Von der Ruhe der Seele in Gott. Anfang im Ende, Ende im Anfang

The Cycle of Life and Eternity

The author reflects on the fleeting nature of human life, comparing our brief existence to the sun's cycle and the transition from time to eternity.

That's how the sun does it. Where it begins its course, there it ends it; and where it ends it, there it begins it again.¹ That is how it is with man. The beginning of his life is the end of his life.² A new look, a new death, a new life.³ It's only a tiny point that we live; the rest is either past, or belongs to death, or still to come and uncertain. The end of his time is the beginning of his eternity. As soon as it is gained, it melts away.⁴

Death as a New Beginning

For the faithful, death is not an end but a transition into a better, eternal life of peace and joy.

Consider eternity, O man. If you've lived well, death isn't the end of your life, but its beginning. You don't die—only your misery dies, as the martyr Cecilia says.⁵ You press through death into life—into a better life than you have had. You had a toilsome life and gain a peaceful one; you had a wretched life and find a joyful one; you had a short life and receive an eternal one.⁶ What is lost—and what is gained! Live so that you die a blessed death; then you live so that you never die.^✦⁷ A Christian does the same.

The Soul's Rest in God

The Christian life is a continuous movement of prayer and work, finding its ultimate rest and origin only in God.

God is the beginning, and God is the end, of his works.^✦ He begins with prayer and ends with thanksgiving. Every end brings a new beginning. He cannot be idle; he is a spiritual clockwork that never stands still. Once a work is done in the Lord, another soon follows, then yet another, for as long as he lives. God is the origin of his soul; nowhere but in God does it rest with its desire. Where it went out from, there it enters again, and then it is truly at peace.⁸ A stone doesn't rest in the air, but on the earth; the earth is, in a sense, its mother's womb. So if you want to grant your soul peace, lead it into God; there it finds what delights it. . . . . .

Read the original Latin

So hälts die Sonne. Wo sie ihren Lauf aufängt, da endigt sie ihn; und wo sie ihn endigt, da fängt sie ihn wieder an. So hälts der Mensch. Seines Lebens An fang ist seines Lebens Ende. Ein neuer Blick, ein neuer Tod, ein neues Leben. Es ist nur ein Pünktlein das wir leben; das übrige ist entweder vergangen oder gehört dem Tod zu, oder künftig und ungewiß. Das Ende seiner Zeit ist der Anfang seiner Ewigkeit. Wie gewonnen, so zerronnen.

Bedenk o Mensch die Ewigkeit. Hast du wol gelebt, so ist der Tod nicht deines Lebens Ende sondern Anfang. Du stirbst nicht, dein Elend stirbt uur, wie Cäcilia die Märtyriu sagt. Du dringst durch den Tod ins Leben, in ein besseres als du gehabt. Du hattest ein mühseliges, gewinnst ein ruhiges; hattest ein jammervolles, findest ein freudenvolles; hattest ein kurzes, bekommst ein ewiges. Was verloren, was gewonnen! lebe so, daß du selig ster best, so lebst du so, daß du nimmer sterbest. Ein Christ hälts auch so.

Gott ist der Anfang, Gott ist das Ende seiner Werke. Mit beten fängt er an, mit danken hört er auf. Ein jedes End bringt einen neuen Anfang. Er kann nicht müßig sein, ist ein geistlich Uhrwerk das nimmer still steht. Ist ein Werk im HErrn gethan, so folgt bald noch eins, dann wieder noch eins, so lang er lebt. Gott ist der Ursprung seiner Seele, nirgend als in Gott ruht sie mit ihrer Begierde. Wo sie ausgegangen ist, da geht sie wieder ein, und ist dann wol zu frieden. Der Stein ruht nicht in der Luft sondern auf Erden; die Erd ist gleichsam sein Mutterschoß.

Drum willst du deiner Seele Frieden gönnen, so führ sie in Gott; da findet sie, was sie vergnügt. . . . . .

Scripture echoes

↩John.11.26 — and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
↩Rev.21.6 — And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who is thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.'

Notes

1 ↩Source aufängt is the older form of anfängt ('begins'); translated as begins.
2 ↩Source spacing An fang is clearly Anfang ('beginning'); translated from that reading.
3 ↩Blick continues the chapter's Lebensblick language: each new moment/glance of life is simultaneously a new dying and a new living. Rendered as glance to keep the lexical link; moment would also be faithful.
4 ↩German proverb Wie gewonnen, so zerronnen. Rendered for sense and proverbial force rather than with the looser modern equivalent Easy come, easy go.
5 ↩Source has 'uur' and 'Märtyriu'; translated as 'nur' (only) and 'Märtyrin' (female martyr), the clearly intended Early New High German forms.
6 ↩Adjectives (mühseliges, ruhiges, etc.) are neuter/ellipsis for 'Leben' (life) from the preceding sentence; rendered with 'life' made explicit for clarity.
7 ↩Source spacing 'ster best' is a line-break/print artifact for 'sterbest' (die); translated from that corrected reading.
8 ↩wol zu frieden: early modern German for wohl zufrieden / at peace; rendered as 'truly at peace' rather than merely 'content'.

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