As to his new
gospel, had it welded the nation into greater unity and power? The
discontent had only been increased. The future of his church was to
depend on the worldly interests of a few princes; and he knew the best
among them! Something terrible was coming; the Scriptures were to be
fulfilled; the Day of Judgment was at hand. But after this God would
build up a new universe more beautiful, grander, and purer, full of
peace and happiness, a world in which no devil would exist, in which
every human soul would feel more joy over the flowers and fruit of the
new trees of heaven than the present generation over gold and silver;
where music, the most beautiful of all arts, should ring in tones much
more delightful than the most splendid song of the best singers in
this world. There a good man would find again all the dear ones whom
he had loved and lost in this world.
The longing of the creature for the ideal type of existence grew
stronger and stronger in him. If he expected the end of the world, it
was due to dim remembrances from the far-distant past of the German
people, which still hovered over the soul of the new reformer. Yet it
was likewise a prophetic foreboding of the near future. It was not the
end of the world that was in preparation, but the Thirty Years' War.
Thus he died. When the hearse with his corpse passed through the
Thuringian country, all the bells in city and hamlet tolled, and the
people crowded sobbing about his bier.
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