(PILGRIM SONG.)
COME, children, on and forward !
With us the Father goes ;
He leads us, and He guards us
Through thousands of our foes
The sweetness and the glory,
The sunlight of His eyes,
Make all the desert places
To glow as Paradise.
Lo ! through the pathless midnight
The fiery pillar leads,
And onward goes the Shepherd
Before the flock He feeds.
Unquestioning, unfearing,
The lambs may follow on,
In quietness and confidence,
Their eyes on Him alone.
Come, children, on and forward !
We journey hand in hand,
And each shall cheer his brother
All through the stranger land.
And hosts of God's high Angels
Beside us walk in white
What wonder if our singing
Make music through the night ?
Come, children, on and forward,
Each hour nearer home !
The pilgrim days speed onward,
And soon the last will come.
All hail ! O golden city !
How near the shining towers !
Fair gleams our Father's palace
That radiant home is ours.
On ! Dare and suffer all things !
Yet but a stretch of road,
Then wondrous words of welcome,
And then the Face of God.
The world, how small and empty !
Our eyes have looked on Him ;
The mighty Sun has risen,
The taper burneth dim.
Far through the depths of Heaven
Our Jesus leads His own—
The Mightiest and the Fairest,
Christ ever, Christ alone.
Led captive by His sweetness,
And dowered with His bliss,
For ever He is ours,
For ever we are His.
—G. TERSTEEGEN,
THE name "Guide of souls," commonly used amongst Mystics and Quietists, had been'—derived originally from Catholicism. A Protestant Mystic would not apply this name more specially to a pastor than to a layman. It was a question of spiritual wisdom and knowledge.
Tersteegen was called so against his will. "I quite approve," he wrote, "of a certain subjection to experienced guides, but this must have its limits; a blind subjection exposes the soul to great danger, of which we have many examples in our days." He did not regard himself as at all qualified for such an office, and refused to own the name when applied to him.
"Alas !" he wrote, " what a living and painful proof it is of the little light, and the wretched condition of God's people in these days, when I see that such a small amount of grace in me (though far more than I deserve) is respected by others, who look up to me, whereas I cannot see that I should be the least missed, if I were no longer down here."
To Frau von der Leyen, who wished to bring her brother to hear him, he wrote: "For God's sake, direct your brother to our beloved Saviour, instead of urging him to come to me. It is distressing to me to the last degree that you have written to him as you have done about me, however good your intention may have been. It is not right to use such expressions of a wretched man, and if you care for me at all, remember that I have enjoined it upon you before God, never to do the like again. I am a poor sinner saved by grace. That is honour enough. But I will willingly remember his soul before the Lord in my imperfect prayers."
"I am not a guide of souls," he wrote again ; "I am much too insignificant for that. At the same time I do not refrain from bearing witness to the truth of that which God has given me, to the grace by which He has saved me ; and I am glad to reach out my hand, when occasion offers, to help another brother onwards, just as one child may do to another child.
" But as to teaching or guiding others, I am far too small. Years ago I should have thought myself far more fitted for it than I do now."
" Yet," writes Goebel, " with what deep and tender heartfelt and burning love did he lead on the souls so precious to him, according to his old rule, ' Narrow outwardly, wide inwardly."
Thus he wrote, in 1731, " Whilst the Lord in His grace has shed abroad in my heart this love to all His people, yet I feel it is incomparably deeper and stronger to the few choice souls who have given themselves up to the Lord Jesus and His service wholly and fully in spirit and in truth. In these saints that are on the earth and these excellent ones is all my delight ; and it is not in poetical exaggeration, but from the bottom of my heart, that I can sing-
"' Oh, how love I, Lord, Thine own !
Those who see but Christ alone,
Oh, how dear are they to me !'
" I do not know what sort of unaccountable being I am. I am myself full of faults and badness, so that I sometimes think I am badness itself. Yet at the same time the perfecting of these precious souls is so very near to my heart, that I believe if any amongst them, who love me, were aware of it, they would turn away from everything else but God, if not for His sake, at least for mine, to gladden and refresh me. They would give themselves up with closed eyes entirely and eternally to Christ alone."
And again he writes : " Shall I for once join you in lamenting ? I know a man who has to carry a thousand crosses belonging to others, and who once grieved himself into an illness because others did not love God as much as he desired, or did not believe and follow that which he knew to be right, till all at once his own foolishness and sinfulness struck him to the heart. He could do nothing then but cast himself and others into the endless depths of the love of God, and end by singing a joyful song of praise,"
Thus he did not spare himself, either in writing or speaking, with the tenderest brotherly love and affection to those who would lend an ear, at the cost of rest of body and mind, and of health and strength.
" What a burden, what fear and sorrow, lie heavily upon me," he said, "when I see God's people walking unfaithfully before Him. It pains me so deeply that I can only fall on my face before God and remain speechless. Oh, if they could but know what it costs me to see them going on so unconcernedly !"
At the same time he was ready to make every allowance for others that could be made. "if I had been in the same circumstances," he wrote on one occasion in reference to the sin and weakness of a friend, "perhaps I should have done far worse."
The preaching of Tersteegen was followed by a great revival, not only at Mülheim, but in the neighbouring towns.
The revival was more properly so-called than many awakenings in the present day to which the word is applied. Not only were many sinners converted, but many converted persons awakened to a deeper sense of their Christian position, and aroused from lukewarmness and worldliness.
