Eight days after his last birthday, which he celebrated on the 10th of November in the company of his friends, he finished his exposition of Genesis and closed his lecture to the students with these impressive words: “I am weak! I cannot continue; pray God to grant me a blessed death.” And he wrote to a friend: “I am sick of this world, and the world is sick of me; it will not be difficult for us to part, as a guest quits his inn. Therefore I pray for a peaceful end, I am ready to depart.” At the close of his last sermon in Eisleben the thoughts of his heart are expressed in this wish: “May God give us grace that we gratefully accept His beloved Word, increase and grow in the knowledge and faith of His Son, and remain steadfast in the confession of His holy Word unto our end! Amen.”
