Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

That through the completing of our sufferings we become dear children of Jesus, and find All in Him.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 111 · Der hundertundelfte Brief

Addressee — An Christiana Maria Griesenbeck (née Engels, 1707–1741), Mülheim — his most frequent correspondent; addressed "Geliebte Schwester!" with the polite Ihr/euch shading into the intimate du/dir/deiner ("die du bisweilen in dir spüren wirst", "Gedencke meiner… deiner").
Date — 9 February 1731, from Mülheim.
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil I, pp. 314–316), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften, Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Hundred and Eleventh Letter.

That through the completing of our sufferings we become dear children of Jesus, and find All in Him.

Beloved sister!

Though I am at present just now especially weak in the head, yet I cannot forbear to greet you with my hand, as with my heart, in the name of Jesus.

It is always dear to me, as often as I hear something of your mind and state. God be praised, who has given you such an inward, gentle, and heartfelt longing after your perfecting; and, besides, discloses to you ever more the ways of the cross, as blessed helps to that end, and makes them acceptable! The Captain of our salvation is made perfect through suffering; and so it goes with all the children whom He will lead into glory. Through suffering, and in suffering, we become dear children of Jesus — His little comrades, and sweet little brothers, or little sisters: N.B., therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Hebrews 2). And when He has then, through suffering, purified and perfected us, He will hand us over to His Father, set us in His bosom, and, out of the following verse of the said chapter, say: "Behold, here am I, and the children which Thou hast given me!"

But since our weakness and wretchedness in suffering — and otherwise in all things — is so evident, and since suffering, in and of itself, does not settle the matter, let our spirit sink and hide itself much in Jesus, to find in Him all that we lack! Jesus is the opened love and mercy of God, who announces Himself as such in the ground of our soul, and would reveal Himself; from Him come all the secret, loving lures and drawings toward stillness — toward inwardness, gentleness, devotion, trust, and so forth — which you will at times feel within you.

To follow such drawings, in forgetfulness of oneself and of all things, and so to remain hidden in Jesus — that is the whole secret, wherein all wisdom, power, holiness, and eternal life are to be found. May Jesus Himself teach us to practice it aright! Yea, may He practice it Himself in us, since otherwise, by our own working, we only stand in His way! Amen.

Remember me, as I too hope not to forget you! The acquaintances greet …. I remain

Your weak friend and brother.

Mülheim, 9 February 1731.

❦

German

Der hundertundelfte Brief.

Daß wir durch die Vollendung der Leiden, JEsu liebe Kinder werden, und in Ihme Alles finden.

Geliebte Schwester!

Ob ich wohl gegenwärtig just sonderlich schwächlich bin im Haupt, so kann doch nicht unterlassen, euch mit meiner Hand, wie mit meinem Herzen, in JEsus Namen zu grüßen.

— 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, written while Tersteegen himself was ill — "weak in the head," he says, yet unwilling not to write. Its theme is one he returns to often, but nowhere more warmly: that suffering is the very thing that makes us Jesus' own kin. He builds it straight from Hebrews 2. The "Captain of our salvation" was himself "made perfect through suffering"; so, passing through our own, we become his "little comrades," his "sweet little brothers and sisters" — those he is "not ashamed to call brethren," and whom he will one day present to his Father with the words, "Behold, here am I, and the children which Thou hast given me." But he is careful to add the corrective: suffering by itself accomplishes nothing. The point is not the pain but the hiding — "let our spirit sink and hide itself much in Jesus, to find in Him all that we lack." The rest of the Christian life he gathers into a single sentence: to follow the quiet inward drawings toward stillness, "in forgetfulness of oneself," and simply to stay hidden in Jesus — "that is the whole secret."

A few words and echoes.

The Captain of our salvation. From Hebrews 2:10 — Christ "made perfect through sufferings," the leader who goes first through what his people must pass through.
"Not ashamed to call them brethren." Hebrews 2:11 — the astonishing dignity of the suffering Christian: Christ owns us as family.
"Behold, here am I, and the children." Hebrews 2:13 — Christ presenting the redeemed to the Father as the children God gave him.
His little comrades. His tender, almost soldierly image — Cameraden, fellow-soldiers — for those who suffer alongside Christ.
Sink and hide in Jesus. The corrective heart of the letter: not suffering for its own sake, but using it to disappear into Christ, "to find in Him all that we lack."
The inward drawings. The gentle pulls toward "stillness, inwardness, gentleness, devotion, trust" that the soul feels — Christ himself, quietly courting the heart from within.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 111 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-111.html.

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