Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

Our face must be set steadfastly toward Jerusalem, for union with God is the goal.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 6 · Der sechste Brief

Addressee — "vielgeliebte Freundin und Schwester" — an unnamed woman friend; formal Ihr; with a companion (the closing "N. N.").
Date — none given in the 1773/GS print.
Provenance — translated from the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd I), collated against the 1773 first edition (both PD)

The Sixth Letter.

Our face must be set steadfastly toward Jerusalem, for union with God is the goal.

In the grace of God, dearly beloved friend and sister!

Some time ago I felt an inclination to greet you, for once, with my own hand; and although this opportunity came to my knowledge too late, I would not let it pass by again.

I hope, then, that the face of your inner soul-longings is still set steadfastly toward Jerusalem — that, at last, after long crying and thirsting, we may come to behold the face of God: here, first of all, in faith, in the temple of our heart; until we do so in perfection, and face to face, in the Jerusalem above.

Union with God in the Spirit is the goal we must always keep in view; whatever can further us toward it must be dear and precious to us in that measure. But all else — and whatever else may meet us in outward things — we must strive to regard with great indifference, lest we be hindered in the one thing needful by letting something foreign in too deeply. Nothing of all that is and happens outside us is worth our being inwardly disquieted over it. Our every care, in and amid all things, must only be that we please God and stand well with Him inwardly.

With which I commend you, and all who seek God there, to the faithful watch-care of our faithful chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. I greet you, N. N., and remain

Your devoted friend.

❦

German

Der sechste Brief.

Unser Angesicht muß steif nach Jerusalem gerichtet seyn, denn die Vereinigung mit GOtt ist das Ziel.

In der Gnade GOttes vielgeliebte Freundin und Schwester!

Schon vor einiger Zeit habe ich einige Neigung gefunden, um euch einmal mit meiner Hand zu begrüßen; und obwohl mir diese Gelegenheit zu spät bekannt wird, so habe ich doch solche nicht wieder wollen vorbeigehen lassen.

— Opening lines of the original German. The complete transcription of all 605 letters appears in the forthcoming Encounter Press critical edition; Brief 1 is shown in full as a sample.

German text: public domain (1773–75 first edition / 1845 Gesammelte Schriften).

Translator’s notes

What this letter is. A short, warm note of greeting and encouragement to a woman friend, written simply because Tersteegen "felt an inclination to greet you… with my own hand." Its single theme is direction: the whole soul, he says, should have its face "set steadfastly toward Jerusalem" — fixed on the one goal of union with God, first glimpsed here "in faith, in the temple of our heart," and one day known fully "face to face" in "the Jerusalem above." Everything that helps toward that goal is to be prized; everything else — whatever happens "in outward things" — is to be met "with great indifference," lest something "foreign" be let in "too deeply" and hinder "the one thing needful." Nothing outside us, he says, is worth being "inwardly disquieted over"; our one care should simply be "that we please God and stand well with him inwardly." He commends her to "our faithful chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ."

A few words and echoes.

Face set toward Jerusalem. His governing image, drawn from the Gospel — where Christ "stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem" — and from the prophet who set his face "like a flint." The soul is a pilgrim with a fixed destination.
The Jerusalem above. The goal is not the earthly city but "the Jerusalem which is above" (Paul's phrase), where we shall see God "face to face" — union glimpsed now in faith, completed then in sight.
The one thing needful. Union with God is "the one thing needful" — Jesus' words to Martha about Mary — beside which all outward concerns shrink.
Holy indifference. His keynote here: to regard everything outward "with great indifference," not from coldness but so that nothing crowds out the single goal. Detachment in the service of love.
The chief Shepherd. He entrusts her to Christ under Peter's title, "the chief Shepherd," who keeps faithful "watch-care" over the flock.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 6 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-006.html.

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