Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil IV (1775)

Comfort to a sick one: That Jesus is within with us in the little ship, and suffers with us.

Bd II · Th IV · Brief 118 · Der hundertundachtzehnte Brief

Addressee, date, and source

Addressee — To N. N. Leaf centered N. N. under the argument — name unknown; body addresses liebe Schwester. No salutation line (opens Aus E. E. Letzterem…)
Date — Undated on the leaf (no dateline or place-line for Tersteegen's own letter; body cites the correspondent's Letzterem vom 2ten dieses; closes with …Je ärmer, je besser. + ornament).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (Theil IV, pp. 288–290), 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 Eighteenth Letter.

Comfort to a sick one: That Jesus is within with us in the little ship, and suffers with us.

N. N.

From your last of the 2nd of this, which as well as previous pleasant little letters I have rightly received, I see with brotherly sympathy that it has pleased dear God to visit you with sickness. Now, we are in the little ship of Christ: you know that we have all kinds of storms to expect. The best comfort is that we still have company, and that especially Jesus is within with us. Truly, we suffer nowhere alone. When a member suffers, then they all suffer; yea Jesus Himself suffers in and with us: that is indeed certainly true. Upon and into Him we are to let ourselves and our burdens fall down, and note ourselves as in His preparing hand, without occupying ourselves so much with ourselves, and with the things that meet us. We belong to Him, and He will well take the care for our matter upon Himself, when we only let Him do.

I say this not only with a view to your sickness, but to the remaining oppressions together. Do not picture to yourselves such heavy mountains. It will go well, dear sister, let us only once give our cares over, and leave it wholly upon the Lord; so He will surely show what He can.

Now, I trust to God, it will be of no important consequence with your sickness, of which I otherwise ask some news. I hope to hold you in my poor prayer. May Jesus strengthen you with His influence and divine presence! Seek nothing in yourselves, but everything in Jesus! The poorer, the better.

❦

German

Der hundertundachtzehnte Brief.

Trost an eine Kranke: Daß JEsus bey uns drinnen im Schifflein sey, und mit uns leyde.

N. N. Aus E. E. Letzterem vom 2ten dieses, welches sowohl als vorige angenehme Brieflein richtig erhalten, ersehe mit brüderlicher Theilnehmung, daß es dem lieben GOtt gefallen, euch mit Krankheit zu besuchen.

— 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 sick sister: comfort that Jesus is within with us in the little ship and suffers with us; storms are to be expected; when one member suffers, all suffer; cast selves and burdens upon Him; do not picture heavy mountains; leave it wholly upon the Lord; seek nothing in yourselves but everything in Jesus — the poorer, the better.

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, sey, leyde / leyden / leydet, Letzterem, Theilnehmung, wann, kan, seyn, Gebät, Schifflein arg / Schiflein body, in- und / Auf- und, ihme, Absicht, Bedrückungen, wissets, 118te, JEsu / JEsus) stand as on the leaf. House folds include gantz→ganz, Krancke→Kranke, Kranckheit→Krankheit, Wircklich→Wirklich, anmercken→anmerken, stärcke→stärke, GOTT→GOtt, and Versalien → digraph GOtt / HErr / JEsu / JEsus*.

English choices. you/your for the sister (ihr); liebe Schwester → dear sister (not Rule B); divine names ordinary. schon → surely. No authorial emphasis (§9d). No close line.

How the German reads here. Panel KEEP forms (bey, sey, leyde/leyden, Letzterem, Theilnehmung, wann, kan, seyn, Gebät, Schifflein arg / Schiflein body) stand; gantz / Krancke / Kranckheit / Wircklich / anmercken / stärcke / GOTT are folded by the house rules.

A few words and echoes.

"Wann ein Glied leydet, dann leyden sie alle" — 1 Cor. 12:26.
"Schiflein Christi… JEsus bey uns drinnen" — the little ship (body single-f; arg Schifflein ff); Jesus within (storm narratives).
"Lasten lassen niederfallen" — cast burdens down upon Him (cf. Ps. 55:22 / 1 Pet. 5:7 sense).
"Je ärmer, je besser" — the poorer, the better.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, IV. Theil, Brief 118 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-118.html.

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