Letters · Erster Band · Theil II (1773)

An encouragement to union with the will of God, and to willing littleness.

Bd I · Th II · Brief 15 · Der fünfzehnte Brief

Addressee — N. N. (open direction), written in the deferential Sie/ihre third-person address ("ihre Seele") — a soul in self-accusation and littleness. Not identified (1773-only).
Date — Undated in the print (no dateline; ends on a benediction). No year attested.
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil II, pp. 42–43), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd 8) and Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Fifteenth Letter.

An encouragement to union with the will of God, and to willing littleness.

N. N.

May your soul unite itself with all the will of God, who is infinitely good, worthy to be adored and to be loved! All that befalls you is God's will; therein rest without care, and let God do with you as He will: to this infinite Good entrust yourself wholly, in soul and body, for time and eternity, in the sweet name Jesus.

We take care for ourselves, and that is good, to draw ourselves away from evil; but, that we may find rest for our soul, we must entrust ourselves inwardly to God: He cares for us, and loves us infinitely more than we can love ourselves — that is surely true indeed. If your miseries, unfaithfulness, and unworthinesses are held up before you, esteem it as pure grace; say Yes to it from the heart; let yourself only be stripped naked, brought to nothing and made little — but not faint-hearted; rather, heartily consenting that you are so wretched, lose yourself, with everything, in the abyss of the eternal goodness of God, who is so unspeakably near to us in the name Jesus.

The more you are given up to God in nakedness and willing littleness, the more will faith and trust be born in the ground. O! God is content with us in the very moment, when we but give Him the honour by littleness and trust. He, the Lord Jesus, be with your spirit! May He strengthen you, and carry out His work in you, to His eternal glorification in your heart, which belongs to Him. Amen, Jesus!

❦

German

Der fünfzehnte Brief.

Aufmunterung zur Vereinigung mit dem Willen GOttes, und zur willigen Kleinheit.

N. N. Es vereinige sich ihre Seele mit allem Willen GOttes, der unendlich gut, anbetens- und liebens-würdig ist! Alles ist GOttes Wille, was ihr begegnet, darin ruhe sie ohne Kummer, und lasse GOtt mit ihr machen: Diesem unendlichen Gut vertraue sie sich gänzlich an, nach Seel und Leib …

— 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 letter of encouragement, written in the courteous third-person form of the age ("may your soul…"), to a soul weighed down by the sight of its own failings. Its two named themes — union with the will of God and willing littleness — are really one movement: to hand the whole self over to a God who is infinitely good, and to consent gladly to being made small.

Its argument. It opens as a blessing: "may your soul unite itself with all the will of God, who is infinitely good, worthy to be adored and loved." The key is that "all that befalls you is God's will" — so "therein rest without care, and let God do with you as He will." Self-care has its place ("to draw ourselves away from evil"), but rest is found only in trust: "He cares for us, and loves us infinitely more than we can love ourselves." Then the hardest and most freeing counsel — what to do when "your miseries, unfaithfulness, and unworthinesses are held up before you": not to despair, but to "esteem it as pure grace; say Yes to it from the heart" — to let oneself "be stripped naked, brought to nothing and made little, but not faint-hearted" — and so "lose yourself, with everything, in the abyss of the eternal goodness of God, who is so unspeakably near to us in the name Jesus." This is Tersteegen's Abgrund — the "abyss" of God's goodness into which the emptied soul sinks and is safe. And the promise: "the more you are given up… in willing littleness, the more will faith and trust be born," for "God is content in the very moment, when we but give Him the honour by littleness and trust." He seals it with the apostolic blessing.

A few words and echoes.

"All that befalls you is God's will… let God do with you as He will." The heart of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done" (Matthew 6:10), and Gethsemane, "not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39) — providence received as love.
"That we may find rest for our soul… He cares for us." Matthew 11:29 ("ye shall find rest unto your souls") and 1 Peter 5:7 ("casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you").
"Lose yourself in the abyss of the eternal goodness of God." Tersteegen's characteristic Abgrund ("abyss") — the bottomless depth of God's goodness in which the soul, consenting to its own nothingness, loses and finds itself; the mysticism of Psalm 42:7 ("deep calleth unto deep").
"So unspeakably near to us in the name Jesus." Philippians 2:9–10 ("the name which is above every name") and the Song of Songs 1:3 ("thy name is as ointment poured forth") — the Holy Name as God's own nearness, which is why the 1773 print sets it three times in full capitals (see the apparatus).
"He, the Lord Jesus, be with your spirit." Galatians 6:18 — Paul's closing benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, II. Theil, Brief 15 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-015.html.

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