This was shown in many ways. As in English history we read of the "family" at Little Gidding, under the rule of Nicholas Farrer, so in Germany were such families formed, and many of " the quiet in the land " found a peaceful retreat in these houses, where they lived in common, and apart from the world.
About the year 1727 two friends of Tersteegen's, a merchant named Otterbeck, and his sister Elsie, gave up their house and garden to a "family" of Christians. This little property lay on high ground between the rivers Ruhr and Wupper, some miles from the nearest town.
Between the house and high road was, and is, a walled garden, with a summer-house. From the back of the house is a beautiful view of hill and valley. All around was peace and stillness ; it was such a Protestant cloister as would have delighted the heart of Father Lodensteyn.
The inmates had each separate rooms, but met together at mealtime, and for prayer and devotional reading, being called together by a bell still hanging as in those days. They called it the " Pilgrims' Hut."
The account of their life, secluded as that of Little Gidding, gives an impression of far greater spiritual communion ; being devoid of ritual and forced times of devotion, perfectly simple, the worship and Bible-reading being but the unrestrained expression of their faith and love.
They were all employed in manual labour, chiefly weaving, their stuffs being sold in Holland by the merchant Otterbeck. The "Pilgrims' Hut" was placed under the special direction of Tersteegen, who, however, did not live there, but paid occasional visits, spending sometimes a few weeks, or even months, in this quiet retreat.
It remained in its old form until the year 1853, when the owner, "a true Tersteegenite," writes Goebel, made it over to the " Brethren " meeting in Elberfeld, by whom it was enlarged—a roomy meeting-hall being added to it. Except a caretaker living on the spot, the other rooms remained unaltered and uninhabited, the " family " life having ceased there since the year i800, though it had been constantly used for devotional meetings by the " Tersteegenites " of neighbouring towns.
It was visited in the year 1888 by one who loves the memory of Terstcegen, and by whom the following description was sent to me, accompanied by some cornflowers from the sweet old garden:
"I walked over to Heiligenhaus and Otterbeck, which adjoin each other, and where Gerhardt Tersteegen laboured much in the work of the Lord. He visited Otterbeck a great deal, and there, sitting by a little window in his bedroom, wrote most of his works. The house remains in perfect preservation, and the bedroom just as it was when he used it—bed, table, and his own chair standing as they did then.
" His little library interested me the most. It consisted of about one hundred books, all of a religious character, mostly in German ; one or two in Dutch, and about the same number in French, being memoirs. I was somewhat surprised to find amongst them Barclay's Apology, and also the life and writings of William Penn, with other Quaker books. All the books were very old, mostly published between 1629 and 1735, and apparently well read. Some very old Bibles, (the earliest printed in Germany), were amongst his little collection.
"His name and memory are still revered, both there and at Mülheim, where they also show the house he inhabited. The country in which he laboured is very rural, with the exception of Mülheim itself, and such large towns as Dusseldorf and Elberfeld. It is not mountainous, but richly-wooded. In the neighbourhood of Mülheim the Ruhr winds about in a most picturesque manner, and from high ground can be traced for miles gleaming in the sun."
Goebel also describes the books in this old library, and the portraits of beloved friends of Tersteegen's which hang in his room—Poiret, Bernieres, and Evertsen. Underneath a print of the crucifixion is written in his own hand-
" Hanging in Thy shame and anguish,
Words of love and grace
Welcome the forgiven felon
To Thy holiest place ;
Guide Thy mother, broken-hearted,
. To a home of rest ;
Comfort him who yestereven
Lay upon Thy breast."
Such was the "Pilgrims' Hut," and such were the old memories attached to it, How much is changed now in these days of restlessness and of many works, we learn to realize in those deserted rooms and the quiet of the ancient garden.
At the same time that the Otterbeck family was formed, the separatists in Wittgenstein and Berleburg, were actively working for the spread of Philadelphian teaching.
In the year 1728 one of them, the learned "Magister" John Haug, began to work at an edition of the Bible, with numerous notes and comments collected from the writings of Mystics. It was completed in fourteen years, in eight volumes.
At the same time a " Philadelphian " magazine was set on foot for circulation in Germany, and a call to united prayer was sent forth from Berleburg. All these movements were under the direction of good Count Casimir, who, though a hopeless invalid, and seldom able to leave his room, was unceasingly active according to his light and knowledge.
The invitation to prayer was addressed to all "who had tasted the sweetness of the word of God, whose ears had been opened, and who had come out from the bondage of fleshly ordinances and human theology."
They were to meet every evening in spirit from five to seven, and whatever their sect or denomination, regard themselves as one body, and pray earnestly that all the awakened should be brought together and become visibly one. There was to be no register of the names of those joining this prayer union. " Should anyone wish to know their names, let them be told that their names are written in the book of life, 'the hidden name which no man knoweth save he who receiveth it.' "
They were to use no forms or ceremonies in this invisible prayer-meeting, but leave the Spirit of God to work freely in them, looking to Him, and hungering for that for which they were led to pray.
One further event of the year 173o was the founding of a Philadelphian society in Elberfeld, near Mülheim.
Much of error and of ignorance were mixed up with all these undertakings. But any longing after God, and any desire for the revival of His work in the fallen Church, could not but be owned by Him ; and the preaching of Tersteegen gathered in many who had been awakened by the labours of Count Casimir and his friends.