Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/17

 death, went into exile, accompanied by Lukas Cranach, for the gospel’s sake.

Luther numbered kings and queens, princes and princesses, popes, painters, such as Albrecht Durer, poets like Coban Hesse, and warriors, as well as eminent humanists and theologians, among his correspondents; and he was as much interested in the smallest affairs of the smallest people as in the fate of empires.

Melanchthon ranks first among Luther’s friends. Emil Frommel writes: “Even as our Savior sent out His disciples two and two, so has He ever done in later ages. The son of the miner and that of the smith stand close together in God’s kingdom. The one fetches the iron and coal out of the earth, the other polishes the weapons for warfare. Melanchthon was the great linguist of the Reformation. Luther glories in the ancient languages being the sheath in which the Word of God was hidden.”

No one rejoiced in his great success as a lecturer more than Luther. “Perhaps I am Philip’s forerunner,” he writes, “the Elias to prepare the way for a greater, who will throw the servants of Israel and Ahab into confusion.” Melanchthon said: “I would rather die than separate from Luther.” When almost dead at Weimar in 1540 it was Luther’s prayers that raised him up. On February 19, 1546, Melanchthon, bathed in tears, announced Luther’s death to the students: “And now,” he cried,” we are like the forsaken orphans of a beloved father.”

Spalatin may perhaps rank next in the portrait gallery of Luther’s friends. They were of the same age, and studied in Erfurt together. Spalatin was Court chaplain to Frederick the Wise, and eventually preacher in Altenburg. Of the 2,324 letters in De Wette, 415 were to Spalatin. More letters were therefore written to him than to any other, for Luther told him everything. Spalatin, though