All that has so far been said about Luther’s views on the subject of polygamy could be most powerfully reinforced by a review of Luther’s teaching on matrimony as a divine institution, which Luther consistently throughout his writings regards as monogamous.  But this is too well known to require restatement, and is really outside of the scope of this review, which must content itself with submitting the direct argument in rebuttal of the Catholic charge of Luther’s advocacy of polygamy.  This polygamous Luther, too, is a vision that is rendered possible only through spectacles of hopeless bias.

27.  Luther Announces His Death.

Mark Twain awoke one morning to find himself reported dead.  He did not accept the invitation suggested in the report, but wired to his friends:  “Reports of my death grossly exaggerated.”  Luther was placed in a similar predicament by Catholics who were deeply interested in the question how long he was to continue to live.  One day, in the early part of March, 1545, he was handed a printed letter in Italian which contained the news of his demise under curious circumstances.  He thought that he ought not to withhold this interesting information from the world:  he had a German translation made of the document, which he published with his remarks as follows: 

“Copy of a Letter of the Ambassador of the Most Christian King regarding a Horrible Sign which Occurred in the Shameful Death of Martin Luther.

“A horrible and unheard-of miracle which the blessed God has wrought in the shameful death of Martin Luther, who went to hell, soul and body, as may be clearly seen from a chapter of the letter of the ambassador of the Most Christian King, to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ and the confirmation and comfort of the faithful.

"Copy of the Letter.

“1.  Martin Luther, having been taken ill, desired the holy Sacrament of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died immediately upon receiving it.  When he saw that his sickness was very violent and he was near death, he prayed that his body might be placed on an altar and worshiped as Cod.  But the goodness and providence of God had resolved to put an end to his great error and to silence him forever.  Accordingly, God did not omit to work this great miracle, which was very much needed, to cause the people to desist from the great, destructive, and ruinous error which the said Luther has caused in the world.  As soon as his body had been placed in the grave, an awful rumbling and noise was heard, as if hell and the devils were collapsing.  All present were seized with a great fright, terror, and fear, and when they raised their eyes to heaven, they plainly saw the most holy host of our Lord Jesus Christ which this unworthy man was permitted to receive unworthily.  I affirm that all who were present saw the most holy host visibly floating in the air.  They took the most holy host very devoutly and with great reverence, and gave it a decent place in the sanctuary.