Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/20

 while groping after the light all these years, that another youth had already found the pearl of great price in the Augustinian cloister at Erfurt, and was to be the means of imparting it to multitudes. In 1518 the news that Luther was to sleep in the Barefoot cloister penetrated to Myconius’s cell in Weimar, but although under the same roof with him the poor priest was not to see him. Could he only have known how often he was to stand by Luther in days to come it might have stilled his aching heart. Myconius was at the Reformer’s bedside, along with his Elector, when Luther lay at death’s door in Schmalkalden, and, with Bugenhagen and Spalatin, accompanied him to Tambach, his “Peniel.”

In 1539 Myconius was in London arranging religious matters by invitation of Henry VIII., who received the deputation warmly. But as months passed, the King’s courtiers warned the Embassy of the King’s duplicity, so negotiations were broken off. It was Luther’s beautiful letter of consolation to Myconius, when he was at the gates of death, that was the means of raising him up. He survived Luther a few months.

Von Amsdorf, Professor in Wittenberg, and later Bishop of Naumburg, one of Luther’s most intimate friends, was the same age as Luther. He, with Caspar Cruciger, was the richest of the Reformers, the latter having a large house in Wittenberg and iron-works in Joachimsthal. Jonas once said at Luther’s table: “God be praised that pious theologians can also become rich!” “Ah!” cried Luther, “we would all be rich enough in the riches of Christ, but, alas, we prize an earthly treasure more.”

Cruciger was professor in Wittenberg and preacher in the Schloss Kirche, and stood very close to Luther. He was the stenograph of the Reformation, writing many of Luther’s sermons. Often when Luther was ill and the