Reason fleeth from sufferings. The yoke of Jesus teacheth us meekness and humility.
The Thirty-Fifth Letter.
Reason fleeth from sufferings. The yoke of Jesus teacheth us meekness and humility.
Dear brother!
Right heartily am I made one with that which you testify in your letter concerning the lovely, cross-loving form of our Jesus: would that I might but bring it into practice, even as I discern it in the light! Surely, dear brother and sister, we favour the mind of our nature far too much. When in any matter we take counsel with flesh and blood, it comes to pass in this so wholly unawares. Reason is a deceitful advocate, to bring all manner of specious pretexts into one's head, that a man may but come past suffering and contempt, in the inward and the outward. This mind of Jesus, which stands directly contrary to the mind of our nature, is the ground of the true inward Christianity; it is the yoke of Jesus, under which we learn meekness and lowliness of heart: Ah, that we might alway take it upon us with love and willingness! Oft have I said it: if I were to prescribe a lesson to a household of Christian friends, I would commend the first part of the 2nd chapter to the Philippians for a morning lesson. Ah, that fair chapter, which is written right out of the heart of Jesus! Out of the same would we also, through believing cleaving in love, suck in this mind. Amen!
German
Der fünfunddreißigste Brief.
Die Vernunft fliehet die Leiden. Das Joch JEsu lehret uns Sanftmuth und Demuth.
Lieber Bruder!
Gar herzlich bin ich vereiniget mit demjenigen, was du in deinem Brief bezeugest von der lieblichen kreuzliebenden Gestalt unsers JEsu: Möchte ich's nur so in die Uebung bringen, wie ich's im Licht einsehe!
— 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 compact, pointed letter about why we so often flee suffering — and what cures it. Tersteegen tells a brother (and a sister) that he is wholly "made one" with what they had written of "the lovely, cross-loving form of our Jesus," wishing only that he could live it as clearly as he sees it. His diagnosis of the human heart is sharp: "we favour the mind of our nature far too much," and when we "take counsel with flesh and blood" it happens "so wholly unawares." His most memorable image is of reason as a courtroom trickster — "a deceitful advocate, to bring all manner of specious pretexts into one's head, that a man may but come past suffering and contempt." Against this stands "the mind of Jesus," the exact opposite of our nature's mind, which he calls "the ground of the true inward Christianity" and "the yoke of Jesus, under which we learn meekness and lowliness of heart." He ends with a concrete recommendation: if he could set a daily reading for a household of Christian friends, it would be the first half of Philippians 2 — "that fair chapter, which is written right out of the heart of Jesus" — from which he longs to "suck in this mind."
A few words and echoes.
- Reason, the deceitful advocate. The letter's signature image: our own reasoning acts like a crooked defence lawyer, inventing "specious pretexts" to help us dodge "suffering and contempt." It is not reason itself he indicts, but its use as an escape from the cross.
- The mind of Jesus. Set directly against "the mind of our nature," this phrase (from Philippians 2) names the whole aim of the inward life — a disposition contrary to self-preservation.
- The yoke of Jesus. His picture of discipleship draws on Christ's own words — "take my yoke upon you… and ye shall find rest," for the yoke teaches "meekness and lowliness of heart" (Matthew 11:29).
- Philippians 2 as a morning lesson. The letter's practical close: he would have Christian households read, each morning, the great hymn of Christ's self-emptying — the chapter "written right out of the heart of Jesus."
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-035 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.