TRUST IN GOD;

OR,

THREE DAYS

IN

THE LIFE OF GELLERT

1874.

Christian Furchtegott Gellert was born A. D. 1715, at Haynichen, in Germany, where his father was the pastor for fifty years. After a life of many trials and great bodily infirmities, he fell asleep in the Lord on the 13th of December, A. D. 1769, aged fifty-four years. He was in his forty-eighth year at the close of the Seven Years’ War.
His name is famous in his native land as a writer of sacred hymns, distinguished for their simplicity, fervor, and true devotional feeling, and which of late years have become widely known and appreciated in this country and in England, through the translations of Mrs. Winkworth and other congenial admirers. (From the preface)

It was in the midst of all the horrors of the Seven Years' War, that in a little room in a house in Leipsig called the Black Post, a man might have been seen seated before his table, his head resting on his hands. He appeared sick and weak. A cotton cap covered his head, and his emaciated body was wrapped in a well-worn calico dressing-gown.

It was easy to perceive at the first glance that this closet was the study of a scholar, so many books were piled up all around him, from the enormous folio to the smaller duodecimo. There were, however, only a few on the table, and among them a Bible, which bore the marks of frequent use. It was open at the second chapter of the book of Job, and these words of the tenth verse, "What! shall we receive good

at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ?" were underscored.

This man was Christian Fiirchtegott Gellert. He was reading over a hymn, with which this passage of Job, just quoted, had that moment inspired him. Gellert  shared the lot of many other generous minds. It was often low tide with his revenues—never very considerable. Such was the case at this time ; and to tell the truth, he did not possess a single kreutzer. The day before, however, he had possessed thirty thalers, which he had put aside to buy wood, for it was freezing hard enough to crack the very stones, and all that he had would last him but a week. As for receipts, he did not expect any. This prospect was not very pleasing to a chilly invalid. The temperature of his room seemed to realize his fears, and the window panes began to be covered with the crystal flowers, without color or 23erfame, which recall few cheerful thoughts to those whose windows they adorn. But when the Tempter, armed with cares, came to disturb his peace, Gellert was accustomed to meet him with. another weapon, always victorious— the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. He had done s^- at this time, and lighting on this beautiful passage in the book of Job, "bad meditated upon it with prayer, and under the influence of these words, had written his beautiful hymn.
 " I have had my days of blessing," etc.
a true echo of his scriptural thoughts, and of his present frame of mind.

He had just laid down his pen, and, his head resting on his hands, he said to himself, " No, I have no reason to repent of the use of those thirty thalers. Thou knowest it, O Lord, who canst read my soul! This gloom was a temptation, a want of faith! Pardon me; O Lord! I believe—help thou mine unbelief."

At this moment a knock was heard at the door, and before he could say " Come in ! ''' a stout little man entered, and cordially saluted Gellert. " Good morning, doctor,'' said the latter, extending his hand.

The little man seized this emaciated hand, pressed it warmly, put down his hat and cane, rubbed his hands, and cried, "Whew! how cold you are, my dear professor ! This won't do ! You must have more heat. Put on some wood ! Such cold weather ! Do you want to be really ill?"

'' My wood is out," said Gellert, sadly.

*' Well, buy some more!"

"My money is out, too," stammered Gellert, yet more embarrassed. "But —never mind—I will think of it.''

The doctor, who never stopped long at one thing, then cast his eyes on the paper. "Ah !" said he, ''a new

hymn?"

Gellert bowed, but he was evidently vexed. Without more ceremony, the doctor took the sheet and went to the window. “What! frosty panes, too? This is too bad!" Then, after having read it; "What fervor! What energy! What true Christian feeling! My dear sir, I must carry this off to take a copy. I will bring it back to you tomorrow. My wife, who honors you so much, must have the first sight of it. You will allow me?" And without waiting for an answer, he put it in his pocket. Then approaching the professor, whose looks protested in vain against this summary proceeding, lie felt his pulse. "No improvement! Did you sit up too late last night? Decidedly there is something wrong! You must go out—take rides on horseback. This exercise will be good for you. Buy a little horse ; do you hear?”

Gellert smiled. "Buy, always buy! Have you any more prescriptions as economical as this one ? They will be just as much to the purpose!"

"And this stove," said the doctor; “it must be heated if the last faggot goes in it. I will give my orders below. Now, my dear professor, God be with you!" Saying these words, he bowed hastily, and went out, before Gellert; had time to rise to accompany him to the door.

"Kind and skilful man!" said the latter; "but if I followed all his prescriptions, all old Neidhardt's money

would scarcely suffice."

The remembrance of this name gave another direction to Gellert's thoughts. The melancholy expression of his face disappeared, and his features betrayed more pleasant emotions. He was so much absorbed, that, having gone to the window, he did not even hear the noise made by the landlady in putting into the stove the wood ordered by the doctor.

Now, we must relate the history of those thirty thalers which Gellert had set apart to replenish his provision of wood. The day before he had made use of them, which, although it showed the goodness of his heart, rendered his enjoyment of a warm stove during that winter extremely uncertain.

The “Three Days” are about true humility, faith and giving and receiving.

The whole book is only 122 pages.

The man wrote hymns.

Life a Ministry

Oh, how the human intellect in its ignorance and egotism has twisted and turned and distorted the plain, simple words of the Master in order to make them conform to its darkened understanding!

