March, 1560, Melanchthon went to Leipsic, in order to examine the students of divinity there, who were supported by the Elector, a duty which he had performed for many years. The weather was cold and rough, and on his return, April 5th, the bleak north wind occasioned him great inconvenience and suffering. He remarked, that he had not felt the cold so much during any time in the winter. On the night of the 7th of April, he was able to sleep but little. Towards morning, he was attacked with a violent fever and cough. Early in the morning, however, he resumed his accustomed duties, though he was so weak that he was compelled to rest from time to time on his seat. His son-in-law, Peucer, at once administered remedies but without effect. "If God will," said Melanchthon, "I will gladly die, and I pray that he will grant me a happy journey home." In the course of the day, he arose and prepared to go to the lecture. room and read a lecture on logic. All which could be said to deter him had little effect. He would read, he said, a half hour and then take the bath. When he was about to put his foot upon a little stool, his weakness was so great that he almost fell upon his knees. "Ah," he exclaimed, "my lamp is almost out." He then went to the lecture-room but ascertained that it was an hour too early. At 9 o'clock, he went again, but was able to remain only a quarter of an hour. On the following night he was visited with a severe paroxysm of the ague. Still, he could not be induced to relinquish his accustomed duties. On the 9th and 10th of April, he attended meetings of the senate of the university, and spoke earnestly and frequently against the forming of parties among the students. In the afternoon, he corrected for the press several funeral orations for Philip, duke of Pomerania, who had died on the 24th of February, remarking that another Philip would soon follow. On Thursday, April 11th, he partook of the Lord's supper in the church. On the 12th, he delivered his final lecture on the words of Isaiah, "Lord, who hath believed our report?" On the following night, he enjoyed quiet rest, and as he awoke, sung the words which he had often sung when a boy in the church," with desire have I desired to eat this passover." About 4 o'clock, P. M. Camerarius arrived from Leipsic and found his friend sitting on the lowest step of the stair-case which led to his study, supporting his head with his elbows. During the following night, he was sleepless and feverish, and his little strength rapidly diminished. Notwithstanding, he prepared, on the following day, to deliver his lecture, when his son 1846.] His last Days and Death. 345 Philip came in and informed him that his hearers were not assembled. The truth was, that they had assembled and had been dispersed by a notice affixed to the door, stating Melanchthon's inability to attend. On the 15th, he said to Camerarius: “ I have a desire to depart and be with Christ." He then conversed with his friend on the meaning of the Greek word avalúɛw. He interpreted it as expressing a desire to remove, pass on, or set about proceeding in a journey, that is, to leave this life of toil and misery for the blessed rest of heaven. In his sleep, in the night of the 16th, he said he had dreamed of the words of Paul, "If God be for us who can be against us?" and that they had afforded him much consolation. On the 17th, when Camerarius took his leave, he bade him an affectionate farewell, saying: "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who sitteth at the right hand of the Father and giveth gifts to men, keep you and yours and all of us." On the 18th, his bed was taken, by his own request, into his library, upon which he remarked, with great cheerfulness, as he was placed upon it, "This may be called, I think, my travelling couch, if (alluding to the criticism before mentioned) I should remove in it." In the course of the same day, seeing one of his grandchildren near him he said: "I have loved you most tenderly; see that you reverence your parents and always try to please them and fear God, who will never forsake you. I pray you may share his constant regard and blessing. In the same spirit of tender affection he addressed all the younger branches of the family. Letters having been received from Frankfurt, relating to the miseries endured by the persecuted Christians in France, he declared that his bodily sufferings were not to be compared with the distress which he felt on account of the church of Christ. The 19th of April was his last day on earth. He spoke much of the troubled state of the church and commended her with tears to the Son of God. After recovering from a severe paroxysm, he repeated with the greatest earnestness his accustomed prayer to the three Persons in the Godhead, and then said to Peucer, with his eyes raised to heaven, "I have been in death, but the Lord has delivered me." One present then said: " There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," and he replied: "Christ is made unto us of God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption." With affecting repetition he would often say, "that they all might be one as we are one." Most of the professors and many of the students now assembled in his room. Eber, Fröschel and Sturio read, alternately, the 24th, 25th and 26th Psalms, the 53d of Isaiah, the 17th of John's Gospel, the 5th of Romans and other passages from Paul's Epistles. He then said, that the words, " as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God," lay very near his heart. His lips then moved, and he appeared, for a long time, to be praying for himself, while those standing around preserved the deepest silence. Being