On the Law and the Gospel.

The Thirty-fourth Letter.

On the Law and the Gospel.

May the grace of God in Jesus Christ govern our souls through the working of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

In the same Triune God, dearly-beloved brother and fellow-pilgrim!

The love with which the Lord has bound us, out of grace, in Himself — and which therefore can be neither maintained nor weakened by any bodily presence or absence — has constrained me to greet you outwardly too, with this writing. The Lord's providence must be heartily thanked, which has let us meet one another still in this foreign land, so that we have found cause to rejoice together in the grace of God, shown thus far upon our souls, and to praise the good God for it.

Yes, may He be praised from the innermost ground of our souls, that He has in some measure given us to recognize the sad slavery of our eternal spirit under the service of darkness — where it is driven about by the enemy through all manner of passions, desires, and thoughts — in that He has awakened our conscience, lulled asleep by sin; so that we too have sought, by His grace, to tear ourselves from such deep corruption and to render satisfaction to the demands of our conscience. But ah! one must indeed lament (as our conscience will without doubt reprove us) how often it has fallen short here! And when one had at last done that which our convinced conscience required, how sluggishly, unwillingly, and as if by compulsion did it still come to that! And when at last it happened, with how many failings and admixture of self was it defiled, so that our conscience could not in everything be satisfied with it! And how subtly and easily did one ascribe such a thing to oneself, as if one were now something! And how often, on the other hand, has the frank access to the mercy-seat been hindered by faults that came in the way! And because one still has so little faith wrought by God's Spirit, how can one then sometimes so poorly impress upon oneself the grace and merit of Jesus for reconciliation with the Father!

The inward ground would indeed gladly withdraw itself wholly from the service of the desires and of vanity, to give itself over again to its rightful Lord, and to serve and please Him perfectly with a willing heart: but it does not find for this the requisite powers and ability; the willing it finds, but the performing is lacking. For it seems to me that it goes with our conscience as, I think, it stands somewhere concerning the Law: that it does indeed give us to recognize our misery, and says how it ought to be, and makes us long and strive by all manner of ways and means to do it, but gives us no sufficient power to perform it — so that one often cries out, in such a state, as Paul does, Romans 7: O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? and so on.

Now it seems to me, beloved brother, that the faithful Captain of salvation brings a soul into such straits for this reason: that we may rightly despair of our own so very frail righteousness, and give up all courage of ever coming — mark it well — by our own ability and working out of our sins and out of our misery; and so that no flesh may glory before the face of God, but all the honor remain to Him alone; and that we, after we have first strained all our powers enough and worn ourselves out, as it were, to become pious and righteous by our own ability and willing, may so come to Jesus as the weary and heavy-laden — namely, to seek Him in the ground of our souls, where, according to His promise (John 14:21), He wills to appear, with unceasing longings of faith and love, and to constrain Him, and to await Him in patient endurance, as it were with those who in the Old Testament looked out for His coming, sighing: Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens! etc. Oh, that the help — mark it — were come out of Zion! — until He Himself reveals Himself in us, sets up His dwelling in us and quickens it, and we are, as it were, inwardly clothed with Him, and so He Himself fulfils in us all the righteousness of the Law (Romans 8), and He in us, and we in Him, now with delight and pleasure fulfil His commandments, which will then no longer fall hard upon us — no longer frail, but perfect and without blame; no longer now and then laying ourselves upon this or that virtue, but all virtue will there flow forth essentially, of itself, without constraint, unceasingly, out of the new man Jesus, new-born in us through the new birth, and out of the divine love imparted to us thereby; when we shall see ourselves at once set free from the slavery of the passions, lusts, and thoughts, and from the anxious accusations of our conscience, and in their place shall hear in our souls the gracious voice of grace and of the Gospel.

Now since God Himself, through the sending of His Son, does in us what was impossible to the Law, and what would never have been possible to us for eternity by our own working, we shall indeed be well able to gather from this: that Christ came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it, and that faith does not make void the Law, but establishes it (Romans 3); and then to ascribe our justification, from living experience, to the free grace and mercy of the God of love, and to faith in Jesus — by virtue of which we shall then be able to overcome the world, and shall draw strength, nourishment, and refreshment out of Jesus, who is then given to us of God for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So let us now, beloved brother, not grow weary in keeping our hearts, minds, and thoughts as far as possible chaste from all other objects, in order to constrain the Lord Jesus, with an inmost, childlike longing of faith and love, in the ground of our souls, in a constant and long-suffering looking-out for His coming, that He Himself may one day take the work upon Himself, so that we may serve Him willingly, joyfully, and perfectly to His whole good pleasure, in His most inward nearness and in the light of His countenance — when we, led forth by Him Himself out of the terror of the darkness of the Law, are refreshed by Him like little children at the breasts of His grace and love, in a soft, bliss-rich stillness, and find rest for our souls (Matthew 11); and so that the Triune God may have His kingdom in us, and His sanctuary, wherein He may be adored, honored, and glorified without ceasing, in spirit and in truth. Let us not, then, let our courage fall! It is a small thing for Him to let us find, in one moment, in our soul, and even without toil, what we have perhaps sought for years outside ourselves with much labor. May the God of love, who has His delight among the children of men, further us to this so blessed state, Amen!

Beloved brother! I have written this in simplicity, before the Lord's face, just as it came into my thoughts; not as though you did not know these things, but that we may rejoice with one another, in hope, in all the good that is given us in Jesus. May the Lord grant us to experience the substance of it livingly in our souls, even should we forget the knowledge of it!

When I began to write, I had thought of nothing less than to write so great a letter. I hope the reading of it will not vex you. —

I greet heartily all the dear brothers with whom I became acquainted at that time through God's providence, especially N. N. and all the others besides, who seek the Lord, whose names escape me. I commend myself to your intercession,

Your

Mülheim, 23 September 1721.

loving brother in Jesus.

German

Der 34te Brief.

Vom Gesetz und Evangelio.

Die Gnade GOttes in JEsu Christo beherrsche unsere Seelen durch die Wirkung des heiligen Geistes, Amen!

In demselben Dreieinigen GOtt herzlich-geliebter Bruder und Mit-pilger!

Die Liebe, womit der HErr uns aus Gnaden in Ihm verbunden, und die derhalben durch keine leibliche Gegenwart, oder Abwesenheit, unterhalten oder geschwächet werden kann, hat mich gedrungen, dich mit diesem Schreiben auch äußerlich zu begrüßen.

— 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).