject, and the celibacy of the bishops

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was far from being general. Many of them were married men.

401
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It was only in the fourth century that it became

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00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,559
a general custom for the bishops to lead single lives,

403
00:29:36,599 --> 00:29:40,799
and several councils held during this period in this respect

404
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,759
severely oppressed the secular clergy. At the Council of Nice,

405
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,240
held in the year three twenty five, the first serious

406
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attempt was made to introduce celibacy, but the attempt failed

407
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through the influence of Bishop half Nudius of Upper Thebes.

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From this time most of the bishops tried their utmost

409
00:30:01,359 --> 00:30:06,240
to prevent their secular clergy from marrying. Some popes since

410
00:30:06,279 --> 00:30:10,200
the end of the fourth century, such as Cyrisius Innocent

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00:30:10,279 --> 00:30:14,119
the First, Gregory the Second, Nicholas the First, and Leo

412
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the ninth, also made attempts to restrain the priests. The

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predictions of Paul in first, Timothy four one in three

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were soon fulfilled. Scarcely had Gregory the seventh arrived at

415
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the papal dignity than he exerted all his influence to

416
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render the secular clergy independent of the state, and this

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he thought could be best accomplished through celibacy. The orders

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which he communicated to the Council held at Rome in

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ten seventy four in relation to this subject were very severe.

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The married clergy were to be separated from their wives

421
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or be deposed, and from that time forth no man

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was to be ordained to the clerical office who would

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not bind himself to remain une married all his life.

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The opposition to this severe regulation was strong in Germany.

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They even committed violence on the papal ambassador and openly

426
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reproached the Pope as a heretic who disregarded the plain

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instructions of the scriptures and introduced regulations which militated against

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human nature and divine providence, and which would lead to

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the most scandalous improprieties. When Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz held

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a council at Erfurt and communicated the commands of the

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00:31:33,799 --> 00:31:37,799
Pope to the secular clergy, the excitement was so great

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that he was in danger of his life. The Archbishop

433
00:31:41,519 --> 00:31:45,079
of Passau did not fare better. At the Council of

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00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:50,039
Vermes in ten seventy six, Germans and French violently opposed

435
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the pope and proclaimed him as a usurper of the

436
00:31:53,119 --> 00:31:58,000
papal sovereignty. At a meeting in Pavia, the Italian bishops

437
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even put this pope under the b Notwithstanding all this opposition,

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Gregory could not be turned from his purpose. He executed

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his orders with all possible severity, and even demanded of

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the princes to forbid those priests who would not obey

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00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:20,759
him from administering the sacraments or reading Mass. Thus his

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00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:26,640
unnatural law triumphed in ten eighty, though not universally for urban.

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00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,440
The second felt himself compelled in ten eighty nine and

444
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ten ninety five to reenact it, and it was reserved

445
00:32:34,599 --> 00:32:38,319
for innocent. The third in twelve fifteen more firmly to

446
00:32:38,519 --> 00:32:44,079
establish celibacy as a disciplinary law, although long before this

447
00:32:44,599 --> 00:32:48,039
marriage had been declared to be a sacrament. In his

448
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address in fifteen twenty to his Imperial majesty and German nobility,

449
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Luther strenuously advocated the marriage of the secular clergy. He

450
00:32:59,599 --> 00:33:03,599
entertained different views, however, with regard to the monastic order,

451
00:33:04,119 --> 00:33:07,759
and he made their celibacy a subject of investigation at

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Vartberg Castle. Although thought he their offices not of divine appointment,

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yet they had chosen it and had consecrated themselves to God.

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00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,960
In most instances they had voluntarily assumed the vow and

455
00:33:23,039 --> 00:33:27,200
hence were bound to keep it. Molangthen, who had married

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00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,559
a short time before, and Karlstadt, who followed his example

457
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,400
a short time after, to Luther's great joy, had both

458
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advocated the marriage of the monastic clergy in their writings,

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although not altogether with his approbation footnote. Malengthen married November

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twenty five, fifteen twenty Anna Kroppe, daughter of the Burgomaster

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of Wittenberg. Karlstadt December twenty sixth, fifteen twenty one, Anna

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von Michael. Soon after, he gave his rest for this

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00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,599
step in a letter to the Elector, in which he says, quote,

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I have learned from the scriptures that there is no

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00:34:07,359 --> 00:34:10,920
condition of life more pleasing to God, more blessed, and

466
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,119
more consistent with Christian liberty than the married state, if

467
00:34:15,119 --> 00:34:19,039
we live in it agreeably to God's design end quote.

468
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:25,800
Luther highly approved of the measure and footnote. Our wittenbergers

469
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,000
even wish the monks to have wives. Thus, he wrote

470
00:34:29,039 --> 00:34:33,760
to Spalatin August sixth, fifteen twenty one. But they shall

471
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,400
force no wife on me. I wish Karlstadt's book had

472
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,159
more light and distinctness, for it contains much talent and

473
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:46,880
learning footnote. He thus expressed himself in one of his tracts, quote,

474
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,840
I hope I have come so far that, by the

475
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,400
grace of God, I may remain as I am, although

476
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,559
I have not yet got over the difficulty end quote

477
00:34:57,199 --> 00:35:02,559
and footnote. But Luther's pen trading mind soon discovered the truth.

478
00:35:03,159 --> 00:35:06,960
He communicated his new formed opinion to his father and

479
00:35:07,039 --> 00:35:10,639
openly came out in favor of the marriage of the monks.

480
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,079
Although he now sturdily maintained this side of the question,

481
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,360
Yet he did not at this time feel himself inclined

482
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,199
to matrimony. This was in the autumn of fifteen twenty two.

483
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,599
Two years after this, fifteen twenty four, when he heard

484
00:35:27,639 --> 00:35:30,719
of a report in circulation that he was to be married.

485
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:35,239
He thus wrote to Spalatin, from the opinion which I

486
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,960
have hitherto had and now have, it is probable I

487
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,280
shall never marry. Not that I do not feel myself

488
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,119
to be flesh and blood, for I am neither wood

489
00:35:45,159 --> 00:35:48,639
nor stone. But I feel no inclination in that way

490
00:35:49,079 --> 00:35:53,840
end quote. Still, he highly honored the married relation as

491
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,119
an institution of God. Long after this, he wrote thus

492
00:35:58,159 --> 00:36:02,559
to his friend Stifle, I did not marry as though

493
00:36:02,599 --> 00:36:06,400
I expected to live long, but to establish my doctrine

494
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,280
by my example, and to leave behind me a consolation

495
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:15,679
for weak consciences end quote quote. I married also for

496
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,159
the purpose of opposing the doctrine of Satan and putting

497
00:36:19,199 --> 00:36:23,440
to shame the scandalous immorality practiced in the papacy. And

498
00:36:23,519 --> 00:36:26,679
if I had no wife, I would now marry, even

499
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:30,360
in my old age, just to honor the divine institution

500
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,159
and to poor contempt on the ungodly lives of so

501
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:41,199
many popish priests. End quote. Luther's mind gradually underwent a change.

502
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:46,000
He now secretly resolved to marry Catherine, who had already,

503
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,400
as we shall see below, expressed a tender feeling towards him.

504
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,400
An intimation of his purpose we have in a letter

505
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,840
to his relative doctor John Rule of May fourth, fifteen

506
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,800
twenty five. If I can manage to spite the devil,

507
00:37:03,159 --> 00:37:06,119
I will marry Catherine before I die, if I hear

508
00:37:06,199 --> 00:37:11,199
that my enemies continue their reproaches end quote. From this,

509
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,360
it is evident that he would not have married, at

510
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,639
least at this time if the clamor of his enemies,

511
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,920
the fear and weakness of his friends, and various other

512
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:25,639
circumstances had not determined him to take the step. The

513
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,880
generous and public declaration of John the Constant in favor

514
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,440
of the Reformation footnote, his brother and predecessor, Frederick the

515
00:37:34,519 --> 00:37:39,159
Wise had died May fiveth, fifteen twenty five and footnote,

516
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,639
as well as his own opposition to the celibacy of

517
00:37:42,679 --> 00:37:46,440
the clergy and the desire of gratifying the long expressed

518
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:52,119
wish of his father, hastened the consummation of his design. Thus,

519
00:37:52,159 --> 00:37:55,480
says he quote, I could no longer deny this last

520
00:37:55,519 --> 00:37:59,519
act of obedience to my dear father, who earnestly entreated

521
00:37:59,559 --> 00:38:04,599
me to me. Besides this, he wished to set an

522
00:38:04,639 --> 00:38:08,440
example to others around him, for many whom he advised

523
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,480
to marry had reproached him for writing against monastic celibacy

524
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,599
and yet not practicing his own doctrine. In the meantime,

525
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,360
he wrote frequently to his friends on this subject, and

526
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,719
what gratified him much in the prospect of his marriage

527
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,480
was the chagrin it would occasion. The Romish Party, and

528
00:38:28,599 --> 00:38:33,000
subsequent experience proved that he was not disappointed in his hopes.

529
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,960
Anxious as he was to consummate the event. Yet his

530
00:38:38,119 --> 00:38:42,280
choice of Catherine was not precipitate. It was only after

531
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,800
he was assured of the superlative excellence of her character

532
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,280
that he offered her his hand. She conducted herself in

533
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:54,760
her lowly circumstances with such a reserved and womanly dignity

534
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:58,199
that he thought her to be somewhat prudish and proud.

535
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:02,000
And it was only after a more intimate acquaintance that

536
00:39:02,119 --> 00:39:06,480
he perceived her numerous good qualities. Quote. If I had

537
00:39:06,519 --> 00:39:10,360
felt a disposition to Mary thirteen years ago, says he,

538
00:39:11,119 --> 00:39:14,320
I would have preferred Eva Schoenfeld, who is now the

539
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,199
wife of doctor Basilius. I did not love my Catherine

540
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:21,639
at that time, for I suspected her of being proud.

541
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,440
But it has pleased God otherwise, and blessed be his name,

542
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,119
all things have turned out well, for I have a pious,

543
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:35,159
faithful wife. As Solomon says Proverbs thirty one eleven, my

544
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,840
heart doth safely trust in her, And she contributes so

545
00:39:39,079 --> 00:39:43,039
much to my content and manages my affairs so prudently

546
00:39:43,599 --> 00:39:46,960
that I have no need of spoil. That is, I

547
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,079
have no temptation to envy the wealth of others, or

548
00:39:50,119 --> 00:39:55,000
to pray upon my neighbors end quote. Nor was she,

549
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,480
on her part in a hurry about giving her consent.

550
00:39:59,079 --> 00:40:03,199
But she deliberate long though she was poor, yet she

551
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,280
followed the inclination of her heart. Before he thought of

552
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:13,039
marrying her himself, he recommended her to Jerome S. Baumgartner,

553
00:40:13,559 --> 00:40:17,719
a Nuernberg patrician and a student of theology, who had

554
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,039
a very tender regard for Catherine, and to whom she

555
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:26,519
was not altogether indifferent. Luther wrote to him October twelve,

556
00:40:26,599 --> 00:40:30,239
fifteen twenty four, if you have made up your mind

557
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:33,039
to marry Catherine, you had better be in a hurry

558
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,760
before another takes her who is near at hand. She

559
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,639
has not ceased to love you, and I would be

560
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,840
much gratified to see you marry her and quote. But

561
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:49,320
his recommendation was of no avail, probably because Baumgartner, after

562
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:54,079
his return home, was captivated by some other lady. The

563
00:40:54,199 --> 00:40:58,679
other suitor to whom Luther alludes was doctor Caspar Glossius,

564
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:02,920
vicar of the art Archdiaconate of the Castle Church at Wittenberg.

565
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,760
Luther favored his pretensions to her hand, and this led

566
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:12,719
her to complain to Amsdorf, Luther's friend. She requested him

567
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,920
to cease his importunity in behalf of Glossius, for whom

568
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:22,320
she had no inclination. Whatever. She, however, honestly acknowledged to

569
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,079
Amsdorf she would not refuse an offer, either from himself

570
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:30,639
or Luther. She was not mistaken in her estimate of Glossius,

571
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,119
for he was an ill tempered man who never was

572
00:41:34,159 --> 00:41:37,559
at peace with his congregation, and was dismissed from his

573
00:41:37,679 --> 00:41:42,519
office in fifteen thirty seven. The marriage of a nun

574
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:47,000
was until that time unheard of, and hence we need

575
00:41:47,039 --> 00:41:51,440
not wonder that Luther's enemies took every opportunity to calumniate

576
00:41:51,519 --> 00:41:57,039
him as well as his intended wife. As Erasmus says,

577
00:41:57,079 --> 00:42:00,119
it was at that time an almost universal sentiment, and

578
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,039
that the Antichrist would be the son of a monk

579
00:42:03,159 --> 00:42:07,199
and a nun end quote. And he remarks in relation

580
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:11,199
to this old saying quote, if this were true, the

581
00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:16,280
world has had thousands of antichrists end quote. His enemies

582
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,639
knew too well how to make the most of this

583
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,960
popular belief, But they went still further and charged him

584
00:42:23,039 --> 00:42:26,960
with all the misfortunes that befell the country. The demolition

585
00:42:27,039 --> 00:42:31,239
of the convents in the Peasant's War and other similar calamities.

586
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,199
For they said that he had inflamed the hatred of

587
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:39,119
the peasants against monastic life and the possessions of the clergy. Quote.

588
00:42:39,519 --> 00:42:42,960
And all this he did, they affirmed that he might

589
00:42:43,119 --> 00:42:48,199
marry end quote. But many of his friends also disapproved

590
00:42:48,199 --> 00:42:52,079
of such an alliance. Quote. Our wise men are fiercely

591
00:42:52,119 --> 00:42:56,800
excited on the subject, and quote wrote Luther after his marriage.

592
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:00,719
To stifle quote, they must confess it is the work

593
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,320
of God. But my professional character, as well as that

594
00:43:04,519 --> 00:43:07,800
of the lady, blinds them and makes them think and

595
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,239
speak unkindly. But the Lord lives, who is greater in

596
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:14,920
us than he who is in the world. And there

597
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,320
are more on my side than on theirs. End quote.

598
00:43:20,199 --> 00:43:23,480
It was perfectly in character with Luther not to delay

599
00:43:23,519 --> 00:43:27,239
the execution of a purpose he had once formed. He

600
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:32,599
was particularly opposed to long standing matrimonial engagements, and hence

601
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:37,360
says quo I advise a speedy marriage after a positive engagement,

602
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:41,920
it is dangerous to postpone the consummation, for Satan is

603
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:46,440
ready to oppose many obstacles by means of slanderers, and

604
00:43:46,599 --> 00:43:50,920
sometimes the friends of both parties interfere. Hence, do not

605
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:55,199
postpone the affair. If I had not married secretly and

606
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,639
with the knowledge of but few friends, my marriage would

607
00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:02,400
have been prevented for my best friends, exclaimed, do not

608
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:06,880
take this one but another end quote. Hence we are

609
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,519
not surprised to learn that his final engagement to Catherine

610
00:44:10,679 --> 00:44:15,840
and his marriage occurred on the same day. His friends

611
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,320
did not maintain that he should not marry at all,

612
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,239
but they did not esteem it wise that one who

613
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:24,039
had been a monk should marry a lady who had

614
00:44:24,079 --> 00:44:27,480
been unknne. They feared that the step would retard the

615
00:44:27,519 --> 00:44:31,280
reformation among the common people, who did not look with

616
00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:36,280
indifference on the violation of the vow of chastity. Footnote.

617
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:41,800
Doctor Jerome Scurf, professor of theology at Wittenberg, among others,

618
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:46,440
said quote, if this monk should marry the whole world, yea,

619
00:44:46,639 --> 00:44:50,519
the devil himself would laugh, and he would thereby spoil

620
00:44:50,599 --> 00:44:56,440
all his previous works end quote, end footnote. But Luther

621
00:44:56,559 --> 00:45:00,599
thought otherwise, and believed that by marrying Anne he would

622
00:45:00,639 --> 00:45:04,880
inflict a terrible blow on the whole system of monasticism.

623
00:45:06,039 --> 00:45:09,159
The most minute attention was at that time paid to

624
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:13,920
Luther's doctrine and conduct, and the most unimportant circumstances in

625
00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:18,679
his eventful life were reported with the greatest care. We

626
00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:21,800
should hence suppose that the precise date of his marriage

627
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:26,000
would also be noted. And yet the reports are very different.

628
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:30,840
Melanthon's statement is the most reliable, for he lived at

629
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,920
that time in Wittenberg, he had daily intercourse with Luther,

630
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,719
and hence may be supposed to be intimately acquainted with

631
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:44,559
his domestic circumstances. In a letter to Camerrius July twenty one,

632
00:45:44,679 --> 00:45:48,440
fifteen twenty five, he gives the true date of Luther's

633
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:53,079
marriage as it may happen. He writes that no one

634
00:45:53,079 --> 00:45:56,239
will give you a correct account of Luther's marriage. I

635
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,760
have thought it proper to inform you of the facts.

636
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:03,559
On the thirteen of June fifteen twenty five, he quite

637
00:46:03,599 --> 00:46:10,039
unexpectedly married Catherine de Borah. There is no good reason

638
00:46:10,159 --> 00:46:13,800
to doubt Molengthan's report of the date, which is established

639
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:17,559
by many other witnesses, and hence it is unnecessary to

640
00:46:17,639 --> 00:46:23,280
refute those who give other dates. Agreeably to these accounts.

641
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,119
Compared with others, it appears that Luther on the Tuesday

642
00:46:27,159 --> 00:46:31,800
after Trinity June thirteenth, fifteen twenty five, in order to

643
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:37,760
avoid all excitement, took with him John Bugenhagen, Pomeranius, Pastor

644
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:42,719
of the city Church, doctor John Appel, professor of canonical law,

645
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:48,239
and Lewis Cranach, court painter, councilor and chamberlain, without the

646
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,559
knowledge of his other friends, and proceeded to the house

647
00:46:51,599 --> 00:46:56,840
of the town Clerk Reichenbach, with whom Catherine lived, and there,

648
00:46:56,880 --> 00:46:59,920
in the presence of these three friends, he asked her

649
00:47:00,119 --> 00:47:05,360
consent in marriage. Unexpected as this declaration was, yet she

650
00:47:05,519 --> 00:47:09,519
yielded to the solicitation of her former deliverer and benefactor.

651
00:47:10,519 --> 00:47:14,960
Soon after, the provost, doctor Justus Jones, and the wife

652
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,000
of Cranac entered, and Luther was there married in the

653
00:47:19,039 --> 00:47:24,920
presence of these four witnesses, Bugenhagen performing the ceremony. Luther

654
00:47:25,199 --> 00:47:28,920
was forty two years of age and Catherine twenty seven.

655
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:32,519
He did not even ask the consent of the elector,

656
00:47:33,079 --> 00:47:36,280
but as we shall subsequently see, he sent him an

657
00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:40,519
humble request for some game to supply his wedding dinner table.

658
00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:47,480
Before the wedding, Luther offered the following prayer, Heavenly Father,

659
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:50,679
inasmuch as thou hast honored me with the office of

660
00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:54,079
the ministry, and wilt also that I should be honored

661
00:47:54,119 --> 00:47:57,480
as a husband and the head of a family. Grant

662
00:47:57,559 --> 00:48:00,559
me grace to govern my household in a godly and

663
00:48:00,679 --> 00:48:05,119
Christian manner. Grant me wisdom and strength to direct and

664
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:08,320
train all the members of my family in the right way.

665
00:48:09,199 --> 00:48:13,119
Give them willing hearts and pious dispositions to be obedient

666
00:48:13,599 --> 00:48:19,480
and to follow in all things the instructions of Thy word. Amen.

667
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,559
The golden wedding rings of Luther and his wife were

668
00:48:24,599 --> 00:48:30,119
probably not exchanged on this evening, but afterwards the celebrated

669
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:34,679
artist Albert Durer of Nurnberg made them at the order

670
00:48:34,719 --> 00:48:39,719
and expense of the patrician and counselor von Perkinheim. They

671
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:44,440
were minutely described by some writers, and exact representations of

672
00:48:44,519 --> 00:48:48,599
them are given in various curious works. One of these

673
00:48:48,719 --> 00:48:53,760
rings has exchanged hands many times by gift, sale and inheritance.

674
00:48:54,599 --> 00:48:58,199
Numerous imitations of them have been made and sold to

675
00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:03,480
collectors of such article. When on the following day the

676
00:49:03,519 --> 00:49:07,159
marriage of Luther became generally known, the town council of

677
00:49:07,199 --> 00:49:11,679
Wittenberg sent him various articles such as are usually considered

678
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:17,760
essential to wedding festivals of every age and country. End

679
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:18,840
of chapter two.

680
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:30,320
Speaker 1: Chapter three of Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes

681
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,880
in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

682
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:37,320
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

683
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:42,880
information or do volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording

684
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:50,400
by Bill Moseley, Lano County, Texas, USA. Catherine Deborah or

685
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,519
Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of Luther by

686
00:49:53,599 --> 00:50:03,079
John G. Morris, Chapter three, Wedding Dinner Melanthon Slanders. Thus

687
00:50:03,159 --> 00:50:06,920
had Luther, actuated by the purest motives, suddenly and silently

688
00:50:07,559 --> 00:50:12,840
entered into this matrimonial alliance. Now it was no longer secret,

689
00:50:13,039 --> 00:50:16,679
and in compliance with a custom common in that day,

690
00:50:17,079 --> 00:50:20,280
he determined to invite a number of his friends in

691
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:24,159
and out of Wittenberg, including his parents, to a wedding dinner.

692
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:27,239
This was to occur on the twenty seventh of June,

693
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,960
two weeks after his marriage. On that day also he

694
00:50:31,079 --> 00:50:34,920
purposed to conduct his wife publicly to his own residence

695
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:39,760
at the Augustinian Monastery. To his absent friends. He had

696
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:45,400
written invitations, seven of which are still extant, but He

697
00:50:45,519 --> 00:50:50,000
was particularly desirous of having his parents, who resided at Mansfield,

698
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:53,519
present on the occasion. He was anxious to show them

699
00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:57,199
that he had finally gratified their most ardent wishes in

700
00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:02,400
abandoning the monastic life and entering on matrimony. But he

701
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:06,000
also wished to make them personally acquainted with Catherine and

702
00:51:06,159 --> 00:51:10,960
to receive from them their parental blessing. They, with three

703
00:51:11,039 --> 00:51:14,880
or four others of his friends, accepted the invitation at

704
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:18,280
this as well as at the other more private festival.

705
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:21,320
On the day after his marriage, the town council of

706
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:25,960
Wittenberg expressed their highest respect for Luther by sending him

707
00:51:26,079 --> 00:51:31,519
some essential contributions to his dinner. It may appear remarkable

708
00:51:31,639 --> 00:51:35,840
at first sight that Melanchthon, Luther's most intimate, trend and

709
00:51:36,119 --> 00:51:41,119
inseparable companion, should not have been present at this, nor

710
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:46,079
at the previous solemnity, nor even consulted by Luther on

711
00:51:46,119 --> 00:51:49,760
the subject of his marriage. But he well knew the

712
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:55,119
timidity and excessive sensitiveness of Malengthen he knew that his

713
00:51:55,159 --> 00:51:58,559
friend was so painfully concerned for his reputation and peace

714
00:51:58,559 --> 00:52:01,719
of mind, that, though though he could not disapprove of

715
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:05,079
the act, yet he would reprove him for the manner

716
00:52:05,119 --> 00:52:09,320
and time, Fearing the evil consequences that might result to

717
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:14,119
the work of the Reformation, Hence Luther did not consult

718
00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:19,159
Melanchton and even avoided his company at this time. The

719
00:52:19,159 --> 00:52:24,320
whole circumstance occasioned such painful anxiety to malanchthen, not because

720
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:27,639
he did not sanction the act in itself, but because

721
00:52:27,679 --> 00:52:31,880
it would give the numerous enemies of Luther fresh occasion

722
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:38,480
for more bitter persecution and more virulent calumny. Although Luther

723
00:52:38,559 --> 00:52:42,239
had acted with great deliberation in this affair, making it

724
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:46,559
a subject of most fervent prayer and hastening its consummation

725
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:52,679
in order only to avoid excitement, yet occasionally he sometimes

726
00:52:52,679 --> 00:52:56,920
seemed deeply depressed on that very account, because in the

727
00:52:56,960 --> 00:53:01,960
opinion of many, the whole transaction wasated to injure his reputation.

