he would hear prayer, which I could remember in the Bible, so that he was obliged to hear me, if I was to trust his promises. He then took Philip by the hand, and said, "Be of good cheer, Philip, you will not die! Although God has reason enough to take away life, yet he hath no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but that he should return from his ways and live. If God again called and received the greatest sinners who ever lived upon this earth, namely, Adam and Eve, he will not cast out thee, my Philip, nor suffer thee to perish in sins and sorrow. Therefore, do not give way to despondency, and do not murder yourself, but trust in the Lord, who is able to kill and make alive, wound and bind, scourge and heal again. For Luther fully understood the troubles of his heart and conscience. When he had thus held and addressed him, Philip began to draw his breath again, but could not say anything for a long time. He then turned his face towards Luther, and began to entreat him for God's sake not to detain him any longer; that he was now upon a good journey, and that he should suffer him to proceed, for nothing better could happen to him. Luther replied: "By no means, Philip; you must serve the Lord still longer." Philip became more and more animated, and Luther immediately ordered them to prepare some food, and took it to him himself. But Philip refused to taste it. Luther forced him, and said: "Do you hear, Philip! you must eat, or I shall excommunicate you. He was prevailed upon by such language, so that he began to eat a little, and thus gradually regained strength." Melanchthon himself said of Luther: "If he had not come I should have died." The Elector also, who deeply sympathized with his sorrows and illness, comforted him in the most friendly manner: "Although it belongeth to God alone, according to his good pleasure, to bestow or take away courage and comfort, yet you on your part must not fail to lay aside and forget the causes of your trouble, which, thanks to God! are not so great in our estimation, that they should afflict you so deeply. We doubt not but that Almighty God will soon restore your cheerfulness, and with it your health." The Elector then requests him, as soon as he should be able to move, to come to Eisenach, with Luther and Jonas, because he needed them; for letters and reports were constantly arriving from Hagenau. He gradually recovered, and, although it was with difficulty, he was able to leave for Eisenach on the 7th of July. On the 10th of July, Luther wrote concerning him to Wittenberg: "Master Philip has been restored to life, as it were from the grave; he looks sickly, yet lively, jests and lives with us, and eats and drinks in his own room and at table."