At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, his dear friend Camerarius, of Leipzig, who had been informed of his friend's precarious condition, through Peucer, entered the house, and found his friend Melanchthon upon the lowest step of the stairway that led to his study, resting his head upon his hand. He arose and welcomed him, and they continued to converse for some time. At 5 o'clock, he expressed a wish to go to bed, for a severe chill had come upon him. He did not eat anything. He could not sleep during the night after Easter; the heat of the fever was rapidly consuming his strength; but notwithstanding all this, he could not be persuaded to omit his customary annual Easter Meditation. He had already put on his coat to go out. But the good man was so feeble that he was barely able to stand. Some one had informed the students that the Master would not lecture, upon which they all departed. When his son Philip came in to inform his father that there were no auditors there, his father replied, in a tone of displeasure, "So you have told them to go away." But when his son apologized, he said, in a milder tone, "To whom shall I lecture, if there is no one present?" He then took off his coat. He proceeded to write several letters, while Camerarius remained with him, and the rest went to church. The excellent and pious prince Joachim, of Anhalt, who had heard of his illness, sent him a moor-hen, and several partridges. He partook of some of these, and also of some Hungarian plums. He also drank some Rhenish wine, and remarked that he liked it. He also conversed very pleasantly with his friends.
When he arose from the table, he went up into his room and rested for a while upon his couch. He had also commenced writing a letter to Prussia, which he now continued, without however finishing it. He was not able to write any more; he rested, and thought of his deceased friend, Dr. Pommer.[27] He said, "Doctor Pommer, that good, and now sainted man, died of nothing but old age;" and continued: "no one ought to wish to live so long that his age and feebleness would render him altogether useless to men."
On one of the following days, he prayed to God in a very fervent manner, in the hearing of many persons, that he would graciously remove him from this life, if he was not to serve the Church and Christian youth any longer." And God heard this prayer, which he repeated several times.