728
00:53:03,639 --> 00:53:07,960
But through the fraternal consolations of Melanchthon, he was soon

729
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:13,000
restored to his usual vivacity. He felt himself happy in

730
00:53:13,039 --> 00:53:17,280
the possession of Catherine for his marriage, instead of interfering

731
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:21,960
with his numerous professional engagements, only inspired him with renewed

732
00:53:22,039 --> 00:53:25,519
courage and strength in the prosecution of his work. In

733
00:53:25,559 --> 00:53:28,679
many of his letters written at this period, he expresses

734
00:53:28,760 --> 00:53:32,400
the most affectionate interest in his wife and the most

735
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:39,079
perfect satisfaction with his connubial state. It would, however, have

736
00:53:39,159 --> 00:53:43,039
been surprising if the enemies of Luther had passed in

737
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:48,360
silence his marriage with a former nun. The most outrageous

738
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:53,760
slanders and abominable falsehoods might have been anticipated. Their hatred

739
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:55,920
of the man who had shaken the pillars of their

740
00:53:55,960 --> 00:54:00,719
spiritual despotism was also to be vented again the woman

741
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,599
whom he had chosen for his wife see cried out

742
00:54:04,639 --> 00:54:09,639
these despicable slanderers see the real design of his apostasy

743
00:54:09,719 --> 00:54:13,800
from the Catholic Church. It was only that he might marry,

744
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:18,079
And yet Luther was not married until eight years after

745
00:54:18,159 --> 00:54:21,880
he had taken the first step towards the Reformation. They

746
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:26,840
loaded Catherine with the most opprobrious and disgraceful epithets, and

747
00:54:27,079 --> 00:54:31,400
endeavored to cover her husband with shame and contempt. But

748
00:54:31,519 --> 00:54:35,159
they did not reflect that if Luther had been inclined

749
00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:39,000
to an irregular course of life, he might more easily,

750
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:44,320
with much less excitement and much less censure, too, have

751
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:49,440
indulged his evil propensities as an unmarried monk than as

752
00:54:49,480 --> 00:54:53,880
a married clergyman. Even King Henry the Eighth and Duke

753
00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:59,119
George of Saxony sent him letters most bitterly censuring his course.

754
00:55:00,079 --> 00:55:04,280
The language of the royal slanderer of England is especially vulgar,

755
00:55:04,639 --> 00:55:08,840
and his accusations are infamous. But his more recent enemies

756
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:12,840
have not been less virulent. Luther, in dealing such a

757
00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:17,320
terrible blow on their forefathers, has fearfully wounded them also,

758
00:55:17,840 --> 00:55:22,360
and that wound will never heal. They most dishonestly perverted

759
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:25,760
his language and endeavored to dishonor the name of Catherine

760
00:55:25,840 --> 00:55:30,760
by the most wretchedly contrived and disgraceful fables. The principal

761
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:34,400
object of Luther's enemies was to sever the matrimonial bond

762
00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:37,960
which united him and his wife. They exerted all their

763
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:42,360
diabolical cunning to gain Catherine over by their machinations and

764
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:45,440
induce her to separate herself from Luther in order to

765
00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:49,320
return to the convent. Two young men members of the

766
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:54,159
University of Leipzig were employed to write eulogies on monastic

767
00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:57,559
life and send them to Luther in the hope that

768
00:55:57,599 --> 00:56:01,880
they would fall into Catherine's hands and induce her as

769
00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:06,519
a penitence center to resume the veil. But neither he

770
00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:09,239
nor his wife honored these writings with much attention. At

771
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:12,000
that time. They were sent back to their authors in

772
00:56:12,159 --> 00:56:15,719
not quite as good a condition as when received, for

773
00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:20,360
the servants, without Luther's knowledge, had taken special pains to

774
00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:24,480
deface them. They accompanied the papers with the Latin word

775
00:56:25,199 --> 00:56:32,360
atheni assays so ingeniously arranged in a square that, beginning

776
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:35,199
in the center, the same word could be read in

777
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:41,760
forty different directions. Some time after Luther answered these writings

778
00:56:41,960 --> 00:56:46,320
and constructed several amusing fables on them. The treatment of

779
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,639
these eulogies by Luther and his wife, and especially by

780
00:56:49,639 --> 00:56:54,239
the servants, created such an excitement in Leipzig that Jerome Walter,

781
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:58,920
a counselor, found it necessary to communicate a full report

782
00:56:59,039 --> 00:57:01,800
of the whole transaction action to the court chancellor of

783
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:07,119
Duke George. The infamous attempt, however, to separate Luther and

784
00:57:07,159 --> 00:57:12,360
his wife signally failed. The great restorer of the true

785
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:16,000
Gospel doctrine might have lived in open profligacy as a monk,

786
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:20,239
and it would not probably have been noticed, but to

787
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:24,920
marry was an unpardonable sin. The acknowledged teachers of the

788
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:29,880
priests had laid down such doctrine, as the following Cardinal

789
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,719
de Compegi has taught that quote, it is a greater

790
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,559
sin for a priest to marry than to lead an

791
00:57:36,559 --> 00:57:43,599
infamous life. Quote. The Jesuit Costor taught that quote. Although

792
00:57:43,599 --> 00:57:47,480
a priest who indulges the most unnatural appetite commits a

793
00:57:47,519 --> 00:57:51,280
great evil, Yet he sins still more if he marries.

794
00:57:52,199 --> 00:57:57,400
And Cornelius A Lapidae remarks quote, for those who have

795
00:57:57,559 --> 00:58:00,119
taken the vow of chastity, it is better that they

796
00:58:00,119 --> 00:58:05,679
live unchastely than mary. The men who taught such morals

797
00:58:05,679 --> 00:58:10,440
were the opponents of Luther's marriage. The most influential of

798
00:58:10,480 --> 00:58:14,679
his enemies at this time was Erasmus, who in the

799
00:58:14,719 --> 00:58:19,400
beginning did not disallow Luther's merits, but he was fond

800
00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:24,639
of ridicule and sarcasm. He slandered Catherine most infamously, but

801
00:58:24,719 --> 00:58:29,119
eight months afterwards he had the magnanimity to retract his

802
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:35,360
false accusations. As we have already learned, Luther had determined

803
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,159
to give a particular wedding festival, especially for the sake

804
00:58:39,199 --> 00:58:42,719
of his own parents, but we have no account of

805
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:48,280
his having invited the parents of his wife. Every unprejudiced

806
00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:53,320
reader will conclude that either her parents were dissatisfied with

807
00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:58,440
her flight and marriage, or what is more probable, they

808
00:58:58,480 --> 00:59:02,039
were no longer living. For from the well known letter

809
00:59:02,079 --> 00:59:06,320
of Luther to a copy, we cannot, even with certainty,

810
00:59:06,519 --> 00:59:09,000
conclude that her parents were living at the time of

811
00:59:09,039 --> 00:59:13,239
her escape from the convent. He states that those nine

812
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:18,480
nuns had most earnestly implored their parents and relatives to

813
00:59:18,679 --> 00:59:22,519
deliver them from the prison, from which we presume that

814
00:59:22,559 --> 00:59:26,119
some of them were orphans, and for this reason applied

815
00:59:26,119 --> 00:59:30,880
to their relations. But Luther's enemies still maintained that the

816
00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:35,159
parents of his wife were living, but were of no account,

817
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:39,039
and Hents not mentioned at all. It is likely that

818
00:59:39,519 --> 00:59:42,960
poverty first moved them to place their daughter in a convent.

819
00:59:43,159 --> 00:59:48,559
Early in life, Luther and some of his contemporaries bear

820
00:59:48,679 --> 00:59:53,559
testimony to the fact that she possessed no property. At

821
00:59:53,559 --> 00:59:56,639
one place, he expresses himself relative to the condition of

822
00:59:56,679 --> 01:00:01,440
her property, quote, as Thou gavest to me, so I

823
01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:05,519
return her to thee again, O thou faithful God, who

824
01:00:05,599 --> 01:00:10,400
richly aboundest in all things, support, sustain, and teach her,

825
01:00:11,039 --> 01:00:14,760
as thou hast supported, sustained, and taught me, thou father

826
01:00:14,880 --> 01:00:19,480
of the orphan and judge of the widow it quote.

827
01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:22,559
Even if she had taken property with her into the convent,

828
01:00:23,840 --> 01:00:27,239
how could she have secured it in her flight? But

829
01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:31,199
when Erasmus writes and says, quote, Luther has married a wife,

830
01:00:31,599 --> 01:00:34,679
a most beautiful daughter of the celebrated family of Boorah.

831
01:00:35,599 --> 01:00:40,760
But as is said, without a fortune and quote, this

832
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:44,400
might also proceed from the dissatisfaction of her relatives with

833
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:48,840
her marriage and her flight from the convent. But though

834
01:00:49,039 --> 01:00:52,599
those enemies of Luther could not exactly show the humble

835
01:00:52,679 --> 01:00:57,199
condition of his wife's parents, others tried hard to throw doubt,

836
01:00:57,400 --> 01:01:01,199
at least on her noble birth. They could not deny

837
01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:04,280
that her mother was entitled to that distinction of rank,

838
01:01:05,119 --> 01:01:08,440
but they totally reject her father's claim to it, And

839
01:01:08,519 --> 01:01:11,400
because Luther does not mention him in his writings, they

840
01:01:11,480 --> 01:01:14,719
draw the unsound conclusion that he must have belonged to

841
01:01:14,760 --> 01:01:19,360
the very lowest class of society. Catherine's honor would not

842
01:01:19,599 --> 01:01:23,000
in the least have been periled even if her father

843
01:01:23,079 --> 01:01:28,320
had been of humble birth, but the most unimportant circumstances

844
01:01:28,519 --> 01:01:33,360
were industriously used by Luther's enemies to degrade him. Hence

845
01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:37,599
they would not allow her distinguished birth. Although the plainest

846
01:01:37,639 --> 01:01:42,880
proofs of the fact were given. His opponents sometimes contradicted

847
01:01:42,920 --> 01:01:47,360
each other. They all agreed in most scandalously calumniating him,

848
01:01:48,079 --> 01:01:52,719
but in their accusations they sometimes singularly differed, and often

849
01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:59,920
unintentionally wrote something which was more honorable to Luther than injurious. Cocle,

850
01:02:00,440 --> 01:02:04,960
for example, charges it as the greatest sin of Luther

851
01:02:05,239 --> 01:02:09,440
quote that he rescued from the convent nine nuns, who

852
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:12,679
were all of noble rank, and to the eternal disgrace

853
01:02:12,760 --> 01:02:19,320
of so many distinguished families, led them away end quote.

854
01:02:19,559 --> 01:02:23,000
Could this deadly enemy of Luther only have conjectured that

855
01:02:23,039 --> 01:02:26,119
some of his brethren of the faith ever intended to

856
01:02:26,159 --> 01:02:30,360
assail Catherine's birth, He would have been more careful than

857
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:35,440
to have spoken of noble rank and distinguished families. But

858
01:02:35,559 --> 01:02:39,360
the testimony of one such contemporary is proof sufficient of

859
01:02:39,360 --> 01:02:43,119
her noble origin, and we need not stop to refute

860
01:02:43,119 --> 01:02:47,000
those who maintained that there never even existed a family

861
01:02:47,159 --> 01:02:53,000
of Deborah. End of Chapter three recording by Bill Moseley,

862
01:02:53,079 --> 01:03:04,760
Lano County, Texas, USA. Chapter four of Catherine de Borah

863
01:03:05,159 --> 01:03:09,119
or Social and Domestic Scenes from the Life of Luther.

864
01:03:10,199 --> 01:03:13,880
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in

865
01:03:13,920 --> 01:03:18,440
the public domain. Or more information or to volunteer, please

866
01:03:18,519 --> 01:03:27,159
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bill Moseley, Lanocounty, Texas, USA.

867
01:03:27,840 --> 01:03:32,119
Katherine de Borah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the

868
01:03:32,159 --> 01:03:38,639
Life of Luther by John G. Morris, Chapter four, Luther's

869
01:03:38,719 --> 01:03:47,199
domestic life, character of Catherine, Perils of luther sickness, death

870
01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:54,559
of his parents, private life Katherine. Luther led with Catherine

871
01:03:54,599 --> 01:03:59,039
a very peaceful and happy domestic life. It would be

872
01:03:59,039 --> 01:04:03,039
doing him great injustice and placing him in the rank

873
01:04:03,199 --> 01:04:08,280
of common men to judge of his conjugal and domestic

874
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:14,360
demeanor from his public character. Here there was no trace

875
01:04:14,480 --> 01:04:18,519
of that severity and violence which can only find an

876
01:04:18,559 --> 01:04:23,039
apology in the frequent insulting conduct of his enemies, the

877
01:04:23,159 --> 01:04:28,119
unrefined spirit of the times, but above all in his

878
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:31,280
burning zeal for the glory of God and the truth

879
01:04:31,360 --> 01:04:35,280
of the Gospel. No in the circle of his family,

880
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:40,079
he was an affectionate husband and tender father, kind and

881
01:04:40,239 --> 01:04:44,559
condescending to all his household, and benevolent to the poor.

882
01:04:45,760 --> 01:04:50,320
In writing to Stifle August eleventh, fifteen twenty six, he

883
01:04:50,360 --> 01:04:55,960
playfully says, quote, my rib Kate salutes you. She is

884
01:04:56,039 --> 01:05:01,400
well with God's help. She is amiable, obedient, and obliging

885
01:05:01,440 --> 01:05:04,480
in all things, to a greater degree than I could

886
01:05:04,559 --> 01:05:08,599
have hoped for, Thank Heaven, so that I would not

887
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:14,199
exchange my poverty for the wealth of Croesus end quote.

888
01:05:14,760 --> 01:05:16,880
When he had finished his commentary on the Epistle to

889
01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:20,440
the Galatians, he cried out, quote, this is my letter

890
01:05:20,519 --> 01:05:23,559
to which I am betrothed. It is my Katie von

891
01:05:23,639 --> 01:05:28,480
Borah end quote. On the thirty first of August fifteen

892
01:05:28,559 --> 01:05:33,559
thirty eight, he thus writes to Bernard von Dolen, quote,

893
01:05:33,599 --> 01:05:36,400
if I were a young man again now, since I

894
01:05:36,400 --> 01:05:39,760
have experienced the wickedness of the world, if a queen

895
01:05:39,880 --> 01:05:43,440
were offered to me after my Catherine, I would rather

896
01:05:43,599 --> 01:05:48,679
die than marry a second time. End quote. Quote. I

897
01:05:48,719 --> 01:05:52,519
could not have a more obedient wife unless I would

898
01:05:52,519 --> 01:05:57,480
have one hewn out of stone end quote. Many such

899
01:05:57,519 --> 01:06:01,000
expressions occur in his table talk. Among other things, he

900
01:06:01,079 --> 01:06:05,159
says quote, I hear that there are much greater faults

901
01:06:05,159 --> 01:06:08,480
on occasions of disagreement among married people than I find

902
01:06:08,719 --> 01:06:12,400
in my wife. This is an abundant reason that I

903
01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:16,880
should love and esteem her, because she is sincere and upright,

904
01:06:17,079 --> 01:06:22,519
as a pious and discreet wife should be en quote quote,

905
01:06:22,840 --> 01:06:25,719
I have a pious and faithful wife in whom the

906
01:06:25,760 --> 01:06:30,280
heart of her husband doth safely trust in quote Proverbs

907
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:36,280
thirty one eleven, quote, I value her more highly than

908
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:40,039
I would the whole kingdom of France, and this sovereignty

909
01:06:40,079 --> 01:06:44,280
of venice, for God has given me a pious wife.

910
01:06:44,679 --> 01:06:49,400
In quote quote, the best and most valuable gift of

911
01:06:49,480 --> 01:06:53,800
God is a pious, affectionate, godly, domestic wife with whom

912
01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:56,480
you can live at peace, to whom you may entrust

913
01:06:56,599 --> 01:07:03,119
all that you possess, yea, your very body and life. Life.

914
01:07:03,280 --> 01:07:07,480
But Catherine had in Luther not only an affectionate husband,

915
01:07:08,400 --> 01:07:11,719
but a man who, on account of his enlightened understanding,

916
01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:18,360
his widespread usefulness, and his undaunted heroism, deserved all the

917
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:23,039
veneration he received from all the truly pious of his generation.

918
01:07:24,719 --> 01:07:28,719
From this time forth, Catherine was totally and forever weaned

919
01:07:28,719 --> 01:07:32,280
from the monastic life, and all the anxieties for the

920
01:07:32,320 --> 01:07:35,679
future which may have distressed her on her first escape

921
01:07:36,119 --> 01:07:40,840
had now vanished. Though Luther's worldly circumstances were not the

922
01:07:40,880 --> 01:07:44,800
most flourishing, yet he was aided by the liberality of

923
01:07:44,840 --> 01:07:48,280
the princes and other noble minded men to such an extent,

924
01:07:48,840 --> 01:07:52,599
at least that he did not absolutely suffer for the

925
01:07:52,719 --> 01:07:59,559
necessaries of life. Footnote. His annual compensation did not amount

926
01:07:59,559 --> 01:08:02,719
to more than about one hundred and sixty dollars, but

927
01:08:02,840 --> 01:08:07,800
the Elector John Frederick supplied him with wheat wood, free

928
01:08:07,840 --> 01:08:11,679
house clothes, et cetera, and et cetera. To some extent.

929
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:15,440
He inherited only two hundred fifty guilders from his father.

930
01:08:16,319 --> 01:08:20,319
The King of Denmark, Christian the Third, gave Luther towards

931
01:08:20,319 --> 01:08:22,960
the end of his days a pension of fifty dollars

932
01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:27,239
a year. A man who was executed for murder in

933
01:08:27,359 --> 01:08:31,239
Leipzig in fifteen thirty seven, with a vain hope, probably

934
01:08:31,319 --> 01:08:35,600
of reconciling heaven, bequeathed Luther five hundred and thirty dollars,

935
01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:41,319
and malanchthened three hundred dollars in footnote. In this respect,

936
01:08:41,760 --> 01:08:47,119
Catherine's circumstances were much improved. However, many dangers threatened the

937
01:08:47,119 --> 01:08:51,600
bold champion of truth, right and liberty, which were calculated

938
01:08:51,640 --> 01:08:55,960
to disturb the happy serenity of his wife. He had

939
01:08:56,079 --> 01:09:01,640
several alarming attacks of sickness, which occasioned her painful solicitude.

940
01:09:02,560 --> 01:09:05,439
In the first year of his marriage, some noblemen conspired

941
01:09:05,479 --> 01:09:09,479
against him because he effected the escape of thirteen nuns

942
01:09:09,720 --> 01:09:12,479
out of a cloister in the territory of Duke George.

943
01:09:13,600 --> 01:09:16,800
He himself acknowledges this in a letter to stifle, and

944
01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:20,640
says of it quote, I have chased away Satan from

945
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:26,199
this booty of Christ. Hence with tears. She entreated him

946
01:09:26,239 --> 01:09:29,960
not to leave Wittenberg at such a perilous time when

947
01:09:30,039 --> 01:09:33,840
he was invited to the wedding of Spalatin, and he yielded.

948
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:37,399
But he was not accustomed to be alarmed at the

949
01:09:37,439 --> 01:09:41,279
thunderclouds which rolled over him. Even as early as fifteen

950
01:09:41,319 --> 01:09:45,039
twenty six he undertook a journey in company with Catherine,

951
01:09:45,399 --> 01:09:49,000
and yet that was the time he had most to fear.

952
01:09:50,039 --> 01:09:53,279
But he was never free from danger. In fifteen thirty,

953
01:09:53,600 --> 01:09:56,279
when his father was lying on his death bed, he

954
01:09:56,399 --> 01:09:59,560
dared not venture to visit him, but wrote an affecting

955
01:09:59,640 --> 01:10:05,000
letter stating that his friends positively forbade his leaving Wittenberg

956
01:10:05,720 --> 01:10:10,479
lest he might be murdered. A Jewish physician of Posin

957
01:10:10,920 --> 01:10:15,119
was hired for two thousand golden guilders to poison him.

958
01:10:16,039 --> 01:10:19,000
In fifteen forty one, he was waylaid by an assassin,

959
01:10:19,399 --> 01:10:24,800
but escaped. Notwithstanding his vigorous constitution, which seemed to promise

960
01:10:25,119 --> 01:10:29,399
extreme old age, yet from early youth he was subject

961
01:10:29,479 --> 01:10:34,439
to frequent severe attacks of sickness. And under such circumstances

962
01:10:34,479 --> 01:10:39,119
we may well wonder that, besides his numerous professional labors,

963
01:10:39,159 --> 01:10:43,079
he was able to prepare so many theological works, to

964
01:10:43,199 --> 01:10:46,920
conduct so extensive a correspondence with men of every class

965
01:10:46,920 --> 01:10:51,199
of society, and accomplished so many journeys which must have

966
01:10:51,319 --> 01:10:56,800
consumed much time footnote. In fifteen twenty nine he wrote

967
01:10:56,880 --> 01:11:01,119
to Link quote, I am daily buried in books, so

968
01:11:01,159 --> 01:11:05,159
that windows, chairs, benches, et cetera, et cetera are full

969
01:11:05,680 --> 01:11:10,560
in quote. As early as fifteen sixteen he said to Lange, quote,

970
01:11:11,199 --> 01:11:15,239
I have full employment for two secretaries. I do scarcely

971
01:11:15,399 --> 01:11:20,760
anything all day but write letters in quote. In footnote.

972
01:11:20,800 --> 01:11:25,479
His masterpiece, the Translation of the Bible, was a work

973
01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:28,840
which scarcely any learned man of the present day could

974
01:11:28,840 --> 01:11:33,760
have accomplished in the same space of time under similar circumstances.

975
01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:37,079
Let it be remembered that the first time he ever

976
01:11:37,159 --> 01:11:40,319
saw the whole of the Bible in the Latin language,

977
01:11:40,720 --> 01:11:43,960
he was already twenty two years of age, that he

978
01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:47,000
had few of the preliminary aids essential to such a work,

979
01:11:47,520 --> 01:11:50,319
and that the German language was at that time still

980
01:11:50,520 --> 01:11:54,439
very imperfect. In twenty eight years the translation of the

981
01:11:54,479 --> 01:11:59,319
whole Bible was finished and printed footnote. Luther was aided

982
01:11:59,319 --> 01:12:04,479
in this work several of his learned friends, as Melanchthon, Crusiger,

983
01:12:05,119 --> 01:12:09,680
Jonas Bugenhagen, and others. He submitted his work to their

984
01:12:09,720 --> 01:12:15,439
review and adopted such alterations as his judgment approved. Various

985
01:12:15,479 --> 01:12:19,760
sections or books were published from time to time, until finally,

986
01:12:19,800 --> 01:12:24,239
in fifteen thirty four, the Complete Bible was published. His

987
01:12:24,359 --> 01:12:28,920
works who preceded all other previous translations, for it excelled

988
01:12:28,960 --> 01:12:33,960
them all in fidelity, force and distinctness, And even now

989
01:12:34,439 --> 01:12:37,800
three hundred years after its appearance, with all the modern

990
01:12:37,880 --> 01:12:42,119
progress in criticism and biblical interpretation and the improvements of

991
01:12:42,159 --> 01:12:46,800
the German language, which are displayed in many more recent translations.