asked by his son-in-law if he would have anything else, he replied: "aliud nihil, nisi coelum," nothing, but heaven; and requested that he might not be further interrupted in his devotions. A second fainting-fit then seized him. Some one, supposing that the spirit had fled, called on him aloud. He replied: "Disturb not my sweet repose, for the end of my life draws near." Many of his favorite passages of Scripture were recited to him. The last word which he uttered was "yes," to the inquiry whether he had understood the passage, "Lord, into thy hand I commend my spirit." Fröschel continued to read from the Scriptures as the lips of the dying man, constantly moving seemed to respond. He ceased to breathe about six o'clock, P. M., April 19, 1560. His age was sixty-three years, three months and three days. The funeral solemnities were attended on the 21st of April. Camerarius had returned from Leipsic, but his grief would not permit him to look upon the countenance of his friend. A discourse by the superintendent Eber, and a funeral oration by Winsheim were delivered in the parish church before an immense audience who had assembled from Wittenberg, from the city and University of Leipsic and all the neighboring country. His remains, enclosed in a leaden coffin, were deposited close to those of Martin Luther. From a collection of Greek and Latin eulogies, the following written in Latin by Theodore Beza, and which has been thus imitated in English, is selected: Here then, MELANCHTHON, lies thy honored head, In life 'twas thine to make all others blest, 1846.] Character and Prophecies of Balaam. 347 ARTICLE V. THE CHARACTER AND PROPHECIES OF BALAAM. By R. D. C. Robbins, Librarian, Theol. Sem. Andover. The condition of the Israelites at the time of Balaam's Prophecies. THE Israelites arrived at Kadesh, near the foot of the mountain range which forms the southern boundary of Palestine, in the second year after their departure from Egypt. When the spies had brought back their report, the people there murmured against God, and received the sentence of exclusion from the promised land. Nearly thirty-eight years after, on the first month (April) of the fortieth year from the escape out of bondage, they again came to Kadesh. They now hoped that their dreary sojournings were at an end, and that they should receive a speedy admittance to their desired abode. But the last of those who were "twenty years old and upward" when they commenced their wanderings, had not yet been consigned to their long home in the desert-sands. The decree of Jehovah must be literally fulfilled. The new generation was to be still longer tried, and the contaminations of Egypt must be further purged, by new conflicts and by renewed precepts for future guidance, before they could be meet partakers of the promised inheritance. The direct route north, up the steep mountain sides, or through narrow defiles, surrounded by hostile tribes, was not thought expedient, encumbered as the Israelites were by their household goods, and accompanied by their women and children. Moses therefore, sent messengers to the king of Edom, informing him that his "brother Israel," after much suffering in Egypt and by the way, was on the borders of his land, and desired a passage through it, by the "king's highway," without turning to the right or to the left. To this reasonable request, couched in the most respectful language, the reply was returned: "Thou shall not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword." As the Israelites were not permitted to make war upon Edom, their "brother," they turned southward and "journeyed from Kadesh and came unto Mount Hor." Here, according to the command of God, the priestly garments were transferred from Aaron to Eleazer, and Aaron " died in the top of the mount" and was gathered to his people, and all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days. "From mount Hor they journeyed by the way of the Red Sea2 to compass the land of Edom." During the passage around the southern extremity of Mt. Seir, the people were discouraged by the length of the way; and were punished for their discontent by the "fiery serpents."3 Passing northward until they had crossed the Arnon, the boundary between Moab and the Amorites, when Sihon king of the Amorites refused the request of Moses for a passage through his land, and gathered all his people together to withstand him, Israel smote the Amorites with the edge of the sword, and possessed the land from Arnon to the border of the children of Ammon.4 After this victory the Israelites pitched their tents in the valley before Nebo, and "dwelt in Heshbon and the villages thereof." During the abode at Heshbon, the song of triumph, (ascribed to the poets,,) over the Amorites the conquerors of Moab, was probably composed and addressed to the people, in order to prevent such discouragement as had a little while before brought upon them the judgment of God: Come to Heshbon, Built up and fortified is the city of Sihon. In order to enhance the value of the possession of this city and the country around in the estimation of Israel, the poet proceeds to describe its conquest by the Amorites: For a fire issued from Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon, It devoured Ar-Moab, The dwellers on the heights of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab, Ruined art thou, people of Chemosh.5 He [Chemosh] hath made his sons fugitives, Of Sihon, king of the Amorites. 1 Num. 20: 22 sq. and 33: 37, 38. 2 The Elanitic Gulf or Eastern arm of the Red Sea. 4 Num. 21: 21 sq. 3 Num. 21:5, 6. 5 National god of the Moabites and the Ammonites, and hence "people of Chemosh" is here put for the Moabites. |