Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil III (1775)

To the same: to trust God, and to let oneself go in the anxieties.

Bd II · Th III · Brief 119 · Der hundertundneunzehnte Brief

Addressee — The GEB print suppresses the name ("An denselben"; salutation "In JEsu, unserem süssesten Heylande, hertzlich geliebter Bruder!" — Rule B arm 1; leaf hertzlich WITH tz, folded herzlich). Addressed du/dein/dich → you. No God-apostrophe with a pronoun.
Date — Mülheim, 17 July 1749 — a week after Brief 118 to the same sick brother.
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (Theil III, pp. 361–363), in normalized GS 1845 house orthography, collated against the 1798/99 second edition (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin). All rendered words come from public-domain prints.

The Hundred-and-nineteenth Letter.

To the same: to trust God, and to let oneself go in the anxieties.

In Jesus, our sweetest Saviour, dearly beloved brother!

I greet you once more in the name of Jesus, and as sitting before His holy Presence: may He bless you with love and peace from the Sanctuary, and remain near you, as your true and eternal Life and Salvation, unmoved!

I have not in my former made one and another testimony, as if I knew or suspected something of a doubt on your side: I write each time only so simply, as it is given me. In general I know that it is acceptable to the Lord, and wholesome for you, when you let yourself be kept now and unto the end in a very innocent childlike trust toward His unchangeable love and faithfulness, without seeking a ground for it in yourself. What is needful for you, and as it is needful for you, God will give or take from time to time, and make all well; for we belong to Him, and you are now very particulier in His hand: He be praised, that He visits you from time to time with His grace and love, and strengthens you according to need!

The intervening sufferings, darknesses, or anxieties must serve withal, only to let you go ever more naked and innocent, to be found in Jesus alone. Through this sweet, innocent, naked letting-go alone you will come out of all constriction, and find safety and room in God's bosom. This letting-go seems to be a losing, or even a being-lost; but one loses only one's own, and finds God, and in Him all: When therefore unrest or anxiety comes on, then incline yourself toward the side of the letting-go, and venture it only without scrupling, to let yourself fall so bare, even when you do not see whither? But if the Lord does not come to your help before the time in the letting-go, then suffer, and bear yourself as peaceably as you can, and hold out in the melting-crucible with trust. Ah, the Lord is with us in the distress; He sees us, even when we do not see Him. O how distinctly and impressively will you one day marvel at this! Soon it is done, when all covering, darkness and straitness will have vanished for ever. Be of good cheer, my brother! the blessed eternity draws near: Jesus live eternally in your heart! I greet and kiss in the Spirit, together with all the children here, etc. We all take you into our intercession.

Your

Mülheim, the 17th of July, 1749. — faithfully and eternally devoted brother.

❦

German

Der hundertundneunzehnte Brief.

An denselben; GOtt zu vertrauen, und sich selber in den Beängstigungen loß zu lassen.

In JEsu, unserem süssesten Heilande, herzlich geliebter Bruder!

Ich grüsse dich abermals in dem Namen JEsu, und als sitzende vor seiner heiligen Gegenwart: Er segne dich mit Liebe und Frieden aus dem Heiligthum, und bleibe dir, als dein wahres und ewiges Leben und Heil unverrückt nahe!

— 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. A July letter of the 17th, 1749, from Mülheim to the same brother as a week before — Johann Peter Schmitz of Solingen (the old print suppresses the name: "To the same"). The argument: to trust God, and to let oneself go in the anxieties.

No doubt on your side. He has not in his former letter made one and another testimony as if he knew or suspected a doubt on the brother's side: he writes each time only so simply as it is given him. It is acceptable to the Lord, and wholesome for the brother, when he lets himself be kept now and unto the end in a very innocent childlike trust toward His unchangeable love and faithfulness, without seeking a ground for it in himself. What is needful, and as it is needful, God will give or take from time to time, and make all well; for they belong to Him, and the brother is now very particulier in His hand. He be praised, that He visits him from time to time with His grace and love, and strengthens him according to need.

Let yourself go. The intervening sufferings, darknesses, or anxieties must serve withal, only to let him go ever more naked and innocent, to be found in Jesus alone. Through this sweet, innocent, naked letting-go he will come out of all constriction, and find safety and room in God's bosom. The letting-go seems a losing, or even a being-lost; but one loses only one's own, and finds God, and in Him all. When unrest or anxiety comes on, incline toward the side of the letting-go, and venture it without scrupling, to fall so bare, even when you do not see whither. If the Lord does not come to help before the time, then suffer, and bear yourself as peaceably as you can, and hold out in the melting-crucible with trust. Ah, the Lord is with us in the distress; He sees us, even when we do not see Him. Soon it is done. Be of good cheer: the blessed eternity draws near. Jesus live eternally in your heart.

A few words and echoes.

To the same. An denselben — the same Schmitz as 118.
dearly beloved brother. Rule B arm 1 on hertzlich geliebter Bruder — leaf hertzlich WITH tz; folded herzlich; do not flatten to heart's-brother.
our sweetest Saviour. leaf unserem (with e); leaf süssesten Heylande (y); panel Heilande.
as sitting. als sitzende (his ¹ gleichsam sitzend; vgl. Hebr 10,19 lives at Recension). Leaf sitzende (tz) kept; 1799 sitzend not adopted.
my former. in meinem Vorigen (his ² Erg.: Brief.).
childlike trust. Kinder-Vertrauen — compositor hyphen kept.
without seeking a ground for it in yourself. ohne Grund darzu in dir selber zu suchen — KEEP darzu (1799 dazu not adopted). Benrath italic on this stretch — 1775 Schwabacher UNDETERMINED; not italicized in the English.
very particulier. loanword; 1775 Antiqua (roman in the reader; italic here as a foreign word). His ³ auf sehr besondere Weise.
for we belong to Him. leaf causal dann wir gehören ihm zu → panel denn (§4).
let you go ever more naked and innocent. nackter und unschuldiger loß zu lassen.
naked letting-go. nackte Loßlassen — KEEP loß / Loßlassen.
God's bosom. in GOttes Schooß.
without scrupling. ohne Scrupuliren (his ⁴ ohne zu zweifeln).
before the time. vor die Zeit (his ⁵ zur Zeit, zu dieser Zeit; 1799 für die Zeit not adopted).
to your help. leaf Hülf (apocope; 1799 Hülfe not adopted).
as you can. als du kanst — Band II kanst → can.
melting-crucible. Schmeltz-Tiegel (tz in Schmeltz) → panel Schmelz-Tiegel.
Jesus live eternally in your heart. JEsus lebe ewig in deinem Herzen — the old print's Hertzen (tz — review-corrected 25 Aug 2026), in the house orthography.
faithfully and eternally devoted brother. treu- und ewig verbundener Bruder — standalone Dein → Your, never Yours.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, III. Theil, Brief 119 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-119.html.

← Bd II · Th III · Brief 118 Bd II · Th III · Brief 120 →