Letters · Erster Band · Theil I (1773)

The benefit of inner sufferings, and of true humility. A marriage-wish.

Bd I · Th I · Brief 16 · Der sechzehnte Brief

Addressee — "Geliebter Bruder N. N." — a male friend, about to marry (deine vorhabende Heirath); Tersteegen blesses his coming marriage.
Date — none given in the 1773/GS print; the letter's own words place it in winter — it opens by observing that the recipient is living "not in the blossoming May, but in winter."
Provenance — translated from the 1845 Gesammelte Schriften (Bd I), collated against the 1773 first edition (both PD)

The Sixteenth Letter.

The benefit of inner sufferings, and of true humility. A marriage-wish.

Beloved brother N——!

I lately received your letter, and see from it that you are living not in blossoming May, but in winter. Let it not seem strange to you! The north wind blows in our gardens — yet, after all, one cannot still one's hunger with the pretty May-flowers either, however pleasing the flowers may be to the senses, and now and then a medicine to the sick. When we have not ourselves caused our inward dryness, darkness, and sufferings through deliberate or clearly-conscious unfaithfulness or sins, then such states, unpleasant to us, serve our sanctification more than the most delightful gifts of grace and gladnesses with which we might be showered. Indeed, even if we had — in the manner just said — brought inner sufferings upon ourselves, it can nonetheless be quite serviceable to us for that same salutary purpose, if only we return thoroughly and quietly, and bring ourselves so much the more to nothing, and reject ourselves, before God. True humility is the short way to holiness. I say true humility — which is inward, unfeigned, quiet, gentle, and serene — and it brings, at last, God and His peace into the heart. If, then, dear brother, we have no great virtues, gifts of grace, power of faith, and the like, as others have, then let us, by God's help, make the necessity into a virtue, and let our very wretchednesses, poverty, and infirmities be a means to us of becoming holy, through such a humbling of ourselves. I do not exactly know why I write this, since grace will surely have taught you all this already. For your intended marriage I wish, from the bottom of my heart, the blessing of the Most High. May the pure Spirit of the love of Jesus sanctify your estate and your hearts, and be the indissoluble bond of your love — that you both, abiding therein, in all detachment and humility, beside the Lord, may complete your sanctification in this time of grace!

❦

German

Der sechzehnte Brief.

Nutzen der inneren Leiden und der wahren Demuth. Heirathswunsch.

Geliebter Bruder N. N.!

Neulich habe ich deinen Brief erhalten, und sehe daraus, daß du nicht im blühenden Mai, sondern im Winter lebest. Laß es dich nicht befremden!

— Opening lines of the original German. The complete transcription of all 605 letters appears in the forthcoming Encounter Press critical edition; Brief 1 is shown in full as a sample.

German text: public domain (1773–75 first edition / 1845 Gesammelte Schriften).

Translator’s notes

What this letter is. A letter to a brother who is both passing through a spiritual "winter" and about to be married — so it joins consolation to a wedding blessing. Tersteegen reads in his friend's letter that he is "living not in blossoming May, but in winter," and tells him not to be dismayed: "the north wind blows in our gardens," yet "one cannot still one's hunger with the pretty May-flowers either." His counsel overturns the usual valuation of spiritual weather. As long as the dryness and darkness are not self-inflicted by "deliberate… sins," such "unpleasant states serve our sanctification more than the most delightful gifts of grace" — and even self-caused suffering can help, if one "returns thoroughly and quietly" and sinks lower before God. "True humility," he says, "is the short way to holiness" — a humility "inward, unfeigned, quiet, gentle, and serene" that "brings, at last, God and his peace into the heart." If we lack the great virtues others seem to have, we can "make the necessity into a virtue" and let "our very wretchednesses" become the means of becoming holy. Then he turns to the wedding: for the "intended marriage" he wishes "the blessing of the Most High," praying that "the pure Spirit of the love of Jesus" would "sanctify your estate and your hearts, and be the indissoluble bond of your love."

A few words and echoes.

Winter, not May. His tender diagnosis: his friend is in a spiritual winter, "the north wind" blowing through the soul's garden — a season not to fear but to let do its work.
Dryness that sanctifies. His counter-intuitive comfort: inward "dryness, darkness, and sufferings," when not self-caused, do more for holiness than the sweetest "gifts of grace."
True humility, the short way. The letter's keynote — a humility "inward, unfeigned, quiet, gentle, and serene" is the shortest road to holiness, echoing Christ's own "meek and lowly in heart."
A virtue of necessity. For those without conspicuous graces: "make the necessity into a virtue," letting one's very poverty and weakness become the humbling that makes one holy.
The marriage blessing. He closes by asking that "the pure Spirit of the love of Jesus" himself be "the indissoluble bond" of the couple's love, so that marriage becomes a place to "complete your sanctification."

Cite this letter

Gerhard Tersteegen, Geistliche und erbauliche Briefe, Erster Band, I. Theil, Brief 16 (Solingen, 1773–75); trans. Jarred Fenlason, https://gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-016.html.

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