An edifying conversation with the dying Brother H., together with an important reminder to the friends at C.
The Seventy-Fourth Letter.
An edifying conversation with the dying Brother H., together with an important reminder to the friends at C.
In the grace of Jesus, dearly beloved brother!
Your welcome letter of the 9th of this month I have duly received, together with the enclosures; and since on that very same day I had sent word thither to the friend N. of the circumstances of our dear Brother H., and his passage was moreover daily expected, I therefore, being myself also weak and faint, gave no answer again last post-day.
By these lines, then, I report that it has pleased the Lord in grace to loose the bonds of his mortal life on Saturday, the 13th, at ten o'clock in the evening, and by a gentle passage into eternity to make an end of his so long-drawn suffering; for which he had longed earnestly and believingly. In the forenoon, when he no longer took anything at all, and therefore, by reason of the stiffness of his tongue, could scarcely bring forth a word any more, I asked him once more concerning his inward state: whether he was at rest according to the spirit? And whether he believed that the God who had shown him so many mercies, had redeemed him so dearly by the blood of His Son Jesus, and had drawn him in grace to Himself, would now also at the last carry it out well and gloriously with him? He answered: Yes.
In the afternoon I had opportunity and impulse to speak to him more than usual, for his strengthening in faith and in love, although he lay quietly. At first I asked whether he still understood me? He said: perfectly; and to everything he answered, with much effort, Yes or Amen. I will simply set down the last that I can still remember having spoken with him, namely: "Now the Saviour is very near, my brother! Be of good comfort: He comes to take you to Himself out of all misery and distress. Go to Him in peace, and give over your spirit into His faithful hand! Let yourself sink down into the arms of His eternal love! Your spirit says: Come! Jesus says: Surely I come quickly. Amen! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" Thereupon the dying man said with emphasis: Amen! After some moments I said: "Praise, honour, adoration, love, and blessing be unto God and unto the Lamb that was slain for us, and that for you also was willing to taste death and to overcome it!" He answered: Amen! Afterwards I said further: "Jesus! in Thee I believe." The dying man answered: Amen! "Jesus! Thee I love. Jesus! Thee I adore. Jesus! into Thy hands will I lay down my spirit." Which he answered each time with an Amen, and the last with a repeated Amen. At about eight o'clock in the evening he fell into a brief oppression of fever, or of death, and wished to be laid straight, which at first, for want of speech, could not be understood; but when at last it had been hit upon, he fell as into a good natural sleep, so that one came to wonder whether he might not yet get through that night also. Now since three other brethren were also there, besides his niece A., they kept urging me to go home, since I had myself been weak for a couple of days; but I was inwardly held, and as I drew nearer the bed after half past nine, I perceived that he would so gently fall asleep into death; wherefore, with those standing by, I once more offered him up with a sigh to God, his Origin and Redeemer; whereupon with that prayer he ended also his temporal life, as it drew on ten o'clock — and he had journeyed as a pilgrim seventy years and seven months in this wretched tabernacle.
The departed brother, whose faded body will tomorrow, being Wednesday, be sown into the earth, soon to spring up green again out of the earth as good wheat, desired that I should make known his departure also to you brethren and good acquaintances there, and request that you would thank the Lord for all the graces shown him, and that He had at last redeemed him out of all misery by a believing death. He thanks all the friends for all the love and brotherly friendship ever enjoyed from them, wishing them from his heart all divine influence, that they may be prepared and perfected in grace, unto the eternal glory of God. These are his own words, which he spoke to me.
C. also has heard the faithfully meant admonitions of this our brother for many years, publicly and in private. God grant that it be not fruitless with all! One thing is certain: the Lord will soon come and see whether the fig tree also has fruit, which He has now for many a year visited, spared, and dunged. Luke 13. Let each one of us take it to heart for himself! All inward convictions and stirrings of grace, as well as every word of God that comes to our ears, or in writing before our eyes, is a testimony unto us; it must not return void again — that is not at all good for the poor hearts. I wish, then, before the face of God, that from C. also, if possible, not a single one may be missing, but that all may one day be joined again to the departed brother before the face of God! Could we hear him speak to us once more out of eternity — assuredly, his testimony would not indeed be altered, but it would be incomparably weightier: for so he said to me once already in his illness: that everything he had formerly spoken and perceived of the truth now seemed to him but as letters, in comparison with what was now being opened up to him of it in his illness.
For shortness of time I must herewith break off. May Jesus reign and live ever more fully in us, and draw our spirit mightily away from all that is visible into the heavenly being! I greet your whole house, all good acquaintances, and in a word the whole C. congregation, as you know. My housemates, and other good friends, also Brother H.'s niece A., likewise greet all. Pray also for me! The grace of God and His divine peace be with us! In Him I remain
Your
weak fellow-brother.
