Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/144

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
96
Thirty-Five Years of Luther Research

threat, to go himself to Augsburg if he had known how much Melanchthon at one time was ready to give up. Burkhardt76 informed us about the route of travel the Elector and Luther took to Coburg, while Buchwald76 discovered and published some of the sermons Luther delivered during his second exile, i. e., at Coburg. The most important one is the sermon of the 2d of October, in which he touches the Diet of Augsburg and expresses his unshakable confidence about the future: "Fuerchte sich denn der Teufel," he said, "wir wollen uns nicht fuerchten! Die Stunde und Zeit wird kommen, dass die Weisheit und Gewalt, darauf sie jetzt pochen, wird dahingehen, dass wir sagen werden: wo sind sie nun?"

18. Luther's Marriage, Home and Health

In 1525, i. e., in a year full of important crises for the further development of his life-work, Luther entered the "holy estate of matrimony." He was fully aware of the daring of his step, but he was also convinced of its correctness, and it was to him really a part of his work of Reformation. A. Thoma and E. Kroker77 portray the life of his wife, Katharina von Bora, thus affording us a glimpse into Luther's domestic life. By his marriage Luther became the founder of the evangelical parsonage, this rich source of intellectual and religious life, this home of good music, of genuine art and of all what is pure, lovely and good. Luther's close relation to art and artists is sketched by P. Lehfeldt in "Luther's Verhaeltnis zu Kunst und Kuenstlern," 1892. Compare also W. Baur, "Das deutsche evangelische Pfarrhaus," 2 1878. W. Kawerau deals in general, and very learnedly concerning the "Reformation and matrimony."77

It is known that Luther was often ill during the