How the essential innocence in Christ is to be attained.

What this letter is. A letter of spiritual direction, written 15 March 1734 to Christiana Griesenbeck, on his great theme of the "child-state" — here named as "the essential innocence in Christ." It opens with a reassurance (he has been travelling and unable to write, but he has not forgotten her: "I often find myself moved… to offer up your soul to the dearest little Child JEsus"), and it closes with a rare, vivid glimpse of Tersteegen's own life — dragged off twice on the road to help two struggling souls, and fetched to Solingen "by express" by a Lutheran pastor.

Its argument. The costly truth at the centre is that the innocence Christ gives is not cheap. It is "far too great a good to be born otherwise than in the hidden ground, by God, under strange sufferings, strippings, and destroyings of the poor self-nature." The false self has to be undone, and that hurts. But — and this is the gospel of the letter — the pain is not the main thing: "the love of so inwardly-present and mighty a Friend of the soul makes one not heed it." When the Christ who does the work is present and dear, His love carries the soul through what would otherwise be unbearable.

From this flows Tersteegen's characteristic counsel of passivity — not laziness, but a deep letting-God-work: "hold yourself, through His grace, as passive — or work-less — as possible, given over and peaceful in His presence, even though the senses and reason may be in an uproar." He puts it in the language of court and household: give the Child Jesus "the rank, or the precedence" — "let Him be first, nay at last alone, to work, to speak… in you and with you; give Him room, and unconditional authority to form you according to His good pleasure." Do that, and "His love- and life-power will penetrate you ever more unhindered, and transform you into His image." Then the personal ending, so human: he must simply "give myself up, with closed eyes, to be as and where the Master will have me."

A few words and echoes.

• "Essential innocence in Christ." Tersteegen's name for a restored child-likeness — not merely forgiven guilt but a real inward simplicity and purity, worked by God in the "ground" of the soul (cf. Matthew 18:3; 2 Corinthians 11:3, "the simplicity that is in Christ").
• "Born… in the hidden ground, under strange sufferings." The new innocence comes to birth painfully, as the false self is stripped away — the mystical "death" that precedes life (John 12:24; 2 Corinthians 4:16, "the outward man perish… the inward man renewed").
• "Makes one not heed it." The love of the present Christ so fills the soul that the pain of self-loss ceases to be the thing it notices — love swallows the hurt (cf. Romans 8:18; Song of Solomon 8:6-7).
• "As passive — or work-less — as possible." Not idleness but surrender of self-effort: ceasing to steer one's own inner life so that grace may work freely (cf. Psalm 46:10, "Be still").
• "Give the little Child Jesus the rank, or the precedence." A charming picture of surrender as court etiquette — letting Christ go first in every inner "dealing," yield Him the place of honour, hand Him "unconditional authority" over the soul.
• "Transform you into His image." 2 Corinthians 3:18 — "we all… are changed into the same image from glory to glory"; Romans 8:29. The whole aim is to be re-fashioned into the likeness of Christ.
• "The Master will have me." Christ as Meister — Lord and teacher. Tersteegen's own obedience: to go, "with closed eyes," wherever he is sent, that "we live to Him alone."