992
01:12:47,319 --> 01:12:53,279
Luther's Bible still maintains the ascendancy in private and public use.

993
01:12:54,319 --> 01:13:00,239
In the footnote, he suffered most from hemorrhoidal affections, the

994
01:13:00,359 --> 01:13:04,880
treatment of which was little understood at that time. These

995
01:13:04,920 --> 01:13:08,479
attacks appeared mysterious to him, and in his depression of

996
01:13:08,600 --> 01:13:11,800
mind occasioned by them, and in the indulgence of a

997
01:13:11,840 --> 01:13:16,560
lively imagination, he ascribed the painful anxieties which he felt

998
01:13:17,239 --> 01:13:21,079
agreeably to the notions of that day, to the temptations

999
01:13:21,079 --> 01:13:25,520
of the devil, who tried to hinder him in prosecuting

1000
01:13:25,560 --> 01:13:31,079
his good work by assuming various forms and appearances. Attacks

1001
01:13:31,079 --> 01:13:34,239
of sickness, which were in part the result of his

1002
01:13:34,359 --> 01:13:39,159
severe fastings during his monastic life, were aggravated by his

1003
01:13:39,359 --> 01:13:45,760
extraordinary mental labors, by his sedendary habits, and the numerous

1004
01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:50,720
painful mortifications of spirit to which his unconquerable love of

1005
01:13:50,760 --> 01:13:55,199
the truth exposed him. Above all, it was the unhappy

1006
01:13:55,479 --> 01:14:00,520
Sacramentarian controversy in fifteen twenty five which had the most

1007
01:14:00,640 --> 01:14:06,079
injurious influence on his health. Hence, these corporeal sufferings could

1008
01:14:06,119 --> 01:14:10,199
never be entirely removed. Yet amid all his painful and

1009
01:14:10,279 --> 01:14:16,199
melancholy hours, Catherine was to him a ministering angel. By

1010
01:14:16,239 --> 01:14:21,640
her affectionate sympathy, her tender nursing, and prudent accommodation to

1011
01:14:21,720 --> 01:14:26,319
his whims, she greatly relieved his bodily and mental sufferings.

1012
01:14:27,359 --> 01:14:31,840
She had frequent occasion to display these amiable qualities, for

1013
01:14:31,960 --> 01:14:36,319
her husband had often recurring attacks of sickness. To notice

1014
01:14:36,359 --> 01:14:39,319
but a few instances, we will state that as early

1015
01:14:39,359 --> 01:14:43,920
as fifteen twenty six he suffered with hemorrhoids accompanied with

1016
01:14:44,279 --> 01:14:48,479
severe oppression of the breasts. But it was particularly in

1017
01:14:48,479 --> 01:14:51,800
fifteen twenty seven that he was attacked in a manner

1018
01:14:52,520 --> 01:14:55,159
that brought him to the very borders of the grave.

1019
01:14:56,159 --> 01:14:59,760
In July, he was so suddenly and dangerously seized that

1020
01:14:59,800 --> 01:15:03,279
his his wife and friends trembled for his life. But

1021
01:15:03,399 --> 01:15:06,359
both of them displayed a greatness of soul and dignity

1022
01:15:06,399 --> 01:15:12,800
of deportment, which were truly admirable. Christian fortitude, perfect resignation

1023
01:15:12,960 --> 01:15:17,560
to the will of God had unshaken confidence in an

1024
01:15:17,600 --> 01:15:23,520
all controlling providence animated them both in the highest degree.

1025
01:15:23,560 --> 01:15:27,520
They endured their present trials with pious submission, and with

1026
01:15:27,600 --> 01:15:33,039
comfortable security, they anticipated future dangers. Luther did not think

1027
01:15:33,119 --> 01:15:36,560
that he would recover, but believed that he should have

1028
01:15:36,720 --> 01:15:39,479
to part with the wife, whose husband he had been

1029
01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:45,239
but two years. Catherine was full of terrible apprehension of

1030
01:15:45,279 --> 01:15:48,079
being left a poor widow and mother of one child,

1031
01:15:48,720 --> 01:15:51,600
without being able to count much on human aid, and

1032
01:15:51,800 --> 01:15:55,840
having no means of support. He was to leave the

1033
01:15:55,880 --> 01:15:59,119
sacred work which he had begun and for which he

1034
01:15:59,199 --> 01:16:02,760
would have sacrifice his all, and she was to be

1035
01:16:02,920 --> 01:16:08,119
dependent on the kindness of some real and many equivocal friends.

1036
01:16:08,640 --> 01:16:12,319
Yet Luther prayed with a submissive heart and commended his

1037
01:16:12,399 --> 01:16:17,239
wife to God's paternal care. Quote, My loving and most

1038
01:16:17,319 --> 01:16:21,600
benevolent Father, I thank THEE from my heart that it

1039
01:16:21,760 --> 01:16:24,319
was thy will. I should be poor on the earth,

1040
01:16:25,079 --> 01:16:29,399
and hence I can leave neither house, field, money, nor

1041
01:16:29,479 --> 01:16:33,079
any other property to my wife and son. As thou

1042
01:16:33,159 --> 01:16:36,319
hast given her to me, so I restore her to

1043
01:16:36,439 --> 01:16:41,159
THEE end quote et cetera. He also consoled his wife

1044
01:16:41,199 --> 01:16:45,319
with these words, quote, my beloved Kate, I beseech you

1045
01:16:45,439 --> 01:16:48,640
to submit to God's gracious will, if it should please

1046
01:16:48,760 --> 01:16:52,199
him to take me to himself. This time. You are

1047
01:16:52,199 --> 01:16:57,000
my faithful wife. Let the blind, ungodly world say what

1048
01:16:57,159 --> 01:17:00,520
it may. Let your conduct be governed by the word

1049
01:17:00,560 --> 01:17:04,039
of God and hold fast to it, and thus you

1050
01:17:04,079 --> 01:17:08,199
will have certain inconstant comfort against all the temptations and

1051
01:17:08,319 --> 01:17:13,520
blasphemies of Satan. End quote. When at his request they

1052
01:17:13,600 --> 01:17:17,840
brought his infant son to him, he said, quote, oh,

1053
01:17:17,880 --> 01:17:21,720
you good, poor little child. Now I commend your beloved

1054
01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:25,479
mother and you poor orphan to my good and faithful God.

1055
01:17:26,359 --> 01:17:29,880
You have nothing but God, who is the father of

1056
01:17:29,920 --> 01:17:33,359
the orphan and the judge of the widow, will richly

1057
01:17:33,439 --> 01:17:38,399
provide for you. End quote. Here he again turned to

1058
01:17:38,439 --> 01:17:42,800
his wife and said, quote you know that accepting the

1059
01:17:42,960 --> 01:17:48,560
silver cups, we have nothing end quote. These and similar

1060
01:17:48,600 --> 01:17:52,279
expressions awakened the most painful emotions in the heart of Catherine,

1061
01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:56,000
and yet she tried to conceal her grief and to

1062
01:17:56,159 --> 01:18:00,760
encourage him. My dear doctor, said she quote, if it

1063
01:18:00,880 --> 01:18:03,319
is God's will, I would rather you should be with

1064
01:18:03,439 --> 01:18:06,840
Him than with me. But it is not only I

1065
01:18:07,000 --> 01:18:09,880
and my child who must be taken into account, and

1066
01:18:09,960 --> 01:18:13,199
for whom your life would be valuable. But there are

1067
01:18:13,239 --> 01:18:17,000
many pious and Christian souls who have need of your

1068
01:18:17,039 --> 01:18:22,119
presence and services. Do not distress yourself about me. I

1069
01:18:22,159 --> 01:18:25,920
commend you to his divine will. I trust he will

1070
01:18:25,920 --> 01:18:33,399
graciously reserve you. Eight days after, Luther recovered, to the

1071
01:18:33,439 --> 01:18:37,119
great joy of his wife and all his friends. Not

1072
01:18:37,319 --> 01:18:40,760
long after, in the same year, a contagious disease broke

1073
01:18:40,800 --> 01:18:44,399
out in Wittenberg, which created so much alarm that the

1074
01:18:44,439 --> 01:18:49,840
students precipitately fled and the university was transferred to Jenna.

1075
01:18:50,239 --> 01:18:54,159
The elector John the Constant advised Luther to repair to

1076
01:18:54,239 --> 01:18:57,720
Jenna also, but this main pillar of the new born

1077
01:18:57,880 --> 01:19:02,520
church would not leave Wittenberg, although there were cases of

1078
01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:07,279
the contagion in his own family. Bugenhagen also remained at

1079
01:19:07,319 --> 01:19:12,920
the post of duty. November first, Luther wrote to Almsdorf quote,

1080
01:19:13,399 --> 01:19:16,760
my house is on hospital. I began to feel anxious

1081
01:19:16,800 --> 01:19:20,199
about my wife, who is in a delicate condition. My

1082
01:19:20,319 --> 01:19:23,960
infant son has been sick these three days. He eath

1083
01:19:24,079 --> 01:19:30,800
nothing as extremely unwell. But these attacks were not contagious,

1084
01:19:30,920 --> 01:19:34,560
and their alarm soon subsided. In the following year, Luther

1085
01:19:34,600 --> 01:19:38,880
suffered from a pulmonary affection and constant headache. In fifteen

1086
01:19:38,920 --> 01:19:42,920
thirty two, he was so severely attacked with vertigo that

1087
01:19:43,039 --> 01:19:48,279
apoplexy was apprehended. He also occasionally suffered from obstinate boils.

1088
01:19:48,920 --> 01:19:52,600
In his later years, symptoms of calculus were also apparent.

1089
01:19:53,600 --> 01:19:56,279
In fifteen thirty six, an affection of the hip joint

1090
01:19:56,359 --> 01:20:00,399
confined him to bed a fortnight. But in fifteen thirty

1091
01:20:00,399 --> 01:20:04,800
seven Catherine had a special occasion to display her affectionate solicitude,

1092
01:20:05,399 --> 01:20:08,039
for her husband was again brought to the very brink

1093
01:20:08,119 --> 01:20:11,399
of the grave. During this year, he was commanded by

1094
01:20:11,479 --> 01:20:15,920
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, to proceed to Schmall Called

1095
01:20:16,119 --> 01:20:20,720
on important church business. Although he suffered severely from calculus

1096
01:20:21,239 --> 01:20:24,039
and the weather was extremely cold. He set out on

1097
01:20:24,079 --> 01:20:28,119
his journey on February first, but he had scarcely arrived

1098
01:20:28,159 --> 01:20:31,159
at schmall Called when the pains increased to such an

1099
01:20:31,199 --> 01:20:37,439
extent to which an obstinate histuary was superadded that everybody

1100
01:20:37,640 --> 01:20:41,159
was doubtful of his recovery. The Elector, who was present,

1101
01:20:41,399 --> 01:20:46,079
contributed everything in his power to his restoration. He visited

1102
01:20:46,199 --> 01:20:50,680
and consoled him on his departure. He thus addressed him quote,

1103
01:20:51,279 --> 01:20:54,119
if it should please God to take you away, be

1104
01:20:54,239 --> 01:20:57,720
not concerned about your wife and children. I will take

1105
01:20:57,760 --> 01:21:02,920
them into my protection. In quote, he recovered sufficiently to

1106
01:21:03,119 --> 01:21:07,279
enter on his journey home on the twenty sixth, dangerous

1107
01:21:07,319 --> 01:21:10,960
as traveling appeared to be under the circumstances, yet it

1108
01:21:11,159 --> 01:21:14,680
was of immediate service. On the way, he was relieved

1109
01:21:14,680 --> 01:21:18,720
of the principal cause of his intense suffering, and communicated

1110
01:21:18,720 --> 01:21:21,960
the joyful event to his wife and the sympathizing Melanchthon.

1111
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:26,960
To the former, he wrote, quote, yesterday I left Schmulkold.

1112
01:21:27,800 --> 01:21:31,720
I was not well. Three days whilst there, in a word,

1113
01:21:31,960 --> 01:21:34,520
I was dead, and I had commended you and the

1114
01:21:34,600 --> 01:21:37,800
children of God to my gracious Elector, for I never

1115
01:21:37,920 --> 01:21:41,479
expected to see you again. But God had mercy on me.

1116
01:21:41,920 --> 01:21:45,159
Most fervent prayers to God were offered for me, and

1117
01:21:45,279 --> 01:21:49,520
many tears were shed on my account. God heard these prayers,

1118
01:21:49,920 --> 01:21:53,840
and last night I was relieved. I now feel like

1119
01:21:53,880 --> 01:21:57,520
a new born man. Thank God for this, and let

1120
01:21:57,560 --> 01:22:01,880
the dear children with Aunt Magdalen. Thank the Heavenly Father,

1121
01:22:02,520 --> 01:22:06,960
for you had almost lost me. The Earthly Father, God

1122
01:22:07,000 --> 01:22:10,800
performed wonders towards me last night through the intercession of

1123
01:22:10,920 --> 01:22:15,319
pious persons. This I also ascribed to you, for I

1124
01:22:15,359 --> 01:22:17,720
presume the elector ordered word to be sent to you

1125
01:22:17,840 --> 01:22:20,199
that I was dying, so that you might come and

1126
01:22:20,239 --> 01:22:23,119
speak to me, or at least see me before I died.

1127
01:22:24,039 --> 01:22:27,119
That is not necessary. Now you may remain at home,

1128
01:22:27,319 --> 01:22:30,640
for God has so mercifully helped me that I expect

1129
01:22:30,720 --> 01:22:34,319
soon to meet you happily in our own house. Today

1130
01:22:34,600 --> 01:22:40,359
we are stopping at Gotha. Something similar to this, he

1131
01:22:40,399 --> 01:22:44,880
wrote to Melancthon. But unfortunately he had a relapse at

1132
01:22:44,920 --> 01:22:50,319
Gotha and anticipated death so certainly that he requested Bugenhagen

1133
01:22:50,399 --> 01:22:54,880
to administer to him the Lord's supper. As soon as

1134
01:22:54,960 --> 01:22:58,119
Catherine heard of this, she could be no longer restrained

1135
01:22:58,119 --> 01:23:00,960
from setting out to meet him. She remained with him

1136
01:23:00,960 --> 01:23:04,720
all the time and accompanied him home. Thus Luther, for

1137
01:23:04,840 --> 01:23:09,000
the present had escaped all apparent dangers. But every year

1138
01:23:09,119 --> 01:23:17,199
for the ensuing nine he was attacked by some disease, dysentery, rheumatism, fever,

1139
01:23:18,159 --> 01:23:25,680
violent vertigo and headache, painful cutaneous eruptions, and pulmonary affections.

1140
01:23:25,840 --> 01:23:32,279
Embittered all his days the affectionate sympathy, faithful watching, and

1141
01:23:32,399 --> 01:23:36,039
tender nursing which he received from his wife, not only

1142
01:23:36,079 --> 01:23:39,560
on these occasions, but always when bowed down under the

1143
01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:44,439
immense weight of his other cares moved him deeply. He

1144
01:23:44,520 --> 01:23:48,279
frequently alluded to it in the most touching language. On

1145
01:23:48,359 --> 01:23:52,640
his sick bed at Gotha on February twenty eighth, fifteen

1146
01:23:52,680 --> 01:23:57,760
thirty seven, he commended Catherine, who had enlivened twelve years

1147
01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:02,479
of his life to Bugenhagen, and bore his favorable testimony

1148
01:24:02,560 --> 01:24:06,920
to her character quote, she has served me not only

1149
01:24:06,960 --> 01:24:10,239
as a wife, but with all the fidelity and industry

1150
01:24:10,239 --> 01:24:15,359
of a servant. In quote afterwards, he said, quote I

1151
01:24:15,439 --> 01:24:20,000
inconsiderately looked to Catherine and Melanchthon for greater benefits than

1152
01:24:20,079 --> 01:24:23,800
to Christ. And yet I know that neither they, nor

1153
01:24:23,880 --> 01:24:27,640
any human being on earth can or will ever suffer

1154
01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:33,520
for me as he has done. In quote. Soon after,

1155
01:24:33,600 --> 01:24:37,800
he said, quote how intensely I longed after my family.

1156
01:24:37,840 --> 01:24:41,600
When I was lying at small, cold, almost dead, I

1157
01:24:41,680 --> 01:24:45,119
thought I should never see them again. How painful the

1158
01:24:45,239 --> 01:24:49,479
idea of separation was. I now believe that this natural

1159
01:24:49,520 --> 01:24:52,479
inclination and love which a man has for his wife

1160
01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:58,319
and children for their parents are most intense in dying persons.

1161
01:24:58,840 --> 01:25:03,279
In quote in his last will, January sixth fifteen forty two.

1162
01:25:04,520 --> 01:25:08,319
He said of her quote that she had always been

1163
01:25:08,359 --> 01:25:12,279
a pious and faithful wife, and she always conducted herself

1164
01:25:12,720 --> 01:25:17,760
handsomely and worthily as became a pious and faithful spouse.

1165
01:25:18,600 --> 01:25:25,640
End quote, footnote. Jerome Weller von Wolsdorf, Luther's intimate friend,

1166
01:25:26,319 --> 01:25:30,199
has said quote, I remember hearing Luther often say that

1167
01:25:30,279 --> 01:25:34,399
he always regarded himself extremely happy that God had given

1168
01:25:34,479 --> 01:25:38,159
him such a prudent and thrifty wife who cherished him

1169
01:25:38,239 --> 01:25:44,239
so tenderly in sickness, et cetera. Whenever doctor Luther was depressed, she,

1170
01:25:44,600 --> 01:25:49,560
like a sensible wife, always consulting his welfare, secretly invited

1171
01:25:49,600 --> 01:25:52,960
doctor Jonas to her table so that he might cheer

1172
01:25:53,039 --> 01:25:57,640
him by his interesting conversation. She knew that no one

1173
01:25:57,680 --> 01:26:02,760
could so well entertain him as doctor Jonas end quote

1174
01:26:02,800 --> 01:26:07,840
and footnote. But Catherine's love for her husband was extended

1175
01:26:07,880 --> 01:26:12,079
also to his parents. The most striking proof of this

1176
01:26:12,279 --> 01:26:16,479
she gave when, in February fifteen thirty Luther's father was

1177
01:26:16,560 --> 01:26:20,760
lying very sick. She most heartily wished that he might

1178
01:26:20,840 --> 01:26:25,399
be conveyed to Wittenberg, where she could nurse him. Dear

1179
01:26:25,439 --> 01:26:29,520
father wrote Luther to him, quote, my brother Jacob has

1180
01:26:29,600 --> 01:26:33,239
informed me that you are dangerously sick. I wished most

1181
01:26:33,279 --> 01:26:37,239
eagerly to go and see you, but my friends dissuaded

1182
01:26:37,279 --> 01:26:40,640
me from my purpose, fearing the danger to which I

1183
01:26:40,680 --> 01:26:44,279
would expose myself. For you know that the peasants are

1184
01:26:44,359 --> 01:26:49,439
so violently opposed to me. But it would rejoice me

1185
01:26:49,560 --> 01:26:52,319
greatly if it were possible for you and mother to

1186
01:26:52,359 --> 01:26:56,560
come to us. My wife, also with tears, expresses her

1187
01:26:56,600 --> 01:27:00,319
desire that you should come. We will hear nurse you

1188
01:27:00,399 --> 01:27:05,119
most tenderly en quote. But the father was unable to

1189
01:27:05,199 --> 01:27:08,399
go and died in a few months after, whilst Luther

1190
01:27:08,560 --> 01:27:12,279
was residing at Coburg, where he had concealed himself during

1191
01:27:12,439 --> 01:27:16,680
the Diet of Augsburg. As soon as Catherine heard of

1192
01:27:16,720 --> 01:27:20,399
the event, she was very solicitous about the effect of

1193
01:27:20,439 --> 01:27:25,199
the intelligence on her absent husband, of whose affectionate attachment

1194
01:27:25,279 --> 01:27:28,399
to his father she was well aware. She wrote to

1195
01:27:28,479 --> 01:27:31,520
him a letter full of consolation, and, in order more

1196
01:27:31,560 --> 01:27:35,479
effectually to calm his troubled heart, she sent him a

1197
01:27:35,600 --> 01:27:39,880
likeness of his favorite child, Magdalena, at that time an

1198
01:27:39,880 --> 01:27:43,560
infant of a year old. She was not disappointed in

1199
01:27:43,640 --> 01:27:50,039
her hopes. Its secretary Vit Dietrich answered the letter and said, quote,

1200
01:27:50,600 --> 01:27:52,840
you have done a good work in sending the likeness

1201
01:27:52,880 --> 01:27:56,359
to the doctor. He forgets many troublesome things in looking

1202
01:27:56,359 --> 01:27:59,039
at it. He has hung it on the wall opposite

1203
01:27:59,079 --> 01:28:02,039
the table at which we die. When he first saw it,

1204
01:28:02,319 --> 01:28:06,680
he did not recognize it. Why, said he, Lena's complexion

1205
01:28:06,800 --> 01:28:11,000
is dark. But now he is remarkably well pleased with it,

1206
01:28:11,319 --> 01:28:13,159
and the more he looks at it, the better he

1207
01:28:13,319 --> 01:28:17,199
likes it. I pray you do not be troubled about

1208
01:28:17,199 --> 01:28:20,760
the doctor. He is, thank Heaven well and in good spirits.

1209
01:28:21,279 --> 01:28:24,239
For the first two days he was much depressed respecting

1210
01:28:24,279 --> 01:28:28,640
his father's death, but has now recovered his usual vivacity.

1211
01:28:28,960 --> 01:28:33,479
In quote. When in the following year Luther's pious mother

1212
01:28:33,720 --> 01:28:37,920
was attacked with a dangerous sickness, and his numerous engagements

1213
01:28:37,960 --> 01:28:41,119
did not allow him to visit her, he wrote her

1214
01:28:41,199 --> 01:28:45,359
a consolatory letter, the conclusion of which expresses, in a

1215
01:28:45,479 --> 01:28:49,399
very striking manner, the cordial affection which Catherine and her

1216
01:28:49,520 --> 01:28:54,600
children entertained for this excellent woman. Quote, my wife and

1217
01:28:54,680 --> 01:28:58,479
children are praying for you. They weep and say, grandmother

1218
01:28:58,600 --> 01:29:03,079
is very sick in She also died, to Luther's most

1219
01:29:03,079 --> 01:29:08,960
profound regret, on June thirtieth, fifteen thirty one. It was

1220
01:29:09,039 --> 01:29:12,520
not only in seasons of affliction and distress that Catherine

1221
01:29:12,520 --> 01:29:17,239
deeply sympathized with her husband. In times of prosperity and rejoicing,

1222
01:29:17,319 --> 01:29:21,079
she equally displayed her interest and was ever proud of

1223
01:29:21,119 --> 01:29:25,479
his growing reputation and of the honors conferred on him.

1224
01:29:25,960 --> 01:29:29,680
These are proof sufficient that their matrimonial life was happy.

