God has an unspeakable longing to impart Himself to souls, and well knows means and ways to make them poor and empty.
The Ninety-fifth Letter.
God has an unspeakable longing to impart Himself to souls, and well knows means and ways to make them poor and empty.
Dear sister!
I desire to greet you heartily in the name of Jesus, and to sink myself, with you and all the childlike-minded there, into this so near and open Fulness of God, wherein we find, in superabundance, all that we lack. Whoever is the poorest will get the most. It pains a mother, does it not, when she has full breasts and the children will not eagerly suck. No soul indeed believes, without an opening from above, what an overflowing, incomprehensible longing the eternal Good has to impart itself to poor children; one would die before one's time if one were to see it clearly, and therewith behold how the poor minds now withdraw themselves through distraction, now fill themselves with other objects, now shut themselves up through unbelief. Self-love, indeed, would fain grasp at it, but that is not the innocent child's-little-mouth; love withdraws itself from selfhood and from the nature-drive, which only spill and spoil the pure milk of God. The dear Father knows means and ways to make His children empty and poor, little and gentle, if only we deliver ourselves into His hand, just as we are; and then we are rightly fit to become His bosom-children, once we have first become beggar-poor. Now although the way thither is no merry thing for nature, yet we ought nonetheless to thank God in faith when we catch sight of the star that leads us down toward Bethlehem, and we can already exercise ourselves in this, that we learn betimes the song of praise of Mary. Luke 1. ———
At the New Year I said and wrote it: I bind myself once again anew with all the children, to share our little morsels, spiritually and bodily, with one another, and this year too to bear love and sorrow in common; that, at least, the world will not forbid us. The childlike, unforced love among one another has withal something right refreshing — indeed something angelic about it: but the great and clever people do not so fit themselves to it, until they too come down.
I remain still very faint, dear sister, and especially sick in the head, so that I must greatly moderate my writing. May God only let, in this piece too, His promise be fulfilled in us — namely, that His strength be perfected in our weakness, Amen! I greet and embrace you once more in love, as also N. and N. ——— and all the others, whose names do not so quickly occur to me. May the Lord bless His inheritance, and let children yet be born to Him, like the dew out of the dawn. Through the grace of God I remain
Your
Mülheim, 27 January 1736. — devoted brother.
German
Der 95te Brief.
GOtt hat ein unaussprechliches Verlangen sich denen Seelen mitzutheilen, und weiß wohl Mittel und Wege um sie arm und leer zu machen.
Liebe Schwester!
Ich begehre dich herzlich zu grüßen im Namen JEsu, und mich mit dir und allen kindlich Gesinneten daselbst in diese so nahe und offene GOttes-Fülle hinein zu senken, worin wir alles überflüßig finden, was uns fehlet.
— 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, radiant letter to a sister on Tersteegen's most consoling theme: that God is not a reluctant giver to be coaxed, but an aching one who longs to pour Himself out — and that the one qualification for receiving Him is emptiness. The argument states it: God "has an unspeakable longing to impart Himself to souls, and well knows means and ways to make them poor and empty." The whole letter turns that into images of infancy. God is a nursing mother whose "full breasts" pain her when the children "will not eagerly suck"; the "eternal Good" has "an overflowing, incomprehensible longing… to impart itself to poor children." Hence the paradox that governs the letter: "Whoever is the poorest will get the most."
The obstacle is self-love, which "would fain grasp" — but grasping "is not the innocent child's-little-mouth." Grace is received not by clutching but by the open, undefended receptivity of an infant. So the "dear Father" uses "means and ways to make His children empty and poor, little and gentle," and only once we are "beggar-poor" are we "rightly fit to become His bosom-children." The road down is "no merry thing for nature," but it is the star's own road — the star that "leads us down toward Bethlehem," into the lowliness where God is found — and on it we learn "betimes the song of praise of Mary," the Magnificat of the lowly handmaid whom God fills.
The letter is also touchingly human. Tersteegen renews the New-Year covenant of spiritual friendship first mentioned in Brief 92 (sharing "our little morsels… love and sorrow in common"). He confesses he is "still very faint… especially sick in the head," and must keep the letter short — then makes his very weakness the occasion of the closing blessing, Paul's "my strength is made perfect in weakness." It was written on the same day as Brief 94.
A few words and echoes.
- "God has an unspeakable longing to impart Himself." 2 Peter 1:4, "partakers of the divine nature" — Tersteegen's constant theme of God's self-communication, here cast as divine longing.
- "It pains a mother… when she has full breasts." Isaiah 66:11, "that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations"; and the "pure milk of God" is 1 Peter 2:2, "desire the sincere milk of the word." God as nursing mother is a bold, biblical image.
- "Whoever is the poorest will get the most… bosom-children, once we have first become beggar-poor." Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Poverty of spirit is the sole capacity for God.
- "The star that leads us down toward Bethlehem." Matthew 2:2, 9 — but note the direction: the star leads down (hinab), into humility and littleness. Epiphany read as descent.
- "The song of praise of Mary. Luke 1." Tersteegen's citation — the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55): "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden… he hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away." The whole letter is a commentary on that reversal.
- "Share our little morsels… bear love and sorrow in common." Galatians 6:2, "bear ye one another's burdens" — the same New-Year covenant of the "childlike-minded" named in Brief 92.
- "Something angelic about it." The childlike love among the brethren has "something angelic" (was Englisches) — a foretaste of heaven — which "the great and clever" cannot share "until they too come down."
- "That His strength be perfected in our weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" — his sick head becomes the very proof of the promise.
- "Bless His inheritance… let children yet be born to Him, like the dew out of the dawn." Psalm 28:9, "bless thine inheritance"; and Psalm 110:3, "from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth" — the closing prayer for the growing family of God.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-095 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.