lness, that there was no
hope of his recovery. As he was carried along he made his will, in which
he bequeathed his detestation of popery to his friends and brethren. In
this manner was he employed till his death, which happened in 1546. That
year, accompanied by Melancthon, he paid a visit to his own country,
which he had not seen for many years, and returned again in safety. But
soon after, he was called thither again by the earls of Mansfelt, to
compose some differences which had arisen about their boundaries, where
he was received by 100 horsemen, or more, and conducted in a very
honourable manner; but was at the same time so very ill, that it was
feared he would die. He said, that these fits of sickness often came
upon him, when he had any great business to undertake; of this, however,
he did not recover, but died February 18, in his 63d year. A little
before he expired, he admonished those that were about him to pray to
God for the propagation of the gospel; "because," said he, "the council
of Trent, which had sat once or twice, and the pope, will devise strange
things against it." Soon after, his body was put into a leaden coffin,
and carried with funeral pomp to the church at Iselbein, when Dr. Jonas
preached a sermon upon the occasion. The earls of Mansfelt desired that
his body should be interred in their territories; but the elector of
Saxony insisted upon his being brought back to Wittemberg, which was
accordingly done; and there he was buried with the greatest pomp that
perhaps ever happened to any private man. Princes, earls, nobles, and
students without number, attended the procession of this extraordinary
reformer; and Melancthon made his funeral oration.

We will close this account of the great founder of the reformation, by
subjoining a few opinions, which have been passed upon him, by both
papists and Protestants. "Luther," says Father Simon, "was the first
Protestant who ventured to translate the Bible into the vulgar tongue
from the Hebrew text, although he understood Hebrew but very
indifferently. As he was of a free and bold spirit, he accuses St Jerom
of ignorance in the Hebrew tongue; but he had more reason to accuse
himself of this fault, and for having so precipitately undertaken a work
of this nature, which required more time than he employed about it.
There is nothing great or learned in his commentaries upon the Bible;
every thing low and mean: and though he had studied divinity, he has
rat