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him not, nor did the strong faith which had carried him through so many dangers. It was at this time he composed the hymn, "Our God is a strong tower," which was sung, not only at Augsburg, but in all the churches of Saxony while the Diet was being held. Luther was not taken to Augsburg. The Protestant princes feared that his presence there might still farther exasperate his enemies, and they feared also his vehement and straightforward zeal.

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The negotiations on their side were, therefore, committed to the management of the more cautious Melancthon. An abode was found for Luther in the neighbourhood, in the upper story of the castle overlooking the town of Coburg, in order that he might be near to assist Melancthon with his advice. In this retreat, which he playfully called "the region of birds," or in his graver moods, his "Mount Sinai," he prayed and he wrote; effecting more," D'Aubigné says, "by his words and by his prayers than Agricola, Brentz, or Melancthon." But to himself the months spent at Coburg were very sad. There he heard of the death of his father, and the loving son wept sorrowful tears for the good father "by whose labour and sweat God nourished me," he said, "and made me what I am, such as that is." Bodily distress and, hardest of all to bear, supposed conflicts with Satan were added to the trials of this season. But in the midst of all his troubles his heart was cheered by thoughts of his loved ones at home. His wise Ketha, knowing the heart of her husband, had the portrait of his daughter Magdalen, then one year old, taken and sent to him, and it "comforted him much."

It is touching, too, to know that it was in the midst of all these sorrows and burdens, this anxious watcher in his solitary watch-tower wrote that charming letter to his little boy which has delighted so many young hearts since.

"Grace and peace to you in Jesus Christ, my dear little child. I perceive with pleasure that you are making good progress in your learning, and that you now give attention to your prayers. Continue to do so, my dear child, and when I return home I will give you beautiful things.

"I know a lovely and smiling garden, full of children dressed in robes of gold, who play under the trees with beautiful apples, pears, cherries, nuts, and prunes. They sing, they leap, they are all joyful; there are also beautiful little ponies, with bridles of gold and saddles of silver. In passing through the garden, I asked a man what it meant, and who were the children. He replied,These are the children who love to pray and to learn, who are pious and good children.' I said to him, 'Dear friend, I have also a child, his name is little John Luther; might he not also come here, and eat these beautiful apples and pears, ride on these beautiful ponies, and play with the other children?' The man replied to me, If your child, your dear little John Luther, is wise, if he says his prayers, and learns willingly, he may come, and he may bring little Philip and James [Melancthon's sons] along with him. He will here find fifes, drums, and other fine instruments to produce music; they will dance, and amuse themselves with the cross-bow.' While I was speaking, the man pointed out to me, in the

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middle of the garden, a beautiful grass park where the children danced, and where the fifes, drums, and cross-bows were all lying. But it was morning; the children had not breakfasted, and I only waited till the dance commenced. I then said to the man, Dear Sir, I intend to write immediately to my dear little John, and I will tell him to be a good boy, to pray, and learn well, that he may be permitted to come to this garden. He has a dear little sister whom he loves much, her name is Madeline, may he bring her with him?' The man replied, 'Yes, tell him they may both come together.' Be wise, then, my dear little boy; tell Philip and James to be wise also, and you will all be allowed to visit and play in the beautiful garden. I commend my dear child to the protection of God. Salute Madeline, and give her a kiss for me. Your father who loves you, Martin Luther."

Of the intellectual training of Luther's children we do not know much, farther than that we are told he watched over it with great care, and was very anxious that they should not presume on the celebrity of their father. So hearty a lover of knowledge as he was, would doubtless take care that their education should be as liberal, their culture as large as the age afforded. In a treatise on education, written before he was a father, he strongly advocates the learning of languages. "The devil greatly dreads this sort of learning," he said, "and uses every means to extinguish it. The first gift Christ bestowed on the apostles was that of tongues." for me," he continues, "if I should ever have children, and my means permit, I will have them well instructed and made proficient in languages and

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history, and also they shall learn music and the mathematics." And then follows a glowing eulogy on poets and historians.

In 1542 Luther was visited with the most severe of all his domestic afflictions, in the death of his beloved daughter, Magdalen, then a girl of thirteen. This daughter was worthy of her parentage and her home, a good, dutiful, loving, unselfish child, and her father's heart greatly delighted in her. When she was very ill he said, "I love her well; yet, O my God! if it be Thy will to take her hence, I will resign her without regret into Thy hands." Turning to her, he said, "My dear little daughter, my darling Magdalen, thou wouldst, doubtless, willingly remain here with thy poor father, but thou wouldst also go hence willingly to thy other Father, if He call thee to Him?" She replied, "Yes, my dear father, as God shall please." "Dear girl," returned Luther, "'tis not with thee that the spirit alone is willing." He then walked up and down the room for some time, saying to himself, but half aloud, "Ah, I have loved her dearly! If her flesh be so

strong, what must her spirit be?" He further said, among other things, "God has not, for a thousand years, bestowed so many great gifts upon any bishop as He has upon me. I do not enough rejoice at them in my heart: I do not sufficiently return thanks for them. I sing, indeed, from time to time, a little song of praise to the Lord, but 'tis very inadequate. Well, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's; so courage, doctor!"

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two beautiful, elegantly-dressed youths come to her and ask her daughter in marriage. When Philip Melancthon visited her next morning, she told him her dream, whereupon he said to those who were present, The youths were a vision of the holy angels who are about to carry away our dear virgin to the true nuptials of the heavenly kingdom.' Magdalen died in the afternoon."

Luther often repeated, "I would desire, indeed, to keep my daughter if our Lord God would leave her with me, for I love her very dearly. But His will be done; for nothing can be better than that for her." To herself he said, "Dear daughter, thou hast also a Father in heaven; thou art going to Him."

