Encouragement in the combat against the temptations of the flesh.

The Hundred-and-Forty-Ninth Letter.

Encouragement in the combat against the temptations of the flesh.

Dearly beloved brother in the Lord!

That you have simply opened to me some particulars of your condition has been right dear to me. I now love you so much the more. An open wound is easier to heal than a hidden one. Only betray your enemy freely, though he grow ever so angry about it. You have to do with brethren who strive with you in the communion of the Spirit, and stand at your side next to Jesus. On God we will hope, and not fear: what could flesh do to us? Ps. 56.

You easily perceive, then, what is counselled you: namely, to strive, not to give yourself up captive. None obtains the crown but he who overcomes; and none overcomes but he who strives rightly. It is judged quite perversely when we suppose we should perhaps never attain that virtue whose opposing vice is somehow especially our own and causes us many assaults — [when the truth is] rather that we seldom essentially possess a virtue whose opposing vice we have not felt and overcome. Yes, it is a fine means of attaining essential humility, when one keenly feels the secret powers of self-love and pride, and bears them in a passive way; and so also in other matters. If we would one day be resplendent in the fair lily-crown, we must keep the victory from the chaste combat. Book of Wisdom 4:2. Though we get a wound here and there, and even stumble once in the heat of the battle, we do not therefore count it lost, but cry undismayed: Rejoice not, my enemy, that I lie fallen; I shall rise again. Micah 7:8.

Though the combat should last long, do not despair; the Lord is with us, He knows already the right hour of deliverance, and has herein His holy purposes — for our self-annihilation, purification, and calming — that we may trust, wholly naked, in Him alone. To such an end God sometimes tames our enemies, so that they leave us in peace, that we may believe He is the Lord who can and will deliver us; another time they fall upon us again fiercely, so that we do not grow secure or presumptuous — you have already experienced something of this.

The combat against this enemy must be waged especially in the strength of the Lord, and more through suffering and shunning than through much doing. A well-ordered moderation is much to be advised, as also a withdrawal from all occasions that we find cause us temptations, or impress images on us that can afterward awaken temptations. Outward solitude is at one time very serviceable in this combat, at another not at all; and by that one learns to govern oneself. But the inner means must here, as everywhere, do the most. The least self-complacency — especially when one thereby thinks little of others — must not be knowingly cherished, or God chastises us through such enemies as can make us small. But to esteem oneself little, and especially to let oneself be keenly annihilated inwardly, before God and in the light of His truth — before this the enemy must flee.

Faintheartedness, however, is of no use here at all; into that the enemy would gladly bring us, only that we might give up, and he meanwhile play the master. By no means! Trust infinitely in God in the sweet name of Jesus, even in the midst of your miseries! Even so, when you are thrown down, raise yourself up again through this childlike trust — then the enemy must come to shame.

But that I may tell you briefly wherein the main thing consists, only read the saying, Galatians 5:16: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Shun, as far as possible, all running-out of your senses and thoughts upon all sorts of needless, distracting things that your calling does not require of you. Remind yourself also often — amid your work, among people, and alone — in a childlike, unfeigned way, of the glorious and loving presence of God; incline and lift your heart to Him now and then; converse with Him in a mute way; make yourself right familiar with Him in simple faith, as well as you can, and as circumstances allow. Even in temptation a single lifting of the heart, or a thoughtful remembrance of the presence of God, can sometimes overcome a strong assault of the enemies. Both in and out of temptation, the eye and remembrance must be turned childlike upon God, with the utmost letting-be and forgetting of the enemies and of all evil. Forgetting, forgetting is the whole art. And when it comes to mind again, only forget it again — not by force, but as one lets a thing drop that one does not wish to keep; or as one who would gladly sleep seeks to forget all that comes into his mind. Only the eye turned upon God with quiet trust: He it is who will overcome all our enemies for us. Read once Exodus 14:13–14. Now I am quite wearied with writing; nor have I read it over. That the Lord may be with you, and bless your soul, wishes from the heart

Your

truly-devoted brother and fellow-combatant.

Mülheim, the 3rd of March 1739.

German

Der hundertneunundvierzigste Brief.

Aufmunterung unter dem Kampf wider die Anfechtungen des Fleisches.

Herzlich geliebter Bruder im HErrn!

Daß du mir einige Besonderheiten deines Zustandes einfältig eröffnet hast, ist mir recht lieb gewesen. Ich hab dich nun so viel lieber.

— 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).