God's goodness shall move us to love Him and to forget ourselves.

What this letter is. The last letter of Theil III: a short October note of the 7th, 1751, from Mülheim to Anna Maria Elisabeth Schmitz — the same sister who, five years earlier, had asked him what true detachment was (Brief 72). He cannot buy an hour, so he steals a few lines to say the one thing: God is so good. She will think she already knows it. That, he says, is why it is always new, and worth double the postage when a brother who also knows it writes it. Then the old song again, a prayer that His love swallow the self still seen and found, and greetings to the other sister and the household.

Steal the time, and sing. "Can I not buy the time for it, to greet you with a couple of lines, then I must steal it, and tell you in haste that God is so good." The whole letter is that haste. She is a poor weak child — and so is he; if he were not, her coming out of order would dismay him. It will go with her as with children who fall asleep with sobs and wake with a smile, the sad pictures slept away. Then the song, old and yet ever new: God is good, and so good that He loves even such. Let us only love Him, and forget ourselves.

The prayer. "Ah yes, my God! it seems to me I love thee not, so long as I still see and find myself." His love is to swallow that myself, until only He and His goodness take all the devotion, and in Him even the strangest looks right good, and all, all things work together for good. Amen, Jesus. Then the cut, and the tender greeting — to her, to the dear sister, to the children here and the housemates. Your obliged fellow-brother. Mülheim, the 7th of October, 1751.

A few words and echoes.

• God's goodness. GOttes Gutheit — the letter's one message, and the argument's first half.
• steal the time. die Zeit darzu kaufen / stehlen — he cannot buy an hour, so he steals the lines.
• nothing else to say. nichts anders zu sagen — she will think she already knows it; he says that is why it is new.
• double postage. doppelt Porto — a brother's word that God is good is worth twice the sending.
• love Him in one another. ihn nur in einander lieben — better than loving Him alone, better even than loving one another in Him.
• poor weak child. armes schwaches Kind — she and he both; the song is that God loves even such.
• children who fall asleep with sobs. mit Schlucksen einschlafen, mit Lächlen wieder aufwachen — the weakness that cries itself to sleep and wakes smiling, the sad pictures slept away.
• my old and yet ever new song. meinen alten und doch immer neuen Gesang — the same three words, again: God is so good.
• forget ourselves. unserer selbst vergessen — the argument's other half, and the song's.
• this myself. dieses mich selbst — the self still seen and found; His love is to swallow it.
• even the strangest. auch das Wunderlichste — in Him it looks right good.
• all, all things. alle, alle Dinge zum Guten mitwirken — Romans 8:28, named in the letter.
• housemates. Hausgenossen — they greet with him; the household is in the letter to the end.