God's good-pleasure is the soul's only rest and blessedness. A wish for parents, and short remembrances to some awakened souls.
The Hundred-and-twenty-second Letter.
God's good-pleasure is the soul's only rest and blessedness. A wish for parents, and short remembrances to some awakened souls.
My beloved brother in Jesus!
Having just now a free little hour, I find myself moved to visit you with a few lines, and to greet you in Jesus' Name. May He Himself bless you from His sanctuary, and speak peace into you! Dear brother! my heart is much with you; but the impressions I have from time to time of you or of your state, I do not build so much upon; I also soon forget such things again. Only, when you are so laid upon my mind, then I offer you up to the Lord, that He may look upon you, and take you up, and give you that which I would wish for myself!
You desire to will nothing, but to please Him, as you write. Yea! Amen! let it vanish, and be consumed by the flames of love and of the cross, where yet another willing and desiring would want to arise! In this mind alone you will, with me, be able to find your rest and your blessedness. God's eternal love in Christ has purchased and chosen us for Himself, and is now certainly in our inmost part unspeakably near and always at work, (whether we may know and feel it, or not) to take us wholly unto Himself, and to prepare us according to His eternal and dearest good-pleasure. Let us seek to remain near to Him in the Spirit, that He may become truly mighty of us, and that we may keep in the Spirit the right taste in His holy ways, and may forget and give up our own good-pleasure, in order to enter into His good-pleasure! Then this I assure you, my dear brother! if you do not find it there in the Spirit, with me, you find nowhere what delights you.
God knows the weakness you have in the sensible part, therefore He must keep you at the side by a little cross, as with a thorn-hedge, or yet leave you somewhat in the bareness, that you may walk so much more safely and straightly. Now, we are not to regard ourselves; we are the Lord's, enough! when we please Him, and have our good-pleasure in Him alone.
I was glad to receive some news of the dear hearts there: Jesus bless them!
I greet your dear father and mother heartily, and wish them, that in old age, with us, they may become eager suckling children again! Great people eat two or three times a day; but the little children must often, and almost always, lie at the breast. Ah my God! make us yet truly thirsty, eager and childlike, that we may pray without ceasing, so that we may grow in the inward man, the more the outward man decreases. Greet dear brother A. brotherly; may the sweet love tinge him ever more!
Let N. only turn all her liveliness upon the good, and practise herself as well as she can! She may well so always give her senses a good object, be it in reading; in recalling this or that truth; to sing a little verse; or to speak a word with the present God; that her senses may not flutter about too much: Yet she must also by degrees learn, under the unwilling distractions, to be somewhat still, to wait, and to look upon Him who can command wind and sea.
Toward N. I have the confidence that she has caught sight of the inward foot-path. Let her little eye only remain turned inward, and follow Him who meets her there, so it will become ever more beautiful.
I pray N., for Jesus' sake, that she would not become weary nor faint-hearted in the fight! She is truly called to something genuine; let her not sell, for the best of the world, the pearl offered her, which she will ever more costly recognize.
God have mercy upon N. and become too mighty for her, that she may be snatched as a brand out of the fire! I cannot yet forget her, but look upon her with a lamenting heart. Ah Jesus, snatch her to Thee!
These now named, and those who have otherwise come to know me there, whom I do not name for want of time, greet heartily from me. Jesus, our good Shepherd, who has given His life for us poor lost sheep, and has called us according to His mercy with a holy calling, may He watch, keep and lead them all, with us, that none remain behind, but that we meet again before His face with endless joy! Amen. Jesus!
Now I must break off, heartily greeting and kissing you in the Spirit of the love of Jesus, who would pierce ever more through our inmost part! I remain by grace.
Mülheim, the 7th of August, 1749.
German
Der hundertundzweiundzwanzigste Brief.
GOttes Wohlgefallen ist der Seelen einzige Ruhe und Seligkeit. Wunsch an Eltern und kurze Erinnerungen an einige aufgeweckte Gemüther.
Mein herzgeliebter Bruder in JEsu!
Da eben ein freies Stündgen habe, finde mich bewogen, dich mit ein paar Zeilen zu besuchen, und in JEsu Namen zu grüssen.
— 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. An August letter of the 7th, 1749, from Mülheim to Johann Engelbert Evertsen of Barmen (the old print suppresses the name; the hand names him). The argument: God's good-pleasure is the soul's only rest and blessedness; a wish for parents, and short remembrances to some awakened souls. (The autograph is longer: household names, a visit in the Bergish country, preacher Eberhard, a professor from Lingen. The reader text follows the old print, which shortens it.)
