That the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of love and of suffering.
The Eighty-ninth Letter.
That the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of love and of suffering.
In the grace of Jesus, beloved sister!
May Jesus speak into your heart: Peace be with you! I do not, indeed, remember my promise to write to you, but I would have done it nonetheless, if only I could have — for I gladly remain your debtor in the Lord.
I have unspeakable compassion with you in your circumstances; but perhaps my compassion is somewhat too human, for if I could, I would take the cross-burden off you at once. Jesus, on the other hand, who has infinitely more compassion with you than I, could well take it off — and yet, as yet, will not — because He gives not so much heed to the passing, brief feeling of need, as to the true and everlasting profit, to the exceedingly weighty glory that accrues to the noble spirit, from now on, under the refining-trial. Ah, that you knew it, and might, in the occasions, never forget how the sweet Jesus-heart delights over it, when you suffer in a gentle and quiet spirit of love! When we are quiet children of suffering, and quench all the power of wrath, in ourselves and in others, with pure love and a gentle manner, then Jesus keeps supper with us; there we pledge one another heartily; there He embraces us, and calls us His little brothers and little sisters, and will then gladly stay and dwell with us.
So suffer yourself a little longer, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and give not way; He has called you to the fellowship of His Spirit, which is a Spirit of love and of suffering; He has given you a taste of this Spirit; you have known it as the mind and Spirit of Christ, as the true evangelical Spirit.
When we were legally pious, it went far otherwise: we walked whither we would; no man might hinder us in our zeal and exercises; grace itself accommodated itself to us. Now it is reversed: we must walk where we would not go; everyone seems to have right and power to hinder and to plague us; we must accommodate ourselves to all, bow beneath all, always be in the wrong; in short! we must in every way suffer and yet love, love and yet suffer. Now, it is done. We are no more our own; to Love and to Suffering are we dedicated: our Beloved is white and ruddy; in such a livery all His friends follow after Him; above, we shall wear only white robes. To the leading of Jesus we have given ourselves up, and want to yield ourselves to Him, under the cross, ever more inwardly; He has taken it upon Himself to make us blessed; He will also know how to carry it out. Do not take anything so much to heart; accustom yourself to be more even and harmonious in your mind and walk; suffer all evil outside you and within you, without so taking it to yourself; only love, but love gently; suffer, but suffer gently. May Jesus live in your heart! ——
Do everything in the outward as well as you can and know, and commit the rest to the Lord, who bless you! Remain in the Same,
Your
Mülheim, 5 December 1735. — weak yet true-minded fellow-brother.
German
Der 89te Brief.
Daß der Geist JEsu ein Geist der Liebe und des Leidens sey.
In der Gnade JEsu geliebte Schwester!
JEsus spreche in dein Herz: Friede sey mit dir! Ich erinnere mich zwar meines Versprechens nicht, daß ich an dich schreiben wollte, hätte es aber dennoch gethan, wann nur gekonnt hätte, dann ich bleibe gern dein Schuldner in dem HErrn.
— 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 consolation to a sister carrying a heavy cross — and a small treatise on Tersteegen's deepest theme, that the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of both love and suffering, and that these are not two things but one. He begins with disarming honesty about his own pity: "if I could, I would take the cross-burden off you at once" — but Jesus, whose compassion is "infinitely more," will not yet, because He weighs "the passing, brief feeling of need" against "the exceedingly weighty glory that accrues… under the refining-trial" (Paul's "light affliction… far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"). The turning-point of the letter is how one suffers: not stoically but gently — "the sweet Jesus-heart delights… when you suffer in a gentle and quiet spirit of love." Suffering met with love, not resentment, becomes communion: "when we quench all the power of wrath… with pure love, then Jesus keeps supper with us… and calls us His little brothers and sisters." So the call is to endure — "as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" — within "the fellowship of His Spirit, which is a Spirit of love and of suffering." Tersteegen then draws his sharp before-and-after: the old religion of self-will ("we walked whither we would; grace accommodated itself to us") versus the new life under grace ("now we must walk where we would not… suffer and yet love, love and yet suffer"). The Beloved wears the colors of both — "white and ruddy" — and His friends wear His livery. It all comes to rest in four tender imperatives, love and suffering each softened by the same adverb: "only love, but love gently; suffer, but suffer gently."
A few words and echoes.
- "May Jesus speak into your heart: Peace be with you!" John 20:19–21 — the risen Christ's greeting to the frightened disciples; the same word spoken into a suffering heart.
- "Your debtor in the Lord." Romans 1:14 ("I am debtor"), 13:8 ("owe no man any thing, but to love") — he owes her the letter, and the love behind it.
- "The exceedingly weighty glory… under the refining-trial." 2 Corinthians 4:17, "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"; joined to 1 Peter 1:7, the "trial of your faith… tried with fire." Christ withholds relief for the sake of a greater good the sufferer cannot yet see.
- "Then Jesus keeps supper with us." Revelation 3:20, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him" — the intimacy that opens when wrath is quenched by love.
- "Calls us His little brothers and sisters." Hebrews 2:11, Christ "is not ashamed to call them brethren"; Matthew 12:50, "the same is my brother, and sister."
- "A good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3, "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (Tersteegen writes the feminine, Streiterin — a good soldier-woman.)
- "We must walk where we would not go." John 21:18, Christ to Peter: "another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" — the mark of a surrendered, no longer self-directed life.
- "We are no more our own." 1 Corinthians 6:19, "ye are not your own."
- "Our Beloved is white and ruddy… in such a livery all His friends follow." Song of Solomon 5:10, "My beloved is white and ruddy" — white for purity and love, ruddy for blood and suffering; His friends wear His two-colored "livery" (uniform). And "above, we shall wear only white robes" — Revelation 3:5; 7:9, 14, the robes made white in the blood of the Lamb.
- "Only love, but love gently; suffer, but suffer gently." The whole letter in one line: the manner is everything — Tersteegen's Sanftmut (gentleness) applied equally to loving and to bearing pain.
- "Commit the rest to the Lord." Psalm 37:5, "Commit thy way unto the Lord… and he shall bring it to pass" — the practical close: do your outward duty as best you can, and leave the outcome to God.
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-089 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.