1225
01:29:30,479 --> 01:29:33,520
Yet the foulest slanders were heaped upon them by the

1226
01:29:33,640 --> 01:29:36,960
enemies of the cause of which Luther was now the

1227
01:29:37,079 --> 01:29:42,079
acknowledged champion. Luther awarded to his wife the praise of

1228
01:29:42,199 --> 01:29:46,479
unconditional obedience, and, agreeably to the custom of the time,

1229
01:29:46,640 --> 01:29:51,720
she always saluted him as her ductor. During the first

1230
01:29:51,800 --> 01:29:55,279
years of his matrimonial life, particularly when he had recovered

1231
01:29:55,279 --> 01:30:00,000
from his attacks of melancholy and his general health had improved,

1232
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:04,279
he was almost always in excellent spirits. He treated his

1233
01:30:04,359 --> 01:30:08,359
domestics in the kindest manner, and his whole household was

1234
01:30:08,439 --> 01:30:11,840
conducted in a way which contributed to the happiness of

1235
01:30:11,960 --> 01:30:15,960
every member. He acceded to Catherine's supreme control over the

1236
01:30:15,960 --> 01:30:20,079
affairs of the family, and never interfered except when he

1237
01:30:20,119 --> 01:30:25,960
deemed it absolutely necessary. He often playfully addressed her as Missus,

1238
01:30:26,079 --> 01:30:33,359
doctor and professoris, and sometimes as Master Catherine. All the

1239
01:30:33,399 --> 01:30:36,800
world knew that this was but the outpouring of a

1240
01:30:36,840 --> 01:30:42,439
sportive disposition and an affectionate heart. End of chapter four.

1241
01:30:43,600 --> 01:30:53,640
Recording by Bill Moseley, Lano County, Texas, USA.

1242
01:30:54,119 --> 01:30:59,000
Speaker 3: Chapter five of Catherine Deporah or Social and Domestic Scenes

1243
01:30:59,039 --> 01:31:02,319
in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

1244
01:31:02,640 --> 01:31:06,079
All lubrifox recordings are in the public domain. For more

1245
01:31:06,079 --> 01:31:11,720
information or to volunteer, please visit librifox dot org. Recording

1246
01:31:11,760 --> 01:31:16,399
by Kathleen Catherine de Borah or Social and Domestic Scenes

1247
01:31:16,600 --> 01:31:30,800
in the Life of Luther by John G. Morris, Chapter five. Income, Expenses, hospitality, charity, diet, afflictions, despondency, journeys, death.

1248
01:31:31,640 --> 01:31:36,439
Luther's income was disproportionate to his expenses. He is often

1249
01:31:36,560 --> 01:31:39,520
said that he gave more out than he took in.

1250
01:31:39,880 --> 01:31:43,000
His pay at this time amounted to but two hundred

1251
01:31:43,039 --> 01:31:47,720
guilders and his own family expenses to five hundred. Besides,

1252
01:31:48,199 --> 01:31:51,720
he aided his poor relatives and was obliged to perform

1253
01:31:51,840 --> 01:31:56,279
many expensive journeys on business relating to the Reformation. His

1254
01:31:56,359 --> 01:32:01,760
eminent position in society often subjected him to invitations to

1255
01:32:01,840 --> 01:32:06,319
assume the relation of Godfather, and this always levied contributions

1256
01:32:06,359 --> 01:32:10,000
on his purse. He was also obliged to make numerous

1257
01:32:10,039 --> 01:32:15,000
marriage presents, and almost daily to entertain strangers, which compelled

1258
01:32:15,079 --> 01:32:19,159
him to keep a corresponding number of servants. His expenses

1259
01:32:19,199 --> 01:32:23,279
were so great that sometimes he was embarrassed with considerable debts.

1260
01:32:23,680 --> 01:32:27,399
He says, I am unfit for housekeeping. I am made

1261
01:32:27,479 --> 01:32:31,359
quite poor by the necessary support of my destitute relations

1262
01:32:31,520 --> 01:32:35,439
and the daily demands of strangers. In writing to another friend,

1263
01:32:35,840 --> 01:32:39,239
he says, you know that I am quite oppressed by

1264
01:32:39,279 --> 01:32:43,840
my large domestic establishment, for through my thoughtlessness, I have

1265
01:32:44,359 --> 01:32:47,520
during this year made debts to the amount of more

1266
01:32:47,560 --> 01:32:51,199
than one hundred guilders. I have pledged three silver cups

1267
01:32:51,239 --> 01:32:54,840
at one place for fifty guilders. But the Lord who

1268
01:32:54,920 --> 01:32:58,680
chastises my folly will deliver me. Hence it is that

1269
01:32:58,840 --> 01:33:03,319
Cranage and all Refaber will no longer take me as security,

1270
01:33:03,600 --> 01:33:06,840
for they observe that I have an empty purse. I

1271
01:33:06,880 --> 01:33:10,239
have given them my fourth cup for twelve guilders, which

1272
01:33:10,239 --> 01:33:13,279
they have loaned to Hermann. But why is it that

1273
01:33:13,319 --> 01:33:18,399
my purse is so completely exhausted? No, not quite exhausted.

1274
01:33:18,800 --> 01:33:22,600
But why am I so deeply immersed in debt? I

1275
01:33:22,680 --> 01:33:26,119
believe that no one will charge me with parsimony avarice

1276
01:33:26,319 --> 01:33:29,880
and so forth. He sometimes had the honor of entertaining

1277
01:33:29,920 --> 01:33:34,279
persons of exalted rank Elizabeth, the sister of Christian, the

1278
01:33:34,359 --> 01:33:37,760
second King of Denmark, who had fled from her husband

1279
01:33:37,840 --> 01:33:41,199
on account of his cruel treatment of her, because she

1280
01:33:41,279 --> 01:33:47,520
had abandoned popery and the Duchess Ursula of Munsterberg and escaped.

1281
01:33:47,680 --> 01:33:51,840
None had often been his guests for upwards of three

1282
01:33:51,880 --> 01:33:54,880
months at a time, and it is no small matter

1283
01:33:55,000 --> 01:33:58,359
for a poor man to entertain the princess. Many monks

1284
01:33:58,399 --> 01:34:02,000
and nuns who had escaped from convents had often imposed

1285
01:34:02,000 --> 01:34:07,199
themselves on his hospitality, and sometimes shamefully deceived him. In

1286
01:34:07,319 --> 01:34:10,560
fifteen thirty seven, he took into his house his relative

1287
01:34:10,640 --> 01:34:15,199
and countrymen, Agricola, with his wife and family, and kept

1288
01:34:15,279 --> 01:34:19,239
them for a long time until Luther procured a professorship

1289
01:34:19,359 --> 01:34:22,640
for him. Luther's five children were now growing up, and

1290
01:34:22,680 --> 01:34:26,079
their education was by no means neglected, and even the

1291
01:34:26,119 --> 01:34:31,600
fields which his wife owned near Wittenberg and Soldorf demanded

1292
01:34:31,640 --> 01:34:35,159
no little outlay to all. This was super added that

1293
01:34:35,279 --> 01:34:41,239
peculiar disposition which has however characterized many great minds, which

1294
01:34:41,439 --> 01:34:46,000
is a perfect contempt of all earthly possessions. The grounds

1295
01:34:46,000 --> 01:34:48,800
of this he sought and found in the Bible. When

1296
01:34:48,880 --> 01:34:52,239
with scorn he rejected all offers of gold and dignities

1297
01:34:52,279 --> 01:34:55,960
on condition of renouncing his faith, which his enemies made

1298
01:34:56,359 --> 01:34:59,520
he did write, but it must be confessed that as

1299
01:34:59,560 --> 01:35:02,439
a father of a family, he was too careless about

1300
01:35:02,520 --> 01:35:06,680
their wants. Thus, when someone reminded him that he might

1301
01:35:07,359 --> 01:35:10,960
at least lay up a little property for his family,

1302
01:35:11,119 --> 01:35:14,720
he replied that I shall not do, for otherwise they

1303
01:35:14,760 --> 01:35:18,279
will not trust to God or their own exertions, but

1304
01:35:18,399 --> 01:35:21,680
to their money. Thus he presented all his manuscripts to

1305
01:35:21,720 --> 01:35:25,800
the printers, who were at that time also booksellers, and

1306
01:35:25,880 --> 01:35:29,000
when they offered him four hundred guilders annually for the

1307
01:35:29,039 --> 01:35:32,520
privilege of printing and selling his books, he rejected the

1308
01:35:32,600 --> 01:35:36,079
offer and said, I will not sell the grace of God,

1309
01:35:36,439 --> 01:35:40,239
I have enough. Only occasionally he asked for a copy

1310
01:35:40,319 --> 01:35:43,079
of his books as a present to a friend. He

1311
01:35:43,239 --> 01:35:46,560
charged no fee for his lectures. It was my intention,

1312
01:35:47,000 --> 01:35:50,399
said he after I was married, to lecture for pay.

1313
01:35:50,800 --> 01:35:54,279
But as God anticipated me, I have all my life

1314
01:35:54,319 --> 01:35:58,079
sold no copy of my books, nor read lectures for money.

1315
01:35:58,399 --> 01:36:01,039
And if it pleased God, I will carry this honor

1316
01:36:01,119 --> 01:36:04,439
to the grave with me. When the Elector John the

1317
01:36:04,520 --> 01:36:09,000
Constant in fifteen twenty nine designed to honor him with

1318
01:36:09,079 --> 01:36:13,279
a share in a productive silver mine at Schneberg as

1319
01:36:13,279 --> 01:36:17,199
a compliment for his translation of the Bible, he replied,

1320
01:36:17,600 --> 01:36:20,359
it much better becomes me to pay the amount of

1321
01:36:20,399 --> 01:36:24,399
my share with a paternoster, that the oars may continue

1322
01:36:24,399 --> 01:36:28,840
productive and the product may be well applied. This he

1323
01:36:29,000 --> 01:36:33,960
confirmed soon after September eighth, fifteen thirty, with these words,

1324
01:36:34,399 --> 01:36:37,439
I have never taken a penny for my translation, and

1325
01:36:37,520 --> 01:36:41,239
never asked it. And at another place, he says, if

1326
01:36:41,239 --> 01:36:44,359
I did not feel such a painful concern for his sake,

1327
01:36:44,399 --> 01:36:47,319
who died for me, the whole world could not give

1328
01:36:47,359 --> 01:36:50,600
me money enough to write a book or translate any

1329
01:36:50,640 --> 01:36:53,399
portion of the Bible. I am not willing to be

1330
01:36:53,479 --> 01:36:56,399
rewarded by the world for my labor. The world is

1331
01:36:56,479 --> 01:37:00,359
too poor for that. Melanchthon promised him one thought thousand

1332
01:37:00,359 --> 01:37:04,319
guelders compensation if he would finish the translation of Esop,

1333
01:37:04,640 --> 01:37:08,760
begun in fifteen thirty and dedicated to some great personage.

1334
01:37:09,000 --> 01:37:12,560
But Luther desired to labor exclusively for the diffusion of

1335
01:37:12,600 --> 01:37:16,159
the Gospel and write theological works for which he would

1336
01:37:16,199 --> 01:37:19,399
receive no pay. Another friend made him a present of

1337
01:37:19,439 --> 01:37:23,720
two hundred guilders, which he generously divided among poor students.

1338
01:37:24,079 --> 01:37:28,319
When in fifteen twenty nine bugen Hagen brought him a

1339
01:37:28,319 --> 01:37:32,119
gift of one hundred guilders from a rich gentleman, he

1340
01:37:32,239 --> 01:37:36,079
gave me Langthon the half of it. As early as

1341
01:37:36,119 --> 01:37:39,439
fifteen twenty he received a bequest of one hundred fifty

1342
01:37:39,479 --> 01:37:43,880
guilders from doctor Heinrich Beck of Nalburg, and in fifteen

1343
01:37:43,920 --> 01:37:48,039
twenty one a person named Marcus Schardtz presented him with

1344
01:37:48,119 --> 01:37:52,520
fifty guilders, which he divided with his prior Greisker. When

1345
01:37:52,520 --> 01:37:56,720
the Elector John the Steadfast in fifteen forty two ordered

1346
01:37:56,760 --> 01:37:59,159
a tax to be levied to raise money to carry

1347
01:37:59,159 --> 01:38:02,840
on the war against the Turks and exempted Luther's property,

1348
01:38:03,159 --> 01:38:05,680
the latter would not consent to it, but for the

1349
01:38:05,760 --> 01:38:08,520
sake of the example, had property to the amount of

1350
01:38:08,640 --> 01:38:13,199
six hundred ten guelders assessed. Many other similar instances of

1351
01:38:13,279 --> 01:38:19,359
his remarkable disinterestedness, which however, were not always worthy of imitation,

1352
01:38:19,840 --> 01:38:23,319
might be mentioned. He was liberal and benevolent, as even

1353
01:38:23,399 --> 01:38:26,279
few rich men are, and hence it is that his

1354
01:38:26,399 --> 01:38:30,439
children received no large inheritance from him. Thus, on one occasion,

1355
01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:33,119
a very poor man applied to him for help. He

1356
01:38:33,159 --> 01:38:35,760
had no money at hand, and his wife was sick,

1357
01:38:36,000 --> 01:38:38,439
but he took the donation which had been made to

1358
01:38:38,520 --> 01:38:42,239
his infant at its recent baptism and gave it to

1359
01:38:42,279 --> 01:38:45,840
the applicant. The sick wife, who soon missed the money

1360
01:38:45,840 --> 01:38:50,199
out of the savings box, expressed her displeasure, but Luther

1361
01:38:50,560 --> 01:38:54,720
meekly replied, God is rich, he will provide in some

1362
01:38:54,920 --> 01:38:58,279
other way. At another time, a young man who had

1363
01:38:58,319 --> 01:39:01,960
finished his studies and was about to leave Wittenberg, made

1364
01:39:01,960 --> 01:39:06,079
a similar request. Luther was again destitute of funds. With

1365
01:39:06,199 --> 01:39:09,680
sincere sympathy, he deplored his inability to aid the youth.

1366
01:39:09,960 --> 01:39:13,199
But when he observed his deep distress, his eye fell

1367
01:39:13,239 --> 01:39:15,840
on a silver cup which had been presented to him

1368
01:39:15,840 --> 01:39:19,600
by the elector. He looked inquiringly at his wife. Her

1369
01:39:19,640 --> 01:39:23,720
countenance seemed to reply no, but he hastily snatched the

1370
01:39:23,760 --> 01:39:26,279
cup and gave it to the student. The latter was

1371
01:39:26,399 --> 01:39:30,920
much astonished and was unwilling to take it. Catherine, also

1372
01:39:31,319 --> 01:39:35,119
by wings and looks, intimated to her husband not to

1373
01:39:35,159 --> 01:39:38,239
press the acceptance of it on the stranger. But Luther,

1374
01:39:38,680 --> 01:39:41,439
with a great effort, pressed the sides of the cup

1375
01:39:41,520 --> 01:39:44,880
together and gave it to the young man, saying, I

1376
01:39:44,960 --> 01:39:47,800
have no use for a silver cup. Here. Take it,

1377
01:39:48,239 --> 01:39:50,960
carry it to a goldsmith, and keep all you can

1378
01:39:51,000 --> 01:39:55,800
get for it. Luther was indebted to the punctuality, thrift,

1379
01:39:56,199 --> 01:40:00,560
and economy of his wife for the small property in land, furniture,

1380
01:40:00,720 --> 01:40:04,000
and books which he left at his death. She has

1381
01:40:04,079 --> 01:40:07,119
been charged with parsimony, as well as with a multitude

1382
01:40:07,159 --> 01:40:10,000
of other sins by Luther's enemies, but there is no

1383
01:40:10,079 --> 01:40:14,199
evidence to sustain the accusation. If she was economical when

1384
01:40:14,199 --> 01:40:17,359
her husband had no guests in his house, which was

1385
01:40:17,399 --> 01:40:20,680
not often the case, it rather redounded to her credit

1386
01:40:21,039 --> 01:40:25,199
and arose from necessity. This course was pursued with his sanction.

1387
01:40:25,720 --> 01:40:29,840
He was always temperate in his diet, sometimes even when

1388
01:40:29,880 --> 01:40:32,880
he was in good health. He partook of no substantial

1389
01:40:32,920 --> 01:40:36,239
food for four days together. At other times a little

1390
01:40:36,279 --> 01:40:39,840
bread and a herring sufficed for a day, or that

1391
01:40:39,920 --> 01:40:43,760
he might study the more intensely. Bread and salt constituted

1392
01:40:43,800 --> 01:40:48,359
his meal. Of course, at other times he lived more generously,

1393
01:40:48,680 --> 01:40:52,720
but always within the bounds of moderation. Catherine not only

1394
01:40:52,800 --> 01:40:56,000
sympathized most sincerely with her husband and all his joys

1395
01:40:56,000 --> 01:41:00,359
and sorrows, but she herself suffered severe afflictions, some of

1396
01:41:00,399 --> 01:41:04,279
which were calculated to fill a mother's heart with inexpressible anguish.

1397
01:41:04,680 --> 01:41:07,880
Some of these have been already alluded to. In August

1398
01:41:08,119 --> 01:41:11,880
fifteen thirty eight, they were both attacked with fever, and

1399
01:41:11,960 --> 01:41:16,920
in July fifteen thirty nine they providentially escaped a violent death.

1400
01:41:17,319 --> 01:41:20,560
Luther had had a new cellar constructed, which he went

1401
01:41:20,600 --> 01:41:23,800
to inspect in company with his wife. They had scarcely

1402
01:41:23,880 --> 01:41:26,439
left the cellar when the ground caved in with a

1403
01:41:26,560 --> 01:41:30,680
terrible crash. In loud thanksgivings to God, they expressed their

1404
01:41:30,720 --> 01:41:36,600
sense of this miraculous deliverance. In January fifteen forty, Catherine

1405
01:41:36,720 --> 01:41:39,560
was brought nigh to death at the birth of a child.

1406
01:41:40,000 --> 01:41:44,079
To Luther's great joy, she gradually recovered the death of

1407
01:41:44,159 --> 01:41:48,760
their second daughter, Magdalena in fifteen forty two, at the

1408
01:41:48,800 --> 01:41:53,319
age of fourteen. The first Elizabeth had died in fifteen

1409
01:41:53,399 --> 01:41:57,680
twenty eight, bowed her heart deeply and overwhelmed her with sorrow.

1410
01:41:58,199 --> 01:42:02,960
Scarcely had the pious suffered endured these severe visitations with

1411
01:42:03,079 --> 01:42:07,039
the resignation becoming a true Christian. When she was called

1412
01:42:07,079 --> 01:42:09,720
on to deplore the death of her most intimate and

1413
01:42:09,800 --> 01:42:14,720
valuable friend, the wife of doctor Jonas. This unexpected event

1414
01:42:14,880 --> 01:42:18,560
was so much the more painful to Luther inasmuch as,

1415
01:42:18,600 --> 01:42:21,760
when in secret he reflected on his own departure out

1416
01:42:21,800 --> 01:42:25,279
of this world, he always reckoned on the wife of

1417
01:42:25,399 --> 01:42:29,479
doctor Jonas as the comforter of his widow and children.

1418
01:42:29,760 --> 01:42:33,079
In fifteen forty five, the three sons of Luther and

1419
01:42:33,119 --> 01:42:37,199
his yet surviving daughter Margaretta were all at the same

1420
01:42:37,239 --> 01:42:40,760
time attacked with the measles, and the latter also suffered

1421
01:42:40,760 --> 01:42:45,560
in addition from a severe and dangerous fever. About this time, Luther,

1422
01:42:46,119 --> 01:42:50,560
very unexpectedly to his friends, determined to leave Wittenberg. His

1423
01:42:50,640 --> 01:42:55,239
strength was exhausted by disease and by his numerous literary labors.

1424
01:42:55,479 --> 01:42:59,680
He was disappointed and chagrined also on various accounts, and

1425
01:42:59,760 --> 01:43:03,319
law longed for repose. As soon as this became known,

1426
01:43:03,720 --> 01:43:06,159
bugen Hagen and others were sent to him on the

1427
01:43:06,199 --> 01:43:09,239
part of the university and the town, whose tears and

1428
01:43:09,439 --> 01:43:12,680
entreaties prevailed on him to remain for the present. But

1429
01:43:12,800 --> 01:43:16,439
in July fifteen forty five he was bent on carrying

1430
01:43:16,479 --> 01:43:20,560
out his determination and traveled in company with his eldest

1431
01:43:20,560 --> 01:43:26,000
son John, by way of Leeubnitz and Leipzig to Mursburg,

1432
01:43:26,479 --> 01:43:30,960
where he visited Prince George van Halt, whom on this

1433
01:43:31,039 --> 01:43:35,720
occasion he solemnly consecrated to the office of Coadjutor of

1434
01:43:35,800 --> 01:43:39,560
the Chapter of the Cathedral. During his stay in Leipzig,

1435
01:43:39,840 --> 01:43:43,399
he wrote July twenty eighth to his wife, I should

1436
01:43:43,479 --> 01:43:45,600
like to arrange it so that it would not be

1437
01:43:45,720 --> 01:43:49,159
necessary for me to return to Wittenberg. My feelings are

1438
01:43:49,239 --> 01:43:52,279
so alienated that I do not care any longer about

1439
01:43:52,279 --> 01:43:55,119
being there. I also wish that you would sell our

1440
01:43:55,159 --> 01:43:58,279
house and other property. I wish you would return the

1441
01:43:58,359 --> 01:44:01,359
large house to my gracious men, and it would be

1442
01:44:01,359 --> 01:44:04,800
better for you to settle at Zalsdorf, whilst I yet

1443
01:44:04,880 --> 01:44:07,880
live For after my death, you will hardly find a

1444
01:44:07,920 --> 01:44:11,520
support in Wittenberg. Hence you had better do it during

1445
01:44:11,560 --> 01:44:16,520
my lifetime. Catherine was extremely surprised at this determination, but

1446
01:44:16,600 --> 01:44:19,439
as her husband had enjoined it upon her to inform

1447
01:44:19,600 --> 01:44:24,680
buchen Hagen and Melancthon of his purpose and to request

1448
01:44:24,800 --> 01:44:28,359
the former to take leave of the congregation in his name,

1449
01:44:28,880 --> 01:44:32,800
she at least complied with this wish, but not so

1450
01:44:32,960 --> 01:44:36,000
the university. As soon as the members had learned the

1451
01:44:36,039 --> 01:44:39,159
purport of his letter, they sent not only a copy

1452
01:44:39,199 --> 01:44:41,479
of it to the Elector and a letter to his

1453
01:44:41,560 --> 01:44:45,720
grace beseeching him to influence Luther to return, but they

1454
01:44:45,800 --> 01:44:50,159
and the town council also sent buchen Hagen and Melancthon

1455
01:44:50,560 --> 01:44:53,760
and some other deputies as a committee to see him.

1456
01:44:54,000 --> 01:44:57,880
The Elector himself wrote to him, promising to render his

1457
01:44:57,960 --> 01:45:02,000
condition at Wittenberg more comfortable, and summoned him to appear

1458
01:45:02,079 --> 01:45:06,640
at his palace at Torgau for further conversation on the subject.

1459
01:45:07,039 --> 01:45:11,279
Luther instantly obeyed the summons and appeared at Torgau. The

1460
01:45:11,359 --> 01:45:15,880
Elector persuaded him to return to Wittenberg. Sick and depressed

1461
01:45:15,880 --> 01:45:18,600
in heart. He arrived there on the eighteenth of August,

1462
01:45:18,840 --> 01:45:22,079
where he was received with open arms by all his friends.

