Encouragement to trust in God.
Addressee, date, and source
The Hundred and Thirty-eighth Letter.
Encouragement to trust in God.
Dear sister!
Do remain a simple child, and do not cast away your trust, which has a great reward: But if the trust falls from you, then stoop and look about a little, so you will find it again afterward well enough on the ground. God is good, and you are evil; that is the short reckoning: If you see the latter, then believe also the former; and if you feel the former, then do not forget the latter. At last the infinite ever-loving Good will make all well. Do not become dismayed, not troubled, not confused, when you find yourself miserable: So you are. Run not from but to the physician, when you are so extremely sick: If you cannot find him, then cease running, and remember that your physician is omnipresent and omniscient and also all-loving. In sins you were conceived; in sins it comes to birth; that you ought to feel a little, and praise him who is a Saviour for all the harm. Be of courage and rejoice. Do you not know over what you ought to rejoice? I will tell you: over our God, that he is so good, so mighty, so near and so blessed. Amen! May he bless you! Amen! Jesus.
German
Der hundertundachtunddreißigste Brief.
Aufmunterung zum Vertrauen auf GOtt.
Liebe Schwester!
Bleibe doch ein einfältiges Kind, und wirf dein Vertrauen nicht weg, welches eine große Belohnung hat: Fällt dir aber das Vertrauen ab, dann bücke und schicke dich ein wenig, so findest du es hernach auf dem Boden wohl wieder.
— 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 a sister: encouragement to trust in God; do not cast away trust, which has a great reward (Heb 10:35 echo); if trust falls, stoop and find it again; short reckoning — God is good / you are evil; when miserable, so you are — run to the physician, who is omnipresent; conceived in sins; be of courage and rejoice in our God who is good, mighty, near and blessed.
How to read the German. The panel is the 1775 first-edition wording in the house orthography used for Band II / Th IV (settled 2 Sep 2026). Distinctive KEEP forms (sey / Kanst / wann / böß / vergiß / getrost / dirs / 138te / all-liebend / JEsus) stand as on the leaf. House folds include grosse→große, kurtze→kurze, äusserst→äußerst, kranck→krank, gedencke→gedenke, Heyland→Heiland, GOTT→GOtt, Versalien → digraph. KEEP sey / Kanst.
English choices. you/your for the sister (du); Liebe Schwester → Dear sister; getrost → courage (Be of courage). Divine names ordinary. Modern morphology in ordinary prose (Jarred Rule C, 2 Sep 2026). Heb 10:35 echo narrated, not set-off KJV block — no decorative -eth. No authorial emphasis (§9d). Arzt Antiqua on leaf → roman (native German).
How the German reads here. Panel KEEP forms (sey / Kanst / wann / böß / vergiß / getrost / dirs) stand; grosse / kurtze / äusserst / kranck / gedencke / Heyland / GOTT are folded by the house rules.
A few words and echoes.
- "Aufmunterung zum Vertrauen auf GOtt" — encouragement to trust in God.
- "wirf dein Vertrauen nicht weg, welches eine große Belohnung hat" — do not cast away your trust, which has a great reward (Heb 10:35 echo).
- "GOtt ist gut, und du bist böß; das ist die kurze Rechnung" — God is good, and you are evil; that is the short reckoning.
- "Sey getrost und freue dich" — be of courage and rejoice (getrost = courage).
- "über unsern GOtt, daß er so gut, so mächtig, so nahe und so selig ist" — over our God, that he is so good, so mighty, so near and so blessed.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-138 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.