Letters · Erster Band · Theil II (1773)

God Himself draws our hearts to Him, and teaches us also to perceive His allurements in the ground.

Bd I · Th II · Brief 107 · Der hundertundsiebente Brief

Addressee — An einen ungenannten Bruder — "In der Gnade des HErrn vielgeliebter Bruder!", a man; courtesy 3rd-person throughout (Sein Angenehmes, den lieben Bruder, sein Andenken). He had sent Tersteegen a book by an author whom Tersteegen "visited in the year 1723 at N." Not further identified (1773-only). Courtesy register → English you.
Date — Mülheim, 6 Nov. 1736 (dateline in the print).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil II, pp. 323–324), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd 8) and Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Hundred-and-Seventh Letter.

God Himself draws our hearts to Him, and teaches us also to perceive His allurements in the ground.

In the grace of the Lord, dearly beloved brother!

Your welcome letter of the 13th of May I received, rather late but rightly, together with the book, for which I thank you; it was pleasant to me for the author's sake, because I visited him in the year 1723 at N. Otherwise I have, this year, ever experienced new frailties in my outward tabernacle, so alarming that I often thought I could write no further. Now God, the Father of spirits, be praised, who has brought us thus far, and has also prolonged our life; may it too be devoted to Him alone, and wholly employed to His glorification!

How unworthy is our life, when we do not live for God! And how poor are all our inward and outward doings that have not God and the Eternal for their aim! Since we are now, by nature, unspeakably turned away, and stand turned — in heart and intent — upon ourselves and upon the outward, it is indeed our chief duty, and the only way to peace, that we not only pray, "Turn our heart to Thee," but also, in still turning-inward, perceive how the faithful love of God announces itself with its instructions and allurements in the ground, and constantly calls us in, away from all other objects, to take all our mind's-powers to itself, that He may become our sole Object, Treasure, Stay, Life, and entire Salvation. What a mercy! that God, in Jesus' Name, has become — and wills to become — to us so inwardly-near a God of love, however unworthy we are in ourselves. Since, then, He wills to have and to love us, we surely ought to give ourselves up, and let ourselves be possessed and loved by Him, that He may make us lovable through His own love. He is it altogether. Before Him let all that is in us bow, and give the glory to His Name alone, for ever! Amen.

I greet the dear brother heartily, and commend myself to his remembrance before God; I desire to do the like, and remain

The beloved brother's

Mülheim, the 6th of November, 1736.

devoted [friend].

❦

German

Der hundertundsiebente Brief.

GOtt selbst zeucht unsere Herzen zu Ihm, und unterweiset uns auch Seine Lockungen im Grunde wahrzunehmen.

In der Gnade des HErrn vielgeliebter Bruder!

Sein Angenehmes vom 13ten Mai habe ziemlich spät, doch richtig erhalten mit samt dem Buch, wofür ich danke; es war mir wegen des Autoris angenehm, weil denselben im Jahr 1723 zu N. besucht habe.

— 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, warm reply to a brother who had sent Tersteegen a book — pleasant to him, he says, "for the author's sake, because I visited him in the year 1723." As so often in this stretch, he slips in a health note ("ever new frailties in my outward tabernacle… I often thought I could write no further") and turns it straight into praise: "God, the Father of spirits, be praised, who has brought us thus far."

Its argument. The title gives it: God Himself draws our hearts to Him, and teaches us to perceive His allurements in the ground. Our whole trouble, Tersteegen says, is that "by nature" we stand "turned, in heart and intent, upon ourselves and upon the outward." So the "chief duty and only way to peace" is twofold: not merely to pray — "Turn our heart to Thee" — but also, "in still turning-inward," to notice how "the faithful love of God announces itself with its instructions and allurements in the ground," forever calling us in "away from all other objects," so that God may become "our sole Object, Treasure, Stay, Life, and entire Salvation." The wonder of it is that "God, in Jesus' Name, has become… so inwardly-near a God of love, however unworthy we are" — and since He wills to love us, our part is simply to "give ourselves up, and let ourselves be possessed and loved by Him."

A few words and echoes.

"God Himself draws our hearts." John 6:44 — "no man can come to me, except the Father… draw him." The old verb zeucht is Luther's word for that drawing.
"The Father of spirits." Hebrews 12:9 — "be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live."
"My outward tabernacle." 2 Corinthians 5:1 / 2 Peter 1:13–14 — the body as a frail "tabernacle" soon to be put off; Tersteegen's word for his failing health.
"His allurements in the ground… our sole Object." Vorwurf here is the old sense of object of contemplation (not "reproach"): God draws the soul away from every other object of its gaze to be its one object. The love of God "announces itself in the ground" — in the deepest, quiet centre of the soul.
"Give the glory to His Name alone." Psalm 115:1 — "not unto us, O Lord… but unto thy name give glory."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, II. Theil, Brief 107 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-107.html.

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