Various weighty rules of conduct, for arming oneself against the incitements to unlovingness.
The Sixty-Second Letter.
Various weighty rules of conduct, for arming oneself against the incitements to unlovingness.
Beloved Brother!
Jesus Christ, who was tempted in all things, like as we are, sin excepted, that He might have compassion on them that are tempted — may He look also upon your soul with the eyes of His tender mercies! I can say that the Lord hath given me compassion with you, and giveth it still, in your present temptations, from the moment that I heard but something of them; for although I have spoken of it in sufficient detail with no one, and your letter also gives me no sufficient instruction therein, yet from the beginning I have given the child the very name which you yourself give it in your letter, namely a temptation — and that not only of the enemy, as you write, but at the same time also of the flesh and of reason, whereof the proper ground and cause may well not yet be so clear even to yourself.
The evil enemy hath assuredly spun the thing; but he useth thereto our mind of flesh and of reason. Where even but two God-seeking souls dwell together, there the enemy cometh into the midst and disturbeth the peace by evil provocations or suspicious insinuations in the one or the other — and also in the one by means of the other. The holy Antony saw in a vision the whole face of the earth covered over with nothing but the enemy's snares; and when, sore troubled, he asked, Ah! who shall escape all these? answer was given him: He that is humble of heart. See, dear brother! through this narrow little opening of heart-humility you too can right easily slip out of these snares of temptation of the devil, and of all that may yet befall hereafter. And this ground-pillar and corner-stone of all Christian virtues must likewise hold your house there firmly together.
A forced friendliness, readiness to serve, or any other testimonies of love in words, gestures, or in deed — by these nothing is accomplished, and by these the matter of the vexations you have lately had is not thoroughly mended. If on all sides, and each for himself, men suffer themselves to be grounded in true humility, then this outward behaviour floweth of itself. But if without such a ground one would put on ever so friendly a bearing, it yet doeth no good, but rather at times harm.
I will come to your person only, dear brother; and give accordingly the following admonitions:
1. Believe within yourself, and in your conscience, as firm and beyond dispute, that no one in the whole house is more perverse, poorer, blinder, and more unfit, in things bodily and spiritual, than even you. Say this to no man, but believe it in all simplicity before God.
2. Upon this ground esteem, love, serve, and help every one from the heart, as circumstances require it, as the servant of all.
3. But desire and expect no such thing from others; rather, that they despise, hate, and forget you; for what cause would you have to desire it otherwise, since you must firmly believe that you deserve nothing else?
4. As for such a one, in all things the meanest, the least, the most despised must be good enough for you, and still too much, since it is yet at all times more than you deserve.
5. The foregoing is your duty; over what is others' duty trouble not yourself particularly, since you are no overseer of the house.
6. Interpret to the best all that others say or do.
7. If you mark any unlovingness, or aught else that is evil, in others toward you, yet think no evil, but believe that they mean it not so ill, and that the tempter is then at hand, thereby to entice out, to disquiet, and to ensnare your mind; and pluck out straightway this evil eye by a sudden yet gentle turning-away of your mind and of your thoughts from others unto your inward poverty, or unto God's presence in your heart.
These admonitions — you see, dear brother! — are all grounded upon true humility of heart; and this is attained through inward prayer, or through the abiding within, in the childlike Ground, before God's countenance. If you live scattered in the senses and in reason, then the foregoing points will seem to you foolish and very hard; but if, in the manner said, you abide much within yourself with God, then they will seem to you light and sweet — or at least, with faithful practice, will become so. I confess that they are otherwise hard lessons, when one is to practise them in truth; but it is hard only to the self-life: otherwise I know that it is not only a way of peace with one another, but also a means unto the thorough peace of our soul in and with God. Be faithful in God, who Himself would reach forth for all things the needful light and grace! I remain, in haste,
Your sincerely affectionate friend and brother.
German
Der zweiundsechzigste Brief.
Verschiedene wichtige Verhaltungsregeln, sich gegen die Anreizungen zur Lieblosigkeit zu waffnen.
Geliebter Bruder!
JEsus Christus, der in allem versucht gewesen, gleich wie wir, ausgenommen die Sünde, auf daß Er könnte Mitleiden haben mit denen, die versucht werden, der schaue auch deine Seele an mit den Augen Seiner Erbarmungen!
— 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 pastoral letter to a brother in a shared household who has written of a "temptation" troubling him — and, reading between the lines, some friction among the souls living together. Tersteegen opens with the tenderest possible frame: "Jesus Christ, who was tempted in all things, like as we are, sin excepted, that He might have compassion on them that are tempted." He then gently corrects the brother's diagnosis. The brother had called his trouble a temptation "of the enemy"; Tersteegen agrees, but adds that it is "at the same time also of the flesh and of reason" — the devil works through our own fleshly and reasoning bent. His key observation about community: "Where even but two God-seeking souls dwell together, there the enemy cometh into the midst and disturbeth the peace" — sowing "suspicious insinuations in the one or the other." The only escape he offers is humility, illustrated by a famous vision of St. Antony, who saw "the whole face of the earth covered over with nothing but the enemy's snares" and asked in dread, "who shall escape all these?" — to which the answer came: "He that is humble of heart." Through "this narrow little opening of heart-humility," Tersteegen says, one slips past every snare. And he is realistic about the alternative: "a forced friendliness" that puts on "ever so friendly a bearing" without the "ground" of real humility "doeth no good, but rather at times harm." The heart of the letter is then seven plain, searching rules he gives the brother for his own conduct: believe yourself the poorest and least in the whole house; yet "esteem, love, serve, and help every one from the heart, as the servant of all"; expect no such regard in return; be content with "the meanest, the least, the most despised"; mind "thy duty," not others'; "interpret to the best all that others say or do"; and, at any unlovingness, "think no evil," recognizing the tempter at work, and "pluck out straightway this evil eye" by turning gently inward "unto God's presence in thy heart." All seven, he explains, rest on humility, which is "attained through inward prayer" and "abiding… in the childlike Ground, before God's countenance" — hard lessons "only to the self-life," but "a way of peace with one another" and "a means unto the thorough peace of our soul in and with God." He signs, "in haste," as "thy sincerely affectionate friend and brother."
A few words and echoes.
- A high priest who was tempted. The letter opens on Hebrews' compassionate Christ, "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15), so that "he is able to succour them that are tempted" (2:18). The brother's temptation is met first not with rules but with a Savior who has been there.
- The enemy in the midst. His shrewd read of community life — that wherever "two God-seeking souls dwell together" the enemy comes "into the midst" to sow discord — names the peculiar spiritual danger of shared households: the very closeness becomes the tempter's opening.
- Antony's vision. The one non-biblical source in the letter: the desert father Antony's vision of a world full of snares, and the answer that only "the humble of heart" escapes them. Tersteegen makes humility not one virtue among many but the single "narrow little opening" through which the soul slips free.
- The servant of all. The second rule — to serve everyone "as the servant of all" — takes up Christ's word that "if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). Humility is not merely low self-estimate but active, glad service.
- Think no evil. The seventh rule leans on Paul's love that "thinketh no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:5): when wronged, to assume the best, recognize the tempter rather than the offender, and refuse to dwell on the injury. The "evil eye" to be plucked out (Matthew 6:23; 5:29) is one's own suspicious gaze.
- Light and sweet. His promise that these hard rules become "light and sweet… with faithful practice" echoes Christ's "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30): what galls the self-life becomes, to the humbled heart, the very way of peace.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thi-062 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.