A guide to right stillness of soul, or to the prayer of the heart.

The Thirty-Fourth Letter.

A guide to right stillness of soul, or to the prayer of the heart.

Dearly beloved brother!

—— May the sweet little child Jesus draw us to Himself, into the stable of our heart, in these days, and so the true keeping of the Sabbath will be taught us! Nothing more is needed than that He reveal Himself within us. Then, through His presence, a sweet reverence is imparted that brings all the powers of the soul to stillness and silence. So long as that is not yet so, we prepare ourselves, on our side, for the Sabbath through prayer, and through the denial of our own life altogether. No essential, pure, abiding stillness of soul is to be hoped for where a man does not — according to the inward direction and the outward providence — give his own life into death. Whoever dies grows still. Living people are not apt to be still for long.

The particular exercise in the keeping of the Sabbath, on our side, is this: that in the exercise of that special prayer we seek, through faith, to set ourselves within the inward presence of God — letting go of, yet not driving out by force, all other thoughts and the agreeablenesses of things — so that we turn our will, and all our once-scattered inclinations of love, gently but in truth, in toward the present God, and give them to Him, abiding in such a frame before Him and beside Him, as quietly as we can, and as long as we can.

This sweet, still, and reverent silence before God's presence asks more of us than we would think, for one seldom so promptly tastes the fruit of it, but often seems, rather, only to feel more unrest. One does much there — indeed, everything in one act — though one seems to be idle; and there one is, and is made, capable, so that the Lord can essentially still us through His drawing and His divine workings — a drawing (which one may well feel even among people and affairs) in which one must be very faithful, not by manifold doing, but by a moment's stillness or turning-inward; for this is what the drawing desires of us.

As for the involuntary unrest in the thoughts and the senses: one must not heed it, nor look at it, but quietly bear it; and, when one is scattered unawares, renew the aforesaid act of faith in the divine presence by a quiet look of love — or else, with a single glance, adore the present God, love Him, give oneself to Him, and so on — all of it, however, quite quietly and simply. Reason, the senses, or the thoughts may do meanwhile whatever they will; one bears it without disturbance and without answer; and even were one hindered the whole time by the swarm, still one must rise from prayer wholly content, thanking the Lord that He counts us worthy to suffer for Him.

And so one goes then, with God, back to one's work, and seeks — even under the labor, in the present moment — to remain beside the Friend, and does not take seven things into the head and one into the hand. See, brother! I mean to say nothing, and yet I make it long-winded. I greet you and remain

Your devoted brother.

Mülheim, 20 December 1742.

German

Der vierunddreißigste Brief.

Anleitung zur rechten Gemüths-Stille, oder zum Gebet des Herzens.

Herzlich geliebter Bruder!

—— Das süße Kindlein JEsus ziehe uns zu sich in den Stall unsers Herzens in diesen Tagen, so wird uns das wahre Sabbath-Halten gelehret werden!

— 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).