A free little hour. He has just now a free little hour, and finds himself moved to visit the brother with a few lines, and to greet him in Jesus' Name. May He Himself bless you from His sanctuary, and speak peace into you. His heart is much with the brother; the impressions he has from time to time of him or of his state, he does not build so much upon. Only, when the brother is so laid upon his mind, then he offers him up to the Lord.
In this mind alone. The brother desires to will nothing, but to please Him. Yea, Amen: let any other willing be consumed by the flames of love and of the cross. In this mind alone — only by this — will he, with Tersteegen, be able to find rest and blessedness. God's eternal love in Christ has purchased and chosen them, and is unspeakably near in the inmost part, always at work to take them wholly unto Himself. Then this he assures him: if you do not find it there in the Spirit, with me, you find nowhere what delights you.
A little cross. God knows the weakness in the sensible part, and must keep him at the side by a little cross, as with a thorn-hedge, or leave him somewhat in the bareness, that he may walk more safely. We are not to regard ourselves; we are the Lord's, enough, when we please Him, and have our good-pleasure in Him alone.
Parents, and the awakened there. He was glad of news of the dear hearts there. He greets the dear father and mother, and wishes that in old age they may become eager suckling children again. Great people eat two or three times a day; little children must almost always lie at the breast. Ah my God, make us thirsty, eager and childlike, that we may pray without ceasing, and grow in the inward man as the outward decreases. Greet brother A.; may the sweet love tinge him. Then several sisters, left as N. in the print: let one turn her liveliness upon the good, and give her senses a good object — reading, a truth recalled, a little verse, a word with the present God — and learn under unwilling distractions to be still, and to look upon Him who can command wind and sea. Another has caught sight of the inward foot-path; let her little eye remain turned inward. Another is prayed not to become weary in the fight, nor to sell the pearl. Another: God have mercy, and snatch her as a brand from the fire. Ah Jesus, snatch her to Thee. Jesus our good Shepherd keep them all, that none remain behind. Amen. Jesus.
By grace. Now he must break off, heartily greeting and kissing the brother in the Spirit of the love of Jesus. I remain by grace. Mülheim, the 7th of August, 1749.
A few words and echoes.
- beloved brother in Jesus. Rule B arm 2 — the compound Herzgeliebter, not two-word herzlich geliebter. Leaf hertzgeliebter WITH tz.
- a free little hour. ein freies Stündgen — diminutive -gen, not -chen.
- speak peace into you. spreche dir Frieden ein.
- then I offer you up. dann opfere ich dich dem HErrn auf — consecutive dann, kept (his ² im Gebet.).
- In this mind alone. In diesem Sinn allein — only by this, not "by yourself."
- in Him alone. an ihm allein unser Wohlgefallen — our good-pleasure in Him only.
- Then this I assure you. Dann das versichere ich dich — consecutive Dann, kept (1799 Denn not adopted).
- a little cross. ein kleines Kreuzgen.
- thorn-hedge. Dornhecke (1799 Dornenhecke not adopted).
- the dear hearts there. dasigen lieben Herzen (his ⁵ von den dortigen (in Barmen).).
- your dear father and mother. l. Vater und Mutter (his ⁶ Peter Evertsen. · ⁷ Anna Margaretha Evertsen. live at Recension).
- suckling children. säugende Kinder — the old at the breast again.
- pray without ceasing. his German, not a KJV insert (his ⁸ 2.Kor 4,16.).
- brother A. (his ⁹ Abraham Evertsen.).
- tinge him. tingire (his ¹⁰ durchfärbe … tingieren).
- N. — the print anonymizes; the hand names them (his ¹¹–¹², ¹⁷, ¹⁹, ²¹ live at Recension).
- a good object. einen guten Vorwurf (his ¹³ Gegenstand; Vorbild.).
- by degrees. allgemach (his ¹⁴ allmählich.).
- unwilling distractions. widerwilligen Zerstreuungen (his ¹⁵).
- who can command wind and sea. his German (his ¹⁶ Mt 8,27.).
- the pearl. his German (his ¹⁸ Mt 13,45f.).
- a brand out of the fire. his German (his ²⁰ Sach 3,2.).
- Ah Jesus, snatch her to Thee. God-apostrophe; dir → Thee.
- our good Shepherd. (his ²⁵ Joh 10,12 und 17. · ²⁶ 2.Tim 1,9.).
- I remain by grace. no standalone Dein on this leaf.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiii-122 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.