To a sick brother. An exhortation to entire committal into the hands of Jesus.
The Twenty-Sixth Letter.
To a sick brother. An exhortation to entire committal into the hands of Jesus.
Dearly beloved brother in the grace of Jesus!
With brotherly compassion I have heard that you are so sick. Be assured that I take part from my heart in your sufferings, and in my weakness lay you and yours down at Jesus' feet. Now, take courage then, in God's name! Commit yourself to Him who was willing to taste sickness and death for you, who loves you and means you, though you have loved Him so feebly — as I have too. Sickness is no misfortune, dying is not either: but to live or to die without Jesus, that is misfortune. So be sick then with Jesus, since it so pleases Him, and nestle into His heart and arms as well as you can, and say: Art Thou the Physician who carries the sick? On Thee will I lay myself, etc. Neither fear to die with Jesus, if He should show that such were His will. Ah! in that life we shall see and have the great Good which God Himself is. And if it seems to you that you are not right with Jesus, and He with you, then tell it Him with one glance of your inclination: that you can not and will not by any means be without Him, but would live and die with Him and at His feet, leaning upon nothing but His pure grace: With Thee I live, with Thee I soar, my Jesus, through joy and sorrow; with Thee I die, with Thee I inherit Thee and Thy salvation, etc.
If your sins, unfaithfulness, unthankfulness and lack of preparation come to mind — oh! do not in the least reckon with God's justice, but give yourself the blame throughout and from the heart; consent to everything, to God's just demands and to your general nothingness and misery: but also at the same time commit yourself unconditionally to His free grace in Christ, and entrust yourself to Him for ever. Ah! whoever entrusts himself to the eternal Faithfulness need henceforth take no care for himself — the Most High cares for him; He will keep well what is committed to Him, and will let no soul be put to shame that seeks its whole salvation in Him alone.
If you recover, then we will walk in Jesus with new faithfulness, and seek in His inward fellowship the completing of our sanctification. Now, dear brother! I know not in what state this letter will find you; therefore I break off, and say the rest to the Lord in my poor prayer: May He be most inwardly near you! May He strengthen, satisfy and bless you, in the power of the precious name of Jesus, Amen! To your dear wife, who is said to be sick also, be the same wished and written that I here write to you, for I have no more time or strength. All the dear children send hearty greetings. The God of peace be your God and eternal portion, and you eternally His; and I too shall, through His assistance, remain unturned
Your devoted fellow-brother.
Mülheim, 15 March 1742.
German
Der sechsundzwanzigste Brief.
An einen kranken Bruder. Ermahnung zur gänzlichen Ueberlassung in die Hände JEsu.
Herzlich geliebter Bruder in der Gnade JEsu!
Mit brüderlichem Mitleiden habe gehöret, daß du so krank bist. Sey versichert, daß ich von Herzen Theil nehme an deinen Leiden, und in meiner Schwachheit dich und die Deinige zu JEsu Füßen niederlege.
— 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. The sickness that has been moving through the Schmitz family of Solingen — the sister in the autumn, the father's death at year's end — has now reached a brother of the family — Johann Schmitz, whose exact kinship the sources leave open — and his wife besides. Tersteegen's letter to him is the shortest complete statement of his sickbed teaching: everything hangs on one sentence — "Sickness is no misfortune, dying is not either: but to live or to die without Jesus, that is misfortune." The point is never recovery; the point is company.
Twice the printer sets a saying apart in its own typeface, and both are words the sick man is to speak himself. The first is to his Physician: "Art Thou the Physician who carries the sick? On Thee will I lay myself" — the doctor who does not merely visit the patient but carries him. The second is a dying stanza to say: "With Thee I live, with Thee I soar, my Jesus, through joy and sorrow; with Thee I die, with Thee I inherit Thee and Thy salvation." And if sins and "lack of preparation" crowd in at the last, the counsel is the same the sister received: do not reckon with God's justice; consent to everything; and commit yourself unconditionally to free grace. Whoever does so "need henceforth take no care for himself — the Most High cares for him; He will keep well what is committed to Him."
A few words and echoes.
- who was willing to taste sickness and death for you. Hebrews 2:9 — "that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."
- the Physician. The old couplet is untraced, but the figure is Matthew 8:17 — "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses" — a physician who carries.
- what is committed to Him. 2 Timothy 1:12 — "he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day"; the old word here (Beylage) is the legal term for a deposit given into faithful hands.
- no soul be put to shame. Psalm 25:3 — "let none that wait on thee be ashamed."
- "The God of peace be your God." 1 Thessalonians 5:23 — the letter's farewell sets the name twice in full capitals, which the small capitals preserve.
- live or die. Romans 14:8 — "whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-026 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.