Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil III (1775)

That the great love of Jesus should stir us to love in return, to childlike trust, and to committal to Him in suffering and in dying.

Bd II · Th III · Brief 30 · Der dreißigste Brief

Addressee — Elisabeth Schröters — member of the Mennonite congregation at Krefeld (d. 1772). After the early death of Susanna Goyen née von der Leyen (1705–1735) she kept house for Arnold Goyen and brought up his two motherless daughters Catharina (b. 1734) and Elisabeth (b. 1735), and at times assisted Maria von der Leyen as companion and travelling attendant. In her old age she was cared for by her niece Maria von Laschet née Schröters (ca. 1735–1776), who said of the melancholy she had inherited from her: "Ich habe die größte Erbschafft von unserer Muhme gekriegt [die Schwermut], aber es ist niemand, der sie haben will." Salutation "In der Gnade unsers theuren Erlösers geliebte Freundin!" (plain geliebte — Rule B does NOT apply, no herzlich). Intimate du → English you.
Date — Mülheim, 28 September 1742 — print dateline "Mülheim, den 28. Sept. 1742.".
Provenance — All rendered words from public-domain prints.*

The Thirtieth Letter.

That the great love of Jesus should stir us to love in return, to childlike trust, and to committal to Him in suffering and in dying.

In the grace of our precious Redeemer, beloved friend!

If I, who have so little love, find myself moved at times to pray for you in weakness — then you may think how our man-loving Saviour Jesus, with His worthy and mighty intercession, will take up your cause, since He has loved you so much that He was even willing to die for you.

If you could believe that so simply, then you would love the Saviour very dearly; and it would seem a small thing to you to suffer something to please this dearest Merciful One — yes, even to die, if such were His will. Ah! who would not gladly do everything for the love and honour of so good a Friend, and be willing to accommodate himself in all things to His will? — for what we want is worth nothing; but what He wills, and how He deals with us, that is our blessedness, and so perfectly good that we could not devise or wish it better.

Since then you have done, or can do, so little for God's glory, let it be dear to your spirit that you can please Him now in this: that you suffer a little while, and that in living and in dying you unite yourself with His will. All your suffering comes from His love. He does not gladly let us suffer, but it must be — because without suffering and dying we cannot come to Him. When your suffering makes you unfit for prayer, then think how Jesus prays for you, and only say Amen to everything that He and His children pray; look up at Him now and again. When a sick child looks at its mother, that alone moves her heart. If your many sins, miseries and infirmities should come before your eyes, and try to bring you into doubt of God's grace and into fear of death and eternity, there is nothing better than that you simply confess the whole account, and own from your heart before the face of Jesus that you are unworthy of all grace, but worthy of damnation. Yes — believe that with inward truth, for so it is. But then, so wretched and stripped naked, look up at the crucified Saviour with an eye that expects nothing but grace from Him who is over-rich and generous in grace; there you will find rest for your soul, and may venture to pass over with Jesus into eternity — for the more we humble ourselves in truth, the more God's heart stands open to us.

So commit yourself then to the faithful hands of this God, in living and in dying! Lord Jesus, do with me as Thou wilt, in time and in eternity; I will give myself over to Thee into all Thy will; only let me love Thee, and be without end to Thy honour and joy. Amen, Jesus! Into Thy hands I commend my spirit, Amen! So pray, and so prays for you

Your well-disposed fellow-pilgrim toward eternity.

Mülheim, 28 September 1742.

❦

German

Der dreißigste Brief.

Die große JEsus-Liebe soll uns zur Gegen-Liebe, kindlichem Vertrauen und Ueberlassung an Ihn im Leiden und Sterben aufmuntern.

In der Gnade unsers theuren Erlösers geliebte Freundin!

Wann ich, der ich so wenig Liebe habe, mich manchmal bewogen finde, für dich zu beten in Schwachheit; dann kannst du denken, wie unser Menschliebender Heiland JEsus mit seiner würdigen und kräftigen Fürbitte sich deiner annehmen werde, da Er dich so sehr geliebet hat, daß Er auch für dich hat wollen sterben.

— 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. Elisabeth Schröters kept house in Krefeld for the widowed Arnold Goyen and raised his two motherless daughters; she was, by her family's own account, a woman of deep melancholy — her niece said she had inherited it from her, "and there is nobody who wants it." This letter finds her ill and low, and Tersteegen writes to her not about her suffering but about the love that has arranged it.

The letter opens by turning her attention away from her own weakness in prayer: if even I, "who have so little love," am moved to pray for you, then think what Christ's intercession must be — "since He has loved you so much that He was even willing to die for you." That becomes the practical counsel later, and it is one of the tenderest things in the collection: "when your suffering makes you unfit for prayer, then think how Jesus prays for you, and only say Amen to everything that He and His children pray; look up at Him now and again. When a sick child looks at its mother, that alone moves her heart." When sins and fears crowd in, the answer is not to argue them down but to concede everything: "confess the whole account, and own from your heart before the face of Jesus that you are unworthy of all grace, but worthy of damnation. Yes — believe that with inward truth, for so it is." And then, in the same breath, the turn that makes it gospel rather than despair: "so wretched and stripped naked, look up at the crucified Saviour with an eye that expects nothing but grace." The print sets three things in this letter apart — the without of "without suffering and dying we cannot come to Him"; the pronoun Him itself, in full capitals; and, a page later, God's grace — all preserved here in the italics and small capitals.

As in the letter to the sick sister at Solingen, he writes the prayer for her and sets it off in its own typeface — here at the very end, so she has words ready when her own fail: "Lord Jesus, do with me as Thou wilt… only let me love Thee… Into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Then a single line hands it over: "So pray, and so prays for you, your well-disposed fellow-pilgrim toward eternity."

A few words and echoes.

"He was even willing to die for you." John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 — "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
His worthy and mighty intercession. Hebrews 7:25 — "he ever liveth to make intercession for them"; Romans 8:34.
"without suffering and dying we cannot come to Him." Acts 14:22 — "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."
"there you will find rest for your soul." Matthew 11:29 — "and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
"Into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Psalm 31:5, and the Lord's own last word from the cross, Luke 23:46.
fellow-pilgrim toward eternity. Mitwallender — one journeying alongside; the signature makes the letter a companion's word, not a counsellor's.
"the more we humble ourselves in truth, the more God's heart stands open." Luke 18:13–14 — the publican who would not lift his eyes went down justified.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, III. Theil, Brief 30 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-030.html.

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