hen, many years afterwards, he was residing
at Wartburg, cast out of the Church, and proscribed by the Emperor, he
wrote to his father these touching words: "Do you still wish to
withdraw me from the thraldom of the monastery? You are still my
father, I your son; you have on your side the power and commands of
God; on my side there is only human error. Behold, that you may not
boast yourself before God, He has anticipated you, and taken me out
himself." From that time he was as it were restored to the old man.
Hans had once reckoned upon having a grandson for whom he would work,
and to this idea he stubbornly returned, regardless as to what the rest
of world thought; he soon therefore admonished him earnestly, to marry,
and his persuasions had a great share in determining Luther to do so.
When the father, who at a great age had become councillor of Mansfeld,
was about to draw his last breath, and the priest bending over him
asked him whether he died in the pure faith of Christ and the Holy
Gospel, old Hans collected himself once more, and said shortly: "He is
a rogue who does not believe in it." When, afterwards, Luther was
relating this, he added admiringly: "That was indeed a man of the olden
time." The son received the account of his father's death, in the
fortress of Coburg; and when he read the letter, which his wife had
conveyed to him with the portrait of his youngest daughter, Magdalen,
he spoke only these words to his companions: "God's will be done, my
father is dead." He arose, took his psalter, went into his room, where
he wept and prayed, and returned with a composed mind. The same day he
wrote to Melancthon with deep emotion, of the heartfelt love of his
father, and of the entire confidence that existed between them. "Never
did I despise death so much as I do now: how often do we suffer death
by anticipation before we really die! I am now the eldest of my race,
and I have a right to follow him."

Such was the father from whom the son derived the groundwork of his
character, veracity, a steadfast will, an honest understanding, and
circumspection in the management of business and in his dealings with
men. His childhood was full of hardships, and he had much that was
disagreeable to endure at his Latin school, and as a chorister; but he
experienced also much good-will and love, and he retained, what is more
easily kept in the smaller circles of life, a heart full of trust in
the goodness of human nature, and