Letters · Erster Band · Theil II (1773)

On the wisdom of God in the imparting of His graces, and that one must wait quietly for them.

Bd I · Th II · Brief 61 · Der 61te Brief

Addressee — "In der Gnade JEsu geliebter Bruder!" — a male friend (intimate du → you)
Date — Mülheim, 7 May 1733 (dated in 1773; subscription "Dein verbundener Bruder" — "your bound brother," no personal name)
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil II, pp. 176–177), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd 8) and Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Sixty-first Letter.

On the wisdom of God in the imparting of His graces, and that one must wait quietly for them.

In the grace of Jesus, beloved brother!

It is dear to me to hear something of your state of mind, and also what you write. God be praised for His overflowing long-suffering and mercy, who will not yet quite cast off us apostate children! He gathers us again and again, and would so gladly keep us inseparably by Himself: but it seems to me as though He dared not yet trust our turning to Him. He lets us wait, in order to see whether we do it again, as before, and turn away; for if that should happen after graces and experiences purely received, it is always far more dangerous for us, and the return more painful. Therefore His wisdom lets us tarry in faith, yet has withal a good heart toward us — which may already be gathered from the hidden quieting at the recollection.

And why then should the time of waiting fall long to you? Is it not better to wait with rest, than to stand turned-away in hellish unrest? Yea, for what do your senses and nature wait, that the time grows long to them? Do you give them still some hope of life? That would be folly and in vain; show them, and the Lord, by the deed, that the sentence of death is universal and irrevocable — that from that side no life nor comfort is any longer to be accepted, and your whole self is to wait upon God alone in undisguised simplicity: such chaste dove's eyes can see God and His presence. So wait, then, and so hasten to the coming of the Lord Jesus within you (Hebrews 10:36 and following). To Him I commend you, and, commending myself to your remembrance, remain,

Your

Mülheim, 7 May 1733.

bound brother.

❦

German

Der 61te Brief.

Von der Weisheit GOttes in Mittheilung seiner Gnaden, und daß man ruhig darnach warten müsse.

In der Gnade JEsu geliebter Bruder!

Es ist mir lieb, von deinem Gemüths-Zustand etwas zu vernehmen, und auch dasjenige, was du schreibest. GOtt sey gelobet für Seine überschwengliche Langmuth und Erbarmung, der uns abtrünnige Kinder noch nicht gar verstoßen will!

— 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 about the hardest part of the inner life: waiting. The brother longs for grace and feels its delay, and Tersteegen answers not by hurrying God but by explaining Him. God's slowness is not coldness — He is "overflowing long-suffering," gathering His "apostate children again and again." The delay is wisdom: God "lets us wait" to see whether a fresh grace would only be squandered as before, "since a relapse after grace… is always far more dangerous, and the return more painful." So the waiting itself is mercy, and behind it lies "a good heart toward us." Then Tersteegen turns the question back on the brother: if the waiting feels unbearably long, whose impatience is it? Not the deep soul's, but "your senses and nature," which "still hope for their own life." The cure is blunt — let that natural life receive "the sentence of death," accept that "no life nor comfort is to be had from that side," and let "your whole self wait upon God alone in undisguised simplicity." The reward is sight: "such chaste dove's eyes can see God." The counsel is finally not passive but eager — "so wait, and so hasten to the coming of the Lord Jesus within you."

A few words and echoes.

"That one must wait quietly." Lamentations 3:26, "it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord" — the letter's whole burden; waiting as an act of faith, not a failure of it.
"His overflowing long-suffering… will not cast off." 2 Peter 3:9 and Romans 2:4, God's makrothymia; Psalm 94:14, "the Lord will not cast off his people."
"The sentence of death." 2 Corinthians 1:9, "we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God" — the natural life judged, so that hope rests on God alone.
"Chaste dove's eyes can see God." Song of Solomon 1:15, "thou hast doves' eyes" — the single, chaste gaze (undivided by self-seeking) that alone perceives God's presence; cf. Matthew 5:8, "the pure in heart… shall see God."
"Hasten to the coming of the Lord… within you (Hebrews 10:36)." Hebrews 10:36–37, "ye have need of patience… For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come" — joined to Luke 17:21, the "coming" experienced within.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, II. Theil, Brief 61 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-061.html.

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