oke out vehemently--"The world will not last as long as that,
for when we drive out the Turks the prophecy of Daniel will be
fulfilled and completed; then the Day of Judgment is certainly at our
doors."

How lovable he was as father in his family! When his children stood
before the table and looked hard at the fruit and the peaches, he
said, "If anybody wants to see the image of one who rejoiceth in hope,
he has here the real model. Oh, that we might look forward so
cheerfully to the Judgment Day! Adam and Eve must have had much better
fruit! Ours are nothing but crab-apples in contrast. And I think the
serpent was then a most beautiful creature, kindly and gracious; it
still wears its crown, but after the curse it lost its feet and
beautiful body." Once he looked at his three-year-old son who was
playing and talking to himself and said, "This child is like a drunken
man. He does not know that he is alive, yet lives on safely and
merrily and hops and jumps. Such children love to be in spacious
apartments where they have room," and he took the child in his arms.
"You are our Lord's little fool, subject to His mercy and forgiveness
of sins, not subject to the Law. You have no fear; you are safe,
nothing troubles you; the way you do is the uncorrupted way. Parents
always like their youngest children best; my little Martin is my
dearest treasure. Such little ones need their parents' care and love
the most; therefore the love of their parents always reaches down to
them. How Abraham must have felt when he had in mind to sacrifice his
youngest and dearest son! Probably he said nothing to Sarah about it.
That must have been a bitter journey for him." His favorite daughter
Magdalena lay at the point of death and he lamented, "I love her
truly, but, dear God, if it be Thy will to take her away to Thee, I
shall gladly know that she is with Thee. Magdalena, my little
daughter, you would like to stay here with your father, and yet you
would be willing to go to the other Father?" Then the child said,
"Yes, dear father, as God wills." When she was dying he fell on his
knees before the bed and wept bitterly, and prayed that God would
redeem her; and so she fell asleep under her father's hands, and when
the people came to help lay out the corpse and spoke to the Doctor
according to custom, he said, "I am cheerful in my mind, but the flesh
is weak. This parting is hard beyond measure. It is strange to know
she is certainly in peace and