To the same; a profitable instruction concerning her inner life.
The Thirty-Ninth Letter.
To the same; a profitable instruction concerning her inner life.
Dearly beloved friend and sister!
Although few free moments remain to me this day, on account of many visitors, yet I hope to have time enough to greet you heartily with a few lines, and to visit you in your outward weakness. Jesus, the Risen One, who at all times and in all places seeks out and comforts His troubled disciples — may He too step into the midst of your heart, and speak to you His mighty peace! Yea, it is a certain truth that He is most inwardly near to your heart, and would so gladly penetrate and quiet your ground and all your powers of soul with His inflowings of grace and peace; so let your heart then be enlarged, through childlike trust toward this perfected and perfecting Savior! Surrender to Him, in blindness, your condition and the whole care of your soul! He is the Saviour, and not we.
If something stirs within, in the inward and hidden depths, that soothes you, stills you, gathers you, and inclines you to love and trust, then give yourself over, without any hesitation, to such workings — for they can only lead to God, and be from Him; but search into none of them, force yourself in none of them; be, like a child, content and thankful in all things. All outward and inward refreshings, all outward and inward afflictions, take thus from the wise and good hand of the Father, and say: Yea, Father! so it is well-pleasing in Thy sight. We are to rejoice in this divine good pleasure: for neither this nor that, but His will is our sanctification and eternal blessedness — in which will I lay down your soul in the name of Jesus, and wish that He may make you after His own heart, into a will-less and contented little child; for of such is the kingdom of God. Amen!
Of my weak prayer I assure you in simplicity; I will ask others also for it. The well-known children here all greet you heartily, though I name none in particular. O what grace, that we may regard ourselves as the least among them! Blessed be the Lord, who has had mercy upon us! Amen!
German
Der neununddreißigste Brief.
An eben dieselbe; nützliche Anweisung in Ansehung ihres Inneren.
Vielgeliebte Freundin und Schwester!
Ob mir gleich diesen Tag wenig freie Augenblicke übrig bleiben, wegen vielfältigem Besuch; so hoffe ich doch, so viel Zeit zu haben, daß ich dich mit ein paar Zeilen herzlich grüße und besuche in deiner äußeren Schwachheit.
— 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 second letter to the same sick sister (the first was Brief 38), written in a hurry — "few free moments remain to me this day, on account of many visitors" — but turning entirely to her inner life. Its opening image is the risen Jesus: "the Risen One, who at all times and in all places seeks out and comforts His troubled disciples," and who Tersteegen prays may "step into the midst of thy heart, and speak to thee His mighty peace." He assures her that Christ "is most inwardly near to thy heart" and longs to fill "thy ground and all thy powers of soul" with His grace and peace; her part is simply to let her heart "be enlarged, through childlike trust." The counsel is radical surrender: "Surrender to Him, in blindness, thy condition and the whole care of thy soul!" — sealed by the letter's keynote, "He is the Saviour, and not we." He tells her how to read her own inner stirrings: whatever "soothes… stills… gathers… and inclines thee to love and trust," she may trust as "from Him"; but she is to "search into none of them, force thyself in none," and take every refreshing and every affliction alike "from the wise and good hand of the Father," answering, "Yea, Father! so it is well-pleasing in Thy sight." His whole wish for her is that God would "make thee after His own heart, into a will-less and contented little child; for of such is the kingdom of God." He ends humbly — promising his "weak prayer," passing on the greetings of "the well-known children here," and marveling "what grace, that we may regard ourselves as the least among them."
A few words and echoes.
- The Risen One at the heart's door. The letter's opening figure — Christ who "seeks out and comforts His troubled disciples" and steps in with "peace be with you" — draws on the Gospel scenes of the risen Jesus appearing among the frightened disciples (John 20:19–26).
- He is the Saviour, and not we. Twice the emphatic "He" — pointing to Christ — is set, in his own text, in full capitals; it is rendered here in small capitals. The phrase is the letter's spine: salvation is His work, and the sick soul's task is to stop carrying it herself.
- Surrender in blindness. His counsel to "surrender… in blindness" is not resignation but trust that runs ahead of sight — handing over "the whole care of thy soul" without needing to see how it will go.
- Yea, Father. The fiat he puts in her mouth — "so it is well-pleasing in Thy sight" — echoes Christ's own prayer of glad submission to the Father (Matthew 11:26).
- A little child. His deepest wish for her, "a will-less and contented little child," rests again on Christ's word that the kingdom belongs to such (Mark 10:14) — the same childlikeness Brief 38 prayed for, now turned inward.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-039 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.