1463
01:45:22,319 --> 01:45:26,439
But this gratification was of short duration for the Amen Catharine,

1464
01:45:26,680 --> 01:45:31,159
for in January fifteen forty six, completely debilitated by the

1465
01:45:31,199 --> 01:45:34,640
effects of protracted sickness, he entered upon a journey of

1466
01:45:34,680 --> 01:45:41,079
another character, from which alas he never returned. His youngest sister, Dorothea,

1467
01:45:41,479 --> 01:45:44,640
was married to Paul Macenrod, who was in the service

1468
01:45:44,680 --> 01:45:48,640
of the Elector. The family of Macenrod possessed productive silver

1469
01:45:48,760 --> 01:45:52,760
mines in the Duchy of Mansfeld, which excited the envy

1470
01:45:52,760 --> 01:45:55,479
of the Dukes of Mansfeld and led them to the

1471
01:45:55,560 --> 01:45:59,039
determination of securing to themselves the entire products of the

1472
01:45:59,119 --> 01:46:03,319
mines or before they had received only the tenth and

1473
01:46:03,399 --> 01:46:07,439
some other perquissets. As soon as Luther heard of this

1474
01:46:07,600 --> 01:46:10,840
unjust proceeding, he undertook to maintain the rights of his

1475
01:46:10,920 --> 01:46:13,760
brother in law, and in fifteen forty wrote to Duke

1476
01:46:13,840 --> 01:46:18,159
Albert on the subject, but his intercession was fruitless. In

1477
01:46:18,199 --> 01:46:22,359
fifteen forty two he renewed his attempts, but without any

1478
01:46:22,439 --> 01:46:27,680
favorable result. In fifteen forty five he traveled to ice

1479
01:46:27,760 --> 01:46:31,279
Laban and to Mansfeld on the same mission, but all

1480
01:46:31,319 --> 01:46:35,720
to no effect. Soon after, Luther was urgently entreated by

1481
01:46:35,760 --> 01:46:40,039
the Dukes themselves, of whom Albert was a Protestant and

1482
01:46:40,119 --> 01:46:44,399
the other two, Philip and John George, were still Catholics,

1483
01:46:44,680 --> 01:46:47,920
to appear personally at ice Laban in order to settle

1484
01:46:47,960 --> 01:46:51,560
this difficulty, as well as some others existing among them.

1485
01:46:51,680 --> 01:46:55,119
Although his health was in a wretched condition, he promised

1486
01:46:55,159 --> 01:46:59,000
to go after he had preached in Wittenberg the last time.

1487
01:46:59,119 --> 01:47:02,840
On January seven, seventeen, fifteen forty six, he took leave

1488
01:47:02,920 --> 01:47:05,880
of his friends, and on the twenty third he departed,

1489
01:47:06,199 --> 01:47:10,399
accompanied by his three sons, John nineteen years of age,

1490
01:47:10,640 --> 01:47:15,359
Martin fourteen, and Paul thirteen. He passed through Halley, where

1491
01:47:15,399 --> 01:47:19,560
he visited his friend doctor Jonas, at that time pastor

1492
01:47:19,600 --> 01:47:24,119
in that city. Jonas accompanied him to ice Laban, but

1493
01:47:24,239 --> 01:47:27,279
as he approached that city, he was so exhausted that

1494
01:47:27,319 --> 01:47:30,840
he fainted, and they were apprehensive of his death, but

1495
01:47:30,960 --> 01:47:33,600
he was conveyed to a house where they rubbed him

1496
01:47:33,600 --> 01:47:37,760
with warm cloths and he was soon restored. He arrived

1497
01:47:37,960 --> 01:47:41,119
safe at ice Laban on the twenty eighth, but a

1498
01:47:41,199 --> 01:47:45,359
violent attack was soon renewed Catherine, who on the departure

1499
01:47:45,399 --> 01:47:49,439
of her husband, could easily have anticipated these attacks, on

1500
01:47:49,640 --> 01:47:52,880
having been informed of them by the eldest son, John,

1501
01:47:53,319 --> 01:47:57,239
who had been sent back forwarded some remedies from her

1502
01:47:57,319 --> 01:48:01,439
own domestic medicine chest, the good effects of which he

1503
01:48:01,520 --> 01:48:06,840
had often experienced. On the first and sixth of February,

1504
01:48:07,039 --> 01:48:09,760
he communicated to her the state of his own health

1505
01:48:09,840 --> 01:48:13,479
and of the affairs at Mansfeld, and entreated her to

1506
01:48:13,560 --> 01:48:18,000
lay aside any undue anxiety about himself. But he soon

1507
01:48:18,079 --> 01:48:21,800
expressed an intense desire to return home. He wrote to

1508
01:48:21,840 --> 01:48:25,560
that effect on the tenth, and again, in a jocose style,

1509
01:48:25,720 --> 01:48:29,159
besought her not to be uneasy on his account. But

1510
01:48:29,239 --> 01:48:32,439
he was never to see her again, As he anticipated,

1511
01:48:32,720 --> 01:48:35,279
he was destined to die in the place of his birth.

1512
01:48:35,640 --> 01:48:39,560
Although he suffered keenly from pulmonary affection, he not only

1513
01:48:39,600 --> 01:48:44,119
preached four times but performed much other important business. But

1514
01:48:44,279 --> 01:48:47,680
his end had come, and he died on February eighteen,

1515
01:48:47,840 --> 01:48:51,479
fifteen forty six, in the sixty third year of his age.

1516
01:48:51,840 --> 01:48:56,439
Doctor Jonas and the court preacher at Mansfeld, Michel Cauclius,

1517
01:48:56,880 --> 01:49:01,680
who with others were present at his death, immediately communicated

1518
01:49:01,720 --> 01:49:05,239
the melancholy event to the Elector and requested his grace

1519
01:49:05,319 --> 01:49:08,359
to issue orders respecting the funeral, as well as to

1520
01:49:08,439 --> 01:49:11,880
have a letter of consolation written to his bereaved widow.

1521
01:49:12,159 --> 01:49:16,520
The intelligence was conveyed so rapidly to Torgau that the Elector,

1522
01:49:16,920 --> 01:49:19,720
on the same evening of the day on which Luther died,

1523
01:49:20,199 --> 01:49:24,600
answered the letter and gave immediate orders in relation to

1524
01:49:24,640 --> 01:49:35,439
his funeral. End of chapter five. Chapter six of Catherine

1525
01:49:35,479 --> 01:49:39,159
Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of Luther.

1526
01:49:39,680 --> 01:49:43,319
This is a libribox recording. All libribox recordings are in

1527
01:49:43,319 --> 01:49:47,640
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please

1528
01:49:47,760 --> 01:49:53,039
visit libribox dot org. Recording by Kathleen Catherine Deborah or

1529
01:49:53,119 --> 01:49:56,479
Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of Luther by

1530
01:49:56,560 --> 01:50:04,600
John G. Morris, Chapter six. A Widow, Her Support, sufferings, journeys, death.

1531
01:50:05,119 --> 01:50:08,359
No one was more deeply distressed at his death than

1532
01:50:08,439 --> 01:50:11,720
the morning widow. For more than twenty years, she had

1533
01:50:11,760 --> 01:50:16,039
lived with him in uninterrupted harmony, had sought to alleviate

1534
01:50:16,079 --> 01:50:19,800
his sufferings, and had shared his joys, and she was

1535
01:50:19,840 --> 01:50:23,439
not permitted to see him die nor minister to his

1536
01:50:23,640 --> 01:50:28,239
last wants. Even if he did die among friends, yet

1537
01:50:28,239 --> 01:50:31,399
she was not there to smooth his pillow and to

1538
01:50:31,479 --> 01:50:36,640
perform those tender offices which an affectionate wife alone knows

1539
01:50:36,640 --> 01:50:40,319
how to do. When on the twenty second of February,

1540
01:50:40,600 --> 01:50:44,199
the corpse was conveyed to Wittenberg and deposited in the

1541
01:50:44,319 --> 01:50:47,760
castle church, and all the inhabitants of the city went

1542
01:50:47,800 --> 01:50:53,159
to meet the melancholy procession. There stood Catherine, weeping and

1543
01:50:53,279 --> 01:50:57,600
with her children, looked on her deceased husband. She survived

1544
01:50:57,680 --> 01:51:02,359
him nearly seven years and cherish his memory most affectionately,

1545
01:51:02,840 --> 01:51:06,840
though his enemies assailed him most virulently when he was

1546
01:51:06,920 --> 01:51:10,880
no longer present to defend himself. Yet she never allowed

1547
01:51:10,960 --> 01:51:14,159
her affection to cool, nor her interest in his work

1548
01:51:14,359 --> 01:51:19,279
and reputation to abate. The black velvet cloth which had

1549
01:51:19,319 --> 01:51:22,960
covered the funeral car came into the possession of the widow,

1550
01:51:23,279 --> 01:51:27,079
and for many years it was preserved among Luther's posterity

1551
01:51:27,239 --> 01:51:31,520
as a valuable momento. Neither did the elector forget her.

1552
01:51:31,800 --> 01:51:34,640
He wrote her a letter of condolence in which he

1553
01:51:34,720 --> 01:51:37,479
sought to comfort her on the grounds of the happy

1554
01:51:37,560 --> 01:51:41,560
death of her husband, and the secret wise counsel of

1555
01:51:41,640 --> 01:51:45,880
God At the same time, he repeated his assurances of

1556
01:51:45,960 --> 01:51:50,119
his protection of her and her children. Although Luther had

1557
01:51:50,159 --> 01:51:54,880
expressed a desire that Catherine should remove from Wittenberg, fearing

1558
01:51:55,119 --> 01:51:57,920
that after his death she might not be able to

1559
01:51:57,960 --> 01:52:03,239
support herself there, yet induced by good reasons, she resolved

1560
01:52:03,239 --> 01:52:06,079
to spend the remainder of her days in that place.

1561
01:52:06,600 --> 01:52:09,840
For where could she expect to find better friends than

1562
01:52:09,920 --> 01:52:16,560
in Wittenberg. Beugen Hagen, Crusiger, Melanthon and others were still

1563
01:52:16,640 --> 01:52:21,800
living who were her counselors and comforters. And Wittenberg was

1564
01:52:21,840 --> 01:52:25,359
also the place where her sons had already begun their

1565
01:52:25,520 --> 01:52:31,199
education and where they could most advantageously finish it. Luther had,

1566
01:52:31,640 --> 01:52:36,359
some time before his death, made ample provision consisting of

1567
01:52:36,439 --> 01:52:40,199
various kinds of property for his wife, which she was

1568
01:52:40,279 --> 01:52:44,000
to hold independent of her children, in the event of

1569
01:52:44,039 --> 01:52:47,880
her remaining a widow. In the document conveying it to her,

1570
01:52:48,079 --> 01:52:52,159
he speaks of her in the most exalted terms as

1571
01:52:52,199 --> 01:52:56,960
a pious woman, a faithful wife, and an affectionate mother.

1572
01:52:57,359 --> 01:53:01,359
The property thus left was far from being sufficient to

1573
01:53:01,439 --> 01:53:05,279
maintain the widow and her children. The Elector of Saxony

1574
01:53:05,640 --> 01:53:10,600
agreeably to his promise contributed to her support. The Dukes

1575
01:53:10,640 --> 01:53:14,520
of Mansfeld and the King of Denmark also liberally came

1576
01:53:14,640 --> 01:53:19,479
to her help. The Elector, John Frederick of Saxony, who

1577
01:53:19,600 --> 01:53:25,000
had already paid the funeral expenses, thus wrote to doctor Scherff,

1578
01:53:25,319 --> 01:53:29,359
Professor of Medicine and Rector of the University, and as

1579
01:53:29,399 --> 01:53:31,319
we have heard that the widow of the Saint of

1580
01:53:31,439 --> 01:53:35,239
Luther is in need of pecuniary assistance, we send you

1581
01:53:35,319 --> 01:53:38,880
by this messenger one hundred gold Grosian for her use.

1582
01:53:39,359 --> 01:53:43,960
He also wrote to Crusager and Melanthon, the guardians of

1583
01:53:44,039 --> 01:53:47,760
the children, to select a teacher for the two younger sons,

1584
01:53:48,199 --> 01:53:52,199
Martin and Paul, with whom they should also board. He

1585
01:53:52,279 --> 01:53:56,279
directed that with regard to the oldest son, John, they

1586
01:53:56,279 --> 01:54:00,199
should wait six months longer to ascertain whether he was

1587
01:54:00,239 --> 01:54:05,159
inclined or qualified to study a learned profession, and if not,

1588
01:54:05,720 --> 01:54:09,039
the Elector promised to give him employment in his palace

1589
01:54:09,319 --> 01:54:13,119
as a clerk or secretary. To enable the guardians to

1590
01:54:13,159 --> 01:54:16,560
execute his wishes. With regard to the children, the Elector

1591
01:54:16,640 --> 01:54:20,479
sent them two thousand guilders. He likewise afterwards sent the

1592
01:54:20,520 --> 01:54:24,199
same sum to the widow. The Dukes of Mansfeld, for

1593
01:54:24,279 --> 01:54:28,760
whose benefit Luther had undertaken many journeys and suffered much trouble,

1594
01:54:29,119 --> 01:54:32,640
were not behind. In the same year, they established a

1595
01:54:32,680 --> 01:54:35,399
fund of two thousand guilders for the benefit of the

1596
01:54:35,439 --> 01:54:39,279
widow and children, from which they drew an annual interest

1597
01:54:39,399 --> 01:54:43,159
of one hundred guilders. Part of the capital only was

1598
01:54:43,239 --> 01:54:47,720
paid for when Catherine died in fifteen fifty two, one

1599
01:54:47,760 --> 01:54:51,319
thousand guelders still stood to her credit. The year after

1600
01:54:51,479 --> 01:54:56,319
Luther's death, Christian, the third King of Denmark transferred for

1601
01:54:56,399 --> 01:54:59,960
her benefit fifty dollars the remainder of a sum which

1602
01:55:00,000 --> 01:55:02,960
which she had previously granted to Luther and several of

1603
01:55:03,039 --> 01:55:07,600
his friends. Catherine wrote to the king expressing her profound

1604
01:55:07,640 --> 01:55:11,079
gratitude for this act of benevolence, but she was soon

1605
01:55:11,199 --> 01:55:15,920
called on to experience additional sorrows. The Small Cold War

1606
01:55:16,119 --> 01:55:19,880
had already broken out in fifteen forty six, which brought

1607
01:55:19,960 --> 01:55:24,319
desolation into many peaceful and happy families. Catherine did not

1608
01:55:24,560 --> 01:55:29,000
escape the general calamity. The Elector John Frederick, who would

1609
01:55:29,000 --> 01:55:32,760
certainly have done more for her, was taken prisoner at

1610
01:55:32,800 --> 01:55:37,039
the Battle of Malburg April twenty four, fifteen forty seven.

1611
01:55:37,399 --> 01:55:40,640
Wittenberg was besieged on the fifth of May, and on

1612
01:55:40,720 --> 01:55:45,079
the twenty fifth Charles with his Spanish troops entered the

1613
01:55:45,079 --> 01:55:48,760
city as conqueror. All the faithful subjects of the Elector,

1614
01:55:49,239 --> 01:55:51,920
and many persons who had embraced the doctrines of the

1615
01:55:52,039 --> 01:55:57,159
Reformation had left before the siege. The widow of the Reformer,

1616
01:55:57,439 --> 01:56:01,920
with her children, could not possibly remain behind. She accompanied

1617
01:56:02,199 --> 01:56:07,319
doctor George Major, professor of theology, to Magdeburg, and thence

1618
01:56:07,720 --> 01:56:11,960
sustained by the town council of Helmstadt, she went under

1619
01:56:12,239 --> 01:56:17,079
Melancthon's protection to Brunswick, from whence doctor Major was to

1620
01:56:17,119 --> 01:56:21,159
conduct her to Copenhagen. Here she expected further protection and

1621
01:56:21,239 --> 01:56:25,079
support from the King of Denmark, as her illustrious benefactor.

1622
01:56:25,439 --> 01:56:29,119
The Elector of Saxony could no longer assist her, But

1623
01:56:29,239 --> 01:56:33,680
she did not proceed farther than Gifhorn near Brunswick, for

1624
01:56:33,880 --> 01:56:37,840
a proclamation appeared, promising a safe return and the secure

1625
01:56:37,920 --> 01:56:41,880
possession of their property to all who had left the country.

1626
01:56:42,199 --> 01:56:45,479
It seemed best to her, as well as to Melancthon,

1627
01:56:45,920 --> 01:56:48,680
to return to the home she had abandoned. But her

1628
01:56:48,760 --> 01:56:53,239
life from this period was an unbroken series of sorrows.

1629
01:56:53,600 --> 01:56:57,039
The assistance she had formerly received from the liberality of

1630
01:56:57,079 --> 01:57:00,680
the Elector was withdrawn the annual country abution of the

1631
01:57:00,760 --> 01:57:04,560
King of Denmark, although he had promised further help, had

1632
01:57:04,600 --> 01:57:08,119
not been sent since fifteen forty eight, and her small

1633
01:57:08,199 --> 01:57:11,760
real estate was loaded with taxes. It would have been

1634
01:57:11,800 --> 01:57:15,479
difficult for her to support herself and four children if

1635
01:57:15,520 --> 01:57:20,720
she had not some time. Subsequently, mortgaged her little farm

1636
01:57:20,960 --> 01:57:25,760
at Zilsdorf for four hundred guilders and pond some silver

1637
01:57:25,920 --> 01:57:30,079
ware for six hundred guilders. She also rented out several

1638
01:57:30,159 --> 01:57:33,960
rooms in her house as her husband had done, and

1639
01:57:34,159 --> 01:57:38,079
boarded the occupants, and thus she contrived to gain a

1640
01:57:38,159 --> 01:57:42,319
meager subsistence. In the beginning of the year of fifteen

1641
01:57:42,439 --> 01:57:47,079
forty eight, she traveled with Melancthon to Leipzig in order

1642
01:57:47,119 --> 01:57:51,000
to solicit from the Imperial Assessor some diminution of the

1643
01:57:51,039 --> 01:57:55,840
oppressive war tax. Malangthon also wrote to the King of

1644
01:57:55,920 --> 01:58:00,640
Denmark entreating him to continue the annual contribution which he

1645
01:58:00,720 --> 01:58:06,119
made during Luther's lifetime. Eugenhagen wrote similar letters to his majesty,

1646
01:58:06,399 --> 01:58:10,119
begging him for Luther's sake to come to the help

1647
01:58:10,199 --> 01:58:13,119
of the poor widow and her children. But as these

1648
01:58:13,199 --> 01:58:18,000
repeated appeals were fruitless, she herself wrote to him October sixth,

1649
01:58:18,279 --> 01:58:22,199
fifteen fifty. In this letter, she calls to his mind

1650
01:58:22,319 --> 01:58:25,520
the services which her illustrious husband had rendered to the

1651
01:58:25,560 --> 01:58:31,159
cause of Christianity and his Majesty's former liberality to him.

1652
01:58:31,520 --> 01:58:35,119
In pathetic terms, she represents her destitute condition and the

1653
01:58:35,159 --> 01:58:40,159
severity of the times occasioned by the existing wars. She says,

1654
01:58:40,479 --> 01:58:43,359
Your Imperial Majesty is the only king on earth to

1655
01:58:43,439 --> 01:58:47,199
whom we poor Christians can fly for protection, and God

1656
01:58:47,239 --> 01:58:50,680
will doubtless richly reward your Majesty for the kindness you

1657
01:58:50,800 --> 01:58:55,520
have bestowed on poor Christian preachers and their widows and children.

1658
01:58:55,960 --> 01:58:59,840
This letter did not immediately produce the desired result to you.

1659
01:59:00,039 --> 01:59:04,880
Years afterwards, when most sorely pressed by want, she repeated

1660
01:59:04,880 --> 01:59:09,039
her entreaty and wrote again. In this letter, she complains

1661
01:59:09,039 --> 01:59:12,479
of her forsaken condition and declares that she had been

1662
01:59:12,479 --> 01:59:17,199
more unkindly treated by professed friends than enemies. She writes

1663
01:59:17,239 --> 01:59:20,319
in a deeply desponding tone and seems to be on

1664
01:59:20,399 --> 01:59:24,600
the brink of despair. Butchen Hagen seconded this appeal to

1665
01:59:24,640 --> 01:59:28,720
the King and it was successful. A contribution was received

1666
01:59:28,760 --> 01:59:33,520
which relieved her immediate wants and comforted her desponding heart.

1667
01:59:34,079 --> 01:59:39,239
Luther's exalted merits were not always recognized, at least not

1668
01:59:39,560 --> 01:59:42,359
in the way in which they should have been. The

1669
01:59:42,439 --> 01:59:46,159
widow of the man who conferred favors on thousands at

1670
01:59:46,199 --> 01:59:52,039
the expense of extraordinary self sacrifice, often pined in misery

1671
01:59:52,399 --> 01:59:57,279
and paid the severe penalty of his disinterestedness and liberality.

1672
01:59:57,720 --> 02:00:00,039
With much truth, could it be said in a a

1673
02:00:00,159 --> 02:00:04,399
discourse commemorative of her virtues. During the war, she wandered

1674
02:00:04,399 --> 02:00:07,840
from place to place with her orphaned children, enduring the

1675
02:00:07,880 --> 02:00:13,840
most trying privations and perils, And besides the numerous trials

1676
02:00:13,840 --> 02:00:18,239
of her widowhood, she also encountered much ingratitude from many,

1677
02:00:18,520 --> 02:00:22,479
and she was often shamefully deceived by those, even from

1678
02:00:22,560 --> 02:00:26,399
whom she had a right to expect kindnesses on account

1679
02:00:26,600 --> 02:00:30,479
of the inappreciable services of her husband to the church.

1680
02:00:31,039 --> 02:00:35,800
After the Peace of Passau July thirty one, fifteen fifty two,

1681
02:00:36,279 --> 02:00:40,159
security was re established for the Protestants, and the former

1682
02:00:40,279 --> 02:00:44,279
Elector of Saxony was restored to liberty. About this time,

1683
02:00:44,359 --> 02:00:47,800
a contagious disease broke out in Wittenberg and all the

1684
02:00:47,840 --> 02:00:52,279
members of the university removed to Torgau. Catherine also determined

1685
02:00:52,319 --> 02:00:55,359
to leave the place with her two younger sons, Martin

1686
02:00:55,479 --> 02:01:01,079
and Paul. John was studying at Koenigsburg, and her only Margaret,

1687
02:01:01,520 --> 02:01:04,880
was to follow them. A short time after on the journey,

1688
02:01:05,039 --> 02:01:10,119
the horses became unmanageable and ran away with the carriage. Catherine,

1689
02:01:10,279 --> 02:01:13,439
more concerned about the children than her own safety, and

1690
02:01:13,560 --> 02:01:17,279
with the hope of facilitating their escape, leaped out of

1691
02:01:17,359 --> 02:01:20,520
the vehicle and fell violently into a ditch full of water.

