Of the childlike surrender to God and His guidance.
The Ninety-second Letter.
Of the childlike surrender to God and His guidance.
Beloved friend!
I have duly received your little letter, and have seen from it somewhat of the state of your mind. Ah, that you could forget yourself more — your good and your evil alike — and occupy yourself only, in a hearty and quiet manner, with God in faith!
I know it already only too well, that in you, as well as in me, there is by nature nothing but evil. Do not expect that a bitter spring should give sweet water. What we do, think, and desire is all impure, and can bring us neither light nor rest: we only confuse and darken ourselves ever more. How good it would be if we could hold still all our own doing, thinking, and desiring, and, as immature, unwise, little children, lay ourselves down before the countenance of the Lord, and let Him alone do, think, and will in us! How soon would we be helped!
Those who surrender themselves to the Lord, He, the Faithful One, will nevermore forsake; for these are His innocent sheep, who are no longer in their own hand, but in His, out of which no one shall pluck them.
Do not look upon your outward circumstances, I beg you, as hindrances to your sanctification! For so they will surely hinder you; but look upon everything that is not in itself evil as a service of God, and as a help in godliness; for so it must surely become to you, when you do all and suffer all for the love of God. The more it goes against our own inclination, the better it is for our inward part.
Do not make so many deliberations about the future — where it may finally come out? whether you may ever be fully redeemed? and the like. These are fruits and thoughts of reason, and not of faith. Does a little child fret its head sick over whether it will ever become a fully grown man? It only sucks, eats, and drinks in good cheer, and grows imperceptibly, since the time itself will soon enough show whether, and how great, it is to become. So do you also leave to the Lord His own work, and walk with Him as with a trusted friend of the soul, in all simplicity and inwardness of heart. Love prayer more than reading! But I mean the childlike prayer of the heart. Read also more with the heart — so to speak — than with the head; and therefore only such writings as can nourish and strengthen the heart.
As concerns your coming over, believe surely that you will be dear and welcome to me, if only it could happen without noticeable inconvenience to your outward circumstances. There is also no danger, with God, that I should withdraw myself from you, or from any soul whom I believed I could serve. But on the one hand I can still hardly believe that my company or discourse should work much profit; and on the other hand, even were it so, one must nevertheless not stand still at the best means, lest they become to us a hindrance instead of a help. And if I were a saint, I could do you no better service than to point you away from me and from all creatures, to Him who has life in Himself. Meanwhile, with all this, our love for one another may and shall remain uninjured and eternally firm in the Lord: in the Same I greet you heartily, commend myself to your remembrance, and, in expectation of seeing you here soon, close, and am
Your weak fellow-combatant.
Mülheim, the 28th of June, 1729.
German
Der zweiundneunzigste Brief.
Von der kindlichen Ueberlassung an GOtt und seiner Führung.
Geliebte Freundin!
Euer Brieflein habe zurecht erhalten, und in etwa euren Gemüths-Zustand daraus ersehen. Ach! daß ihr euch selbst, euer Gutes und euer Böses, doch mehr könntet vergessen, und euch nur auf eine herzliche und stille Weise mit GOtt im Glauben beschäftigen!
— 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 letter of spiritual direction to Christiana Maria Griesenbeck — one of Tersteegen's closest and most frequent correspondents — written on 28 June 1729, when he was about thirty-one. Its whole theme is what the old title calls "childlike surrender": the letting-go of one's own doing, thinking, and willing so that God may do, think, and will in us. She had written to him in some distress about her own inner state; he answers, first, by turning her away from the anxious study of herself. Expect nothing good from your own nature, he tells her — "do not expect that a bitter spring should give sweet water" — for all our own doing only confuses and darkens us; the one thing needful is to lie down like a small child before God and let Him work. Those who so surrender themselves, he promises, the Faithful One will never forsake; they are His sheep, and no one can pluck them out of His hand. Then he gives her the practical counsel that recurs all through his letters: do not treat your outward circumstances as obstacles to holiness, but as God's own means of it; do not fret about the future, any more than a child frets about whether it will grow up; love prayer — "the childlike prayer of the heart" — more than reading, and read only what feeds the heart. He closes by welcoming her intended visit, disclaiming any special power in his own company, and pointing her, as ever, away from himself and all creatures to the God "who has life in Himself."
A few words and echoes.
- A bitter spring should give sweet water. James' image — "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" (James 3:11) — here turned to the impurity of our own nature.
- His innocent sheep … no one shall pluck them out of His hand. Christ's promise of the good Shepherd — "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
- As little children. The Gospel word — "except ye … become as little children" (Matthew 18:3) — which governs the whole letter's picture of the soul that lets itself simply grow.
- A service of God … a help in godliness. Even outward circumstances, rightly seen, become worship and means of grace rather than hindrances — a favorite Tersteegen turn.
- The childlike prayer of the heart. Tersteegen's own name for the inward, wordless prayer he everywhere commends — reading and study kept firmly in second place.
- Him who has life in Himself. John's word about the Father and the Son — "as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:26) — the God to whom he points her away from himself and every creature.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-092 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.