[307]Gerhard Tersteegen, born at Mors in Westphalia in 1697, was the son of a respectable tradesman; he was educated at the grammar-school of his native place, and then bound apprentice to an elder brother, a shopkeeper at Mülheim. From his childhood he was delicate in health, thoughtful, and of scrupulous conscience. At Mülheim he became acquainted with a tradesman, a very religious man, who took much notice of him, and under his influence he was converted, and resolved to devote himself entirely to the service of God. His days were busy, but he used to pass whole nights in prayer and fasting, and as soon as his time was out he declared his intention of leaving his brother, and choosing some more retired and less disturbing mode of life. He accordingly removed to a little cottage near Mülheim, where for some years he supported himself by weaving silk ribbons, and lived quite alone, except for the presence during the day of a little girl who wound his silk for him. His habits were very simple; he usually took nothing but milk, water, and meal, never touching tea or coffee, and giving away in charity to the poor the money thus saved. His relations, who seem to have been a thriving and money-getting set of people, were so ashamed of this poor and peculiar member of the family, that they refused even to hear his name mentioned, and when he was sick he suffered great privations for want of proper care. Yet he was very happy in his solitude, with its opportunities for uninterrupted meditation and communion with God, until that searching trial of spiritual deadness fell upon him, which so many of God's saints have had to endure for a time. For five years he was in a "state of darkness;" he had no sensible impression of the love of God, nay, there were hours when he began to doubt whether there was a God at all. It was at this time he sang --