Sigh for the inward love-nearness of God.
The Ninety-sixth Letter.
Sigh for the inward love-nearness of God.
Dearest brother!
My heart desires to greet you and to bless you in the Name of Jesus, and as in His presence.
O grace! O sweet Gospel! to have a God, a loving, all-sufficient, ever-living God so near, so most inwardly near. But, O misery! that we also, who believe such, so heedlessly flutter about, and do not seek duly to wait upon this our highest only Good, and to remain near, that we may find in Him what otherwise is nowhere to be found. Ah You sweet God! Rend all our bands; draw, gather and set us in Your inward love-nearness, that we may not faint and perish on the way, but all happily reach the goal of our calling, the actual re-union with You, our Origin!
When this morning, dear brother, this matter came so weightily upon the mind, I wrote it so simply down, in trust that it will be weighty to you all. — —
As concerns me, I live and hover and still love, however sluggish it may also always be. With brotherly compassion I behold your and the remaining ailing circumstances. — — Now, the Lord does it; He knows what serves each one. Otherwise it cannot be on earth; tomorrow it will become better.
Over this little writing the life-spirits are already as exhausted; yet our Prince of life has new ones. Praised be His Name! Greeting you in the Spirit of love, I remain
Mülheim, Yours in Jesus. the 6th of February, 1767.
German
Der sechsundneunzigste Brief.
Seufzer um die innige Liebes-Nahheit GOttes.
Liebster Bruder!
Mein Herze begehret dich zu grüßen und zu segnen in dem Namen JEsu, und als in seiner Gegenwart. O Gnade!
— 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 February letter of the 6th, 1767, from Mülheim to Johann Engelbert Evertsen at Barmen. His heart desires to greet the brother and to bless him in the Name of Jesus, and as in His presence. O grace, O sweet Gospel: to have a loving, all-sufficient, ever-living God so near; but O misery, that we who believe such so heedlessly flutter about, and do not seek to remain near. Ah You sweet God, rend our bands; draw, gather and set us in Your inward love-nearness, that we may not faint and perish on the way, but reach the goal of our calling, the actual re-union with You, our Origin. This morning the matter came so weightily upon the mind that he wrote it so simply down, in trust it will be weighty to them all. As concerns himself he still lives and loves, however sluggish it may be; with brotherly compassion he beholds the ailing circumstances; the Lord does it; He knows what serves each one; tomorrow it will become better. The life-spirits are already as exhausted; yet our Prince of life has new ones. Praised be His Name. Mülheim, the 6th of February, 1767.
O sweet Gospel: God so near. To have a God, a loving, all-sufficient, ever-living God so near, so most inwardly near. But O misery, that we also who believe such so heedlessly flutter about, and do not seek duly to wait upon this our highest only Good, and to remain near, that we may find in Him what otherwise is nowhere to be found. Ah You sweet God, rend all our bands; draw, gather and set us in Your inward love-nearness, that we may not faint and perish on the way, but all happily reach the goal of our calling, the actual re-union with You, our Origin. This morning the matter came so weightily upon the mind; he wrote it so simply down, in trust it will be weighty to them all.
As concerns me. He still lives and hovers and loves, however sluggish it may always be. With brotherly compassion he beholds the brother's and the remaining ailing circumstances. Now, the Lord does it; He knows what serves each one. Otherwise it cannot be on earth; tomorrow it will become better. Over this little writing the life-spirits are already as exhausted; yet our Prince of life has new ones. Praised be His Name. Greeting the brother in the Spirit of love, he remains Yours in Jesus. Mülheim, the 6th of February, 1767.
A few words and echoes.
- Dearest brother!
- My heart desires to greet you and to bless you. in the Name of Jesus, and as in His presence.
- O grace! O sweet Gospel! to have a God so near, so most inwardly near.
- a loving, all-sufficient, ever-living God.
- we who believe such. so heedlessly flutter about.
- this our highest only Good. wait upon Him, and remain near.
- what otherwise is nowhere to be found.
- Ah You sweet God! Rend all our bands. (Ps. 116:16)
- draw, gather and set us. in Your inward love-nearness.
- that we may not faint and perish on the way. (Ps. 2:12)
- the goal of our calling. the actual re-union with You, our Origin. (Phil. 3:14)
- this morning this matter came so weightily upon the mind. I wrote it so simply down.
- in trust that it will be weighty to you all.
- I live and hover and still love. however sluggish it may always be.
- with brotherly compassion. your and the remaining ailing circumstances.
- Now, the Lord does it. He knows what serves each one.
- Otherwise it cannot be on earth. tomorrow it will become better.
- the life-spirits are already as exhausted. yet our Prince of life has new ones. (Acts 3:15)
- Praised be His Name! Greeting you in the Spirit of love.
- Yours in Jesus. Mülheim, the 6th of February, 1767.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-096 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.