Mülheim, 16 August 1746.
P. S. I request you to communicate the contents to all acquainted friends, together with my hearty greeting. Two days before the dear brother's decease I asked whether he still felt much pain and hardship? He said: Yes, there is not a little spot on my body free from pain; especially I have a great burning within, and then I suffer much in my back (which had become quite raw with lying), and in other places. I asked further: How is it then with you as to surrender? Does the Lord still give sufficient patience? Whereupon he answered: Ah yes! that I hope.
German
Der vierundsiebzigste Brief.
Erbauliche Unterredung mit dem Sterbenden Bruder H. nebst einer wichtigen Erinnerung an die Freunde zu C.
In der Gnade JEsu herzlich geliebter Bruder!
Dein Angenehmes vom 9ten dieses, habe samt den Einschlüssen richtig erhalten; da ich nun auch eben selbigen Tag dorthin an den Freund N. von denen Umständen unsers lieben Bruders H. Nachricht gegeben, und man auch seinen Uebergang täglich erwartete, als habe, weil auch selber schwach und matt …
— 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 sequel to the sickroom report, written three days after the death it announces. The dying man of the last letter — Wilhelm Hoffmann — died on Saturday the 13th of August at ten in the evening, seventy years and seven months old, and Tersteegen, who was at the bedside, writes to Krefeld with the whole last day in his hands: the morning questions, the afternoon prayers, the evening sleep, the final sigh. The subtitle calls it an "edifying conversation," and that is exactly what it records — a conversation carried on to the very border, with a man who could answer only "Yes" and "Amen."
The last day. In the morning, his tongue already stiffening, Hoffmann is asked the two great questions — whether he is at rest according to the spirit, and whether he believes that the God who has shown him so many mercies and redeemed him so dearly by the blood of His Son will now carry it out well and gloriously with him. He answers: Yes. In the afternoon come the prayers that make the letter's heart. Tersteegen speaks the departure over him in the words of the last page of the Bible — your spirit says, Come; Jesus says, Surely I come quickly; Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus — and the dying man answers every sentence with his laboured Amen. Then the short creed, sentence by sentence: Jesus, in Thee I believe. Jesus, Thee I love. Jesus, Thee I adore. Jesus, into Thy hands will I lay down my spirit. Each answered with an Amen, and the last with a doubled one. At ten he ends his life "with that prayer" — offered up to God, his Origin and Redeemer, in a single sigh.
The reminder to the friends. The burial notice turns, halfway, into the "important reminder" of the title. The dead man had heard and given faithful admonitions in Krefeld for many years; now the Lord will come and see whether the fig tree He has so long visited, spared, and dunged has fruit. Every conviction, every stirring of grace, every word of God heard or read is a testimony — and a testimony must not return void. The letter's most piercing sentence is the dead man's own: could we hear him speak once more out of eternity, his testimony would not be altered — only incomparably weightier; for already in his illness he had said that everything he had ever spoken and seen of the truth now seemed to him but as letters compared with what was being opened to him now.
The postscript. Two days before the end, the plain human questions: does he still feel much pain? Yes — no spot on the body free of it, a burning within, the back lain raw. And how is it with surrender — does the Lord still give patience enough? "Ah yes! that I hope." The report's honesty is its comfort: the grace in this deathbed is not the absence of misery but the Amen spoken inside it.
A few words and echoes.
- he comes to take you to himself. The deathbed liturgy is built from Revelation's last verses — "the Spirit and the bride say, Come"; "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
- the Lamb that was slain. Revelation 5:12 — the doxology spoken over the dying man, with the added clause that the Lamb "for you also was willing to taste death and to overcome it" (Hebrews 2:9).
- into Thy hands will I lay down my spirit. The old commendation — "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" — put into the dying man's own mouth, and answered with the doubled Amen.
- oppression of fever, or of death. Todes-Benautheit — the old Low-German word for the tightening and constriction of the end; the letter names it without flinching.
- this wretched tabernacle. The "earthly house of this tabernacle" of 2 Corinthians 5:1 — seventy years and seven months a pilgrim's tent.
- sown into the earth… as good wheat. The burial hope of John 12:24 and 1 Corinthians 15 — the corn of wheat that dies, the body sown to spring green again.
- the fig tree. Luke 13:6–9, the letter's own citation — visited, spared, and dunged for many a year; the reminder is that the Owner will come and look for fruit.
- it must not return void. Isaiah 55:11 turned into a warning: the word that accomplishes nothing in its hearers still returns — as testimony.
- but as letters. Nur noch wie Buchstaben — the dying man's estimate of all his own past knowledge of the truth, next to what the illness was opening to him; the letter's deepest sentence.
- surrender. Gelassenheit — the house's word throughout these letters; on a deathbed it stops being a doctrine.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-074 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.