Lovely counsel, for the complete going-out from oneself, and an easy entrance into the love of God.
The Forty-second Letter.
Lovely counsel, for the complete going-out from oneself, and an easy entrance into the love of God.
Beloved brother!
Your little letter of the 5th of November I received in good time. Since then, and from that time, my mind has now and then been gladdened, so that I could unite myself with you much more easily than usual; wherein this really lay, I do not know. I believe that you sincerely desire that which you ask me to pray for on your behalf — namely: to be loosed from all that is visible, and especially from your corrupted reason and self-will. Now, because I know how pleasing such a disposition is to the Lord, I have laid it before Him in simplicity — just as when one brings in a petition to a king and has it read, and so forth. He will surely hear it, when He has sufficiently tried the thoroughness and constancy of your desire.
You are, then, fully resolved to travel along, from now on, into the land of eternity. So now take a sincere leave of all your dear friends — that is, of your beloved objects of attachment, that dwell in the land of the senses; tell them that they shall see your face no more forever. Take no heed that this leave-taking from such near blood-relations brings you some pain; it is no wonder. Only do not stand long still beside them, but turn yourself briefly about, and look not back again, and it will soon be forgotten. A complete going-out brings an easy entrance. Ah! there look closely to it, that you always keep a free and unencumbered turning to the Lord in your ground, and your mind will soon be enlarged and gladdened in inwardness; and a better Friend than those are, from whom you have taken leave, will then reach you His hand, and lead you into His secret bed-chamber, where you will lay yourself down in peace, and remember no more all the forsaken friends, together with the narrowness of the way. See Psalm 45:11 and 12.
Desire nothing, search out nothing, fear nothing; become like a foolish and will-less child, following only the dear Unknown One in all stillness; His footprints are purity, simplicity, and gentle well-being. Ah! Thou Hidden One, whom I know not how to name, draw us after Thee in the fragrance of Thy ointment, out of ourselves and all creature, to bind us with Thee in chaste love forever! Amen. Remember me too before God — I who for certain experience and know that I, though blind and poor, am nevertheless, also through grace,
Your
Mülheim, — December 1730.
sincerely-minded fellow-pilgrim.
German
Der 42te Brief.
Lieblicher Rath, zum völligen Ausgang aus sich selbst, und leichten Eingang in die Liebe GOttes.
Geliebter Bruder!
Dein Brieflein vom 5ten Novemb. habe zu rechter Zeit erhalten.
— 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 and affectionate letter to a man who was ready to make a decisive break — to "travel into the land of eternity" and be "loosed from all that is visible." Tersteegen frames the whole thing as a leave-taking. The soul's attachments are pictured as "dear friends" and "near blood-relations" living "in the land of the senses"; conversion is going to their door and telling them "that they shall see your face no more forever." His counsel about how to do it is pure Tersteegen: don't dramatize the pain of parting, and above all don't look back — "turn briefly about, and look not back, and it will soon be forgotten." The reward is stated as a promise in the language of the bridal Psalm: "a better Friend… will reach you His hand, and lead you into His secret bed-chamber, where you will lay yourself down in peace." The letter narrows to three imperatives — "desire nothing, search out nothing, fear nothing" — and ends, as so often, by turning from counsel to prayer: an address to God as "the Hidden One, whom I know not how to name."
A few words and echoes.
- "Beloved objects of attachment" (geliebte Vorwürfe). Vorwurf here in its older, broad sense — not "reproach" but the thing "cast before" the mind and clung to. Tersteegen personifies our sense-attachments as "dear friends" and "blood-relations" we must take leave of.
- "Look not back." The whole counsel turns on this — Lot's wife behind it (Genesis 19:26), and Christ's "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
- "See Psalm 45:11 and 12." Tersteegen's explicit reference — the bridal Psalm: "Hearken, O daughter… forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty." The "leave-taking from blood-relations" and the "secret bed-chamber" both come from here.
- "His secret bed-chamber." The bride brought into the king's chambers (Song of Solomon 1:4) — the inward peace of union, entered by the one who has "gone out" completely.
- "Draw us after Thee in the fragrance of Thy ointment." The closing prayer quotes the Song of Songs directly — "Draw me, we will run after thee… because of the savour of thy good ointments" (Song of Solomon 1:3–4).
- "The dear Unknown One" / "Thou Hidden One, whom I know not how to name." Tersteegen's tender apophatic language for God — the One who cannot be grasped or named, whom the will-less child simply follows.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-042 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.