The necessity and guidance for following the drawings of grace, with good courage, unto the steadfast overcoming and offering-up of nature and one's own life, through childlike faith, love, and prayer.
The Fifty-Sixth Letter.
The necessity and guidance for following the drawings of grace, with good courage, unto the steadfast overcoming and offering-up of nature and one's own life, through childlike faith, love, and prayer.
Beloved friend and sister!
It has indeed been pleasant to me that I could once, through a little letter, learn your condition. I do feel that I love you, and heartily long for the furtherance of your soul in those so-good ways of the Lord — which ways are supernatural, so that one cannot walk in them nor be furthered therein, unless one, through a childlike faith, continually raises oneself above nature and, with good courage, seeks to overcome it in all its inclinations — wherein the power and life of the Spirit lie. That we are still so weak therein comes, most likely, chiefly from this: that we remain too strange to the dear God and too near to nature; therefore the drawings and impressions of God have scarcely half their power upon our mind; the false pity, on the other hand, toward corrupt nature makes it so that we cannot refuse its demands. Now our gracious Saviour, with the greatest long-suffering and friendliness, ever allures us inward to Himself, and wills that we should reverse it: to Him we should become inwardly near, but to nature strange. What has this malicious one to do with us? Should we, to please our enemy, be agreeable, and grieve our Heart's-friend? That be far from us! With our Friend we hope to live well forever; but the crying of nature we shall not much longer heed. So shall we, and will we, henceforth no more live according to our own judgment and self-conceit, but according to the beckoning of our dear Friend.
Inwardly, the very darkest, weakest, most hidden drawing, intimation, or impression of God's good pleasure toward you must avail infinitely more upon your mind than the most plausible, most forcible reasons and objections of reason and the senses. To a good-natured child, the least beckoning of the father is a mighty command, which it neither can nor will transgress. Here the inner will must not stand long in the balance, but tip wholly over to God's side; so God gives it an unconquerable power. Ah, ah! if only we came near to our God in faith and in love, then whole mountains of hindrances, miseries, and infirmities would vanish like a little straw in a great fire.
Outwardly, take everything — your sins excepted — as from the hand of divine providence, however it may come and go; let all things serve you as a lesson and exercise of faith and love. O! how gloriously will God care for you! All things shall be ordered by His hand unto an unceasing mortification of your nature and one's own life, so that your soul shall carry off one gain over another.
What a lovely offering we bring to God when, even in the smallest outward things, we slaughter to the Lord our will, our lust, our impatience, our self-love, our sloth, and our self-assertiveness, and overcome nature through the Spirit of love! Fail not, now and then, to keep the dear Jesus company in solitude, and, when it may be, to devote some time to special prayer. This is the most glorious means to moderate the disorderly driving of nature, to quiet the mind by degrees, and to become right steadfast in good resolve. Be of good cheer in God, even amid all failings; cast yourself into His hands, just as you are, for His mercy has no end. I greet you heartily, and your whole household, the little N. N. not excepted. May Jesus bless her!
German
Der sechsundfünfzigste Brief.
Nothwendigkeit und Anleitung, den Zügen der Gnade zur beständigen Ueberwindung und Aufopferung der Natur und eigenen Lebens durch kindlichen Glauben, Liebe und Gebet getrost zu folgen.
Geliebte Freundin und Schwester!
Es ist mir ja angenehm gewesen, daß ich eins durch ein Briefchen deinen Zustand habe vernehmen mögen. Ich fühle doch, daß ich dich liebe, und herzlich verlange die Förderung deiner Seele in den so guten Wegen des HErrn, welche Wege übernatürlich sind, so daß man in denselben nicht wandeln noch gefördert werden kann …
— 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. Tersteegen's fullest short manual of how to follow the inward promptings of grace — a warm, closely-reasoned letter of direction to a sister, glad to have "learn[ed] thy condition" through her note. He begins with the difficulty: God's "so-good ways" are "supernatural," so one cannot walk in them without "continually rais[ing] oneself above nature" by "a childlike faith." Why do we stay weak? Because "we remain too strange to the dear God and too near to nature" — so God's "drawings and impressions" reach us with "scarcely half their power," while "false pity… toward corrupt nature" leaves us unable to "refuse its demands." The remedy is a reversal: "our gracious Saviour… ever allures us inward to Himself, and wills that we should reverse it: to Him we should become inwardly near, but to nature strange." He then gives the letter's two halves. Inwardly: "the very darkest, weakest, most hidden drawing… of God's good pleasure" must "avail infinitely more upon thy mind than the most plausible… reasons… of reason and the senses" — as "to a good-natured child, the least beckoning of the father is a mighty command." The will "must not stand long in the balance, but tip wholly over to God's side." Outwardly: "take everything — thy sins excepted — as from the hand of divine providence," letting all things be "a lesson and exercise of faith and love." He urges the daily "slaughter" of "our will, our lust, our impatience, our self-love, our sloth," to "keep the dear Jesus company in solitude," and to "devote some time to special prayer." It ends with characteristic tenderness: "Be of good cheer in God, even amid all failings; cast thyself into His hands, just as thou art, for His mercy has no end." He closes by greeting her whole household — "the little N. N. not excepted. May Jesus bless her!"
A few words and echoes.
- The drawings of grace. The letter's key phrase — the Züge der Gnade, God's inward "draws" or promptings — rests on Christ's word that "no man can come to me, except the Father… draw him" (John 6:44; cf. Jeremiah 31:3, "with lovingkindness have I drawn thee"). The whole letter is about learning to feel and follow these gentle inward pulls.
- Near to God, strange to nature. His governing reversal: by nature we are "too strange to God and too near to nature," and grace's work is to flip this — to make us "inwardly near" to God and "strange" to the clamor of fallen nature.
- The father's least beckoning. His picture of obedience is not fear but a child's glad responsiveness — "to a good-natured child, the least beckoning of the father is a mighty command." The faintest sense of God's pleasure should outweigh the loudest arguments of reason.
- Mountains like straw. His image for what nearness to God does to our obstacles — "whole mountains of hindrances, miseries, and infirmities would vanish like a little straw in a great fire" — echoes Christ's promise that faith can move mountains (Matthew 17:20).
- Slaughtering the passions. His sacrificial language — to "slaughter to the Lord our will… lust… impatience… self-love… sloth" — is the New Testament's mortification, "if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). Even "the smallest outward things" become the altar.
- His mercy has no end. The close undercuts any anxiety the demanding counsel might raise: the sister is not to wait until she is worthy but to "cast thyself into His hands, just as thou art" — resting the whole letter on a mercy that "has no end" (Lamentations 3:22).
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-056 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.