Suffering and inward-turning are the way to the innocent child-estate.
The Fifty-Ninth Letter.
Suffering and inward-turning are the way to the innocent child-estate.
In that He suffered, He learned obedience.
Beloved sister!
Think not that I ever forget you in the Lord. I have compassion with your sufferings, which befall you both away from and upon your sickbed; I wish you also, oftentimes, the assistance and blessing of the Saviour therein, that you may, in all trials, hold out unharmed and still, and at last attain the fruit of a thorough sanctification. But since grace has given you a longing to be led into the childhood of Jesus, I cannot, on the other hand, do otherwise than thank the Lord, who strikes such ways with you as are, in my judgment, quite serviceable thereto — however much the contrary may seem so to you.
Through suffering and inward-turning are we made into innocent children. Reason and self-will stand quite opposed to the child-ground; both these so deeply-rooted corruptions the goodness of God assails in you considerably — not through bodily infirmities and headaches alone, but chiefly in this, that He lets things go for you neither inwardly nor outwardly as you would gladly have them, but always otherwise, especially in the outward at this time. The time of suffering and adversity is the time of our harvest, when one must take comfort in the toil and the hardship, for the sake of the glorious fruit of obedience — whereby we please God more than through sacrifice, and are thereby incredibly furthered toward the innocent child-being.
Do in everything what you can, and commit the rest to the Lord, who will surely make it good. But let all things fall away that would confuse, disturb, or dishearten you. Say now and then to the Lord that whatever you do and suffer may be done for His sake; abide with Him in the heart, so far as you can. If it cannot always be done with whole application, or through a special withdrawal, then let the love, or the hidden will of your mind, do it — which is unbound, and wherewith one can, even amid the manifold, incline oneself unperceived to God, and adore Him in spirit and in truth. May the Lord work this through His drawing, and bless your soul forever! There greets you heartily
Your weak fellow-brother.
German
Der neunundfünfzigste Brief.
Leiden und Einkehren sind der Weg zum unschuldigen Kinderstand.
Indem Er gelitten, hat Er Gehorsam gelernet. Geliebte Schwester!
— 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 short, tender letter to a bedridden sister, reframing her illness as the very road into what Tersteegen calls the "innocent child-estate." He opens by reassuring her he never forgets her, and that he shares her pain — "I have compassion with thy sufferings, which befall thee both away from and upon thy sickbed." But then he turns her suffering inside out. Since "grace has given thee a longing to be led into the childhood of Jesus," he can only "thank the Lord, who strikes such ways with thee as are… quite serviceable thereto — however much the contrary may seem so to thee." The letter's thesis is stated plainly, under an epigraph about Christ Himself — "In that He suffered, He learned obedience" (Hebrews 5:8): "Through suffering and inward-turning are we made into innocent children." What stands in the way is "reason and self-will," "both these so deeply-rooted corruptions," which God is now "assailing" in her — "not through bodily infirmities… alone, but chiefly in this, that He lets things go for thee… as thou wouldst gladly have them, but always otherwise." Her sickbed, he says, is a season with a purpose: "the time of suffering and adversity is the time of our harvest," borne "for the sake of the glorious fruit of obedience — whereby we please God more than through sacrifice." His practical counsel is gentle and freeing: "Do in everything what thou canst, and commit the rest to the Lord"; "let all things fall away that would confuse, disturb, or dishearten thee"; offer up all she does and suffers "for His sake"; and "abide with Him in the heart." When formal prayer or withdrawal isn't possible, "let the love, or the hidden will of thy mind, do it… wherewith one can, even amid the manifold, incline oneself unperceived to God, and adore Him in spirit and in truth." He signs, as in the previous letter, "Thy weak fellow-brother."
A few words and echoes.
- Suffering and inward-turning. The letter's two key words — set off, in the original, in a distinct typeface, and rendered here in italics — are the road it charts: suffering (the trials God sends) and inward-turning (the recollective turning-in to God). Together they make us "innocent children."
- He learned obedience. The epigraph (Hebrews 5:8) grounds her sickbed in Christ's own: if the sinless Son "learned obedience" through what He suffered, then her suffering, too, is a school of obedience, not a punishment.
- Reason and self-will. The two "corruptions" God is assailing — also set off in the original — are the intellect that must understand and the will that must have its way. Illness thwarts both, and that thwarting is precisely the point: it pries loose the grown-up's grip so the child can emerge.
- The time of harvest. His reframe of the sickbed — "the time of suffering… is the time of our harvest" — leans on the promise that "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5), and Paul's "in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).
- Obedience above sacrifice. His claim that obedience "please[s] God more than… sacrifice" quotes Samuel to Saul — "to obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22). What God wants from her sickbed is not heroic offerings but quiet consent.
- In spirit and in truth. The close gives the anxious invalid a way to worship even when too weak for set prayer: by "the hidden will of thy mind," one can turn to God "unperceived" and "adore Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24) — worship that needs no strength, only the heart's secret leaning.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-059 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.