January 1, 2006

Have faith in God –
Atoning blood was shed;
Have faith in God –
To the cross our Lamb was led;
Have faith in God –
Redeemed by Him who bled.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

God Himself is With Us

Gerhard Tersteegen, 1697-1769
Translated from German to English
by
Frederick William Foster, 1760-1835 and John Miller, 1756-1790

    Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Exodus 25:8.

    Gerhard Tersteegen was born November 25, 1697, at Moers, near Dusseldorf, West Germany. His parents wanted him to becomes a minister of the Reformed Church in Germany. But his father died when Gerhard was but 6 and his mother could not afford the university course, so his education stopped with the normal classical training in the Latin school. At 16 he was apprenticed to his brother-in-law as a silk weaver in Mulheim. After five years he attempted to operate his own business, but religion was the center of his life, so he quit the organized business and did enough ribbon-weaving to have a living and to share with the poor. After a period of severe depression, during which he ceased attending church, he was again convinced of the saving grace of Christ and signed a covenant with God in his own blood. From then on for the rest of his life he was known as a mystic, speaker at special prayer meetings, writer on devotional subjects, and author and translator of hymns.
    He acquired a group of admiring followers who subscribed sufficient money to buy a house at Mulheim called "Pilgerhutte" (Pilgrim Cottage), where the "awakened souls" could go into a spiritual retreat under the direction of Tersteegen. In addition to labors for the poor and the sick, he traveled extensively, returning each year for a visit with his followers in Holland. He also carried on a tremendous volume of correspondence. After his death on April 3, 1769, at Mulheim at age 72, his followers mostly drifted back to the Reformed Church.
    Of the more than 100 hymns he wrote, Julian lists 36 that were used extensively and gives this characterization of his poetry:  "Inner union of the soul with God and Christ, the childlike simplicity and trust which this brings, renunciation of the world and of self, and daily endeavor to live as in the presence of God and in preparation for the vision of God, are the keynotes of his hymns. To his intense power of realizing the unseen, his clear and simple diction, and the evident sincerity with which he sets forth his own Christian experience, his hymns owe much of their attractiveness and influence."
    This hymn first appeared in Geistliches Blumengärtlein, 1729 (Gott ist gegenwärtig); translated from German to English by Frederick William Foster and John Miller in the Moravian Hymnbook (London: 1789).

God Himself is with us: Let us now adore Him,
And with awe appear before Him.
God is in His temple, all within keep silence,
Prostrate lie with deepest reverence.
Him alone God we own, Him our God and Savior;
Praise His Name forever.

God Himself is with us: Hear the harps resounding!
See the crowds the throne surrounding!
“Holy, holy, holy,” hear the hymn ascending,
Angels, saints, their voices blending!
Bow Thine ear to us here: Hear, O Christ, the praises
That Thy church now raises.

O Thou fount of blessing, purify my spirit;
Trusting only in Thy merit,
Like the holy angels who behold Thy glory,
May I ceaselessly adore Thee,
And in all, great and small, seek to do most nearly
What Thou lovest dearly.

Have Faith in God by H.M.S. Richards, Used by Permission