When the last hour had come, "her father fell on his knees by her bedside, wept bitterly, and prayed that God would receive her. Then she departed, and fell asleep in her father's arms. Her mother, overwhelmed with affliction, was in another part of the room. When gazing on her in her coffin, the loving and sorrowing father exclaimed, 'How well it is with thee. Dear child, thou wilt rise again; thou wilt shine like a star, ay, like the sun.

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. . I am joyful in spirit, but, oh! how sad in the flesh ! 'Tis marvellous I should know she is certainly at rest, that she is well, and yet that I should be so sad."

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To the condolences of friends at the funeral, he replied, "Friends, be not grieved, I have sent a saint to heaven. Oh, that we might have such a death! Could such a death be mine, I would joyfully die this moment!"

On returning from the funeral, he.

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He farther remarked, "We must take great care for our children, and especially for the poor little maidens; we must not leave it to others to care for them. I have no compassion on the boys. A lad can maintain himself wherever he is if he will only work; and if he will not work he is a scoundrel. But the poor maiden-kind must

have a staff to lean on."

To Dr. Jonas he wrote, "You will have heard of the new birth into the kingdom of Christ of my daughter Magdalen. Though my wife and I ought, in reality, to have no other feeling than one of profound gratitude for her happy escape from the power of the flesh, the world, the Turk, and the devil, yet the force of natural affection is so great, that we cannot support our loss without constant weeping and bitter sorrow-a thorough death of the heart, so to speak. We have ever before us her features, her words, her gestures, her every action in life and on her death-bed-my darling, my all-dutiful, all-obedient daughter! Even the death of Christ (and what are all other deaths in comparison with that?) cannot tear her from my thoughts as it ought to do. She was, as you well know, all gentleness, amiability, and tenderness."

Sorrow was then predominant—

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THE word "Passover," points us to one of the ancient festivals of the Jews, which was so called in memory of that night of mercy and deliverance to the Israelites in which the Lord passed over the homes and families of His people, while He sent the angel of death into every household of Egypt. The grand outlines of this ceremonial continued the same in subsequent ages of the Jewish history, although some modifications in its observance were introduced, so as to distinguish between the Egyptian Passover," and the feast recurring annually after the people were settled in the promised land.

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The Passover may be considered in two aspects,-as commemorative and as prefigurative. As a commemoration, it was intended to keep in remembrance the awful judgment which fell

upon the Egyptians in the slaying of their first-born, and the consequent deliverance of Israel from the house of bondage. The Exodus from Egypt was looked upon as the birth of the nation; and the Passover was the annual

commemoration of this birthday, and of their dedication as a people to God, who had saved their first-born from the destroyer.

But it is chiefly as a prefigurative or typical rite that we have to consider the Passover in our present meditation. It pointed unmistakeably to the future -a future which has now, in part at least, become the past and present, in the advent, sacrifice and mission of the Son of God. Several points demand our notice, as bearing on the fact that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."

1. We may first refer to the separation of the victim. It was a lamb or kid, but most commonly a lamb, the gentlest and most harmless of all creatures, and therefore a fitting emblem of Him who, as our Saviour, is called "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." The paschal lamb was to be "a male of the first year," and " without blemish." It was neither to be immature nor worn out by age; and were it marked by any disease, imperfection,

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or deformity, it could not be offered in sacrifice. Here also we see how admirably it represented Him, who in the energy and prime of manhood was sacrificed for us, and who, as our Passover," "knew no sin," but was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and "offered himself without spot to God." On the occasion of the first passover, and probably afterwards, the paschal lamb was set apart four days before it was slain. This requirement marked the previous designation of the victim as a sacrifice, and afforded ample time to see whether or not the lamb selected was really perfect and without blemish. So Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world:" and during His earthly history, especially its closing scenes, He was subjected to the keenest scrutiny, so that even His enemies might confess and testify His innocence. "I find no fault in Him," said Pilate; and Judas, in the bitterness of remorse, declared, "I have betrayed innocent blood.' Thus, in His own spotless purity, was He a fit sacrifice for the sins of others. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." Another significant point appears in the injunction that not a bone of the paschal lamb was to be broken. This part of the typical observance had a remarkable fulfilment in the fact that, while the thieves crucified with our Lord had their legs broken, His sacred body sustained no fracture, thus showing that a special providence watched over His crucifixion, and carrying out the symbol of holy unity in clearness and perfection. How much, connected with the appointment and separation of the victim, is there to lift our hearts in gratitude to Him who, as

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2. One of the prominent features of the paschal ceremonial was the application of the blood of the lamb. In the first or Egyptian Passover, the blood was sprinkled on the lintels and door-posts, as a sign of safety to those within. The Lord pledged Himself that when He saw the sprinkled blood, the destroying angel should pass by and not come near that door. After the institution of the priesthood, and the settlement of the people of Israel in the promised land, the blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled, as an act of atonement, by the priest, upon the altar. The same great truth was symbolically presented by the one sprinkling as by the other. “Almost all things by the law are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. x. 22.) This sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb, therefore, was manifestly typical of the shedding of the blood of Christ as "our Passover," and of its rich atoning efficacy. The blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanseth away sin, and secures for us exemption from the curse of law, and the consequence of guilt. In Him "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." The great oblation has been offered: the lamb has been slain: " our Passover" has been sacrificed for us: and "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" turns away the sword of justice from the sinful soul, and shields it from the reach of harm, when the Lord rises up to judgment. To this "blood of sprinkling," we are come, in the blessings, privileges, and invitations of the Gospel. Only let us remember that as the blood of

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