The Life of Philip MelanchthonLedderhose, Karl Friedrich
History
The Life of Philip Melanchthon
Ledderhose, Karl Friedrich
Melanchthon, Philipp, 1497-1560
No one looked upon the beloved countenance, without tears. Some touched
his head; others took his hand, and pressed it. Many kissed him, with
many tears. The citizens brought their children to look upon him, so
that they might be able to say, in future times, what kind of man he
was. His body was placed in a leaden coffin, and this again in one of
wood, and with other papers, the following was also placed in it: "In
this coffin, PHILIP MELANCHTHON was buried, who was a professor of the
Holy Scriptures, and the good arts, for 42 years. He was an excellent,
learned, pleasant, sensible, sincere, pious, and holy man; patient and
benevolent towards the poor, the most faithful and diligent assistant of
the sainted and revered Doctor Martin Luther, in explaining and
establishing the pure doctrine of the divine word, which had been
darkened by the fraud of the Roman Popes, the juggling of the monks, and
a great number of abuses. He also prepared the _Augsburg Confession_,
which was delivered to the Emperor Charles V., in 1530, after the
purification and exposition of the true doctrine had begun in 1517, and
a change had also taken place in these churches. And he continued to
defend the truth of the heavenly doctrine for 30 years, upon public
diets, and privately, as is proved by his writings, which have been
published to the world." After this follows a short account of the
events of his life, from his birth to his death.
The funeral took place on the 21st of April. Joachim Camerarius, and DR.
MORCH, of Leipzig, arrived at nine o'clock in the morning. His great
grief would not suffer him to look upon the body of his beloved friend
once more. The procession set out in the afternoon. The students came
first, and were followed by the body, borne by the professors of
philosophy, who were dressed in long black funeral robes. After them
came the relatives, the other professors, the city council, strange
noblemen and others, students and citizens. The coffin was first taken
to the parish church, where it was set down before the altar, on the
very spot where Melanchthon had been in the habit of kneeling when
priests were ordained. A psalm and several other hymns, were sung here.
The Pastor, Paul Eber, then mounted the pulpit, and preached the funeral
sermon, from the words in 1 Thess. iv. From the parish Church, the
procession moved towards the Electoral Church. There the body was
deposited by the side of Luther's grave. Veit Winsheim mounted a pulpit
which had been erected near it, and delivered an excellent and moving
Latin address. He closed it in the following words: "He has left us, and
all his, the churches of these dominions, and the University, in a
painful state of anxiety. At the very time when we are tossed about by
the ocean-storms, we have lost our pilot, at the very time when we need
him most, and could spare him less than ever before. But it is not
difficult to understand what God means by taking such men from the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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