1692
02:01:20,960 --> 02:01:24,560
This painful accident gave such a severe shock to resist

1693
02:01:24,600 --> 02:01:27,359
them that she was conveyed to Torgau in a very

1694
02:01:27,399 --> 02:01:30,319
weak condition, where she took her bed and never left

1695
02:01:30,359 --> 02:01:33,840
it alive. Her illness increased from day to day and

1696
02:01:33,960 --> 02:01:38,359
soon assumed the decided character of consumption. Two months after

1697
02:01:38,680 --> 02:01:42,600
December twenty fifteen fifty two, she died, in the fifty

1698
02:01:42,680 --> 02:01:46,159
fourth year of her age. Her funeral was attended by

1699
02:01:46,199 --> 02:01:51,880
an immense crowd of persons. The professors, students and citizens

1700
02:01:52,359 --> 02:01:56,319
united in demonstrations of respect for the deceased widow of

1701
02:01:56,359 --> 02:02:00,199
the illustrious reformer. During the whole period of her sick lines,

1702
02:02:00,760 --> 02:02:04,399
she comforted herself with the promises of God's word. She

1703
02:02:04,479 --> 02:02:07,840
heartily prayed for a peaceful departure out of this vale

1704
02:02:07,960 --> 02:02:11,920
of tears. She frequently commended the church and her children

1705
02:02:12,000 --> 02:02:16,039
to the continued protection of God, and her daily supplication

1706
02:02:16,399 --> 02:02:19,399
was that the true doctrine which the Lord had given

1707
02:02:19,439 --> 02:02:23,000
to the world through her deceased husband, might be transmitted

1708
02:02:23,199 --> 02:02:27,399
uncorrupted to posterity. A plain monument in the city church

1709
02:02:27,560 --> 02:02:32,039
of Torgau designates the place where her remains repose. On

1710
02:02:32,159 --> 02:02:35,960
the monument or tombstone, there is a recumbent statue the

1711
02:02:36,039 --> 02:02:39,600
size of life, with an open Bible pressed to the heart.

1712
02:02:40,159 --> 02:02:45,479
The inscription is Anno fifteen fifty two Den twenty December

1713
02:02:45,960 --> 02:02:51,720
ist in god Zelig Intschlaffen and her zu Torgau herne

1714
02:02:51,920 --> 02:02:58,840
d e Martin Luther's Zeligan interlassen vite Catharina don Bora

1715
02:02:59,640 --> 02:03:00,920
end of chapter.

1716
02:03:00,640 --> 02:03:11,720
Speaker 1: Six, Chapter seven, Part one of Catherine de Borah or

1717
02:03:12,000 --> 02:03:16,640
Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of Luther. This

1718
02:03:16,760 --> 02:03:19,800
is a Libervox recording. All Libervox recordings are in the

1719
02:03:19,800 --> 02:03:24,119
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit

1720
02:03:24,239 --> 02:03:30,720
LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bill Mosley, Lano County, Texas, USA.

1721
02:03:32,399 --> 02:03:36,119
Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life

1722
02:03:36,159 --> 02:03:42,560
of Luther by John G. Morris, Chapter seven, Luther's Children

1723
02:03:43,359 --> 02:03:49,640
domestic character Catherine. Catherine had been the mother of six children,

1724
02:03:49,960 --> 02:03:54,960
three sons and three daughters. One. John born June seventh,

1725
02:03:55,039 --> 02:03:58,600
fifteen twenty six studied law and became a civil officer

1726
02:03:58,640 --> 02:04:02,439
in the services of the elect of Saxony. Died October

1727
02:04:02,479 --> 02:04:09,960
twenty seventh, fifteen seventy five, aged fifty years two. Elizabeth

1728
02:04:10,439 --> 02:04:15,119
born December tenth, fifteen twenty seven died August third, fifteen

1729
02:04:15,199 --> 02:04:21,159
twenty eight three. Magdalena born May fourth, fifteen twenty nine

1730
02:04:21,560 --> 02:04:28,960
died September twentieth, fifteen forty two, age fourteen four. Martin

1731
02:04:29,399 --> 02:04:35,359
born November seventh, fifteen thirty one studied theology. Died March third,

1732
02:04:35,560 --> 02:04:42,720
fifteen sixty five, age thirty four five. Paul born January

1733
02:04:42,760 --> 02:04:46,880
twenty eighth, fifteen thirty three studied medicine and became court

1734
02:04:46,920 --> 02:04:51,399
physician to the Elector of Saxony. Died March eighth, fifteen

1735
02:04:51,479 --> 02:04:59,279
ninety three, aged sixty one years six. Margaret born December seventeenth,

1736
02:04:59,640 --> 02:05:05,199
fifteen thirty four, died fifteen seventy, age thirty six years.

1737
02:05:06,760 --> 02:05:09,840
Luther was accustomed to say, quote, the more children we have,

1738
02:05:10,199 --> 02:05:13,720
the more happiness we enjoy. They are the loveliest fruits

1739
02:05:13,720 --> 02:05:17,319
and bonds of the domestic life. Quote. He was never

1740
02:05:17,399 --> 02:05:20,359
more happy than in the circle of his family, and

1741
02:05:20,399 --> 02:05:23,159
who ever saw him there forgot that he was the

1742
02:05:23,199 --> 02:05:27,119
man who spoke without fear or trembling with emperors, kings

1743
02:05:27,159 --> 02:05:32,239
and nobles. He was much averse to noisy entertainments. Quote,

1744
02:05:32,520 --> 02:05:35,199
I lose too much time at such festal gatherings with

1745
02:05:35,319 --> 02:05:38,439
the citizens. I do not know what demon it is

1746
02:05:38,479 --> 02:05:41,840
that prevents me from abandoning them, and yet they do

1747
02:05:42,039 --> 02:05:46,279
me much harm in quote, said he. It was in

1748
02:05:46,399 --> 02:05:48,720
the bosom of his family, and in the company of

1749
02:05:48,760 --> 02:05:51,920
a few select friends, in which he sought the most

1750
02:05:51,960 --> 02:05:56,039
agreeable relaxation from the burdensome cares of his life, and

1751
02:05:56,159 --> 02:06:01,560
gathered fresh vigor for his arduous labors. Surrounded by his

1752
02:06:01,600 --> 02:06:04,680
wife and children, and by the side of his intimate

1753
02:06:04,720 --> 02:06:10,640
friends as Spalatin, Bugenhagen, Crusager, Malngthen, and a few others,

1754
02:06:11,279 --> 02:06:14,239
he took part in the innocent amusements of life with

1755
02:06:14,319 --> 02:06:17,560
a full heart of gratitude to God who favored him

1756
02:06:17,600 --> 02:06:22,479
with these evening relaxations. In fifteen forty three, he celebrated

1757
02:06:22,520 --> 02:06:27,680
his sixty second birthday and invited Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Crusainger, George Major,

1758
02:06:27,760 --> 02:06:32,359
and Eber It was the last time he celebrated that day.

1759
02:06:32,880 --> 02:06:36,720
Subjects of solemn import came up for conversation. Luther, in

1760
02:06:36,760 --> 02:06:40,399
a prophetic spirit said, quote, as long as I live,

1761
02:06:40,479 --> 02:06:43,560
with God's help, there will be no danger and Germany

1762
02:06:43,600 --> 02:06:47,840
will continue peaceful. But when I die, then pray there

1763
02:06:47,920 --> 02:06:50,960
will be really need of prayer. Our children shall have

1764
02:06:51,039 --> 02:06:53,920
to grasp their weapons, and there will be sad times

1765
02:06:53,920 --> 02:06:58,760
for Germany. Hence I say pray diligently after my death.

1766
02:07:00,079 --> 02:07:00,319
Speaker 3: Quote.

1767
02:07:00,920 --> 02:07:05,319
Speaker 1: He then turned to Eber particularly and said, quote your

1768
02:07:05,439 --> 02:07:10,079
name is Paul. Hence be careful after Paul's example to

1769
02:07:10,159 --> 02:07:15,319
preserve and defend the doctrine of that apostle end quote.

1770
02:07:16,119 --> 02:07:19,760
Luther was a man of sociable disposition, always enjoying conversation,

1771
02:07:20,039 --> 02:07:25,960
enlivened by wit and edifying anecdote. He excelled in spicy

1772
02:07:26,000 --> 02:07:29,399
conversation himself and was the life of every circle of

1773
02:07:29,439 --> 02:07:33,760
distinguished men. But he especially found the sweetest enjoyment in

1774
02:07:33,840 --> 02:07:38,279
conversation with his wife and children, and often too, from

1775
02:07:38,319 --> 02:07:42,760
the innocent prattle of the latter he derived no ordinary edification.

1776
02:07:44,399 --> 02:07:46,640
When his heart was sad, he would take one of

1777
02:07:46,680 --> 02:07:50,600
them into his arms and tenderly caress it. Thus, on

1778
02:07:50,640 --> 02:07:53,880
more than one occasion he took the youngest child, and,

1779
02:07:54,000 --> 02:07:58,840
pressing it to his bosom with deep emotion, exclaimed, quote, Ah,

1780
02:07:58,920 --> 02:08:01,600
what a blessing these little ones are, of which the

1781
02:08:01,720 --> 02:08:05,920
vulgar and the obstinate are not worthy. In quote. On

1782
02:08:05,960 --> 02:08:09,640
another occasion, he said, quote, I am richer than all

1783
02:08:09,760 --> 02:08:13,319
papal theologians in the world, where I am contented with little.

1784
02:08:13,800 --> 02:08:16,479
I have a wife and six children, whom God has

1785
02:08:16,479 --> 02:08:21,359
bestowed on me such treasures the papistic divines do not deserve.

1786
02:08:21,760 --> 02:08:25,680
In quote. Little Martin was once playing with a dog,

1787
02:08:26,279 --> 02:08:28,720
see said Luther, who took a religious view of the

1788
02:08:28,760 --> 02:08:32,600
most ordinary circumstances, and thus also in social life he

1789
02:08:32,640 --> 02:08:36,399
became the teacher of those around him see said he quote,

1790
02:08:36,760 --> 02:08:40,279
this child preaches God's word in its actions. For God, says,

1791
02:08:41,039 --> 02:08:43,680
have then dominion over the fishes of the sea and

1792
02:08:43,720 --> 02:08:47,000
the beasts of the earth, where the dog suffers himself

1793
02:08:47,039 --> 02:08:51,760
to be governed by the child in quote. On one occasion,

1794
02:08:51,840 --> 02:08:54,760
the same child was speaking of the enjoyments of heaven

1795
02:08:55,319 --> 02:08:58,840
and said, quote in heaven, loaves of bread grow on

1796
02:08:58,880 --> 02:09:02,640
the trees. Quote. The father replied with a smile, quote,

1797
02:09:03,159 --> 02:09:05,840
the life of children is the happiest and best of all,

1798
02:09:06,239 --> 02:09:09,399
for they have no worldly cares. They know nothing about

1799
02:09:09,560 --> 02:09:13,439
fanatics and errorists in the church, and have only pure

1800
02:09:13,479 --> 02:09:18,720
thoughts and pleasant reflections. In quote. He was amusing himself

1801
02:09:18,720 --> 02:09:22,199
one day with the child and said, quote, we were

1802
02:09:22,239 --> 02:09:26,840
all once in this same happy state of mind, in eden, simple, upright,

1803
02:09:27,000 --> 02:09:31,199
without guile or hypocrisy. We were sincere, just as this

1804
02:09:31,399 --> 02:09:37,399
child speaks of God and in earnest in quote. At

1805
02:09:37,399 --> 02:09:40,760
another time he remarked that Martin afforded him special delight

1806
02:09:40,840 --> 02:09:45,119
because he was his youngest child. Quote. We do not

1807
02:09:45,239 --> 02:09:48,880
find such natural kindness in old persons. It does not

1808
02:09:49,000 --> 02:09:53,079
flow so freely and fully. That which is colored or

1809
02:09:53,159 --> 02:09:57,359
feigned loses our favor. It is not so impressive. He

1810
02:09:57,399 --> 02:10:00,399
does not afford as much pleasure as that which springs

1811
02:10:00,479 --> 02:10:04,439
up naturally from the heart. Hence, children are the best playmates.

1812
02:10:04,960 --> 02:10:10,319
They speak and do everything sincerely and naturally. How Abraham's

1813
02:10:10,319 --> 02:10:14,079
heart must have beat, he continued, when he was called

1814
02:10:14,119 --> 02:10:17,199
on to sacrifice his son. I do not think he

1815
02:10:17,279 --> 02:10:20,800
told Sarah anything about it. I could contend with God

1816
02:10:20,880 --> 02:10:25,920
if he demanded anything similar of me. End quote. Here

1817
02:10:25,960 --> 02:10:29,600
the maternal feeling of Catherine was roused, and she observed

1818
02:10:30,000 --> 02:10:33,479
quote I cannot believe that God could demand of parents

1819
02:10:33,520 --> 02:10:37,319
the slaughter of their children end quote. He removed her

1820
02:10:37,359 --> 02:10:41,079
objections by reminding her of the greater sacrifice which God

1821
02:10:41,119 --> 02:10:44,760
the Father made, of offering his own son as a

1822
02:10:44,840 --> 02:10:49,479
ransom for our sins. Margaretta was once speaking to her

1823
02:10:49,520 --> 02:10:56,600
father of Jesus, the angels and Heaven. Deeply moved, he exclaimed, quote, Oh,

1824
02:10:56,600 --> 02:10:59,279
how much better than ours is the faith in life

1825
02:10:59,279 --> 02:11:02,520
of children. The words which they hear they accept with

1826
02:11:02,680 --> 02:11:06,399
joy and without any doubts, and are happy. But we

1827
02:11:06,520 --> 02:11:11,439
old fools have painful anxieties and dispute. Long well has

1828
02:11:11,520 --> 02:11:15,359
Christ said, unless ye be converted and become as little children,

1829
02:11:15,760 --> 02:11:21,680
ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. Christmas particularly was

1830
02:11:21,760 --> 02:11:25,680
a season of joyful festival in Luther's family. No annual

1831
02:11:25,800 --> 02:11:28,359
fare such as are to this day held in Germany

1832
02:11:28,760 --> 02:11:31,560
passed by in which he did not purchase presents for

1833
02:11:31,600 --> 02:11:34,920
his children. With deep regret, he wrote to his wife

1834
02:11:35,000 --> 02:11:38,319
when he was in Torgau in fifteen thirty two, that

1835
02:11:38,359 --> 02:11:40,399
he could find nothing in that town to buy for

1836
02:11:40,600 --> 02:11:44,880
the little ones. At home, vocal and instrumental music was

1837
02:11:44,920 --> 02:11:49,439
a frequent source of family entertainment, especially after supper. Luther

1838
02:11:49,560 --> 02:11:53,039
himself accompanied it with the flute or the lute, both

1839
02:11:53,079 --> 02:11:57,720
of which he played skillfully. He often invited accomplished singers,

1840
02:11:58,479 --> 02:12:01,920
and thus held family concert in his house when his

1841
02:12:02,039 --> 02:12:05,079
time and the weather permitted. He had prepared to what

1842
02:12:05,199 --> 02:12:09,960
was afterwards called Luther's Spring, which he himself discovered, and

1843
02:12:10,159 --> 02:12:13,279
over which after his marriage he had a neat summer

1844
02:12:13,319 --> 02:12:17,319
house erected. He spent many an hour of pleasant enjoyment

1845
02:12:17,359 --> 02:12:20,720
in his garden, with his wife engaged with her needle

1846
02:12:21,000 --> 02:12:24,720
and the children playing around him. Here he often invited

1847
02:12:24,720 --> 02:12:28,239
his friends to exhibit to them the luxuriant fruit of

1848
02:12:28,239 --> 02:12:32,399
his own cultivation. As the children increased in years, especially

1849
02:12:32,399 --> 02:12:36,359
the suns, he made them his companions. He took them

1850
02:12:36,359 --> 02:12:39,319
with him on his numerous journeys, and they accompanied him

1851
02:12:39,319 --> 02:12:42,119
on his last and eventful tour to the place of

1852
02:12:42,159 --> 02:12:46,039
his birth, and as it proved the place of his death,

1853
02:12:47,319 --> 02:12:49,680
that he might enjoy the society of his wife as

1854
02:12:49,760 --> 02:12:52,720
much as possible. He pursued his labors with her at

1855
02:12:52,720 --> 02:12:56,640
his side or invited her into his study. She often

1856
02:12:56,680 --> 02:12:59,960
copied his manuscripts for the press and otherwise rendered aim

1857
02:13:00,239 --> 02:13:04,359
in writing. He communicated to her everything of special interest

1858
02:13:04,479 --> 02:13:08,159
relating to the progress of the Reformation, not only orally

1859
02:13:08,239 --> 02:13:12,039
when at home, but by letter during his absence. He

1860
02:13:12,079 --> 02:13:15,600
also frequently read aloud for her entertainment, and sometimes even

1861
02:13:15,880 --> 02:13:19,319
extracts from the books of his opponents, such as Erasmus

1862
02:13:19,359 --> 02:13:23,680
and others. He often gave her striking passages of scripture

1863
02:13:23,720 --> 02:13:27,399
to commit to memory, such as Psalm thirty one, which

1864
02:13:27,560 --> 02:13:31,760
was particularly applicable to her condition after his death, just

1865
02:13:31,800 --> 02:13:36,199
as though he had anticipated it years before. She, on

1866
02:13:36,239 --> 02:13:39,000
the other hand, often urged him to the performance of

1867
02:13:39,039 --> 02:13:44,520
pressing duties, especially answering letters. Her participation in his affairs

1868
02:13:44,640 --> 02:13:48,720
was kindly reciprocated by him. He patiently listened to all

1869
02:13:48,800 --> 02:13:53,319
her requests, and in his letters, executed many of her commissions.

1870
02:13:54,359 --> 02:13:56,600
It was only when he desired to complete some work

1871
02:13:56,600 --> 02:13:59,960
which allowed no postponement that he dispensed with her presence.

1872
02:14:00,800 --> 02:14:03,279
At such times, he locked himself in his study for

1873
02:14:03,399 --> 02:14:07,039
days and ate nothing but bread and salt, that he might,

1874
02:14:07,239 --> 02:14:11,880
without interruption, pursue the work in hand. This often occurred,

1875
02:14:12,279 --> 02:14:15,199
and he would not allow himself to be disturbed. On

1876
02:14:15,199 --> 02:14:18,439
one occasion, he had been thus locked up for three days.

1877
02:14:18,840 --> 02:14:22,479
She sought him everywhere, shed bitter tears, knocked at all

1878
02:14:22,520 --> 02:14:26,239
the doors, and called him, but no one answered. She

1879
02:14:26,319 --> 02:14:28,880
had the door opened by a locksmith and found her

1880
02:14:28,960 --> 02:14:33,800
husband profoundly absorbed in the explanation of the twenty second Psalm.

1881
02:14:34,359 --> 02:14:37,960
She was proceeding to reprimand him for occasioning such painful

1882
02:14:38,000 --> 02:14:41,720
anxiety that he was impatient of the interruption to his studies,

1883
02:14:42,199 --> 02:14:45,000
pointed to the Bible and said, quote, do you think

1884
02:14:45,039 --> 02:14:48,439
then that I am doing anything bad? Do you not

1885
02:14:48,640 --> 02:14:51,119
know that I must work as long as it is day,

1886
02:14:51,399 --> 02:14:53,960
for the night cometh in which no man can work.

1887
02:14:56,319 --> 02:14:59,760
But his tone and looks sufficiently indicated to her that

1888
02:14:59,840 --> 02:15:04,520
he he was, after all, not unduly excited at his

1889
02:15:04,760 --> 02:15:09,199
social assemblies, his walks for recreation, and short excursions into

1890
02:15:09,239 --> 02:15:13,199
the country. She was his inseparable companion as often as

1891
02:15:13,239 --> 02:15:17,920
circumstances permitted. When numerous business calls necessarily compelled him to

1892
02:15:18,000 --> 02:15:21,000
leave home, he wrote to her the most affectionate and

1893
02:15:21,079 --> 02:15:26,239
often the most humorous letters. The birth of his first

1894
02:15:26,319 --> 02:15:31,560
child June seventh, fifteen twenty six, afforded him peculiar gratification.

1895
02:15:32,199 --> 02:15:35,520
He communicated the fact to many of his correspondents in

1896
02:15:35,600 --> 02:15:39,600
a strain of pleasant humor, and of course received their

1897
02:15:39,640 --> 02:15:44,159
congratulations in return. The child was baptized soon after birth

1898
02:15:44,199 --> 02:15:50,720
by doctor Aurora and named John by the grandfather Eugenhagen.

1899
02:15:50,800 --> 02:15:56,560
Jonas and the painter Chronic Senior were his godfathers. From

1900
02:15:56,560 --> 02:15:59,840
his earliest years, this boy excited the liveliest hopes in

1901
02:15:59,840 --> 02:16:04,199
his parents on account of his uncommon middle abilities, and

1902
02:16:04,319 --> 02:16:07,479
it was he who gave occasion to the preparation by

1903
02:16:07,479 --> 02:16:12,000
the father of several excellent books for children. Luther possessed

1904
02:16:12,000 --> 02:16:15,079
the rare faculty of letting himself down to the capacity

1905
02:16:15,119 --> 02:16:19,560
of children without himself becoming a child. This son's name

1906
02:16:19,680 --> 02:16:23,399
often occurs in the letters of Luther, and he is

1907
02:16:23,439 --> 02:16:27,399
always mentioned as a lad of uncommon promise and an

1908
02:16:27,479 --> 02:16:31,880
agreeable plaything to his father and mother. He thus writes

1909
02:16:31,920 --> 02:16:36,719
to houseman quote Besides this there is nothing new except

1910
02:16:36,760 --> 02:16:39,079
that my Lord has blessed my Kate and made her

1911
02:16:39,159 --> 02:16:42,600
a present of a healthy son. Thanks and praise for

1912
02:16:42,719 --> 02:16:47,079
his unspeakable goodness. Mother and childs in their respects to you.

1913
02:16:47,799 --> 02:16:52,799
End quote. Some time after, he wrote to Spalatin quote,

1914
02:16:53,319 --> 02:16:56,840
my little Hans salutes you. He is now teething and

1915
02:16:56,920 --> 02:17:01,479
begins to scold everybody about him with the most amiable reproaches.

1916
02:17:02,200 --> 02:17:06,159
Kate also wishes you every blessing, and particularly that you

1917
02:17:06,239 --> 02:17:09,440
also may have a little Spalatin who may teach you

1918
02:17:09,879 --> 02:17:13,079
what she boasts of having learned from her boy, namely

1919
02:17:13,520 --> 02:17:17,040
the joys of matrimonial life, of which the Pope and

1920
02:17:17,079 --> 02:17:22,239
his satellites are not worthy end quote. Luther's friends were

1921
02:17:22,319 --> 02:17:25,879
much attached to this child on account of his amiable disposition,

1922
02:17:26,719 --> 02:17:30,879
and sent him many presents suitable to his age. When

1923
02:17:30,879 --> 02:17:33,719
the boy was yet but four years old, his father

1924
02:17:33,760 --> 02:17:37,319
wrote to him the following letter, quote, Grace and peace

1925
02:17:37,399 --> 02:17:40,959
in Christ, my dearest little son. It pleases me much

1926
02:17:41,040 --> 02:17:43,559
to hear that you love to learn, and to pray

1927
02:17:44,200 --> 02:17:47,360
continue in this good way, my child. When I come home,

1928
02:17:47,399 --> 02:17:50,239
I will bring you a beautiful present. I know where

1929
02:17:50,239 --> 02:17:52,639
there is a beautiful garden into which many children go.

1930
02:17:53,360 --> 02:17:56,559
They wear gilded garments and gather all manner of fruit

1931
02:17:56,639 --> 02:17:59,719
from under the trees. They sing, leap and are happy.

1932
02:18:00,200 --> 02:18:03,000
They also have beautiful little horses with golden bridles and

1933
02:18:03,079 --> 02:18:06,239
silver saddles. I ask the man who owns the garden

1934
02:18:06,239 --> 02:18:09,479
what sort of children they were. He replied, they are

1935
02:18:09,559 --> 02:18:12,680
children who love to pray, to learn, and serve God.

