Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil IV (1775)

In what way a sinner may trust upon Christ's blood and grace.

Bd II · Th IV · Brief 144 · Der hundertundvierundvierzigste Brief

Addressee, date, and source

Addressee — To Georg Heinrich Fischer of Otterbeck — GEB suppresses the name (salutation "Lieber Bruder!"; body speaks of die Frage von N. and of ihn in the third person). Body mixed: du to the brother-reader
Date — Winter 1735 — no day-dateline on the GEB leaf (closes with the kingdom wish; no Mülheim, line in the print).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (Theil IV, pp. 366–367), 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 Forty-fourth Letter.

In what way a sinner may trust upon Christ's blood and grace.

Dear brother!

Although because of the sick here I have little time, yet I must briefly answer this to the question from N.: That trust in the grace and goodness of God in Christ Jesus is indeed wholly good, and also for the greatest sinners the only indispensable way to salvation; only there must also be therewith a knowledge, confession, displeasure and complete turning away from all sins, and from even the least unfaithfulness, in order to yield oneself to God in Christ in complete self-denial forever. Whoever has received this mind from God may and must creep to grace as one that labors, and trust upon Christ's blood and grace without hesitation.

As for him in particular, it does not indeed turn upon whether he feels so hard a chastisement and anguish over his sin and unfaithfulness; yet he must heartily confess and repent of them, so far as he remembers them; and especially he is bound to bow himself before God, and to ask forgiveness for a certain grave unfaithfulness of which I reminded him the last time; such would greatly relieve his soul; he will already know how to remember it; but tell him this in secret. For the rest I wish him God's grace, blessing and strength in his sufferings, and if it should come to dying, that God through Jesus' blood may richly grant him an open entrance into his eternal kingdom!

❦

German

Der hundertundvierundvierzigste Brief.

Auf was Weise ein Sünder auf Christi Blut und Gnade vertrauen möge.

Lieber Bruder!

Ob gleich wegen der hiesigen Kranken wenig Zeit habe, so muß doch kürzlich auf die Frage von N. dieses antworten: Daß zwar das Vertrauen zu der Gnade und Güte GOttes in Christo JEsu ganz gut, und auch für die größte Sünder der einzige unentbehrliche Weg zum Heil sey …

— 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 short Winter 1735 counsel to Georg Heinrich Fischer (the old print sets only Lieber Bruder!): little time because of the sick here, yet a brief answer to N.'s question — trust in God's grace in Christ is wholly good and the only way even for the greatest sinners, but only with knowledge, confession, displeasure and turning from every unfaithfulness; N. need not feel hard anguish, yet must confess and especially ask forgiveness for a grave unfaithfulness Tersteegen last reminded him of — tell him in secret; wish of grace in suffering and an open entrance into the eternal kingdom through Jesus' blood.

How to read the German. The panel is the 1775 first-edition wording (the GEB abridgment) in the house orthography used for Band II / Th IV (settled 2 Sep 2026). Distinctive KEEP forms (sey / seyn / diß / Erkänntniß / Bekänntniß / Uebrigens / 144te / Verläugnung / erleichteren / erinneren) stand as on the leaf. House folds include Krancken→Kranken, gantz→ganz, dabey→dabei, Bedencken→Bedenken, Leyden→Leiden, hertzlich→herzlich, Versalien → digraph. KEEP sey / seyn / diß / Erkänntniß / erleichteren / erinneren. Fold fürzlich→kürzlich (leaf kürtzlich).

English choices. you/your for the brother (du); third-person he/him for N.; Lieber Bruder! → Dear brother!; Mühseliger → one that labors (Matt. 11:28 echo). Divine names ordinary. Modern morphology in ordinary prose (Jarred Rule C, 2 Sep 2026) — no decorative -eth. No authorial emphasis (§9d).

How the German reads here. Panel KEEP forms (sey / seyn / diß / Erkänntniß / Bekänntniß / Uebrigens / erleichteren / erinneren) stand; fürzlich→kürzlich; betrift→betrifft; Krancken / gantz / dabey / Bedencken / Leyden / hertzlich / JESU / GOTT folded (Spec §3; CRITICAL Hertz*-class).

A few words and echoes.

"kürzlich auf die Frage von N." — briefly to the question from N. (leaf kürtzlich; Fraktur k not f; tz→z).
"der einzige unentbehrliche Weg zum Heil" — the only indispensable way to salvation.
"als ein Mühseliger zur Gnade kriechen" — creep to grace as one that labors (Matt. 11:28).
"ohne Bedenken vertrauen" — trust without hesitation.
"diß sage ihm aber ins geheim" — but tell him this in secret (KEEP diß).
"einen offenen Eingang in sein ewiges Königreich" — an open entrance into his eternal kingdom.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, IV. Theil, Brief 144 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-144.html.

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