Of the use of withdrawal for prayer and looking unto God.

The Forty-Ninth Letter.

Of the use of withdrawal for prayer and looking unto God.

Beloved friend and sister!

Your little letter was lately welcome to us. We still hear so gladly how it goes with you inwardly too; therefore, when you write to us, write simply and openheartedly, just as you find yourself; this will be profitable to you.

Upon your little letter and your state I would now recall but a few words by way of answer. You complain in your letter that you did not keep rightly still to grace, and gave ear to too many strange voices; that you live still between peace and unpeace, and are much hindered, too, by self-love.

So there is still too much going on confusedly within you; if this is now to part rightly and come to a settled being, it is exceedingly needful that you by no means neglect, without necessity, the special withdrawal for prayer and recollection. See! when one keeps stirring a muddy water continually, it cannot settle or grow clear. Often one thinks that one is not particularly distracted, and so that the withdrawal is not so needful; but we do not rightly know ourselves, and a distraction one is not aware of is so much the more dangerous. Go gladly, now and then, apart, as if you were going to a meal; go, and bring your whole heart and your whole will to your dearest Friend as a gift; but mark well that you bring and give yourself wholly. Look then upon God as present, and expect that He will look upon you, show you your stains, and work upon you with His grace, as a potter the clay that is in his hand. If you now suffer distractions against your will, if you become aware of misery and selfhood, then do not become fainthearted, but lay it all uncovered before the Lord for blotting-out; turn yourself, with your whole will, softly and quietly away from all that is impure! Let it fall, and renew yourself through a trustful and loving looking unto the present God, who will and must be your only comfort, refuge, treasure, and object; take this Friend, then, indeed along for company when you go again to your work; look upon Him often in faith, as being present with you! Do all before Him, and to His love and honor, however small your work may be, and rejoice when you have occasion to do or to suffer something right toilsome to please Him. Lay yourself upon this childlike, sweet exercise as upon your chief work, after which all the rest must order itself; if you come away from it, then return as soon as you become aware of it; there will you then experience how the Lord will so faithfully lead you — yea, how, as a hen her chicks under her wings, He will gather and shelter you, strengthen, refresh, and sanctify you, more than can be said: He Himself make Himself known to you, so have you enough forever!

German

Der neunundvierzigste Brief.

Nutzen der Absonderung zum Gebet und Aufsehen auf GOtt.

Geliebte Freundin und Schwester!

Dein Brieflein ist uns letzt angenehm gewesen. Wir hören noch so gerne, wie dir's auch innerlich gehet; darum, wenn du an uns schreibest, so schreibe einfältig und offenherzig, wie du dich findest; solches wird dir nützlich seyn.

— 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).