Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

An invitation to unanimous waiting for the promised Pentecost-blessing.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 21 · Der einundzwanzigste Brief

Addressee — "Lieber Bruder" → widening to "liebe Kinder!" — a brother and the wider circle, summoned to wait together for Pentecost.
Date — none explicit; written before Pentecost (the "ten days" of waiting).
Provenance — translated from the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd I), collated against the 1773 first edition (both PD)

The Twenty-First Letter.

An invitation to unanimous waiting for the promised Pentecost-blessing.

Dear brother!

I trust that it still goes well with you all, together, in the Lord. This is the time of hope for all who feel their poverty, dryness, and folly; who say: Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost (Ezek. 37); it is all over with us. The Lord has promised that He will send His breath and life-spirit into us, that we shall live again; we shall be clothed with power from on high. He has spoken it; He will also do it (v. 14) — though unbelief can often hardly conceive it.

But what, then, can the dry dead-bones do toward it? — except that they lie still and wait for the promise of the Father, and hold themselves together, free and of one mind, through His prevenient stirring of the Spirit. If it cannot always be outward, still the dead-bones can indeed creep together in the spirit, without much noise, and, in unanimous prayer and stillness, await the promised day of Pentecost. Whereto, then, dear children, I may in simplicity urge and importune you: that we bring our poverty together, and in these days unite ourselves in spirit upon this one thing — each as well as he can, through the grace of the Lord. It seems to me it will not be without blessing. There are yet many other souls, also among our acquaintances, who, I know, find themselves moved to it at this time. True, such a thing is well needful for us at all times; but the remembrance of what befell the first disciples, men and women, at Jerusalem can awaken thereto the simple faith; and the universal hungering and longing of all the devout throughout the whole world can sweetly revive the timid mind, and mightily help it up, to unite its own inward prayer therewith. The promise is indeed ours — we who are poor, hungry, and thirsty — yes, and theirs too who are afar off (Acts 2:39), and who find themselves so wretched and scattered that they cannot believe it: therefore our praying and waiting cannot indeed be in vain. Ah Jesus, gather Thou us Thyself, that we may wait and not depart from Jerusalem — should we even, instead of the ten days, have to wait ten years, and longer, until the day of Pentecost is fulfilled in us. Amen!

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German

Der einundzwanzigste Brief.

Einladung zum einmüthigen Warten auf den verheißenen Pfingstsegen.

Lieber Bruder!

Verhoffe, daß es euch mit einander beim HErrn noch wohl gehen werde. Dieß ist die Zeit der Hoffnung für alle, die ihre Armuth, Dürre und Thorheit fühlen; die da sagen: Unsere Gebeine sind verdorret (Ezech.

— 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 Pentecost letter — a summons to the whole circle to wait together, "in spirit," for the coming of the Spirit. Tersteegen frames it with Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones. This, he says, is "the time of hope for all who feel their poverty, dryness, and folly," who say with the prophet, "our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; it is all over with us." But God has promised to "send his breath and life-spirit into us, that we shall live again," and to "clothe" us "with power from on high." What can dry bones do toward that? Only "lie still and wait for the promise of the Father," and "hold themselves together, free and of one mind." So he calls the "dear children" to "creep together in the spirit, without much noise," and in "unanimous prayer and stillness" await "the promised day of Pentecost" — bringing their poverty together, joining their longing to "the universal hungering… of all the devout throughout the whole world." The promise, he reminds them, belongs precisely to "we who are poor, hungry, and thirsty," and even to "them… who are afar off." He ends in prayer: "Ah Jesus, gather thou us thyself, that we may wait and not depart from Jerusalem — should we even, instead of the ten days, have to wait ten years, and longer, until the day of Pentecost is fulfilled in us."

A few words and echoes.

The valley of dry bones. His governing image, straight from Ezekiel: souls that feel "dried" and hopeless are exactly the ones God promises to fill with breath and raise to life — "he has spoken it; he will also do it."
Dead bones creeping together. One of his loveliest pictures — when the friends cannot gather outwardly, "the dead-bones can creep together in the spirit," quietly, to wait as one for the Spirit.
Wait for the promise of the Father. The whole posture is that of the disciples before Pentecost: to "not depart from Jerusalem," waiting "with one accord" to "be clothed with power from on high."
The promise is ours. His comfort for the poor and scattered: the promise belongs to "we who are poor, hungry, and thirsty," and even to those "afar off" — the very ones "who cannot believe it."
Ten days, or ten years. His closing resolve: to keep waiting for the inward Pentecost however long it takes — "instead of the ten days… ten years, and longer" — for such "praying and waiting cannot… be in vain."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 21 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-021.html.

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