Letters · Erster Band · Theil II (1773)

A brotherly letter of admonition to some friends living together.

Bd I · Th II · Brief 113 · Der hundertunddreizehnte Brief

Addressee — An die liebe Hausgenossen zu N. — a group of friends living together in one house ("Viele sehen auf euch da im Hause"), addressed with plural euch/ihr. Not further identified (1773-only). Plural → English you.
Date — Mülheim, 26 Jan. 1737 (dateline in the print).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil II, pp. 338–341), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd 8) and Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Hundred-and-Thirteenth Letter.

A brotherly letter of admonition to some friends living together.

To the dear housemates at N.

Ah, you dear souls! How troubled and grieved I am on your account! I love you all heartily, and it is, for this very love's sake, by no means indifferent to me how it stands with your souls. Did I not love you, I would say you not a word; for I say it to you with pain, yea with tears, that I do not know and see you as I would gladly see you, and also could see you, if you had otherwise faithfully used the time, the opportunity, and the grace that the Lord has given you before so many others.

I ought, indeed, first to remind and to bow myself in this point; but my love to you makes me forget myself for once, in order to ask you brotherly: What is it, then, that it goes no further with you? Ah! it stays so in one round: Knowing, Assenting, Willing — and yet always Complaining, and always keeping the same weaknesses and wretchednesses that were there a year and a day ago; that I cannot so make rhyme of. Where does it lie, then, with each one? Tell me simply! Is there somewhere a secret ban being harboured? Then give God the glory; venture your life, and lay it down unshrinkingly, that you may not always torment yourselves and hold your souls back. When you step to prayer, secret or open, it often goes so sluggishly, as if you were performing the most utterly useless work. Your turning to God is thus not cleared up, and not whole; there must be something in the way. It is as if I meant to give someone something, and yet did not stretch out my hand. There must be a free letting-go. God loves a cheerful giver. In the denial of your own selves you also do not come to grips with the matter; you do not know and hate this Self sincerely; its open outbreaks scarcely open your eyes: yet, how can the outbreaks be avoided, where one does not touch the root, and lay oneself rightly upon a dying life? A Christian must eat, drink, sleep, work, go and stand, speak and keep silence in death, and with a perpetual going-out of his Self. Ever he finds himself, but ever he loses himself. Whoever walks turned-inward is led by love into dying; he gets, in that point, opened eyes to see his own Self, so much so that he can no longer see it in others: and ah! that is where you too are lacking. There is no hearty composure, love, and union among one another. No one believes, with full truth and simplicity, that all others are better than himself. No one rightly seeks what is the other's. Each is concerned for himself, but quite wrongly; one does not share oneself brotherly with another in every way. One does not esteem and love one another as children of God. One will not lay oneself under another's feet. This grieves me; yea, thereby the Spirit of grace is grieved in you. Take more heed of the discipline and leading of this Spirit in you, and let it not come to admonitions from without; those come and go. But become followers of God, as the dear children. Many look upon you there in the house: ah, that you might all become a light in the Lord!

This little, with a running pen, because the friends are hurrying. Do write me, each one in particular, plainly and honestly, how it stands with him — that I may know what I have in you, because I am grieved on your account. Gladden me, then, and believe that I remain, through grace,

Your

Mülheim, the 26th of January, 1737. — least brother, housemate, and intercessor.

❦

German

Der hundertunddreizehnte Brief.

Brüderliches Ermahnungs-Schreiben an einige beysammen wohnende Freunde.

An die liebe Hausgenossen zu N. Ach, ihr liebe Seelen! Wie bin ich euretwegen so bekümmert und betrübt!

— 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 rare thing in the collection — a circular admonition to a whole household of friends who lived together (a small community), written "with a running pen, because the friends are hurrying" (a courier was waiting). Its tone is unusually direct and grieved: "How troubled I am on your account!" — but grief born of love: "Did I not love you, I would say you not a word."

Its argument. Tersteegen names, plainly, what has gone wrong. The household is spiritually stalled — stuck "in one round: Knowing, Assenting, Willing — and yet always Complaining," keeping the very same faults "a year and a day" later. He probes for the cause: is there "a secret ban being harboured" — some hidden thing held back from God? If so, "give God the glory" and bring it to light. Their prayer has grown sluggish, "as if performing the most useless work," and their self-denial never reaches "the root": "you do not know and hate this Self sincerely." But his sharpest word is about their life together. They fail in mutual love: "no one believes… that all others are better than himself; no one rightly seeks what is the other's," "one will not lay oneself under another's feet" — and "thereby the Spirit of grace is grieved in you." The remedy is not more outward exhortation ("those come and go") but heeding "the discipline and leading of this Spirit," and so becoming "followers of God, as the dear children," "a light in the Lord" — for "many look upon you there in the house." He signs, characteristically, as their "least brother, housemate, and intercessor."

A few words and echoes.

"Give God the glory." John 9:24 — the Pharisees' words to the healed man, here turned into an invitation to honest confession: bring the hidden thing to light and own it before God.
"God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 — "God loveth a cheerful giver" — applied to the whole self: the surrender must be "a free letting-go," not a grudging one.
"That all others are better than himself." Philippians 2:3 — "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."
"The Spirit of grace is grieved in you." Ephesians 4:30 ("grieve not the holy Spirit of God") joined to Hebrews 10:29 ("the Spirit of grace").
"Become followers of God, as the dear children… a light in the Lord." Ephesians 5:1 ("be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children") and 5:8 ("ye are light in the Lord: walk as children of light").

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, II. Theil, Brief 113 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-113.html.

← Bd I · Th II · Brief 112 Bd I · Th II · Brief 114 →