J Merle DAubigne - The Life and Times of Martin Luther

1978 edition by
THE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE
OF CHICAGO

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ISBN: 978-0-8024-9276-0

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C HRISTIANITY is neither an abstract doctrine nor an external organization. It is a life from God communicated to mankind, or rather to the Church. This new life is contained essentially in the person of Jesus Christ, and it is given to all those who are united to Him, whether Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, or others. For this union is effected neither by the baptism of adults, nor by the episcopacy, nor by general assemblies; but solely by faith in certain divine facts that Christ has accomplished, His humble incarnation, His atoning death, and His glorious resurrection. From this intimate union of Christians with Christ there necessarily results an intimate union of Christians with all those who receive the life of Christ; for the life that is in one is the life that is in all; and all together, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and others, form not a simple plurality, but also, and chief of all, a living and organic unity.

The history of the Reformation is the history of one of the greatest outpourings of the life that cometh from God. May this work contribute to unite always more and more all those who are partakers of that divine life.

J. H. Merle DAubign

Eaux Vives, near Geneva, February, 1846

I N MORA, a village near the Thuringian forests, dwelt an ancient and numerous family of the name of Luther. It was customary with the Thuringian peasants, that the eldest son always inherited the dwelling and the paternal fields, while the other children departed elsewhere in quest of a livelihood. One of these, John Luther, married Margaret Lindemann, the daughter of an inhabitant of Neustadt, in the see of Wurzburg. The married couple quitted the plains of Eisenach, and went to settle in the little town of Eisleben in Saxony, to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows.

John Luther was an upright man, diligent in business, frank, and carrying the firmness of his character even to obstinacy. With a more cultivated mind than that of most men of his class, he read much. Books were then rare; but John omitted no opportunity of procuring them. They formed his relaxation in the intervals of repose, snatched from his severe and constant labors. Margaret possessed all the virtues that can adorn a good and pious woman. Her modesty, her fear of God and her prayerful spirit were particularly remarked. She was looked upon by the matrons of the neighborhood as a model whom they should strive to imitate.

It is not known precisely how long they had been living at Eisleben, when, on the tenth of November, one hour before midnight, Margaret gave birth to a son. Melancthon often questioned his friends mother as to the period of his birth. I well remember the day and the hour, replied she, but I am not certain about the year. But Luthers brother James, an honest and upright man, has recorded that in the opinion of the whole family the future reformer was born on St. Martins eve, November 10, 1483, and Luther himself wrote on a Hebrew Psalter which is still in existence: I was born in the year 1483. The first thought of his pious parents was to dedicate to God by the holy rite of baptism the child that He had given them. On the morrow, which happened to be Tuesday, the father with gratitude and joy carried his son to St. Peters Church, and there he received the seal of his consecration to the Lord. They called him Martin in commemoration of the day.

The child was not six months old when his parents quitted Eisleben to repair to Mansfeldt, which is only five leagues distant. The mines of that neighborhood were then very celebrated. John Luther, who was a hard-working man, feeling that perhaps he would be called upon to bring up a numerous family, hoped to gain a better livelihood for himself and his children in that town. It was here that the understanding and strength of young Luther received their first development; here his activity began to display itself, and here his character was declared in his words and in his actions. The plains of Mansfeldt and the banks of the Wipper were the theater of his first sports with the children of the neighborhood.

The first period of their abode at Mansfeldt was difficult to the worthy John and his wife. At first they lived in great poverty. My parents, said the reformer, were very poor. My father was a poor wood-cutter, and my mother has often carried wood upon her back, that she might procure the means of bringing up her children. They endured the severest labor for our sakes. The example of the parents whom he revered and the habits they inspired in him early accustomed Luther to labor and frugality. How many times, doubtless, he accompanied his mother to the wood, there to gather up his little fagot!

There are promises of blessing on the labor of the righteous, and John Luther experienced their realization. Having attained somewhat easier circumstances, he established two smelting furnaces at Mansfeldt. Beside these furnaces little Martin grew in strength, and with the produce of this labor his father afterwards provided for his studies. It was from a miners family, says the good Mathesius, that the spiritual founder of Christendom was to go forth: an image of what God would do in purifying the sons of Levi through him, and refining them like gold in His furnaces. Respected by all for his integrity, for his spotless life, and good sense, John Luther was made councilor of Mansfeldt, capital of the earldom of that name. Excessive misery might have crushed the childs spirit: the competence of his paternal home expanded his heart and elevated his character.

John took advantage of his new position to court the society which he preferred. He had a great esteem for learned men, and often invited to his table the clergy and schoolmasters of the place. His house offered a picture of those social meetings of his fellow-citizens, which did honor to Germany at the commencement of the sixteenth century. It was a mirror in which were reflected the numerous images that followed one another on the agitated scene of the times. The child profited by them. No doubt the sight of these men, to whom so much respect was shown in his fathers house, excited more than once in little Martins heart the ambitious desire of becoming himself one day a schoolmaster or a learned man.

As soon as he was old enough to receive instruction, his parents endeavored to impart to him the knowledge of God, to train him up in His fear, and to mold him to Christian virtues. They exerted all their care in this earliest domestic education. The father would often kneel at the childs bedside, and fervently pray aloud, begging the Lord that his son might remember His name and one day contribute to the propagation of the truth. The parents prayer was listened to most graciously. And yet his tender solicitude was not confined to this.