Of the resurrection-power of Jesus Christ and its working.

What this letter is. An Easter letter — "of the resurrection-power of Jesus Christ and its working" — written to a resident circle of awakened souls whose "two brothers are absent," so that Tersteegen stands in as their watchful overseer from afar. He greets them "dearly purchased in the blood of Jesus," wishing them "the blessing, the life, and the peace which He has brought to light for us through His glorious resurrection." The governing image is the Gospel's Easter evening: "Jesus, the Risen One, visits His troubled disciples who wait for Him, in all their huts and corners; He would so gladly step into the midst of you also, and say: Peace be with you!" He wants grace to "impress this deeply" — that the Risen One "has won for you a fullness of power, of blessing, and of life," so that "no misery is so great but He knows counsel for it, and no bonds of sin nor of death so hard but He can break them, and gladly would," and that this Jesus stands "near, at and in the heart of every one among you… ready to enter in." The counsel that follows turns the shut doors of the Easter story inward: let the Lord "find us all with the doors of our roving senses… shut, devoutly attentive." His resurrection-power works "in secret, to rebuke all false life… so that afterward His fair Jesus-life may also pervade us from within and fashion us into His image." He encourages the waiting circle with the pattern of the three days: "Grow not weary; let not your courage sink; on the third day Jesus rises again in glory. Two, three days lasts all the hardship of the disciples of Jesus," repaid "with hundredfold peace and joy" even now. Then, because their brothers are away, he gives a rule for the household in the meantime: "let none among you neglect the faithful practice of prayer," "love silence, which God blesses with His consolation," "be recollected and devout." He warns that "where souls dwell together… a small fault does as much harm as a sin would elsewhere," since a bad example endangers "the soul of our fellow member also." His closing charge: "remain near the Lord, so that, even as He is a light, ye also may become a light in Him." He points them to Hebrews 13:20–21 for his benediction and signs, "Your bounden fellow-soldier."

A few words and echoes.

• The Easter evening, turned inward. The whole letter grows out of John 20 — the risen Jesus coming to the frightened disciples "when the doors were shut" and saying "Peace be unto you." Tersteegen makes the shut doors an image of the inward life: keep "the doors of our roving senses" closed, and the same risen Lord will "step into the midst of you."
• Resurrection-power. The letter's argument-word is Paul's "the power of his resurrection" (Philippians 3:10) — not merely a past event to believe but a present force that "announces itself in secret," putting the old life to death and reshaping us "into His image" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
• Two or three days. His consolation for a hard season borrows the rhythm of Easter — "on the third day" (Hosea 6:2; Luke 24) — to promise that "all the hardship of the disciples" is brief, and already "repaid with hundredfold" reward "even in this life" (Mark 10:30).
• The noble prize, won dying. His charge to "win, dying, the noble prize" fuses Paul's race for "the prize of the high calling" (Philippians 3:14) with the paradox that it is won precisely in dying to self — the prize and the dying are one act.
• A light in Him. The community rule rests on a single image: "even as He is a light, ye also may become a light in Him" — echoing "ye were… darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8). Their shared life is to be luminous because His is.
• The God of peace. Rather than write out his benediction, Tersteegen sends them to read Hebrews 13:20–21 — "the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus" — a text that seals the whole Easter argument: the same power that raised Christ is the power that will "make you perfect in every good work."