First, dear Mother, by God’s grace you well know by now that this sickness of yours is [God’s] fatherly, gracious chastisement. It is a quite small chastisement in comparison with that which he inflicts upon the godless, and sometimes even his own dear children, when one person is beheaded, another burned, a third drowned, and so on. And so all of us must sing: “For Thy sake we are being daily killed and regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” This sickness therefore should not distress or depress you. On the contrary, you should accept it with thankfulness as being sent by God’s grace; [you should] recognize how slight a suffering it is—even if it be a sickness unto death—compared with the sufferings of his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not have to suffer on behalf of himself, as we have to do, but who suffered for us and for our sins. (Luther’s Works, v. 50, p.18)

Grace and peace in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, Amen

My dearly beloved Mother! I have received my brother James’s letter concerning your illness. Of course this grieves me deeply, especially because I cannot be with you in person, as I certainly would like to be. Yet I am coming to you personally through this letter, and I, together with all the members of my family, shall certainly not be absent from you in spirit.

I trust that you have long since been abundantly instructed, without any help from me, that (God be praised) you have taken [God’s] comforting Word into [your heart], and that you are adequately provided with preachers and comforters. Nevertheless I shall do my part too and, according to my duty, acknowledge myself to be your child, and you to be my mother, as our common God and creator has made us and bound us to each other with mutual ties, so that I shall in this way increase the number of your comforters. (Luther’s Works, v. 50, p.18)

“Wherefore, Dr. Severus, you ought to write that man [in Linz] that he shouldn’t torment himself but should have confidence. In his good time the devil will of his own accord stop forcing such blasphemies upon him. As far as perfect righteousness is concerned, I can readily believe that he desires to be perfectly righteous and that he tries to be holy and blameless. But such a life would be a life of angels and it will not be ours except in the future life. I often get angry with myself because I find much impurity in myself. But what should I do? I can’t divest myself of my nature. Meanwhile Christ deems us righteous on account of his blood and counts for righteousness the fact that we desire to be righteous, abhor this uncleanness, and love his Word and trust in him. (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.374)

“This ceasing {of struggles at the end} happened to me in Gotha. Being certain that I was about to die I said farewell to everybody, called Pomeranus, commended to him the church, the school, my wife, and the rest, and asked him to absolve me of my sins. I requested my dear Frederick to keep me in his cemetery in Gotha, but he said, ‘Doctor, I don’t want to have you here; you ought to go back home.’ Thus with a peaceful mind and without any struggle at all I would have fallen asleep in Christ. But Christ wished me to live on. So also my Katy, when we had all given up hope for her life, would have died willingly, happily, and with complete peace, and she said nothing at all but, ‘In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame’ [Ps. 31:1]. She repeated this more than a thousand times.” She was now seated at the table and confirmed this. Then the doctor added, “If we hadn’t had children I wouldn’t have said one more prayer for her but would have committed her soul to Christ’s keeping.  (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.374)

Severus said, “Doctor, there is a certain doctor in Linz who is sorely tried because he cannot find perfect righteousness in himself and because, when he prays, blasphemies against Christ always come to his mind.

“This is a good sign,” Luther replied. “There are two kinds of blasphemy. First, there is active blasphemy when we consciously and intentionally look for reasons to blaspheme, as Faber, the duke of Braunschweig, and the rest do. God keep us from this! But, second, blasphemy is passive when the devil introduces such perverse thoughts into our heads against our will and in spite of our struggle against them. By means of these thoughts God wishes to occupy us so that we don’t get lazy and snore but fight against them and pray. But when the end of life approaches, these temptations cease, for then the Holy Spirit is near to his Christians, keeps the devil at a distance, and gives us a tranquil and quiet mind.  (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.373)

On the same day Luther spoke admirably about the future eternal life and its unspeakable joy: “Human reason can’t grasp it by speculation. With our thoughts we can’t get beyond the visible and physical. No man’s heart comprehends eternity. One might suppose that according to the saying, ‘Even pleasure becomes burdensome,’ one would get tired of eternity. What pleasure is like in eternity we can’t imagine. Isaiah said, ‘Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create’ [Isa. 65:18].” (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.325)

When the illness of his daughter became graver he [Martin Luther] said, “I love her very much. But if it is thy will to take her, dear God, I shall be glad to know that she is with thee.”

Afterward he said to his daughter, who was lying in bed, “Dear Magdalene, my little daughter, you would be glad to stay here with me, your father. Are you also glad to go to your Father in heaven?”

The sick girl replied, “Yes, dear Father, as God wills.”

The father said, “You dear little girl!” [Then he turned away from her and said,] “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak [Matt. 26:41]. I love her very much. If this flesh is so strong, what must the spirit be?” Among other things he then said, “In the last thousand years God has given to no bishop such great gifts as he has given to me (for one should boast of God’s gifts), I’m angry with myself that I’m unable to rejoice from my heart and be thankful to God, though I do at times sing a little song and thank God. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s [Rom. 14:8]—in the genitive singular and not in the nominative plural.” (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.430)

“The world must be considered carefully [Martin Luther said]. It’s governed by opinions, and therefore it’s ruled by sophistical hypocrisy and tyranny. True religion is compelled to serve them as a maidservant. One must therefore be careful and beware of sophistry, which consists not only of equivocation in words but flourishes under all circumstances, so that in religion it possesses a magnificent pretense under the guise of Holy Scripture. There’s more harm in sophistry than any man can perceive; our nature, which is prone to lying, can’t see the evil in sophistry at all. Plato offers a remarkable description of sophistry: People who can twist everything, repudiate the opinions of others, and draw conclusions on both sides after the manner of Carneades are not to be praised. These are sly tricks. It’s the glory of a good character [on the other hand] to seek the truth and to rejoice in guilelessness.” (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.322)

“A Christian should and must be a cheerful person. If he isn’t, the devil is tempting him. I have sometimes been grievously tempted while bathing in my garden, and then I have sung the hymn, ‘Let us now praise Christ.’ Otherwise I would have been lost then and there. Accordingly, when you notice that you have some such thoughts, say, ‘This isn’t Christ.’ To be sure, he can hear the name of Christ, but it’s a lie because Christ says, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled [John 14:27]. Trust in me,’ etc. This is a command of God: ‘Rejoice!’  I now preach this, and I also write it, but I haven’t as yet learned it. But it happens that we learn as we’re tempted. If we were always glad, the devil would befoul us.  Christ knows that our hearts are troubled, and it is for this reason that he says and commands, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ (Luther’s Works, v. 54, p.95)