Letters · Erster Band · Theil II (1773)

Answer to this person, who is raised up in heavy inward sufferings. NB. Her own little letter is printed before it.

Bd I · Th II · Brief 123 · Der hundertunddreiundzwanzigste Brief

Addressee — An eine Schwester (Tersteegen's reply) — "In JEsu vielgeliebte Schwester!", a woman in acute inward suffering, addressed with intimate du; her own letter is inserted first (salutation "In JEsu herzlich-geliebter Bruder!", subscription "Dein unwürdiges Mitglied. N. N."). Not further identified (1773-only; the "N. N." is the print's own suppression). Intimate du → English you.
Date — Mülheim, 27 April 1737 (Tersteegen's reply; the inserted letter is undated).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1773 first edition (Theil II, pp. 362–365), in normalized GS 1845 orthography, collated against the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd 8) and Hartman's 1819 reprint. All public-domain.

The Hundred-and-Twenty-Third Letter.

NB. Because one had at hand the little letter to which the following letter is an answer, it was thought not unserviceable to insert it here.

[The inserted little letter:]

In Jesus heartily-beloved brother! I find my mind inclined to write this little to you, and to say that, since you were last with me, it has gone very near to me that I made you suffering and grieved you. Forgive it me, my dear brother! I cannot do otherwise, however gladly I would; my soul is all around troubled and distressed. O that I might rest in the time of these tribulations! May the eternal Love, opened in the sweet name of Jesus, yet look upon me, wretched one, and show itself near to my dry and languid ground; then all the dark assaults and bitter powers of nature and self-will must surely fall, and become powerless. Dear brother! let it go to your heart, and pray to God that He may glorify Himself and make Himself great in me, unworthy creature; I desire to know Him and to confess Him as the one and highest Good, as the alone most lovable Being, before whom my whole self justly bows, through a childlike surrender and adoring. If only I might not sin — though my inward and outward [self] should consume itself in cross and suffering, what does it matter concerning me! It is fitting that I, as a little worm, be trodden down and annihilated. May the dear God strengthen me with a still and peaceable courage, that I may cleave to Him, and let go all that He takes. I commend us to the faithful Love, and myself once more to your remembrance, dear brother, and remain Your unworthy member. N. N.

Answer to this person, who is raised up in heavy inward sufferings. NB. Her own little letter is printed before it.

In Jesus dearly beloved sister!

That your little letter was dear to me, I have let you know; as also, that you might just be at rest concerning this — that you should have caused me suffering: I would not know whereby such a thing should have happened; and besides, true friendship takes all in love.

You and I have caused our best Friend the highest sufferings; yet I trust He will not reproach us with it. Now He again gives you a good deal of suffering; that too you will not take amiss; it is all love. Whoever will not suffer, does not love. I believe that I have a true fellow-suffering with you in your present distresses; and however weak I am in body and soul, yet it seems to me I would gladly, in God's power, take off from you the sufferings by half. But no! this can be no true fellow-suffering. The love of Jesus to your soul is infinite; He alone has a true fellow-suffering; He sees your sufferings in all their circumstances; He could, in a moment, change your pain into nothing but paradisal joys — and yet He not only does it not, but it is precisely His friend-hand that reaches you the sufferings, because He seeks not your sensible and temporal, but your true and everlastingly-abiding good and welfare.

So suffer then, because the Lord wills it, and as He wills it, from moment to moment; but do not examine and judge your state too closely; the confusions and darknesses do not permit you to judge it fittingly. I am set at rest about it; there is nothing there to fear. Walk in the freedom, as one who is given away into another's hand. You will not sin, but love and glorify God purely; but do not look too closely and always whether you do, or have done, the one thing or the other. God will care for you, and carry out His work: He alone is unchangeably good, holy, all-sufficient, and blessed; this is enough. In His name we bow our knees forever. May He remain near you, and bless you!

Your

Mülheim, the 27th of April 1737. poor fellow-brother.

❦

German

Der hundertunddreiundzwanzigste Brief.

NB. Weil man das Brieflein, worauf der nachstehende Brief eine Antwort ist, mit dabei hatte; so hat man nicht für undienlich erachtet, selbiges hier mit einzurücken.

— 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. Unusually, the 1773 edition gives us both sides. A short editorial note ("NB.") explains that the little letter Tersteegen is answering was "at hand," and so was "printed before" his reply — and there it stands: a woman's own letter of anguish, followed by his answer. The pairing is one of the most moving in the collection.

Her letter. She writes in real distress. On his last visit she believes she "grieved" him, and it has "gone very near" to her; she begs his forgiveness — "I cannot do otherwise, however gladly I would." Her "soul is all around troubled," and she longs "to rest in the time of these tribulations." She asks him to "pray to God" for her, that God "may glorify Himself… in me, unworthy creature," and that she may "cleave to Him, and let go all that He takes." She signs herself "your unworthy member."

His answer. Tersteegen sets her at rest at once — he was not grieved, and "true friendship takes all in love." Then the letter opens into one of his deepest meditations on suffering as love. "You and I have caused our best Friend the highest sufferings, yet He will not reproach us." "Whoever will not suffer, does not love." He would gladly "take off half" her sufferings — "but no," only Christ has "a true fellow-suffering," who "sees your sufferings in all their circumstances" and could end them "in a moment," yet does not: "it is precisely His friend-hand that reaches you the sufferings," because He seeks "not your temporal, but your everlasting good." So the counsel: "suffer, because the Lord wills it, from moment to moment"; "do not judge your state too closely"; "walk in the freedom, as one given away into another's hand." It ends in pure trust: "God will care for you and carry out His work… In His name we bow our knees forever. May He remain near you, and bless you!"

A few words and echoes.

"As a little worm, be trodden down." Her own phrase, from Psalm 22:6 — "But I am a worm, and no man" — the language of the deepest abasement.
"That I might rest in the time of these tribulations." Habakkuk 3:16 — "that I might rest in the day of trouble."
"Whoever will not suffer, does not love." Tersteegen's compressed statement of the letter's whole argument: love and the willingness to suffer are one.
"His friend-hand reaches you the sufferings." The tender heart of the reply — the sufferings are not withheld love but love's own hand; cf. Hebrews 12:6, "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."
"God will care for you… carry out His work." 1 Peter 5:7 ("he careth for you") and Philippians 1:6 ("he which hath begun a good work… will perform it").
"In His name we bow our knees forever." Philippians 2:10 — "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, II. Theil, Brief 123 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-123.html.

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