THOU sayest, " Fit me, fashion me for Thee "—
Stretch forth thine empty hands, and be thou still ;
O restless soul, thou dost but hinder Me,
By valiant purpose, and by stedfast will.
Behold the summer flowers beneath the sun,
In stillness his great glory they behold ;
And sweetly thus his mighty work is done,
And resting in his gladness they unfold.
So are the sweetness and the joy Divine,
Thine, O beloved, and the work is Mine.
—G. TERSTEEGEN.
AT the same time that Gerhardt Tersteegen came forward as a preacher and lecturer, he also became known for his skill in medicine. He had probably learnt all he knew from the treatises on chemistry and medicine which were contained in the writings of alchemist philosophers.
He had also studied the properties of herbs and roots, and his great love of nature must have made him well acquainted with the plants in the neighbourhood of Mülheim.
His patients soon became very numerous, and as a physician of soul and body he was in constant request. His beloved solitude was now at an end, except during certain hours in the day, which he kept sacred for communion with God, and for writing letters and books.
In the year 1727 he translated Labadie's Manuel de Piété, and the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis. The time left for ribbon-weaving was very short. In the year 1728 he gave it up altogether, and lived entirely upon the sale of his books ; for he made it a rule to receive nothing from his patients.
His time was well filled up, for he prepared his own medicines with great care. As far as possible he did everything at a stated time, but the visits of his patients were allowed at all hours, and this gave him a continual exercise of self-denial, though he was willing to have his quiet hours disturbed, rather than to keep waiting any who were suffering. He often recommended exercise and occupation rather than medicine, and always recommended prayer.
"I use only a few sorts of pills, and some powders and essences—all of simple ingredients," he wrote to a friend. " God gives little blessing to secret and mysterious remedies, and often He gives much blessing to despised little herbs and roots. Do not trust yourself to discoverers of new secrets, nor wander into the labyrinths of alchemy, nor into the search for gold, which has led away so many."
He wrote his hymns in quiet intervals, and visited diligently amongst the converted and unconverted who came to the meetings. As time went on, his visits were extended to many at a greater distance, who had read his books, or heard of him through friends.
Amongst these were several Dutch Christians, both men and women. One of these, a member of the States General at Amsterdam, named Paaw, travelled to Mülheim to make the acquaintance of Tersteegen, and persuaded him to come with his friend Sommer to pay a yearly visit to Holland.
Very soon, we hear, that "from Sweden to Switzerland, from Berlin to the lonely forests of North America, he sought out and found (by correspondence and by means of friends,) 'partakers of the heavenly calling,' and it was a great joy to him when he could add a new name to his book of remembrance.'" In this book he entered not only the names, but some account of the life and work of these unknown friends, in order to remember them in intercessory prayer.
Thus he wrote to a friend in Essen : " It is impossible for me to see with indifferent or unappreciative eyes the smallest, weakest, most faulty beginning of a course, in which a single soul, or the Church at large, is pressing forward to live out the life of Jesus. I thank God for this interest given to me from the time when I first understood the work of God in our redemption."
A great revival followed the first preaching of Tersteegen, and the work of visiting, teaching, and guiding the numbers of the awakened was incessant.
" Notwithstanding my great weakness of body," he wrote, " I find myself called upon to work amongst these souls all day long. The hunger, the anxiety, the awakening continue, through God's goodness, and some of the awakened give the comforting proof that their conversion is deep and real. Oh, that it would please the Lord to send out faithful labourers into His vineyard ; for if they send themselves, they are good for nothing!"
"I cannot live as quietly as you do. I am obliged, against my will, to write and speak—the inward tendency of my mind, to solitude and stillness, seems only to have been given me to make the contrary more toilsome to me—or rather to preserve me by the counterpoise from being carried off into merely external activity."
" Had I twelve or thirteen years ago been able to foresee all the roads I should have to travel, I should have rather chosen to die, for I should have thought them hurtful to my soul, and leading to my ruin. But now I thank God that He often blindfolds me, and ties my hands and feet, so as to carry me where He will, and where I would not. And I can now bow down and worship Him with the deepest thankfulness, because He doeth all things well."