A counsel to stillness and to hiddenness. Instruction in dryness, darkness, and the inward ways of purification and suffering.
The Hundred-and-Eighth Letter.
A counsel to stillness and to hiddenness. Instruction in dryness, darkness, and the inward ways of purification and suffering.
In the grace of Jesus, dearly beloved brother!
Just now I receive your welcome letter of the 1st of this month through Brother N.; and because there is an opportunity here that is hurrying off again, I must at least answer a few lines. —— The Lord strengthen and hold your mind in still composure before Him, under all troubles and storms, even from without! If I have anything to ask of you, it would just now be this: that you not, without a divine hint and without need, expose yourself too much before people, or seek acquaintances. Your soul and mine have need of stillness, in order to wait upon the divine workings, and to be grounded more deeply in Jesus, in whom is our whole salvation. The drawing to the Inner is a drawing to the Hidden-life. If one becomes known without — nay, against — one's seeking, or is even entangled in persecutions, then all must work together unto blessedness. The inward life is more unknown than one thinks, even among called hearts.
As concerns what some good souls have said to you — namely: "That after a man had obtained forgiveness of his sins, he would not fall again into dryness, darkness, or inward sufferings; and if such a thing should happen, he must then have committed a sin, etc." — this I myself formerly believed; but since I have become such a poor, weak child, no more. That with many it may be the truth, that they cause their own inward dryness and darknesses through actual unfaithfulness, and afterward want to cloak it under the guise of certain inward ways of purification and suffering, I cannot deny: but to make a general conclusion out of this, and to be unwilling to grant the great truth of the most-needful inward ways of suffering of pardoned souls — that is a stumbling of Asaph, and a token of a very narrow knowledge and experience in the ways of God. Meanwhile, one must not dispute about God's ways and leadings. If someone were to say such a thing to me, with application to my own person, I would believe it quite simply, and without much examining: that I, namely, drew all inward sufferings over my own neck through my own unfaithfulness — for I am all too well aware of my wretchedness. But were one to make from it a conclusion about others, and about all suffering hearts, then I would have patience, hoping that such Job's-friends will one day be otherwise minded, and return with a fair penny (or rather with a lamb), and confess that they have not spoken aright — Job 42:11. For the rest, I have ever believed that of the special leadings of God one can make no general system, nor, as it were, a travel-account. When enlightened souls have written of it, they for the most part only describe their own way — over which one may glorify God, yet not too stiffly form oneself into it, but must leave free hand to the Spirit of grace, in oneself and in others.
For the greeting of the Countess of N. and her friends I thank you heartily; God grant to bless, protect, further, and perfect them in Jesus' Name! I beg that my hearty greeting be conveyed again, when opportunity for it arises; but where I am not known, there let me remain unknown too: I love this brotherhood, yet fear that some work too much; still, I leave it to God, who knows them and us, and is near with His instructions. In the Father's house are many mansions. Let every spirit praise the Lord! Because the opportunity is hurrying, I must close; I will tell Jesus what I wish for you and your wife. Abide near Him; love Him heartily, and forget me not either, who, embracing you and the other friends, remain
Your
Mülheim, the 16th of November, 1736.
devoted brother.
German
Der hundertundachte Brief.
Anrathung zur Stille und Verborgen-seyn. Unterweisung in Dürre, Dunkelheit, inneren Läuterungs- und Leidens-Wegen.
In der Gnade JEsu vielgeliebter Bruder!
Jetzt erhalte ich dein Angenehmes vom 1ten dieses durch Bruder N. und weil Gelegenheit hier ist, die wieder fort eilet, so muß doch ein paar Zeilen antworten.
— 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 hurried note (a courier was "hurrying off again") to a married brother of the same circle as the countess of Brief 105 — indeed it passes on "the greeting of the Countess of N. and her friends." Its counsel is Tersteegen's most characteristic: stillness and hiddenness. Do not, he says, "without a divine hint and without need, expose yourself too much before people, or seek acquaintances" — because "the drawing to the Inner is a drawing to the Hidden-life," and "the inward life is more unknown than one thinks, even among called hearts."
Its argument. The heart of the letter answers a specific error the brother had been told by "some good souls": that once a person is forgiven, he should never again fall into "dryness, darkness, or inward sufferings," and if he does, he must have sinned. Tersteegen once believed this himself, "but since I have become such a poor, weak child, no more." He grants that some people do bring their own darkness on by unfaithfulness and then dress it up as a holy trial — but to turn that into a general rule, and so deny "the great truth of the most-needful inward ways of suffering of pardoned souls," is "a stumbling of Asaph" (the psalmist whose feet "well nigh slipped" at the prosperity of the wicked). One must not "dispute about God's ways and leadings." Of God's special dealings, he adds, "one can make no general system, nor a travel-account": enlightened souls describe only their own road, and the reader must "leave free hand to the Spirit of grace" rather than press every soul into one mould. He closes, as the courier waits, by handing the whole circle over to God — "I will tell Jesus what I wish for you and your wife."
A few words and echoes.
- "The drawing to the Inner is a drawing to the Hidden-life." The letter's motto: to be drawn inward is to be drawn out of sight — hiddenness with God, not display before people.
- "All must work together unto blessedness." Romans 8:28 — "all things work together for good to them that love God."
- "A stumbling of Asaph." Psalm 73:2 — "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped" — Asaph nearly stumbled over what he could not square with God's ways; so does anyone who denies the necessity of inward suffering.
- "Return with a fair penny (or rather with a lamb)… Job 42:11." Job 42:11 — Job's friends, who had spoken wrongly, came at last and "every man… gave him a piece of money." Tersteegen hopes his own critics — the "Job's-friends" — will likewise come round, bringing better than money: a lamb (the token of true sacrifice, and of the Lamb).
- "In the Father's house are many mansions." John 14:2 — room for many ways, not one system; the ground for leaving "free hand to the Spirit of grace."
- "Let every spirit praise the Lord." Psalm 150:6 — "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord."
trans. Jarred Fenlason · gerhardtersteegen.com/letters/bdi-thii-108 · all rights reservedEnglish translation © Jarred Fenlason · All rights reserved · gerhardtersteegen.com.