Truly "the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not."

. . .

Marvelous way, is it not, in which the creature is to be made perfect and known and loved and great: simply letting God's will be done in us and in our circumstances and surroundings? Yet heretofore one's saying, "Thy will be done," has been associated in mind only with death and suffering and failure, and with a forced submission to these un-Godlike conditions, as though God were the author of them. "God is not a God of confusion, but of peace." Oh, how in our ignorance we have mistaken and misunderstood God, in consequence of which we are today pygmies when He wanted to make us giants in love and health and power by manifesting more of Himself through us! We would not let Him, because we have been afraid to say, "Have Thy way in me; manifest Thyself through me as Thou wilt"

. . .

Health is more life. Drugs will not give life. Travel and change of scene, so often resorted to in illness of mind and body, will not give life except in so far as they tend to relax the tense, rigid mind and body of man and permit God — who is always in process of outgoing as life toward us His children — to flow in to fill the lack. We do not have to beseech God. Life more abundant rushes into the souls and bodies of men, as air does into a vacuum, the moment they learn how consciously to relax and, turning toward God, let it.
People who are persistently ill or unsuccessful in any way say they are tired of it all and want to die. They know not what they say. They do not understand. It is not death they want but more life. This breath of the Almighty is to us the only health and strength, the only power and success of either mind or body.

. . .

What then are we to do?

Change our minds. Turn around. If through ignorance of the only and unfailing source of all life we have turned our backs upon God and our faces toward human helps, like drugs, change of environment, and the like, let us halt, face about!

. . .

The inner light comes to “every man, coming into the world"; but we may close ourselves to this light either through ignorance or willfullness — the result is the same — and live in darkness. The light within every man goes right on shining just the same, whether he accepts it or rejects it. 'The light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not." In this case the light is shut off through ignorance. "'And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light [free will], lest his works should be reproved [or detected}." Thus is the light voluntarily or willfully shut out, again as a matter of man's choice. Both conditions are dependent on the mental attitude of man. In the first instance he is not conscious that there is light within himself: "the darkness apprehended it not." In the second instance he stubbornly refuses to come to the light because he "hateth the light."

. . .

Life a Ministry

LOOKED AT from a purely commercial standpoint, the life of Jesus Christ was a failure. His place in the world was obscure, His occupation a humble one. The work of His hands commanded only the usual recompense. From the world's point of view His contribution was merely that of an average man.

Even after His public life began He seemingly failed just as signally as before. He made Himself of no reputation among men. In the field where His greatest visible success lay, the delivering of men from sorrow and trouble, He sometimes failed. "He saved others; himself he cannot save," they cried when deriding Him. All the way to His ignominious death He stood before self-satisfied men, chief priests and Pharisees, as a failure. Why? Because He and these men were living from entirely different standpoints. Men were living largely from the external; Jesus was living from within. Men were reckoning success then as the world reckons success today, largely in terms of numbers and figures and the possession of external things.

After two thousand years we can see that the life of Jesus Christ, lived so obscurely, so unostentatiously, really was not the failure that it seemed; that He was living a life that in the long run was the only successful one. For today, when His contemporaries have passed away and are forgotten. His life stands forth among men and within men as the inspiration of all love and all goodness, the inspiration of all success.

. . .

God gives without thought or hope of return. So do we as soon as we become conscious of an indwelling Christ; we cease any longer to expect or desire to be ministered unto.

If we would live the life of real success, real joy, real Christlikeness, we must keep the current turned to flow from within outward instead of in the opposite direction.

. . .

Christ is the light of the world. Christ is within us. This light is ever fed from the great fountain of all light, the Father in Him: "I in them, and thou in me." God made each one of US to be a radiating center, constantly shining outward toward others in a spirit of ministry and giving. If you draw out your soul to satisfy the afflicted, then your light will break forth as the morning and your darkness will be as the noonday (See Isa. 58:8-10); for I, very Christ, who have come to abide within you, I am the light of the world, and when anyone draws out his soul he draws Me out.

But if you put a bushel over your light by harboring the thought of not letting your neighbor receive from you anything for which he makes no return, you will simply find yourself walking in the darkness. 'If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness." As Christian Gellert said,

“whoever in the darkness lighteth another with this lamp [Christ] lighteth himself also; and the light is not of ourselves, it is of Him who appointeth the suns in their courses."

God a Present Help
by H. Emilie Cady
was first published in 1938.

Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying.

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715 –1769) was a German poet, one of the forerunners of the golden age of German literature.
He entered Leipzig University in 1734 as a student of theology, and completed his studies in 1739. He established himself in 1745 as Privatdozent* in philosophy at the university of Leipzig, lectured on poetry, rhetoric and literary style with much success.

The esteem and veneration in which Gellert was held by the students, and indeed by persons in all classes of society, was unbounded, and yet due perhaps less to his unrivalled popularity as a lecturer and writer than to his personal character. He was the noblest and most amiable of men, generous, tender-hearted and of unaffected piety and humility. He wrote in order to raise the religious and moral character of the people, and to this end employed language which, though at times prolix, was always correct and clear.
*Privatdozent (abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz.) or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications (doctorate and habilitation) to become a tenured university professor.

Happy the man who knows his duties!
- Christian Furchtegott Gellert