Gerhard Tersteegen

Gerhard Tersteegen (November 25, 1697 – April 3, 1769), was a German Reformed religious writer.

He was born at Moers, at that time the capital of a countship belonging to the house of Orange-Nassau (it fell to Prussia in 1702), which formed a Protestant enclave in the midst of a Roman Catholic country.

After being educated at the gymnasium of his native town, Tersteegen was for some years apprenticed to a merchant. He soon came under the influence of Wilhelm Hoffman, a pietistic revivalist, and devoted himself to writing and public speaking, withdrawing in 1728 from all secular pursuits and giving himself entirely to religious work.

He also had a great influence on radical Pietism.

His writings include a collection of hymns (Das geistliche Blumengartlein [The spiritual flower-garden], 1729; new edition, Stuttgart, 1868), a volume of Gebete (prayers), and another of Briefe (letters), besides translations of the writings of the French mystics and of Julian of Norwich. He died in Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia.

He was well known for his deeply spiritual sermons in his day, and hundreds of people crowded into his home to hear him speak of the things of God. Some of his sermons have been translated into English, including Godliness, and Warnings and Admonitions. Additional sermons can be found in Samuel Jackson's, Spiritual Crumbs from the Master's Table and H.E. Govan's, Gerhard Tersteegen: Life and Selections.

His poetry is beautiful and expresses the deep things of the Spirit. You can find many of these poems—also referred to as hymns in books by Frances Bevan among others. A good example is the following:

Let Him lead thee blindfold onwards,
Love needs not to know;
Children whom the Father leadeth
Ask not where they go.
Though the path be all unknown
Over moors and mountains lone.

Give no ear to reason’s questions;
Let the blind man hold
That the sun is but a fable
Men believed of old.
At the breast the babe will grow;
Whence the milk he need not know.

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