Counsel, concerning the reading of certain books.
The Thirty-ninth Letter.
Counsel, concerning the reading of certain books.
Beloved friend and brother in Christ!
Your little letter of the 3rd of this month I duly received. I likewise thank the divine Providence, which has let us come to know one another in this world; and I trust the Lord too that it will not be without blessing. Therefore you do well and rightly, that whenever love or some other concern moves you to it, you either come over as occasion allows, or write a few lines.
The occasion of your writing this time does not seem to me foolish at all, as you think it. On the way of God one sometimes meets with things or offenses that are, or seem, small in themselves, but in their circumstances and consequences are weighty and great.
As to the reading or not-reading of the books of N. that you know of, it went with me just so: I had, and still have, a good opinion of the man, but at that time had had no opportunity to read his writings; unexpectedly they were all offered to me together, to read and to buy, by a Lutheran preacher. I read with much eagerness, but understood almost nothing, and even fell into anxiety and reproof. I prayed fervently and much to God for light and counsel; now I laid the books aside, now I read them again. The disquiet and the doubt remained as before, and hindered me not a little: at last I brought the books back, and at once found relief in my mind. After some years I unexpectedly saw a little tract of his again, and there — without much searching and scrupling — I saw with pleasure and edification many fair truths in it: now, indeed, I read little in them, yet I esteem them as good in themselves; though I believe that many minds are held back by them, because they use them too much, or not rightly.
My opinion, therefore, is that you should, at present, either lay them entirely aside, or — if it can be done without disquiet and trouble — even send them back altogether; for I am certain that at present they are not profitable to you. Grace wills now to work more upon your heart and will than upon your understanding — namely, to draw all the pleasure and love of your heart away from everything, wholly to itself, and to gather it inward; and to make your will wholly bowed and resigned to the divine will in all things. This too is the chief work in Christianity; and therefore everything that requires much reflection is now not good for you, and whatever bears so much upon the understanding is harmful, and causes anxiety and reproof, for it is not suited to your present state and gracious leading. And if we would be fellow-workers of God, then our workings must conform and adapt themselves to the drawings and workings of grace, and never run counter to them. Withal, our understanding-part too must have passed through many self-denials, and been well purified, before it can be effectually active in divine things and mysteries in a pure and fruitful way, so that it may not mix in its own peculiarities and a thousand false images. For now, use other books. God bless you!
I greet you and remain
Your
Mülheim, 6 June 1728.
faithful-minded brother.
German
Der 39te Brief.
Rath, wegen Lesung gewisser Bücher.
Geliebter Freund und Bruder in Christo!
Dein Brieflein vom 3ten dieses habe richtig erhalten. Ich danke gleichfalls der göttlichen Vorsehung, die uns einander in dieser Welt hat kennen lassen; vertraue auch dem HErrn, daß es nicht ohne Segen seyn werde.
— 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. Another letter to Georg Heinrich Fischer (dated 6 June 1728, two months after the previous one, and the third to him in a row), answering a very human question: should he go on reading a certain author's books that had thrown him into "anxiety and reproof"? Tersteegen answers not with a rule but with his own experience — how the same books once baffled and disquieted him, how bringing them back gave "relief in my mind" at once, and how, years later and inwardly freer, he could read the same author "with pleasure and edification." The counsel he draws is a matter of spiritual timing: at this stage grace is working on Fischer's "heart and will," not on his "understanding," so books that feed the intellect are simply "not suited to your present state." It is one of the gentlest statements of a theme dear to Tersteegen — that reflection and learning have their place, but only after the "understanding-part" has been "well purified" through self-denial. "For now, use other books."
A few words and echoes.
- "the books of N." Tersteegen redacts the author's name to a single initial (as he does the "Lutheran preacher" and the friends "N." elsewhere in the letters). The identity is deliberately withheld; the counsel is about reading, not the man — of whom he explicitly keeps "a good opinion."
- "anxiety and reproof" (Angst und Bestrafung). Tersteegen's recurring pair for the inward distress and self-condemnation that over-intellectual reading can stir up in a soul at a certain stage. The remedy here is not to argue the doubts down but to set the books aside until the season passes.
- "fellow-workers of God" (1 Corinthians 3:9, "we are labourers together with God"). Our own activity must "conform to the drawings of grace," never run ahead of it — "and never run counter to them."
- "the chief work in Christianity." The bending of the will to God, not the informing of the understanding, is for Tersteegen the heart of the matter — the same point as the previous letter's "ground, kernel, and aim of all godliness" (Letter 38).
- "at present" (gegenwärtig). Emphasized in the original (letter-spaced for stress) — the counsel is expressly for this stage, not forever; the same books, Tersteegen's own story shows, may serve a soul well at a later one.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-039 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.