Letters · Zweiter Band · Theil IV (1775)

Whereby the peace of God is to be known, and whereby it is to be preserved.

Bd II · Th IV · Brief 148 · Der hundertundachtundvierzigste Brief

Addressee, date, and source

Addressee — To Georg Heinrich Fischer of Otterbeck — GEB suppresses the name
Date — 3 June 1737 — no day-dateline on the GEB leaf (closes at the Majestät sentence; no Mülheim, line in the print).
Provenance — Translated from the public-domain 1775 first edition (Theil IV, pp. 372–373), 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-eighth Letter.

Whereby the peace of God is to be known, and whereby it is to be preserved.

Dear brother!

My soul greets you. From the fruits it is sufficiently to be concluded that the peace in you is a gift of God and an effect of his presence; as also from this, that it remains under the trials and afflictions of the outer part.

You ask: "How you are to conduct yourself therein, so as not to appropriate it to yourself in selfhood?" There is little to answer to that; for the peace of God is itself the best guide; it leads into simplicity, withdrawnness, inward freedom and purity. If the soul harbors only some presumption, or other selfhood, she is troubled, and the ground of peace is covered. Take then only this peace which God gives, and as he gives it, and where he gives it, as innocently as God grants grace; and what the same rejects, that reject you also. The pleasantness is only an accidental fruit of this peace; that can give way, and yet this remain. The understanding must not now be much occupied, nor the senses either, except only as need requires. Will-lessness must be very general. The peace or the quiet being inclines the mind unnoticed and gently to God, and works from time to time the purest offerings-up to God's majesty.

❦

German

Der hundertundachtundvierzigste Brief.

Woran der Friede GOttes zu erkennen, und wodurch er zu bewahren seye.

Lieber Bruder!

Meine Seele grüßet dich. Aus den Früchten ist genugsam zu schließen, daß der Friede in dir eine Gabe GOttes und Auswirkung seiner Gegenwart sey; wie auch daraus, weil er unter den Proben und Betrübnissen des äußeren Theils bleibet.

— 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 3 June 1737 counsel to Georg Heinrich Fischer (the old print sets only Lieber Bruder!): my soul greets you; fruits and remaining under outer trials show the peace is God's gift and the working of his presence; how to conduct yourself so as not to appropriate it in selfhood — little to answer, for the peace itself leads into simplicity, withdrawnness, freedom, purity; if the soul harbors presumption she is troubled and the peace-ground covered; take the peace as God gives it, innocently; pleasantness is only accidental; understanding and senses little occupied; will-lessness general; peace inclines the mind to God and works the purest offerings-up to his majesty.

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 (seye / sey / seyn / kan / genugsam / schließen / troubliret / Heget / Angenehmheit / reineste / Noth / 148te) stand as on the leaf; grüsset→grüßet. House folds include Auswirckung→Auswirkung, dabey→dabei, äusseren→äußeren, Freyheit→Freiheit, unvermerckt→unvermerkt, wircket→wirket, causal dann→denn, Versalien → digraph. KEEP seye / sey / seyn / kan / Heget / troubliret.

English choices. you/your for the brother (du); Lieber Bruder! → Dear brother!; Heget → harbors; troubliret → troubled; Anmassen / Anmaßen → presumption / appropriate…in selfhood; Willenlosheit → will-lessness; Angenehmheit → pleasantness; Aufopferungen → offerings-up. Divine names ordinary. Modern morphology in ordinary prose (Jarred Rule C, 2 Sep 2026) — no decorative -eth (greets / asks / leads / works, not -eth). No authorial emphasis (§9d).

How the German reads here. Panel KEEP forms (seye / sey / seyn / kan / Heget / troubliret / Angenehmheit / reineste) stand; grüsset→grüßet; Auswirckung / dabey / äusseren / Freyheit / unvermerckt / wircket / dann (causal) / GOTT are folded by the house rules (Spec §3; CRITICAL folds).

A few words and echoes.

"Meine Seele grüßet dich" — my soul greets you (long-ü grüsset→grüßet).
"eine Gabe GOttes und Auswirkung seiner Gegenwart" — a gift of God and an effect of his presence.
"nicht in Eigenheit anzumaßen" — not to appropriate it in selfhood.
"denn der Friede GOttes ist selbst der beste Führer" — for the peace of God is itself the best guide.
"Heget die Seele nur einiges Anmaßen" — if the soul harbors only some presumption (KEEP Heget).
"so unschuldig, als GOtt Gnade verleihet" — as innocently as God grants grace.
"Die Angenehmheit ist nur eine zufällige Frucht" — the pleasantness is only an accidental fruit.
"die reineste Aufopferungen an GOttes Majestät" — the purest offerings-up to God's majesty.

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Zweiter Band, IV. Theil, Brief 148 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdii-thiv-148.html.

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