Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil III (1775)

To a patient, on the words of Psalm 73:22: "And I must be as a beast before Thee."

Bd II · Th III · Brief 50 · Der fünfzigste Brief

Addressee — To Johann Schmitz, at Solingen — the intermediary through whom Tersteegen had news of the gravely ill Wilhelm Weck (Briefe 47, 49); he is asked to convey the counsel and greetings to "the patient" (Weck). The print's argument frames it "To a patient" (the message is for Weck); the actual recipient is Schmitz. Written in the intimate du (English you). Salutation Geliebter Bruder! → "Beloved brother!"
Date — Mülheim, 26 March 1744 — the GEB dateline reads Mülheim, den 26. März 1744.
Provenance — *Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (GEB, Theil III, pp. 150–151), in normalized GS-1845 house orthography. All rendered words in the reader panel are from the public-domain 1775 print.

The Fiftieth Letter.

To a patient, on the words of Psalm 73:22: "And I must be as a beast before Thee."

Beloved brother!

It is very dear to us to receive some news of the illness of the dear brother N. ——

Please convey to the dear patient my brotherly greeting, and that of us all (be it by word of mouth or in writing), together with the two verses from Psalm 73 — namely the 22nd and the 23rd. We remember him, in weakness, before God; we have also sung with him the three verses he set us from the well-known hymn, and remain, for the rest, standing with him in the membered fellowship of the spirit — taking part in his inward and outward circumstances, and wishing him from the heart all grace, blessing, and the intimate assistance of our dear High Priest.

He lets us know that he lies there like a beast. —— Yes, then let him be a beast — but a beast under the hand of our High Priest, one that lets itself be bound, struck, slaughtered, and offered up by Him, so that, when all the blood and humors of nature and self-love are drawn off and consumed, the pure spirit may rise up to God like an incense-offering, which may be pleasing to Him in Christ Jesus. May the dearest Saviour bind him fast, and hold him immovable, surrendered under His hand, until His divine work in him may be carried out. What does it matter about feeling? We are to believe that God is good, and to give ourselves over to Him.

Could I serve him in person in the illness, I would do it gladly; now I must pay my love with wishes and prayers. —— ——

Mülheim, the 26th of March 1744.

❦

German

Der fünfzigste Brief.

An einen Patienten über die Worte: Psalm 73, 22. Und muß wie ein Thier seyn vor dir.

Geliebter Bruder!

Es ist uns recht lieb, einige Nachricht von der Krankheit des l. Bruders N. zu bekommen. —— Du wollest dem lieben Patienten meinen, und unser aller brüderlichen Gruß (es geschehe nun mündlich oder schriftlich) überbringen, mit den zwei Versen aus Psalm 73. nämlich den 22ten und 23ten. Wir gedenken seiner in Schwachheit vor GOtt …

— 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 third and last of the Weck cluster (with the forty-seventh and forty-ninth). It is not addressed to the sick man himself but to Johann Schmitz, the friend through whom the news travelled; Schmitz is asked to carry the counsel and greetings on to "the patient." The old printed heading calls it "to a patient," because the substance is meant for Weck — a short meditation on the verse Weck himself had evidently quoted about his own condition, Psalm 73:22: "I was as a beast before Thee."

Tersteegen takes the self-abasing word and turns it, in one of his boldest images, into a figure of sacrifice. Weck "lets us know that he lies there like a beast. — Yes, then let him be a beast — but a beast under the hand of our High Priest, one that lets itself be bound, struck, slaughtered, and offered up by Him." The sickbed becomes an altar: "when all the blood and humors of nature and self-love are drawn off and consumed, the pure spirit may rise up to God like an incense-offering." Behind it stand the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22) and the incense of Revelation 8. The prayer that follows is all surrender: "May the dearest Saviour bind him fast, and hold him immovable, surrendered under His hand, until His divine work in him may be carried out." And, as so often, Tersteegen will not let the state of one's feelings be decisive: "What does it matter about feeling? We are to believe that God is good, and to give ourselves over to Him." He closes with the helplessness of the well toward the sick, and the one currency left to him: "Could I serve him in person in the illness, I would do it gladly; now I must pay my love with wishes and prayers."

The old printed collection abridged this letter — its cut-dashes ("——") mark where. A fuller early printing (a periodical of 1862) preserves what was cut: an opening line about letters received by way of Düsseldorf, and, at the end, a warm paragraph of greetings from the Mülheim circle that also contains a very practical medical instruction for the patient (that a clyster "had been exceedingly needful for him"), signed with Tersteegen's own name. Those recovered passages are given in the editorial apparatus, not here, since this reading text follows the printed copy-text; but they show again the pastor who was also his people's physician.

A few words and echoes.

as a beast before Thee. Psalm 73:22 — "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee."
the two verses… namely the 22nd and 23rd. Psalm 73:22–23 — "Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand."
our High Priest. Hebrews 3:1; 8:1–3.
bound, struck, slaughtered, and offered up. The sacrificial victim; the binding of Isaac, Genesis 22:8–10.
rise up to God like an incense-offering. Revelation 8:4 — the incense that ascends before God.
God is good. Psalm 25:8.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, III. Theil, Brief 50 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-050.html.

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