1936
02:18:13,760 --> 02:18:17,000
Then I said, my dear sir, I also have a

1937
02:18:17,040 --> 02:18:20,399
son called little Hans Luther. May he not also go

1938
02:18:20,479 --> 02:18:23,520
into the garden, that he too may eat these beautiful

1939
02:18:23,559 --> 02:18:26,959
apples and pears, and ride these nice horses and play

1940
02:18:27,000 --> 02:18:30,799
with these good children. He answered, every little boy who

1941
02:18:30,799 --> 02:18:33,280
loves to pray and learn and his good may come

1942
02:18:33,319 --> 02:18:38,040
into the garden. Lippus and Yost, also sons of Melanchthon

1943
02:18:38,079 --> 02:18:41,360
and Jonas. And if they all come together, they shall

1944
02:18:41,559 --> 02:18:44,319
have all sorts of musical instruments and dance and shoot

1945
02:18:44,360 --> 02:18:48,040
with little crossbows. And he pointed out to me a

1946
02:18:48,079 --> 02:18:51,319
meadow in the garden suited for a children's playground, and

1947
02:18:51,440 --> 02:18:55,760
there were hanging golden instruments of music and beautiful silver crossbows.

1948
02:18:56,559 --> 02:18:58,600
But it was yet early, and the children had not

1949
02:18:58,680 --> 02:19:01,520
yet eaten their breakfast. Hence I could not wait to

1950
02:19:01,559 --> 02:19:03,959
see the children dance and play. And I said to

1951
02:19:04,000 --> 02:19:07,159
the man, Ah, my dear sir, I will go without

1952
02:19:07,200 --> 02:19:10,120
delay and write all this to my beloved little son Hans,

1953
02:19:10,680 --> 02:19:14,479
that he may diligently pray, learn well, and be pious,

1954
02:19:14,879 --> 02:19:17,840
so that he too may come into this garden. But

1955
02:19:17,959 --> 02:19:21,319
he has a little sister, Lina, whom he must bring

1956
02:19:21,440 --> 02:19:25,079
with him. Then the man said it must be so,

1957
02:19:25,440 --> 02:19:28,520
go and write to him for this reason, dear son,

1958
02:19:28,760 --> 02:19:31,719
learn and pray, and tell Lippus and Yost also to

1959
02:19:31,799 --> 02:19:34,319
do the same, and then you shall all go into

1960
02:19:34,319 --> 02:19:37,799
the garden. I commend you to God kiss Nina for me,

1961
02:19:38,360 --> 02:19:44,639
your dear father m. L. Fifteen thirty end quote. The

1962
02:19:44,639 --> 02:19:49,079
prudent discipline of the mother, exercised with tender earnestness, gradually

1963
02:19:49,200 --> 02:19:53,280
developed the moral and intellectual faculties of this youth in

1964
02:19:53,360 --> 02:19:56,920
an eminent degree. And this, combined with his religious and

1965
02:19:57,000 --> 02:20:03,520
scientific attainments, as subsequently displayed, aid, afforded the father unspeakable gratification.

1966
02:20:04,440 --> 02:20:07,399
In his fifteenth year, this youth received the most honorable

1967
02:20:07,440 --> 02:20:11,239
testimonial of his industry in study and general excellence, of

1968
02:20:11,319 --> 02:20:15,000
character from John William, the second son of the Elector

1969
02:20:15,120 --> 02:20:20,319
John Frederick, promising further encouragement and aid in the prosecution

1970
02:20:20,479 --> 02:20:24,959
of his studies. When he was properly qualified by preliminary

1971
02:20:25,000 --> 02:20:28,799
attainments to attend a higher school, he was sent to

1972
02:20:28,840 --> 02:20:33,399
the Gymnasium at Torgau. Afterwards he studied law at Wittenberg

1973
02:20:33,520 --> 02:20:37,040
and Koenigsberg, and on his return from his travels in

1974
02:20:37,120 --> 02:20:41,200
various countries of Europe, he was appointed court councilor by

1975
02:20:41,360 --> 02:20:45,280
John William, in which office he subsequently served under the

1976
02:20:45,280 --> 02:20:48,559
brother of the Elector. He was dismissed at his own

1977
02:20:48,600 --> 02:20:52,479
request and entered the service of Duke Albert in Koenigsburg,

1978
02:20:53,120 --> 02:20:58,079
and died October twenty eighth, fifteen seventy five, aged forty

1979
02:20:58,159 --> 02:21:04,239
nine years. End of Chapter seven, Part one. Recording by

1980
02:21:04,280 --> 02:21:15,479
Bill Moseley, Lano County, Texas u s A. Chapter seven,

1981
02:21:15,760 --> 02:21:21,319
Part two of Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes

1982
02:21:21,360 --> 02:21:25,959
in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

1983
02:21:26,200 --> 02:21:29,479
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

1984
02:21:29,520 --> 02:21:35,360
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording

1985
02:21:35,399 --> 02:21:41,920
by Bill Moseley Lano County, Texas U s A. Catherine

1986
02:21:41,959 --> 02:21:46,079
Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of

1987
02:21:46,319 --> 02:21:53,200
Luther by John G. Morris. His second child, Elizabeth, was

1988
02:21:53,200 --> 02:21:56,760
born during the prevalence of the contagious disease in Wittenberg

1989
02:21:57,120 --> 02:22:01,399
before alluded to. She lived only nine months, and Luther's

1990
02:22:01,440 --> 02:22:05,280
grief at her death was excessive. He thus writes to

1991
02:22:05,399 --> 02:22:09,879
Houseman quote, never could I have believed a parent's heart

1992
02:22:09,959 --> 02:22:14,360
could be so tender towards children. Seldom have I mourned

1993
02:22:14,399 --> 02:22:18,040
so deeply. My sorrow is like that of a woman.

1994
02:22:19,280 --> 02:22:22,639
The death of his third child, Magdalena, at the age

1995
02:22:22,680 --> 02:22:27,399
of fourteen, was a severe affliction. She was a girl

1996
02:22:27,479 --> 02:22:33,360
of unusual promise, amiable, gifted, and pious. Her complete resignation

1997
02:22:33,479 --> 02:22:36,760
to the will of God, her vivid conception of the

1998
02:22:36,799 --> 02:22:40,399
doctrines of the Bible, her strong faith in the Savior,

1999
02:22:40,959 --> 02:22:45,879
and her filial and religious virtues distinguished her far above

2000
02:22:45,959 --> 02:22:49,680
many of her tender years. She was for a long

2001
02:22:49,760 --> 02:22:53,719
time confined to bed, and she felt that her end

2002
02:22:53,959 --> 02:22:58,280
was rapidly drawing nigh. She ardently desired to see her

2003
02:22:58,319 --> 02:23:02,079
brother John, who as a student at the Academy at

2004
02:23:02,159 --> 02:23:08,000
Torgau the father gratified her wish and dispatched a messenger

2005
02:23:08,120 --> 02:23:11,719
to summon the absent son to the death bed of

2006
02:23:11,799 --> 02:23:16,879
his sister. Luther, as far as was possible, watched by

2007
02:23:16,920 --> 02:23:21,239
the side of the dying child. Although the trial was severe,

2008
02:23:22,000 --> 02:23:26,360
his patient submission to the will of God was characteristic

2009
02:23:26,440 --> 02:23:32,000
of the man and the Christian Alas sighed. He quotes,

2010
02:23:32,760 --> 02:23:37,159
I love this child most tenderly, But O God, as

2011
02:23:37,239 --> 02:23:40,799
it is thy will to take her to thyself, I

2012
02:23:40,920 --> 02:23:48,639
cheerfully resign her into Thy hands. Then he advanced to

2013
02:23:48,719 --> 02:23:53,360
the bed and spoke to the suffering child, quotes, Magdalena,

2014
02:23:53,440 --> 02:23:57,239
my daughter, you would willingly remain with your father on earth,

2015
02:23:58,000 --> 02:24:00,559
and yet you also desire to go to your father

2016
02:24:00,719 --> 02:24:06,520
in heaven, quote on which she replied, quote yes, dearest Father,

2017
02:24:07,280 --> 02:24:11,559
just as it pleases God. In quote, he continued, quote,

2018
02:24:11,639 --> 02:24:15,639
dearest child, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

2019
02:24:16,440 --> 02:24:24,479
In quote. Overcome by emotion, he turned away and said, oh,

2020
02:24:24,479 --> 02:24:27,879
how I love this suffering child. But if the flesh

2021
02:24:27,959 --> 02:24:33,680
is now so strong, what will then the spirit be well?

2022
02:24:34,200 --> 02:24:40,159
Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's When

2023
02:24:40,200 --> 02:24:43,879
she was breathing her last, the mother overwhelmed with sorrow.

2024
02:24:44,680 --> 02:24:49,440
Retired from the couch, Luther threw himself on his knees,

2025
02:24:50,239 --> 02:24:54,680
wept convulsively, and implored God to release the child from suffering.

2026
02:24:55,760 --> 02:24:59,159
He then took her by the hand, and she died.

2027
02:25:00,799 --> 02:25:03,360
The father at once had recourse to the scriptures to

2028
02:25:03,399 --> 02:25:07,280
seek consolation for his grievous loss. He opened the book,

2029
02:25:07,799 --> 02:25:13,639
and the passage Romans fourteen seventh first arrested his attention.

2030
02:25:14,399 --> 02:25:18,040
Quote for none of us liveth to himself, and no

2031
02:25:18,200 --> 02:25:24,440
man dieth to himself end quote. This expressive passage was

2032
02:25:24,479 --> 02:25:28,600
as a balm to his wounded heart. When the body

2033
02:25:28,680 --> 02:25:35,479
was deposited in the coffin, he said, quote, thou, dear Magdalena,

2034
02:25:36,079 --> 02:25:41,440
how happy thou art, Oh dear Magdalena, Thou wilt rise

2035
02:25:41,479 --> 02:25:46,680
again and wilt shine like a star, yea like the sun.

2036
02:25:47,840 --> 02:25:52,639
End quote. But the coffin having been made too small,

2037
02:25:52,840 --> 02:25:56,479
he said, quote this bed is too small for her.

2038
02:25:56,600 --> 02:25:59,559
Now that she is dead, I am indeed joyful in

2039
02:25:59,600 --> 02:26:02,639
the spirit, But after the flesh, I am very sad.

2040
02:26:03,159 --> 02:26:05,799
The flesh is slow to come to the trial. This

2041
02:26:05,879 --> 02:26:09,680
separation troubles us exceedingly. It is a marvelous thing to

2042
02:26:09,799 --> 02:26:12,879
know that she is certainly happy, and yet for me

2043
02:26:13,479 --> 02:26:19,479
to be so sad. In quote. When the people came

2044
02:26:19,520 --> 02:26:23,040
to attend the funeral, and according to custom, addressed the

2045
02:26:23,079 --> 02:26:27,040
doctor and said that they sincerely condoled with him in

2046
02:26:27,159 --> 02:26:32,440
his affliction, he said, quote, you should rejoice. I have

2047
02:26:32,520 --> 02:26:36,760
sent a saint to heaven. Yea, a living saint. Oh,

2048
02:26:37,000 --> 02:26:40,079
if only such a death were ours, such a death,

2049
02:26:40,120 --> 02:26:43,920
I would be willing to die this moment. In quote.

2050
02:26:45,120 --> 02:26:48,719
When one said, quote that is indeed true. Yet we

2051
02:26:48,799 --> 02:26:52,959
all wish to retain our relatives. In quote, Luther replied,

2052
02:26:53,479 --> 02:26:58,000
quote flesh is flesh and blood is blood. I rejoice

2053
02:26:58,159 --> 02:27:02,159
that she has passed over. Experience no sadness but that

2054
02:27:02,440 --> 02:27:09,879
of the flesh. En. Quote Again, he said to others present, quote,

2055
02:27:10,200 --> 02:27:14,360
be not grieved. I have sent a saint to heaven. Yea,

2056
02:27:15,040 --> 02:27:20,520
I have sent too. In quote. When she was buried,

2057
02:27:20,559 --> 02:27:24,360
he said, quote it is the resurrection of the flesh.

2058
02:27:25,079 --> 02:27:28,840
End quote. And when they returned from the funeral, he said, quote,

2059
02:27:29,600 --> 02:27:33,399
now is my daughter provided for both as to body

2060
02:27:33,440 --> 02:27:38,079
and soul. We Christians have no cause to complain. We

2061
02:27:38,120 --> 02:27:41,680
know that it must be. Thus we are perfectly assured

2062
02:27:41,760 --> 02:27:45,760
of eternal life for God, who through his son, and

2063
02:27:45,799 --> 02:27:49,040
for the sake of his son, has promised it unto

2064
02:27:49,159 --> 02:27:55,879
us cannot lie in quote. Throughout the whole of this

2065
02:27:56,040 --> 02:27:59,840
trying event, Luther showed all the tenderness of an affectionate

2066
02:27:59,840 --> 02:28:07,079
father and all the resignation of a Christian. His second son, Martin,

2067
02:28:07,319 --> 02:28:11,239
was tenderly cherished by the father, He himself feared that

2068
02:28:11,319 --> 02:28:14,520
the child would be spoiled by too much affectionate attention

2069
02:28:14,799 --> 02:28:19,200
and favoritism. In reference to this, he said, quote, the

2070
02:28:19,319 --> 02:28:22,840
love of parents is always stronger for the younger than

2071
02:28:22,879 --> 02:28:26,360
the elder children. And the more they require the care

2072
02:28:26,399 --> 02:28:29,680
and protection of the parents, the more dear they are

2073
02:28:29,719 --> 02:28:33,719
to them. Thus, my Martin is now my dearest treasure,

2074
02:28:34,280 --> 02:28:38,799
because he demands more of my attention and solicitude. John

2075
02:28:38,879 --> 02:28:42,239
and Magdalena can walk and talk, and can ask for

2076
02:28:42,280 --> 02:28:45,959
what they want, and do not require so much watchful

2077
02:28:46,040 --> 02:28:54,399
nursing quote. But afterwards Luther's anxieties about him were very great. Quote.

2078
02:28:54,799 --> 02:28:58,959
He is rather a wild bird, said he, and he

2079
02:28:59,079 --> 02:29:06,360
occasions me much solicitude. But Martin, who was not without talents,

2080
02:29:06,959 --> 02:29:11,360
studied theology, and it was only continued ill health that

2081
02:29:11,479 --> 02:29:15,399
prevented him from publicly assuming the office of a preacher,

2082
02:29:16,479 --> 02:29:20,319
he spent his life in private teaching. In an obituary

2083
02:29:20,399 --> 02:29:24,319
notice of him, it is said that quote he possessed

2084
02:29:24,360 --> 02:29:29,920
such strong mental faculties and such striking oratorial powers as

2085
02:29:30,040 --> 02:29:36,559
even to have excited the admiration of his father. Of

2086
02:29:36,639 --> 02:29:43,280
the third son Paul, when yet a child, Luther thus spoke, quote,

2087
02:29:43,399 --> 02:29:47,879
he is destined to fight against the Turks, alluding to

2088
02:29:47,959 --> 02:29:51,639
the energy of character then observed in him, and which

2089
02:29:51,760 --> 02:29:56,959
was afterwards so strikingly developed. And truly this Paul, endowed

2090
02:29:57,000 --> 02:30:01,239
as he was, with unusual decision and unj shaken perseverance,

2091
02:30:02,120 --> 02:30:05,559
was the most gifted of Luther's sons, even if he

2092
02:30:05,639 --> 02:30:09,520
did not, in all respects possess the heroic spirit of

2093
02:30:09,559 --> 02:30:13,239
his father. He was not only a zealous promoter of

2094
02:30:13,280 --> 02:30:17,000
the science of alchemy, so highly prized at that day,

2095
02:30:18,000 --> 02:30:21,959
but he was a distinguished chemist, and succeeded by his

2096
02:30:22,040 --> 02:30:28,520
assiduous labors in making many useful discoveries in chemistry and medicine.

2097
02:30:28,559 --> 02:30:33,200
He also possessed a thorough knowledge of ancient languages. He

2098
02:30:33,319 --> 02:30:36,280
was devoted with all his heart to the religious doctrines

2099
02:30:36,399 --> 02:30:41,040
which his father restored, and defended them with zeal and ability.

2100
02:30:43,040 --> 02:30:46,280
He was so strenuously attached to the Orthodox system of

2101
02:30:46,360 --> 02:30:50,239
theology that he once refused a very flattering call to

2102
02:30:50,319 --> 02:30:55,040
the University of Jena on account of the presumed heresies

2103
02:30:55,639 --> 02:31:01,360
which the theologian Victorine Strigel had homulgated at that seat

2104
02:31:01,360 --> 02:31:05,040
of learning. And he soon afterwards received the appointment of

2105
02:31:05,159 --> 02:31:10,559
private physician to John Frederick the Second at Gotha. In

2106
02:31:10,600 --> 02:31:15,520
fifteen sixty eight, he served Joachim the second of Brandenburg

2107
02:31:16,120 --> 02:31:20,000
in the same capacity, by whom he was elevated to

2108
02:31:20,079 --> 02:31:25,719
the rank of counselor and richly rewarded. Afterwards, fifteen seventy

2109
02:31:25,799 --> 02:31:31,440
one he was employed by the Elector August and his successor,

2110
02:31:31,879 --> 02:31:36,639
Christian the First at Dresden. The former not only honored

2111
02:31:36,680 --> 02:31:39,440
him by inviting him to be sponsored to his children,

2112
02:31:39,959 --> 02:31:44,440
but also presented him with a farm, which, however, never

2113
02:31:44,559 --> 02:31:48,360
came into the possession of his family. Inasmuch as the

2114
02:31:48,559 --> 02:31:54,440
subsequent times during which the Calvinist Chancellor Krell held the

2115
02:31:54,479 --> 02:31:58,520
helm of affairs were not favorable to the prosperity of

2116
02:31:58,600 --> 02:32:05,239
the sternly Lutheran Paul Luther, this same Calvinistic spirit finally

2117
02:32:05,920 --> 02:32:09,799
was the occasion of his retiring into private life. In

2118
02:32:09,879 --> 02:32:14,000
fifteen ninety he moved to Leipzig, where he died in

2119
02:32:14,079 --> 02:32:20,920
fifteen ninety three. At the baptism of this son, Luther said, quote,

2120
02:32:21,120 --> 02:32:24,520
I have named him Paul, for Saint Paul has taught

2121
02:32:24,600 --> 02:32:28,280
us many great and glorious doctrines, and hence I have

2122
02:32:28,440 --> 02:32:32,120
named my son after him. God grant that he may

2123
02:32:32,159 --> 02:32:35,559
have the gifts and grace of the Great Apostle. If

2124
02:32:35,600 --> 02:32:38,799
it please God, I will send all my sons away

2125
02:32:38,799 --> 02:32:42,319
from home. If any one of them has a taste

2126
02:32:42,360 --> 02:32:45,319
for the military profession, I will send him to field

2127
02:32:45,399 --> 02:32:50,399
marshal Lesser. If any one wishes to study him, I

2128
02:32:50,440 --> 02:32:54,680
will send to Jonas and Philip. If any one is

2129
02:32:54,719 --> 02:32:58,799
inclined towards labor him, I will send to a farmer.

2130
02:33:02,239 --> 02:33:05,639
But afterwards, when he became better acquainted with their disposition,

2131
02:33:06,360 --> 02:33:11,159
he changed his mind. God forbid, said he quote, that

2132
02:33:11,200 --> 02:33:15,079
my sons should ever devote themselves to the study of

2133
02:33:15,120 --> 02:33:19,799
the law, that would be my last wish. John will

2134
02:33:19,840 --> 02:33:24,159
be a theologian. Martin is good for nothing about him.

2135
02:33:24,520 --> 02:33:29,799
I have great fears Paul must fight against the Turks.

2136
02:33:30,840 --> 02:33:35,200
But history teaches us that his wishes were not gratified.

2137
02:33:36,239 --> 02:33:40,680
He himself subsequently advised Paul to study medicine, and the

2138
02:33:40,760 --> 02:33:44,600
example of John induced all the educated sons of Luther's

2139
02:33:44,680 --> 02:33:51,639
children for several generations to study law. The sixth child, Margaret,

2140
02:33:51,719 --> 02:33:57,040
who entered into a happy matrimonial alliance, was dangerously attacked

2141
02:33:57,040 --> 02:34:00,840
with fever after the measles from from which her brother

2142
02:34:00,959 --> 02:34:05,079
suffered at the same time. Her father was much alarmed

2143
02:34:05,120 --> 02:34:09,719
about her condition, but comforted himself with the thought that

2144
02:34:09,799 --> 02:34:12,760
she would be taken out of this present evil world.

2145
02:34:13,520 --> 02:34:18,479
She married George V. Kulheim, a civil officer in the

2146
02:34:18,520 --> 02:34:22,120
Prussian service, who was a pious man and a most

2147
02:34:22,280 --> 02:34:26,760
ardent admirer of Luther, and especially of his writings, of

2148
02:34:26,879 --> 02:34:31,079
which his favorite one was Luther's exposition of the Book

2149
02:34:31,159 --> 02:34:35,520
of Genesis. So profound was his reverence for the reformer

2150
02:34:35,840 --> 02:34:38,719
that the fact was thought worthy of being mentioned in

2151
02:34:38,840 --> 02:34:42,840
the sermon preached at his funeral. His youngest son must

2152
02:34:42,879 --> 02:34:47,319
have inherited his father's disposition and character, for he always

2153
02:34:47,399 --> 02:34:51,000
esteemed it the highest possible honor to be the grandson

2154
02:34:51,559 --> 02:34:56,360
of the great Luther. It is not known to what

2155
02:34:56,559 --> 02:35:00,000
extent Catherine took part in the education of her children.

2156
02:35:01,000 --> 02:35:03,799
But a woman of her mild and amiable temper and

2157
02:35:03,920 --> 02:35:08,159
strong decision of character must have contributed much to the

2158
02:35:08,200 --> 02:35:13,799
proper training of her offspring. These prominent traits exercised a

2159
02:35:13,879 --> 02:35:19,479
subduing influence even on her husband, and Erasmus, who was

2160
02:35:19,600 --> 02:35:24,559
at this time bitterly opposed to him, says quote, since

2161
02:35:24,639 --> 02:35:28,440
Luther's marriage, he begins to be more mild and does

2162
02:35:28,520 --> 02:35:35,159
not rave so fearfully with his pen as formerly. Presuming

2163
02:35:35,200 --> 02:35:37,600
this to be true, it speaks well for the character

2164
02:35:37,719 --> 02:35:43,600
of Catherine as a woman and a wife. Luther not

2165
02:35:43,639 --> 02:35:48,239
only employed special teachers for his children, but also instructed

2166
02:35:48,280 --> 02:35:54,000
them himself, notwithstanding his numerous other engagements. He says quote,

2167
02:35:54,159 --> 02:35:57,000
though I am a doctor of divinity, still I have

2168
02:35:57,120 --> 02:35:59,879
not yet come out of the school for children, and

2169
02:36:00,120 --> 02:36:03,399
do not yet rightly understand the Ten Commandments, the Creed,

2170
02:36:03,440 --> 02:36:07,040
and the Lord's Prayer, but study them daily and recite

2171
02:36:07,040 --> 02:36:13,159
the Catechism with my little Hans and Magdalena. For years

2172
02:36:13,319 --> 02:36:19,399
he superintended their instruction, diligently, watching their progress and often

2173
02:36:19,479 --> 02:36:23,479
giving them tasks to perform. But above all he was

2174
02:36:23,559 --> 02:36:28,159
solicitous about their religious and moral training. Agreeably to his

2175
02:36:28,239 --> 02:36:32,479
own sound principle, the father must speak out of the children.

