Instruction on the loving presence of God.
The Hundred and Forty-third Letter.
Instruction on the loving presence of God.
In the grace of God, beloved friend!
I wish you, from the dear Saviour, much grace and blessing in your station, within and without. Seek, as much as possible, to stay near to your heart in gentle and quiet inwardness; for there, as you well know, the Lord so gladly wills to be near to us, and to have His work in us. Give, then, to all His precious demands, and to the workings of His love, a simple room in you, through a free and full surrender. Do not occupy yourself much with yourself — with your miseries, faults, and self-ways — but with God and His presence.
Our corruptions are like those venomous, evil beasts which, when one looks at them much, not only strike terror, but grow the more vicious, so that they even spring at one. It is enough if you turn away from them with displeasure, and flee to God, that He would help you and hide you in His presence. Remind yourself often in the day of the dear, present God, and His remembrance will keep you, so that, even when you must work much with your hands, you will yet not, in your heart, become busy or drawn out.
Be, through His grace, pliant and resigned in the household affairs, and among people; for we have to do with God, who lets everything happen for our best, that we may be exercised and bettered. Let us love Him, who is so lovable and kind, with a pure love that seeks not its own: to Him I commend you, and I greet you and all in your house. Pray diligently! I remain,
Your well-inclined fellow-pilgrim.
Mülheim, the 6th of February 1734.
German
Der hundertunddreiundvierzigste Brief.
Anweisung zur liebreichen Gegenwart GOttes.
In der Gnade GOttes geliebte Freundin!
Ich wünsche dir von dem lieben Heiland viel Gnad und Segen in deinem Stand von innen und von außen. Suche doch, so viel möglich, nahe bei deinem Herzen zu bleiben in sanfter und stiller Innigkeit; daselbst, wie du wohl weißst, will uns der HErr so gerne nahe seyn …
— 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 short, practical letter, written 6 February 1734 to Anna Maria Reinertz — the sister of Dietrich Reinertz, and (as far as we know) a new correspondent. Its whole subject is caught in its title: the loving presence of God — how an ordinary person, busy with household work, can keep company with God through the day. It is Tersteegen's version of what the Carmelite lay-brother Lawrence called "the practice of the presence of God," pitched to a working woman.
Its counsel. The method is simple and inward. "Seek to stay near to your heart in gentle and quiet inwardness; for there the Lord so gladly wills to be near to us." God is to be found not in strain or excitement but in the quiet centre of the soul; so the first counsel is to keep coming back there, and to give His love "a simple room in you, through a free and full surrender." The second is a warning against a very common mistake — being over-occupied with one's own faults: "Do not occupy yourself much with yourself… but with God and His presence." Tersteegen gives it a vivid picture: our corruptions are like "venomous, evil beasts which, the more one stares at them, the more vicious they grow, until they spring at one." Staring at our sin only feeds it; "it is enough if you turn away from them with displeasure, and flee to God."
The heart of the letter is a habit anyone can keep, however busy: "Remind yourself often in the day of the dear, present God, and His remembrance will keep you" — so that even at hard manual work the soul stays quiet, "not busy or drawn out" within. And the reason it is worth doing is not duty but love: "we have to do with God, who lets everything happen for our best… Let us love Him, who is so lovable and kind, with a pure love that seeks not its own." A warm, homely letter, sent with greetings to her whole household and one last word — "Pray diligently!"
A few words and echoes.
- "The loving presence of God." The practice of turning the mind, again and again through the day, to the God who is always near — living "as before His face." A theme dear to Tersteegen and to the whole quietist tradition (cf. Brother Lawrence).
- "Near to your heart… in quiet inwardness." For Tersteegen the meeting-place with God is the still "ground" of the soul, deeper than thought and feeling; to stay near one's own heart is to stay near where God works (cf. Luke 17:21, "the kingdom of God is within you").
- "Flee to God… hide you in His presence." An echo of Psalm 91 and Psalm 31:20 — God's presence itself as the soul's hiding-place and refuge from what would harm it.
- "His remembrance will keep you." The simple discipline of remembering God often — recollection — as what steadies and guards the soul in the midst of work (cf. Psalm 16:8, "I have set the Lord always before me").
- "We have to do with God, who lets everything happen for our best." Romans 8:28 — "all things work together for good to them that love God." Every circumstance, even the trying ones, is God's means to "exercise and better" us.
- "A pure love that seeks not its own." 1 Corinthians 13:5 — charity "seeketh not her own." To love God for Himself, "who is so lovable and kind," and not for what we get, is the purity Tersteegen is pointing her toward.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-143 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.