Gerhard Tersteegen, who died on this day in 1769, was a German spiritual writer and speaker who wore himself out in the service of God.
Apprenticed to his older brother, a shopkeeper, he set up his own business before turning to silk weaving as a way of making a living. He spent six years up to 1724 in a state of spiritual depression before passing through a crisis at Easter; on Maundy Thursday he wrote out a solemn covenant with God which he signed with his own blood.
He did not attend services of the Reformed Church, but became a writer and spiritual teacher who draw many to hear him at his house. A mystic and poet, he wrote more than a hundred hymns, many of which are still sung today by German Protestants. Here are eight quotes from Gerhard Tersteegen.
1. The secret of God's presence is actually believed by very few, but are you aware, that if each one truly believed it, the whole world would at once be filled with the saints, and the earth would be truly Paradise?
2. All the glory of earthly kings and princes are only vain shadows and child's-play compared with the single Pentecostal heart which is deemed worthy of receiving the Spirit of Jesus Christ in such plenitude.
3. He that gives all for all, shall certainly obtain the pearl of great price; but how can a person receive anything whose hands are already full?
4. Every tear and every sigh will bring, in due time, abundant fruit. Learn to keep Lent with Jesus.
5. As long as we wanted to be different from what God wants us to be at the time, we are only tormenting ourselves to no purpose.
6. A God comprehended is no God.
7. Let us each one desire to be a saint in his own place and calling, instead of building castles in the air of future holiness.
8. I would not like to have a single tear of our dearest Saviour, which he sheds over me through his children, as a judgment upon me.
