Is there a thing beneath the sun That strives with Thee my heart to share? Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone, The Lord of every motion there. Then shall my heart from earth be free, When it hath found repose in Thee. O hide this self from me, that I No more, but Christ in me, may live! My base affections crucify, Nor let one favorite sin survive; In all things nothing may I see, Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee. Each moment draw from earth away My heart that lowly waits Thy call! Speak to my inmost soul, and say: "I am thy Love, thy God, thy All!" To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice, To taste Thy love, be all my choice! Gerhard Tersteegen, 1729. GERHARD TERSTEEGEN, HYMN-WRITER AND MYSTIC While Benjamin Schmolck must be regarded as the greatest of Lutheran hymn-writers in Germany during the eighteenth century, Gerhard Tersteegen holds the same distinction among German Reformed hymnists. Except for the Wesleys in England, no man during his age exerted so great a spiritual influence in evangelical circles of all lands as did Tersteegen. In some respects his religious views bordered on fanaticism, but no one could question his deep sincerity and his earnest desire to live the life hidden with Christ in God. Born at Moers, Rhenish Prussia, November 25, 1697, Tersteegen was only six years old when his father died. It had been the plan of his parents that he should become a Reformed minister, but the death of the father made it impossible for the mother to carry out this purpose. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a merchant, and four years later entered business on his own account. Although he was only twenty years old at this time, he began to experience seasons of deep spiritual despondency. This lasted for nearly five years, during which time he changed his occupation to that of silk weaving, since he desired more time for prayer and meditation. It was not until the year 1724, while on a journey to a neighboring town, that light seemed to dawn on his troubled soul, and he was filled with the assurance that God's grace in Christ Jesus was sufficient to atone for all sin. In the joy and peace which he had found, he immediately wrote the beautiful hymn, "How gracious, kind and good, my great High Priest, art Thou." From this time until the close of his life, Tersteegen began to devote his energies more and more to religious work and literary activities. An independent religious movement known as "Stillen im Lande" had begun about this time, and he soon became known as a leader among these people. Tersteegen had already ceased to associate with his friends in the Reformed Church, and had gone over to religious mysticism. In one of his strange spiritual moods he wrote what he called "a covenant between himself and God" and signed it with his own blood.