2176
02:36:33,520 --> 02:36:36,680
The proper instruction of children is their most direct way

2177
02:36:36,760 --> 02:36:40,040
to Heaven, and hell is not more easily earned than

2178
02:36:40,120 --> 02:36:43,559
by neglecting them. They were taught to pray and to

2179
02:36:43,639 --> 02:36:46,959
read the scriptures and other devotional books. In the presence

2180
02:36:47,000 --> 02:36:51,319
of the family, particularly during their meals, did he address

2181
02:36:51,399 --> 02:36:56,840
them in impressive paternal admonitions. Morning and evening he assembled

2182
02:36:56,840 --> 02:37:01,600
his numerous family, house, teachers, guests, and domestics to worship.

2183
02:37:02,319 --> 02:37:06,479
When it is elsewhere said that Luther quote daily spent

2184
02:37:06,600 --> 02:37:10,360
three hours in private devotion. In quote, it must be

2185
02:37:10,399 --> 02:37:14,440
restricted to the period of the Diet of Augsburg, when

2186
02:37:14,479 --> 02:37:19,360
he was concealed at Cobourg. Luther, during all his life

2187
02:37:19,479 --> 02:37:22,479
was a man of prayer. Although he was opposed to

2188
02:37:22,600 --> 02:37:27,200
mechanical formality in regard to special times and seasons, as

2189
02:37:27,239 --> 02:37:30,239
he had been taught in the Church of Rome. Yet

2190
02:37:30,239 --> 02:37:34,079
he maintained a certain order and regularity in the performance

2191
02:37:34,159 --> 02:37:38,760
of his Christian duty. Matthesius, one of his biographers at

2192
02:37:38,799 --> 02:37:43,639
a contemporary says, quote, every morning and evening, and often

2193
02:37:43,719 --> 02:37:48,040
during meals, he engaged in prayer. Besides this, he repeated

2194
02:37:48,079 --> 02:37:53,680
the smaller Catechism and read the Psalter. In all important undertakings,

2195
02:37:54,120 --> 02:38:00,680
Prayer was the beginning, middle, and end in quote I hold,

2196
02:38:00,760 --> 02:38:05,239
says Luther, quote my prayer to be stronger than Satan himself.

2197
02:38:05,920 --> 02:38:08,360
And if that were not the case, it would long

2198
02:38:08,479 --> 02:38:12,680
since have been quite different with Luther. If I remit

2199
02:38:12,760 --> 02:38:16,079
prayer a single day, I lose a large portion of

2200
02:38:16,200 --> 02:38:22,559
the fire of faith. His writings contained many sparkling gems

2201
02:38:22,600 --> 02:38:28,559
on the subject of prayer. Fondly as he was attached

2202
02:38:28,559 --> 02:38:32,680
to his children, yet he never showed a cupable indifference

2203
02:38:32,719 --> 02:38:36,399
to their errors, and least of all when they were unruly,

2204
02:38:36,559 --> 02:38:42,120
or displayed anything like in gratitude or deception. On one occasion,

2205
02:38:42,120 --> 02:38:45,360
when John, at twelve years of age, was guilty of

2206
02:38:45,399 --> 02:38:48,959
a gross impropriety, he would not allow him to come

2207
02:38:49,000 --> 02:38:53,200
into his presence for three days, and paid no regard

2208
02:38:53,280 --> 02:38:56,159
to the intercessions of the tender mother and of his

2209
02:38:56,239 --> 02:39:00,879
intimate friends Jonas and Crusager. But Forget gave him only

2210
02:39:00,959 --> 02:39:04,479
after he had repented of his fault and humbly begged

2211
02:39:04,520 --> 02:39:08,600
for pardon. He said, quote, I would rather have a

2212
02:39:08,680 --> 02:39:12,639
dead son than a rude and naughty living one. Paul

2213
02:39:12,719 --> 02:39:16,000
has not in vain said a bishop must be one

2214
02:39:16,040 --> 02:39:20,280
who ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection,

2215
02:39:20,920 --> 02:39:24,719
so that other people may be edified witnessing a good example,

2216
02:39:25,200 --> 02:39:29,799
and not be offended. We ministers are elevated to such

2217
02:39:29,840 --> 02:39:32,559
a high position in order to set a good example

2218
02:39:32,600 --> 02:39:37,479
to others. But our uncivil children give offense to other people.

2219
02:39:38,239 --> 02:39:42,079
Our boys wish to take advantage of our position and privileges,

2220
02:39:42,680 --> 02:39:46,120
and sin openly. People do not inform me of the

2221
02:39:46,159 --> 02:39:50,159
faults of mine, but conceal it from me. The common

2222
02:39:50,239 --> 02:39:53,639
saying is fulfilled. We do not know the mischief done

2223
02:39:53,680 --> 02:39:57,000
in our own families. We only discover it when it

2224
02:39:57,040 --> 02:40:02,079
has become the town talk. Hence we must chastise them,

2225
02:40:02,520 --> 02:40:08,479
and not connive at their follies. In quote, once when

2226
02:40:08,479 --> 02:40:12,559
he saw a youth of fine personal appearance and uncommon abilities,

2227
02:40:13,360 --> 02:40:18,639
but of corrupt morals, he exclaimed, quote ah, how much

2228
02:40:18,799 --> 02:40:23,639
evil and over indulgence occasions. Children are spoiled by allowing

2229
02:40:23,680 --> 02:40:27,799
them too much liberty. Hence, I shall not overlook the

2230
02:40:27,840 --> 02:40:31,520
faults of my son John, nor shall I be as

2231
02:40:31,559 --> 02:40:36,280
familiar with him hereafter as with his little sister. In quote,

2232
02:40:36,799 --> 02:40:40,159
but Luther though he received from his father a severe

2233
02:40:40,239 --> 02:40:44,719
training and was roughly treated at school, was too well

2234
02:40:44,760 --> 02:40:48,760
acquainted with human nature not to know that undue severity

2235
02:40:48,840 --> 02:40:53,799
in all things created a cowardly, slavish fear in the

2236
02:40:53,840 --> 02:41:00,520
minds of some children, and obstinacy and dissimulation in others. Hence,

2237
02:41:00,559 --> 02:41:04,280
he pursued the golden medium and tried to accomplish his

2238
02:41:04,399 --> 02:41:09,719
purpose by kind and yet earnest admonitions. Quote. I will

2239
02:41:09,719 --> 02:41:13,520
not chastise hans do severely, for he will become shy

2240
02:41:13,600 --> 02:41:18,239
of me and hate me en quote said he. Quote.

2241
02:41:18,280 --> 02:41:21,000
We must take care to teach the young to find

2242
02:41:21,159 --> 02:41:24,120
pleasure in that which is good, for that which is

2243
02:41:24,239 --> 02:41:28,200
forced out of them by stripes will not be profitable.

2244
02:41:28,719 --> 02:41:32,120
And if this is carried to excess, they will only

2245
02:41:32,200 --> 02:41:36,000
continue good as long as they feel the lash. But

2246
02:41:36,120 --> 02:41:40,920
by admonition and judicious chastisement, they learn to fear God

2247
02:41:41,079 --> 02:41:45,959
more than the rod. We must often stammer with children,

2248
02:41:46,239 --> 02:41:49,600
and in all good things come down to a level

2249
02:41:49,719 --> 02:41:54,959
with them. That is, we must be tender, affectionate, and condescending.

2250
02:41:55,680 --> 02:41:58,799
And if that is of no avail, then we may

2251
02:41:58,920 --> 02:42:04,319
employ so verity in quote when he saw his wife,

2252
02:42:04,360 --> 02:42:09,959
her children, suffering. His sympathizing heart often found relief in tears.

2253
02:42:11,159 --> 02:42:14,239
I loved my Catherine, he would say, quote, I love

2254
02:42:14,319 --> 02:42:17,280
her more than I do myself. I would rather die

2255
02:42:17,319 --> 02:42:21,239
myself than she and the children should die en quote.

2256
02:42:22,159 --> 02:42:25,159
It was only when the cause of religion was concerned

2257
02:42:25,879 --> 02:42:28,799
that the dearest object on earth was not too dear

2258
02:42:29,440 --> 02:42:32,600
for the honor of religion and truth, he would have

2259
02:42:32,639 --> 02:42:38,760
sacrificed wife and children. Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, the

2260
02:42:38,879 --> 02:42:42,840
magnanimous Reformer, when he had already become the father of

2261
02:42:42,920 --> 02:42:47,520
two children, could most cordially say, in the spirit of

2262
02:42:47,600 --> 02:42:53,799
Christ's words, quote, let them take my life, property, reputation, children,

2263
02:42:53,879 --> 02:42:57,760
and wife. Let them all go. The Kingdom of God

2264
02:42:58,040 --> 02:43:04,879
is still ours. He is heroic him, I'm Feistenburg East

2265
02:43:04,959 --> 02:43:12,600
and Sergott sufficiently shows his feelings on this subject. End

2266
02:43:12,680 --> 02:43:20,120
of section eight, Chapter seven, Part two recording by Bill Moseley,

2267
02:43:20,280 --> 02:43:23,200
Lano County, Texas, USA.

2268
02:43:29,680 --> 02:43:33,760
Speaker 4: Chapter eight of Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes

2269
02:43:33,799 --> 02:43:37,280
in the Life of Luther. This is a LibriVox recording.

2270
02:43:37,879 --> 02:43:41,680
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more

2271
02:43:41,760 --> 02:43:47,360
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org recording

2272
02:43:47,360 --> 02:43:51,600
by Larry Wilson. Catherine Deborah or Social and Domestic Scenes

2273
02:43:51,600 --> 02:43:55,920
in the Life of Luther by John G. Morris, Chapter eight,

2274
02:43:56,600 --> 02:44:00,559
Character of Catherine. It must be acknowledged that there is

2275
02:44:00,600 --> 02:44:04,280
nothing remarkably striking in the history of Catherine de Borah.

2276
02:44:04,360 --> 02:44:09,200
Considered apart from her relation to her illustrious husband. She

2277
02:44:09,319 --> 02:44:13,760
was distinguished by no extraordinary talents or surprising active heroism.

2278
02:44:14,079 --> 02:44:17,920
After her marriage, she has left no literary monument to

2279
02:44:18,000 --> 02:44:23,159
perpetuate her memory, nor any public institution founded by her munificence.

2280
02:44:24,000 --> 02:44:27,600
She was nothing more than the virtuous woman so eloquently

2281
02:44:27,639 --> 02:44:30,559
described by King Solomon in the last chapter of the

2282
02:44:30,559 --> 02:44:35,200
Book of Proverbs. But she was that in an imminent degree.

2283
02:44:35,600 --> 02:44:39,639
A noble dignity and temperate self reliance were the fundamental

2284
02:44:39,680 --> 02:44:44,520
traits of her character. Hence, though dependent upon others for support,

2285
02:44:45,079 --> 02:44:49,040
she possessed sufficient independence of mind to reject several brilliant

2286
02:44:49,079 --> 02:44:53,200
offers of marriage, and showed herself worthy of Luther. Her

2287
02:44:53,239 --> 02:44:56,760
resolution to exchange the noiseless cloister for a life of

2288
02:44:56,840 --> 02:45:01,920
honorable and useful activity in the disturbed world without displayed

2289
02:45:01,959 --> 02:45:05,000
not only a noble courage in the certain anticipation of

2290
02:45:05,079 --> 02:45:09,680
poverty and persecution, but also a strong confidence in God.

2291
02:45:10,479 --> 02:45:12,879
It is more than probable that she read many of

2292
02:45:12,959 --> 02:45:17,040
Luther's writings as soon as they appeared, not actuated by

2293
02:45:17,040 --> 02:45:21,159
a blind curiosity, but with a sincere desire to ascertain

2294
02:45:21,239 --> 02:45:24,680
the truth and to derive from them instruction for heart

2295
02:45:24,760 --> 02:45:28,600
and head. Afterwards, during her married life, she took every

2296
02:45:28,639 --> 02:45:34,159
opportunity of correcting and enlarging her religious views. Although as

2297
02:45:34,200 --> 02:45:36,959
the result of the spirit of that age and of

2298
02:45:37,000 --> 02:45:42,040
her previous monastic training, she was not profoundly educated. Yet

2299
02:45:42,200 --> 02:45:45,680
Luther esteemed her as a woman possessing a noble, dignified,

2300
02:45:45,719 --> 02:45:49,440
independent spirit, in whose feelings and opinions he found an

2301
02:45:49,479 --> 02:45:53,079
echo of his own. Pious in the proper sense of

2302
02:45:53,120 --> 02:45:57,079
the word, she found her highest enjoyment in solitary communion

2303
02:45:57,159 --> 02:46:00,440
with God, and those hours which she devoted to the

2304
02:46:00,479 --> 02:46:03,680
attentive reading of the scriptures were always the most happy.

2305
02:46:04,719 --> 02:46:08,520
To this profitable exercise, she was often exhorted by her husband,

2306
02:46:09,040 --> 02:46:13,680
and she followed his advice, said she I hear a

2307
02:46:13,719 --> 02:46:17,000
great deal of the scriptures and read them diligently every day.

2308
02:46:18,399 --> 02:46:22,440
In writing to Jonahs on one occasion, Luther says she

2309
02:46:22,920 --> 02:46:26,079
is a diligent reader of the Bible. She shows deep

2310
02:46:26,120 --> 02:46:30,319
earnestness in this duty. She faithfully attended the public means

2311
02:46:30,319 --> 02:46:33,760
of grace also, and with her Christian brothers and sisters,

2312
02:46:33,799 --> 02:46:38,280
worshiped God in the sanctuary. She was devotedly attached to

2313
02:46:38,319 --> 02:46:41,799
the doctrines of the Reformation, and one of her dying

2314
02:46:41,879 --> 02:46:45,360
prayers was for their preservation and purity to the end

2315
02:46:45,360 --> 02:46:50,559
of time. She never neglected her domestic duties to her husband.

2316
02:46:50,600 --> 02:46:53,520
In all the relations of his active life. She was

2317
02:46:53,559 --> 02:46:57,520
the most affectionate companion in his sickness, the most faithful

2318
02:46:57,559 --> 02:47:02,319
nurse in his troubles, the most tender comforter to her children.

2319
02:47:02,760 --> 02:47:05,840
She was a most gentle mother in her household affairs.

2320
02:47:05,959 --> 02:47:09,520
She was a model to all in regard to cleanliness, order,

2321
02:47:09,600 --> 02:47:13,559
and neatness, to her domestics and dependence. A condescending and

2322
02:47:13,680 --> 02:47:19,600
indulgent mistress. She was liberal without extravagance, economical without meanness,

2323
02:47:20,120 --> 02:47:25,079
hospitable without ostentation. Her questions and opinions, still preserved in

2324
02:47:25,159 --> 02:47:29,319
Luther's writings, show a strong desire for mental improvement, an

2325
02:47:29,399 --> 02:47:35,959
enlightened understanding, a clear and dispassionate penetration. This elevated intellectual

2326
02:47:36,040 --> 02:47:40,360
character of Catherine, connected with her lofty independence and self confidence,

2327
02:47:40,879 --> 02:47:44,239
created a distaste for the company of other less cultivated

2328
02:47:44,559 --> 02:47:47,840
and less dignified ladies. For the glory of her husband

2329
02:47:47,840 --> 02:47:51,000
also encircled her head, and the House of Luther was

2330
02:47:51,040 --> 02:47:54,040
the central point of union of the distinguished men of

2331
02:47:54,079 --> 02:47:57,200
that day. Hence we need not wonder that by the

2332
02:47:57,399 --> 02:48:01,200
envious she was accused of pride. It is true that now,

2333
02:48:01,280 --> 02:48:04,440
after the lapse of three hundred years, there may be

2334
02:48:04,479 --> 02:48:08,600
many more refined and accomplished women than Catherine was. For

2335
02:48:08,719 --> 02:48:12,159
she was not distinguished for learning or science, but none

2336
02:48:12,159 --> 02:48:15,879
exceed her in that pious Christian disposition which was so

2337
02:48:15,959 --> 02:48:20,319
forcibly expressed in her words and actions. Her lively temperament

2338
02:48:20,360 --> 02:48:24,440
and affectionate heart admirably qualified her to feel the warmest

2339
02:48:24,479 --> 02:48:28,799
sympathy in the diversified events of her husband's life, and

2340
02:48:28,840 --> 02:48:32,079
most kindly to participate with him in his joys and sorrows.

2341
02:48:33,520 --> 02:48:36,479
But above all, it was not less her pious disposition

2342
02:48:36,959 --> 02:48:41,000
than her persevering faith, which identified her so completely with himself.

2343
02:48:41,600 --> 02:48:44,399
Whenever the opposition of the enemy disturbed the quiet of

2344
02:48:44,440 --> 02:48:48,360
the husband, Catherine never faltered for a moment, and proceeded

2345
02:48:48,360 --> 02:48:52,920
to administer consolation to his dejected heart. During the prevalence

2346
02:48:52,959 --> 02:48:56,920
of a contagious disease in fifteen twenty seven. Her confidence

2347
02:48:56,959 --> 02:49:00,680
in God was not unshaken, so that Luther could truth right.

2348
02:49:01,680 --> 02:49:06,200
Catherine is yet strong in the faith. Also, as a widow,

2349
02:49:06,280 --> 02:49:10,520
when she was subject to attacks of sickness and adverse circumstances,

2350
02:49:10,879 --> 02:49:16,120
her equanimity never entirely failed. She was especially solicitous about

2351
02:49:16,120 --> 02:49:19,319
her children, and devoted all the energies of body and

2352
02:49:19,360 --> 02:49:23,520
mind to their welfare. It cannot be denied that Catherine

2353
02:49:23,559 --> 02:49:26,479
partook of the common law of bortals. She had her

2354
02:49:26,520 --> 02:49:30,319
faults and infirmities, but they are all overshadowed by those

2355
02:49:30,399 --> 02:49:34,000
numerous exalted virtues which are not always found united in

2356
02:49:34,079 --> 02:49:37,120
one person of her sex. She was a pattern of

2357
02:49:37,159 --> 02:49:41,000
every domestic and Christian virtue of righteousness and good works

2358
02:49:41,040 --> 02:49:44,200
to her generation. And may the daughters and wives of

2359
02:49:44,280 --> 02:49:48,079
present day imitate her example and profit by the practical

2360
02:49:48,159 --> 02:49:52,079
lessons which her life has taught. If she can make

2361
02:49:52,159 --> 02:49:55,639
no pretensions to personal beauty. Still she possessed not a

2362
02:49:55,719 --> 02:49:59,360
little that was attracted She was of medium sized, had

2363
02:49:59,360 --> 02:50:03,959
an oval faith, a bright sparkling eye, an expansive, serene forehead,

2364
02:50:04,520 --> 02:50:08,239
a nose rather small, lips, a little protuning, and cheek

2365
02:50:08,280 --> 02:50:12,280
bones somewhat prominent. Erasmus speaks of her as a woman

2366
02:50:12,360 --> 02:50:17,760
of magnificent form and extraordinary beauty, but Sewendorff says this

2367
02:50:17,959 --> 02:50:21,559
is an extravagant picture of her. The later opponents of

2368
02:50:21,639 --> 02:50:25,000
Luther agree with Erasmus in representing her as very beautiful

2369
02:50:25,440 --> 02:50:28,440
and falsely charged the reformer as being attracted only by

2370
02:50:28,479 --> 02:50:33,600
her personal charms. Mainborg says, among the nuns, there was

2371
02:50:33,639 --> 02:50:37,000
one named Catherine von Bora, whom Luther found to be

2372
02:50:37,159 --> 02:50:41,479
very beautiful, and whom, on that account he loved. Marillus

2373
02:50:41,520 --> 02:50:44,799
and Bassuitt report that he married a nun of high

2374
02:50:44,879 --> 02:50:49,520
rank and uncommon beauty. Chardon de la Rochette relates the

2375
02:50:49,559 --> 02:50:52,559
following fact, I have found the likeness of Luther and

2376
02:50:52,600 --> 02:50:55,360
his wife in a lumber room in Orleans, where they

2377
02:50:55,360 --> 02:50:58,200
are in great danger of going to ruin. I will

2378
02:50:58,200 --> 02:51:00,239
bet that there is no man who would not wish

2379
02:51:00,280 --> 02:51:03,159
to have so beautiful a wife as Katherine von Bora.

2380
02:51:03,600 --> 02:51:05,520
It is the first time that I have seen her

2381
02:51:05,600 --> 02:51:09,280
picture and it justifies the opinion which Boussuet has expressed

2382
02:51:09,280 --> 02:51:13,280
of her appearance. She has a noble, expressive and animated face.

2383
02:51:14,799 --> 02:51:18,680
But Luther himself says of her, a wife is sufficiently

2384
02:51:18,719 --> 02:51:22,399
adorned and beautiful when she pleases her husband, whom she

2385
02:51:22,520 --> 02:51:26,760
ought to please. Her likeness was frequently painted and at

2386
02:51:26,840 --> 02:51:29,719
various periods of her life by the distinguished artists of

2387
02:51:29,760 --> 02:51:34,200
that age, such as kronachh. S. Kranachh Junior and Hans

2388
02:51:34,280 --> 02:51:38,680
Holbein Junior. Kronach Senior painted her likeness in oil colors

2389
02:51:38,799 --> 02:51:43,159
sixteen times, and the other artists mentioned several times each.

2390
02:51:44,040 --> 02:51:46,559
Many of these original portraits are still to be seen

2391
02:51:46,600 --> 02:51:50,239
in the various picture galleries of Europe. There are extant

2392
02:51:50,479 --> 02:51:54,360
more than forty different copperplate and wood engravings of her likeness.

2393
02:51:54,879 --> 02:51:58,159
It has also been transferred to porcelain ware and other

2394
02:51:58,319 --> 02:52:02,319
articles of domestic use. A number of metals containing her

2395
02:52:02,479 --> 02:52:05,639
likeness have been struck to commemorate her virtues, and plaster

2396
02:52:05,799 --> 02:52:08,959
casts of the bust of full life size have also

2397
02:52:09,000 --> 02:52:12,360
been made. All this shows the high esteem in which

2398
02:52:12,399 --> 02:52:15,360
she has ever been held by those who can appreciate

2399
02:52:15,600 --> 02:52:20,120
exalted virtue and genuine Christian character, as a proof of

2400
02:52:20,159 --> 02:52:23,840
her artistic skill and her proficiency and ornamental needle work.

2401
02:52:24,399 --> 02:52:27,200
Even in that distant age, there is to this day

2402
02:52:27,360 --> 02:52:30,559
exhibited in the vestry room of the cathedral at Mersenburg

2403
02:52:31,040 --> 02:52:34,840
a blue satin surplice which she embroidered for her husband,

2404
02:52:35,520 --> 02:52:38,840
at which he wore on the occasion of some great solemnity.

2405
02:52:39,520 --> 02:52:43,600
And in the former university library at Wittenberg they still

2406
02:52:43,639 --> 02:52:46,639
show a likeness of Luther, neatly and elegantly worked in

2407
02:52:46,719 --> 02:52:50,680
silk by Catherine. But these works will perish, whilst the

2408
02:52:50,760 --> 02:52:54,680
results of her faith, hope and charity will endure forever.

2409
02:52:57,000 --> 02:53:01,040
End of Chapter eight, end of Catherine and Deborah or

2410
02:53:01,120 --> 02:53:04,319
Social and Domestic Scenes in the Life of Luther by

2411
02:53:04,440 --> 02:53:05,760
John G. Morris