104

Br. 1990: 104 | CL: 87
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Dordrecht, Wednesday, 28 February 1877
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1. Ps. 27:14.
2. According to Görlitz, Van Gogh’s roommate in Dordrecht, Van Gogh often read C.H. Spurgeon’s Juweeltjes. This English clergyman gave a succinct description of the function of a prayer and spoke of ‘the certain precursor of salvation’. He also advised the reader to ‘Let this be your daily prayer: “Comfort me, thus I shall be saved”’. See Juweeltjes uit de gedachten van C.H. Spurgeon. 6th ed. Rotterdam n.d., pp. 131, 185; and Verzamelde brieven 1973, vol. 1, p. 113; vol. 4, p. 330.
3. This presumably refers to the well-known gate called Groothoofdspoort at the beginning of Wijnstraat, close to the Nieuwe Kerk.
4. The Nieuwe Kerk (also called the Sint Nicolaaskerk) in Torenstraat.
5. In those days a watchman with a rattle walked the streets at night, calling out the hour.
6. Taken from P.A. de Génestet, ‘Onvergankelijk’ (Everlasting), seventh verse. See De Génestet 1869, vol. 2, p. 175.
7. Based on the 13th verse of P.A. de Génestet, ‘Peinzensmoede’ (Tired of thinking):

And that my soul,
In the silent night,
Your voice did hear,
So tender, so soft!

(En dat mijn ziele,
Ter stille nacht,
Uw stem wel hoorde,
Zoo teêr, zoo zacht!)

See De Génestet 1869, vol. 1, p. 344.
8. The lyrical poetry of P.A. de Génestet, whose work was widely read in Protestant circles, was available in various editions, a.o. De dichtwerken. Mrs van Gogh gave Theo the same advice: ‘Study De Génestet again; oh, how many true, good words it has, so fresh and beautiful. If something in it strikes you, just read it again, so that the words become your own, like so many words from the Bible, that are as weapons in life’s struggle’ (FR b2511, 7 March 1877).
9. Van Gogh stayed in Paris from October to December 1874 and from May 1875 to March 1876.
10. P.A. de Génestet, ‘Toen ik een knaap was’ (When I was a lad). The last four lines – evidently added to Mr van Gogh’s version – are a compilation of the 1st, 14th and final verses of the poem ‘Peinzensmoede’ (Tired of thinking). They read as follows:

There is no priest
Who can explain Him!
Man wanders the earth
In mysterious dim.

After fire and storm
I, too, sometimes soared
Although no Elijah –
Past the Lord...

There is no priest
Who can explain,
But no one seeks you
On earth in vain.

(Daar is geen Priester
Die Hem verklaart!
In raadslen wandelt
De mensch op aard.

Na vuur en stormwind
Zweefde ook soms mij –
Schoon geen Elia –
De Heer voorbij...

Daar is geen Priester
Die U verklaart,
Doch U zoekt niemand
Vergeefs op aard.)

