Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

Of the use and inner worth of the cross, and of the hidden life with Christ in God.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 107 · Der hundertundsiebente Brief

Addressee — An Christiana Maria Griesenbeck (née Engels, 1707–1741), Mülheim — his most frequent correspondent; addressed "Geliebte Schwester!" with the polite Ihr/euch.
Date — 4 October 1730, from Mülheim — about a month after Brief 106.
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil I, pp. 305–307), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften, Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Hundred and Seventh Letter.

Of the use and inner worth of the cross, and of the hidden life with Christ in God.

Beloved sister!

Your kind letter I have duly received. It is always dear to me to hear something of your state, since I, as one member, also gladly take part in the sufferings, and in the joys, of the other members.

That you feel a greater resignation and desire in and toward the cross is no small grace of Jesus, which His Spirit alone can work in us. If you will remain standing in this mind, according to your ground, you will at length experience what a peaceable — O yes! peaceable — fruit of righteousness this thorny cross-tree will bear you. Only I fear that you do not yet love this dear companion of our Savior — I mean the holy cross — as much as you sometimes think: love it, then, for its own sake, and for Jesus' sake, and not for the sake of the coat it wears. Whether a cross be hung about with these or with other circumstances matters little. To them that love God, N.B., all things must serve for good. I could wish that you might, once for all, hold this fast: that to suffer evil is far from doing evil, and that no evil is reckoned to us as sin, so long as the will of the mind remains free.

Only take heart, dear sister! and, with bowed head, follow the Lamb as a little lamb to the sacrifice. It is only the own life that is assailed, and must be slaughtered: our true life is hidden with Christ in God; there alone must we seek it, and there alone can we find it. Life, delight, joy, and peace are in God. So turn then, you poor defiled, wounded, oppressed, powerless soul! turn childlike into God, in the ground of your soul! There you will at last find all — all-sufficiency, the water of life, balm that pervades and heals all the powers, immeasurably wide room, divine strength that raises up the whole man, and, in all things, all that you lack.

May the Lord draw us, through the secret allurements of His grace, freely, deep within, that we, dead to ourselves, may live forever in Him. Amen!

Finally I commend you to our dear Lord and Savior, who is with you and with me, and commend myself to your remembrance. I remain, with friendly greeting,

Your fellow-brother, weak in spirit and body.

Mülheim, 4 October 1730.

❦

German

Der hundertundsiebente Brief.

Von dem Nutzen und inneren Werth des Kreuzes, und von dem verborgenen Leben mit Christo in GOtt.

Geliebte Schwester!

Euer Angenehmes habe wohl erhalten. Es ist mir immer lieb, etwas von eurem Zustand zu vernehmen, indem ich als ein Mitglied auch gerne mit Theil nehme an den Leiden, und an den Freuden der anderen Glieder.

— 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 to Christiana Maria Griesenbeck about the cross — not as a burden to be escaped but as, in his surprising phrase, "the dear companion of our Savior." She feels, he is glad to hear, a growing willingness toward her sufferings; he urges her to love the cross itself, "for its own sake, and for Jesus' sake," and not to be distracted by "the coat it wears" — the particular circumstances that happen to clothe it, which matter little. Two consolations anchor the letter: that "to suffer evil is far from doing evil," and that nothing painful is charged to us as sin so long as the will stays free and unconsenting. From there he turns inward: our real life is not in what is "assailed and slaughtered" on the outside but is "hidden with Christ in God," and can be sought and found only in "the ground of the soul." The letter's warmest moment is where he turns and speaks to the soul itself — "So turn then, you poor defiled, wounded, oppressed, powerless soul! turn childlike into God" — promising that there it will find "all in all that it lacks."

A few words and echoes.

The cross as companion. His striking image: the holy cross is the Savior's own lifelong companion, so to love Christ is to love his cross — but for itself, not for its dressing.
"The coat it wears." The outward circumstances (this trouble or that) are only the garment on the cross; whether it wears one coat or another "matters little."
"To suffer evil is far from doing evil." His clear line between passive suffering and active sin — pain endured with an unconsenting will is not charged against us.
Hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3). The letter's title-text: the believer's true life is not on the surface, where it can be attacked, but hidden with Christ — and so safe.
The ground of the soul (Seelengrund). The deep interior floor where God is found — the one place to seek the hidden life; there the soul finds "all-sufficiency, the water of life."
All in all (1 Cor. 15). His closing note: in that ground the soul finds, in God, everything it lacks.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 107 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-107.html.

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