That the following of the inward drawing of God's love is far mightier to crucify and mortify the flesh than a thousand outward exercises of mortification.
The Third Letter.
That the following of the inward drawing of God's love is far mightier to crucify and mortify the flesh than a thousand outward exercises of mortification.
Dear brother!
From the mortification you know of I advise you off, until I know weighty reasons why it has been undertaken. Never must you begin any extraordinary exercise — especially such a one as might do the body notable harm — without counsel taken beforehand.
If it is to be for the crucifying of the flesh and the subduing of its lusts, then you will, as I have said before, not reach your aim by this road: the flesh and the whole of nature are often only the more stirred up by it. Follow only freely the drawing to inwardness, but in an unforced, childlike way; so is all one's own life nailed to the cross, and there wither away, more and more, all the lusts of the senses and the flesh. Incline yourself toward the heart, as much as God gives grace. Head and senses one must use at need, and hang after no needless indifferent things, if one would become inward: indifferent words and thoughts often beget evil words and thoughts.
For the rest, take it toward your humbling when you feel the stirrings from the body of death. There will be a hidden ground of self-love in you, which is thereby to be destroyed. God's grace will support you. Moderation in eating, drinking, etc. is indeed good; but it must not, without ground and counsel, run into the extraordinary; it must not make a show; nor must one lightly follow an anxious, restless impulse in it. The free inclination of love in the heart is a better guide, which carries us through a thousand mortification-exercises — whereby indeed the poor donkey (the body) is not killed, but self-love, self-will, self-seeking, false props, etc. are, in an unbelievably subtle way, sought out and, without mercy, put to death; while the soul, for its part, does not scruple over it at all, but only stays inward, and follows love.
What more I could say of this, you will find set forth in an excellent way in the tenth Discourse of Mad. Guyon, second volume; read it once — it might not be unprofitable for others to read as well. Ah! there are few souls who will rightly deny themselves and give themselves up, because one knows God and His pure love so little from experience.
As concerns my health, I am indeed somewhat mended through God's goodness, yet only so far that the danger seems to be past and I can write a little letter again; but I must still lie down a little now and then, and keep myself very still. If I do a little too much, or am too long among people, everything sinks back again at once. God knows what He purposes with me — to whom alone I desire to live and to die; to Him I commend your soul, in Jesus' name, for the perfecting of His work in you. Amen! I remain
Your
obliged brother.
German
Der dritte Brief.
Das Folgen dem inneren Zug der Liebe GOttes ist weit kräftiger das Fleisch zu kreuzigen und zu tödten, als tausend auswendige Mortifications-Uebungen.
Lieber Bruder!
Von der bewußten Mortification rathe ab, bis so lange erhebliche Ursachen weiß, warum solche ist unternommen worden. Nimmer mußt du einige außerordentliche Uebung anfangen, besonders eine solche, die dem Leibe merklichen Schaden zufügen könnte, ohne vorher eingeholten Rath.
— 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 letter of spiritual direction to a "dear brother," written while Tersteegen was recovering from a serious illness (he says so at the end: the danger has passed and he can write again, though he still has to rest often). The brother has evidently been drawn to take up some harsh self-discipline, and Tersteegen — gently, and with a touch of humour — talks him out of it.
Its argument. The heading says it all: following "the inward drawing of God's love" is far mightier to put the flesh to death than "a thousand outward exercises of mortification." So he advises the brother off any severe practice undertaken without good reason and counsel — such things "often only the more stir nature up." The better way is to "follow freely the drawing to inwardness… in an unforced, childlike way." Then, he says, the real work gets done: "self-love, self-will, self-seeking… are, in an unbelievably subtle way, sought out and, without mercy, put to death," while — in one of his most memorable images — "the poor donkey (the body) is not killed." The body is a beast of burden to be used "at need," not beaten to death; it is the hidden self, not the flesh-and-blood, that must die. He points the brother to Madame Guyon's tenth Discourse for more, and closes by commending his soul to God "for the perfecting of His work in you."
A few words and echoes.
- "To crucify… the flesh… nailed to the cross." Galatians 5:24 — "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts"; and Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ." Tersteegen's point is that this crucifixion happens by love's inward drawing, not by self-punishment.
- "The body of death." Romans 7:24 — "who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" His name for the felt stirrings of the old nature.
- "Mortification." The old word for putting the flesh to death (Colossians 3:5, "mortify… your members which are upon the earth"). The whole letter argues that the inward way does this better than outward austerities.
- "The poor donkey (the body)." A tender, half-smiling image: the body is a working animal to be governed and spared, not destroyed — close to Francis of Assisi's "Brother Ass." What must die is self-love, not the body.
- "Self-love, self-will, self-seeking." Tersteegen's threefold name for the hidden root — the self in its three grips — which the inward way reaches where harsh discipline cannot.
- "Madame Guyon… the tenth Discourse." Jeanne-Marie Guyon (1648–1717), the French mystic whose writings Tersteegen loved and circulated; he sends the brother to her for more on the same theme.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-003 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.