Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

An edifying life and a blessed death of a woman friend.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 32 · Der zweiunddreißigste Brief

Addressee — "Geliebter Bruder!" — a brother (a memorial/consolation letter on the death of a woman friend, "N. N.").
Date — none given in the 1773/GS print (internally, "eight days" after a return home).
Provenance — translated from the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd I), collated against the 1773 first edition (both PD)

The Thirty-Second Letter.

An edifying life and a blessed death of a woman friend.

Beloved brother!

Through the help of God and the intercession of you all, we arrived back, safe and well, in our cottages eight days ago. The divine Providence let us come just at the right time, since a mortally sick, dear friend longed greatly for our arrival — one whom we should not have found living, had we tarried there over the Saturday.

This was the N. N.: a soul poor and of no account before the world, yet before God a chosen one, whose disposition of mind was, by God's goodness, more nearly known to me than to others, because for some years past she had had much openness of heart toward me, and edified me many times by the disclosure of what was passing within her. After she had, in her earlier years, worn herself out in sundry self-chosen and outward activities, she gave herself at last to the inward way of faith and prayer — yet not without mighty resistance from a flighty temperament and a suspicious reason. But when no strength of her own was left in hand, and to that end the Love drew her, by its gentle leadings, to inward stillness and recollection, this gained the upper hand; and from that time she happily chose it also for her guide. Not to mention sundry vicissitudes, of which I no longer so distinctly remember, she exercised herself in unceasing prayer, and in surrender to the working of grace within her, even throughout the day; which then bore itself out mightily in her with many strengthenings, instructions, and recollections. In darknesses she was resigned, and gave every mark of the sincerity of her entire surrender, according to the capacity of her light. The later lights, mingled with the cross, showed her the hidden self-properties in her ground, which before she had never known. Her patience in all heavy sufferings and sicknesses was edifying — and no wonder, since God showed Himself present to her at times in the sufferings, in a manner more than sensible, and imparted His peace to her in the ground. Once, when I thought she would not live much longer, she confessed to me upon my asking, that in her soul she found herself well content with God.

In this her last sickness she was left by the Lord in a bare surrender of faith, without any sensible strengthening; yet her ground was still before God amid the most pitiable outward suffering. She testified, too, at my last visit, that however greatly she might wish for one part of her dissolution, she yet desired not to be loosed from the sufferings one moment sooner than when she should be wholly purified; and she finally and forever made fast all the acts of surrender to God that she had ever done, upon His pure mercy in Christ.

On Sunday evening she was dissolved. God be thanked for all — who would make our life holy and our end blessed! There are in these days few who divest themselves of all earthly comfort, and fewer still who will make a true going-forth out of self-love. Might the Lord find such souls in us, He would — unworthy though we be — work wonders in us; for His delight is with the children of men. In every age He has still found souls that gave Him their hearts alone for a dwelling. Now almost everyone would share with God. O Love! shouldst Thou now have no saints, then make us such; our wretchednesses and incapacities hinder Thee not; Thine honor is the more made known, the more resistance is on our side. Go on in grace — bow down, soften, empty out, destroy, and form us after Thy good pleasure, that Thou mayest forever have praise in us and upon us, Amen!

❦

German

Der zweiunddreißigste Brief.

Erbauliches Leben und seliges Sterben einer Freundin.

Geliebter Bruder!

Durch die Hülfe GOttes und eurer sämmtlichen Fürbitte sind wir dann vor acht Tagen gesund wieder in unsere Hütten angelanget.

— 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. Tersteegen's fullest narrative letter — a spiritual memorial. Writing to a brother, he tells the inward story of a woman friend, named only "N. N.," who has just died. He and his companions arrived home eight days ago, "just at the right time," to reach her before the end — one they "should not have found living" had they tarried a day. She was, he says, "a soul poor and of no account before the world, yet before God a chosen one," whose heart he knew more nearly than most because for years she had opened it to him. He traces her whole path: worn out in her early years by "self-chosen and outward activities," she gave herself "at last to the inward way of faith and prayer," against the resistance of "a flighty temperament and a suspicious reason"; when her own strength ran out, divine Love "drew her, by its gentle leadings, to inward stillness," and she took it "for her guide." He describes her unceasing prayer, her resignation "in darknesses," her patience in suffering — sustained because "God showed Himself present to her… in a manner more than sensible." In her last sickness she was left "in a bare surrender of faith, without any sensible strengthening," yet refused to be "loosed from the sufferings one moment sooner" than fully purified. She died "on Sunday evening," and the letter turns into a prayer: that God would "make our life holy and our end blessed," and a cry to divine Love to "make us saints" despite our unwillingness.

A few words and echoes.

N. N. The friend's name is deliberately suppressed — "N. N." (Latin nomen nescio, "name withheld") — so the memorial dwells on the soul's inward life rather than on the person's identity.
Poor before the world, chosen before God. His portrait of her turns the world's scale upside down: what looks like "of no account" is, before God, "a chosen one."
The inward way. The path she found — "the inward way of faith and prayer," reached only when her own strength was spent — is the heart of Tersteegen's whole spirituality: stillness, recollection, and surrender.
A bare surrender of faith. Her death was not accompanied by consoling feelings ("without any sensible strengthening") but by a naked trust — faith holding on when all felt sensation is withdrawn.
His delight is with the children of men. The closing prayer leans on Proverbs' picture of Wisdom rejoicing in "the children of men" — God still seeking souls who give Him "their hearts alone for a dwelling."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 32 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-032.html.

← Bd I · Th I · Brief 31 Bd I · Th I · Brief 33 →