See De Génestet 1869, vol. 1, pp. 342-345.
11. John 17:15.
12. Judg. 21:2.
13. Isa. 40:26.
14. Matt. 5:45.
15. Hymn 180:5.
16. Hymn 189:1. Vincent wrote ‘avondschemering’ (evening twilight) instead of ‘avondschaduw’ (evening shadow) and ‘altoos’ (always) instead of ‘eeuwig’ (eternal).
17. Hymn 189:6.
18. Phil. 2:5.
19. 2 Cor. 5:14.
20. This seems to be Van Gogh’s translation of the English saying ‘There is something good in all labour’, quoted in letter 108) and possibly based on Prov. 14:23.
21. Ps. 119:37.
22. Cf. Isa. 55:2.
23. John 6:27.
24. Acts 16:30-31.
25. John 11:40.
26. Matt. 1:21.
27. Cf. Luke 23:46.
28. John 17:15.
29. Ps. 121:5.
30. Rhy. ps. 86:6.
31. Matt. 24:35, Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33.
32. The first article of the Dutch Reformed (Nederlands Hervormde) Catechism, first Sunday.
33. Cf. Rhy. ps. 27:3, ‘Hier weidt mijn ziel met een verwond’rend oog!’ (Here my soul feasts with an astonished eye!)
34. Ps. 130:6.
35. Hymn 114:1.
36. Hymn 20:6.
37. Hymn 120:1.
38. Hymn 120:4.
39. Cf. Ruth 1:16.
40. John 6:68.
41. Ps. 73:25.
42. Luke 24:32.
43. Biblical: ‘innerlijk bewogen’ (moved) is a phrase often used by Christ.
44. John 3:16.
45. John 17:3.
46. 1 John 4:8.
47. 1 Cor. 13:7-8. Van Gogh wrote ‘believeth all things’ twice, whereas the second time Paul wrote ‘endureth all things’.
48. Heb. 11:1.
49. 1 John 4:18.
50. Ps. 8:5 (in KJ Ps. 8:4).
51. Isa. 54:11, ‘O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted’.
52. Jer. 31:3.
53. Isa. 49:15.
54. Cf. Isa. 66:13.
55. Job 5:18.
56. Isa. 55:8-9.
57. Ps. 103:12.
58. Isa. 1:18.
59. 1 Thess. 5:24.
60. Hymn 36:2 and Eph. 3:20.
61. Hymn 118:8.
62. Luke 24:29.
63. Cf. hymn 48:10, hymn 228:2 and hymn 245:2.
64. John 14:16-17.
65. John 16:13.
66. Cf. 2 Sam. 1:26.
67. Prov. 18:24.
68. 2 Cor. 6:9-10.
69. Heb. 12:12.
70. Micah 7:8.
71. Matt. 4:16 and cf. Isa. 9:1.
72. 1 Cor. 2:2.
73. Cf. John 3:14-15.
74. Rev. 22:17.
75. Matt. 11:28-30.
76. Luke 14:26.
77. Hymn 160:2, with the opening words ‘Buiten U’ (Without Thee). This line also occurs in ‘Nieuwjaarslied’ (New Year’s song) by Rhijnvis Feith, in the volume Proeve van eenige gezangen voor den openbaaren godsdienst. Amsterdam 1804 (Sample of some hymns for public worship).
78. Luke 4:18-19.
79. Luke 19:10.
80. Cf. Matt. 9:12, Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31.
81. Jer. 17:14, Jer. 31:18 and Lam. 5:21.
82. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:10.
83. Cf. Luke 23:46 and Ps. 31:6 (in KJ Ps. 31:5).
84. Cf. Matt. 6:22 and Luke 11:34.
85. John 4:23-24.
86. Cf. Luke 6:20.
87. 2 Cor. 5:14.
88. 2 Cor. 7:10.
89. Ps. 119:105.
90. Deut. 8:3 and Matt. 4:4.
91. John 6:41 and John 6:51.
92. John 7:38.
93. John 6:35.
94. A prayer written and often recited in the family circle by Mr van Gogh; see letter 113.
95. Cf. Matt. 6:13 and Luke 11:4.
96. Biblical, meaning: ‘holiness’ or ‘sanctification’.
97. Matt. 19:28 and Tit. 3:5.
98. Rev. 21:5.
99. Cf. 1 Tim. 3:1.
100. Cf. Ezek. 16:8, ‘Thy time was the time of love’.
101. Aurelius Augustine, Confessiones, book 1, chapter 1: ‘Our heart is restless until it repose in Thee’. The confessions of St Augustine. Translated by Edward B. Pusey. New York 1909, p. 5. Van Gogh quotes from Confessiones, book 9, chapter 10 in letter 94.
102. 1 Cor. 13:11.
103. The phrase ‘Lord keep my memory green’ occurs six times in Charles Dickens’s story The haunted man (1848), ), which appeared in the Christmas books; the last time as the closing line. Cf. letter 141.
104. The second verse of P.A. de Génestet, ‘Toen ik een knaap was’ (When I was a lad); see n. 10 above.
105. Cf. Gal. 4:6.
106. Gen. 32:26.
107. Cf. Gal. 4:6.
108. Rhy. ps. 42:2. Vincent wrote ‘in u zelf’ (to thyself) instead of ‘in uw hart’ (to thy heart) and left out ‘Op ’t eenzaam bedde neêrgezegen’ (Sunk down on the lonely bed). Furthermore, he wrote ‘En zwijg in God ootmoedig stil’ (And be in thy God meek and still) instead of ‘En weest in all’ ontmoeting stil’ (And be in all meetings meek and still).
109. Rhy. ps. 4:3.
110. After ‘aangezigt’ (presence), the Bible goes on to say ‘tegenover mijn tegenpartijders’ (of mine enemies).
111. Ps. 23:6.
112. Ps. 119:105.
113. Ps. 37:37.
114. Taken from Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, xii, 25, ‘Philémon et Baucis’ (line 14), set to music by Charles Gounod. Fontaine has ‘le soir’ (the evening) where Van Gogh wrote ‘la fin’ (the end).
115. Van Gogh omitted Ps. 25:2b-3.
116. Ps. 25:9.
117. Ps. 25:19 reads ‘and they hate me with cruel hatred’.
118. Ps. 34:20 (in KJ Ps. 34:19).
119. John 4:23.
120. Ps. 23:6.
121. John 14:2.
122. A memento mori utterance, probably derived from Ecclesiasticus (Jesus Sirach) 38:23 (in the English Apocrypha 38:22). Cf. also letter 87, n. 14.
123. 2 Cor. 5:14.
124. Meaning: ‘Grant that we may one day have a wife’; cf. also ll. 207-209.
125. Gen. 32:26.
126. Luke 23:46; cf. also Ps. 31:6 (in KJ Ps. 31:5).
127. 2 Cor. 6:10.
128. Van Gogh also voiced this wish in letter 102, l. 105.