Luther At Home

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther has a chapter on the building of Luther's character.  It is an inside look at Luther's home life. I found this humorous because I would tend to think that our Martin Luther's character was constantly being put to a test with the controversy surrounding him because of his arguing against the papist abuses and heretical teaching.   The author Roland H. Bainton  points out that after Luther's wedding he begin to feel that marriage was a school for character.  It displaced the monastery which up until then was thought of as the training ground of virtue and a sure ticket to heaven.

Luther's children were the same as yours and mine.  Darling to him, but full of mischief.  It seems that the babies cries were particularly hard on Luther. In the middle of one child's crying experience Luther said, "Child, what have you done that I should love you so?  You have disturbed the whole household with your bawling."  Another time when a baby cried for an hour, he remarked, "This is the sort of thing that has caused the Church fathers to vilify marriage.  But God before the last day has brought back marriage and the magistracy to their proper esteem."

My favorite quote about babies was declared after being the brunt of his neighbors' amusement when hanging out the diapers to dry.  "Let them laugh.  God and the angels smile in heaven."  LOVE THAT!!!