Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil IV (1775)

Blessing-wish upon homecoming from a friends' visit.

Bd II · Th IV · Brief 117 · Der hundertundsiebenzehnte Brief

Addressee, date, and source

Addressee — To N. N. Leaf centered N. N. under the argument — name unknown. No salutation line (opens Mit allem Vergnügen…)
Date — Undated on the leaf (no dateline or place-line; closes with …in uns und in allen! Amen. + ornament).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (Theil IV, pp. 287–288), 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 Seventeenth Letter.

Blessing-wish upon homecoming from a friends' visit.

N. N.

With all pleasure and thankfulness toward God I see from your two little letters the happy accomplishment of your double journey. —— Praised and loved be the Lord also for all goodness shown thereunder! May He now also let a double blessing cleave thereon, and give again double grace for collectedness and for readiness to recite the lessons of the school of Christ, received also mediately from your fellow-scholars, at your ordinary post! Should it still go somewhat stammeringly, then we will as good children help one another thereon, and say a little word in the ear, so long as we are still together in the school. Then that is just so; we are not far from one another in the spirit, and I pray the dearest Savior from the heart, that He also, as a good Master, may remain near you, and help you right everywhere!

You will then surely find your exercise again. Now the Lord will see that such is needful; He will also give grace, to look finely childlike upon Him, to nestle yourselves, and to leave nature fastened to the cross. It is indeed true, everything is a small thing, when only the spirit has air. Yet also all oppressions of the spirit and sufferings are a small thing, to testify our reciprocal love to our dearest Jesus only in some measure; if we only please Him; if we only are furthered; what is it to us? May Jesus only spread His kingdom abroad in us and in all! Amen.

❦

German

Der hundertundsiebenzehnte Brief.

Segens-Wunsch bey Nachhauskunft von Freunden-Besuch.

N. N. Mit allem Vergnügen und Erkänntlichkeit gegen GOtt ersehe aus euren beyden Brieflein die glückliche Vollziehung eurer doppelten Reise.

— 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 undated letter to N. N.: a blessing-wish upon homecoming from a friends' visit; the double journey accomplished; a double blessing and double grace for collectedness and readiness to recite the lessons of Christ's school at the ordinary post; if it still goes stammeringly, fellow-scholars help one another; the dearest Savior as Master near; nature fastened to the cross; even oppressions of the spirit are a small thing to testify reciprocal love to Jesus.

How to read the German. The panel is the 1775 first-edition wording in the house orthography used for Band II / Th IV. Distinctive KEEP forms (bey / beyden / beysammen, sey, Erkänntlichkeit, bekleiben, Mit-Schülern, Lectionen, ordinairen, stammlend, Wörtgen, Heyland, Herzen, nöthig, Creutz, wann, Leyden, Uebung, Geistes-Bedrückungen, in etwa, 117te, JEsu / JEsus) stand as on the leaf. House folds include schencke→schenke, GOTT→GOtt, and Versalien → digraph GOtt / HErr / JEsu / JEsus. Herzen KEEP already-z; Creutz KEEP tz.

English choices. you/your for the addressee (ihr); no Rule B salutation; divine names ordinary. schon → surely. No authorial emphasis (§9d). Close: Amen.

How the German reads here. Panel KEEP forms (bey, sey, Creutz, Leyden, Heyland, nöthig, Erkänntlichkeit, stammlend, Wörtgen, ordinairen, Lectionen, Mit-Schülern, bekleiben) stand; schencke / GOTT are folded by the house rules.

A few words and echoes.

"Schule Christi… guter Meister" — the school of Christ; the good Master.
"Natur am Creutz geheftet" — nature fastened to the cross.
"Königreich aus in uns und in allen" — kingdom spread abroad (cf. the recurring Tersteegen wish).

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, IV. Theil, Brief 117 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-117.html.

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